VERY Low Productivity while studying - Help Anyone?

[Torquer]

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In an hours time, I will have been up and studying for 21 hours - i slept for 2 or so hours like 13 hrs ago. The reason im going so overboard is because im on my second read of First Aid and im still going at a pace of like 3-4 pages an hour! And the days are counting down, course is piling up.

When i woke up, this was my target:
1) finish up last 4 pages of renal left over from previous night
2) do 20 pages of psych
3) do 13 pages of behavioral sciences
4) do 17 pages of embryo
(lets assume my situation is such that im justified in aiming for a total of 50 pages a day - and that I have seen people in my class do it)

my current status, after ALL my efforts and a few breaks when i was totally spacing out - is:
1) 4 renal pages - check
2) 20 psych pages - check
... 30 pages untouched.

Why is my speed so slow? suggestions? thoughts? im still going to try and push through B/S before i sleep but still.. is this not ridiculously slow? especially for a second read?

any and all help would be appreciated

 

[naus]

That is pretty slow. 3-4 pgs an hour. I read through Big Robbins at 10-20 pgs an hour. For perspective, at your rate, it will take you longer to read First Aid again than all of Robbins for the first time.

1. You're sleep deprived. Get at least 7 hrs of sleep a day.
2. Or you never learned it well the first time.

Probably some combination of both. Get some sleep. Also whenever you get stuck, move on to a different subject. A change of topic often helps.

When's the exam?

 

[indsha008]

Depending on when you are taking step 1, consider taking DIT course. It will keep you engaged and you will be done with a thorough read in no time. Its costly but if you have money to spare, go for it.

 

[Torquer]

That is pretty slow. 3-4 pgs an hour. I read through Big Robbins at 10-20 pgs an hour. For perspective, at your rate, it will take you longer to read First Aid again than all of Robbins for the first time.

1. You're sleep deprived. Get at least 7 hrs of sleep a day.
2. Or you never learned it well the first time.

Probably some combination of both. Get some sleep. Also whenever you get stuck, move on to a different subject. A change of topic often helps.

When's the exam?

wow, thats a scary perspective. I have a feeling its more that i didnt learn it right the first time. but big robbins doesnt need to be memorized, only understood. and FA holds a ton of info per page that needs to be memorized.

my exam's on 5th October. Need to start UW on wednesday, latest by thursday. so i have 3 days to cover the remaining 10 chapters.

Depending on when you are taking step 1, consider taking DIT course. It will keep you engaged and you will be done with a thorough read in no time. Its costly but if you have money to spare, go for it.

I dont think i can afford that, plus im on a time crunch right now.

Whats the average rate of getting through FA for people generally?

 

[indsha008]

wow, thats a scary perspective. I have a feeling its more that i didnt learn it right the first time. but big robbins doesnt need to be memorized, only understood. and FA holds a ton of info per page that needs to be memorized.

my exam's on 5th October. Need to start UW on wednesday, latest by thursday. so i have 3 days to cover the remaining 10 chapters.



I dont think i can afford that, plus im on a time crunch right now.

Whats the average rate of getting through FA for people generally?

My guess is that it would vary a lot from person to person. My first read of FA (in total, i did only 2 reads) took around 12 days and second read took 4 days.

 

[Torquer]

thats pretty neat. ive seen people in my school do second reads in 5 days too. so explain something to me please - you DO memorize right? How do you go about doing that? The only way i can memorize is if i read a couple of times, write it and then say it back to myself. Takes ages but then it sticks.

 

[ashmarj]

thats pretty neat. ive seen people in my school do second reads in 5 days too. so explain something to me please - you DO memorize right? How do you go about doing that? The only way i can memorize is if i read a couple of times, write it and then say it back to myself. Takes ages but then it sticks.

I know everyone's study strategy is different, but here's my perspective. I was never able to read First Aid cover to cover. When I took Step 1 last year, I was doing DIT. First pass was through the review questions they sent out. Second pass was over two weeks with the course. Third pass I took about five days transferring notes from DIT lectures into First Aid.

I never formally sat down to 'memorize' (well-maybe the last 2 days before the exam on the random nit picky stuff that never stuck e.g. chemo agents and side effects).

Also, all along, I was doing questions. Granted, more the last 1.5 weeks before the test. I'd imagine I at least got another 1/2 of a pass through first aid by reviewing ALL questions and taking notes in First Aid.

It seems to me that it would be excruciatingly painful to really just sit there alone with First Aid JUST trying to memorize. Plus, to expect yourself to memorize 100% the details in more than one system in a day is asking too much of yourself.

Something some of my friends did was they went through First Aid and made a separate document of notes with the things they couldn't 'remember'. It made it easier for them to effectively ignore what they knew and pay attention to their weak spots.

Finally, I second all those that have said get some sleep while studying! You are just going to build up a sleep deficit that is going to hit either in the midst of studying or right before your exam. You learn best when you are rested and you consolidate information while you sleep.

Anyway, just my two cents...good luck with studying! Don't be afraid to change it up if what you are doing isn't working!

 

[indsha008]

thats pretty neat. ive seen people in my school do second reads in 5 days too. so explain something to me please - you DO memorize right? How do you go about doing that? The only way i can memorize is if i read a couple of times, write it and then say it back to myself. Takes ages but then it sticks.

I understand your problem. But you should consider omiting to write. Thats just too time consuming considering your proximity of step 1. What I would suggest is the following:
Out of 1 month and 9 days you have, dont read FA more than twice more. You have already read it once. Keep the last read of FA near to your exam (this is very very important).

For now, read around 50 pages a day (no matter what !!) and highlight the words/points you have difficulty remembering (out of those 50 pages) and go through them early morning next day. That way- those difficulties will finally begin to stick in your brain. Your effort should be more to understand FA rather than memorize (for eg. you have to understand why Brown-Sequard syndrome presents like it does -- by knowing all the spinal cord tracts. But at the same time, you do have to memorize that amiodarone causes pulmonary fibrosis, photosensitivity, hypo/hyperthyroidism -- but such things will automatically stick the more you read about it). Very few questions are "directly" from FA. Most of them have to be milked out from FA.

After your current read of FA, go over RR Path in a hurry. Look at the brilliant images in that book. It will be helpful. Read the blue margin notes.

Hope that helps.