Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs
Web ResourcesSuccess Tips for Second-Year Medical StudentsCongratulations! You successfully made it through your first-year of medical school! By now, you pretty much know the ropes, but here’s some tips to make second-year go by even smoother. Review BooksIf you didn’t use review books to supplement your learning last year, now’s a good time to start. Most second-year classes start off with a refresher on 'normal'. Using a review book on physiology or anatomy can be helpful to refamiliarize yourself with the most important aspects of normal for a particular organ system. It will then help you to understand and even anticipate what will happen in disease states. Review books also allow you to preview the material that you need to know for Step 1, and you can add high yield info to them as you go along, so it will be familiar and slightly more thorough reading when Boards studying comes around. Find out what review books are high yield and work well for you. Ask upper-classmen or your classmates what they have been using or look in the back of First Aid for Step 1 for their ratings on review books. In the past, most students have recommended First Aid, BRS Pathology and Physiology, High Yield Neuroanatomy and High Yield Embryology. I want to emphasize...don’t study for the boards right now...just study in a way that makes you learn your course work better and simutaneously will make boards studying easier. Extracurricular ActivitiesI know it’s hard to think about applying to residency right now since it’s seem so far off...but it isn’t really. Now is the time to boost your involvement in community service and/or leadership roles, if you haven’t done so already, since these are things admissions committees will be looking for in an applicant. You will have very little time third-year so make sure you take part in extracurricular activities while you still have some time to devote to them. Me TimeMedical school can be bad for your health. We’re sleep deprived, we don’t eat right, get enough exercise, and are overly caffeinated. I’m surprised we don’t end up with pulmonary emboli considering we sit in 1301 everyday for almost six hours straight. Try to eat healthy, regulate your sleeping patterns, and get at least 20 minutes of exercise at least twice a week, or whatever you can fit into your schedule. A healthy body will give you the endurance and focus you will need for effective studying. You won’t have as much free time as last year but you will still have enough time to be have fun. Rent a video, go out to a club, visit your family, and friends. Whatever it is, try to strike a balance between normal social life and studying so you don’t burn out. Useful Web Sites
Good Luck this year! Keep up the hard work; it will all pay off for Step 1. |