ISP, Week 2

2 weeks down! 3 weeks to go!

Step 1 ISP is seriously the most I have ever studied in my entire life! It is really exhausting, sometimes tedious, but also very very interesting. I really do love about 90% of the stuff we are learning. This is so so different/better than studying for the MCAT.

This week, I slacked a little in the exercise department, slept in a few more days, but still got a ton of good studying in!  I focused on the Respiratory System and Cardiovascular System, along with trying to fit in some Pharmacology and Biochemistry/Immunology review. I am a little bit behind schedule on where I wanted to be, but not much. It definitely could be worse!

I just took my weekly NBME exam. If you remember last week, I said I had an (unrealistic) goal of improving 10 points each week. I was ecstatic last week after bumping up my score by a whole 14 points. This week, I definitely wasn't expecting any crazy score jump, but was hoping for about 5 more points. So, you can imagine my surprise when I finally pushed "view results" to see that I had jumped 17 points!!!! Thats right, folks...I'm up 31 points in just 2 weeks!! I am actually less than 5 points away from my ultimate goal score! Its such an encouraging feeling. I hope that I maintain this excitement throughout my studying for the next week, because I think I'm starting to get a tiny bit burnt out.

3 weeks and I will be done with Step 1 (hopefully forever) and laying on a beach in Hawaii with S. That sounds like bliss.

ISP, Week 1

Greetings, from ISP land! I am officially done with my first week of my "Intensive Study Period" for Step 1 studying! Overall, its been going pretty well. Its pretty insane how much I have learned/re-learned in just 6 days, but its also a really cool experience finding out just how much I have actually been taught over these last 2 years of medical school.

I have gotten into a pretty good routine this week that I really hope I stick to! My schedule is as follows:
8:30-9:00           Wake up/hit snooze/wake up again
9:00-11:00         92 UWorld Q Bank practice questions
11:00-12:00       Gym/Listen to audio lectures
12:00-1:00         Shower/Cook Lunch/Eat Lunch
1:00-5:00           Review Uworld Qbank questions/make flash cards
5:00-6:00           Dinner break
6:00-12:00         Read First Aid/Goljan RR books
12:00-1:00         Go home/do flash cards in bed until I fall asleep

This week, my "Reading FA" time was devoted to my 3 worst subjects: Biochemistry, Immunology, and Microbiology. I am definitely happy that I started with these to a) get them out of the way, and b) give myself a good base for when I start reviewing organ systems tomorrow.

Today, I took my second NBME practice exam (first one was sponsored by my school - [NBME]). The last exam I took, I was very excited to have passed, but knew I still needed a lot of work to do to get my score up to somewhere I would be really happy about. My big goal was to improve 10 points each week, but my realistic goal was to improve 5 points each week. Well, I am happy to report that I improved a whole 14 POINTS from my first practice exam!!! I'm sure I wont make that big of a jump again, but it was such a great feeling to have my hard work validated.

Since I took my NBME practice exam today, I get an easy day for the rest of the afternoon. I get to watch some TV and take a few hours off and relax. Then, tonight, I will review my incorrect answers from the NBME and review the chapters that I learned this week.

Also, since I'm on my break, I should tell all of you blog readers some exciting things have happened over the past 2 weeks. First, I turned 25 and now can rent a car ....woop! and 2) S graduated from medical school!!!!! Thats right, blog world, I am officially dating a real doctor! Im such a proud girlfriend.

Second Year Complete!!

I officially finished my second year of medical school yesterday! We had out last domain exam (Digestive/GI) from 8-10, which was actually really difficult...so we all waited anxiously for our exam results to be released at noon to make sure we passed. When 12 PM hit, I finally got to celebrate...I had passed the exam and was officially done with my pre-clinical coursework!

To celebrate, my friend Michelle and I went to the beach in Sleepy Hollow State Park! It was so amazing to have a completely free afternoon to lay out in the sun, have a few drinks (spiked 7/11 slurpies...yummm), and play with M's new pup Kuma!

Kuma

Spiked Slurpies

Beach Day

After playing at the park/beach for a few hours, we headed back to East Lansing and started to celebrate with our whole class...it has been so long since I have gone out to a bar in E.L, especially with most of my classmates. It was a great night and I'm so happy everyone came out to celebrate!

Couldn't have made it through the first 2 years without these girls! 

Story: This bar has all the tiles in the bathroom
covered with gravity...I did this one on my first night out in EL
and I found it when I went to the bar last night!

Today was my first day of ISP (intensive study period) for Step 1! Although I didn't do much intensive studying (only 3 hours of QBANK today), it still was a very productive day. I woke up late (11:30) with a pretty bad headache thanks to high doses of acetylaldehyde, but luckily that didn't last long. When I finally got up, I caught up on a few TV shows, picked up S's cap/gown for his upcoming graduation, signed my lease for next year, planned my ISP study schedule, went to my go-to study spot (Grand Traverse Pie Company) to study for 3 hours, went to the gym and am now finally catching up on blogging! It feels so great to have a day to do normal people stuff, because usually about 14 hours of my day is spent on school/studying.

Tomorrow, I'm going to really buckle down and put in my first 12 hour study day of ISP! I'm actually kind of excited to get started...wish me luck!

Boards Studying/NBME Practice Test

Hello blog world! Have you missed me? I know I have been MIA..but I have been rediculously busy. I promise to update everything from these last 7 weeks very soon, but for now here's whats been happening to me lately...

I am currently in my LAST week of pre-clinicals! Crazy! We are done with lectures, finishing up our last PBL case and have our last domain exam (GI) coming up on Monday. After that, its time to REALLY start intensifying my studies for 6 weeks before I take (arguably the most important exam of my career) the USMLE Step 1 exam! *cue scary music*

This week, a lot of things are coming to a close. I found out I passed my Clinical Skills Gateway/Exit Exam (which is a half-day testing that involves doing different clinical skills exams/interviews...kind of like Step 2CS for all of you medical students out there). I finished our last Clinical Skills experience (Phlebotomy). I turned in my last paper for Medical Humanities. We are currently working on our last PBL patient case. AND... we took our first NBME Step 1 practice test! I actually just got my score back about 10 minutes ago....the verdict: I actually passed! I didn't do great...but I passed! I'm so happy. Now, I can spend the next 6-7 weeks getting my score up to a place I want. I am not sure how many points students usually jump during their intensive study period...but I'm hoping the fact that I was able to pass without any real prep is a good sign. *crosses fingers*

Well thats all for now... Many new blogs to come, including my spring break trip to NYC, a research conference in Galveston, Texas, and all of the match day/4th year adventures S has been a part of over the last few months! But, now its time for me to get back to the books and learn all things G.I.

Phlebotomy lab!