Systems Courses & How To Study
My program incorporated Musculoskeletal, Cardiovascular, and Respiratory systems into 1st year.
- 2nd year systems (in order) were: Renal, Heme/Onc, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Endocrine, Reproductive, and Psychiatry/Behavioral health.
This blog post is about how you study for your systems and pass them.. NOT how to do board preparation. Dedicated study time for boards looks very different than passing your classes.
Schedule:
the first few weeks of a system, I would watch Boards & Beyond videos in addition to Pathoma videos. Watch the videos while you take notes in the Pathoma book.
I actually took my Pathoma and First Aid to Office Depot and had them cut off the bindings then 3-hole punch all of it. It was then put into a large binder for easier access. see picture
B&B and Pathoma should be on everyone's computer! If you can't afford it, ask a friend to split the cost.
1 week or 2 weeks into a system, I would use UWorld and do practice questions on that subject. I started with 5-10 questions at a time in the beginning, because it was difficult to get a good flow going. Review each question as you go and realize why you got them correct or incorrect. My total per day of questions during the week ranged between 30-60.
UWorld is the single best resource a medical student can use when preparing for USMLE Step 1 and COMLEX Level 1.
On weekends, I would do blocks of 20 questions at a time on that subject for a total of at least 80-100.
On Sunday's I would open up the questions on UWorld to include the current system + old subjects already studied.
ANNOTATE. ANNOTATE. ANNOTATE.
Write your notes in your own words in the margins. Create flow charts, diagrams, etc. Whatever works for you to memorize a subject. A lot of people like flash cards.. I was not one of those people. I like to draw things out. I am a visual learner. Use this link to discover what kind of learner you are!
