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Stressin' Out!

themadchemist

themadchemist

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Hey everybody, thought I'd start a thread that is more personal than anything else (sorry if it bores you). At the very least, you can be thankful that it is not about a romantic situation.

I'm taking the US Medical Licensing Exam Step I (the boards), a week from Monday, and I'm really freaking out. This material is overly voluminous, I can't manage to keep it in my head, and though I've been studying for two months, my scores haven't really changed in quite some time. I feel like I've been working really hard and I am just really really hoping it comes together. This test is apparently quite important, and it would be nice to do well.

Any words of comfort would be great! 🙂 Also, if others have big tests coming up, or have had them recently, feel free to vent. In particular, any veterans of the boards.
 
Work hard, study hard, but don't forget to eat properly, get your rest and exercise too.
If you go in to the test exhausted and distracted, your hard work will be compromised.

Pace yourself so you can include the rest and food you need.
Oh, and go to the bathroom before you start the test 😉

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
Well, I'm not studying for my boards or anything but I am studying for an exam that covers 4 areas of study and is thousands of questions long. They give you an entire year to study, which in my mind speaks volumes for the level of difficulty of the exams. All I can really say is you either know it by now or you do not. You will certainly think that you do not up until the last moment. I think it'll all come together.
 
certainly wish you the best of luck!

as mac dawg said, pace yourself and remain calm, thats the best you can do to prepare other than study. the more anxious you get, the worse and more you'll second guess yourself.

hope it all turns out well though.
 
I have found exercise to be a great stress reducer. Get out and be active if possible. It will help your body and your mind.
 
jessica. said:
Well, I'm not studying for my boards or anything but I am studying for an exam that covers 4 areas of study and is thousands of questions long. They give you an entire year to study, which in my mind speaks volumes for the level of difficulty of the exams. All I can really say is you either know it by now or you do not. You will certainly think that you do not up until the last moment. I think it'll all come together.
Click to expand...

Sounds challenging. What's the exam/what's it for? And good luck to you, too!

As far as knowing it or not by now, this exam is so much rote memorization that I think I can still get a few more facts stuck in my head between now and the 14th. 😉
 
Hey all, thought I'd resurrect my old thread because tomorrow's the big day. Two years of med school and seven solid weeks of test preparation culminate tomorrow in the "most difficult and most important test of my life" (or so I'm told). Wish me luck! 🙂
 
Well try your best and relax. In the end you will survive.

I know its easier said than done. 🙂

Good luck!
 
just remember everyone is taking the same test as you

just study hard. with that said, make sure you study broad concepts not specialized concepts

i know the FE exam is the same way. Very much info covered (test was 8hrs long), as in the entire undergrad engineering curriculum and it was intimidating to me. I just studied over the course of a few months and went to review sessions (i would HIGHLY reccomend as they are great refreashers)


also, if it is a mc test, make sure you stay consistent with your guesses. If you guess "c" always guess "c" and your overall odds of guessin will work out more in your favor than just randomly guessing
 
Aaaand I'm done. 🙂 I have the good fortune that I tend to be pretty calm on test day, and the eight hours went by pretty quickly. It felt like taking just another practice test. The questions were very similar in style to the nearly 6,000 practice questions I've done over the last three months, and almost all the questions were about topics I'd at least seen before (though I obviously had to make a lot of educated guesses, since many questions were quite tricky). It's great to be done, and I went out for dinner with some friends I haven't seen in a while, and then went to a jazz club to listen to my friend's roommate perform.

Blue Velvet: I find I'm on here much more when I do have something I ought to be doing.

dukebound85: This test was very peculiar in the sense that while having a sense of the general concepts is important, it requires very, very detailed knowledge of tons and tons and tons of specific concepts. Basically, they expect you to take all of these specific concepts and put them together to decide on how to diagnose, treat, and manage side effects for patients with various presentations (or what the biochemical/cell biological/genetic/molecular context is). That's what kills me, because I take longer to memorize things than some.

All: Thanks for your kind words!

And next up: I take a four year break from med school to do a PhD. I start tomorrow.
 
Hope things went well! I hear the USMLE is a bastard.

Glad to be done, I am sure.

Best wishes on the dual doctorate!
 
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