Medical Student Cheater: Hanging by a Thread: Tips on Reviewing for the Physician's Licensure Exam

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Sunday, June 29, 2014

Hanging by a Thread: Tips on Reviewing for the Physician's Licensure Exam

As much as I wanted to update this blog as often I can, unfortunately I cannot. I am currently reviewing for the August 2014 Medical Board Exam and it's officially about 60+ days to go... so I would like to personally apologize and at the same time thank everyone who are avidly checking the site and using the site...

As a stress buster in a way, I'll be updating the site and at the same time providing you with insights on my experience reviewing for the boards. As you all know, reviewing can cause burnout fastet than any training there is... as advised by my peers I came up with these time needed tips in conquering the Physician's Licensure Exam.

Tip #1: Read a little, Master a lot.

One common feedback I get from those who conduct reviews and those who took the boards and PASSED! is you don't have to read every book in medschool cover to cover. I mean if you haven't done that during medschool, it's certainly not advisable to do it during review where TIME is literally GOLD and should be spent wisely. The key is RECALL and it's certainly reasonable advise, I mean what's the use of having read Harper's, Guyton, Schwartz or even Solis if you can't even recall the answer during your exams? There's a study out there conducted to find out what's the most effective way to recall something you read and they found out that REPEATITION is the key. They say you more likely to remember something if you read it twice, thrice or even 4x. So read those review handouts as often as you can.


Tip #2: Read, Read and Read.

Tip #3: Treat leisure time as REWARD not as INCENTIVES.


I can't understand this at first but upon explanation, I totally get the point. You ever have moments where you are suppose to finish something but you take a look at your laptop, your tablet or your tv and you say, ok "I will finish what I'm suppose to finish after this episode or after playing Clash of Clans or Candy Crush." (Sounds familiar?) Eventually after the night is through, you end up not finishing what you are suppose to do or worse, you have not even started. This is where the tip comes in, treating your leisure time as reward simply means, you can have your leisure time AFTER finishing what you're supposed to do. Meaning, "I can watch this episode of Game of Thrones if I finish reading 10 pages of my handouts, as a REWARD".


Tip #4: Read, read and read.

Tip #5: Exercise


Someone can easily fall into the trap of neglecting your health and your body when your routine is: Sleep-Eat-Read-Eat-Read-Eat-Read-Sleep. Burnout and stress can easily creap in once you don't take time to stretch, smell the flowers and shake your butt alittle. Exercise   releases endorphins that makes you feel good and at the same time facilitates easy retention when you read. So do take time to exercise.


Tip #6: Read, read and read.

Tip #7: Sleep!!!


No matter what anyone says, take time to sleep. Sleep gives your body a chance to rejuvenate and at the same time gifes your brain cells a breathing room to convert what you read into memory. One can easily read whole day and not sleep thinking that sleeping is a waste of time but studies show that a person who have ample sleep can recall mire compared to those who have little or no sleep at all.

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