THE CLERKSHIP BINDER

I recommend bringing an empty binder to the first day of each clerkship for storing the various documents you will be handed by your clerkship director's administrative assistant. Mine has sections for “Schedules” (for daily rounds, conferences, call assignments, etc.), “Presentations and Write-Ups,” “Computer Info,” “Academic Objectives” (such as crib sheets for the exam or the list of what's on the exam), “Key References,” and “Misc.” Keep it in your locker or backpack.

There are at least two reasons to do this: (1) The mass of paper can bury you; sorting it in a binder helps you get on top of it, which makes it helpful rather than a hindrance. That way you can find what you need when you need it. (2) You never know when a random question about “Which student is on call tonight?” or “Is breast surgery going to be on the exam?” will come up. If you keep the stuff piled under your desk at home, it's not going to help you when you need it.

THE PERIPHERAL BRAIN

Every student should start one of these on the first day of clerkships, in my humble opinion. Most residents and even attendings have their own peripheral brains; if you get started building one now, it'll be that much more complete when you get to that level.

At this point, I use my PB nearly every day. Also: I noticed that my medicine residents were very impressed that I already had a PB (despite its relatively scant content).