Hello,
I am a med student in chicago. I PR'd my surgery text and received the 2nd highest grade in my class rotation. I sloughed off boards till the last minute ( my wife and I had a son Feb28 ) and I failed the Nat'l Boards, passing was 180 out of 250. However, I have talked to some people who studied 8 hrs/day for 3 months religiously and scored from about 205-218. I scored 171 with about 3 weeks of prep, 6 weeks vacation from prep (help wife, change diapers, feed kid at 200am, and help keep up house), then 3 weeks prep at ~4 hours of study per day with numerous interuptions from wife saying, 'can you hold the baby for just a second and then I will not bother you any more'. Of course, who can resist your first newborn son. There is only one right answer no matter how many times your wife breaks that promise that she will give you time to study. Did I digress too far? My heart was not in studying, I was very calm during the test. I am profoundly surprised at my score for the total lack of time I spent preparing for it. I am preparing to retake it and I plan to do much better this time.
What I learned from Surgery:
1. relax mind and enter ALS
2. Preview chapter
3. Ask self what this is all about
4. reaffirm ALS and relax
5. PR
6. Post-view
7. At least 1 hour later, SR& dip 4-5X
8. mind map as sloppy as possible
9. Use a stopwatch and get up and walk around when your brain goes into a holding pattern.
This seemed to work for me. At the end of surgery I was doing a chapter in about 90 minutes. It is true that most books have about 10-15% valuable information. I did not mind map in my Nat'l Board prep so I know I could have done better there.
So much of PRing is just relaxing and just doing it. You will not be good at it on your first try. Plan to start showing progress on your 20th try. You will show progress before that of course but it does remove the stress of expectation. If you have ever done an H&P you know how this works. After C/CO you have to ask when sx occured, how long they have occured, scale of 1-10, prev hx of sx, are they assoc. w/activity, what makes it better/worse, etc. Then you have to do prior medical Hx, Social Hx, Surgical Hx, Ask about medications, allergies, then review the systems. Now you can do the physical while remembering the previous interview and trying to remain professional while the patient knows you are a newbie student who cannot even operate a sphygmomanometer!
Obviously you practice on models in the beginning and each other trying to remain serious. Eventually you get to the point where you can get through it w/o using an ectopic brain (cheat sheet). Then you get to where you can get it all done in about 15-20 minutes and you are doing the ROS while performing the physical and having a working Dx for the Attending as you exit the room.
You will get better. The course is built in layers. IT is easier than learning H&Ps because there is no pressure. You will learn PRing and find what works best for you just as every physician has their own style of doing H&Ps.
Good luck,
Devin
