The STATMed Podcast

Strategies to Avoid When Preparing for Medical Boards With so much riding on your medical boards, studying the same way you always have can seem like a good idea. Why rock the boat? But if you're not getting the results you need, it may be time to reassess.  In this episode, Dr. Jim Culhane, Assistant Dean for Student Academic Success Programs and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Notre Dame of Maryland University School of Pharmacy, flips the script and interviews STATMed host Ryan Orwig. In this multipart miniseries, they dig into strategies students can use to prepare for medical boards. Here, they discuss strategies to avoid if you're looking to get the most out of your study sessions.  "Being strategic with your exam preparation and following a process that utilizes good productivity skills, time management skills, study skills and the approaches that are going to get you the best results versus the mentality that you're just going to plow through the material. You're putting in long days, you're doing a lot of hard work, but you're getting very little return on your investment." - Dr. Culhane

Pitfalls to Avoid When Taking Medical Board Exams and Other Tests  Over the past decade, we’ve seen the students and physicians we work with make a lot of mistakes on tests. But we’ve come to realize that the types of mistakes they make are surprisingly consistent. So much so, in fact, that we’ve been able to identify 13 common errors medical students and doctors make that cause them to miss points on board exams and other tests.  In this mini-series, we dig deep into each “miss type,” or type of error we’ve seen. In this first episode of the series, we start with evaluating whether it’s truly a test-taking issue or whether you simply don’t know the material well enough — a miss type we call a “knowledge miss.”  From there, we outline 3 additional ways test-takers can go wrong on exam day.  We’ll discuss other test-taking pitfalls in future episodes. So be sure to sign up for our mailing list and visit our blog to stay up to date on our latest, episodes, videos, and posts!

Don’t Let These Common Pitfalls Derail You  Over the years, we’ve seen the students and doctors we work with make many different test-taking errors. And we’ve seen patterns in the types of errors they make.  So, in this podcast mini-series, we’re walking through 13 of the most common errors that medical students and doctors make on board exams and other tests.  Test-Taking Errors In this episode, Ryan and David discuss four more common mistakes med students and doctors make when taking medical board exams:  misreading the question and the clues, focusing on a single point of contact, rounding down, and twisting. We’ll dig even deeper into test-taking pitfalls in future episodes. Be sure to stay up to date on our latest podcast episodes, videos, and posts by joining our mailing list!

Med school is astronomically hard. Students are responsible for an overwhelming amount of information at a whirlwind pace. And, chances are, for some, the study skills that got you through your undergrad aren’t taking you as far as they used to. The STATMed Learning Program was created to share skills and strategies to help in med school. But don’t just take our word for it.  In this podcast, we hear from several alumni from the STATMed Study Skills Class who share their thoughts after taking this 10-day program the summer after their first year of med school.  They dive into how the skills and strategies they learned transformed how they approached med school. From frameworking and retrieval practice to implementing memory palaces, they dig into the approaches that help turn their med school experience around.

Don’t Let Common Test-Taking Pitfalls — Like Predicting, Ruling In, and Code Failures — Sabotage Your Performance Over the years, we’ve worked with many students who struggled to take medical board exams and other tests. And we’ve noticed specific patterns in the types of errors students and doctors make. In this podcast mini-series, we’re breaking down 13 of the most common test-taking mistakes we see on the medical board exams and other tests. Common Test-Taking Mistakes: Part 3In this episode, Ryan and David discuss more common mistakes students and doctors make on medical board exams, including predicting, ruling in, partial true versus We’ll dig even deeper into test-taking pitfalls in future episodes. Be sure to stay up to date on our latest podcast episodes, videos, and posts by joining our mailing list!

When It Comes to Studying In Med School, Think ‘Retrieval,’ Not ReviewWhen you’re struggling in med school, it can feel like you’re jumping from one study strategy to the next, hoping that something sticks. While there is no “one-size-fits-all” study method, retrieval practice could be the key to getting more out of your study sessions.  Skip Review and Focus on Retrieval Practice “I’ve turned ‘review’ into a bad word. Review is anytime you have your eyeballs looking over something you’ve already studied. It’s passive and it gives that sense of familiarity; it entrenches the trap of familiarity. The opposite side of review, to me, is this idea of retrieval practice… Retrieval practice is anytime you attempt to recall something you already studied. You allow for failure and then self-check it.” - Ryan Orwig  In this podcast episode, host Ryan Orwig sits down with Dr. Jim Culhane, Assistant Dean of Academic Success Programs and Professor at Notre Dame of Maryland University School of Pharmacy. In part one of the two-part miniseries, they analyze the benefits of retrieval versus other, more passive study methods. Ryan and Jim examine why traditional study methods, such as rereading, can yield low results, and explore how retrieval practice has been proven as an effective study strategy.  Be sure to stay up to date on our latest podcast episodes, videos, and posts by joining our mailing list!

Practical Ways to Include Retrieval Practice In Your Studying When it comes to study strategies, many of the students we work with tend to double down on the techniques that helped them get this far. But, sometimes, those methods fall a little short in the onslaught of information you’re expected to know in medical school. If your go-to study strategy proves inefficient, retrieval practice is the med school study habit you need to try.  This is the second of a two-part miniseries discussing retrieval practice. Listen to part one here.  The Top Med School Study Habit You Need to Try: Retrieval Practice “There’s a couple of components to retrieval practice that’s important if you’re going to do it correctly, You have to do the self-check. If you’re doing a self-test, it’s important to do a self-check for depth, breadth, and accuracy.” - Dr. Jim Culhane  In this podcast episode, host Ryan Orwig is back with Dr. Jim Culhane to dig into ways students can incorporate retrieval practice as their go-to med school study habit. They share three different retrieval practice strategies students can use to maximize their studying.  Be sure to stay up to date on our latest podcast episodes, videos, and posts by joining our mailing list!

In this series, we‘re talking about something people rarely discuss: failing in med school. During these interviews, former STATMed students share some of their most vulnerable and scary moments. They talk about their “crisis points” — or their darkest hour in med school when they realized they were about to fail or lose sight of their dreams. We look at what led up to these critical turning points and how these med students and doctors overcame them to achieve ultimate success.  As a society, we love a success story. The protagonist has a dream; they work hard and achieve it. If it's a movie, there's usually a montage of struggle, perseverance, and, ultimately, success. It's heartwarming and uplifting. But in real life, when you're in the struggle part of the montage, it can be an incredibly isolating and scary place. This is especially true for aspiring doctors who find themselves drowning in the depths of medical school. Crisis points like failing out of medical school or not passing board exams happen. They happen pretty frequently. But it's rarely discussed.  Navigating A Med School Crisis Point In this podcast episode, host Ryan Orwig sits down with Mike, a former STATMed Learning Class participant. Mike shares his crisis point, when he was dismissed from med school, and outlines his path to ultimately achieving his dream of becoming an emergency room physician.  "Basically, you've been working through high school, through college. You've spent six or eight years of your life going to this point and getting through to be a doctor, and in two weeks, it all gets stopped dead in its tracks." - Mike, ER Doctor, and STATMed Alumni

How One ER Doc Went on to a Dream Career After Failing A Board ExamIn this series, we‘re talking about something people rarely discuss: failing in med school and on boards. During these interviews, former STATMed students share some of their most vulnerable and scary moments. They talk about their “crisis points” — or their darkest hour in their medical careers when they realized they were about to fail or lose sight of their dreams. We look at what led up to these critical turning points and how these med students and doctors overcame them to achieve ultimate success.  Navigating a Med School Crisis Point: Failing the Boards In this episode, host Ryan Orwig is back with Mike, a former STATMed Learning Class participant. Mike shares his second crisis point when he failed his COMLEX Step 2 exam. He outlines the bumps in the road and the steps he took to achieve his dream of becoming an emergency room physician after failing a board exam.  “You take it (board exam). Then you go off on rotations and auditions and to all these different programs. You’re trying to look good and work hard and get into one of these residency spots. And you’re doing well, they like you, and they think you’re a good fit. But then they pull your scores and see your Step 1 and your failed Step 2, and then you’re back to the embarrassment of not doing well on testing because that’s what everybody looks at.” - Mike, ER Doctor, and STATMed Alumni Don’t miss the first part of Mike’s story in Part 1.

What You Need to Know About ADHD in Medical School In this podcast miniseries, STATMed founder Ryan Orwig examines life as a doctor or medical student with ADHD. He outlines how ADHD affects your ability to study, take tests effectively, and manage your time. And he shares common patterns he’s observed with ADHD-affected medical students and physicians. In the first episode of this 4-part miniseries, Ryan discusses what ADHD looks like for medical students and the problems it can cause within the context of medical learning.

Navigating ADHD and Time Management in Med SchoolIn this podcast miniseries, STATMed founder Ryan Orwig examines life as a doctor or medical student with ADHD. He outlines how ADHD affects your ability to study, take tests effectively, and manage your time. And he shares common patterns he’s observed with ADHD-affected medical students and physicians. In part 3 of this 4-part miniseries, Ryan outlines how ADHD can impact your time management abilities and shares strategies to help medical students and practicing physicians who are struggling.

Navigating ADHD and Test-Taking as a Med School Student or Practicing Physician In this podcast miniseries, STATMed founder Ryan Orwig examines life as a doctor or medical student with ADHD. He outlines how ADHD affects your ability to study, take tests effectively, and manage your time. And he shares common patterns he’s observed with ADHD-affected medical students and physicians. In the final episode of this 4-part miniseries, Ryan outlines ways ADHD symptoms can impact test-taking in medical school and on board exams. He also shares strategies to overcome these challenges.

Why Are Med School Lectures So Much Harder with ADHD?In this podcast miniseries, STATMed founder Ryan Orwig examines life as a doctor or medical student with ADHD. He outlines how ADHD affects your ability to study, take tests effectively, and manage your time. And he shares common patterns he’s observed with ADHD-affected medical students and physicians. In the second episode of this 4-part miniseries, Ryan discusses why med school lectures are so much harder for students with ADHD and shares strategies to help students with ADHD process information and study more effectively.

Conversations About ADHD in Med School Part 1 Lectures in med school: you know they're essential. You know what's discussed will be on the exam. And, vitally, it may be something you need to save a life one day. But, if you're struggling, it might seem impossible to actually learn during lecture — especially if you're also navigating medical school with ADHD.  In this new podcast miniseries, Conversations About ADHD in Med School, host Ryan Orwig and Mike, a former STATMed student, discuss the various ways learning in med school is complicated by ADHD. In this episode, they dig into the potential difficulties of learning in lecture. They discuss issues with impulsivity, distractibility, and inattention, as well as strategies to mitigate them. "You feel guilty because you just wasted a whole day. You know you're going to have to get the information somehow, and you know how hard it is to catch up. You're tired because you've been fighting to pay attention for six or eight hours. You're angry and exhausted because everyone else just spent the same hours you did, but now they get to dinner, they get to go out and hang out with their friends. But you're trying to catch up and finish that eight hours. And you're not even close." - Dr. Mike

“One of the lesser-known issues that the average person might not immediately associate with ADHD, working memory is the aspect of your memory that everything has to pass through on the way in and pass through on the way out. You can think of it as a workbench — or a chalkboard. There’s limited room, and that space will fill up. When more information comes in, it pushes out the old stuff.” -Ryan Orwig  In episode two of our podcast miniseries, Conversations About ADHD in med school, host Ryan Orwig returns with Mike, a former STATMed class participant, to discuss issues with working memory and how this can impact med students with ADHD. “I didn’t even know it [working memory] was a thing. You just kind of compensate through your life. You use sticky notes or write things down, or find ways to compensate without really knowing what working memory is, that it’s a problem, or that it can cause problems.” — Dr. Mike

Conversations About ADHD in Med School: Part 3In episode three of our podcast miniseries, Conversations About ADHD in Med School, host Ryan Orwig returns with Mike, a former STATMed class participant. They dig into how issues with executive function can negatively affect students with ADHD. During this conversation, they discuss what they term "executive dysfunction." Ryan and Mike also share strategies med students can use to mitigate these issues.  "I think executive function issues are probably the widest and biggest of all the ADHD issues. With being a first-year student, even getting tasks completed, getting papers done, getting notes mapped out, and getting the lectures done [is extremely difficult]. Because your brain is always running and you always want to be focused on something else when you really have to stop and focus on one thing for an extended amount of time is probably the most difficult time. Trying to finish up whatever thing you're working on at that time because your brain always wants to skip to the next thing." Dr. Mike

Conversations About ADHD in Med School: Part 4It's happened to the best of us. You've got a laundry list of things to do, but before getting started, you sit down for a second and glance at your phone. Then, suddenly, it's 3 hours later, you're hungry, you're confused, and you've inadvertently memorized three TikTok dances. (Maybe that last part is just us…) But, the point is, your day got away from you. When this happens occasionally, it's not that big of a deal. However, if you keep finding yourself 3-hours later and very little to show for it, you may have a problem. Issues with time management and ADHD can go hand-in-hand, and the strategies you've used previously may not be cutting it anymore. In the fourth episode of our podcast miniseries, Conversations About ADHD in Med School, host Ryan Orwig returns with Mike, a former STATMed class participant. They share how issues with time management and ADHD can derail medical students as they study or take boards. During this conversation, they share specific strategies med students can use to overcome these issues. "I think time management is probably one of the biggest problems [with having ADHD in med school]. You're fighting against time. You've got a set amount of hours between one test to the next. And so, you know you have a set amount of work that has to be put in, in that set amount of time. But that's the fight against time because your ADHD is making you want to do other things. So, when you should be studying, you're looking at your phone, watching videos, and doing anything else besides studying. And it's a constant fight against time that you're wasting and losing." - Dr. Mike

Uncommon Pathways Episode 1Although the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, that’s not always the path that a career in medicine follows. Host Ryan Orwig speaks with STATMed alumni who share their uncommon pathways to their dream careers in our newest podcast miniseries. In this episode, Ryan and JT, an orthopedic surgeon, discuss challenges he faced in his journey to becoming a surgeon. JT recounts the issues he faced when struggling with boards. He also digs into the hurdles his relatively low scores caused when trying to get into a super competitive orthopedic surgery residency. "When I found out what my Step 1 score was, I was freaking out. And so, of course, I would ask people, it's like, man, you know, is this even worth it? Is this even worth doing? Should I just try something different altogether? And you know, almost universally, people told me, and this is what I tell people now, your step score shouldn't completely define you or dictate what you do. And so if this is something that you really, really want to do, and you know that beyond a shadow of a doubt, you should just go for it, and you should make every effort to make yourself a good applicant, despite the fact that you may not have the best test scores." - Dr. JT

Uncommon Pathways Episode 2Host Ryan Orwig speaks with STATMed alumni who share their uncommon pathways to their dream careers in this podcast miniseries. In the first episode, Ryan and JT, a surgeon, discussed the challenges low boards scores could cause when pursuing a competitive field like orthopedic surgery.  In this episode, Ryan is back with JT, an orthopedic surgeon, who shares how the STATMed Doctor Study Skills Course changed the way he prepared for exams. Here, JT shares the biggest takeaways from his quest to learn how to study more effectively. From the importance of frameworking to transforming his study sessions with retrieval practice and managing workflow while studying, JT shares his top three lessons learned. How To Study Effectively In Med School and For Boards "I would say the overarching thing was that I was very passive in how I would study. So that meant just reading or rereading material that I had read a thousand times over and just thinking, okay, well, maybe it'll stick this time. Or if I just keep reading this, it'll get imprinted into my subconscious. I realized it's not good because it's not intentional. And so what the study skills scores taught me was that you have to intentionally engage in the material, and the way you do that is by testing and retesting. So, instead of just reading through a passage, article, or review book, I had to framework this out. Like, I would have a blank, and it would be "name these three things associated with this fracture pattern." And instead of just rereading them, I would have to say, okay, I actually have to recall what these three things are." - Dr. JT

Uncommon Pathways Episode 3Host Ryan Orwig speaks with STATMed alumni who share their uncommon pathways to their dream careers in this podcast miniseries. In the first episode, Ryan and JT, a surgeon, discussed the challenges low boards scores could cause when pursuing a competitive field like orthopedic surgery.  In the third installment of our Uncommon Pathways podcast miniseries, Ryan is back with JT, an orthopedic surgeon, who shares how the STATMed Boards Workshop transformed how he approached board-style exams. They dig into the importance of implementing test-taking strategies that yield results and the benefits of identifying test-taking issues.  "What frustrated me was that I didn't have words to articulate the mistakes that I knew I was making. And so it was like, finally, I can identify the problem, and once you identify the problem, you can do something about it. And so y'all gave me this lens through which to identify my problem. And a big part of that was misreading and then twisting what the question was asking. And I would realize I was answering the wrong question like it was right in my head because that's the question that I was answering, but it's not the question on the test. That was a big error for me that I realized pretty early on." - Dr. JT