2013

I tend to hate New Years Eve. Its usually filled with some combination of disappointment, boring parties, and  signals the upcoming end of my holidays. This year's party was so enjoyable that I thought the tide had changed.

Nope.

On New Year's day, I wrote an NBME test to gauge my estimated USMLE Step 1 score. The results were abysmal. Even in topics I had been studying for weeks, I was below average. I spent more than an hour just panicking. Keep in mind, I have a similar exam that needs to be taken in 10 days that my school has deemed mandatory. Furthermore, I am not allowed to write the Step 1 until I pass that exam.

I made a plan. *Cue training montage*

1) Since writing tests appeared to be my biggest weakness, I would do practice questions every day. This is something I tried to implement weeks ago, but the test results were consistently in the range of 50%, and my ego couldn't take that day after day, sooooo I stopped writing them altogether. Yes, I'm apparently not immune to the "if I ignore it, it'll obviously go away" thought process.

2) Finish my study of physiology, which although slow, was taught by the only educator I can rightfully call a teacher in the last 2 years. I have been instructed by many doctors and professors, and while many have been decent educators in their own right and built the stepping stones, only Dr Wazir Kudrath was able to take those stones and build a path. Its unfortunate that this will likely be his last semester teaching UMBR at ross, and even more unfortunate that he is unable to teach in Dominica, where his approach to basic science is needed.

3) Begin studing a combination of the pharmacology out of First Aid (2011) that I have yet to approach. Other students have suggested that First Aid covers all the pharmacology that shows up on Step 1. Dr Kudrath had already covered cardiovascular, renal, respiratory, and neurological pharmacology, but there are additional drugs in each of those respective fields that weren't covered due to limited time. I will add oncology and clotting cascade drugs to go over, as I feel they are important for future use. Finally, I want to review my antimicrobial pharmacology. I have studied these in the past, and I've heard recommendations that antimicrobial pharmacology is best studied in tandem with microbiology, but the limited time means that might not be possible before the Comp.

*I'm just going to interject with a note about how I got another flat tire due to a piece of broken glass, and if I find you throwing glass out of your car, I'm going to find you and make you eat it.

4) My weakest subject by far is pathology. Pathology questions are the largest percentage of questions on the comp and Step 1 (close to 25%), and my score is abysmal in it. I'm not sure what resource to utilize, as going over the entirety of pathology in ~7 days seems impossible. Especially when it involves a 600 page study guide like Rapid Review (compared to THE textbook on pathology, the fabled 1400 page Robbins & Cotran's Pathologic Basis of Disease). I've had friends recommend Pathoma videos, and while I find it somewhat scarce in details and inappropriate for the Step 1, it might do well enough for the Comp. They are pricey, however.

5) Even if I pass the Comp, my estimate of writing the text near the middle of March is going to be pushed back till the end of April. On the plus side, I'll have an excuse to move back to Toronto right as it starts warming up.

6) I'll make adjustments to my Comp date in order to reach my target score of 250. Yeah, 250. If your going to aim, might as well aim high. Unless there's an orphanage at the top of a hill or something.  

*Addendum: actually, my weakest subject is more rightfully anatomy, but it is long, detailed, and has very few questions show up on the Step 1, so while I do plan to master it in the near future....it can wait till April.