A few months ago, I was gifted a free trial of Osmosis, and albeit thankful, I was a bit skeptical of the website. I mean, we’re in med school and we’re already overwhelmed with study materials for Step 1 that another platform just seemed a bit daunting. How could I take the time to commit to another resource, when I barely have time to keep up with everything else?
A few nights ago, I decide to test the platform (naturally the week of our finals…I know, absurd). And I was really impressed. Here are some of the features for Osmosis that make Step 1 studying a lot more convenient:
- Q bank. There is nothing more high yield than practice questions. Osmosis has thousands of questions based on content, as well as some designated for Step 1 and Step 2.
- Flash cards. You can select pre-made flash cards to repeat through daily. A great, easy thing to do while at the gym or while cooking.
- It utilizes your pre-existing resources. Osmosis asks what resources you use for studying for Step, and then helps you create a study schedule based on those resources. Everything is in 1 place!
- Back to Q bank. When you answer a question correctly, or incorrectly, it provides you a description of the answer and why the incorrect answers are incorrect. But really cool is that Osmosis had either made videos or utilized videos from other resources to help you cement down a topic. So, if I get an answer on achalasia wrong, I can watch a 5-minute video on the topic. Additionally, there often is a link to a patient presentation, who shares how the disease has affected them. Not only does it help cement my understanding of the topic, but it also keeps all of this studying in perspective, and reminds me of why I pursue medicine in the first place.
Okay, back to studying…
