Make the Most of Your Study Time Before Exam Day

What should you be doing to make the most of the final weeks before your board exam? No matter how much or how little you have prepared up until now, keep in mind the following: study only relevant material and forget all your excuses for not studying—the Boards are just around the corner! Let’s go over a few scenarios.

Scenario A: I’ve been studying MedStudy material for some time and my Boards are in the next 1-2 months.

1. Study the most relevant material. Use only board-focused study materials. Don’t waste your time on information that’s not going to appear on your exam. Don’t spread yourself too thin. MedStudy products are board-relevant, concise, and easy to understand. By studying non-relevant material during the remaining time period, you are at risk of spreading yourself too thin. Additionally, there is a common tendency to try and review more, rather than less, material.

2. Shift your focus to Board-Style Q&As. There is no more efficient way to learn the core concepts of a topic than reviewing Board-Style Q&As on that topic. Why is this? Think how Q&As are made. First, the question writer, having reviewed the material, picks a concept that you are expected to know. The question is written to test your understanding so distractors are thrown in that would seem reasonable if you didn’t know the topic well. Some distractors are put in specifically because they are commonly confused with the correct answer. By learning not only why the correct answer is right but also why each of the distractors is wrong, you precipitate out chunks of real, usable, and memorable knowledge from each Q&A. Besides this, using board-style Q&As gives you a good feel for how the questions should be interpreted—preventing you from over-analyzing the questions (a common trap).
   
   Board-style Q&As help you prepare for the exam while assessing what you know and how to use that knowledge. About 85 percent of exam questions require synthesizing information, prioritizing alternatives, and/or utilizing clinical judgment. Pay close attention to what is presented—and only to what is presented. Don’t get lost in the scenario. Understand exactly what is being asked and focus on a “problem list” of all the information and data provided.
   
Remember that MedStudy's IM Q&A Premium and Peds Q&A Premium tracks questions answered incorrectly and those not yet answered. You can do one topic at a time or mix them up. Mixing them up is a good study technique in itself and will also get you used to the Boards. You can bookmark any question you do not thoroughly understand and especially focus on these questions at the end. I recommend bookmarking the questions you are uncertain about before you answer them. That way, even if you get the correct answer by luck, you will still be able to easily call it up later. Q&A Premium contains MedStudy’s entire Qbank, along with a practice test and a board-style exam!

3. Review with flashcards. These are a great way to preview and self-test on a topic before you dive into reading it or doing the Q&As. Self-testing is the most effective use of your study time. Use flash cards you have generated yourself during study, or MedStudy’s flash cards for internal medicine (Core Scripts®) or pediatrics (Pediatrics Flash Cards).

4. What about the Core or videos? MedStudy is an integrated study system and, to use it correctly, you must allow quite a bit of time to go through it. For example, now would be a great time to start studying for the 2017 Boards using the full study system, but if you are only now starting to study for the 2016 Boards and are working full time and have only limited study time, now is not the time to buy the Core or videos. You would be spreading yourself too thin. Focus on getting through the Q&As at least 3 times. See the scenarios below.

Scenario B: I’m just starting to study for the 2016 Boards which are in the next 1-2 months and have very limited time to study.

Study using the Q&As as mentioned in tip #2. Go through them at least 3 times. Use flash cards if you have time. If you have the Core or video syllabus already, go through the Preview/Review section in the Core and/or Q&As in the syllabus.

Scenario C: I’m just starting to study for the 2016 Boards which are in the next 1-2 months, and I have nothing but time to study.

If you study best by listening to lectures, use flash cards to preview each section. Then watch the video on that section at least once. Then go through the Q&As in the video syllabus and the online Q&As. Go over all Q&As at least 3 times. If you study best by reading, use flash cards to preview each section. Then go through the Core quickly, paying particular attention to the Preview/Review questions and the yellow-highlighted material. Then do the Q&As for that section. Do this 3 times.

Scenario D: I’ve already started studying for the 2017 Boards.

Docs in this group will already have a good feel for what they need to do to be ready. Your study focus will be similar to that of those just starting, but you have more time. If you are using the MedStudy “Personal Trainer,” keep following the prompts, but really focus on Q&As. If you’ve gone through the Core Curriculum one or more times, keep using it as your primary reference—even if you went to a live course or got the videos. Use the live or video course syllabus specifically to review the great Q&As the docs presented there. All content should be gone over at least 3 times. If you went to the live course or have watched the videos but have not done any online Q&As, then start on the Q&As, now! First, quickly review the Q&As in the live or video course syllabus, then go over online Q&As for that same topic. Do all 3 times. You get the idea!

Scenario E: I’m just starting to study for the 2017 boards.

A year (or more) ahead is the best time to start studying for the boards. Follow this study plan:

1. Preview/Review (20 minutes). Begin with a preview of material you have not yet begun to study or a review of material you have already studied. You may use the Quick Quizzes in the text, self-test with questions you have generated while studying, quiz yourself with flash cards, use Q&As, or write out/record everything you remember about a topic. These activities force you to retrieve information from memory, helping you consolidate your learning and identify knowledge gaps.
2. Access new materials (20 minutes). Read a new topic. Feel free to jot down notes or questions as you engage with the material, but don’t spend too much time at this point writing down information.
3. Stop to recall what you know (10 minutes). At this point you can write notes, outline ideas, and create concept maps, but don’t refer to the text while you are doing this just yet. This activity will help you practice retrieving information and consolidate your knowledge.
4. Create resources for further study (10 minutes). Note any gaps in your knowledge that emerged from steps 1–3. Develop a list of questions you’re likely to be asked, identify content you’ll need to memorize, and figure out a strategy for memorizing this content. Create flash cards for future review and study.
5. Return to reading in a different topic area (40 minutes), and repeat steps 2–4. This is called “interleaving,” or mixing up topics for more effortful study that aids in recall.
6. Self-test previously studied material with MedStudy Flashcards or Board-Style Q&As (20 minutes).

The above plan devotes 40 minutes to learning new material and 80 minutes to self-testing and actively engaging with current or past material. As you progress through the material, there will be progressively more review and less new material.

Good luck!

Robert A. “Tony” Hannaman, MD
President, MedStudy