Dissection work study vs pre study over the summer for a low C OMS-1 interested in psych

[TragicalDrFaust]

I’m not a good student. I’ve gotten nearly straight C and low C’s at that. I’m leaning towards giving up the dissection work study (20 hours/week) and putting my efforts towards getting some extra board study in as well as making sure I have time to relax. I didn’t take time for myself over spring break and it had notable effects on my mental heath and school performance. I also have a research project for the summer which is more important to me and, I believe, better for applications.

The pros of the work study are that it pays and I find the work relaxing and fun.

Any thoughts? I could use insight on how “good” dissection would look on a psych, internal medicine or FM residency application. I‘m also curious about whether people found studying for boards between OMS-1 and 2 helpful and if so, how much? I was planning on studying 4-5 hours a day 4-5 days a week while my wife is at work. Is this little enough so that I can relax and recover over the summer? On the other hand, will that amount be sufficient to benefit my likelihood of passing?

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[scoopdaboop]

Boards? It's pass fail bro. You can literally take 4 weeks after school ends and take it and pass, don't worry.

Also, the dissection seems good, maybe try to get a research paper out of it, if you can. No reason to study anymore during ur 1-2 summer, if there even was one.

If you're worried about not passing classes during second year, that's a different issue, and you need to talk to classmates etc to see what they did.

 

[Redpancreas]

I don't think I would suggest to anyone who's barely able to maintain a C average to "take it easy". I know B students who studied for 6-8 weeks and couldn't pass, one failed, and had to retake.

I have a feeling that low C was a typo and OP meany "lowly".

OP do the Work-Study if you need money. Otherwise, the most important thing to do at this time is to find a mentor in Psych who can offer you clinical mentorship, a connection, +/- research.

 

[Spectreman]

Yeah, with low Cs you need to hit up Pathoma and start getting a general sense of what’s coming. You need to go ahead and start a sketchy anki deck too. You’re at risk of failing boards, which is just a very bad time.

 

[calivianya]

I’d take it. 20 hours/week really isn’t much. We’re either talking about 4 hours a day or less than five days a week. If you don’t have any classes to take, that’s a really minimal time commitment. I would also study, though. Invest in a software like cramfighter and schedule it to get through all of Pathoma before your classes start back.

I personally found the dissecting volunteer work I did between M1-M2, where I also taught various health professions off my cadavers, to really cement my anatomy knowledge. Didn’t study anatomy again after this and it was my highest score on my level 1 as far as disciplines go. Even got pimped on a random nerve and its function during my first surgery rotation and nailed it, and got told I was one of the only students that ever gets it right.


Pro tip: buy a set of 3M 8247 particulate respirators or something similar. They have carbon in them and are rated for removal of organic vapors. It’s the only thing that knocked my formaldehyde-exposure pounding headaches and constant nausea out. Dissecting for 4+ hours a day 5 days a week is very different than popping a couple hours in the lab once per week.

 

[RapidEyeMovementLearning]

I would do light studying and relax over summer. It's going to be easy to get burned out 2nd year. You can chill learn Micro/Pharm with sketchy/Anki and be in a really good spot when 2nd year starts. With P/F boards, it's easy to get complacent. Well, the exams are still a beast and failure is a real possibility like posters above said.

 

[Redpancreas]

I have a feeling that low C was a typo and OP meany "lowly".

OP do the Work-Study if you need money. Otherwise, the most important thing to do at this time is to find a mentor in Psych who can offer you clinical mentorship, a connection, +/- research.

You liked my post @TragicalDrFaust but you didn't clarify whether you meant lowly or low C!

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

You liked my post @TragicalDrFaust but you didn't clarify whether you meant lowly or low C!

I meant low C, as in 70-73%.

 

[Redpancreas]

I meant low C, as in 70-73%.

Oh I was wrong.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

Oh I was wrong.

I was going to just not mention it but since you asked lol