SGU Term 2 Advice
Looking back after completing a year at SGU, I made a lot of mistakes. Hopefully, this can help others avoid my growing pains.
Term 2 felt like real medical school had started. The content and the questions seemed more clinically related and more interesting in my opinion. When I finished term 1, I thought term 2 would be more of the same. Well, that wasn’t accurate - at least for me. The questions were harder. I noticed looking back that a good chunk of Term 1 content was first-order questions or first-and-half-order. There is also less time to study the module content because of the BSCE and more scheduled small groups/IMCQs/labs.
I didn’t make any major changes to my study habits. Anki and practice questions will still guide you to success.
Term 2 content
So 3 modules like term 1. We went through Endocrine & Reproductive (ER), then Digestion & Metabolism (DM), and horrifically last neuro (NB).
ER wasn’t so bad. It felt most familiar with the style of term 1. It had a little bit of everything anatomy, physiology aka graphs, embryo, and histology (these links are to the youtube videos I found helpful). For anatomy, the best way for a visual learner like me was to look at models. I previously bought an iPad app so I could look through the nerves, fascia layers, and follow blood vessels. Term 2 is the last term where student-made resources are so abundant. I would make use of any MOTO questions or DES questions you can find. Also, Grey’s Anatomy practice questions are always clutch for anatomy. If I could go back, I would have put more energy into this module to give more space to breathe in NB which was challenging for me.
DM I liked since I’m personally interested in nutrition. We started with glycolysis and gluconeogenesis. The first week, I felt in control. It hit me out of nowhere, the feeling of being overwhelmed. By the end of the module, it didn’t feel connected to digestion or metabolism. There is a toooooooooon of pathways, but their connection is only really emphasized at the end of the module (when it’s too late). I would recommend finding a master sheet of all the pathways (Physeo or FA is great!) to reference and drawing or typing out all the pathways every day. It was a little more difficult to learn the pathways since we were remote and did not have access to whiteboards on test day. Don’t dismiss the anatomy aspect because of the biochem hype.
NB, oh geez. There are three sections of NB. NB1 for us was extremely neuro anatomy heavy which transitions to psychology by the end of NB3. For 85% of NB1, I felt like I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t have any background in neuro so it was all gibberish. I couldn’t understand what I was trying to learn, like where to put it in my brain shelf. The lecture order was rearranged in our term. I was so frustrated when I saw things in NB2 that finally explained NB1 concepts that were tested. This was the first time I felt like SGU lectures were not enough for me. I heavily relied on Ninja Nerds and other student-created resources to make sense of what I was looking at. Taco Corp became a life saver in explaining these pathways. I followed along with the diagrams I made watching Ninja Nerds, but the Utah med diagram is also amazing!
BSCE
The cumulative test covers everything taught in MS1. I have heard that the average is quite low and normally adjusted so the average is around 80%. I would describe the BSCE is not what I feared or what I hoped, but there weren’t any moments where I was thinking “how could you??”.
Studying for the BSCE.
Everyone says to start early and they’re right. At least, have a manageable plan. When I looked for advice on how to tackle studying for the BSCE, I heard some people go over practice questions given or look over lectures. Someone told me they review 2 lectures per day. Some people study throughout the term, some start halfway. Firehouse Prep (a student from SGU) makes wonderful schedules you can follow. Sadly, I wasn’t diligent enough to upkeep that schedule. There are lots of options to study for it which is why for people like me who options = stalling, it’s important to commit to what you want to do.
How I studied for the BSCE.
I’m happy with my score on the BSCE which I give most credit to leading a PLG/AEP group, anki, and reviewing all the PLG slides I could get my hands on. The time commitment of AEP and PLG peer sessions were overwhelming at times. However, during the BSCE, I was so grateful. Making presentations every week forced me to review term 1 regularly and also helped me work on identifying “high yield” concepts that showed up on test day. I reviewed 20 term 1 cards a day from the M1M2 anki deck. It was helpful to bring up subjects I needed to tidy up on, but it could be too detailed. When we got closer to the BSCE, I started to do as many practice questions from Term 1 and Term 2 as possible. Even those I felt were too detailed at points. The biggest difference I found was doing sections of MOTO and PLG presentation questions. If I could go back, I would have divided the weeks I wanted to cover over the term and carved out time every week or every other week to review to do practice questions.
A note, our BSCE was different than tradition since we were remote and the BSCE was written by SGU. Normally it is administered by the NBME.
Term 2 extracurriculars
Another reason Term 2 was difficult was all the opportunities to be distracted by. You could start research, be in club executive boards, or tutor through DES or AEP. None are required, but SGU alumni have recommended starting to do extracurriculars for residency apps. I also know people who did none of these and focused on Term 2. I wouldn’t say it’s super essential. I overcompensated and committed to too much very early. A mistake.
Closing
I suffer from opening excitement which really ends up being overconfidence because I feel like I have the whole term to make up for poor performance. I went into Term 2 looking for redemption and wanting to earn honors. I didn’t earn it. I feel like a little bit of strategy could’ve saved me some heartbreak. Hopefully, if you’re going into Term 2, you plan your game of attack because you can totally kick butt this term!