Studying for COMLEX and Step 1 before med school

[TrustMeImAProctor]

Any advice on prep for these exams before I start med school? I got accepted pretty early in this app cycle (not trying to flex, just stating the situation) and I just recently lost my job because of COVID-19 so I'm just trying to find some way to be productive with my newfound free time until I start school in August

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[Rogue42]

Yeah, don't.

 

[Oligodinero]

If you're a gunner, your time would be better spent studying for gross anatomy (if you take it in the fall semester). Trying to study for boards before you understand the material will be a huge waste of time.
Another option would be to subscribe to Sketchy and start watching the videos so you're familiar with the material.

-but honestly, just enjoy the free time you have now, because you won't have much once class starts this fall.

 

[deleted936470]

if you want to start early, get really good at using anki and setting it up to maximize efficiency.

once you're finished, maybe play some video games or go outside or something

 

[Prehealth1011]

Complete waste of time. You need to be under med school pressure/environment to put two and two together. It won't make sense to you now. Just take our word for it.

Netflix. Chill. Video games. These are high yield for you right now.

 

[Lanhaines Elsetion]

You would be wasting your time that can be spent on other forms of productivity. Try to relax before med school and if you must be productive, volunteering/research right now may be useful to save time building your CV during med school.

If you're worried about your first few classes then at the most, just review relevant topics a few weeks before starting or start looking through the lectures a few days before class to get familiar with things. For example, if your first class is biochem, look over some metabolic pathways, B vitamins, etc. a week before school starts.

There is plenty of time to study for boards once school starts.

 

[deleted859689]

r/medicalschoolanki

r/medicalschoolanki: Reddit for Anki in medical school and beyond

www.reddit.com

Get the Anking deck. Set it up, suspend all your cards. Watch these videos The AnKing

Learn how to use and set up Anki. Granted, there will probably be those in med school more than willing to help. Other than this, starting studying early is up to you. A lot of people don't recommend it, since you will literally have no free time in medical school. I'm literally not doing anything other than working, so I just review biochem and sketchy micro in my free time. No more than 1 hour a day.

 

[Goro]

Any advice on prep for these exams before I start med school? I got accepted pretty early in this app cycle (not trying to flex, just stating the situation) and I just recently lost my job because of COVID-19 so I'm just trying to find some way to be productive with my newfound free time until I start school in August

My advice is to not do this, it's stupid.

 

[JSReed]

Different strokes and all that but like...beyond downloading the anki app and understanding the app, there's not really much to do. I find most people use anking/zanki/whatever other premade deck (rather than making their own), so don't even really need that too much.

Sucks that you're stuck inside but there are still better options. Read about political economy. Learn to do a handstand. Run 60 miles a week for 2 months. Sleep 19 hours a day. All better options than studying for step rn. If sdn tells you that you're doing too much...

 

[snowcrawler85]

No................ if you want to study start with gross anatomy if you finish learning everything in Netter then move on to biochemistry, and learn everything there is to know about biochem. This will not only help you first year but biochem is huge part of boards.

 

[bigindian4891]

Classic SDN. You guys really recommended doing anki to an M-0...

 

[Fat_Albert]

Damn, you gunning for a “Pass”

 

[CoomassieBlue57]

As others have said already, don't study before starting medical school. You can't passively study for medical school by going over some stuff here and there.

You need the pressure of a a 7:00am exam Thursday, it's currently Monday morning, there's a lecture Tuesday that's going to be on the exam, but you've otherwise only been through the material one time, you have an exam in another class at the end of today that you just finished studying for, there's another quiz Tuesday plus anatomy lab, oh and you have a mandatory interdisciplinary health and wellness lecture and OMM lab Wednesday, so good luck finding time to get through that Anki deck by Thursday.

 

[DameJulie]

You need the pressure of a a 7:00am exam Thursday, it's currently Monday morning, there's a lecture Tuesday that's going to be on the exam, but you've otherwise only been through the material one time, you have an exam in another class at the end of today that you just finished studying for, there's another quiz Tuesday plus anatomy lab, oh and you have a mandatory interdisciplinary health and wellness lecture and OMM lab Wednesday, so good luck finding time to get through that Anki deck by Thursday.

Omg that sounds so much like my school...yes that's med school for you. Quiz/lab/mandatory/exams happening everyday

 

[Dr. Basketball]

Nobody throw anything at me but I did lightly review topics I was not strong on in First Aid(Biochem/Genetics) before med school and it helped me quite a bit. But I like that sort of thing and was bored out of my mind. I'm a non-trad and needed to do something.

I have seen a lot of suggestions for studying anatomy which is great. I would just note for OP to check to see what kind of anatomy the school gives. What we have or had I should say(pre-COVID-19) was really a watered down version of anatomy. No lab practicals, no dissections. So I think if that is what your school does; anatomy would probably not be the best use of your time unless it is completely new to you. Or if you just love it then focus on clinical anatomy instead of purely gross. Just a thought.
Good luck and congrats!

 

[Dr. Basketball]

As others have said already, don't study before starting medical school. You can't passively study for medical school by going over some stuff here and there.

You need the pressure of a a 7:00am exam Thursday, it's currently Monday morning, there's a lecture Tuesday that's going to be on the exam, but you've otherwise only been through the material one time, you have an exam in another class at the end of today that you just finished studying for, there's another quiz Tuesday plus anatomy lab, oh and you have a mandatory interdisciplinary health and wellness lecture and OMM lab Wednesday, so good luck finding time to get through that Anki deck by Thursday.

That's crazy. I will think twice about complaining about my school schedule again

About your comment. I will say that you are mostly right when it comes to brute memorization. But I think creating a mnemonic that will be easy to come back to will save a lot of time in the future, if mnemonics are your thing. For me, I draw non-sense pictures to remember different pathways and looking back takes a quick glance and is a big time saver. But I guess it depends on how you study. Just my 2 cents.

 

[deleted1005514]

Learn adulting skills you might be missing: cooking, laundry, time & money management, vehicle maintenance, household repairs. Start a meal prepping routine, an exercise routine, and a cleaning routine. Get in really good physical shape, and work on your mental & spiritual health. Read books for fun, take up a hobby you’ve been wanting to try, or work on a language.

 

[Chibucks15]

Blatantly a troll cmon. Just the right amount of bragging no one would actually do (the early app cycle thing). Paired with a questions asked a billion times on here guaranteed to get a reaction. Basic formula or the another example about how M0s are naive idiots 2/3rds of the time