Class materials vs board resources: when I switched and why

Should I study from class materials or board resources?

Board resources should be your backbone. Class materials should fill the gaps.

The reasoning is simple. Your school's exams and your board exams cover the same core medicine. Board resources are built to teach that core efficiently, and they're the same resources you'll use for Step 1/Level 1. Every hour you spend learning from them counts twice.

How do I know it's time to switch?

These were the signs for me:

• You're putting in more hours than classmates and getting less back. I was going through every slide and still missing my goals.
• Your exams look like board questions. Mine did, even though we were technically being tested on lecture content.
• Classmates using board materials know things you never saw in lecture, and those things keep showing up on exams.

If two or more of those sound familiar, you're probably past due.

What does the switch actually feel like?

Stressful. The week I switched was one of the most stressful of medical school. I gave up a routine I knew for resources I was still learning how to use. Every day I wondered if I was missing details.

Then the next exam felt different. The material was familiar, and not only the facts. I understood the concepts behind the questions, which hadn't really happened with my old approach. If you make the switch, expect the discomfort and push through it.

How do I integrate board resources with class?

Here's the order that worked for me:

1. Learn the topic from a board resource first. For second year that was mostly UWorld, First Aid, Sketchy and Pathoma.
2. Make Anki your memorization layer instead of rewriting notes. See Anki for medical school.
3. Skim the lectures for what's school-specific. Look for details your faculty emphasize that the board resources skip.
4. Do questions early. You don't need to finish a question bank before dedicated, but you should be doing them all through second year.

What did I stop doing?

The switch was as much about subtraction as addition. By then I was already watching lectures online instead of in person, which gave me back time. After the switch, I stopped going through every slide in detail, and I stopped rewriting notes as my main way of learning.

My original routine was the one most of us bring from college: attend lectures, take detailed notes, rewrite them, review with friends. It works for a while. It's also slow enough that it eventually crowds out sleep, friends and everything else. Efficient repetition with Anki and questions did more for me than detailed notes ever did.

Does this depend on my school?

Somewhat. Schools that write exams in a board style reward the switch the most. Schools that write highly customized in-house tests may need more time in the lectures to protect your grade.

Your grading system matters too. If your school reports numerical grades, you have more reason to keep a close eye on school-specific content. The trade-offs are in grades vs boards.

What if a classmate's method is just better?

Then learn from it. It stung to admit my way was worse, but my friend's results weren't luck. They came from a better system. Comparison only hurts when you use it to beat yourself up instead of to change something.