Board Hell

So now that the holiday weekend is over I have no more excuses left to not start studying for boards.  I think they should add a new diagnosis to the DSM: Boards PTSD.  Basically, I'm having horrible flashbacks from last time I had to study for my step 1 exams.  I remember sitting at my desk in my little two bedroom house in Kennebunkport secluded from society and eating nothing but pretzels and cherries (don't ask me why).  I would wake up at 7 am everyday, shower right away, have breakfast, and then bunker down with my mountains of study books and try to tackle a different organ system everyday.  I even had it scheduled down to the hour: "8-10am Cardiovascular physiology, 10-12 Cardiovascular pathology, 12-12:30 lunch, 12:30-4 practice questions, 5-6 bang head against wall".  It was quite daunting.

Now I wasn't the best studier (is that a word??).  I checked facebook maybe every 15 minutes to break up the monotony.  I kept getting up for a glass of water or a snack.  My friend Andie and I made several trips to the ice cream stand because "we so deserved it".   I must have some adult form of ADD or maybe my OCD is so bad that it interferes with my studying.  Seriously, when I was a kid and was taking notes in class, if I messed up at all I couldn't just scribble it out, I'd have to re-write my whole page of notes.  And I had like 8 different colored pens to keep certain things organized on the page.  I'm not nearly as freakish now, but I think when I had to study for my last boards that I was so obsessed with the organization of studying that I didn't actually study as well as I could have.

Well I sat down to make up my study schedule tonight and I realized I was trying to do the same thing I did last time.  So instead of writing up a whole month's worth of scheduling, hour by hour, I just wrote out a few things I'd like to accomplish tomorrow and the next day.  And then we'll see how it goes from there.  I have two months to study for my exam, which is A LOT OF TIME.  I saw this quote online from a website called medschoolhell.com that said something like, "Take two months to study for step 1, 2 weeks for step 2, and all you need is a number 2 pencil for step 3".  The rumor is that they get easier as you go along.  I guess "easy" for an average student without a husband and a 10-month old, who isn't taking the exam a year later than they should have.

Seriously,  there should be a handbook for stuff like this.  And I don't mean "First AID for the USMLE Step 2".  I'm looking for a book titled "How to not go insane if you get married and have a baby while in medical school."  I specifically need to read the chapter on how to study efficiently with an adorable little baby boy who wants your attention all day.  And another on how not to feel guilty about spending your time studying.  Come on, look at how cute this little guy is!  How could you not want to spend every waking second smothering him in kisses?