What to prioritize

[deleted771945]

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Hello all,

First year med student just finished up 1st semester. All As and Bs with a B+ average. We are ranked in quartiles but I do not know my rank yet - I assume we get them in May. So far 0 extracurriculars and 0 research (no notable research from undergrad either). 2nd semester is more challenging + more credit hours.

Other than the bare minimum passing, which of the following do I need to prioritize going forward, if anything? I'm interested in path (mainly) and IM, rads, & gas.

- Getting As and Bs?
- Board studying/AnKing?
- Research?
- Clubs?

 

[Goro]

Too early for Board studying. Talk to your OMSII colleagues for advice, since the ins and outs of your school factor into what good for the upcoming year

 

[wook]

I like what Goro said!

I might even suggest talking with recent graduates from your school to see if they have insights on what helped them to Match.


Wook

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Don't waste your time with boards. Don't waste your time in clubs unless you actually want to be in one. Don't do research until the summer. Just focus on school and having a good work-life balance. Starting second year, do a question bank that you won't use on dedicated first semester then second semester really focus on boards

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Research. Sometimes summer is too limited to get anything significant

 

[nybsm786]

Get started in research asap.

 

[DrZoidbergDO]

Start studying for boards winter break second year.. anything before then is just going to burn you out imo

 

[Kardio]

I went the boards/AnKing route about midway through first semester and paired it with some pretty weaksauce but tangible research. Admittedly I was a weaker student on my in house exams. I easily P'd every Step/Level 1 practice exam from day one of dedicated and have scored >110 on most COMATs so far. I don't know that I'd be scoring so well if I hadn't AnKing'd my way through M1/2.

 

[DOtoHeartSurgeon]

Hello all,

First year med student just finished up 1st semester. All As and Bs with a B+ average. We are ranked in quartiles but I do not know my rank yet - I assume we get them in May. So far 0 extracurriculars and 0 research (no notable research from undergrad either). 2nd semester is more challenging + more credit hours.

Other than the bare minimum passing, which of the following do I need to prioritize going forward, if anything? I'm interested in path (mainly) and IM, rads, & gas.

- Getting As and Bs?
- Board studying/AnKing?
- Research?
- Clubs?

I failed my first year of classes and what works for me now is: BnB and Anki

 

[Swiddy]

Passing classes > Boards = Mental health > Research = Connections >>> everything else, IMO. I think focusing on boards and then swapping over to cram lecture X days before exams is the play because you kill two birds with one stone, and the reality is none of your professors are going to teach the fundamentals of every subject as well as the curated gold standard board materials. I fly through lecture crams now and do pretty well in classes with very minimal time invested in lecture material because I go into it having a very solid foundation from studying hard on boards material for most of each block, including keeping up with all boards Anki from past blocks. Doing it any other way has never made sense to me. I suspect the main reason it is common to hear people say to wait to study for boards until late second year is out of fear that focusing on boards early will put you at risk of failing classes, but I think it has the opposite effect because the quality of teaching is so much better in general that you are more likely to actually understand things in a short time compared to just memorize them.

Now, every school is different. So my recommendation is perpetually test the waters. Do boards material and Anki for each block, but maybe start out a little slow and give yourself a ton of time for lecture material after. See how it goes. Then progressively spend more and more time on boards and less and less time on lecture as you get more comfortable and get a feel for how well things carry over to your school. It was pretty rough studying boards primarily at my school first year, but second year was way better.