Blog Post Focus–Favorite Resources
This blog post will focus on my favorite resources back when I was studying for board exams. Note, it has been several years since I was medical student. These are my thoughts and experiences and your thoughts and experiences may differ.
Personal Story—Realizing a Need for Supplemental Resources and Finding My Favorite Resources
When I was in medical school I came to the realization that I would require supplemental resources to succeed. I had been doing fine on tests and exams, but hearing about just how important board exams were shook me a bit. I realized it was not enough to be prepared for my classes, but I needed to be preparing for board exams.
Upon preparing for boards with question banks I realized that while I had been doing fine in medical school classes, I had not been preparing well for boards. I started trialing tons of resources and using them with poor study habits.
I tried to use too many resources and I also prioritized certain resources in less than ideal ways. It wasn’t until my fourth year in medical school and into intern year of residency that I really found my ideal resources. Unfortunately, at that point I realized I had poorly chosen my resources.
My Personal Favorite Resources for Board Exam Preparation
At the end of my fourth year of medical school and into internship I had optimized my studying more and found resources I had found to be superior to the rest. Ultimately, this came to one resource targeted toward a specific topic, one resource that broadly covered most topics, a question bank, and a spaced repetition system.
Favorite Resources for a Specific Topic
For me, I found the only way that microbiology stuck was by using Sketchy Micro. While I initially was put off by its popularity (classmates always referring to “Sketches”) and the narrator’s manner of talking, I did find I could remember the Sketches fairly well. Additionally, I found the Sketchy Pharm to be quite powerful for learning about medications.
Unfortunately, I went over this by brute force memorization alone rather than pairing it with a spaced repetition system.
Resource Covering Most Topics
I trialed too many boards resources before I finally started using my favorite: Online Med Ed. Online Med Ed taught me quickly, concisely, and effectively more than any of my medical school professors or other resources. In most videos I heard of conditions or explanations that never came up in my medical school classes. It honestly frustrated me how much better this resource was compared to my classes.
Still, I unfortunately utilized this initially through poor study habits and never utilized a spaced repetition system. Had I used a spaced repetition system like Anki I suspect I would have been a much stronger student and been able to utilize this resource much better.
Question Banks
I had tried two main question banks—one for DO Boards and one for MD boards. To prepare for COMLEX I utilized True Learn. For USMLE prep I utilized UWorld. True Learn was superior to UWorld simply from its OMM prep—otherwise, regardless of COMLEX or USMLE prep, I found UWorld to be the superior question bank.
Trying to use two question banks was too much. The UWorld predictive assessment I found to be better than the TrueLearn predictive assessment.
Spaced Repetition System
The spaced repetition system I eventually used was Anki. It is a virtual flashcard system that spaces cards by how well you subjectively grade your retrieval for the flash card.
I got on this late. I started using this in residency. It took some time before I implemented it properly. However, once I did I found my preparation for in-training exams to be much better. I remembered important conditions and medical knowledge I applied to these flashcards so much better than when I went without a spaced repetition system.
If I had used Anki (or any such spaced repetition system, such as simple flash cards) properly before I am confident I would have saved myself tons of time and stress while in medical school. As it is, it made my studying in residency much better and contributed to my being able to shine on rotations and feel confident about my ability to treat patients appropriately.
Conclusion: My Favorite Resources Back When I Was Studying
There it is. My personal favorite resources from from my time studying for board exams were Online Med Ed, Sketchy Micro, and UWorld. However, I later started using Anki as my spaced repetition system, which improved my learning dramatically. I am confident that had I used these resources from the beginning I would have been a much better medical student and residency applicant.
Focus on improving your study habits now. Regardless where you are in your career. Find your best resources for you. Thrive.
Links to Resources
Note, I do not have affiliate links at this time. I simply am sharing resources I had used and found useful that I discussed in this blog post.
- When I refer to Sketchy, I refer to SketchyMedical https://www.sketchy.com/. It seems that times have changed! Now, instead of discrete “Micro” and “Pharm” there are Pre-clinical and Clinical packages.
- Anki web for flash cards for spaced repetition: https://apps.ankiweb.net/
- OnlineMedEd for a comprehensive resource https://www.onlinemeded.com/
- Question Banks: Uworld https://www.uworld.com/ and TrueLearn https://truelearn.com/
Comment
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