Step 1 of Step 1

Now that I've had some time to do the things I need to do for Step 1, I've had to make some adjustments.  I'm still trying to keep up with DIT questions and primers because I do think I learn from doing these.  People are rather critical of the DIT questions, but I find them useful.  I'm trying to do 20 questions from UWorld each day and my goal is to go through the QBank once before my dedicated study period.  I am also trying to read ~10 pages of First Aid per day so that when my dedicated study period rolls around and I start doing the DIT video series, I will already be familiar with it.  I haven't been sticking to my schedule because I'm finding that juggling classes with Step 1 studying is harder than I thought, but I've been using this weekend to catch up.  I'm averaging about a ~40% on my UWorld questions which is rather demoralizing, but I'm just starting out, so hopefully that will start going up.  As for First Aid, I don't even know how to annotate the darn thing!  Everyone is like, "annotate it from UWorld", but I'm jumping around so much that I don't find that it's useful to annotate after doing UWorld questions.  Maybe I should just do questions from whatever section I'm reading, but people tell me not to do that because then it gives me a false sense of knowledge.  That said, I think I'm going to try doing one subject at a time rather than all of them because that way I can focus in and see what I suck at and what I...suck less at. ;) Wish me luck and if you've already taken Step 1, I would love to hear some study tips, strategies, and well wishes (from everyone/anyone).  

Step 1: Is this real life?

Step 1 is upon us!   Failing a class this year has made me really nervous for Step 1.  I want to do really well on Step 1 to counteract that failed class.  I've heard that residency directors don't care about 1st and 2nd year grades, especially if you successfully remediate, but I don't quite believe that.  I've been perusing the internet trying to figure out how to study for Step 1, and it's been a little bit tough to find advice that I think is applicable to me.  I've also been hounding all my 3rd year friends with questions about how do balance studying for classes and study for Step 1, what should I do in terms of review courses, Kaplan, DIT, UWorld, First Aid, Review Books, etc.  I basically spent my weekend studying for my current class and figuring out how to study for Step 1.  I decided to post my plan on here because I know people find this blog looking for MCAT study advice, so hopefully I can do well enough that people want to take advice about Step 1 from me.

When I asked my friend for Step 1 advice, she asked, "well what score do you want?"  She didn't mean a vague "I want to crush Step 1" or "I want to pass", legit, "what.score.do.you.want?"  I don't know what I want to do yet, but I don't want to rule anything out (except neuro, and ob/gyn), but I'm interested in specialties like pediatrics (avg 221), emergency medicine (avg 223), , internal medicine (226), pathology (226), surgery (avg 227), and radiology (avg 240).  I know, it's a sundry list, but like I said, I just don't know yet.  The only thing these residencies have in common is that I need to break at least 220, in fact, I should be aiming more for 235-ish, and hope that when it's all over I want to go into pediatrics.  :)   So, goal is set: 235.  Now that I know what I want, I'm going to go out and get it.

I'm using 4 things to study for Step 1 based on everyone's advice/my online research:

1.) First Aid* (Duh)

2.) Pathoma* (I've been using it all year and I love love love it)

3.) UWorld*

4.) Doctors in Training* (heretofore referred to as DIT)

My plan before starting my dedicated study period is: Do ~30 UWorld Questions/Day and annotate the appropriate First Aid sections.  Additionally, DIT sends out 10-15 questions 3x/Week, and so far I've been keeping up with those.  Finally, I am watching the corresponding DIT primer videos for classes and trying to catch up on the ones from prior classes.  All the while, I am still going through Pathoma.

Wish me luck!**

*I have not been paid to advertise for any of these companies.
**For reference, a passing score on Step 1 is now 192.  :-/

New Year, New Me

I'm so excited to write this post because it means that I have passed all my classes (so far)!!  I had to re-take one of my classes, and thank goodness it's over!  It was rough.  I thought I would be able to study for my new class and my remediation exam simultaneously, but I couldn't do that.  So I gave everything I had to my new class, and then when I didn't have anything left, I had to study for my remediation exam.  It sucked, and I don't recommend it.  It's over now.  Now I have to focus on another new class and try to start studying for Step 1.

Failing a class in medical school.

I received notice from my school today. I failed a class. This is the first class I've ever failed in my life. When I got the email, I swore internally, but I wasn't surprised. I was unsure of 40 of my answers on a 90 question test. I hadn't slept the night before and was running on red bull. Truthfully, I got lazy. I got cocky.  Yes, I failed the MCAT, and yes it took me two tries to get into medical school, but I got cocky.  I felt like I could Netflix all I wanted, relax, drink with my friends, go out with the boyfriend and I'd still pass. I wasn't like *those* people. The people who failed, people who weren't smart enough or driven enough. What were they doing? How could they fail a class? This is med school.  Well, this is med school, and I did fail, and I deserved to fail.  I needed to get kicked off my high horse.  I'm in my second year of medical school and I am taking Step 1 this year.  A kick in the pants is what I needed.  Because I don't want to fail Step 1.

So what now?  I didn't wallow; I processed; life went on.  It is what it is.  As for my failure, I have to retake the exam.  

I'm not sure where to start, from the beginning I guess.  I know why I failed. I got lazy and cocky. So now I have to run on all 8 cylinders.  That means, blog hiatus.  It means leaving my phone at home.  It means staying at school for lunch instead of coming home and napping/netflixing. In fact, I'm canceling my Netflix subscription until 2014.  It means going to bed earlier, waking up earlier and doing work...all day.  Listening to pathoma while falling asleep instead of tv.  Listening to pathoma while cooking, getting ready, or eating. Flipping through notecards before bed and first thing in the morning.  Better get started. 

Wish me luck and Happy Thanksgiving!

25 Life Lessons I've Learned in 25 Years

This post was blowing up my facebook newsfeed this morning: 39 Life Lessons I've Learned in 39 Years and apparently the guy got his inspiration from another guy: 38 Life Lessons I've Learned in 28 Years, so taking my inspiration from both of them, here are 25 Life Lessons I've Learned in 25 Years.

Disclaimer: #7 from Jason Wachob is that you should only take advice from experts...so maybe keep that in mind when reading this post because I'm not an expert...in anything. ;)

1. Fall is the prettiest time of year.  This is a fact.
2. The right amount of sleep can be life-changing. 
3. Exercise is the worst.  You also have to do it.
4. Music makes everything better.  
5. Everybody can dance/Dance parties can change your mood.  If your day sucks, just jam out in your car/room.  Full volume.  Brownie points if someone joins you!
6. Kisses are great!  All kinds! We don't kiss as much as we should.  The world would be a better place if there were more forehead kisses, hand kisses, and cheek kisses.  
7. When you're in a bad mood, put some good in the world.
8. Fall in love with someone who makes you better.  I was in love with someone who made me jealous; I would get so jealous that I would be angry.  At everyone. All the time.  Then I met someone who made me want to be better, who inspires me with his kindness, who always did the right thing, and who genuinely put others first.  Fall in love with someone who makes you better. 
9. Don't swear.  It's not professional.  If you do swear, do it when no one is looking and make it an F-bomb.  
10. Don't do something you don't love.  If you have to do something you don't love, it should be on your way to doing something you do love.  How can you tell if you're doing something you love? When you're doing what you love, you don't need sleep; if you need sleep, you're not doing what you love.
11. Anger can be a great motivator, but don't let it consume you.  Channel that break-up sadness to something constructive.
12. Everybody's got something.  We all have our cross to bear, so bear yours and remember that others are bearing theirs.
13. When you're really mad at someone, light a candle for them and when it's burned out, let it go.
14. Don't give homeless people money, give them food, make eye contact, and say God Bless You.  
15. Sometimes, you don't have to say anything, just sit there.  We're taught to do this with patients.  Doctors are bad at it, but it's amazing when you just shut up and listen to someone.  I had a pulm professor who would say "God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason."  
16. Getting drunk is fun.  Getting stupid drunk is stupid. 
17. People will treat you the way you let them treat you.  Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."  There's compassion for others and there's letting people walk all over you.  You matter.  You is kind. You is smart. You is important.
18. Sometimes you just need to do the hermit thing (even if you're an extrovert) just to recharge.
19. Are you who you want to be?  Why the hell not?  Go be that person.
20. What do you want people to say about you?  Is that what they're saying?  If not, you got some 'splaining to do.
21. Find people to admire and to inspire you, surround yourself with them and learn from them. 
22. Inspire others.
23. Waking up is the worst.  Coffee is the best.
24. Forgive. 
25. Everything works out the way it's supposed to.  I believe this one.  Even when it seems like it will never work out.  

How I Failed the MCAT and got into Medical School

Today, one of my friends mailed me an article she had read that helped her construct her USMLE Step 1 study schedule.  I started immediately panicking; this is the most important exam of my career!  Then again, before I was a medical student, the MCAT was the most important exam.  In any case, I felt really grateful for the advice.  Some of my friends are still applying to medical school and some of them are re-taking the MCAT.  I improved my MCAT score from a 25 to a 30 and I got into medical school.  I wasn't a science major and I actually got a C in Chemistry.  If I can do it, you can definitely do it.  I've seen a lot of advice floating around from people who got a 39 or 37, but if you're retaking the MCAT, that's probably not the advice you're after; the people who got 35+ are cray.  In any case, here's some advice for those of you taking the MCAT this year.  I hope it helps! Good Luck! 

1.) On Scheduling:  The first time I took the MCAT I was fresh out of college.  Read: burned out.  It seemed like a good idea at the time because I thought would have organic chemistry and physics fresh in my mind.  Wrong.  After graduation, I was just sad about graduating and distracted by job applications.  The second time I took the MCAT I scheduled about four months to study for it.  I had a full time job so these weren't full study days. 

2.) On Study Materials: Your choice of study materials does matter.  Everybody swears by something different and it is entirely dependent on you.  I have friends who did Kaplan/Princeton and did really well, and others who didn't.  I didn't take a course because it seemed too pricey to me.  I took a Kaplan SAT course in high school and it was a waste of time/money.  If you need structure or you procrastinate, take a course.  If you can self-study, then buy materials and set your own schedule; it's cheaper.  I used ExamKrackers and I think they do a nice job.  People complain about the errors, but every book has errors and it didn't take me very long to correct my books.  I also bought 1001 physics questions from ExamKrackers because I was so terrible at physics I needed all the extra practice I could get. I didn't find the audio osmosis set they sell all that helpful.  If you can learn from listening, then I recommend buying it.  I tend to learn best from reading/highlighting/writing, so listening to the audio when on the treadmill/commuting to work wasn't useful.  I also used the Kaplan MCAT flash cards and I thought these were really useful for biology.   Whatever you use, don't buy it based on reputation or what worked for someone who got a 35+, go look at the material, flip through it and see which is going to work best for you.

3.) Don't mix and match study materials.  I know that I said in #2 that I used Kaplan's flashcards, but companies have different strategies and it's best to just follow one of them.  I know that Princeton recommends skimming for easy questions while ExamKrackers is pretty adamant about going straight through; again, pick which one is going to work best for you and stick to it.

4.) On Practice Exams: Buy yourself all the AAMC practice exams.  I don't know if these are old exams, but they are a good approximation of how you'll do on the exam.  They go for $35 each (or used to) for a year's access.  I think it's worth it.  Buy your study books from half or from the amazon marketplace to save money, and splurge on these--these are a MUST!  

5.) My Study Schedule (for a 16 week block).  I based this off the ExamKrackers at home study schedule, which is 10 weeks.  Since I had already taken the MCAT (and you should at least take a practice exam to see where you're at), I knew that I was strongest in verbal and weakest in physics and structured my studying accordingly.  If you're re-taking, don't waste your time on things you're already good at.  I knew that it wasn't my "physical sciences" that was bad, it was just physics.  And once I focused on that, I could focus on the specific topics in physics that gave me trouble.

Week 1-10 I worked through all the ExamKrackers books, I didn't go through each book individually because after two physics lectures I felt frustrated, so I tried to alternate. Additionally, each subject doesn't have the same number of lectures.  As long as you get through all the material in the books in these 10 weeks, you're good.  I took a practice exam every other week (on Saturday) and took one day off each week.  My work schedule was chaotic so it wasn't always the same day.  This prevents burn out.  I would work from 8-5 pm, take a break for dinner and then study until I finished whatever was on schedule for the day.  It's definitely important to make a schedule and stick to it. 

Week 11-14 Based on how I was doing on the practice tests, I knew what I needed to work on.  Outside of practice exams, I didn't do any verbal, and I spent a lot of time doing physics practice problems and reading for biology.  Biology is mostly memorization of key concepts, whereas physics consists of knowing how to do different types of problems. During these weeks I tried to narrow down what in each subject gave me trouble.  For example, I am good at genetics so I didn't do any punnett squares or pedigrees.  For physics I had trouble with projectile motion so I spent a lot of time doing these problems.  I took a practice exam every week during these four weeks. 

Week 15 and 16 were full-time study, so I took two weeks off work (I had a job in a research laboratory and they had had students before, so they understood my position and I had worked hard enough leading up to my MCAT that they supported me.)
Week 15 I was studying from about 10 am to 6 pm.  I took two exams during the week. Then I would spend time going over biology facts that I had missed, or practicing physics problem.  Then I would spend about 3 hours on the Kaplan Flashcards.  

Week 16 I did a practice exam every day and went through each question (right or wrong) making sure I understood it.  You'll take so many practice tests and you'll eventually have to re-take some.  Don't grade your exams until the last two weeks, otherwise you'll remember the answers.  The computer practice exams are nice because it gives you a score and you don't have to go through the answers.  Taking a practice test every day helped me build up my stamina and made me feel comfortable so that the day of the exam felt like just another day.  

Two days before the exam: I took a practice exam I hadn't taken before and graded it.  I scored a 30 on this exam, which was the score I got on the real MCAT.  Again, I went through every single question making sure I understood it.   

The day before the exam: I made sure I woke up early and worked out really hard so that I would be tired.  I did a few flashcards at bedtime to keep my mind sharp and reviewed some things, but no heavy studying.  I went to bed early, but not so early that I would wake up at 3 am with anxiety.   

The day of the exam: I packed sweet and salty.  I packed water and red bull, a spicy trail mix and a luna bar.  People make a big deal out of what you pack, but really you're not going to be all that hungry.  You'll be out a little after lunch so you don't need to pack a lunch really.  Take all your breaks and make sure to leave the room.  Get your blood pumping and forget the section you just took.  Put it out of your mind.  Move on.  Psych yourself up for the next session.  Plan something fun for that night regardless of how you feel. Go out for a movie or hit up happy hour because you've earned it.  Then plan for a month of anxiety while you wait for scores.  Don't worry about how you feel after the exam, the exam is curved and if you thought a section/passage was hard, it probably was and this will be factored in.  I thought I had done worse than the first time, but I actually hadn't, so take heart!  Good luck!

Wake Forest Reject

It's happened.  The first rejection of the season.  :(

No secondary application here, which on the bright side: no secondary application!

I'm a glass is half full kind of girl...that is of course unless I don't get in to medical school...