Along with the flood of information you’ll receive on how to study, it is important to hear some advice on how to NOT study. Yes, what you do while not studying can affect your sanity and how you study as well. The end goal is to increase studying productivity by reducing all the little stressors and time-sinks in your life that would normally be easily managed, but add up overwhelmingly during Step 1 review. The biggest tip is the obvious one you haven’t actively enacted yet: stay away from the people who are really stressing out. Haters gonna hate, stressers gonna stress, and both are contagious. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be invested in your studies, but nothing good comes from unproductive flipping-out. Practice safe studying. Sleep hygeine is important when you have no required structured time in your day. Try to wake up and go to sleep at the same time every day. If you find yourself half-asleep and drooling on First Aid at 2am, trying to just finish that last chapter to stay on schedule, you are better served sleeping and finishing it when you wake up so the information can actually stick. This is precisely why we recommend that your schedule is flexible. Pass this info on to any classmate you see with backwards highlighter writing unknowingly smudged across their forehead. Similarly, if you are burning out and finding yourself going over the same paragraph 5 times but not actually reading/thinking about it, it’s time to step away for a few moments. Sometimes that can actually be switching topics/books, or sometimes you need a short power-break. Try to keep tabs of your breaks. If you decide to stop studying to let your brain relax a bit, it is exceedingly easy for breaks to become longer than anticipated. Set a time limit to what you think is reasonable and try to stick with it. Some students will actually set a timer. While we don’t recommend down-to-the-second inflexible scheduling, the goal should be to create some semblance of a structure to your day. Breaks should get you back to being you. Again, this may seem obvious, but it is commonly overlooked. If your brain is turning to mush and micro facts are oozing out of your ears, then staring at facebook for the entirety of your break may seem like a needed respite. However you should actively try to return to the things that you enjoy, not just your usual distractions. If you usually workout, hit the gym. If you enjoy video games, go pwn some noobs. Call your family, catch up on your favorite tv show, or take a walk around the neighborhood. While break activities need not be scheduled like your anatomy block, you should have a go-to list of things to do that require minimal thought when you have time off. Again, minimize brain usage during the middle of your study weeks by planning ahead. Don’t overlook food. While you may be tempted to resort back to ramen and microwavable dinners every night, and may need to do so on occassion, this should not be the total extent of your nutritional intake. Hit up Costco for bulk granola bars, and try to stock up on fruits. Healthy snacks will especially come in handy for stress-eaters. Med students who have non-medical partners and friends can really benefit from someone else cooking for them. By now, you should have already told everyone in your life that you are not going to be incredibly fun over the next 2 months. If someone is willing to cook for you, it will save time running to the grocery store and cooking, and provide you (nutritious) meals. If you do not already have someone in mind for this task, this is a time to find the med students who live nearby and take turns cooking for each other. Encourage your cooking group to eat and run, but relax while eating. This means no stressful step 1 conversations! When all else fails, touch base with an upperclassmen who has already gone through the process. No one will know the specific stresses produced by your school and schedule better than someone who just lived it. Not only is the experience still seared fresh into their mind, but most likely they are happy to help. (It’s why most of us went into medicine in the first place.) Source
