O.o In 14 hours I'll be starting my test! Me brain sounds something like this:
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Reminder
I just received a 'reminder' e-mail from pometric. Whew. For a minute there I almost forgot that I was taking the step on thursday! It just, like, totally slipped my mind. Without that e-mail I'd have just gone on happily with my life being all, you know, happy and oblivious. I've not even been _thinking_ about my test. Psh, step 1? What's that? Just a little road bump.
*rolls eyes* Instead of "Reminder! - Your Computer-based test" the subject line should have read "Reminder! - Your DAY OF JUDGEMENT IS AT HAND" followed by insane maniacal laughter.
What? You want a residency? You think you've studied enough? You think you have what it TAKES? HAH!
This is now how I imagine the creators of the USMLE.
And on a different note. I have a rhetorical question for all the people who lecture and/or create review courses. Why do they ALL claim, usually with much conviction, in one form or another that the oh-so-wonderful knowledge they are imparting to you is totally unique to THEIR super special review program and go on about how OTHER poor saps who were stupid enough not to purchase/take their review program won't have this valuable knowledge that is theirs alone to impart...
Um. Guys? I hate to break this to you but, er, these things you're imparting? Not secrets. They are in every review book and question bank and review course. Also, we're not stupid. We know you are just trying to reassure us we made the right choice by giving YOU money instead of some other hackneyed review program. I'm not going to be foolishly comforted if you tell me that 'all the other people' who didn't take your review course have NO CLUE what will be on the test. Right. That's why the average on the step is 222. Because of the lack of aforementioned clue.
Yeah. Not buying it.
My advice? Well, I'll write an actual entry on that post-test/score but for now pick up Robbins. All the 'secrets' are within.
-52 hours away from my test.
Listening too: varying youtube clips of maniacal laughter (surprisingly therapeutic!)
*rolls eyes* Instead of "Reminder! - Your Computer-based test" the subject line should have read "Reminder! - Your DAY OF JUDGEMENT IS AT HAND" followed by insane maniacal laughter.What? You want a residency? You think you've studied enough? You think you have what it TAKES? HAH!
This is now how I imagine the creators of the USMLE.
And on a different note. I have a rhetorical question for all the people who lecture and/or create review courses. Why do they ALL claim, usually with much conviction, in one form or another that the oh-so-wonderful knowledge they are imparting to you is totally unique to THEIR super special review program and go on about how OTHER poor saps who were stupid enough not to purchase/take their review program won't have this valuable knowledge that is theirs alone to impart...
Um. Guys? I hate to break this to you but, er, these things you're imparting? Not secrets. They are in every review book and question bank and review course. Also, we're not stupid. We know you are just trying to reassure us we made the right choice by giving YOU money instead of some other hackneyed review program. I'm not going to be foolishly comforted if you tell me that 'all the other people' who didn't take your review course have NO CLUE what will be on the test. Right. That's why the average on the step is 222. Because of the lack of aforementioned clue.
Yeah. Not buying it.
My advice? Well, I'll write an actual entry on that post-test/score but for now pick up Robbins. All the 'secrets' are within.
-52 hours away from my test.
Listening too: varying youtube clips of maniacal laughter (surprisingly therapeutic!)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Learning new things!
UWorld and medical school in general is teaching me to be racist AND sexist at the same time*!!! (*seriously, before anyone freaks out I am _kidding_. I would like to think that I am neither racist or sexist. )
Young african american female with bilateral lymph..
SARCOIDOSIS!
Young 25 yr old male with spots on...
HIV!
A 45 yr old black...
HYPERTENSION!
Immigrant from...
EVERYTHING BAD!
*shaking head* It's actually pretty helpful to help narrow down diagnoses but you have to be careful not to fall into sterotypes too much. I mean, I had a sarcoidosis vignette on Uworld and spent an extra five minutes scrutinizing it _just_ because the patient was male - even though it was clear case of above mentioned sarcoidosis. Women can have hemophilia too people!!
Anyways. I am seriously burned around my crispy study cookie edges (it's a polypeptide cookie...with mint frosting ;) ). I'm nine days away from The Day and am simultaneously trying not to panic, motivate myself to continue studying, convince myself that I do in fact know something even thought I feel like I know nothing, and again with the resisting of the panicking when I realize that I can't remember if labetalol is a nonspecific beta blocker or not (it is btw).
But all that aside I am , overall, in between the spots of pseudo-mental disassociation, feeling what I'd describe as 'cautiously optimistic'. I'm planning on taking a final NBME a few days before the exam just to ensure that I'm happy with where I am. For my already somewhat questionable sanity I sincerely hope that I will be satisfied with the results. *ominous music*
On a lighter note - I found a PERFECT representation of what I'd be like if I went into psych:
(So, in case you can't tell; chances of me in psych = 0)
Listening to: Вся Моя Любовь
Young african american female with bilateral lymph..
SARCOIDOSIS!
Young 25 yr old male with spots on...
HIV!
A 45 yr old black...
HYPERTENSION!
Immigrant from...
EVERYTHING BAD!
*shaking head* It's actually pretty helpful to help narrow down diagnoses but you have to be careful not to fall into sterotypes too much. I mean, I had a sarcoidosis vignette on Uworld and spent an extra five minutes scrutinizing it _just_ because the patient was male - even though it was clear case of above mentioned sarcoidosis. Women can have hemophilia too people!!
Anyways. I am seriously burned around my crispy study cookie edges (it's a polypeptide cookie...with mint frosting ;) ). I'm nine days away from The Day and am simultaneously trying not to panic, motivate myself to continue studying, convince myself that I do in fact know something even thought I feel like I know nothing, and again with the resisting of the panicking when I realize that I can't remember if labetalol is a nonspecific beta blocker or not (it is btw).
But all that aside I am , overall, in between the spots of pseudo-mental disassociation, feeling what I'd describe as 'cautiously optimistic'. I'm planning on taking a final NBME a few days before the exam just to ensure that I'm happy with where I am. For my already somewhat questionable sanity I sincerely hope that I will be satisfied with the results. *ominous music*
On a lighter note - I found a PERFECT representation of what I'd be like if I went into psych:
(So, in case you can't tell; chances of me in psych = 0)
Listening to: Вся Моя Любовь
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Little Things
Hey guys. I'm day..whatever..into what I'm coming to think of at the study marathon of hell. EVERYTHING is related to step 1 studying. In the past few days I have said the following:
"Yeah, the weather's cooling off again, and did you know that midway between the kidneys and the pelvis the gonadal artery and vein pass over the ureters which they themselves pass over the external iliac artery and are then medial to aforementioned gonadal vessels but lateral to the internal iliac?"
"Come on! You should totally get this!! It's a gram negative rod that is oxidase positive and produces pigment! It's like a flashing neon sign! It's totally a case pseudomonas hot tub folliculitis!" *cue giggling over the phrase 'hot tub folliculits' <--I find this absolutely hilarious
"Man, I feel like a hypoglycemic diabetic on propranolol. Hidden crazy!" *waiting for laugh that never came* <--I was only stared up uncomprehendingly (the person doing the staring's medical knowledge extends to thinking that 'histology' is 'something about allergies right?')
I have also done the following in regards to studying:
-Had a serious fifteen minute discussion on the differences between unregulated intracellular signal transduction and increased proliferation and on whether that really means that K-ras mutations makes cells divide faster than APC loss in the sequential mutations in sporadic colon cancer development because in first aid is had the unregulated line listed for the K-ras mutation and said specifically that APC loss was responsible for increased proliferation but K-ras is an oncogene which makes things divide even faster compared to the loss of a tumor suppressor like APC according to Uworld and common sense but it did say very specifically that...... (I got caught in that again. Damn.)
-Cursed antiarrhythmics. Repeatedly. And the heart. Repeatedly.
-had multiple dreams about studying
-consistently cursed my total and pathological inability to guess - if I have to guess it's going to be wrong; I'll come up with a totally convoluted thought process involving random pathophysiology of symptoms and arrive at the exact wrong answer every time. Where my study partner will not even know the disease and still manage to randomly get the right answer without a clue as to how she arrived there (her answer "meh, it sounded right" or "C is always a good guess"). I swear that there was some point where some deity was handing out the ability to guess and I forgot to show up.
-hearing Goljan lecturing to me in my dreams (amazingly enough, helped by listening to his lectures while falling asleep)
-...fallen asleep listening to cardiopath lectures, waking up later convinced he was talking about power rangers....write it off as a strange construct of my subconscious.....only to find out later when re-listening to said cardio lecture while conscious that he WAS in fact talking about power rangers (don't ask)
-had dreams about failing the step 1
-had dreams about not getting a residency
-decided that if I learned any more about isoniazid or any other ridiculous detail about TB drugs (seriously, RIDICULOUS detail required) someone or something would have to die a painful death (ditto for Hepatitis - how many freaking questions can one have on hepatitis?!? A lot. Dozens. In every which you can possible imagine. I mean, down to the point of describing 'glycoproteins that polymerize into spheres and tubules 22nm in diameter that don't correlate well with viral replication' and could we please identify which component of the HepB is that? I get it UWorld. Someone writing the questions has hepatitis.)
-become agitated if going more than an hour without studying something; if you see me with my ipod, I'm listening to path lectures, not music - I go nowhere without something study-able (nor do I really go anywhere anyhow these days)
-consistently overheard talking to myself; was told once (only once mind you) that it was cute; promptly responded: *censored for bad language and pointed comments involving dead people*
-getting the smallest amounts of sleep on a consistent basis that I ever have
-I now drink multiple cups of starbucks espresso black per day
And I would just like to say that the english language is diverse and could the people who make up drug names PLEASE come up with things that sound different? I mean, chlordiazepoxide, chlorpheniramine, clomiphene...all totally different drugs and different classes - clomiphene is a serm, chlordiazepoxide is a benzo, chlorpheniramine is a 1st gen H1-blocker (not a benzo like the previous mentioned benzo that sounds exactly like it) but can't be taken _with_benzos (everyone together now: too much CNS depression is bad!). Not confusing at all. No problem.
This? Just damn cool.
"Yeah, the weather's cooling off again, and did you know that midway between the kidneys and the pelvis the gonadal artery and vein pass over the ureters which they themselves pass over the external iliac artery and are then medial to aforementioned gonadal vessels but lateral to the internal iliac?"
"Come on! You should totally get this!! It's a gram negative rod that is oxidase positive and produces pigment! It's like a flashing neon sign! It's totally a case pseudomonas hot tub folliculitis!" *cue giggling over the phrase 'hot tub folliculits' <--I find this absolutely hilarious
"Man, I feel like a hypoglycemic diabetic on propranolol. Hidden crazy!" *waiting for laugh that never came* <--I was only stared up uncomprehendingly (the person doing the staring's medical knowledge extends to thinking that 'histology' is 'something about allergies right?')
I have also done the following in regards to studying:
-Had a serious fifteen minute discussion on the differences between unregulated intracellular signal transduction and increased proliferation and on whether that really means that K-ras mutations makes cells divide faster than APC loss in the sequential mutations in sporadic colon cancer development because in first aid is had the unregulated line listed for the K-ras mutation and said specifically that APC loss was responsible for increased proliferation but K-ras is an oncogene which makes things divide even faster compared to the loss of a tumor suppressor like APC according to Uworld and common sense but it did say very specifically that...... (I got caught in that again. Damn.)
-Cursed antiarrhythmics. Repeatedly. And the heart. Repeatedly.
-had multiple dreams about studying
-consistently cursed my total and pathological inability to guess - if I have to guess it's going to be wrong; I'll come up with a totally convoluted thought process involving random pathophysiology of symptoms and arrive at the exact wrong answer every time. Where my study partner will not even know the disease and still manage to randomly get the right answer without a clue as to how she arrived there (her answer "meh, it sounded right" or "C is always a good guess"). I swear that there was some point where some deity was handing out the ability to guess and I forgot to show up.
-hearing Goljan lecturing to me in my dreams (amazingly enough, helped by listening to his lectures while falling asleep)
-...fallen asleep listening to cardiopath lectures, waking up later convinced he was talking about power rangers....write it off as a strange construct of my subconscious.....only to find out later when re-listening to said cardio lecture while conscious that he WAS in fact talking about power rangers (don't ask)
-had dreams about failing the step 1
-had dreams about not getting a residency
-decided that if I learned any more about isoniazid or any other ridiculous detail about TB drugs (seriously, RIDICULOUS detail required) someone or something would have to die a painful death (ditto for Hepatitis - how many freaking questions can one have on hepatitis?!? A lot. Dozens. In every which you can possible imagine. I mean, down to the point of describing 'glycoproteins that polymerize into spheres and tubules 22nm in diameter that don't correlate well with viral replication' and could we please identify which component of the HepB is that? I get it UWorld. Someone writing the questions has hepatitis.)
-become agitated if going more than an hour without studying something; if you see me with my ipod, I'm listening to path lectures, not music - I go nowhere without something study-able (nor do I really go anywhere anyhow these days)
-consistently overheard talking to myself; was told once (only once mind you) that it was cute; promptly responded: *censored for bad language and pointed comments involving dead people*
-getting the smallest amounts of sleep on a consistent basis that I ever have
-I now drink multiple cups of starbucks espresso black per day
And I would just like to say that the english language is diverse and could the people who make up drug names PLEASE come up with things that sound different? I mean, chlordiazepoxide, chlorpheniramine, clomiphene...all totally different drugs and different classes - clomiphene is a serm, chlordiazepoxide is a benzo, chlorpheniramine is a 1st gen H1-blocker (not a benzo like the previous mentioned benzo that sounds exactly like it) but can't be taken _with_benzos (everyone together now: too much CNS depression is bad!). Not confusing at all. No problem.
This? Just damn cool.
SF to Paris in Two Minutes from Beep Show on Vimeo.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Dude
Have you ever had one of the those moments where you feel completely divorced from your reality? Felt the need to check yourself in the mirror to confirm that, yes, you are indeed the person you thought you were five minutes ago?
I just had one of those moments.
So, I'm sitting at my desk making notes about human multidrug resistant genes and silently cursing UWorld for expecting me to know that the P-glycoprotein it encodes is an ATP-dependant efflux pump protein when the doorbell rings. I grumble, shove my first aid away and pull myself out from the books and notes surrounding the creepy uni-bomber like environment my desk has become.
The mailman is at the door holding a few certified letters. He pauses, looks at me...
Mailman: "Er, how old are you?"
Me: "Me? Uh, I'm 26."
Mailman: "Oh." *another glance* "Ok then."
Me: "Um...why do you ask?"
Mailman: "Well, I didn't think you'd be old enough to sign for these letters."
Me: .... <--not sure how to respond to this
Slightly bemused, I wished him a good day and shut the door. I had to pause and look at myself in the mirror. Yup, still me. Raccoon eyes since I've been pulling fifteen hour study days, wearing the same shirt I wore to bed, jeans, mostly clean since I'd found time to shower recently and, and, I thought I looked my age! Damn. I guess I should take people seriously when they say I look the twin to my sister....who's a decade younger than me. Oi vey.
Dude. In less than two months I'm going to be on the floors starting my clinical rotations and I apparently don't look old enough to sign for a certified letter?!
Completely bizarre I tell you.
*muttering to self, returns to studying*
Listening to: Daft Punk - Rinzler
I just had one of those moments.
So, I'm sitting at my desk making notes about human multidrug resistant genes and silently cursing UWorld for expecting me to know that the P-glycoprotein it encodes is an ATP-dependant efflux pump protein when the doorbell rings. I grumble, shove my first aid away and pull myself out from the books and notes surrounding the creepy uni-bomber like environment my desk has become.
The mailman is at the door holding a few certified letters. He pauses, looks at me...
Mailman: "Er, how old are you?"
Me:
Mailman: "Oh." *another glance* "Ok then."
Me: "Um...why do you ask?"
Mailman: "Well, I didn't think you'd be old enough to sign for these letters."
Me: .... <--not sure how to respond to this
Slightly bemused, I wished him a good day and shut the door. I had to pause and look at myself in the mirror. Yup, still me. Raccoon eyes since I've been pulling fifteen hour study days, wearing the same shirt I wore to bed, jeans, mostly clean since I'd found time to shower recently and, and, I thought I looked my age! Damn. I guess I should take people seriously when they say I look the twin to my sister....who's a decade younger than me. Oi vey.
Dude. In less than two months I'm going to be on the floors starting my clinical rotations and I apparently don't look old enough to sign for a certified letter?!
Completely bizarre I tell you.
*muttering to self, returns to studying*
Listening to: Daft Punk - Rinzler
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Proposed change to UWorld
When simply checking the 'Mark' box isn't enough to convey your true feelings towards a question.
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