First of all, I would like to emphasize that this is not as a recipe for people to follow. Rather, it is an example of how one person studied for boards. Everyone learns differently; no strategy will work well for everyone. What I did was talk to three of my friends who had done extremely well on boards and got their tips and strategies. From those, I constructed my own strategy, based on how I thought I learned best and what I thought I could do.
Prior to the last M2 finals, I really didn’t do too much studying for boards. I went on vacation during winter break, and I did not want to bring along any med school books. I made a half-hearted attempt to begin First Aid during January practicum, but soon gave up that idea. During spring break I did read through BRS Gross Anatomy. I knew it would be too detailed for boards; I read it mainly as a refresher.
Other than that, I didn’t do any specific boards studying before practicum. However, in some ways, I consider all the studying I did for M1 and M2 classes to be studying for boards. You can’t consider M1 or M2 exams to be isolated hurdles to clear and boards to be a separate exam. Probably, one of the most important factors in my boards score was all the preparation I had done during the first two years. For students reading this during M1 or early M2 year, don’t lose sight of the purpose of classes, exams, and med school: it’s to train you to become a physician. When you study for that renal physiology exam or for that molecular medicine test, remember that you’re also studying for the final exam, for boards, and for your life as a physician.
During practicum I really started studying during my free time and during down time at the hospital, and after it finished I started going really hard-core. In retrospect, one of the factors to which I credit my boards success is my decision to study with a friend. And by studying with a friend I mean sitting in silence together for hours, often in separate rooms. It was nice having someone with whom to take meal breaks and it provided motivation without which I would not have lasted the five weeks. If you do have a friend with whom you can study without distraction, I would strongly recommend it.
I took boards on a Friday, five weeks after the end of practicum. This left me two weeks for break. I am quite happy with the date I picked. Although I was very tempted, I am glad I resisted the urge to push back my date—two weeks of break was hardly enough to recuperate from the trauma of studying for boards. And I know by the end, I was burning out, and I was starting to forget what I had learned at the beginning of the five weeks. But during those five weeks, I really studied hardcore, like I’ve never studied before. And probably never will again.
On average, I slept 7.5–8 hours a day, and actual studying time was about 13.5–14 hours. Meals took a total of 1.5–2 hours (half an hour each for breakfast and lunch, half an hour to an hour for dinner). Honestly, I don’t know how I did it. I haven’t even been able to put in one day of studying like that since then.
I weighted my studying based on my perceived strengths and weaknesses, as well as on my guess of the subject’s relative importance on the boards. I believe that pathology, pharmacology, and microbiology are the most important. Although I was weak in neuroanatomy, since it’s only a part of anatomy, and anatomy itself wasn’t emphasized as much as other subjects on boards, I didn’t study it too hard.
Here are the books I used (in addition to a couple read-throughs of First Aid):
I should also admit that I attempted to go through Board Simulator Series, but they were beyond my level and rather depressing, and as question-and-answer-with-explanation does take time to read, I decided I could better spend my time elsewhere.
I definitely recommend doing Qbank. I like doing questions at the end, so I did four 50-question tests a day for the last eleven days. Doing questions and reading the answers and explanations takes longer than you think. I would struggle to finish a 50-question test in two hours. Here is what my schedule was like then:
| 12:30–8 or –8:30 | Sleep |
| 8:30–10:30 | First 50-question Qbank test |
| 10:30–11 | Breakfast (actual time varied, but was always half an hour) |
| 11–1 | Second 50-question Qbank test |
| 1–1:30 | Lunch |
| 1:30–3:30 | Third 50-question Qbank test |
| 3:30–4 | Shower, sometimes after a quick one-mile run (actual time varied) |
| 4–6 (–7) | Fourth 50-question Qbank test, after finishing up the slack from the morning |
| 7–7:30 or –8 | Dinner |
| 7:30– or 8–12 | Review First Aid or BRS Pathology |
| 12–12:30 | Read a (non–medical school) book in bed |
The day before the exam, I did some light First Aid reading and mostly relaxed, as well as made sure I knew how to get to the test center and where to park. To the exam, I brought several granola bars, two sandwiches, and a water bottle. I also brought First Aid and BRS Pathology, under the (self-imposed) condition that they were only for last-minute reviewing of some area I had forgotten, not to look up the answer to a question I had already done. The testing facility was well-organized and provided ear plugs (which I used almost the entire time). I got there early, started early, and left early. For test day, like for boards studying, planning is key. I scored well, and believe it or not, I look back on the boards studying period with fondness, although it definitely was a very trying time.
Good luck! Feel free to contact me with any questions.
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Alpha Omega Alpha
http://www2.uic.edu/stud_orgs/hon/aoa/