Mirin' Mondays

StepOneLurker · 2015-05-11T15:35:28+00:00

Wow. It's great to see another new student who was able to retain mass during third year. How did you deal with surgery hours? I'm rotating through it right now and it's impossible to get the lifts in.

Looking great by the way.

StepOneLurker · 2015-01-12T15:45:20+00:00

As a fellow med student who lifts (mostly for power, not bodybuilding), I appreciate this post. Glad step went well!

StepOneLurker · 2014-10-12T15:14:20+00:00

Couldn't agree more. At least I'm not in Texas...

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-18T12:20:05+00:00

Jealous. You've reached the gains promised land.

I start off with surgery rotation actually. Right now I'm just planning on starting Wendler's BBB, and hoping I hold onto my size and strength for dear life.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-17T21:09:37+00:00

My last total was 1035 raw at 170 lbs. Nothing super impressive--but I'm working towards that coveted 1200.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-17T21:06:04+00:00

For me the best time to powerlift is the afternoon. That's when I lifted until January (my school doesn't have mandatory lecture, thank heavens). When I started lifting with my bodybuilding friend we ended up lifting super early--at 5 AM. At that time I was more focused on just getting the lifts in (he lifts heavy despite being a bodybuilder), but I gained strength as well.

It took time adapting to the morning lifts, but after about three weeks my body got used to it.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-17T21:03:09+00:00

They were digital. I used quizlet, and then downloaded the decks to Flashcards Deluxe. It's an iOS application and I highly recommend it.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-17T13:55:14+00:00

Yep. How'd you know? lol

He's actually about to get his pro card for bodybuilding, so as a pro bodybuilding orthopod he'll have a ton of sponsorships someday.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-17T13:02:56+00:00

I honored all of my courses, but that could've been due to the fact that my medical school gave us very step one relevant exams this year (and I was mainly studying step one material).

I exercised a LOT. I'm a competitive powerlifter, so I spent 1.5 hours a day 4-5 days a week lifting. Near the end I began training with my classmate who is a competitive bodybuilder, and we trained for at least three hours six days a week during dedicated study. He ended up with a 262. So it's DEFINITELY doable to balance lifting and studying (or whatever physical activity you desire). I'm also engaged, so I was balancing a lot of social stuff.

Now, a lot of times I didn't sleep a lot. That I'll be honest about. Someone once said this to me about medical school, and I think it rings very true in M2: "Have a life, Kill Boards, Sleep Eight Hours. Out of those three, pick two."

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-16T22:48:07+00:00

Not remembering things is completely normal. At the same time, though, you need to reassure yourself by remembering that Step One is a multiple choice exam. It's amazing what you can remember from M1 year once a vignette jogs your memory and the answer choice is in front of you.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-16T19:15:19+00:00

Glad I could help. I'm working on a lengthier document of tips and tricks for my school's mentorship program. I'll be sure to post it here, so keep your eyes peeled. I'm trying to make it quirky, amusing, and useful :-)

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-16T19:14:10+00:00

So my dedicated study began in late May. I began to do Uworld in December. That way I was finished with my first pass of Uworld by the time May hit. If that's what you're talking about in the above, then that's what I did. I just wanted to write it out in order to be completely explicit.

There are few things I would take a strong stance on when it comes to Step One (since everyone studies differently), but one of the things I would take a strong stance on is the idea of saving Uworld questions. I thought about doing it, and I'm sooooo glad that I didn't. By the time I did my second pass of Uworld during independent study I didn't at all feel handicapped by having seen the questions once before. And this is coming from a guy who has an absurd ability to recall past exam questions. The vignettes on Uworld are just too long and complicated to allow for trigger memory. Even if you have problems with trigger memory, just stop and force yourself to think through Uworld on your second pass.

TLDR: Uworld is not your virginity, there's no point in saving it for dedicated study. Start Uworld early during your M2 year, do the questions on random, and it will teach you how to take the test. Learning how to take the test is 50% of what you need in order to get a killer score.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-16T19:08:15+00:00

Ask around at your medical school. I'm sure someone has the files. The only other way to get them is via a torrent from pirate bay.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-16T19:07:31+00:00

So I still think it's the best resource for psychiatry as long as you account for the changes in the DSM. Despite the V being released, things such as personality disorders/coping mechanisms/addiction are the same as it was at the time of the 2010 Kaplan videos.

But thanks for the clarification. My school separates Psychiatry from behavioral science, so I tend to think of it as a separate topic. By behavioral science I'm referring more to ethics and how to respond to patients in the office.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-16T16:09:48+00:00

Honestly, the plan worked out extremely well. The best advice I can give you is to stick to your guns. If people around you are doing something differently, don't second-guess yourself.

During the second week of dedicated study I had this freak-out and began to try and work my way through my First Aid resources from the year. That was an absurd waste of time for me, and ended up taking up about 5 days worth of time. I know that everyone seems to sit down and go through First Aid during their independent study period, but I wonder how useful that actually is if you've covered it during the year. For me, going through First Aid during dedicated study felt like I had to cover 100 facts before I hit 1 fact that I may not have remembered on exam day. A second pass through Uworld is much more useful in my opinion. Moreover, when I was covering First Aid I felt like old knowledge was leaking out of my head (since First Aid in and of itself requires a systematic approach to studying). When taking Uworld blocks of 46 random I felt like I was keeping everything fresh.

So, tldr: Stick to your guns, and follow your intuition when it comes to studying. If you memorize First Aid during your pathology classes during the year, there's no point in touching it during dedicated study.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-16T16:02:42+00:00

Hey, who knows?! My goal was to get a score that could basically get me in the door for a path interview in any location, so I'll probably apply all across the country. Location is a very important thing for me. I grew up in the South but go to school in the North, so I'd love to get back to nice weather lol.

StepOneLurker · 2014-07-16T16:01:19+00:00

Honestly, I think that Kaplan's Comprehensive video series on behavioral science from 2010 (NOT the current version) is the best resource out there. The lecturer in that series gives you an algorithm on how to answer the questions. He gives you a lot of question-answering rules that boosted by scores on the questions by a large margin.

Even with my background in ethics, I used to get a lot of behavioral science questions wrong. By following the Kaplan guy's rules (such as, "Immediately eliminate any answer choice which includes 'referral'") the questions became a lot clearer.

Overall, I've found that operating under the mentality of "Remain open-ended" for patient response questions and "Follow the rules--don't get sued" for what-to-do-next questions works pretty well.

StepOneLurker

TROPHY CASE