What can I do during my first two years to help prepare me for clerkships and STEP 2 now that STEP 1 is P/F?

[CuriousMDStudent]

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Now that STEP 1 is P/F, it seems the most important factors to getting into residencies are now: clerkship grades, STEP 2, research, LOR's, and audition internships.

So it seems out of these five factors, 4 of them rely on my performance in 3rd and 4th year. I will be attending a T15 so I will search for research opportunities during my first two years.

However, my question is: What can I do during my first two years to help prepare me for clerkships and STEP 2 now that STEP 1 is P/F? Will studying hard during these first two years and ensuring I have a great foundation of medical knowledge and clinical skills knowledge help me?

I just feel like I don't know what to focus on during my first two years because it used to be STEP 1 but now that STEP 1 is P/F, I don't know anymore.

 

[Chibucks15]

Literally just do the same things as everyone always has without worrying about added crazy pressure of an S1 score? It isn't like medical education drastically changed at all...cmon now don't over think it

 

[Yankees27]

Everyone should be studying to get the highest possible score, whether it is a P/F or scored....we still don't know for sure when/if it will be actually implemented. Why would anyone want to ease up and be ok with "just passing." If that is the attitude you take, then your entire app for residency will bear that out. While I understand that some people will not want to put heavy pressure on the test if it becomes a pass/fail, but please give it your all.

 

[Adjet]

Nothing groundbreaking here. I would study as if the Step 1 score matters, as the medical knowledge tested will be the foundation for your clinical years, Step 2, and perhaps the rest of your career. Clerskship/Step 2 performance will suffer if you just do the minimum to get a 'P.'

 

[CuriousMDStudent]

Ok nice to hear. I’ve had people telling me that what I learn during my first two years won’t help me in clerkships which didn’t make sense hence why I made this post

 

[Chibucks15]

Ok nice to hear. I’ve had people telling me that what I learn during my first two years won’t help me in clerkships which didn’t make sense hence why I made this post

So the problem (one of the several) with SDN is everyone treats things as black or white. Some things will absolutely be helpful in future, that's why we learn them. But some of the nitty gritty details of the Krebs cycle and crap like that? I've never used it again after step 1. There's plenty of examples

I never understand why it has to be 'high yield' or nothing. The only people determining 'high yield' are people who like to talk like they know everything. Just put your head down and learn what you can, you can probably go less hard on some of the intricate biochemical pathways now that S1 is p/f, but you still have to work hard to actually learn things

 

[ArdorAyurveda]

Ok nice to hear. I’ve had people telling me that what I learn during my first two years won’t help me in clerkships which didn’t make sense hence why I made this post

It'll help, but only to a certain extent.

There's some truth to this. Literally every attending tells me that they have forgotten most of what they learned in medical school lol. The real training happens during residency, medical school is just to make sure you don't kill somebody due to sheer ignorance.

Nothing wrong with the "just pass" attitude, it all depends on what your goals are. What type of residency do you want? Where do you want to live? How competitive of an applicant do you have to be to get into your desired field?

If you want to do family practice in rural Wyoming, you don't need to kill yourself studying for Step 1 and Step 2. Even if you want to be the best doctor in the world, you'll probably be better served by working on your emotional intelligence and being relatable to your patients. That will help you much more than getting a 270 on Step 1. Especially if you want to do something that's not competitive.

Remove yourself from the groupthink on SDN. Don't sacrifice your social life and mental health just because people on here do it.

Unless you're just a genius and you can somehow manage to have a social life AND learn everything. Then do whatever you want lol

tl;dr Identify your end goal and take steps to achieve it. I value mental wellness and happiness, so I choose to study enough to achieve those goals without sacrificing my priorities. What are your priorities?

 

[7331poas]

If I were an incoming gunner, I would start incorporating dorian deck into my prep.

 

[Chibucks15]

If I were an incoming gunner, I would start incorporating dorian deck into my prep.

Is it a badge of honor to be a gunner or something? haha usually the consensus is to NOT be one

 

[Adjet]

Ok nice to hear. I’ve had people telling me that what I learn during my first two years won’t help me in clerkships which didn’t make sense hence why I made this post

This might be true for certain clerkships (i.e. Peds, OB/GYN) where there's a lot of content you don't learn in the pre-clinical years and yea it might not really help with evaluations, but there's still quite a bit of information that you learn that is relevant and having a good grasp of the Step 1 content helps immensely for Step 2

 

[slowthai]

Is it a badge of honor to be a gunner or something? haha usually the consensus is to NOT be one

I think you might know this, but both of you are using the term differently. He's using the term to mean someone that works really hard. You're using it to mean a saboteur.

Let's break it down.

Really hard worker ≠ gunner

Annoying person that obnoxiously talks about how hard they work who may or may not be working hard ≠ gunner

Person that steps on other people to get ahead. He/she may or may not be working really hard, but usually is = gunner

Because people have been misusing it for so long now, it can cause confusion. An incoming M1 might see stuff like "All the gunners in my class started Zanki early". Because the term has a negative connotation, this person may be discouraged from starting Zanki early. They might think that they're being antagonistic or being a try-hard by doing that, which obviously isn't true. That's why we should use it the way it was originally meant to be used, but that obviously isn't going to happen, lol.

What's interesting is that people regularly refer to SDN as a place "full of gunners" and they get a crapton of upvotes/likes for it. Why is working very hard a problem? The truth is, these statements stem from insecurity. When you see that others are working harder than you, you feel inadequate and now want to talk down on other people. It's ridiculous and it doesn't make any sense.

 

[Chibucks15]

I think you might know this, but both of you are using the term differently. He's using the term to mean someone that works really hard. You're using it to mean a saboteur.

Let's break it down.

Really hard worker ≠ gunner

Annoying person that obnoxiously talks about how hard they work who may or may not be working hard ≠ gunner

Person that steps on other people to get ahead. He/she may or may not be working really hard, but usually is = gunner

Because people have been misusing it for so long now, it can cause confusion. An incoming M1 might see stuff like "All the gunners in my class started Zanki early". Because the term has a negative connotation, this person may be discouraged from starting Zanki early. They might think that they're being antagonistic or being a try-hard by doing that, which obviously isn't true. That's why we should use it the way it was originally meant to be used, but that obviously isn't going to happen, lol.

What's interesting is that people regularly refer to SDN as a place "full of gunners" and they get a crapton of upvotes/likes for it. Why is working very hard a problem? The truth is, these statements stem from insecurity. When you see that others are working harder than you, you feel inadequate and now want to talk down on other people. It's ridiculous and it doesn't make any sense.

I know it. I did the same breakdown in a different thread but I include the second to last one into gunner-y. Also the insecurity part is a bit of a stretch and feels a bit like you're insinuating that about me? Just saying. The vast majority of people (myself included) could give two ****s about how hard someone else is working. It doesn't affect you in the slightest. More power to em to sacrifice life for slamming a spacebar (I know there are people who balance it all but majority is Anki all day every day). Gonna be honest, most people really don't care about anyone else in med school unless they're very immature. None of us are that special and SDN is classic for the mindset of all the special snowflakes that are gonna be the first to match [insert crazy specialty at crazy place here] as a DO or things along that line.

SDN is a place where gunner is also used as a more general term to describe the people who post about "OMG I have a 260 and 15 pubs will I match IM?!?" and things of similar nature. Basically a not as inflammatory way to say something along the lines of cocky asshat. Also he is regularly one who advocates for starting Step 1 prep before you even start med school so I don't normally equate SDN fanatics with normal person hard work.

Most of the time I post for people in passing so they know med school isn't like SDN in the slightest. I bought in way too hard as a pre-med and it messed me up for a bit.

 

[slowthai]

I know it. I did the same breakdown in a different thread but I include the second to last one into gunner-y. Also the insecurity part is a bit of a stretch and feels a bit like you're insinuating that about me? Just saying. The vast majority of people (myself included) could give two ****s about how hard someone else is working. It doesn't affect you in the slightest. More power to em to sacrifice life for slamming a spacebar (I know there are people who balance it all but majority is Anki all day every day). Gonna be honest, most people really don't care about anyone else in med school unless they're very immature. None of us are that special and SDN is classic for the mindset of all the special snowflakes that are gonna be the first to match [insert crazy specialty at crazy place here] as a DO or things along that line.

I'm not talking about you whatsoever haha. I'm talking about the people that judge you negatively just because you're going very hard for what you want. Like I've said before, based on how people use the term now, people would 100% call me a gunner because I started Zanki from day 1 and hammer it relentlessly. Why would someone do that unless they felt insecure about how much they're not doing? I've seen people talk about feeling this way many times.

Trust me, people do care about what other people are doing. People can't help but compare themselves to others. It's part of the human condition, and I believe you have to actively fight against that tendency for your own sake.

SDN is a place where gunner is also used as a more general term to describe the people who post about "OMG I have a 260 and 15 pubs will I match IM?!?" and things of similar nature. Basically a not as inflammatory way to say something along the lines of cocky asshat. Also he is regularly one who advocates for starting Step 1 prep before you even start med school so I don't normally equate SDN fanatics with normal person hard work.

But that's not being a gunner, lol. That's more just being annoying and humblebragging it up. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that last sentence, but working harder than average is the norm for those pursuing the most competitive fields/progams/locations. You just have to do what you have to do. If your mental/physical health suffers for it, that's not good, and I obviously don't advocate for that. I agree that you should strive to catch a balance. But that looks different for every individual, though.

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

Now that STEP 1 is P/F, it seems the most important factors to getting into residencies are now: clerkship grades, STEP 2, research, LOR's, and audition internships.

So it seems out of these five factors, 4 of them rely on my performance in 3rd and 4th year. I will be attending a T15 so I will search for research opportunities during my first two years.

However, my question is: What can I do during my first two years to help prepare me for clerkships and STEP 2 now that STEP 1 is P/F? Will studying hard during these first two years and ensuring I have a great foundation of medical knowledge and clinical skills knowledge help me?

I just feel like I don't know what to focus on during my first two years because it used to be STEP 1 but now that STEP 1 is P/F, I don't know anymore.

Imagine wanting to go to medical school and questioning whether it is worth it to study hard and learn medicine (foundational medical science)?

Sorry, that was a little callous, but do you get my point?

The best (and most mentally stable) students find continual enjoyment and stimulation from the challenge of learning. They tend to do well on exams because of this.

Also, you won't be able to magically catch up on your knowledge between STEP 1 and STEP 2 CK, much less between STEP 1 and your first shelf exam if you are just skating by M1/M2.

 

[Med Ed]

However, my question is: What can I do during my first two years to help prepare me for clerkships and STEP 2 now that STEP 1 is P/F?

I strongly suggest you learn medicine.

 

[Goro]

I strongly suggest you learn medicine.

And how to think clinically

 

[slowthai]

I strongly suggest you learn medicine.

But what does that entail? Memorizing the crap out of school lectures? If so, hard pass. I can acquire my foundational knowledge just as well (even better really) with boards resources in a fraction of the time.

 

[Med Ed]

But what does that entail? Memorizing the crap out of school lectures?

No. It entails some genuine intellectual curiosity in a time when virtually all human knowledge is accessible (literally) at one's fingertips.

 

[Goro]

But what does that entail? Memorizing the crap out of school lectures? If so, hard pass. I can acquire my foundational knowledge just as well (even better really) with boards resources in a fraction of the time.

Memorizing is NOT learning.

 

[M&L]

this looks exactly like the argument we are having in "How do yo determine what lecture information is important for your exams?". I am being criticized there for using both school and outside resources. ahhahhhahha.