FAQs Study Strategies USMLE

Dear friends,

I'm posting some study strategies that WILL help you in your preparation for the USMLE. These are based on information from various sources, including the internet and from my experiences in studying.

In my opinion, there are a few important questions that can be asked during prep for any exam or any study for that matter. I'll list the questions first and then the answers to them. See which question answers your problem and go to its answer.

1. I know I should study for the USMLE, but I can't study either because I don't find studying interesting, or I don't have enough motivation/will/drive to study hard. What should I do? (If you are not studying even half the available time, or if you have studied for more than a year and yet not taken Step-1, or taken the test and failed once, or if you graduated from med school long time back, or if you didn't study well in your med school, then you need to see this answer)

2. I have a problem in understanding some Kaplan books, especially Pathology and Pharmacology. What should I do?

3. I studied many times, yet I forget things, and I don't think I'll remember everything on the day of the exam. Are there any effective and efficient methods for review and recall?

4. What are best strategies for practising questions?

5. I understood well the subjects, and even remember them quite well - actually everything is at my finger tips, yet I'm scoring less than 70 on the Kaplan Q bank. Can you fix it?

6. How should I plan my study for the Step-1?

Motivation through Group Study

Following my last blog, I'll discuss how one can get motivated through group study: (This article applies mainly to people who are irregular in studying or find it difficult or uninteresting to study alone, but even others can derive quite some benefit)

The exam USMLE is a common enemy for us - all exam takers. By studying in a group, every member's score rises than otherwise. When we look at the exam and about 20,000 people who take the USMLE every year, the chances of our own group members becoming our competitors are miniscule. This is the basis of primitive man hunting in groups.

0) What are the advantages of group study?

- Your study and progress is guaranteed
- You achieve your full potential, and even more!
- Studying becomes interesting, actually you enjoy it!
- You make some good friends for life!

1) What is the ideal group size?

2 is minimum. 3 is optimum. If there are only two members, it is easier to coordinate and may be faster to study. But there is an inherent weakness in this. If one doesn't come on a day, the study will stop that day, and both lose. But if there are 3 people, even if one doesn't come, the study continues. This forces every member to come regularly.


2) How do I choose my group members?

All the members should take the exam within a given time frame, give and take a month or so.
Try to choose members with similar caliber as yours, a little less or more. But there should not be much difference. If someone is too fast, the other members can't keep up. And the same way, if someone is too slow, the entire group is slowed down. Even if you can't choose this way, take any member available. Some member is better than no member.


3) What are the methods of group study?

Ever member should read the same subject and the same book(s) (e.g. Kaplan) .

If you have adequate time, say 6 full months, you can study this way, the most basic method: Each group member, in turns, reads aloud a paragraph while others look into their books. Then, it is discussed and continued to the next paragraph and so on.

As you go on, you can advance to topic wise reading. You choose to study a particular topic in a particular chapter (e.g. Loop Diuretics from the Diuretics chapter in CVS Pharmacology). Each member studies on his own, recalls it in his mind and after everyone finishes, one of you will recall it aloud. Any clarifications and discussions can be made at this stage. Then you continue to the next topic. This method is the best because it combines individual study with group study at the same time.

As you advance in your group study, you can do the above with a chapter (e.g. Diuretics) instead of a topic, a section (e.g. CVS Pharmacology) in a book instead of a chapter, or even a subject instead of a section!

Let me know what you think about my article (based on my own experiences and insight into group study).

Good Luck with your group study!

-Bfn,
Subhas.

Motivation 1, USMLE

If your question is the one below, go on reading.

1. I know I should study for the USMLE, but I can't study either because I don't find studying interesting, or I don't have enough motivation/will/drive to study hard. What should I do?

(If you are not studying even half the available time, or if you have studied for more than a year and yet not taken Step-1, or taken the test and failed once, or if you graduated from med school long time back, or if you didn't study well in your med school, then you need to see this answer)

Answer: First of all, we should change our thinking. Nothing great in the world was achieved without hard work. No invention and discovery in our world, which we take for granted, was achieved without hard work. Thomas Alva Edison tried 3,000 materials before he tried Tungsten for the light bulb filament. He never stopped trying until he reached his goal. When somebody asked him what he learnt after his 3,000th failure in finding a filament, he retorted that he has found 3,000 ways that a light bulb filament can't be made. It was he who said, 'Genius is 99% perspirtion and 1% inspiration'.Things will be difficult at first, but later on, as we keep working, they get easier and easier, and even interesting.

We should think of the long term goals that we can achieve if we clear the USMLE. Always keeping those long term goals, which we cherish, in our minds, we should doggedly pursue USMLE preparation. That goal can be anything. It can be to have a good wife/husband and family, to make our parents happy, to buy an expensive car and a house, to achieve something in medicine or any other field.

Each step (1,2ck) of the USMLE, for a person with above average intelligence, and who has studied barely enough to survive at medical school, takes atleast 6 months of full time preparation (12 hours a day with one day off a week) to get his/her full potential. It may be 75 or 80 or 90 or 99. For someone who is of average or below average intelligence, it takes still longer.

Coming back to interest, USMLE can be actually interesting - if you try mastering one topic at a time. For example, if you want to study Anti-Microbial Drugs, ask yourself, 'What are the various drugs(groups) that kill these microbes and how do they act? What specific organisms does each drug kill and what is its toxicity?' If you actively read with these questions in mind, you'll find it interesting, and at the end you know the answers to your questions.

Challenge it! Ask yourself whether you are the master or USMLE. And act accordingly.

If you can't study at home because you are distracted, choose a library or Kaplan where you find little distractions. Study in that place almost all the time, and associate that place with study.

If after all this, you are not yet motivated, choose a study partner and study with him/her - both doing the same topic. More about this later.

Bfn,
Subhas.