Medical Spanish  Ι   Eats  Ι  About Us   Ι   Links  Ι  Contact Us  

Back to school again.  Boy first year was rough.  Many often say as you  near the end of first year, “ just get through this year because 2nd year is much better.”  This is probably true, but not because 2nd year is less work.  This is true because the topics in the 2nd year of many medical schools are often more interesting.  The one thing that should be on your mind throughout this entire year is your boards at the end of it.  I heard this statement before, and in retrospect very much agree with it, “the best way to prepare for the boards is to do well during your 2nd year.”  This doesn’t mean that if you don’t do excellent your 2nd year you can’t do excellent on the boards.  However, it is just the best way to prepare.  I recommend this, pick up a good board review book, either step-up or first aid.  Use this book in supplement to whatever required materials through out the year for the respective courses.  Make sure that when studying for final exams, lets say in renal physiology, on top of learning everything required for the course (recommended books and class notes,) you go over the renal section in your board review book, and reinforce those fundamental concepts.  The boards won’t often go into as much detail as is covered during your semester, so reinforcing the fundamentals will help when reviewing right before the boards over the summer.  However, learning about these details in addition to the fundamentals is what will help you beat the mean and get an excellent score.  So again, do your best in learning as much as possible during the year.

Preparing Early for the Boards

One more thing about using a board review book during the year in preparation for the boards.  I recommend purchasing a board review book, such as First Aid for Step 1, or Step-up for the boards.  If your 2nd year curriculum goes by organ system, Step-up will correlate better.  I would use these books only as a supplement to your studying for courses, this way you know which information is most relevant to the boards and considered fundamental for the topic when it comes test time (sometimes courses can stress an area that is not fundamental in the sense that it is not a main focus on the boards but is a main focus for one of the lead professors.)  Furthermore, add your own notes to the book to personalize it, especially on topics that are difficult to understand.  This will come very useful to your exam preparation at the end of the year.  There will be a lot more information on step 1 of the boards in the next chapter, so we won’t overemphasize it right now.  Just remember that the best way to prepare for them is by doing well this year.  Good luck.

Research and extracurricular activities

Although you should always keep in mind that during this year your primary focus is to do well in preparation for the boards, this year is also a good time to participate in extracurricular activities.  Both research and extracurricular activities will be important towards developing your application for residency.  Three traits that you want to somehow convene you are good at during some point during medical school are research ability, leadership ability, and the ability to start and finish a project.  You can usually demonstrate strong leadership and project completion skill by participating in a local chapter of either the Student National Medical Association, or the American Medical Student Association (especially leadership if you are active over two years where during the second year you are president or vice president.)  To demonstrate research ability, first find a research project, or topic, that interest you.  Then make sure that you set something up for a significant amount of time to get a good experience.  Everyone talks about getting published.  The best way to do this is, first, spend a meaningful amount of time engaged in this project. Secondly, linking with someone who actively publishes lots of papers.  Finding out who publishes a lot of papers can be done quickly.  Complete a Medline (or Pub med) search under the author, and see how many recent papers he or she has out.  Active publishers usually have many concurring projects, and need people like you, and you will likely get published.  Beware of people who like to scutt medical students.

Another thing to be considering this year is a specialty to pursue after medical school.  Of course it is not the end of the world if you don’t know this by now, and if you already do, you will probably switch, but the more you think about it the better.  Try to at least determine the type of lifestyle you want to have once you are completely done, and then using that as a filter, find a specialty that you like that fits your desired lifestyle.  Although now with the 80 hour work week, psychiatry to surgery residents will work the same amount of hours during the training, this will not be the same after residency.  The earlier you can narrow things down, the earlier you can identify a mentor, and do research up your alley, the better off you will be when it comes time to apply.

Taking time off

Many students take time off between either 2nd and 3rd, or 3rd or 4th.  During this time, some complete a research project or perhaps even a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) if available at your program.  Sometimes taking this extra time is as a result of splitting either the 2nd or 3rd year to either lighten the course load, or allow the opportunity to also do research, and not be over exerted.  Either way this is a great opportunity.

If interested in doing research the NIH offers great summer and year long programs, find out more at www.training.nih.gov/student/index.asp.

The CDC also has year long fellow programs, find out more about these at www.cdcfoundation.org/fellowships/medical.html  For an up to date directory of national and international opportunities click here.

www.studentsofmedicine.com