Jun 15, 2017
Me: Razor burn
Me, an intellectual: Pseudofolliculitis barbae
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Me: Razor burn
Me, an intellectual: Pseudofolliculitis barbae
My scores are online but I'm too scared to look.
Quick Update
Hey friends!!
Sorry I’ve been MIA this past week and that I LEFT YOU ALL HANGING about my board scores. Some explanations for your troubles:
1) The lack of posts is because I am currently living in a house with no internet! So the only time I’m on the internet is when I’m in clinic and it doesn’t look too good to be jchillin on Tumblr while at work.
2) I am now halfway done with my Family Medicine rotation - I have so many thoughts and I’m going to try to post something over the weekend - but overall I just am so in love with this place and the people that I am working with that I am devastated already about the prospect of leaving.
3) I did check my board scores (literally two hours after my post last week I swear haha) and I did pass!!! I am happy that I passed, that I never have to take that test again, that I can put it behind me, that (for the most part) I got a perfectly respectable score. I am not happy that I didn’t get the score I wanted, I did not (as my advisor told me) get 10 points higher than my practice tests, I was not (as my roommate told me) pleasantly surprised. I got pretty close to what I thought I was going to get which was lower than what I wanted which was disappointing. So I’m not going to lie that first day was pretty harsh and it stung for another few days after that. But your words of support that came in MEANT SO MUCH TO ME and also just putting some distance between it and myself has helped a lot. I have never let standardized tests stop me from accomplishing what I want in the past and I’m not going to let them start now.
So that’s all for now but I’m going to try to do some mid-clerkship reflections this weekend and then definitely some end of clerkship reflections when I’m done!
Tomorrow morning I'm heading back to school for one more week of studying before Step. I'm really going to miss this little study nook I made for myself at home...
Week 5
OMG GUYS THIS IS FUCKING IT. TOMORROW I TAKE STEP. WHAT HAPPENED. DID I LEARN ANYTHING IN THE LAST MONTH? WE WILL SEE. A quick recap on what happened to me this week:
What I studied:
Repro: This was the last class I took of second year so I felt pretty good about the information, but just for good measure I spent Monday afternoon going through all the pathoma videos again so it was fresh in my mind.
Biochem: I literally redid all the pathways again because I can’t seem to get them in my brain. Survey says I still don’t know them but oh well, I have tried.
Goljan: I was only able to make it through like five of his lectures, but it was a nice review of stuff I learned at the beginning of dedicated. Also he is SO FUNNY.
Little bit of this, little bit of that: But actually....this week was MOSTLY spent just doing as many practice questions as possible and going over random things that I felt needed some more time. And the last two nights my roommate and I have been getting together to review difficult concepts. This has SAVED me and I know that I will be much more confident on these topics going into the test.
What I did to take breaks:
Run: This time in the morning! This week I was finally able to get up reeeeally early and run before studying. I’m glad I was able to get on this sleep schedule before the test and now I won’t worry about tomorrow morning!
Harry Potter and the Sacred Text: UGHHH I FEEL LIKE I NEED TO SEND CASPER AND VANESSA AND THANK YOU CARD. Literally they got me through this week. Every morning I would walk to the library and listen to a podcast and then every lunch break I would listen again. I just love how each conversation has kept me grounded and reminded me of the world outside of step. Seriously if you aren’t listening to this podcast YOU MUST. It is a delight and I’m so happy to have it in my life.
Listen to Taylor Swift: Lots of dance breaks this week. Lots.
Getting my oil changed: Yeah, life goes on when you take step guys - that includes your car needing an oil change so badly that you are scared to drive it.
What I learned:
I’m tired of studying: This was probably my most break-heavy week. As each day went by I did less and less studying and more and more scrolling on the facebook and tumblr...I just really hit a wall in general this week and I felt like I just couldn’t bring myself to study a lot of times each day. I still got through the big things I wanted to cover, but it was painful and difficult and I really had to actively push myself through.
Prometric sites are janky af: On Friday, the roommate and I did a practice run of our morning drive down to the testing center. It was sooooo sketchy and it got even worse as we went inside. Anyway, I find it so odd that these sites can’t be more...normal looking.
I know so much stuff: Ok, that was a weird way to put it, but seriously - if you are in the middle of studying for a big test I really encourage you to step back every so often and be like “holy shit I know more about this topic than almost anyone else”. Like there is a lot I do not know, but I have really gained a massive amount of knowledge since I started medical school. Yes, having to cram it all in and remember it for an 8 hour exam is stressful, but in the end it’s really amazing what I’ve been able to accomplish simply by working hard.
This is going to happen tomorrow no matter what I do today: No matter what I am going to wake up in the morning, drive an hour away, and sit this exam. The work I have done in the last five weeks is more than enough to get me through it. I am ready. Today is just a bonus day.
Week 2
Sorry this is a little late but Sunday was my birthday so I was out and about instead of posting! This past week was intense but I think I figured out a good system of reviewing things. As per my earlier post - I did see improvement on my practice exam Saturday, but still have a little bit to go so - back to the grind this week! For my birthday I got to go out with some friends, walk with my mom, shop A LOT (I got surgery shoes!!! They are so cute!) and go out to dinner!
What I studied:
Cardio: Shhh don't tell anyone but cardio is one of my least favorite organ system. Really happy though that I was able to figure out murmurs (a work in progress but still an improvement!) and anti-arrhythmics.
Respiration: Just the usual suspects. I’m always getting obstructive and restrictive data mixed up and also lung cancers are so weird. Not a lot of pharm videos but omg I definitely needed to revisit them - I understand so many things now!
Neuro: Maybe it was a bad idea trying to do both Neuro and Psych in two days but...I think I got through the most important things. There's definitely a long list of Neuro topics on my "catch up" list but overall I'm pretty strong in Neuro so I think it will be ok even if I don't get to all of them.
Psych: Good old psych...literally just had to review the Ego defenses, personality disorders, timing of certain things (schizophrenia vs schizophrenifrom vs schizoaffective) and addictions so squeezed it all in between the big guns Neuro stuff. But for real what killed me the most those two days were the 17 (17!!!) sketchy pharm videos I had to do. Oh I died.
Drugs on drugs: Every organ system has drugs! I've basically done about 2 hours of sketchy pharm every afternoon for the corresponding organ system so I can get through all these videos. I suuuck at drugs - there's too many names! So I need to dedicate this time to remembering them for good.
How I took breaks:
More running: The ultimate soother of my soul. Also still slowly making my way through Kimmy Schmitt - one episode a day.
Harry Potter and the Sacred Text: Basically my bedtime meditation this week. If you haven't tried this podcast you must! It's so so beautiful and has basically been my rock since I got my concussion at the beginning of this year. I did get a little behind this spring so I was playing catch up and now I'm going to read the books while listening.
The Bachelorette: sorry I'm not sorry that I'm obsessed with this show. But there's this whole group of us in my class who compete with the weekly predictions and it's the best. Might be a bit of a distractor but...whatever.
What I learned:
Yes you CAN still have fun while studying for boards: I was a little sad honestly when I realized that I would be deep in study mode when my birthday came around, but this weekend was so wonderful it was as if I wasn’t even studying! I loved all that I was able to do and all the new professional wear I was able to get (did I mention my Dansko surgery shoes...yes? Well too bad because I’m obsessed).
But not too much fun: The problem with this weekend was that when Monday morning came around I was EXHAUSTED. It took me a while yesterday to get back in the groove of things and feel like I was really focused. I also took a nap for the first time since starting studying - you know it gets bad when I decide to take a nap. Due to this self realization I decided to cancel a trip next weekend to see some college friends. It was never really official - but I wanted to celebrate my birthday with them and thought it wouldn’t be a big deal because I would be taking off the same amount of time as I normally do each weekend. The problem is - it requires traveling and probably staying out late and a bunch of humans packed into a 24 hour period. Just THINKING about it exhausted me. So instead for my last weekend home I’ll be sitting in bed watching TV and hanging with my sister (who comes home from school this week!).
ATHLETA: Y’all have GOT to go there - they have SO MANY cute clothes that are professional looking but HOLY DAMN THEY ARE COMFORTABLE. Seriously - I’m in love.
The last two days of step studying are supposed to be low key and non-productive.
A mantra I keep telling myself
Week 3
What I studied:
- Musculoskeletal: Feeling really good about the rheumatology stuff, but will probably want to do a crash course anatomy review the last week because I literally hate muscles and bones ughhh.
- Derm: I’m not a fan of the gross pictures, but I do have a weird sixth sense with basal cell carcinoma that I can’t even explain.
- Immunology: Woop woop! Was supposed to do this while reviewing path that first week, but there was just too many Pathoma videos for one day. So I finally caught up on those and did all the autoimmune disorders and immune deficiencies.
- Renal: I don’t know why but I love the kidneys! Almost as much as I love potassium!
- Endocrine: My mom was asking me about how Endocrine was this week and basically I just feel like you either have too much or two little of whatever. Also @medschoolmanic legit changed my life with that post about CAH (see below).
How I took breaks:
(You shouldn’t be surprised by now when I say) Running: I am ALMOST done Kimmy Schmidt! What should I watch on the treadmill next? I might just go back to Friends, but welcome to suggestions! (Best if it is about 30 min long)
Riverdale: HOLY SHIT EVERYONE. Ok, gunna geek out for a second here if that’s ok. Last weekend on my birthday I randomly decided to watch the pilot episode of Riverdale and in about .5 seconds I was completely hooked. I then proceeded to binge the entire season as fast as you can when studying 10 hours a day (one day I watched three episodes - ok, I’m not proud of it but literally I had to). Anyway highly recommend, but maybe for after Step.
Sleeping: This week my sleep schedule got a little off so I actually took naps some days...it was weird. I didn’t like it.
What I learned:
Sleep is important: Ok, so after a fun weekend last weekend and with the Riverdale binge this week I got a little off my sleep schedule. I didn’t think that going to bed closer to 11 instead of 10 would make a big difference, but wow it did. So now that I’m getting closer to Step day I am going to try REALLY hard this week to stick with my plan on getting up at six - which means earlier bedtimes. Side note: for doing this because my Prometric site is an hour away from me so that’s how early I have to leave my house on test day. ugh.
Being home alone is weird: My parents were away for part of the week to pick up my sister from school and that day and a half by myself was...odd. It was weird not having ANYONE to talk to. So basically I’m happy I came home to study, but also happy that I didn’t go somewhere completely by myself.
I think I am actually going to be able to do this: Honestly, after my practice test last weekend I was feeling a little nervous about being able to do well on Step. I even started wondering if I needed more time to study or should change what I was doing. But then yesterday I took another one and my score went up almost 20 points! I feel like I’m really close to hitting my goal score and I’m feeling pretty confident as I go into these last two weeks of studying. I’m thinking of this third week as my sophomore slump - studying isn’t new and fun anymore, and in fact I’m wondering if I’ll ever make it out the other side - but now I’m thinking I actually will!