Summer going into MS2

[GomerPyle]

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For those of you who have taken Step 1, is there anything you wish you had done during the summer after MS1 that may have helped you get a higher score? Or anything you did that helped you get a good score?

Thanks for your time!

Confused 1st year.

 

[gobigorgohome22]

I'm in the same situation.

I made a post on this just a little while a go where I talked about things I was thinking about doing: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/help-with-a-plan-for-the-summer.1135512/

If you're interested in a study buddy over the summer, hit me up. It might be a good way to keep us on track not waste the summer.

 

[seminoma]

No. Nothing you can do over the summer after MS1 will matter at all in a year. It might help you be better prepared for your first block of MS2, but beyond that you'd be wasting your time.

 

[neverenoughtime]

I dont know about the person above me, but I completely believe in covering all the subjects that were already covered and annotating first aid and doing the uworld questions and finishing it before starting ms2. you can review it once a week. this will allow you to focus on just pure ms2 subjects and can annotate first aid during that year and do uworld questions throughout slowly but surely. then spend the month of may and half of june repeating and repeating your material and doing 150 questions to 200 questions everyday. this should help you get a 250 plus FOR SURE.. that is what i wish i had done.

 

[seminoma]

I dont know about the person above me, but I completely believe in covering all the subjects that were already covered and annotating first aid and doing the uworld questions and finishing it before starting ms2. you can review it once a week. this will allow you to focus on just pure ms2 subjects and can annotate first aid during that year and do uworld questions throughout slowly but surely. then spend the month of may and half of june repeating and repeating your material and doing 150 questions to 200 questions everyday. this should help you get a 250 plus FOR SURE.. that is what i wish i had done.

This sounds like a terrible idea.

Having only finished MS1 (and even through much of MS2) people have no idea what is important, what should be annotated, or even what should be emphasized and learned. Yeah you can spend your summer learning everything you possibly can, but you could also just chill and be ready to show up during MS2 and work hard. Doing your best throughout MS2 and putting in 4-6 solid weeks of dedicated UFAP time is a tried and true method to scoring well. There's no reason to stress yourself out over summer and show up in June of MS2 burned out already.

 

[jshei0625]

Studying/reviewing is a huge waste of time since whatever you learned over the summer will be forgotten within a few weeks of starting MS2. What can be useful is figuring out what materials you might use for Step 1 studying later on. Look at the Step 1 experience threads of the past few years and get a sense of the best review books, q-banks, and flashcards needed to do well. Besides doing that, just try and have a relaxing summer...It is your last real summer

 

[pd1112]

I dont know about the person above me, but I completely believe in covering all the subjects that were already covered and annotating first aid and doing the uworld questions and finishing it before starting ms2. you can review it once a week. this will allow you to focus on just pure ms2 subjects and can annotate first aid during that year and do uworld questions throughout slowly but surely. then spend the month of may and half of june repeating and repeating your material and doing 150 questions to 200 questions everyday. this should help you get a 250 plus FOR SURE.. that is what i wish i had done.

Not a good idea. I love the 250+ guarantee with absolutely no evidence or basis to support it.

OP - Give your mind a break for a few months. Try some shadowing and/or research in a field you think you might be interested in. Most importantly, relax and get ready to put all of your effort into MS2 from the beginning. It gets repeated over and over again on this site, but for some reason it just doesn't stick with a lot of people: the best way to do well on Step 1 is by doing well in your classes and getting a strong foundation going into dedicated. Studying over the summer will burn you out before Christmas of MS2.

 

[skipdivided]

Don't. Do. Anything.

 

[skipdivided]

Give your mind a break for a few months. Try some shadowing and/or research in a field you think you might be interested in. Most importantly, relax and get ready to put all of your effort into MS2 from the beginning. It gets repeated over and over again on this site, but for some reason it just doesn't stick with a lot of people: the best way to do well on Step 1 is by doing well in your classes and getting a strong foundation going into dedicated. Studying over the summer will burn you out before Christmas of MS2.

But really, this x100. I did some clinical work abroad part of that summer after my first year; it taught me some stuff and was fun. And it actually helped me out with a few questions on Step that directly related to patients I'd had / conditions I'd seen. Then I took the rest of summer off and rested my brain from medicine. 2nd year is rough so that worked well for me. There were a couple people in my class that tried to study through and it just made them miserable. Just try to do something fun!

 

[psylocke]

Like others have said... Enjoy your summer and use it as an opportunity to do some research. You'll need an optimum stamina for MS2, spending the summer studying will likely burn you out and wither your enthusiasm for the new term.