Back to the books...

Since I'm kind of flying blind on this whole USMLE thing, and don't have the crutch of having SGU notes to direct me toward a loose idea of the exam questions, and don't have the history of lecture attendance to make a review course feasible, I'm starting off by borrowing EXTREMELY heavily from Topher's suggestions (anyone who wants to go to SGU, do well in school, ace the USMLE, and transfer out of SGU should head right over there, by the way) at least in the beginning.

I'm on day one, but I'm feeling WAY better for having a tentative plan. I guess that's why 99% of people that have passed it, written books on it, or have heard of it, recommend having a schedule. Hey, never too late to start, right? I'm using the First Aid as a guide to what else to review, and am starting off with behavioral, epidemiology, and statistics so I can be eased into the meat with not only the beginning of the First Aid, but also with the mindset I had in third term, which was "whew, that's way less suicide-inducing than the last year". I'm using the BRS Behavioral Science book to supplement this study, and so far, it seems pretty good, and is adding in a few points the First Aid left out that still seemed important.

I'm also going to try to follow the First Aid book's format of being system oriented since I think it'll help me link key ideas, as I started to do in pathophysiology. It also may be the only chance in hell I have of learning any concept related to dermatology, since I've been steadfastly avoiding it as filler in every class where it came up, therefore the only thing I know about the skin is that it tends to hurt a lot when it's removed.

In the meantime, I'm trying to augment my studying with exercise and a healthier diet, since this long haul is going to require my not feeling like crap for the duration so that I have a hope of focusing my attention for longer than three seconds.

In short, I figure I've got close to 9 weeks to remake myself into a completely different person: specifically one that's not a cynical cheese-fed ADD slacker. anyone want to play odds on my chances?