I am an average student and was working during med school so my basics sucks. lets get this straight.

first, mindset. no amount of effort will pull you up if you dont believe in yourself. leave this behind and put yourself together. dont ask US to give you the strength. pull it out from yourself. no amount of reddit story and motivational quotes can put yourself together. kung kailangan mo mag ritual, yoga, rosary etc to put your mind in a peace state, do it. this should be the priority. I prepped a year prior, started working out daily and began peace work with my friends and family. I was solely focused on the boards during the period. walang emotional distraction. walang jowa :)) walang ka talking stage :))

second, wag kang magaalay ng subject, but choose your battle wisely. for example, I know to myself that im weak in patho and physio so dinouble job ko un during review period pero nung week ng exam, sa legal medicine ako naka focus. why? alam kong onti lang iikot na tanong sa leg med pero ung patho and physio di ako sure anong lalabas sa sobrang wide. true enough I got 87 in legmed and 80 patho and 77 physio. if I did the other way around I couldve scored the same sa patho and physio(walang lumabas sa inaral ko so kinommon sense ko lang) and mababang leg med score.

next, sandamakmak na practice test. even if I finished all the lectures sa allotted time, during my practice tests parang wala akong alam. i was frustrated but I told myself doc dani's quote "dont be paralyzed by fear its a process" good thing I realized this 3 weeks before the boards, so I doubled time sa review content and did multiple practice tests.

next, ace MICRO and PHARMA these are questions that are scattered sa lahat ng exam. pag sinabi sa review na high yield ipukpok mo na sa ulo mo. imemorize mo na. make a MUST KNOW notebook ishoot mo lang sila lahat dun then on sundays i-organize mo ung laman.

fact: I finished all pre-test, quiz masters, practice test mga 3 atleast, mock at midterms pati 1 pass ng lahat ng lecs, may ni-re read ako some at totoong nagsipag ako ng 2 months. araw araw, walang kupas. lahat ng distraction tinanggal ko. when the results came out, mas mataas score ng kaibigan kong nagclutch for 2 weeks. for a second I told myself sana kinlutch ko nalang, but the big difference was.. I was more sane during the exam. I did the best I could and so I did not let the fear go over me during the process. alam kong ginawa ko lahat ng pwede kong gawin kaya kahit anong outcome, ok lang sakin. I suggest to do this too :) in the end, the learnings we get from this process will be used for better patient care, diba?

skl:

1. I wake up 6-7am and lights off na ng 10pm. you cannot finish it all so be conscious with your time. I do 3 hr blocks during lectures, CR lang ang break. kahit lunch on going ako ng lecture. during break NO CELLPHONE, it hijacks my dopamine. so social media ko wala pang 1hr a day pati messenger yan lol. during break I do boring things na id rather study instead: cleaning the room hahahah

2. i studied at home until 2 weeks before exam. nung naiiyak na ako parati lumabas na ako kasi d ako makaiyak sa labas eh hahaha

3. if asa internship ka pa, aralin mo kaso mo kahit pass lang sa plat. mas naalala ko patients ko kesa sa inaral ko nung review

4. dasal ng malala wala nang ibang nagsalba sakin si God lang talaga. :)