We asked Ryan B., a medical student at Texas Tech who scored a 277 on Step 2, how he utilized study groups to succeed in medical school.

How many people did you have in your study group?

We regularly had a group of seven. This was a good number because at any given time, one or two of us were probably at the library studying. When you’re burned out a few nights before a test, there were always a few friends up at the library, and that encouraged each of us to keep working hard. Everyone in our group did really well throughout medical school. We all did well on Step 1, Step 2 and our shelf exams, so the group ended up being beneficial to all of us.

Which years of school did you find a study group useful?

I plugged into a study group early on, and we met all through the first three years of medical school.

We made a game out of it. We made trivia questions and tried to think of something that we knew that the other person didn’t know.

How did you organize your study sessions and what were they like?

We made a game out of it. We made trivia questions and tried to think of something that we knew that the other person didn’t know. We quizzed each other all the time, trying to find holes in each other’s knowledge. I would find out where the holes are in my own knowledge. It was a huge help to me to have people pushing me to learn more. I enjoyed teaching them things I knew, and encouraging them to learn more too.

How did your group handle study planning?

Almost everyone in my group used Cram Fighter. We became big fans of Cram Fighter. I am not a great scheduler, and so scheduling was the worst part about getting ready for Step 1. Creating a study schedule is an unwanted and unneeded headache. So Cram Fighter was really helpful in that regard. I think everyone in my group appreciated having one less thing to be stressed about.