As you can see from the previous two posts, our final papers have been submitted and the semester is all wrapped up. This semester was a tough one. I took four courses all at once: our usual pathology blocks with Introduction to Clinical Medicine II, Health Policy, and Clinical Epidemiology on top. ICM this year meets from 3:30pm to 6pm on Mondays, which makes for a long day on campus. Health Policy met on Tuesday afternoons for a couple hours, and Clin Epi class began at 2pm and ended at 3:20pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Only a fourth of my classmates had their Health and Human Services perspective (mine being Health Policy) this semester, while the rest of the class takes it in the spring. Although it was an exhausting fall term (calendar, anyone?), I am glad to have it all passed and behind me. Spring term is the beginning of studying for our Step 1 Board Examination, so I spent a good 2 hours before Christmas outlining my study schedule, researching companies for question banks (affectionately dubbed "Qbanks"), and signing up for the Boards. I take the exam on June 8th at 9:00am, so let the countdown begin...
As of right now, I have only 23 weeks, 2 days, 20 hours, 16 minutes, and about 4 seconds to go. Time to get crackin'.
Health Policy and Clin Epi were only semester long courses, so in the spring I just have regular class and ICM, the latter consuming relatively little time. The rest is "free time," although I use this term loosely. The Boards are intense. It has seven, one hour, 48-question "blocks," totaling 336 questions in about 8 hours. The average score in 2009 was a 222, with a standard deviation around 22. That means that the 85th percentile was somewhere around 244. Passing is a 185. To give you some idea of the scores per specialty, the average score of new General Surgery and Internal Medicine interns was a 222. The average Step 1 score for Plastic Surgery was 243 and it was 208 for Psychiatry. Is your Step 1 score the end all and be all? No, but the administration tells us that it is one of the most important parts of our application for residency. That being said, most people freak out early.
The information covered on the exam comes from almost every course in our first two years, plus a few things that we weren't taught. I think the key for me is starting early. It is a massive amount of information to understand and memorize, and I will have to re-familiarize myself with most of what's been already taught (cough cough, Renal). So with the help of Doctors In Training (a study program I signed up for that is completely overpriced but my bitterness towards said cost will keep me honest during the year), I've outlined a 22 week study plan to get me going. DIT sends me two emails a week with open-ended questions to answer and review, starting in January. Soon I will sign up for a couple Qbanks as well. The plan goes something like this:
- Week 22 - Read "Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple" plus begin answering emails from DIT (continues until exam)
- Week 21 - Read "Biochemistry Rapid Review"
- Week 20 thru 4 - 100 to 125 practice questions per week, read 50-60 pages in First Aid with a few full practice exams dispersed in between, plus reread a couple text books (per schedule).
- Week 3 thru 1 - 15 days of DIT lectures and 25 practice questions per day, 150 question practice exam after each 5 day block of DIT to break of the monotony, free study for First Aid and textbooks.
- 6 Days to 1 Day before Exam - free study, 3rd pass of First Aid reading it in 5 days (100 pages per day), 25 practice questions each day.
- Day before Exam - short read of "Rapid Review" and get a freaking massage.
It is going to be a long journey, but I have several carrots waiting at the end of the trail (the first being that I will be done with the exam for good!). Another great thing is I will be finished with class work, moving on to the hospital and the clinic! Kelly and I are also currently planning a trip to Morocco, Egypt, and Turkey that will take us out of Chapel Hill for a good 2+ weeks after the exam. This is still in the planning stages, but it will be a fantastic finale trip before 3rd and 4th year, a Masters, and residency. When and where I'm going to be able to travel in between all this is questionable. I have been alerted that we might have to buy fake wedding bands so that Kelly and any other girls on the trip won't be harassed as much on the streets in the Middle East. I am very much looking forward to this fake marriage(s) - I've always wanted a harem.
Most importantly, I am not letting this scheduling get in the way of a wonderful Christmas break. Dad and I have been to Jos. A Banks several times to purchase new clothes for 3rd year, and it's been wonderful having Shelley in town. Mom is probably ready to kick me out of the house by now, as she is tired of the three of us teaming up against her (a Swendiman Family tradition, be it the Christmas season or not). I finished writing a peer recommendation for Keith Laabs for Stanford Business School (a 100% chance of acceptance guaranteed now, with me in his corner), saw "It's a Wonderful Life" with the family in the AFI theater, and purchased the last few stocking stuffers just in the nick of time. It has been wonderfully relaxing, and I'm not looking forward to getting back to the grindstone come January.
Anywho, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas this year! And a Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, etc...
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