Studying for the Boards real early?

[Pursuing MD]

I will be attending SGU medical school in the Spring. I was told that your basic science GPA is not as important as your Board scores. One Caribbean medical graduate even suggested that I buy some USMLE I prep books and review them as I take classes at SGU. He said that this way, I would be much better prepared for the Boards.

Another student has told me that I would be studying too early and would realy have no time to prepare for the USMLE I as I study for medical school classes.

WHAT DO YOU GUYS SAY? I'm quite confused and can use any help/suggestions that you guys can offer. Thanks!

(what's the best way to do well on the Boards?...I'm nervous b/c I did not do well on the MCAT and am afraid that I will have a hard time on the Boards, even though they test totally different things)

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[Pursuing MD]

Is preparing for the USMLE I while at the same time studying for lecture notes/class @ med. school a good idea?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ApacheIndian]

Originally posted by Pursuing MD
Is preparing for the USMLE I while at the same time studying for lecture notes/class @ med. school a good idea?

I didn't study for Step 1 concurrently while taking the basic sciences at my school. But, I did study very hard for those courses and scored very high on all of my med school exams (I scored 100% on 3 different Physio tests ). Then when the time came, I studied hard for Step 1 too. I remember while taking the exam, I knew most of the answers from my concerted 3 months of studying, but some of the questions were highly specific, asking about seemingly minute or esoteric points. Surprisingly, I found that I actually knew the answers to many of these questions, not from my Step 1 studying, but from years back from the time I studied in-depth for my school exams. I think getting these questions right is what separates the 220's from the 250's.

Point is this: Study hard and in depth ("in depth" learning is a concept I got from Dr. Ben Carson's book) now, and you can review and master the information later.

 

[jason952]

no, be realistic, do finewell in the first 2 years, worry about the boards later. That said, tutoring the big subjects later on and using a book like first aid to help you pick out the key differences is good. Enjoy it and don't worry about step 1, at least no for about 18mos.

jason.

 

[Pursuing MD]

thanks very much for your advice.

 

[ApacheIndian]

Originally posted by jason952
don't worry about step 1

Lemme guess... you're a US allopathic med student aren't you ?

 

[BellKicker]

Review books should be used for only that - review. Studying things like physiology from a review book without mastering the various topics in depth would NOT give you a better score.

Start one of those 1000-page lots-of-pictures physio books instead. That way you would have a head start on your class mates come september.

I don't think one should study for step one for more than a couple of months. After that, the yield is pretty low.

Good luck.

 

[Pursuing MD]

I appreciate your input!

 

[Jalby]

You could buy BRS physio and read through it once or twice before school. Try to understand the concepts. You will probably forget most of the stuff, but when you get taught it a second time in school, you should be able to pick it up again real easy on not waste time understanding

 

[Pursuing MD]

Thanks for the advice...Trojans RULE!!! I volunteer at LAC+USC Medical Center and also graduated from USC in May of 2002.