Yeah Chem, Its Not Like I Have A Social Status To Live Up To. 112115.

USMLE STEP 1 STUDY TOOLS AND TIPS

It is approaching that time of year where the second year medical students are preparing to cram for the United States Medical Licensing Exam Step 1. A test some consider to be the most important exam of medical school and subsequently determines the rest of your life. That is a little dramatic but I think it should be your goal to do the best you can. Here are some of the tools I used to study for Step 1:

First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2017

This is the holy bible of USMLE Step 1 studying. I highly recommend this book and I think almost every medical student who has taken the test would say the same. I would read through this book 2-3 times to really have it sink in.

Pathoma

A lecture series made by a certifiable genius: Dr. Husain Sattar, a pathologist from the University of Chicago. This series was amazing and incredibly detailed. A lot of high yield material is covered in his lectures. 

https://www.pathoma.com 

USMLE World

The question bank of all question banks. Though it may be school dependent, almost everyone from my medical school chose to go with this question bank. A couple thousand questions covering the majority of USMLE Step 1 topics. The questions are challenging but you will see your scores improve as you continue to study throughout your first and second year. I’ve even used this product for Step 2 and I am currently (literally open on my computer) using it for Step 3. My number one goal would be to complete every question offered in this question bank, it is a lot but well worth it.

https://www.uworld.com

The rest are to cover my weakest subjects from USMLE Step 1: Biochemistry, Microbiology and Pharmacology. I recommend the following tools to turn your greatest weakness into your greatest strength:

Microbiology

Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple

Lange Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Flash Cards

Pharmacology

Clinical Pharmacology Made Ridiculously Simple

Lange Pharmacology Flash Cards

Biochemistry

Clinical Physiology Made Ridiculously Simple

Lange Biochemistry and Genetics Flash Cards

---

my july spread! 7 days in, but still good :) 

---

this is a dumb question, but how on earth does one get an interpretive thesis? everything I've come up with just sounds like it's describing stuff that happened, and I'm starting to think I'm just not cut out for writing this stuff....

oh man, okay, here is how to write an interpretive thesis:

find a but.

the easiest way to make your thesis interpretive is to have a “but” moment. It’s where you set up a particular picture of what other people might think is going on, and then you point out why that picture is incorrect, because X.

like my friend’s thesis which was “you may think that bioethics came into being in the wake of the the nuremburg trials, BUT the tuskegee syphilis experiments showed that these standards had yet to permeate the wider scientific culture”

or my thesis, which was “because of the way medical ethics developed as a discipline, it tends to focus on medicine through the lens of the clinical encounter BUT in our changing healthcare system, that is no longer a valid approach to take on the question of ethical practice”

it’s helpful if you find a lot of scholarship, or an influential scholar who you can disagree with; if you’re pushing back an established view within your field, or general knowledge. Most theses begin with a disagreement of some kind, and it’s a very fruitful place to begin.

I would also say there’s nothing wrong with….not writing a “but” thesis? One of my friends wrote his thesis on the intersection on current brain research, education, and those online services that claim to boost your brainpower. There’s not a lot of research in that specific area, so his was an exploratory thesis, suggesting a theory of its own based on what he had found.  If you’re already in a well-trod field with lots of literature around your topic, though, that might be harder.

Talk it over with your advisor! They should be able to point you in the right direction, or at least suggest some more avenues of research.

---

I’m going to uni this autumn, and I feel like most of studyblr’s incoming freshmen are just as clueless as I am. Here’s a bunch of tips from the more experienced among us, and I hope it’s just as useful to you as it is to me!

this took forever to make so i’m really hoping it’s good

Money Matters

Textbooks

Sites where you can get free textbooks by @thearialligraphyproject

Get textbooks online

Tips for textbooks by @theorganizedcoyote

Websites to get cheap textbooks by @theorganisedstudent

Ultimate guide to buying college textbooks

Safe ways to get free textbooks

Saving Money

A girl called jack: eating under the line

Qriket

Scholarship masterpost by @wallcalendar

Save money while shopping online

College scholarships 2016-17 by @wonderstudying

Tips for finding & getting scholarships

How to budget

Where to find student discounts by @collegerefs

Searching for scholarships by @collegesmarts

Creative ways to save money in college

Places that offer discounts with student id

Ways to save/earn money

Paying for college by @collegerefs

Student Life

Dorm & Living

PSA for college freshmen

Dorm tips from @humanitaes

Ultimate school locker (uni bag) kit by @girl-studying

Resolving issues with roommates

Tips for living like an adult

How to eat healthy in dining halls

DIY dorm decor by @notquitenightingale

Everything I actually used in my freshman dorm room

Guide to living alone by @piratestudy

Living with a roommate by @collegerefs

Packing Lists

Thing I forgot to bring to college by @myberkeleyadventure

Sam’s ultimate failproof guide to packing by @staticsandstationery

Ultimate college packing list for freshmen

College packing list by @kimberlystudies

What to bring to college

Checklist for dorms & campus living

Packing up: preparing for college in @theacademiczine

College dorm packing list by @produitivity

Recipes

One-pot chicken fajita pasta

100 dirt cheap recipes for students

57 go-to recipes for college students

Cheap & healthy recipes 

Over 400 fast & healthy recipes

Classes

Studying & Taking Notes

Organizing notes with Google Docs by @academla

How to write a lecture summary efficiently by @collegerefs

Symbols & abbreviations for note-taking 

How to take lecture notes by @hstrystdyblr

How to take notes in college by @determinationandcaffeine

Getting the most out of lecture by @strive-for-da-best

How to get your best grades in college by @saralearnswell

If you have a bad college professor

Essays

Transition words for essays by @soniastudyblr

How to analyze historical sources by @rewritign

How to write a university level essay by @healthyeyes

Analyzing a written text

Essay writing: university vs. high school

How to write a history paper by @thehistorygrad

How I plan and write literature papers by @notaperfectstudent

Exams

A quick guide to finals by @emmastudies​

10 revision tips for final & first year exams

High school exams vs. college exams

Crucial study tips for finals week in college 

3 day study plan by @getstudyblr

Low stress college study strategy by @plannerdy 

+ More

Masterposts

A college student’s masterpost by @eruditekid

Random college tips by @determinationandcaffeine

College advice by @studenting

Giant college masterpost by @heyiwantyoutostay

Advice

Advice for college by @collegerefs

10 tips for starting uni by @studycubs

Advice from a college senior 

Great tips from @fuckstudy

10 more excellent tips

Things nobody tells you about university by @polcry 

Miscellaneous

8 things successful students do by @frankfurter-studies

Email tips by @haileymostudies

@collegerefs‘ entire blog– so much good stuff that’s incredibly useful

my grace.uni tag– all the posts I’ve saved for university

Staying in contact with high school friends

How to make friends in college

---

SYNESTHESIA // an instrumental mix to fill you up with wonder and paint your vision rich with color

i. a fuoco - ludovico einaudi | ii. arrival of the birds - the cinematic orchestra | iii. atonement - dario marianelli | iv. fragile n.4 - dustin o’halloran | v. mescaline - abel korzeniowski | vi. forrest gump suite - alan silvestri | vii. gymnopédie no.1 - erik satie | viii. sherlocked - david arnold & michael price | ix. tennessee - hans zimmer | x. main titles - rachel portman | xi. stars and butterflies - jean-yves thibaudet | xii. we move lightly - dustin o’halloran | xiii. the king’s speech - alexandre desplat | xiv. arabesque no.1 - claude debussy | xv. divenire - ludovico einaudi

{listen}

---

We actually have around 20 senses (depending on how you count) but this infographic outlines the 5 main ones; hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and touch. More like this on To Be A Genius.

---

finished my infographic project for chem!

---

your local mediocre student tries to be productive (aka finals are hard)

---

Literally do your work as soon as you know it exists. If you get homework, do it during your free or when you get home or on the train if you really want to, on the day you get it. Just got set an assignment? Get the draft done that weekend. It doesn’t have to be amazing and absolutely ready to send in, it just needs to exist. Just got sent an email? Reply when you see it. If you’re not sure how to response to it, write Dear (), leave a gap and then write Regards () and keep that in your drafts. Set a reminder on your computer or write the reminder on a sticky note that you’ve got that sitting in your drafts and you need to send it off in the next 24 hours. Need to clean your room? Don’t spend time thinking or planning how you’re going to clean it or how you’re going to change up the space in the process, just pick stuff up and put it where it should be until everything’s in order. Done. Seriously dude, when a task arises as an issue, tackle it as soon as you realise it exists. Remember, it doesn’t need to be amazing it just needs to be done. So, when the due date of the task creeps closer, you can go back, work with what you have and make it the quality you want it to be. 

---

💓 day 4 of 100 days of productivity 💓

studying for my final exam of the semester (!!!) with my brand new mildliners! i can definitely say that it took me a long time to decide if i really needed them, but now that i have them, i personally couldn’t imagine studying without them. if you’re on the fence about purchasing them, like i was, i highly recommend them! hope you’re having a fantastic day xx

---