Some students report getting up at 4 AM for their surgery clerkship. Experiment with different sleep times to see your most effective time of day.Įven if you are nocturnal, remember that clerkships require early wake-ups. You should sleep enough to maximize concentration. Should they be going to sleep early? Not necessarily. Some people are truly night owls and focus better at night. This virtuous cycle made it easier to sleep early and accomplish more. I was always well-rested, which made studying easier the next day. By getting 8 hours of sleep consistently, I never needed caffeine in medical school. Discipline and self-control are finite and dynamic. Your ability to focus each day is also proportional to hours slept. When I’m tired, I focus less and get distracted more.Īt night? That’s an entirely different story. That’s blazing.Īt night, this many cards would take 2-4x as long. For example, today I woke up at 6 AM without an alarm and did 94 Anki reviews in only 20 minutes. Second, I’m well-rested and able to concentrate.Ĭoncentration and discipline vary depending on the time of day. First, I wake up early mornings are my most productive time of the day. Habit #4: Going to bed by 9 PMĮarly to bed accomplishes two goals. Instead of studying more, I maximized the quality of my time.įor more tips on how to do this, read Habits #4, #5, and #6. Instead, I improved my ability to concentrate. Most medical students are at their wit’s end the idea of extra studying gives them GERD. You improve productivity by increasing the time spent or the intensity/quality of your focus. Quality work = intensity of focus x amount of time spent Habit #3: Deep workĪ variant on a law for productivity is this: Many students accelerate both mastery and retention using the Yousmle Anki cards. I can remember everything I mastered in my medical training in less than an hour daily. I’ve made more than 20,000 reviews, but fewer than 100 are due at any time. Now, it takes 20-30 minutes daily to do my Anki cards. I did my cards on vacation, and even the evening after my Step 1 exam. I never slept before finishing my reviews. My Step 1 study plan included finishing my Anki cards every day. By remembering the information, I could prevent re-learning it. It was frustrating to forget what I had mastered. I discovered spaced repetition during M1, and its potential for unbounded memory was mesmerizing. You have only enough time to learn everything once. So, once you’ve mastered the content, you must never forget it. Mastering material takes much longer than memorizing it. Your best option is to master the material from Day 1. No Step 1 study plan can fully overcome two years of memorization in two months of dedicated study. When they begin preparing for the USMLE Step 1, they’ve already lost a lot of time. Consequently, students believe the myth they don’t have to understand to succeed. Medical school exams draw from rote lecture material and emphasize memorization over understanding. Mastery is difficult.īy contrast, it’s simple to do well on most medical school exams. Habit #1: Mastery > memorizationįor success on the USMLE Step 1 or other board exams, you must master the material. Here is the Ten Habit Step 1 study plan I used to score 270. Instead, your goals, practices, and execution will determine your success. Habits are inherently neither good nor bad. You will see how each of these habits supports the priorities of my Step 1 study plan. Learn to apply/integrate information useful to Step 1/medical practice.My priorities were clear for my preclinical years: A useful habit in one case may oppose another. Your priorities will determine which practices you should embrace or avoid. Your priorities determine what habits you adopt
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