Cram Fighter coach Joe Zell, a student at Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio University, shares his recommendations for getting the most out of your coaching sessions by preparing beforehand.

What do you recommend medical students do before coaching sessions?

For starters, come into the meeting with an idea of what resources you would like to use. This way you will have the opportunity to ask your coach questions regarding the resources, such as “am I using too many resources?” In our meeting, we may discover that two resources overlap in content coverage quite a bit, and you won’t need both, or that some resources are complementary, and a good combination for your specific needs.

Think about the resources you want to use, about the hours you can dedicate to Step studying, and take Cram Fighter for a spin. It’s okay if your schedule is not realistic at this stage.

I recommend creating a schedule prior to the session, and experimenting with Cram Fighter. Familiarize yourself with Cram Fighter’s tools. Go ahead and give it a try. Think about the resources you want to use, about the hours you can dedicate to Step studying, and take Cram Fighter for a spin. It’s okay if your schedule is not realistic at this stage. We will go over whatever schedule you have together, and polish it according to your individual needs. This will save you valuable time during your coaching session to work on your schedule, and have it reflect a realistic plan that allows you to accomplish all of your goals.

Additionally, before you meet with your coach, think about how many hours you will be able to dedicate to studying. Attempt a self-analysis of how much time you can commit to Step studying. Don’t forget to factor in your personal life, your classes, and your daily commitments. I recommend choosing a weekly number of hours instead of choosing a number of hours for each day of the week. This provides flexibility to move your tasks around if necessary.

Keep in mind that Step 1 studying is a marathon. Nobody signs up for a marathon and runs it right away. You will want to build up your hours, and stamina, over time. In the beginning, maybe you will commit ten or fifteen hours per week. Then, as time goes on you may add more time until you have a dedicated, full-time study period. With that in mind, during your coaching session, we can work on creating different study blocks that reflect different stages of your study period.