5 Tips To Boost Your USMLE Question Banks

If you’re working your a** off studying for your USMLE Step 1 exam, but you don’t feel like you’re making the type of progress you’d hoped for… It might be how you’re prioritizing your tasks.

Today, I want to share a powerful tool called the Eisenhower Matrix…

 This tool is designed to help you prioritize tasks and manage your  time more effectively. 

It’s a simple yet effective method that can help you get and stay organized, as well as get laser-focused on the most important tasks you need to cross off your to-do list if you want to make huge leaps in your Step 1 prep progress!

Let’s take a look at how it works:

The Eisenhower Matrix consists of four quadrants, each representing a different category of tasks:

1- Urgent and important tasks: These are tasks that require immediate attention and are critical to achieving your goals… Think of doing a couple blocks of questions per day as urgent and highly important.

2- Important, but not urgent tasks: These are tasks that are important for achieving your long-term goals, but don’t require immediate attention. Think of reviewing your index cards, drills, or Anki as important, but not urgent.

3- Urgent, but not important tasks: These are tasks that demand immediate attention but are not critical to achieving your goals. Consider responding to an email from your school dean… You’ve got to get to it, but it’s not going to determine your future.

4- Not urgent or important tasks: These are tasks that are neither urgent nor important, and can be safely ignored or delegated… Think… cutting the lawn. 

To use the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize your USMLE studies, follow these steps:

1 – Make a list of all the tasks related to your USMLE studies, such as reading a textbook, reviewing flashcards, or taking practice exams.

2 – Assign each task to one of the four quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix. To determine which quadrant a task goes into, consider the urgency and importance of the task. For example, a task like doing a block of questions would be considered both urgent and important… If you don’t get to it, then you’ll get backed up and won’t stay on track to be ready by exam day (ie. Super high-priority).

3- Focus on the tasks in the first quadrant first. These are the most important and urgent tasks, and should be given priority.

4- Once you have completed the tasks in the first quadrant, move on to the tasks in the second quadrant. These tasks are also important, but not as urgent, so you can spend more time on them once you’ve finished everything in the first quadrant.

5- Tasks in the third quadrant, while they may seem important, they are not as critical as the first two quadrants, so should be done after the first two.

6- Tasks in the fourth quadrant can be safely ignored or delegated, as they are not important or urgent as it relates to your goal. 

KEEP IN MIND…

Keep in mind that the Eisenhower Matrix is a flexible tool that you can use to prioritize your USMLE studies according to your unique needs. 

The matrix can be adjusted to suit your style of studying, and you can use it to prioritize tasks in different ways… What’s in quadrant #1 for you might not be in the same quadrant for your study partner… 

So just as you should NEVER take someone’s personalized study plan and follow it exactly, the same goes for the Eisenhower matrix.

Additionally, it’s important to be aware that the matrix is not a one-time solution, it should be consistently used and reviewed as you go through your USMLE prep journey. 

The matrix should be used to help you prioritize your tasks, but also to help you evaluate your progress and make adjustments as necessary.

If you want to take the Eisenhower matrix to another level, try combining it with the Pomodoro Technique, which I wrote about a couple weeks ago. 

By using the Eisenhower matrix to prioritize your tasks and the Pomodoro Technique to manage your time, you can optimize your studying and achieve maximum results in minimal time.

In conclusion… the Eisenhower Matrix is a powerful tool that can help you prioritize your USMLE studies and manage your time effectively. 

By focusing on the most important and urgent tasks first, you can stay organized and on track to be ready in a realistic and reasonable timeframe. 

Additionally, using the matrix in combination with other tools and strategies such as the Pomodoro Technique can further optimize your productivity and help you achieve maximum results.

So grab a pen, grab a pieces of paper… And write out your own Eisenhower matrix.