namf
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Hi all,
This is mostly for me, but it is going to probably keep me honest that I know others can see it. I want to account for my days' efforts in an attempt to be more conscientious--and to really squeeze every last drop of effort I can out of myself. Carpe diem, no regrets...The consequences of failure are drastic. We'll see if I can actually do it everyday. I take the test early August--so about 5 weeks to go--so about 35 days left.
Quick couple of ground rules so I can feel free to do this: I'm gonna abbreviate and misspell at will. This is not the time or place to care much about being coherent for others or looking good. Sorry--this is about me and my goal, and if it helps you (& I bet it will actually just for those reasons), so much the better. Here goes..!
Yesterday was Monday, 6/28. Listened to Goljan for about 1 hour in am ride to school. I read BRS BS @ bookstore, CH1 + questions.
I finished the NBME 1st $45 test. Got 370 and wanted to cry--but calculating the SD of 1.3 to the USMLE's 217 mean and 24SD, I get a 187 by my estimates. At least I pass. I have been barely passing all my classes for the entire 2 years of medical school despite working my a$$ off royally. I know it will be a struggle to pass this test--and so I am going to do the highest yield things I can in the time remaining.
Tomorrow (today) I will do Goljan all day, supplemented by questions/note reading on the areas I am weak in from him. Also, I will try to finish FA physio/biochem and start path, then do about 100 Qbank to reinforce this. Lots of work today, and it's already 9am... The FA and Qbank are high priorities in my turtle-speed studying. I have to get through them 1 time. The mighty goals of BRS physio, path, Micro made ridiculously simple, BRS biochem, etc etc etc....I don't know if I can cut all this in the remaining 35 days. But I have to get through Qbank and through FA 2 times each.
I know it will also take forever to check the answers to my NBME questions--this is also high priority. I will be posting the things that I can't get on this forum later. OK. Now time for Goljan audio all day...YEAH! I think Goljan is about the only thing I look forward to on this program!!
Progress report tonight. These posts will be a lot shorter--I am procrastinating for now among other things!!
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| Ahdy2000
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and Good luck with your studying. Remember, it doesn't matter how slow you are (i think i might the slowest reader of FA on the freakin' planet!), as long as you get it done.
God bless.
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| nuprin
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best of luck! you'll do great. have confidence! 370 isn't too bad at the beginning of your studies. if you got that the day before your test, i'd worry.
try high yield micro and high yield biochem. theyr'e shorter books, and excellent. i don't know why more people don't use high yield micro in particular. i loved micro mrs for class, but it's too long and too detailed for the boards.
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| namf
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Thank you nuprin and Ahdy2000 for your kind words.
Today is Wed, 6/30--last day of the month. I was humbled by my inadequacies of scheduling & execution yesterday. Mainly I think I learned that it's critical to take a day off at least once a week. It helps my pride that even G-d rested on the 7th day. This is what I did among sleep, TV, walking around/jogging, video watching:
Finished 30 min. GOLJAN
Shuffled thru PHARM CARDs about 1 hour
Read on topics related to GOLNAN/PHARM for about 1 hour
This should have been a day off, period.
Today I have taken a page from nuprin--thank you buddy!
The idea is to be more realistic, and I think this will be good/challenging enough considering my turtle speed:
50Q random QBank am
50Q subject QBank pm (4-5 hours easily since I go over answers w/care)
Goljan 4 hours of lectures while reading up on unfamiliar/his notes & questions during/after (8 hrs easily)
Whatever time remains today and this week, I'll go through FA, with priority toward biochem, neuro, and physio--making space for next week's push on the big 3 that should take the majority of my time until the test from then on: Path, Pharm, Bugs/Immuno
Now to get to it! Oh, by the way especially for nuprin: I think I will take the test August 3d. I am a 2nd year who's been bottom 5-10 the whole time, despite Herculian efforts. I mean I've given it my all but I'm just...barely hanging on. Current Kaplan Qbank avg: 52% with 20% done (all random). NBME 1: 370. I hope to see at least 60% Q by end, and 400+ NBME at a minimum b4 being done.
P.S. Nuprin--if my 370 was w/o studying...Ha! I've been doing low-yield work for 3 weeks already...
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| Ahdy2000
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it's tough to get started, but i believe that low yield or high yield, it's still yield. as long as you're learning, it doesn't matter. i think this test is also a little different from medical school. if you learn what they want you to learn, then learn to apply the way they want (practice tsts of course) then you can ace the exam. good luck with your goljan. a
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| nuprin
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agree with ahdy. keep truckin! you've got a great attitude and you're working your butt off = success! low yield is yield, and can be discouraging bc you don't see results in your scores, but it's still yield. it'll all come together at the end. one of our advisors says it's amazing how grades from m1 and m2 have absolutely no correlation with boards scores. keep listening to that goljan! you'll get there before you know it!!
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| namf
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Darn! July already!!
OK, yesterday started out great. I did about 30 minutes of Goljan listening. I started Qbank--and that's where I made my oft made mistake of just over-reading everything tangentially related to the subject at hand..I did about 10 questions in review over the course of 4 hours :roll:
Came back in the afternoon and put in about 1 hour on the Robbins Q book; in the evening spent maybe another hour with these posts on line reading and posting my questions (does that count!!??).
Going to a bookstore to try to be more productive today.
Already listened to one Goljan lecture this morning--it's 8am or so, and I want to finish that Qbank block of 50 from yesterday by 10:30.
OK, more tomorrow
"Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin', into the future..."
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| Ahdy2000
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and G-d speed.
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| docarjun
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Good luck! Good going! It seems u have come on the fast track now!!!
Keep it up!
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| namf
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It's still July 2nd for 10 minutes..
Another day blew by. I've been gaining productivity going to the bookstore--but not enough I think.
The morning I listened to 2 hours of Goljan on bike ride to bookstore.
I did 35 questions (half) in the back of the Boards And Wards Pathophysiology book--I thought it was really good, really representative of the USMLE testing style of requiring a 2-step thinking process. Anyone who's used the book and already taken the USMLE want to offer any opinions regarding that point?
I also spent a lot of time going thru FA, but found this to be less instructive than the Goljan/Boards N Wards.
Alas, I think I am weak in both--the "what" represented by FA and wholesale memorization of chromosomes, dz names, assoc sx, etc--and the "why" which builds on the what (Goljan's strength).
I will keep trying. Thanks everyone for the encouragement. SPECIAL SHOT OUT--GO GET 'EM AHDY2000!!!
:icon_thumb: :icon_thumb: :icon_thumb: :icon_thumb: :icon_joker: :icon_joker:
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| Ahdy2000
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thanks Namf! I'm glad things are picking up for you. I've read a ch or 2 in B&W and i really liked it. it's too bad i don't have time to finish it. but i'm having teh same problem with the "what" in FA. lots to memorize, little time. thanks again for the encouraging words. every little bit helps at this stage of the game ).
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| namf
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Hey everyone!
July 3d started good with 2 hours of Goljan listening, but I felt exhausted after a big day yesterday--I was planning a day off for Sunday, but I could see it might be sooner. I think I spent about another half hour skimming through stuff, but that was it--I was crapped out. Back to work tomorrow I thought.
I did end up posting questions on here for about an hour, and messing around with TV and my partner. Then it was off to the bookstore in ahalf-hearted effort to maybe study, but more likely browse through some other things: I found myself reading on alternate careers aside from medicine. That's how scared I am of this test.
By the way--and seriously--does anybody want to give any suggestions for alternate careers with an MD degree and no residency? I really don't know if I'm going to continue with this beyond 2 more years since it consumes me--and I don't want it to. I want to have a life beyond medicine, but I am reigned in by my incredible inadequacies, forced to spend all my time just studying this stuff...to merely pass. Barely pass.
I think I'm just going to come clean here now--appropriately enough for July 4th, I'm liberating myself. So here goes...I've already failed this test once. This is my last chance--if I fail now I will not graduate with my starting class (not allowed to do rotations until I pass). I'm not getting any younger--I don't want to fail this test again. And I am scared. So I just need to do this: 182 and up is damn fine with me.
I am embarassed by my deficits in even the basic things--today for example, I just understood that although aspirin has anti-platelet fx, cox-2 selectives like celecoxib do not (the cox-1 blocking is what gets platelets clumping). No wonder I got 360 on my first NBME..I am on the razor's edge for passing this test. IThis drives me on, usually. Sometimes it overwhelms me--maybe that is the pathopsychophysiology of my post-big day let downs...
So enough of that. No need to feel sorry for me either--we all have our own battles to fight and the grass always looks greener on the other side (well,maybe not always--some people's lawns really do suck). So now you know why I am running so hard.
Today then: July 4th
Started with 2 hours of Goljan again--this is toast and a pleasure, but I worry about the details I miss since I am usually walking around with him on mp3 instead of sitting in front of computer. I plan to give it all a second freakin' listen (time???).
Managed one quick 50 Qs on Qbank and never felt so good. But only 58% total. Still, if I can manage to keep it at this level, it's progress from my 53% overall. If I can end up with over 60% cumulative (with 75% or 1500 questions to go) then I'll feel like I've put myself in decent position to pass. Praying...
Now I plan to listen to Goljan about 8 hours more today and the same tomorrow to finish his shizack off. Then 50Q tonight Qbank, 100Qs again tomorrow, with B&W pathophysio 35qs left over waiting for me, and about 1000qs in Robbins, and the whole of FA, MMRS, and my pharm and micro cards all waiting--should keep me busy enough for these last 30ish days.
Oh yeah, I still hardly know sheet about neuro, embryo, and lots of other deficits in subjects. Praying and working, praying and working, working.
Working.
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| friscan2b
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Best of luck to you.
A.
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| Ahdy2000
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everything else is bull----ditty.
William Osler says "Though a little one, the master-word looms large in meaning. It is the "open Sesame" to every portal, the great equalizer in the world, the true philosopher's stone which transmutes all the base metals of humanity into gold. The supid man among you it will make bright, the bright man brilliant, and the brilliant student steady. With the magic word in your heart, all things are possible, and without it all study is vanity and vexation....And the master-word is WORK.
work, my friend, work. i wish we were taking this test at teh same time, i feel like we would work well together. if you do all the work, solve all the questions (and goljan helps a ton for that), and you'll kick the crap out of this thing.
good luck and G-d bless.
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| Ahdy2000
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also, might want to check out:
usmleforum.com. people post good questions, and it helps to solve.
also, you might want to check out:
http://umed.med.utah.edu/palm/supermemo/
it might help with the memorizing part of it (if you can get the program to work -- i haven't been able to).
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| Renegade
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"namf" wrote:
By the way--and seriously--does anybody want to give any suggestions for alternate careers with an MD degree and no residency?
#-o I... We... don't want to think about that either...
"namf" wrote:
No wonder I got 360 on my first NBME..I am on the razor's edge for passing this test. This drives me on, usually.
If I can end up with over 60% cumulative (with 75% or 1500 questions to go) then I'll feel like I've put myself in decent position to pass.
That's what you think now. But once you're there and under pressure, you'll know you need more, to get confident 8) . Aim for 70%, trust me.
"namf" wrote:
Oh yeah, I still hardly know sheet about neuro, embryo, and lots of other deficits in subjects. Praying and working, praying and working, working.
Let's hope you left embryo and histology last :wink: ... neuro is worth improving a bit, though, since it's quite connected to many things in pathology.
As usual, give your best, and keep this thought in mind at all times :o ! That way, you can't possibly have a thing to regret in case you fail...
...which, as we know, will not happen :mrgreen: .
___________________
«The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from animals.» W. Osler
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| namf
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Hi everyone,
First off, Ahdy 2000, I know you are reading and struggling with me. I appreciate your company. I will be sad to say goodbye to you in about a week as I begin to descend into my most intense, final countdown days and you will be DONE. No matter--it will be good that one of us is done. I know you will do great 
Renegade--thanks for your constructive and thought out reply. I really would have to say I would shoot for 70% overall if I could. But I am afraid that's not likely. Right now, I've done about 25% (all random 50s) and have about a 53%. So if I start averaging about 65% from now or so, then I will finish off with about a 60% average total. So at that time, I will hopefully be a 65% scoring student--pretty close to the 70% you advocate. Still, the jump from low 50s to low 70s is far--I wonder if others have made the leep? With my 25% finished, only in the last week of 4 weeks work have I noticed a slight (~5% increase)--and it exites me greatly! I hope it is not just random luck--time will tell. But if I can tack on another 10% to that 5% increase in the remaining 4 weeks, I will say that's good--so it seems.
Well I believe today is day 7, July 5th.
Already I have listened to 2 hours of Goljan--now I transition to 1.5 hrs Qbank, and then back to Goljan for the rest of the day. I will report on how it works out tomorrow--but I have an ambitious plan set out for about 8 hours of Goljan today and 100qs Qbank. I could not handle it yesterday though. I ended up with little additional work following my am post--perhaps 1 hour random readings and postings. This has been a very low productivity weekend, following a high productivity week. The same pattern I have seen--hi low in me. I will try to be more consistent. This post I lost the battle for brevity once again. So much to say. I need to be like a 3d year on wards reporting cases--to the points, stick to the facts. Try again tomorrow's post. Thanks for listening 
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| Ahdy2000
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no doubt i will still be thinking of you after my test. i really truly thing if there was ever a shortcut to this test, it'd be Goljan. i think you'll do magnificently after finishing with him. G-d bless, and thanks for your messages.
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| Ahdy2000
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how's it going Namf?
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| namf
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Hi all!
Ahdy2000, great to feel you smiling through your post, man. That's the spirit!! Inspiring as usual--I've got to keep it up, just the way you are pushing to do! Well, today is a new day, and a good one for me too. If you have time, for the value of inspiring yourself--I found <The Last Samurai> to be an incredibly powerful movie. If you are a fighter and a sensitive person as well...I hope you will also find it worth your time with a week or so to go to your big day.
I am refreshed after spending time with a classmate last night and then this morning playing tennis with my partner after sleeping in for about 12 hours--I didn't realize I was that tired... Needless to say, I only did about 4-5 hours of work yesterday once again. I have about 28 days left--4 weeks today--why don't I feel the fire more!?
I realized one mistake I had made in the last week or so: so wrapped in working that I didn't remember to take my once every 2-3 day sports break! I had been doing it previously, and it always served me well when I felt sick and tired of working. Then I got so intense I forgot about it! OK wont forget from now on. Played tennis today. Good!
Seeing the <Last Samurai> gives me power too. I really recommend it to you, but I am not sure if it will mean as much to everyone as to me.
So, I will press on with Goljan, Qbank, and the Boards & Wards questions. Darn, those Boards & Wards qs are really, really hard!! Did anybody else think they were harder than the USMLE, or is it just me!!??
Thanks for listening as always--back again tomorrow!
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| namf
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Kind of a downer yesterday--went to sleep at 6am a bit miserable about it all after overeating ice cream (great--gas on top of a rotten feeling I tried to salve with that food).
The whole day I put in maybe 4 hours--that's being generous probably.
Just really sick of studying. It's been 4 weeks--and 4 more until the test still.
But this is the part that counts the most I feel--you need to "peak" for that test by recycling/refreshing everything you know, especially the hi-yield stuff--here at the end.
I will pick it up today and let you know how it goes--after sleeping 4 hours and starting here at 10am.
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| nuprin
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namf, your posts are so enjoyable to read. i know you won't abandon medicine bc you WILL conquer this exam, but i think you should consider some recreational writing in your future...
i read most of boards and wards, but i have the old version so i had no questions. it wsa a great book, though, clarifying where a lot of other books obfuscated.
if you've got the time, make sure you repeat missed qs on qbank. the repetition of the topics i repeatedly missed really drilled that stuff into my head. it'll also bring your percentage up, and not falsely so, unless you've just memorized the q and which one was the answer w/o understanding it.
i think everyone experiences a jump at the end. i certainly did. my qbank scores went up at least 10 points in my last week (during my marathon sessions of 500qs/day). so don't just fret about that right now. you've got 4 wks, man. you're doin' good.
i personally think if you're feeling strapped for time, skip pharm cards (too detailed, don't know about micro cards but they may be too detailed, too--get some opinions from people who used them), focus on the FA neuro/embry/anat section (that's all you need to know, except i agree with renegade--neuro understanding is important. if you've got a little more time, read Neuro MRS. short and sweet, easy to understand, easy to apply, and MORE than enough--HY Neuro is excessive), and really, REALLY nail that goljan audio.
great quote, ahdy.
i also wanted to add, don't get too scattered with trying to cover everything. know and understand the basics (based on the facts in FA)really well and you will pass.
keep up the good work and the positive attitude. you will do it.
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| namf
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Dropped off for a while there--spent the afternoon yesterday watching <Last of the Mohicans>--didn't like it as much as <The Last Samuri> nearly.
So, back to being the last (scoring) student...I've been riding the same pattern lately of work hard for a day, then be lazy for two. It stinks. I want to be more balanced. I also feel like an animal caged in a zoo--the kind that lets you roam the grounds, but then past a certain spot: STOP.
It doesn't matter how far my legs can carry me anyway; I have to carry myself over this test or it's just STOP STOP STOP and no way to go on.
So, yesterday was about 2 hours of Goljan and about 2 hours reading various things. Actually, I listened actively to Goljan while checking out his notes, so it was more like 4 hours for those 2 hours when you consider the fact that I was looking stuff up and writing as well.
Today I plan the same. It really helps to get out of the house and go to the library/bookstore/etc. That's where I am today. So finally, I wanted to say that I think another reason for my crappy mood and scores the last few days has been the Qbank scores I put up. For a little while, I did high 50s. On one block or two, I got 60s and one 70. But the last two blocks I got were in the 40s!! I know I didn't concentrate hard out of laziness/fatigue, but still  I thought I had moved my average up to the mid to upper 50s. Now I doubt that. My recent high 50s have been matched now by my low 40s, making me think I am still on average a 52% ish student (that is my Qbank average today). I wish to be over 60% when it's all said and done (by scoring an average 70% per block)but who knows...Gotta buckle down somehow...
I always do non-repeat, random 50s and a rare 20q or 30q block when strapped for time (maybe 3 or 4 so far), with tutor mode on so I can click and see the answer briefly before moving on. But I make sure I do them in under an hour.
I've done 30%; here are my scores from oldest at the top:
40% (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1st 20qs I did)
70% (haven't seen that since!!!)
52%
50
46
58
53
40 (misery!!!)
50
60 (BRIGHT SPOT )
90 (10 questions--just amazing coincidence I guess :evil: )
37 (MY LOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW)
62 (OK.. :P )
59 (I think I can, I think I can, I think
56
44
44 :cry:
Here's how it's been lately: :arrow: :| :arrow: :? :arrow: :x :arrow: :evil: :arrow: :o :arrow: :arrow: :evil:
Alright, back to work. Thanks for listening!!
P.S. If anyone else wants to send messages to nuprin as "nupron" or "nurdin", then I think you should forget getting anything you're asking for! How about taking a sec to actually check you spelled the name right before putting up a disrespectful and careless looking post? And then you expect nuprin to go and send stuff to you!? How about...forget it!!!!
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| Ahdy2000
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have to come. but as long as you hit a peak once, you can definitely hit it again, especially with practice. if you think can, you definitely can...and i like that you're defending Nuprin. ) good luck, Namf.
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| namf
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Messed up sleeping schedule reading about some joker named "Mr_Money" on another student doctor site. He was supposedly an anesthesia resident, and his main goal in becoming a doctor was money/power/prestige. I keep thinking he's an undergrad and he's kidding, but he claims to be an attending. In the post, he engages in a high school level type name-callingexchange...Unbelievable. Remember those shirts? "I'm surrounded by idiots"? It's just such a damn shame my scores suck so badly. Otherwise, I would stick it to those bastards in the only language they can understand: grades. Very troublesome.
So it's 4pm and I am just starting. Yesterday was OK: spent time at library reviewing Qbank errors...But it takes me like half the day to go over a 50q block! This might have to be changed. Also listened to Goljan about 3-4 hrs.
Today, I want to finish the remaining Goljan and do 200q bank qs. This is ambitious, considering there are only about 10 hours left in my day if i stay up to 2am!
I need to come up with a game plan for these last 24 odd days. Its about 3 good weeks to go now. It's time to get super serious--I know that for most people, it always is like with Ahdy2000 (KEEP PUSHING & STOP READING THIS STUFF, AHDY!!!) : you push yourself to go hard, but the desire isn't there until you start getting very close. I KNOW this intellectually, and I want to do the work now before time runs out.
Tentative idea for the 3 weeks is:
Next week: finish Robbins Qbook, finish Boards & Wards Pathophys, get to about 66% done Qbank, review neuro, EMPHASIS ON BUGS/DRUGS
Next Next week:Finish Qbank; review pathology, bugs, drugs, finish hum beh, review physiology
Last week:Review Q bank errors, global review of high yield stuff: Step Up, First Aid, RELISTEN TO ALL GOLJAN!?
What do folks think about my idea of RELISTENING TO ALL GOLJAN in the last week!?
Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for listening as always...IT'S GETTING SERIOUS NOW.
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