Discover Top Posts Tagged with #step i

Study Schedules for COMLEX?

MSUCOM has a great guide to boards, covering both USMLE and COMLEX, and discussing a ton of the info you need. I only just discovered it and after reading it wish my own COM had just given us this instead of their continual disorganized powerpoints and emails last year.

The PDF links to USMLEhelp.com study guide article, mentions Cramfighter's schedule service, and has lots of tips and tricks including guides to long-term retention.

It's a great resource you should download right now, because it's only 20 pages and it's packed with info.

#osteoblr #comlex #level I #step I #usmle #medblr #board prep #PDF guides for boards #thanks MSUCOM #Osteoblr Finishing School

Spicy | Step I Food Diary

At the end of our GI block, Sweet, Miss E and I went to splurge on an early all-you-can-eat sushi dinner. It's been far too long for me to remember what we ordered but rest assured that we ate enough for our poor stomachs to yell 'UNCLE!'

As is tradition after such meals, we conked out for a spell. I'm pretty sure we didn't start studying until the next day.

No exam study period would be complete without a Chipotle meal. These are always intended to last me for 3 meals but I think my poor self-control limited me to 1.5 meals.

I also discovered this soda during a trip to Midtown Global Market in the cities. It was a refreshing take on a typical orange soda--very light but still just sweet enough and fragrant with a hint of tea.

During our Step I review course, I attempted to make chicken korma (with a Patak's jar of korma sauce...I'm ashamed). I made enough to last me more than a week. I pretty much ate nothing but curry every day and for a good month afterwards, I couldn't even look at curry. Strangely, this didn't taste like the chicken korma I'm accustomed to--it tasted more like Vietnamese curry, complete with a touch of lemongrass!

I also made a batch of Sweet Sriracha chicken with some sesame oil-dressed broccoli, for a healthy(ish) go-to meal...

Another go-to favorite of mine was a "deconstructed" onigiri. I made chicken salad with soy sauce and wasabi. Then I would take a sheet of salted nori in my hand, load it up with a slice of avocado, a bunch of white jasmine rice and a dollop of the chicken salad--and voila! A delicious Japanese-style taco!

Don't worry, Sweet! I, too, am guilty of McDonald's consumption. Definitely more than once. This is a meal I had in the PT students' study area. I definitely felt some intense judgmental glares directed towards my shameless fry-munching face. I'M A POOR, DESPERATE MEDICAL STUDENT, WHAT DO YOU WANT

Some days I would take the opposite path and go into healthy-fancy land. Here's a goat cheese omelette with salsa I made. Those pharm cards are props. They did not actually help me for the exam at all.

One day, El Jefe treated me with a day in the Cities to study in some cute cafes. Our first stop was brunch at Uptown Diner, where I got the Carnitas Benedict. I already love Eggs Benedict, but the soft poached eggs and creamy Hollandaise on top of tender roast pork, black beans and salsa was a heavenly experience. I ate this giant serve and considered myself lucky I didn't fall into a death-like sleep afterward.

We skipped lunch and after a day of studying, we had dinner at Namaste Cafe, where I had a serve of bison mamacha--tender little dumplings with a nutty dipping sauce--with some garlic paratha and a big glass of icy coconut chai.

One meal I discovered later in my study period were these slow-cooked sweet Sriracha wings--same seasonings as my typical chicken but thrown on wings instead of thighs and placed in the slow cooker for 4 hours. I browned the wings in the pan for maximum caramelization. Really not healthy, but very addictive. I ladled the sauce onto rice for maximum fat intake...

One of the laziest things I made was roasted potatoes with grated balsamic bellavitano. Literally all you do is cut up potatoes and toss them with olive oil, let them roast until brown and crispy and top with mounds and mounds of light, floral cheese. This was a direct copy of what Mr. Turtle made for Sweet and me a few entries ago.

For three solid weeks, I had the PERFECT study spot. Lots of lighting, adequately large tables, a whiteboard WALL, completely empty and silent--my secret little place. I would bring tea and my favorite (Society6) mug and take advantage of the hot water spout, and use the microwave upstairs to heat up lunch. I'd be set for the whole day.

Pictured here is some fettucine in pesto sauce, with peas and bacon. In my spot, I would study, eat lunch, and then study until I wanted to go home and get dinner. It was perfect. Alas, one day, I ran into one of the people who worked there during the week (did she camp out on the weekend so she could catch me?) and she politely told me that students were not allowed to study in this area. And so was the end of a beautiful relationship between me and a corner window seat.

I eventually moved upstairs to the PT students' area. Here is my typical setup. I felt so fancy with my First Aid in my book stand. It just so happened that Starbucks' Happy Hour was a few weeks before my test, so I definitely had more than enough venti green tea frappucinos for my coronaries to handle.

Here's a meal that El Jefe, Mr. Turtle, J-Sauce and I had at El Gallo, a little Mexican grocery/diner. I got the lengua tacos, as usual, with an apple-flavored Lift soda. I love tongue tacos...SO MUCH.

And here is a very fancy Vietnamese coffee with whipped cream I made in my beloved Avengers (again, Society6) mug.

Not pictured: I also had several ramen meals (always loaded with thit kho gravy, soft tofu, broccoli and poached egg, of course). These were severely counterproductive because I would always fall into a deep coma afterward.

In the days leading up to my test, I also regressed into a dark, childlike state. I needed Mommy's cooking, so I would get desperate enough to go to Pho Tai and get pho take out. It's nothing close to Mom's pho, but it's close enough for a Vietnamese kid a few days before her test.

Step I was an incredibly stressful time for me. Even though I really appreciated the chance to learn MEDICINE (that's what you sign up to do when you apply for medical school, right?), the imminent test date and the implied (perhaps, in retrospect, inflated) importance of the score were a lot to handle, and so my six weeks of studying were an emotional rollercoaster. Food was sustenance, but I struggled to remember that it was comfort, it was relaxation.

I would never have survived Step I if it wasn't for the continued encouragement of my sister, my friends, especially Sweet, El Jefe, Mr. Turtle, Beatrix, Dr. Bedelia and more--but especially the daily phone calls with my mother. Every day, she would remind me to breathe, to get some sleep, and to "an ngon", to eat well and to relish food. Enjoying each warm meal was the closest I could get to enjoying a warm hug from my mom and dad, and that's so much more important than any test.

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