Usmle Review Methods: Self-study

The concept of using activity in teaching and learning situations both in medical school and USMLE review sessions are not new. At the present time activity that is integrated in lecture and discussion sessions is already being practiced by mentors and facilitators in varying points and varying degrees of understanding.

The good thing about using different creative activities in USMLE review efforts places less emphasis upon memorizing and more on critical thinking, less on merely accumulating the facts but more on understanding these facts and applying them on various sample clinical situations – such is the purpose and objective of preparing for the USMLE boards. You already have a working knowledge and sets of necessary beginner skills after spending a substantial period of time in medical school. To really prepare yourself for Step one USMLE would require honing these skills by using your existing knowledge of medical concepts and principles. In order for a medical student to generate advancement from beginner knowledge and skills, he must imbibe genuine interest in the learning experiences during review sessions.

It is true that even the best mentor cannot force you to learn something that you are not interested in. It is this fact that professors and review facilitators know such that learning tasks are given to encourage self-activity. Self activity is your ability to educate yourself. You must feel that you need to know more that it would not necessitate to coerce you into reading large volume of materials in order to satisfy that need to know.

For instance, during USMLE review discussions, the group touched on the topic of opportunistic infections that assault a patient with HIV. Though pulmonary tuberculosis has been known to have been eradicated in the United States, it was mentioned that a standard tuberculin or PPD test should be done. You already know that the most vulnerable in any HIV patient is their respiratory system. But you do not understand as to why a reaction of less than 10mm in diameter should be considered positive for such patient. Well, the USMLE review mentor can very well provide you the answer to your question but it would be better and more meaningful and more satisfying if you yourself will look for the answer to your question. This thirst for more information to further understand the unverbalized question in your mind is sufficient motivation for you to search for the answer. And in your efforts to satisfy your need for this information, you encounter more information, more medical concepts that you would not encounter have been the answer readily provided by your review mentor.

Your independent ability will then be realized when you make a special objective to throw upon yourself the responsibility of searching for additional information. And when the same subject matter comes up again during discussion, knowing you have read and understood more than what is being discussed would propel you to share what you have learned. By reciting what you have acquired through your USMLE review, the feeling of satisfaction is acquired, further increasing your motivation for self-learning through self-activity of research and discovery.

By: Gerald Faye Johnson

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Gerald Faye Johnson is an Educational Content Consultant for various Step One USMLE Reviews produced by Apollo Audiobooks, LLC and Premedical Solutions, LLC. You can find the source interview podcast for this USMLE 1 resource at our website.