Studying for Step 1 is often a source of anxiety for medical students since it's seen as such a monumental task and high stakes exam. The purpose of this article is to distill some of my experience with the hope that it can help others be less stressed & better prepared for this exam in the future.

This is truly the quintessential question of medical school, and if you’re like me you’re probably curious how all those hours of studying stack up. Lots of rumors & approximations float around in online forums, but I wanted to take a more quantitative approach to the question. The solution? I made myself the test subject and tracked my studying as an M1 and M2.

I first started dislocating my shoulder as teenager while whitewater kayaking, and this set me off on a path which has made me very familiar with the medical management of labrum tears in the shoulder. Shoulder injuries aren’t uncommon in whitewater kayaking since the force of water & precarious positioning of the arms can easily lead to injury if you’re not careful. It’s not just paddlers though, I have a handful of friends who are runners, mountain bikers, and soccer players who have needed surgery for shoulder instability. It’s a common problem that really isn’t talked about enough. Hopefully you don’t need this article since you’ve been practicing good technique & keep your arms in the “safety box” to prevent injury. If you’ve had an injury or recurrent shoulder instability in the past, then this might be a good resource for you.

A few years ago I sustained a significant concussion while mountain biking, then just a week later had surgery for a pre-existing labral tear in my shoulder. A couple weeks after I was back in college, and felt just a bit different. I never had insomnia previously, but suddenly I found myself anxious and confused as I struggled to fall asleep each night. I would get in bed and keep checking the clock each hour as I tried to calm my mind, but before I knew it five hours would pass and I’d still be awake. Sleep was even harder then as I would start to fret about the next day. Thus began a vicious cycle, and I soon broke down and asked for a prescription of Ambien (zolpidem) sleeping pills.

As I got up to leave the examination room, the doctor's assistant mentioned that if I wanted to facilitate the healing process I could consider taking a calcium supplement or multi-vitamin. Historically the research has been inconclusive on whether vitamin supplementation is effective or possibly even harmful, so I decided to look into this statement a bit further.

The new MCAT (2015 MCAT) is by far the most intensive and expansive test of the undergraduate career. The good news is that a few months of focused, intense study will give you the basic tools to handle even the most complicated looking questions. I just recently finished the MCAT journey in May 2016, and wanted to write this as an informal guide to help future test takers.