Use of stimulant during usmle

[mikramjafri]

Hey guys,
I am due to take my USMLE step 1 in Decem. Pretty confident.
I was just wondering if i should take a stimulant 10 mg Ritalin 30 min before the exam. I intend to try it before..
Wht strategy can i try since ritalin could loose effect by the 6 block i think??(please dont state reasons wht are the side effects,i alrdy know them..)
Really freaked out as my whole life depends on one exam....
please help....

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[cdql]

I heard cocaine works better.

 

[circumspect]

Huh... A banana always helps me.

 

[Taus]

Hey guys,
I am due to take my USMLE step 1 in Decem. Pretty confident.
I was just wondering if i should take a stimulant 10 mg Ritalin 30 min before the exam. I intend to try it before..
Wht strategy can i try since ritalin could loose effect by the 6 block i think??(please dont state reasons wht are the side effects,i alrdy know them..)
Really freaked out as my whole life depends on one exam....
please help....

Have you tried plain old (and legal...) caffiene?

 

[You'reCrazy]

bad idea........unless you have ADD I dont recommend it and its not like the drug is gonna make you smarter

 

[blz]

i just ate power bars throughout the day. barely felt any mental fatigue.

 

[viostorm]

I took Claritin D. I found during studying the pseudophedrine helped me concentrate longer without the diuresis of caffeine.

I also have allergies ... so I killed two birds with one stone. 🙂

 

[shivasHeroLike]

i wouldn't recommend it. i don't see it being of use for a 6-7 hr exam.

perhaps experiment with it by taking a practice test for that long to see how your body responds would be the best course of action.

 

[Krazykritter]

Funny...I had a question exactly like this on my USMLE yesterday. BTW, the answer to the question (I think) was a maladaptive response to stress.

 

[SOUNDMAN]

Funny...I had a question exactly like this on my USMLE yesterday. BTW, the answer to the question (I think) was a maladaptive response to stress.

I'm still laughing about your response! Classic. Hope boards went well with you KK, can't wait for pharm to start in like 4 weeks ...🙄

 

[blueshoes]

i'm a little curious... i noticed that a lot of people mentioned they (understandably) had trouble sleeping the night before. why didn't people take benadryl or something?

 

[JayneCobb]

Funny...I had a question exactly like this on my USMLE yesterday. BTW, the answer to the question (I think) was a maladaptive response to stress.

I agree with the above, if Ritalin isn't something that you take on a routine basis, I'd avoid it for the test.

 

[superdevil]

Hey guys,
I am due to take my USMLE step 1 in Decem. Pretty confident.
I was just wondering if i should take a stimulant 10 mg Ritalin 30 min before the exam. I intend to try it before..
Wht strategy can i try since ritalin could loose effect by the 6 block i think??(please dont state reasons wht are the side effects,i alrdy know them..)
Really freaked out as my whole life depends on one exam....
please help....

without giving you an actual directive, i think the best piece of advice would be to just follow your routine on the exam day. if that means abstinence, fine. if you've been popping adderall like lemonheads the previous 2 weeks, well, keep it up. on the day of my exam, i drank a red bull at lunch even though i didn't need the "energy" (the exam itself was enough to keep me amped) because i had used it the previous week or two and i didn't want a caffeine headache in the middle of the 5th block.

 

[Law2Doc]

i'm a little curious... i noticed that a lot of people mentioned they (understandably) had trouble sleeping the night before. why didn't people take benadryl or something?

If you go to sleep with benadryl, you often wake up in a fog. You are better off having not slept -- at least your mind is clear. The problem with the USMLE is rarely one of focus or attention span. And most people stay awake for the thing on pure adrenaline, regardless of how fatigued they think they are. Coffee is nice, but if you use caffeine in any sort of quantity, having to go to the bathroom all the time will throw off your game as much as being tired would. Unless they come up with a drug that allows you to retrieve obscure things out of your memory better, read faster or just generally be smarter, I suspect you are wasting your time with meds.

 

[Freshnstylin]

Hey guys,
I am due to take my USMLE step 1 in Decem. Pretty confident.
I was just wondering if i should take a stimulant 10 mg Ritalin 30 min before the exam. I intend to try it before..
Wht strategy can i try since ritalin could loose effect by the 6 block i think??(please dont state reasons wht are the side effects,i alrdy know them..)
Really freaked out as my whole life depends on one exam....
please help....

take another one at lunch

 

[Hoya11]

stims are for studying, not for test taking, in my 2 year experience using them

 

[WhoisJohnGalt]

I agree with superdevil. If you've been taking them every day while studying, you should probably keep it up on exam day. If not, I would definitely avoid it... test day is not the time to experiment. The closer your exam day comes to feeling like a few blocks of practice q's, the better you're going to do... and if you're all speedy and jittery because you're playing with amphetamines, you will not perform as well as you should (Similarly, if you've been taking them every day but decide not to on test day, you'll be zonked out after a few blocks).

 

[mikramjafri]

Thanks!,
cannot tell u guys how much this has helped alot.
Routine is key.
sticking to it is the right way....

 

[Gubernaculum482]

I'm with Hoya...

Stims are great for studying, not so sweet on high preassured exam days. I thik your natural NE and Epi will keep you at the level you wanna be at... so I've heard... I guess I'll let you know wednesday...