137 days to my USMLE: the plan

My exam is on December 31. Today is August 16. That's 137 days, and I'm going to document all of them here — the plan, the numbers, the bad weeks included.

Why publicly? Two reasons. First, accountability: it's much harder to skip recall cards when strangers can count them. Second, honesty: I built the study system I'm using, and if I'm going to ask other students to trust it, the least I can do is bet my own exam on it in public.

The baseline (Week 0)

A baseline only counts if it's real, so it arrives with Week 1's post — as screenshots from my own dashboard, not estimates. Question-bank average, strongest systems, weakest systems straight from my Weakness Ledger, and the hours a posting day actually leaves me.

One rule governs this entire log: no number appears here unless my dashboard said it first.

The plan

The week-by-week block structure goes up with Week 1, once it has survived contact with one real week — a plan that hasn't met a Tuesday yet is a wish, not a plan.

The system underneath it stays constant from day one: every morning starts with the Daily Pulse sized to the time I actually have. Every confused lecture goes through Lecture Rescue the same day — no backlog of confusion allowed. Every wrong or guessed answer feeds the Weakness Ledger, and the Ledger decides my weekend revision, not my mood. Recall cards happen daily, even on ward days, even on the bus.

The rules of this log

One post every week, whatever happened. Real numbers from my real dashboard, screenshots included. No deleting bad weeks. And on December 31, whatever the result, the final post goes up.

Week 1 report next Sunday. Wish me luck — or better, check back and see whether I earned it.

— Meyshan · Follow the series under The Countdown