Taking vacation to study

[Perrotfish]

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Is anyone else here considering taking some vacation time to add onto study time for the USMLE? My school offers us 8 weeks of vacation for our entire 2 years of rotations, and I'm considering using 2 weeks of that for additional board review. I know people who are taking all 2 months. Anyone else doing/considering this?

 

[lord_jeebus]

I know people who are taking all 2 months.

When do these people plan to interview for residency? Or prepare for Step 2? 😕

How much time do you have if you don't use the vacation time? I think the the utility of very extended cramming plans is overrated.

 

[gman33]

I'm setting up my third year school so that my first block is an elective.
Once I get a few weeks into my board prep, I'm going to make a decision.
If I need more time, I'm dropping the first block and will have another 4 weeks to study.

I'll worry about Step 2 and interviewing later.
I just know that I don't want to shoot myself in the foot now.

 

[KnuxNole]

Are the people who only need 4 weeks the ones who honor everything and remember quite a lot? I feel like I forgot most of 1st year material and I need at least 3-5 months to prep for this beast of a test!

 

[MilkmanAl]

I'll have about 6 weeks between the end of school and Step 1, so no additional time needed here. Between that and me basically forsaking my classes to study board prep material, I should have plenty of time. If I was going to be in a jam, I'd definitely take a rotation off if I could to get some extra study time in.

 

[username456789]

I'll have about 6 weeks between the end of school and Step 1, so no additional time needed here. Between that and me basically forsaking my classes to study board prep material, I should have plenty of time. If I was going to be in a jam, I'd definitely take a rotation off if I could to get some extra study time in.

Since the first day of this year I've told myself "ok, tomorrow's the day I'm just gonna stop caring about class so much and start cramming for boards." The thing is, I just started doing some board review and the stuff I learned well the first time around is coming back a thousand times easier than stuff we either covered lightly, or I may have brushed off the first time around (or we didn't learn it, which obviously is more difficult now).

All this is just my way of saying I also plan to focus more on boards during the semester, but there should be a LOT of boards testable material still coming up, so just make sure you're actually learning it as well.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Well, what I meant was I'm learning things for class from review materials. UAMS's path and pharm programs are notoriously weak where board prep is concerned, so I figure it's smarter to listen to Goljan than our various professors, for example. I'm also looking back at stuff from last year in my "spare" time, but the bulk of my effort is on what we're doing in class. Sorry if that was unclear. I guess I should say that I'm forsaking our class notes and presentations in favor of board prep, probably at the cost of missing some extra points in class.

 

[username456789]

Well, what I meant was I'm learning things for class from review materials. UAMS's path and pharm programs are notoriously weak where board prep is concerned, so I figure it's smarter to listen to Goljan than our various professors, for example. I'm also looking back at stuff from last year in my "spare" time, but the bulk of my effort is on what we're doing in class. Sorry if that was unclear. I guess I should say that I'm forsaking our class notes and presentations in favor of board prep, probably at the cost of missing some extra points in class.

I gotcha, I think we're on the same page there.

 

[Perrotfish]

When do these people plan to interview for residency? Or prepare for Step 2? 😕

I believe the theory here is that the school will find a way to make residency interviews happen (if they need to), but they won't move to help you with board until you've already failed once.

How much time do you have if you don't use the vacation time? I think the the utility of very extended cramming plans is overrated.

4 weeks without, 6 weeks with. I think the extra time would improve my score.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Do whatever you think is best for you personally. I don't believe that all people benefit from 6 weeks instead of 4, but some might.

I really doubt that taking 2 extra months beyond the 4 weeks will produce gains that outweigh the burden of zero vacation time during the clinical years. It might not produce any gains at all.

 

[McGillGrad]

Always take as much time as you need to study as long as it doesn't eat into your sanity.