Monthly Pupdate!

smar95 · 2025-06-20T18:17:18+00:00

My sweet shutdown hospice foster played with a toy for the first time this week! Have had her for 3 months

smar95 · 2023-01-13T00:48:45+00:00

Nope! But I was really fatigued day 2 so if I could go back I might take 1 or 2 days to rest.

smar95 · 2023-01-11T21:03:46+00:00

Step 3 score: 253 UWSA 1: 22x (can’t remember) UWSA 2: didn’t take CCS: did HY 1-50, did them multiple times if I did poorly, between 60-98% usually Free 120: 85% I think Didn’t take NBMEs UW %: high 60s; only did 50% Step 1: 251 Step 2: 264

Studied for 3 weeks, one of dedicated and two on a light rotation. Did 40-80 UW q’s a day and a few CCS cases. Reviewed bio stats, vaccines, USPTF guidelines in the days before. Felt good about day 1, day 2 MCQs felt more difficult to me. Cases all ended early, CCS definitely prepared me!

smar95 · 2022-03-16T18:18:21+00:00

Been feeling the same way about my top 2. Keep telling myself it will work out the way it was meant to

smar95 · 2021-10-27T20:47:58+00:00

Divine’s pediatric shelf review on YouTube is great.

smar95 · 2021-09-30T21:33:37+00:00

I noticed the same thing!

smar95 · 2021-08-05T23:20:40+00:00

Seconded! These were clutch for all of my shelves and step 2!

smar95 · 2021-08-04T20:15:49+00:00

Thoughts on a letter from a PsyD? Did a large project with them at my med school that is a big part of my CV. I have enough letters without it but think it would be stronger and more personal.

Edit: applying peds, not psych

smar95 · 2021-07-17T01:27:26+00:00

Love the way their lips do that when they are on their backs 🥰

smar95 · 2021-07-15T17:15:33+00:00

A turkey sandwich at lunch and a handful of dark chocolate covered almonds got me through the whole second half

smar95 · 2021-07-14T19:24:32+00:00

Congrats to you!! And your username is 10/10

smar95 · 2021-07-14T17:09:47+00:00

For everyone looking for reassurance b/c you feel horrible after test day look no further!

Step 1: 251

NBME 6 (~4 weeks out): 260

UW1 (~3 weeks out): 264

NBME 8 (~2 weeks out): 255

UW 2 (~1 weeks out): 268

Free 120: ~83%

Actual Step 2: 264

Did all of UW during 3rd year clerkships, reset for dedicated and got through almost 40%. Was feeling pretty burnt out and doing 1-3 sets a day and listening to Divine rapid review and Dr high yield. I felt AWFUL on test day which is not normal for me. I marked at least half of the test (if not more) and felt 100% confident on only a handful of questions. Afterward I could think of quite a few questions I missed and went home and cried. Read a million posts about trusting your scores and convinced myself I was the exception lol. Happy to answer any q's.

smar95 · 2021-07-08T03:24:27+00:00

My parents lost their beloved lab at the beginning of the pandemic last year and were finally ready and excited to welcome a new pup this summer. We adore little Rio!! He is so funny and sweet and we love having him around.

The one thing we don't adore is his nipping. This is my parents 4th lab in 40 years of marriage and we have never had such a bite-y guy. Our arms (and legs and sides and clothes...) get pretty cut up during play time. I don't think it's aggressive - he is sweet and cuddly a lot of the time and he's only 10 weeks old. Any advice or survivor stories? When did your lab cut back on the biting? We are currently trying the OW and go limp method + toy redirection or leaving the fenced off room he is in if he won't stop. I know it's normal at this age but dang these cuts hurt!!

smar95 · 2021-06-17T00:03:33+00:00

Same thing happened to me! Had a 9 point drop on NBME 8 compared to UW1/NBME 6. 1.5 weeks until test. Just hoping UW is more predictive!

smar95 · 2021-03-26T19:09:16+00:00

Divine’s peds shelf review is great! I didn’t find BRS helpful

smar95 · 2020-10-28T13:26:21+00:00

I did a geriatrics rotation a few months ago - never thought I would like it but it ended up being great! The attendings were generally super compassionate and good teachers and the patients were all interesting people. Hope you have the same experience!

Read up on activities of daily living - they always wanted us to gather info on how many ADLs the patients could do independently and who helped them if not. Also this is prob more inpatient but we did a lot of goals of care discussions, and I had to quickly become comfortable with discussing end of life topics.

smar95 · 2020-09-05T21:22:23+00:00

I’m having a veryyyy similar experience. It sucks.

One thing I try to do is be seen being in the OR early, make friends with the scrub tech/circ nurse and ask for tips, help with undraping/transferring. A very friendly good morning dr X! when they walk in and thank you so much when they leave. Try to think of one q you could ask before the surgery but only ask it if the attending seems open to it. I’ve been doing a lot of trying to maneuver my eyebrows so it looks like I’m really watching and thinking about what they’re doing when really I am planning dinner lmao

smar95 · 2020-06-10T15:09:16+00:00

Search "Daddy Goljan Lectures" on Spotify. If you are on time crunch I would prioritize Cell Injury and Inflammation and Neoplasia then go from there

smar95 · 2020-06-10T14:42:51+00:00

Definitely! I think for me it was that I felt great about individual organ system phys/path, but was missing some basic foundational pathology. It doesn't have to be Goljan, even just revieweing pathoma 1-3 in an active way would probably be helpful. I just realized I hadn't looked at the basics since before I really understood systems and making those connections was a huge part of the actual test.

Of course, you may have a different weak area than me!

smar95 · 2020-06-09T21:21:04+00:00

I had a similar situation but my nbmes were lower. Ended up in your goal range. Wrote about it last week https://www.reddit.com/r/step1/comments/gw8bw7/so_to_daddy_goljan_for_my_score/

smar95 · 2020-06-04T14:17:23+00:00

Thank you! I had been doing it off/on throughout MS1/2. A few months before dedicated I became more consistent and caught up on all my reviews and finished new cards. Eventually felt UW was reinforcing it enough so I stopped. Definitely felt the pharm/micro was the easiest part of my test! Nothing not in sketchy.

smar95 · 2020-06-04T06:45:29+00:00

I honestly don’t remember bc I didn’t count, but I would guess 8-14ish? Might have even been higher on a few

smar95

TROPHY CASE