How to prepare for Second Year
“There is no boundary or limit in your brain. The only hinderance is your emotions! Study! Don’t give up! Aim HIGH! You’ll see the fruit of your success.”
Welcome to Year Two! Congratulations! This is a big achievement and no matter how you feel about your performance in Year One, remind yourself that you made it! And now is your chance to make yourself proud. I’m proud of you! As they say, if it was easy, everyone would do it.
Here is the basics of what Y2S1 will look like from a grading standpoint.
UPDATED AS OF JAN 2023:
There have been quite a few changes to the structure of MED3 since I made this original blog post. A few important things to note: There are four CAS exams and added quizzes.
M3CAS1 Foundations II + Quiz 1
M3CAS2 Neoplasia, HML & MSK + Quiz 2.1 & Quiz 2.2
M3CAS3 Neuro/Behavioral & Cumulative + Quiz 3
M3CAS4 GIT + Quiz 4
In addition, this semester will be graded by itself and will NOT be part of a full year grade. That means, you must pass this semester to move onto MED4. ICM has also added quizzes and the OSCE is now graded instead of P/F. As far as the quizzes are concerned, make sure you pay attention to lectures and the professors PowerPoints. Unfortunately, with this type of grading system, you almost have to study twice as the quizzes seem to not be helpful in passing the NBME exams. So, use the information provided below as a gateway to studying for CAS exams and if you need more information on some tips for passing the quizzes, feel free to leave a comment!
All other resources and study techniques mentioned in this blog post are relevant and still recommended! Don’t forget to check out our offerings for MED3 live group sessions as well as our website membership with on-demand videos, PowerPoints, and lots more resources!
This is pending any changes they make for the new semester. They said all of these used to be graded, so I’m not sure if they will change it back. Write-ups are unique to each ICM instructor, so be prepared to make a lot of changes!
MAKE SURE TO GET YOUR IMMUNIZATIONS DONE ASAP!!!!! You don’t want to have to deal with this on the island.
Let’s talk about MATERIAL….
Foundations is a lot more of the basics. Basic path, basic pharm, and immunology. The immunology is super heavy. More importantly, once Med3 starts, you might start to feel like you don’t get the chance to take a breath. It’s important to start your prep early during the break and AT LEAST get through the immunology content.
Click the button below to access all of the MED3 materials including the passtracker!
This is truly going to be your holy grail, if you haven’t heard of this yet, I have a video explaining how to use it! Click on the button below for more information. Staying organized and managing the content you want to get through is going to be so important for this semester.
Immunology DOES NOT EVER GO AWAY. Know it and love it because it is highly, highly involved through all of pathology.
Freemedtube will get you started figuring out which resources you like and will want to purchase. You should purchase the 10 year membership because you’ll be surprised how frequently you return back to the site, even after you purchase other materials.
Really make sure to give Sketchy a chance! This has been a game changer when it comes to remembering all of the microbes and all of the drugs we need to know as medical students. Again, this would be a great time to check out freemedtube and give sketchy a try before you buy it. (I would definitely recommend that you do buy it though, because they offer practice questions that are incredibly helpful in solidifying the content!)
If you want to get UWorld, my recommendation NOW is go for it.
Having been through second year and choosing to hold off on UWorld for step prep, I know wish I had been utilizing this bank at the beginning of second year. Your CBSE and Step prep should begin now! No longer should you have the mindset that it’s just another CAS exam, because MED4 comes up really quickly, and you truly don’t want to be behind in covering content once you hit MED4.
With that said, bite the bullet early and get Uworld. The questions are difficult and highly integrated, but the goal is to get one solid pass of UWorld before M4CAS3.
Module Two…
This is truly the beginning of pathology. Now is when the study habits you’ve been using start to fade. Try to get a new reliable study pattern set as early as possible, otherwise, you may end up struggling for CAS2 and depending on CAS3.
MAKE ANKI CARDS FOR ALL THESE CONCEPTS NOW!
(You can learn more about why if you watch the Pathoma videos on pathology basics)
You won’t understand the important of these things immediately, but at least you’ll have the memorized and be prepared for questions on them. Then, as you move through content, things will come together beautifully and all make more sense!
Click the button below for more information about study strategies for Pathology!
Module Three…
Preparing for M3CAS3
25 (Right): If you’re interested: This is describing Strep Pneumo, its virulence factor is its polysaccharide capsule, which protects it from phagocytosis and is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis. You can immunize against it by targeting this same polysaccharide capsule, which allows preformed antibodies to target the capsule when recognized.
It also contains an IgA protease which allows it to gain entry into the mucous membranes.
24 (Left) If you’re interested: This is describing Cimetidine. It is an H2-antagonist drug used to treat GERD, but it also is a potent cyt p450 inhibitor that affects the action of Warfarin.
Final Thoughts
That’s the summary of what to expect! If you have any questions about any of this, don’t hesitate to reach out. And of course, if you want some help with summer prep, check out our Group Three Sessions page to learn more.
