

Using your maximum attention on hospital tasks is a poor study plan. Why? Because you’ve already used your four “ golden hours.” And as we discussed above, by the time you come home, you’re exhausted, and your studying will suffer. However, the clock on your 3-4 hours of peak performance is already ticking. What is your routine? If you’re like most, you wake up, get ready, and go directly to the hospital. Most Med Students Waste Their Peak by Waking Up Too Late, Even On Medicine and Surgery Translation: doing the bulk of your studying after a long day in the hospital is a losing battle. We can’t “bank” our best hours – we either use them or lose them. Our concentration peak often occurs when we have the most energy. Unfortunately, we have limited influence over when those four hours happen. Then we kick into high gear in our after-hospital learning. Wouldn’t it be great if we could save our best hours of focus for when we need them most? We could use low-level attention throughout the day. You’ve used up your best effort, so studying takes longer with worse results.Ĭompelling evidence (and common sense) suggest we have at most 3-4 hours of peak concentration in a day. Hitting the books after a long day of work is like trying to run a sprint after a marathon.

Outpatient clerkships, despite shorter hours, are still draining due to the fast pace. But what if the problem isn’t our self-control, but rather the time of day we’re trying to study?Ĭlerkships are mentally and physically demanding. Yes, we’ve all felt the guilt of binge-watching Netflix or Youtube when we should be studying. Study Before Going to the Hospital, Not Afterĭo you dread studying after a long day at the hospital? Tell yourself, “this is crunch time” but still end up surfing the internet? Save Less Intense Work for After the Hospitalġ. Keeping Up With Anki Prepares You Well for Step 2 CK.Don’t Do Anki on Your Phone Use Hospital Computers Instead.Why You Shouldn’t Do QBank Questions In the Hospital.Do Anki During the Day (Especially on Inpatient Clerkships) How Much Higher Would Your Score Be if Your Interpretations Improved?.Focus on Question Interpretation Over the Acquisition of Knowledge Instead, Go to Sleep Early and Wake Up Early.Most Med Students Waste Their Peak by Waking Up Too Late, Even On Medicine and Surgery.Study Before Going to the Hospital, Not After This post will cover the 5 most critical elements for effective clerkship studying so you: How can you perform at your peak if your studying is ineffective? Additionally, learning strategy impacts descriptions of clinical performance in your letters of recommendation. Remember that your clinical performance comprises the bulk of the MSPE. Still, studying impacts other critical elements in your residency application.

Additionally, Shelf exams are prologue to Step 2 CK. Shelf scores make up a considerable part of clerkship grades. The most obvious way clerkship studying impacts residency applications is your scores. The upshot: how you study during your clinical years affects where you will interview. I’ve listed in bold the criteria for which clerkship studying has a direct impact.
