When to start BUFAPS?

[Med.School.Hopeful]

I'm an incoming MS1. When is the best time to start BUFAPS? How much time a week do you give towards board studying? Do you focus more on board prep and look at class material as a supplement?

I don't learn at the fastest pace so want to give myself adequate timing. Just wondering what some other people are doing and if you took the exam what worked and what you wished you did differently.

Also not sure if Step 1 being P/F changes anything in regards to prep.

 

[DameJulie]

Best case is to start Day 1. Follow your classwork whenever BUFAPS applies.

Most students in my class use them as points of reference/memory aid throughout classwork. Most people systemically start learning/reviewing sometime in 2nd year.

Best people to ask is your upperclassman, b/c every school's curriculum matches BUFAPS differently.

 

[Billroth_III]

You’re going to get a lot of different answers about this and I think some of it is going to be school curriculum dependent. Also with your class going to P/F I’m not sure how that will change the game, I will let others comment on that.

BnB you can start with your class material since he’s got everything on there.

UWorld don’t even think about that yet

FA I’d say you can get now to get a feel of how it’s formatted and it will cover mostly everything you get from the start of first year

Pathoma when you start doing path or path of systems. I’ve seen schools set up differently with curriculums so this will vary

Sketchy you can start around the time you start getting micro and pharm. I’d say Sketchy path is a waste, pharm is good and micro is absolutely ridiculous. Looking back, my micro background was nil so I would have started this earlier because the content is broken down so well and actually enjoyable.

I’m just a 2nd year so there will be others more knowledgeable than me who already took boards that will comment as well. Make sure you nail class content too to really figure out your learning style as well. Class content at the very start will help you understand the pace of med school and honestly was the most difficult part for me to adapt to. It took me longer than most but now I feel much better about what’s thrown at me.

Best of luck and don’t become discouraged by what others are doing.
You know yourself better than anyone and know what needs to be done.

 

[texan2016]

You’re going to get a lot of different answers about this and I think some of it is going to be school curriculum dependent. Also with your class going to P/F I’m not sure how that will change the game, I will let others comment on that.

BnB you can start with your class material since he’s got everything on there.

UWorld don’t even think about that yet

FA I’d say you can get now to get a feel of how it’s formatted and it will cover mostly everything you get from the start of first year

Pathoma when you start doing path or path of systems. I’ve seen schools set up differently with curriculums so this will vary

Sketchy you can start around the time you start getting micro and pharm. I’d say Sketchy path is a waste, pharm is good and micro is absolutely ridiculous. Looking back, my micro background was nil so I would have started this earlier because the content is broken down so well and actually enjoyable.

I’m just a 2nd year so there will be others more knowledgeable than me who already took boards that will comment as well. Make sure you nail class content too to really figure out your learning style as well. Class content at the very start will help you understand the pace of med school and honestly was the most difficult part for me to adapt to. It took me longer than most but now I feel much better about what’s thrown at me.

Best of luck and don’t become discouraged by what others are doing.
You know yourself better than anyone and know what needs to be done.

I like sketchy path for the wtf this makes no sense topics. Like renal pathology and vasculitis. It’s definitely 3rd line to boards and beyond and pathoma tho

 

[Goro]

I'm an incoming MS1. When is the best time to start BUFAPS? How much time a week do you give towards board studying? Do you focus more on board prep and look at class material as a supplement?

I don't learn at the fastest pace so want to give myself adequate timing. Just wondering what some other people are doing and if you took the exam what worked and what you wished you did differently.

Also not sure if Step 1 being P/F changes anything in regards to prep.

Xmas of OMSII.

 

[Lanhaines Elsetion]

Focus on class first year to build a solid foundation. Starting heavy board studying at the start of 2nd year is considered early-ish and should give you time to get through many resources.

 

[DO2015CA]

Is BUFAPS a thing nowadays or did you make that up?

 

[slowthai]

Is BUFAPS a thing nowadays or did you make that up?

It's definitely a thing; BnB, UFAP, and sketchy.

 

[Billroth_III]

I like sketchy path for the wtf this makes no sense topics. Like renal pathology and vasculitis. It’s definitely 3rd line to boards and beyond and pathoma tho

I hear ya, there have been a few times I remembered some stupid detail through Sketchy Path. For the most part though I found the vids too long and convoluted as opposed to the short, simplicity of Sketchy Micro and to a lesser extent, Pharm.

But like the immortal med school saying goes "DO WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU"