October 04

Mussman’s Guide to the Boards

RULE #1: DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU: The following are the things that worked for me. By
now you know your strengths and weaknesses, so you should only take from this what
you think you can use.

RULE #2: FAIL TO PLAN  PLAN TO FAIL: This is my favorite saying of my dad’s and now its
yours. When I was at Iowa wrestling camp we used to have to climb stadium stairs
with people on our backs after we ran seven miles. Since I have chicken legs to begin
with this was next to impossible. The key is never look up. If you just go one stair at a
time, you can make it. Same with those damn Kaplan books, you have to break it up
and look at only what you plan to read for that day, or maybe something that you need
to review from the weeks before. If you don’t have a plan, then you are staring at the
whole two books the whole time and your motivation will be killed.

RULE #3: GET SOME MOTIVATION: If you were a mediocre to bad student then this is your
chance to erase the past, because if you ace the boards by studying hard for the 7
whole weeks of summer, you can still write your ticket to any residency you want. -If
you were an honors student then don’t blow it now buddy. You worked yourself to the
border of insanity for two straight years, and now you only have two more months to
go, but this time you are competing with those boys over at Hopkins and Harvard, so
you better bring you’re A-game.
-last but not least, you will be seeing patients in no time, so this is the last stop before
you could potentially kill someone by not spotting something big, so stock up on that
knowledge homeboy; that light at the end of the tunnel is just another train coming.

RULE #4: START THINKING OF THIS SUMMER AS SPRING BREAK #2: You
need to stop looking forward to this summer. You have about 7-10 days off if
you use my plan, so plan on rocking out hard and then dropping off the face of
the earth.

RULE #5: DITCH YOUR STUDY BUDDY: This is big time. You need every ounce of
will power you can get. The next thing you know, you are taking long lunches
and dinners, and talking a lot. Then they leave at the end of the day, so you
think that you might as well leave even if you haven’t reached your goal for the
day. You know I am right. I ditched my study buddy and it was pretty hilarious.
He stormed off like I broke up with him and occasionally I caught him giving
me the evil eye when he walked by. I guess we are back together now, because
he is my roommate. It was meant to be.

RULE #6: DEPRESSION IS YOUR WORST ENEMY: If you follow all my rules above
you will get pretty lonely like I did. I never went out, didn’t return phone calls
 except to my girlfriend, and ate every meal alone for the entire summer. I had
to pop a Prozac just writing that sentence. I’m better now. Anyway, I liked
studying as soon as the library opened so that I could probably get done by 1-3
o’clock with reading and then do the representative questions for the day.
Getting done while it was still light out really helped the overall mood. Also, I
liked to rock out to eye of the tiger, and final countdown on the way to and from
school. It reminded me of my wrestling days, but I’m sure to anyone listening I
must have looked like a freak.

RULE #7: DON’T CAFFEINE YOURSELF UP: Try not to caffeine yourself up,
because it just adds to your anxiety level. Calm steady studying wins the race.
A friend of mine said he worked out a “steady cocktail of uppers and downers
much like Elvis in his final days,” but he ended up not doing that well, but I
thought it sounded funny so I put it in here.

RULE #8: DON’T KEEP ASKING OTHER PEOPLE WHAT THEY ARE DOING: You
should know what YOU are doing by the time you start remember! This is just
going to freak you out when you think someone else is getting the edge on you.
Plus it is really annoying…trust me. Also, stop asking everyone what they are
getting on Q-Bank. I’ll tell everyone right now. A score of around 70% (+/_
5%) is where you need to be to ace the boards.

Little Tips:
-Don’t forget to pay your bills
-Plan a trial run in the morning to your test site, just to make sure you can find it. Write
down exactly what lanes you used and how many cars passed you…just kidding
about the last part.
-Don’t start a whole stupid exercise program. If you are exercising, keep doing it. If you
aren’t then the eve of the biggest test of your life is not the time to start.
-Eat healthy… I hear good things about this although I’ve never tried it.
-SLEEP!!!!!!!!!
12-May-03 School is Out Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
13-May-03 rock out Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
14-May-03 rock out Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
15-May-03 rock out Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
16-May-03 rock out Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
17-May-03 Micro First Aid Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
18-May-03 Pharmacology First Aid Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
19-May-03 Biochem to page 77 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
20-May-03 Biochem to page 135 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
21-May-03 Molecular Biology Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
22-May-03 Cell Biology and Genetics Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
23-May-03 Microbiology to 363 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
24-May-03 Micro to 420 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
25-May-03 Micro to 495 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
26-May-03 Immuno to 551 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
27-May-03 Immuno to 595 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
28-May-03 Embryo Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
29-May-03 Histo+ Pathology Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
30-May-03 Pharmacology Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
31-May-03 Behavioral science to 800 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
1-Jun-03 Behavioral science to 841 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
2-Jun-03 U.S. Health Care and Biostatistics Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
3-Jun-03 Practice Exam kaplan Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
4-Jun-03 cardio Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
5-Jun-03 cardio Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
6-Jun-03 resp Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
7-Jun-03 resp Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
8-Jun-03 renal Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
9-Jun-03 renal Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
10-Jun-03 heme Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
11-Jun-03 nervous to 461 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
12-Jun-03 nervous to 530 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
13-Jun-03 Nervous to 600 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
14-Jun-03 nervous to 691 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
15-Jun-03 nervous to 771 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
16-Jun-03 Musculoskeletal Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
17-Jun-03 Musculoskeletal Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
18-Jun-03 Gi Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
19-Jun-03 Gi Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
20-Jun-03 Endocrine Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
21-Jun-03 Endocrine Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
22-Jun-03 Reproductive Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
23-Jun-03 Reproductive Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
24-Jun-03 memorize little details from Kaplan books and finish Q-bank Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
25-Jun-03 Read 1/3 first aid Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
26-Jun-03 Read 2/3 first aid Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
27-Jun-03 Finish first Aid Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
28-Jun-03 Test Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
29-Jun-03 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions
30-Jun-03 Read Corresponding Section in First Aid Do Q-bank Questions

*****This is for the Kaplan Q-bank, First Aid, and Kaplan Organ System books… It will
probably cost you a little over a thousand dollars for the whole deal