Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC

This year, my mentees matched: Cardiothoracic/Thoracic Surgery (Integrated path), Gen Surg, Triple board certification Peds + Neuro + Developmental, Interventional Radiology, Derm, FM, IM, OBGYN, Anesthesia, PM&R, Child Neuro, Ophtho, Neurology & Psych. What a year #MedTwitter

A low practice score is data. It shows where to aim your next week of studying. Sort your misses into knowledge gaps, reasoning errors, and misread stems. Each type has a different fix, and a plan built on those categories beats restudying everything. Look at your last score with curiosity first. The plan comes second.

Caffeine helps alertness, and timing matters. It has a half-life of several hours, so an afternoon coffee can still be active at bedtime and reduce deep sleep even when you fall asleep without trouble. A practical rule is to stop caffeine at least six to eight hours before bed. Try it for one week and see how your mornings feel.

A 58-year-old man has crushing chest pain for 30 minutes. He is diaphoretic and his blood pressure is stable. What is the first test? Answer. A 12-lead ECG within 10 minutes of arrival. Troponin follows, but the ECG decides whether he heads straight for reperfusion. Quick recall of first steps builds speed. On your next chest pain stem, name the first move before you read the answer choices.

Myth: an all-nighter before a big practice exam sharpens your recall. Reality: sleep loss weakens attention, working memory, and your ability to reason through a long vignette, which is exactly what Step 2 CK asks of you. If you have to trade something, trade a low-yield review session for sleep. Protect the hours that make the other hours count.

Fryette's principles are worth ten minutes because they reward pattern recognition. Type 1 mechanics happen in neutral, involve a group of vertebrae, and sidebending and rotation go to opposite sides. Type 2 mechanics happen in flexion or extension, involve a single segment, and sidebending and rotation go to the same side. Write both from memory today, then check yourself. #COMLEX

Caught off guard by a residency interview question? My full residency interview discussion is now live on the Action Potential Mentoring YouTube channel. Watch it now here: youtube.com/watch?v=HuvFCZue…

23 residency interviews in less than 3 weeks! 🎉 That’s 12 Diagnostic Radiology interviews, 10 Transitional Year interviews, and 1 Preliminary Internal Medicine interview. What an incredible start to the residency application season! One of our students shared that his letters of interest strategy has helped him find success during this Match cycle. His experience is a reminder that residency applications don’t end when you submit ERAS. A thoughtful, strategic approach to program communication can also be an important part of your journey. At Action Potential Mentoring, we help medical students and IMGs navigate the residency application process with guidance on: ✅ Residency application and Match strategy ✅ Letters of interest and program communication ✅ Interview preparation and practice ✅ Communicating your strengths with confidence ✅ Personalized mentorship throughout your residency journey You don’t have to navigate the Match alone. Having a clear strategy and the right guidance can help you approach each step with greater confidence. Your hard work deserves a strategy. DM us “MATCH” to learn how Action Potential Mentoring can support your residency application journey! #ActionPotentialMentoring #Match2027

Your Step 1 study strategy may not be sufficient for Step 2 CK, which requires greater emphasis on clinical reasoning and patient management. Learn how to adapt your preparation to the demands of each exam in the full article below 👇

I built an international company during residency, lifted 6 days a week, and maintained a long-distance relationship, so I firmly believe there should be time outside the hospital, too. It’s about getting enough clinical experience to feel prepared for independent practice while still having a life outside medicine

That doesn’t mean everyone should work 100 hours a week either. That leaves minimal time for studying, relationships, and other life commitments. There’s a difference between getting meaningful clinical exposure and working excessive hours just for the sake of it 👍

Every specialty is different. I have friends in psych who never went over 40 hours a week, which is fine. But as someone going into my second year as an attending surgeon, I’d be terrified if I’d only worked 40 hours a week throughout residency and a ruptured aorta rolled in right now

Having been through residency, I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as people make it seem If you want to stay for a case, virtually no attending will tell you no (at least in my experience). But if you’re too tired to drive safely, I also don’t think an attending is going to tell you that you have to stay

3) Acute pelvic pain •Sudden unilateral pain + N/V → ovarian torsion; Doppler can be falsely reassuring •Lower abd pain + fever + CMT → PID •Preg + pain/bleeding + no IUP → ectopic until proven otherwise Torsion = time-sensitive

2) 3rd-trimester bleeding • Painless bright-red blood + soft uterus → previa • Painful bleeding + tender/rigid uterus ± fetal distress → abruption • Bleeding after ROM + fetal brady → vasa previa Suspected previa? No digital cervical exam until placental location is known.

1) Early preg + abd pain/bleeding •Unstable + peritoneal signs/free fluid → ruptured ectopic → OR •Stable + no IUP on TVUS → serial β-hCG + repeat TVUS; 1 hCG value ≠ dx •Shoulder pain = diaphragmatic irritation, not “gas”

A common way to miss a Step 2 CK question is to choose a good answer instead of the best answer. When two options both look reasonable, ask which one comes first in the real algorithm. The right test in the wrong order is still a wrong answer. The next time this happens, write down the step you skipped. That skipped step is usually the lesson.