Schedule for People with Short Attention Spans

This is a Step 1 study "schedule" for people who don't like to rigidly plan every moment of what they will be studying. It still requires discipline, but has you change the topic you are studying whenever you want, rather than most schedules which lay out x weeks per topic, x pages per day of First Aid, etc. The biggest advantage of this approach is that you can focus tightly on your weaknesses, rather than just giving more days for sections you think you are weak in.

-Forrest Monroe, Class of 2013

Dedicated study period:

1. Treat this like a full-time job. Get up early, have a good breakfast. Have dedicated space set aside for your study materials. If you can't focus at home, go to the library, a coffee shop, or wherever you can. Spend (at least) 40 hours per week studying. Give yourself a lunch break too. Depending on your family obligations and how much you need to prepare (base this assessment off of your grades and CBSE score), you may be able to or need to spend evenings and weekends studying as well.

   1. Note that if you only do this on weekdays during the dedicated study period, you will only get through about 1,000-1,500 questions, which is at the bottom end of how many you should do. For that reason, I recommend starting early to avoid this..

2. Questions, questions, questions

   1. You should do a full block of questions every morning (46 questions) in timed test mode. Use all topic areas for each exam (random questions). Once you are done, review the questions, both correctly and incorrectly answered. Keep a list as you go of principles and facts you did not understand already or from the explanation of the question - keep them moderately specific, e.g. "pulmonary cell types," "Sarcoidosis," and "ARDS" rather than just "Pulmonary disease"

   2. Spend most of the rest of the day studying the topics you selected. Use whatever resources you have - Review books, textbooks, UpToDate, or just Google. Probably start with review books, since those will give you a brief summary of what you need to know. I would recommend First Aid, BRS Physiology, Goljan Rapid Review Pathology, and Microbiology Made Ridiculous Simple.

3. Topics for memorizing

   1. Some things do not lend themselves well to "understanding" - they just have to be memorized. Set aside about 2 hours in the afternoon (or less if you're solid on these topics) to memorize stuff. This is a good time to take some flashcards and go for a walk (just try not to get hit by a car). For me these topics included:

      1. Pharmacology - Pharmcards. I have heard you should remove cards for drugs not in First Aid.

      2. Biochemistry - Know the pathways, cofactors, and defects like the back of your hand. I'm still not sure the best way to do this, but I found drawing out the pathways to be helpful.

      3. Microbiology - especially matching bug names to toxins. MicroCards are pretty good.

      4. Anatomy - not really my strong suit, and honestly I mostly avoided studying it. I'd recommend trying one of the well-reviewed anatomy books from the back of First Aid.

4. Goljan Audio

   1. Yes, it's getting rather outdated and some of what he says is wrong. However, it's still pretty good for helping you to understand pathophysiology. Just put the podcasts on your iPod and listen to them while you go shopping, make dinner, exercise, etc.

5. If you study in the evening, (which is probably a good idea, but I didn't so that I could have family time) do another 10-20 questions, review them, and add topics to your study list.

Using this strategy before the dedicated study period:

I started studying in the dedicated period, and spent about 3 weeks. I had intended to start early (in DEMS) but I didn't get down to it because the fixed topic schedule that everyone else seemed to use didn't work for me at all. So, I'm not really sure how well this adapts to studying during blocks, but I'd advise the following:

1. Do 10 questions (timed) every night, but only in areas you have already studied. Keep a study list just like above, and read up on 1-3 of them after doing questions.

2. When you're studying for an exam, just do questions in that content area and refresh your memory on things you got wrong. Regardless, do questions.