Originally published 2016
It was January of MS2 year, and after winter break, excitement for Step 1 was starting to build.
Within a few weeks, our administration laid out a calendar for one-on-one meetings with faculty to discuss our prep schedule. They wanted us to create calendars with our daily study plan for the upcoming six-week dedicated period.
While this seemed intense at the time, in retrospect, it was a necessity. The administration wanted us all to pass on our first attempt, and having us come up with a study plan was the best way to make that happen.
Before we knew it, dedicated was upon us. After our last class in April, we parted ways, and started working through our calendars day-by-day. It was time to become well acquainted with our new best friends: our review book and our Qbank.
The Loneliness of USMLE Lockdown
The word that comes to mind in describing Step 1 dedicated is “lockdown.” Life’s distractions were swept aside, friendships put on hold, and up to 12 hours per day were spent alone studying. Being an advocate of 100% focus when it’s required, I spent the better part of the first few weeks at my desk putting the pieces of medicine together.
This was fine at first, but it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t how a human is supposed to live. I considered studying with others, but figured that our incongruent knowledge bases would start to hamper one another. What if they were on a renal day and I was on GI? What would we even talk about? I assumed studying with others would interfere with our watertight study plans, and we would only drag each other down.
However, what I came to discover was quite the opposite: studying with friends is not evil.
Parallel Studying (and Coffee)
I met a friend at a cafe with plans for parallel studying (the way that children around age 2 play with one another). The plan was we would sit next to each other, drink our coffees, you do your work, I do mine. When we both take a break, we can talk about baseball or current events for a few minutes, then get back to work.
Just doing this made the bear of a task much more enjoyable. Now there was someone to commiserate with! Someone who was in the same pickle of being married to a book for a month! Plus, getting out is always nice, it forces you to shower and dress, and the cafe’s coffee was always better than mine.
Learning Through Teaching
Little by little, this parallel studying became more engaging. We started bouncing ideas off each other, regardless of the study plan for the day. Concepts that didn’t click for one of us could be explained by the other.
Eventually, we arrived at the point where we were preparing mini-lessons for one another. For instance, I wasn’t comfortable with the classes of antiarrhythmics, so I built a lesson about the concept. Since I wouldn’t be able to teach it unless I myself had a full understanding, this held me accountable to learn the subject matter inside and out. This led to both of us understanding a difficult concept more thoroughly.
In addition to learning from mini-lessons, we both lived inside this parallel universe, the circumscribed 2,000 questions in my Qbank. Because we were ultimately doing the same Qbank, we could share ideas about particular questions. For example, let’s say my study partner learns about papillary necrosis and teaches me an interesting fact about this alien concept.
When I get to my question(s) about papillary necrosis, I already have some background knowledge, and this question further cements it. I also share interesting facts that I come across, and together we further affirm our knowledge.
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A Caveat: Choose Your Study Buddy Wisely
Make sure you and the partner you choose have a similar fund of knowledge. (And also be sure to avoid these three study buddy mistakes.) There’s a tendency in medical school to “show off how much one knows.” Some students bolster their pride by making others feel more unsure of themselves. (It’s not a beautiful thing, but it happens everywhere.)
The purpose of wrangling a study partner is to advance both of your knowledge bases and achieve higher test scores together. Choosing a partner who is way behind you will give you a false sense of security and make them feel worse. Conversely, finding someone who is far ahead of you will crush your confidence.
I also recommend capping your study group at two participants. As numbers grow, organization becomes more difficult, and the chances of it transmogrifying into a social outing increase.
That said, remember to try and have fun with all this! Fun and brilliance aren’t mutually exclusive. Good luck out there, and remember, you can always reach out to Blueprint tutors for extra support! 🤝
