Annoyed by my school's low-yield curriculum...

[Foot Fetish]

I entered med school eager to learn and initially had no problem absorbing whatever material my professors presented. No matter how low-yield or esoteric it seemed, I diligently learned it cold. Now, as I'm nearing the end of M1 and starting to think about the beast that looms in the horizon (Step 1), I find myself getting more and more fed up with my professor's B.S. lecture materials. Some classes are worse than others, but on the whole I really wish I had gone to a school that "teaches to the boards" more. Increasingly, I find myself looking at the in-house lecture notes and thinking to myself "Really?? Who gives a ****..." I'm not burned out either, because, if I could have it my way, unfettered by the shackles of my school's curriculum, I would happily watch Pathoma, read FA, and do Brosencephalon Anki all day...

I go to a true P/F school, and I'm really tempted to overhaul my study approach at this point. Going into M2, I might just disregard school as much as possible while still passing and spend the vast majority of my study time on board books and qbanks. Has anyone else done this? I want to hear from the people who "subverted" the system in this manner and did well. I know of at least one M4 at my school who did the bare minimum in school, spent all day everyday doing board-style questions, and got a 265 on Step 1. But, at the same time, I have read countless experience reports on SDN of high-scorers who swear that doing well in class in the first 2 years was the best preparation.

/rant

Any words of wisdom?

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[ActinicKeratosis]

I entered med school eager to learn and initially had no problem absorbing whatever material my professors presented. No matter how low-yield or esoteric it seemed, I diligently learned it cold. Now, as I'm nearing the end of M1 and starting to think about the beast that looms in the horizon (Step 1), I find myself getting more and more fed up with my professor's B.S. lecture materials. Some classes are worse than others, but on the whole I really wish I had gone to a school that "teaches to the boards" more. Increasingly, I find myself looking at the in-house lecture notes and thinking to myself "Really?? Who gives a ****..." I'm not burned out either, because, if I could have it my way, unfettered by the shackles of my school's curriculum, I would happily watch Pathoma, read FA, and do Brosencephalon Anki all day...

I go to a true P/F school, and I'm really tempted to overhaul my study approach at this point. Going into M2, I might just disregard school as much as possible while still passing and spend the vast majority of my study time on board books and qbanks. Has anyone else done this? I want to hear from the people who "subverted" the system in this manner and did well. I know of at least one M4 at my school who did the bare minimum in school, spent all day everyday doing board-style questions, and got a 265 on Step 1. But, at the same time, I have read countless experience reports on SDN of high-scorers who swear that doing well in class in the first 2 years was the best preparation.

/rant

Any words of wisdom?

I went to a true P/F school. For all of second year I essentially just studied out of first aid and pathoma. Passed all of my classes. Seemed to work for me.

 

[Foot Fetish]

I went to a true P/F school. For all of second year I essentially just studied out of first aid and pathoma. Passed all of my classes. Seemed to work for me.

And now you're on the R.O.A.D. to derm, judging by your username?

 

[Poit]

It's how a ton of us feel, and it will get worse 2nd year (when boards are actually looming). I've all but stopped looking at my school's stuff, spare 2-3 lectures out of 15 for each domain. I wish I had started doing that earlier. A lot of time has been wasted.

 

[Psai]

Is medical school now a test prep program or something? Thought it was for learning how to take care of patients or some crap like that

 

[Dr. Death]

Is medical school now a test prep program or something? Thought it was for learning how to take care of patients or some crap like that

Taking care of patients is low yield.

 

[Poit]

Is medical school now a test prep program or something? Thought it was for learning how to take care of patients or some crap like that

Well they aren't mutually exclusive goals. I'm fine with "clinically relevant minutiae", but minutiae for the sake of minutiae gets tiresome, especially when is detracts from the end goal of taking care of future patients/test prep.

 

[ActinicKeratosis]

And now you're on the R.O.A.D. to derm, judging by your username?

Yup I'll be applying into dermatology. I'm a rising fourth year.

 

[failedatlife]

Taking care of patients is low yield.

 

[ridethecliche]

OP needs to get on the BnB train.

CHOO CHOO!

 

[Moose A Moose]

It doesn't take more than a few months of prep to do well on boards- get over it. Pathoma, FA, etc won't teach you a damn thing. It's review, not foundation.

You're venting. You'll be fine.

 

[ridethecliche]

It doesn't take more than a few months of prep to do well on boards- get over it. Pathoma, FA, etc won't teach you a damn thing. It's review, not foundation.

You're venting. You'll be fine.

This is accurate ish. Pathoma is great for a first pass to get your bearings before filling in the details. FA is legitimately bullet points that you need other info to tie together.

It's like trying to go through bros with no other knowledge. Yeah... you know all the facts, but what the heck do they mean?

 

[Slack3r]

Well they aren't mutually exclusive goals. I'm fine with "clinically relevant minutiae", but minutiae for the sake of minutiae gets tiresome, especially when is detracts from the end goal of taking care of future patients/test prep.

The funny thing is, as an MS1 you're pretty ill-suited to identify "minutiae". There were quite a few questions I got right on step 1 because I learned all the "minutiae" during the preclinical years.

 

[tymont12]

I understand the feeling that a Professor's minutiae may be low-yield, but it's that random stuff that might help you for Step. Also, learning purely from FA and Pathoma is most likely a recipe for not truly understanding an organ system. Learn from your professors and then consolidate during Step study with Pathoma, FA and uWorld.

 

[XxThaDoggxX]

I entered med school eager to learn and initially had no problem absorbing whatever material my professors presented. No matter how low-yield or esoteric it seemed, I diligently learned it cold. Now, as I'm nearing the end of M1 and starting to think about the beast that looms in the horizon (Step 1), I find myself getting more and more fed up with my professor's B.S. lecture materials. Some classes are worse than others, but on the whole I really wish I had gone to a school that "teaches to the boards" more. Increasingly, I find myself looking at the in-house lecture notes and thinking to myself "Really?? Who gives a ****..." I'm not burned out either, because, if I could have it my way, unfettered by the shackles of my school's curriculum, I would happily watch Pathoma, read FA, and do Brosencephalon Anki all day...

I go to a true P/F school, and I'm really tempted to overhaul my study approach at this point. Going into M2, I might just disregard school as much as possible while still passing and spend the vast majority of my study time on board books and qbanks. Has anyone else done this? I want to hear from the people who "subverted" the system in this manner and did well. I know of at least one M4 at my school who did the bare minimum in school, spent all day everyday doing board-style questions, and got a 265 on Step 1. But, at the same time, I have read countless experience reports on SDN of high-scorers who swear that doing well in class in the first 2 years was the best preparation.

/rant

Any words of wisdom?

Preach. I just decided to say F*ck it and do mostly all board studying. Watch lectures on 2x speed, use boards and beyond for the physiology.

With that being said, FA and Pathoma really are hard to grasp/just bits of random incoherent info unless you know the physiology first, atleast for me anyways.

 

[Goro]

As multiple residents and attendings pointed out in a very similar thread in this forum, it's minutiae until you need it. And you will need it at some point.

 

[GoodWillShunting]

Yeah, I totally get the frustration. But be thankful you don't go to a school that chooses to "teach to the boards". Do not make the assumption that what's on boards is what you need to know for clinic. Lecture material may not be "high yield" for boards, but a **** ton of boards material isn't "high yield" for clinic, and that's just one reason why so many people resent boards. While it's an "equalizer", it's not perfect by any means, and you should probably hold off on deciding what you think is high yield for the boards and definitely for "real world", especially as an M1. I'm sorry to say, but you have no idea what you do not know, regardless of what you read in any resources.

You can teach a monkey to pass boards (as long as monkey does UFAP consistently and guns hard), but medical school shouldn't be about "the boards", which is why so many of your doctor lecturers are also pissed off (i.e. "The ****ing idiot kids keep asking me if this **** is in Fuxking FA").

But, as others have said, you're venting, and I get that. It certainly does feel annoying because, from an M1/M2 standpoint, boards are really what matter most, and that's a product of pressure on students to kill Step or fear not matching/not matching well. Definitely sucks.


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[AcademicNeurosurgery]

There's almost never a time where I recall a fact from my pre-clinical lectures; it's usually from board prep. Maybe it is just me or my school, but I didn't find pre-clinical lectures useful and don't remember anything from them quite frankly.

$60k tuition for the first two years could've easily been replaced by $1k of resources.

The problem is obviously multifold but I think there is one key thing my med school failed to recognize: there is a certain amount of information in the first two years that we just have to learn independently. Faculty can sit there and lecture all day on cytokines, pathologies for glomerular diseases, and psych drugs. But until students go home and actively dissect the material (white board, outlines, comparison tables, anki, firecracker), it won't sink in. And most pathways/conceptual information was easier to learn by watching YouTube videos with cool technology animations instead of outdated lectures where professors try to use shapes in PowerPoint to create useless animations.

 

[LePepe]

The problem is obviously multifold but I think there is one key thing my med

RIP in peace @AcademicNeurosurgery

Seriously though could you finish your thought? Seems interesting

 

[AcademicNeurosurgery]

RIP in peace @AcademicNeurosurgery

Seriously though could you finish your thought? Seems interesting

That was the end of my thought....it was meant to be a cliffhanger.

Sorry, accidentally hit post but it's fixed now.

 

[Affiche]

I entered med school eager to learn and initially had no problem absorbing whatever material my professors presented. No matter how low-yield or esoteric it seemed, I diligently learned it cold. Now, as I'm nearing the end of M1 and starting to think about the beast that looms in the horizon (Step 1), I find myself getting more and more fed up with my professor's B.S. lecture materials. Some classes are worse than others, but on the whole I really wish I had gone to a school that "teaches to the boards" more. Increasingly, I find myself looking at the in-house lecture notes and thinking to myself "Really?? Who gives a ****..." I'm not burned out either, because, if I could have it my way, unfettered by the shackles of my school's curriculum, I would happily watch Pathoma, read FA, and do Brosencephalon Anki all day...

I go to a true P/F school, and I'm really tempted to overhaul my study approach at this point. Going into M2, I might just disregard school as much as possible while still passing and spend the vast majority of my study time on board books and qbanks. Has anyone else done this? I want to hear from the people who "subverted" the system in this manner and did well. I know of at least one M4 at my school who did the bare minimum in school, spent all day everyday doing board-style questions, and got a 265 on Step 1. But, at the same time, I have read countless experience reports on SDN of high-scorers who swear that doing well in class in the first 2 years was the best preparation.

/rant

Any words of wisdom?

I feel like this too...I could have written your post. That said, I did completely abandon lecture and study primarily from the board-relevant materials for one block, and that was my worst block yet. I went back to prioritizing textbooks, then board materials (FA, pathoma), then lectures, which seems to work best for me. Still, it's frustrating as hell to have tuition skyrocketing as high as it has and to gain very little from the lectures they give you.

 

[AcademicNeurosurgery]

I feel like this too...I could have written your post. That said, I did completely abandon lecture and study primarily from the board-relevant materials for one block, and that was my worst block yet. I went back to prioritizing textbooks, then board materials (FA, pathoma), then lectures, which seems to work best for me. Still, it's frustrating as hell to have tuition skyrocketing as high as it has and to gain very little from the lectures they give you.

It is frustrating but what are the possible solutions? I can't think of many. The one thing all students are measured on during the first two years is Step 1. I am sure it is possible for some students to pass Step 1 on their own and start medical school as an M3. Since this isn't practical and probably too radical a notion for most, we have to find a way to make the first two years valuable at ALL medical schools.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Once you take an nbme CBSSA, you will realize that nothing is low yield. If you want to score high, you need to know the minutiae. Some of the crap that comes up in those can be pretty random and not found in any review resource. Furthermore as previously said, first year medical students have no idea what is really minutia and what is not. During 2nd year, stuff will come back up all the time that you thought was really unimportant.

I will also make a counterpoint, that the amount of info in UWorld is staggering and would definitely seem like minutia to you right now. So if UWorld has that much depth, it sort of defeats the notion of "high yield" material. The explanations easily go into more depth than we ever learned in class. I don't know if that's an indictment on my school's curriculum (i don't think it is) or just shows how thorough UWorld is, but in my opinion a lot of what is in the question bank is extraneous for the purposes of Step 1. But again, the purpose of 1st and 2nd year of medical school is to learn the basic sciences such that you have context for the clinical sciences, and an in-depth understanding of mechanisms of disease is very important. And for that purpose, UWorld is literally the best resource I have come across.

+1 on the sentiment that memorizing pathoma and FA does not build a foundation for step 1 or for being a doctor. That said, if I could redo 2nd year, I would do it differently. For the first 2/3 of 2nd year, I studied mostly from lectures except doing kaplan questions and watching pathoma before starting a new organ system. I wish I had watched Pathoma, then read Goljan (great integration of pathophys), then done UWorld questions, THEN study lectures last. I also wish I had used Boards and Beyond for certain subjects (the biochem and pharm teaching at my school was pretty bad) but sadly I didn't discover it until dedicated. I can't for the life of me sit down and read first aid, so that would have been (and has been) useless for me.

 

[operaman]

I will add that Step 1 is the only exam I've ever seen where the only people who know with absolute certainty what's actually "high yield" are the people who haven't actually taken it yet.

I'd be willing to bet you could list what you consider minutiae and we could probably remember step 1 questions and certainly real clinical scenarios where that information came into play. I occasionally hear students talking about something that's "so not important" and inevitably it's a rather major concept in clinical medicine.

But minutiae is actually important both on step and in real life. 3 really great reasons for this:

1) If you plan to become a specialist, you will learn a ton of minutiae because you're training to become a true expert in a small field

2) If you do don't intend to specialize, you need to have enough sense of ALL the minutiae so you know just how much you don't really know. I see a lot of people do a lot of dumb s--t and inevitably it comes from them not even realizing they had a giant gap in their knowledge. Yes you can always consult other people, but you have to know enough to call the right people at the right time, and that's not always self-evident.

3) If you intend to specialize, you still need to know a bit of ALL the other folks' minutiae so you too can avoid being a dumbarse who inadvertently hurts patients.

Oh and you will do better on step 1. So suck it up a bit and trust that your school which has probably trained physicians for longer than you've been alive may actually know a thing or two about training physicians.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Well they aren't mutually exclusive goals. I'm fine with "clinically relevant minutiae", but minutiae for the sake of minutiae gets tiresome, especially when is detracts from the end goal of taking care of future patients/test prep.

Yep, had lots of my faculty docs tell me for our clinical skills that multiple things we are taught are not even used today.

 

[Poit]

The funny thing is, as an MS1 you're pretty ill-suited to identify "minutiae". There were quite a few questions I got right on step 1 because I learned all the "minutiae" during the preclinical years.

I'm an M2, and I've been told by many people above me that we're taught a lot of minutiae that we will never need to apply.

 

[KnuxNole]

Is medical school now a test prep program or something? Thought it was for learning how to take care of patients or some crap like that

Guess they figure you can't take care of patients if you fail your boards!

 

[Domperidone]

I'm an M2, and I've been told by many people above me that we're taught a lot of minutiae that we will never need to apply.

I got told the same things.
It depends on who is telling you what is "minutiae".
FM and EM people told me that embryology is minutiae.
I learned the hard way that apparently it's not "minutiae" or "low yield" to peds/peds surg.
you still have to pass peds and ob/gyn to get your degree. i suppose you could go garbage in and garbage out after med school if you wanted to.

similarly, FM doctors told me anatomy was 'low yield'.
did not feel that way once i rotated into surgery.

I could go on lol.

As above posters have commented, I feel like we're re-hashing the other thread.
So, no one is pointing a gun to your head saying you have to study "minutiae" and low yield items like a maniac. All we're saying it's important, and it may not seem like it now, but it may well be later. Notice the majority of us who've gone through med school and are now working are saying this. If it's not the answer you wish to hear, I don't really know what to say. Feeling I get is that many of us are here telling you guys to not make the same mistakes we did.

Also there's nothing wrong in fast forwarding through recorded lectures on 2x the speed or flipping through the slides if it becomes evident that all the lecturer is doing is reading off them. So long as you understand it (look things up if you don't) in event you need to revisit it later. IMO anyway. Or just listen to the audio while commuting, I used to this, because there was no way I could focus otherwise with some of the lectures.

At the end of the day, it's your decision on how you want to approach this, as you have to live with it.

I like what psai said in the other thread and I feel the same way:

I've never looked back and regretted the time I spent learning something. But I can remember plenty of times when I wished I knew more about a particular topic.

I "cut corners" before with studying some topics and I had to make up for the it later.
Sometimes I still feel like I do.

That said..
you can choose whatever kind of doctor you want to be after medical school.
If you don't want to specialise or work at a tertiary site, no one is saying you have to.

As someone in the other thread posted,

If you're at a tertiary hospital all those 1 in a millions get shunted to you dude. I see those M1 zebras all the time (and I'm in a surgical subspecialty). How are you going to be a consultant for conditions you've never even heard of? Just googling all day?

Even if you're going to be a community ER guy at a level 3 that largely acts as an urgent care, don't be THAT worthless community guy that nobody takes seriously.

Well, suppose you can choose to be that 'worthless' guy.
people at the tertiary sites will probably poke fun at your expense, but you don't have to care lol.
it'll mostly be behind your back anyway, you may never even know.
Alternatively, you could be the one that decides only the minutiae in your particular field is important, and then make craptastic referrals to other specialties later because their 'minutiae is low yield.'

Anyway, I'm glad i'm not in MS1/2 anymore. I don't envy you guys. Pretty sure I did my fair share of venting back in the day too. Eventually the misery of dealing with walls of information will end though. Just remind yourselves of that.
(Something else will take its place..but let's not go there.)
I really felt this meme as I was going through the pre-clinical years.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

I attended an ortho trauma lecture during a 4th year elective that was filled with MS1's.

I left the lecture and found it quite informative. The MS1's kept complaining how "low-yield" it was. What they don't understand is that it is often the "low-yield" minutia that makes the difference between a 230 on Step 1 and a 250.

Absorb as much as you can, especially first year.

 

[AlteredScale]

Our second year of medical school consists of reading Big Robbins. The path prof tests specifically on minutiae in there not found in first aid, pathoma, or small Robbins. Honestly I cannot recall facts from that book despite reading it multiple times over but when I do get path questions on qbanks I'm able to find the answer a bit faster and I do know some of the wired genetics involved. Maybe it was the glue to help with board review now, guess we'll see.


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[W19]

I attended an ortho trauma lecture during a 4th year elective that was filled with MS1's.

I left the lecture and found it quite informative. The MS1's kept complaining how "low-yield" it was. What they don't understand is that it is often the "low-yield" minutia that makes the difference between a 230 on Step 1 and a 250.

Absorb as much as you can, especially first year.

I couldn't have said it any better... I wish I had paid attention to these minutiae looking back. My step1 exam had probably 10+ random BS questions that were purely minutiae.

 

[LePepe]

I couldn't have said it any better... I wish I had paid attention to these minutiae looking back. My step1 exam had probably 10+ random BS questions that were purely minutiae.

How far would 10 questions swing your score one way or the other? Honest question, I have no idea.

 

[W19]

How far would 10 questions swing your score one way or the other? Honest question, I have no idea.

My 'guesstimate' would be 12-15 points...

 

[LePepe]

My 'guesstimate' would be 12-15 points...

Holy...

 

[Affiche]

I think we're missing each other on the interpretation of "minutiae".

Personally, I don't group the details from Robbins (though I use medium Robbins) into what I consider minutiae, as I do believe the more information the better in that aspect, but when we have faculty rambling on about their research or uber-specialized clinicians teaching things that are outside scope (per their own colleagues) for anyone below fellowship level, I do tend to get frustrated. I can see where further down the road you'd look back and say it's all important and you wish you paid attention more, but at this point, I need to focus my energy on building a foundation, and often times our lectures will leap from basic sciences to applied research or clinical skills that are too far beyond us.

 

[intubesteak]

OP it seems like this continues to be an issue for you but you never actually change your study habits or do anything about it. You asked for things that are working for other people: here it goes. I do whatever I want for the first few weeks of the block (for me that's reading textbooks and doing FC). I do watch the lectures but don't worry about memorizing stuff from them. 4 days before the test I study the lectures and do questions from Robbins and Rx. I am doing very well and I'm much less annoyed with lectures that suck because I know how to learn on my own. I have also found that a lot of the minute only SEEMS like minute because its just a random bullet point on a slide with no context or explanation. However, after a paragraph explaining why said minute is important in Robbins, it is no longer minute and just another concept to me. Also when you see the same minute fact pop up in the textbook, lecture, FC, Rx... you realize that its probably important. And if it doesn't pop up in another source I probably won't remember it anyways for the test much less long term.

TLDR: lectures suck, read a book

 

[IslandStyle808]

I got told the same things.
It depends on who is telling you what is "minutiae".
FM and EM people told me that embryology is minutiae.
I learned the hard way that apparently it's not "minutiae" or "low yield" to peds/peds surg.
you still have to pass peds and ob/gyn to get your degree. i suppose you could go garbage in and garbage out after med school if you wanted to.

We were practicing knots this past week and was told by the surgeon that some of the knots are not even used by surgeons today. It not just a matter of what one person thinks it useless in one field is useful in another, it is also about techniques that you would think are useful in a certain field but are deemed useless by those in that field. Don't get me wrong, I went into the lab wanting to learn how to knot, even though I want a field that probably doesn't do much of it anyway.

 

[Goro]

I think that you've hit a very important detail that's being lost. The material being delivered to you is because the lecturer think it's important. How that material gets to you, whether by your going to lecture, or watching it at 2x speed on video is totally up to you, because as adult learners, you have to find what works for you. Every person's learning style is different. And some aspects of Medicine are merely giant tables, like Pharmacology.

The problem is obviously multifold but I think there is one key thing my med school failed to recognize: there is a certain amount of information in the first two years that we just have to learn independently. Faculty can sit there and lecture all day on cytokines, pathologies for glomerular diseases, and psych drugs. But until students go home and actively dissect the material (white board, outlines, comparison tables, anki, firecracker), it won't sink in. And most pathways/conceptual information was easier to learn by watching YouTube videos with cool technology animations instead of outdated lectures where professors try to use shapes in PowerPoint to create useless animations.

Are you really not getting anything from lecture content??

I feel like this too...I could have written your post. That said, I did completely abandon lecture and study primarily from the board-relevant materials for one block, and that was my worst block yet. I went back to prioritizing textbooks, then board materials (FA, pathoma), then lectures, which seems to work best for me. Still, it's frustrating as hell to have tuition skyrocketing as high as it has and to gain very little from the lectures they give you.

Frankly, from what I've seen about content delivery systems, it doesn't seem to matter, in minimalist terms like Board scores. But it certainly can matter for student happiness. I'm all for happy students and will make any change to better the student experience.

It is frustrating but what are the possible solutions? I can't think of many. The one thing all students are measured on during the first two years is Step 1. I am sure it is possible for some students to pass Step 1 on their own and start medical school as an M3. Since this isn't practical and probably too radical a notion for most, we have to find a way to make the first two years valuable at ALL medical schools.

These are two things that really drive me up the wall about medical educators. There is ZERO justification or any Faculty to be lecturing to you about thier research outside of a seminar.
And one of the curses of some clinician educators (especially adjunct or guest faculty) is that they teach way over your head. They seem to be unable to grasp that the audience consists of MS1s or 2s!

The only solution is to make as much of a stink as possible to your Dean, your Curriculum Dean(s) and to Dep't Chairs. Keep hammering away at this. it might not help your Class, but these messages do sink in, and can help the following Classes. If your school has students on the Curriculum Committee, lobby them as well.

I think we're missing each other on the interpretation of "minutiae".
Personally, I don't group the details from Robbins (though I use medium Robbins) into what I consider minutiae, as I do believe the more information the better in that aspect, but when we have faculty rambling on about their research or uber-specialized clinicians teaching things that are outside scope (per their own colleagues) for anyone below fellowship level, I do tend to get frustrated. I can see where further down the road you'd look back and say it's all important and you wish you paid attention more, but at this point, I need to focus my energy on building a foundation, and often times our lectures will leap from basic sciences to applied research or clinical skills that are too far beyond us.

 

[Affiche]

I think that you've hit a very important detail that's being lost. The material being delivered to you is because the lecturer think it's important. How that material gets to you, whether by your going to lecture, or watching it at 2x speed on video is totally up to you, because as adult learners, you have to find what works for you. Every person's learning style is different. And some aspects of Medicine are merely giant tables, like Pharmacology.



Are you really not getting anything from lecture content??


Frankly, from what I've seen about content delivery systems, it doesn't seem to matter, in minimalist terms like Board scores. But it certainly can matter for student happiness. I'm all for happy students and will make any change to better the student experience.


These are two things that really drive me up the wall about medical educators. There is ZERO justification or any Faculty to be lecturing to you about thier research outside of a seminar.
And one of the curses of some clinician educators (especially adjunct or guest faculty) is that they teach way over your head. They seem to be unable to grasp that the audience consists of MS1s or 2s!

The only solution is to make as much of a stink as possible to your Dean, your Curriculum Dean(s) and to Dep't Chairs. Keep hammering away at this. it might not help your Class, but these messages do sink in, and can help the following Classes. If your school has students on the Curriculum Committee, lobby them as well.

We have a few basic science faculty who consistently do a wonderful job at teaching. When it comes to clinicians, I may get 1-2 sentences out of an hour lecture that are helpful/relevant, and even then, I can just click through their ppt at home and get the idea without wasting so much time in lecture.

As for making a stink, I have completely and totally given up on any hope of our deans changing their debilitating policies. They have their own agenda and making a big stink about it won't do anything but ruin my reputation. We have a couple of policies at my school that threaten the well-being and learning potential of our students, but they aren't going to change. At this point, I'd rather keep my head down and push through until I graduate.

 

[Aerus]

These are two things that really drive me up the wall about medical educators. There is ZERO justification or any Faculty to be lecturing to you about thier research outside of a seminar.
And one of the curses of some clinician educators (especially adjunct or guest faculty) is that they teach way over your head. They seem to be unable to grasp that the audience consists of MS1s or 2s!

The only solution is to make as much of a stink as possible to your Dean, your Curriculum Dean(s) and to Dep't Chairs. Keep hammering away at this. it might not help your Class, but these messages do sink in, and can help the following Classes. If your school has students on the Curriculum Committee, lobby them as well.

I really wish I had a professor like you, Goro!

 

[AcademicNeurosurgery]

Are you really not getting anything from lecture content??

I am 100% serious. I can't remember any of my lectures from the first two years at all.

Also, you seem like a great student advocate. Props to you for being forward-thinking.

 

[seeinghowitgoes]

As for making a stink, I have completely and totally given up on any hope of our deans changing their debilitating policies. They have their own agenda and making a big stink about it won't do anything but ruin my reputation. We have a couple of policies at my school that threaten the well-being and learning potential of our students, but they aren't going to change. At this point, I'd rather keep my head down and push through until I graduate.

I think often there is so little good evidence for a lot of medical education. As somebody heavily involved in medical education research, much of what is out there is post hoc analysis with irrelevant outcome metrics that, shocker, always justifies an already implemented curricular change (not all, but much). Unfortunately, because so little good evidence exists, and I'll admit that's partly because it's very tough to get the type of longitudinal data that would be required, I get the impression that either status quo reigns or those with power select whatever they personally believe would be best or their own "novel" implementation. This leads to a system that is probably not the most efficient, based on the opinions of those who have been out of the system for many years, but also probably won't change (for the record, I don't think this is a problem limited to medical education - I think a lot of programming in multiple fields is devoid of good evidence or mechanisms to create swift change).

That's why I agree with what has been repeated a lot on this thread - basically partake in the curriculum because you have to and you'll probably get some nuggets out of it from time to time, but go in with eyes open that it isn't perfect and you'll have to do a lot, if not most, of your learning on your own. Go in with eyes open that, much like in the larger field of medicine, there isn't always evidence for what you're being asked to sit through. Go in with your eyes open so you can save yourself this type of frustration - in some ways it's just something that goes along with the job. But fighting and simply disengaging creates a reputation (I've been told this multiple times by faculty members - I go to a small school but they told me point blank they know who the complainers and disengaged are and it reflects poorly). Better ways to go about change can be going through your proper channels, or, on a more long-term level, getting involved with research and quality improvement projects to help the next "generation".

 

[Goro]

I am 100% serious. I can't remember any of my lectures from the first two years at all.

Also, you seem like a great student advocate. Props to you for being forward-thinking.

Without looking at any notes, what's the difference between necrosis, fibrosis and granuloma?

If you transect the vagus nerve, what functions are lost?

A patient with appendicitis would have pain sensations transmitted along what?

What's the genetic lesion in Cri-du-Chat syndrome?

I'll bet that you know more than you think you know!

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Without looking at any notes, what's the difference between necrosis, fibrosis and granuloma?

If you transect the vagus nerve, what functions are lost?

A patient with appendicitis would have pain sensations transmitted along what?

What's the genetic lesion in Cri-du-Chat syndrome?

I'll bet that you know more than you think you know!

Looks like you're well prepared to take step 1 haha. Did you sign up for a test day yet?

 

[AcademicNeurosurgery]

Without looking at any notes, what's the difference between necrosis, fibrosis and granuloma? Necrosis = dead, fibrosis = scar tissue, granuloma = walled off by macrophages

If you transect the vagus nerve, what functions are lost? Parasympathetics from neck to hindgut

A patient with appendicitis would have pain sensations transmitted along what? to McBurney point?

What's the genetic lesion in Cri-du-Chat syndrome? Chromosome 5

I'll bet that you know more than you think you know!

My point though is that most answers I recall are from board review resources and not specifically from lectures. Your first question I can hear Dr. Sattar in my head, McBurney point from First Aid, Cri-du-Chat Chromosome 5 from the chromosome table somewhere in FA.

I think some review resources just do a good job presenting material in an organized way and then I could fill in the gaps with textbooks/Google. For example, I remember my school's lectures on vasculitides and renal diseases were an absolute trainwreck. FA divided up the vasculitides by vessel-size which made it so much easier to learn and remember long-term. Might just be my personal learning style.

 

[JPSmyth]

My 'guesstimate' would be 12-15 points...

I thought step 1 was 8 hours long? How many questions is on it?

 

[W19]

I thought step 1 was 8 hours long? How many questions is on it?

Mine was 7x40 = 280 questions

 

[JPSmyth]

Mine was 7x40 = 280 questions

Then the 12-15 points for 10 questions doesn't seem right...

And out of curiosity it's 40 questions in 60 min per section corfect?

 

[W19]

Then the 12-15 points for 10 questions doesn't seem right...

And out of curiosity it's 40 questions in 60 min per section corfect?

Are you a med student? If you are, you should know by now that step1 is an 8 hr long exam in which you have 1 hour break total. You have 7 blocks and each block is 1 hr long (40 questions per block). For instance, my friend who took the test a week before me had 30 something questions on his last block due to some changes they made in the exam in May of 2016 (if my memory serves me well). I had 40 questions in EVERY single block....

 

[JPSmyth]

Are you a med student? If you are, you should know by now that step1 is an 8 hr long exam in which you have 1 hour break total. You have 7 blocks and each block is 1 hr long (40 questions per block). For instance, my friend who took the test a week before me had 30 something questions on his last block due to some changes they made in the exam in May of 2016 (if my memory serves me well). I had 40 questions in EVERY single block....

Starting school in July. Just didn't feel like googling the test format on my phone