BOTH Opinions needed on implementing study plan

[yanks26dmb]

I'm starting M2 in a couple of weeks. Here's where I am currently at...

-Took entire summer off to re-charge (still feeling guilty about this)
-Top 20% of class but feel as though I remember nothing

So basically, I'm a good student who did well first year, but still feel I retain nothing..hopefully when I study this won't come back to bite me. My question is, should I start some sort of COMLEX/USMLE plan day 1 of second year? Should I wait? I really have no idea what to do as I've read so many different opinions. Hoping to get some focused advice given my current situation. Thanks a ton.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DrBeenThere]

Good for you for taking the summer off! Smart choice.

I think it's good to go through the sections of USMLE review as you study the concepts in your classes. I don't see any benefit in reading ahead. So for example if you're doing GI pathology, study a few of the GI questions in the review book. Just read them to familiarize yourself with what's important or comes up a lot. That way you'll get less bogged down in the minutiae.

 

[MelMcT2009]

I'm starting M2 in a couple of weeks. Here's where I am currently at...

-Took entire summer off to re-charge (still feeling guilty about this)
-Top 20% of class but feel as though I remember nothing

So basically, I'm a good student who did well first year, but still feel I retain nothing..hopefully when I study this won't come back to bite me. My question is, should I start some sort of COMLEX/USMLE plan day 1 of second year? Should I wait? I really have no idea what to do as I've read so many different opinions. Hoping to get some focused advice given my current situation. Thanks a ton.

Focus on classes. Are you guys systems based or traditional curriculum?

We were traditional, and a ton of first year material gets repeated over and over in second year. I maintained my focus on classes up until my dedicated time. I started uworld in January, but only did questions that corresponded with classes. Watched pathoma along with classes.

Started Kaplan the August of second year, but again just with classes. Building a strong foundation the first two years is key.

Also, taking the summer off was the best thing you could have done! I didn't do a single thing that summer and it was amazing

 

[yanks26dmb]

Good for you for taking the summer off! Smart choice.

I think it's good to go through the sections of USMLE review as you study the concepts in your classes. I don't see any benefit in reading ahead. So for example if you're doing GI pathology, study a few of the GI questions in the review book. Just read them to familiarize yourself with what's important or comes up a lot. That way you'll get less bogged down in the minutiae.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. What USMLE review text are you referring to? FA?

 

[yanks26dmb]

Focus on classes. Are you guys systems based or traditional curriculum?

We were traditional, and a ton of first year material gets repeated over and over in second year. I maintained my focus on classes up until my dedicated time. I started uworld in January, but only did questions that corresponded with classes. Watched pathoma along with classes.

Started Kaplan the August of second year, but again just with classes. Building a strong foundation the first two years is key.

Also, taking the summer off was the best thing you could have done! I didn't do a single thing that summer and it was amazing

We're systems based and we covered cardio, heme/onc, renal, and pulmonary first year. Going through uworld a little now and its amazing how much I'm struggling on this stuff.

My plan now is to do UWORLD along with classes + read a little bit of FA each day so I've made one pass by winter break. Not sure how effective this will be though..

 

[MelMcT2009]

We're systems based and we covered cardio, heme/onc, renal, and pulmonary first year. Going through uworld a little now and its amazing how much I'm struggling on this stuff.

My plan now is to do UWORLD along with classes + read a little bit of FA each day so I've made one pass by winter break. Not sure how effective this will be though..

Ah yeah a bit of a different story since you guys are systems based! Another thing I did was go through bits of FA as we went through the corresponding areas in class. For example when we learned cardio path I would go through cardio anatomy and phys in FA. That worked really well and helped for both boards and class.

Biochem was a super weak subject for me, so I hit the Kaplan series over spring break, then tackled the pathways by doing 15 minutes each night where I would just sit down and write a pathway. Had all of them learned cold before dedicated this way, and it was pretty low stress since it was just a little bit a day.

Best of luck!

 

[MrWonderful]

Focus on classes until you're 3 months out from your targeted Step 1 date. Then start crushing it. There is diminishing returns if you start too early, because you won't remember everything for boards

 

[DrBeenThere]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. What USMLE review text are you referring to? FA?

Whichever exam is next for you in your endless array of hoops through which to jump.

 

[DrJaySomeday]

We're systems based and we covered cardio, heme/onc, renal, and pulmonary first year. Going through uworld a little now and its amazing how much I'm struggling on this stuff.

My plan now is to do UWORLD along with classes + read a little bit of FA each day so I've made one pass by winter break. Not sure how effective this will be though..

You either go to my school and are in my class or we have the exact same systems second semester... Is you school in a state north of Texas?