I have NOT picked up a serious book in several years. I am due to begin in May and I know starting May 10.... its going to be a studying marathon! 12-14 hours a day glued to books... .
(classes 7-4pm= ~8 hrs and 4-6 hrs studying at home). Anyone experience any shock? How did you prepare for this?

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"There was one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance."
- Socrates

actually, they start you off easy. you won't have classes 8 hrs/day mon-fri like you expect. the classes are easy, and not all days will be full. actually, we used to have fridays off, but i heard they started having dps on fridays now. keep your pace when studying. don't fall behind so you won't have to stay up all night catching up on the weekend before the mini. i don't know about you, but i can't function when i'm sleepy and i can't remember anything i read past 1am.

second semester, on the other hand....
....and third....

just kidding....don't mean to scare you there... ....don't worry about future semesters for now. take it one step at a time.

some tips:

1) study stuff that interest you the MOST first. a good way to start the ball rolling. as your interest peaks, you will find you get more energy.

2) everytime you take a break (after 45 mins is BEST accdg to scientific studies), remind yourself that - hey - you now KNOW 5 or 6 things that you did NOT know 45 mins ago!!! at the end of a 5 -6 hr study day, you've SOLIDLY learned approx 30 new things!!!

3) go at YOUR own pace. do not be HURRIED or SLOWED DOWN by others. people learn BEST at their OWN pace.

4) be on the LOOKOUT for what is IMPORTANT. do not attempt to memorize whole chapters.....the BEST doctors do NOT know everything. develop an eye for WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT.

5) REWARD YOURSELF every break. watch 15 mins of mtv, listen to your fav CD, have a sundae, catch an afternoon nap, call home,.....do FUN THINGS during breaks. but watch the TIME.

good luck.

_______________________________________

"MONEY may not buy HAPPINESS. But it will buy you the KIND OF MISERY YOU PREFER"

Thanks guys for your replies.... really appreciate it.
As far as review books are concerned.... which do you recommend to bring to the island? I have the First Aid, and Kaplan review books from 1999. Should that be sufficient or should I purchase something that might be more useful or more up to date in addition to what I have?

Thanks gentlemen for your replies.
Still searching for the BEST review books

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"There was one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance."
- Socrates

My advice - worry less about review books and more about preparing to learn the material for the first time. You can't do that with review books. Only use the review books AFTER you know your stuff. You can get all the review books you want on the island if you have time to read them.

-M

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MitchDC/MD
RUSM 2006 Graduate

i HIGHLY recommend the lippincott books! they have great diagrams and clear explanations.

i also like the brs series.

Review books are good for what they are named for, REVIEWING. If you have not gone over the material yet then DO NOT USE REVIEW BOOKS AS A SUBSTITUTE. You may miss out on some super important info, and you may also not get as good a foundation for understanding topics.

However, when you actually do review, the following books for 1st semester are totally awesome:

1.) Lippencott's Biochemistry (spelling?) is a good book for about half of your biochem material. It is a very old book, published in 1997, but good none the less. You can find used copies all over the place if you come early enough...

2.) The Board Review Series books (BRS) are good for about any topic, they are not too thorough, not too concise. They prepare you for the USMLE as well.

3.) Pre Test books are great if you like taking practice questions...

I personally wouldn't bother with high yield, WAYYYYY to concise.

Take care...

Mitch----- I've heard that it's good to have a review book on your side to reinforce what you are learning everyday in the classroom. But then again, this is coming from a US medical student where they teach and test you only on the class information. Are you trying to say that there is not enough time in the day to study the review material?

Ghaleon ----- You are the first person who do NOT recommend "high yield" books.... why? Everyone and their mother recommends high yield such as First Aid!

personally, i sort of agree with ghaleon about high yield books. ...sort of.

first of all, remember that high yield is a REVIEW book, so of course it's going to be concise. it assumes that you already know the subject and are just trying to freshen up on the main points that are most likely going to show up on the exam.

however, as review books go, i prefer the brs books over the high yield series because the brs books have more meat in them, and they have questions at the end of each chapter plus a comprehensive test at the back of the book.

so the bottom line is: if you have more time to REVIEW, go for brs. for a quick last-minute review, e.g. the night before an exam, high yield might be what you would want.

i suggest as well that you purchase the lippincott biochemistry book
and the complete BRS series. high yield is nice once you know your stuff cold. many first semesters i know use the BRS in conjuction with the text they give you. we have required books in addition, to recommended texts.
the professors use them all. no time to read everything so many people use the BRS books as review.

i disagree that the first semester is easy. maybe for those who already know biochem/cellbiology/genetics. my schedule: monday 8-2, tuesday 8-5, wednesday 8-5, thursday 8-12 and two hours on friday. you think to yourself initially, lots of time. then minis come around and you are like
fXXX. they keep teaching here. it is funny how in undergrad it would take a week to discuss a topic and here they teach it to you in two hours.

gotta love med school
did you notice that i did not once discuss the island
why you ask
no time to worry
about the dominicans, rent, chickens, cows, mosquitos or continuous rain
lol

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md or bust
"Too many people let others stand in their way and don't go back for one more try."Kantor, Rosabeth