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Summer Before MD1

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Summer before MD1

Summer before MD1 Milestones

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Administrative Things - Summer before M1

Email and eRA Commons

Life Numbers and MSSM email addresses
- You should’ve received your Mount Sinai Health System Life Number and your MSSM email address and activation instructions. A life number is a unique employee/student identification number. It is used for everything from payroll to IT Help Desk tickets. This number will be on your ID.

Appointment to the T32 grant
- In the coming days you will receive an email at your mssm.edu account regarding the creation of a profile in eRA Commons. From there you’ll need to log into your eRA Commons account and complete your personal profile. I’ll send more information very soon. It is imperative that you take action when you receive the email so you can be added to the grant and receive financial support, including your stipend.

Health Insurance:

You will receive an email re: enrollment or waiver of the health insurance plan before you begin M1 that reads as though you will need to pay if you opt in because it is sent to all new medical students. This is not the case. If you opt into the health insurance plan, the MD/PhD program pays for the cost. It costs you nothing. Eye and Dental Insurance are an extra $200-400 out of pocket if wanted. If you already have a suitable insurance plan, you can choose to opt out. By opting out, you can receive a supplemental stipend (typically around $2,500) per academic year. You have to choose to opt out every year (usually around July). Questions about health insurance or the supplemental stipend can be answered by the Student Affairs office:

Office for Student Affairs
Tel: 212-241-4426
Student.affairs@mssm.edu

How to get VPN access:

“So you’ll need to download the VIP Access app, then set up VPN. You can find the VIP Access app in the App Store here or in the Google Play Store here. And to set up and connect the VPN, you’ll want to connect with ASC-IT at 212.241.7091. Have your life number ready when you call them. I believe they take calls from 8am-8pm ET and would suggest calling them earlier in the day for no wait time or a low wait time.”

How to set up direct deposit:

Orientation Information

Courses to register for - (Fall M1):

  1. BSR-1016 for PSBS
  2. BSR-1017 for BMS
  3. BSR-5006 for MSGR

INSTRUCTIONS FOR REGISTRATION:

Please read the below instructions on how to login and register, or change your registration.
1. Go to: https://student.mssm.edu 2. Use your current Mount Sinai log on and password, e.g. smithj01 3. Go to the top Navigation bar 4. Click on Student Records > Course Tools > Course Registration 5. Click the “Add Courses” button to add courses 6. In list of courses, click the “Interested” Check box to filter course to top (detailed course information can be found by hovering over the Detail link) 7. Click on “Schedule” button to right 8. Your selections will appear on the next screen 9. Click the Check Boxes for your selected courses on left, then “Select/Process” button 10. Click “See Detail” on next page to see your registration status of your selected courses 11. Students with Pending Registrations will need to review the conflicts and adjust their registration

Resources:
Email responses from Lauren Linkowski re: studying techniques for structures:

1. I'm used to taking notes on lectures in word documents or by hand and then collating all those notes into larger study sheets prior to each exam. Do you think this method of studying will work for structures or should I start figuring out how to use Anki/ some of these other resources?

This method can work for structures. What works about your method is that there is limited research that shows handwriting seems to have greater memory power than typing. It is also always good for the student to self-organize notes, whether physically or by rewriting - it creates better memory. However, what you should consider is what happens once the study sheet is made. How do you study from it? If you study from it by "reviewing" "going over" or "reviewing" - reconsider. These methods are considered lower yield. Higher yield tactics include self-testing.

Anki IS one way to self-test, but it is not the ONLY way. If you want to use Anki, you can choose a premade deck (either from Reddit - less effective in the first year - or from a previous student) or you can make your own. In this method, you would make your notes to build understanding, but instead of re-organizing and reviewing those notes, you would hop straight to flash cards. Another way to self-test, btw, is with physical flashcards. Anki is great, but if you prefer paper it will not be a problem.

Other means of self-testing could literally be covering up the headline on your study sheet and quizzing yourself from them, either by thinking, writing, or verbalizing what you should know. You could keep your exact process, but then finish the process with self testing.

2. Other than Anki, what other study resources do students use in structures?

You want to be careful to not have too much "stuff" for Structures. There is quite a lot in the course already - the lectures, the syllabi, the excellent dissector tool and TA review question - use all this stuff before you venture out for more.

Here are the most common extras, beside Anki decks. Remember, you definitely should not use every option - they key is to pick 1 or 2 things that support your learning: - Group or paired study. This is a very valuable way to self-test, and it works because you have a table conference group. - Drawing stuff out works. Some people use Draw It To Know It (which we buy) because it has good videos that can remind you of things quickly - it also has half-filled in PDF sheets so you can draw along or from memory: https://drawittoknowit-com.eresources.mssm.edu/ - I really like the U Michigan Blue LInk site. For each structure, in the self-assessment area there are extra questions, as well a occluded images you can fill in as a test: https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/bluelink/curricula/first-year-medical-curriculum?authuser=0 - Often overkill, but the Complete Anatomy app is nice https://3d4medical.com/ and it has a free trial.

In all honesty, to sum up the steps of studying for Structures: - Preview Lecture - Take good notes - Organize those notes - Test yourself on those notes in whatever way you like- flashcards (use the premade Anki decks), quizzing from notes, and group study all work. - Have practice sessions with your group for TCs - make powerpoints with images to quiz each other

MCG/BMS - Taught by Dr. Bechhofer

This course is weird for us because we don’t take the exams but do take all the quizzes (this was recently changed to make the course a bit easier for us). Most of the material overlaps up until the last block. On the BMS exams about 25% of the questions are from MCG so it’s truly not that much MCG material overall. Don’t kill yourself getting every last detail of MCG material! Your TAs will send out study guide materials from the previous years which are SUPER helpful. The BMS lectures are super super cool and are given by researchers at Sinai who could be your PI in the future! Come with some questions (their lectures are posted prior to the class time). Also, go over your problem sets as a class. The class is wildly flexible so know that Nicole and Matthew are ok with moving around exams/changing anything to make the class more bearable.

Immunology and Pathology Advice

The optional pathology

Medical Microbiology Advice

Anki and Sketchy!!!! There is a shared Google Drive with all the resources.

ARON HALL ADVICE:

  1. Request a room on a higher floor (14/11) and DO NOT live in a G apartment
    • Balconies on floors 14 and 11
    • Train runs right next to bedrooms in G
  2. Buy a router for Aron wifi (like this one)