By no means am I perfect or the most organized, Type-A student (I am far from it actually). But I work hard, and for this exam I worked harder than I have ever worked in my life. I returned home due to COVID-19 in March, but had quite a few of my own demons to deal with. All of this alongside the unpredictable climate of COVID made for a very stressful, scattered and frankly, depressing few months. Fast forward to second year, where my seven year relationship came to a crashing end, unravelling early in 2020. This was discovered when I was admitted to hospital a few weeks into my first semester of med school. If you have been following my journey, you will know that I had brain surgery in July 2019 to resect an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). In fact, my first two years of medical school have been an absolute rollercoaster. I should preface this post by saying my USMLE preparation often felt like a hot MESS. This is going to be a lengthy post, so apologies in advance but I do hope it is useful to someone! An all-inclusive general guide, you could say. In this post, I am going to break down how I studied, what I did the day before and what to expect the day of. It really is mind over matter for this beast: a test of one’s endurance and mental fortitude. Preparing for this eight hour exam was the most gruelling experience I have undergone in my academic career. 1.1 - Chest Pain DDx 1.2 - Ischemic Chest Pain 1: Intro & Stable Angina SOAP 1.3 - Ischemic Chest Pain 2: ACS SOAP 1.4 - MI Complications SOAP 1.5 - Post-ACS ManagementĢ.1 - Chronic HF SOA 2.2 - Chronic HF Management 2.3 - Acute Decompensated HF SOAP 2.4 - Cardiomyopathies 1: Dilated & Restrictive SOAPs 2.5 - Acute Pericarditis SOAP 2.6 - Pericardial Effusion, Cardiac Tamponade, Constrictive Pericarditis mini-SOAPs 2.7 - Myocarditis SOAPģ.1 - Aortic Stenosis & Aortic Regurgitation SOAP 3.2 - Mitral Regurgitation & Mitral Valve Prolapse SOAP 3.3 - Mitral Stenosis SOAP 3.4 - Tricuspid Regurgitation SOAP 3.5 - Endocarditis SOAPĥ.1 - HTN SOA 5.2 - HTN Management 5.3 - HTN Emergency SOAP 5.4 - Shock 1: Undifferentiated Shock SOAP 5.5 - Shock 2: Hypovolemic & Distributive Shock SOAPs 5.6 - Shock 3: Cardiogenic & Obstructive Shock SOAPsĬhapter 1 Initial Assessment of a Trauma PatientĢ.1 - Hypotension, JVD and Muffled Heart SoundsĢ.2 - Widened Mediastinum after Blunt Thoracic TraumaĢ.3 - Sudden-Onset Shortness of Breath in Young SmokerĢ.4 - Severe Chest Pain and Crepitus after Fallģ.1 - Tachycardia and Hypotension following Traumaģ.2 - Blunt Abdominal Trauma 1: Presentation and Workupģ.3 - Blunt Abdominal Trauma 2: Management of Peritoneal Injuriesģ.4 - Blunt Abdominal Trauma 3: Management of Retroperitoneal Injuriesģ.6 - Hemodynamic Instability and Widened Pubic Symphysis following Traumaģ.7 - Low Urine Output and Abdominal Distention after TraumaĤ.1 - Hypotension, Bradycardia and ParalysisĤ.2 - Persistent Neurological Deficits after Spine TraumaĤ.3 - Headache and Nausea following Head TraumaĤ.4 - Rapidly Declining Mental Status after Head TraumaĤ.5 - Severe Head Injury in a Polytrauma PatientĤ.Ah, the dreaded USMLE… *shudder*.