Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC

Vascular Surgeon - I help med students crush the USMLE, get research pubs, and match into their goal specialty. Tweets = personal opinions

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

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

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

Most people don't know this about Dr. Austin Price

He didn't start as the top one to two percent. He started at the bottom.

And that's exactly why 2,100+ students have trusted him with the thing they're most afraid to fail at.

Step 1. Step 2. Step 3. Shelf exams. Research. Match strategy.

It's all inside Action Potential Mentoring, built by someone who has been where you are and figured the way out.

Follow along!
Your breakthrough is closer than you think

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

Nobody handed me a resource list when I started USMLE prep. So I made one

Swipe through the full toolkit I swear by as a mentor 👇

https://t.co/vfjZLhH4zy

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

https://t.co/SLWgJUMQOc

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

@Bushramalik1215 You become like your circle. Mentorship can elevate you to a different echelon. It can be developed and taught

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

The score doesn't scare me. The mindset does👀

I've worked with students scoring 40% on practice questions who went on to crush their boards. Why? Because they had the one thing you can't teach: that fire in their chest when they see someone outworking them.

That feeling? That "oh shoot, I need to push harder"? That's everything.

When you surround yourself with people who are going all in, something shifts. Success stops being a maybe and starts being inevitable.

Here's the thing though. I'm not for everyone. If you're not the type who's constantly chasing better, we're probably not a good fit. And that's okay.

I only want to work with the ones who are hungry. 🔥

Are you that person? Drop a 👇 below or send me a message and let's talk.

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

@Bushramalik1215 ASAP is the correct answer 💯💯🔥

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

What frustrates me most watching students prep for Step 2 CK is how late they realize the exam is not what they thought it was.

They find out mid dedicated, sometimes after a practice test tanks, and by then the pressure is compounding and the options are limited. It is not that they were lazy or unprepared, it is that nobody told them early enough that this exam rewards a completely different skill set than anything they have tested on before.

The information to prepare the right way exists but most students never seek it out until it already feels urgent and that is exactly when it is hardest to pivot. You do not have to be that student. DM me UNLEASH and let's get on a free quick call before you get to that point.

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

Wound healing: the stages boards always test

0–3 days: Inflammatory phase
→ Neutrophils (first 24–48 hrs) then macrophages (day 3+)
→ Macrophages are essential — without them, healing fails

3–10 days: Proliferative phase
→ Fibroblasts deposit collagen (Type III initially)
→ Angiogenesis (VEGF-driven) — granulation tissue forms

Weeks–months: Remodeling phase
→ Type III collagen replaced by Type I (stronger)
→ Tensile strength reaches 80% max (never 100%)

High-yield: Diabetes/steroids impair healing (↓ fibroblast function, ↓ angiogenesis)

🔖 Save this

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

Hypersensitivity reactions: the framework boards test constantly

Type I (Immediate/IgE): anaphylaxis, asthma, allergic rhinitis
→ Mast cells + IgE + allergen → histamine release

Type II (Antibody-mediated): hemolytic transfusion rxn, Graves', myasthenia gravis, Goodpasture
→ IgG/IgM attack cell surface antigens

Type III (Immune complex): serum sickness, SLE, post-strep GN, polyarteritis nodosa
→ Ag-Ab complexes deposit in vessels → complement activation → inflammation

Type IV (Delayed/T-cell): TB skin test (PPD), contact dermatitis, MS, Type 1 DM
→ Sensitized T cells → cytokines → NO antibodies

Key: Type IV = only one with NO antibody involvement.

🔖 Save this

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

The identity shift most people don't talk about in medicine:

You enter training as 'the smart one.'

For most people, that identity has defined their entire life until this point.

Med school reliably strips that identity away.

The students who navigate it best aren't the ones who hold onto the identity.

They're the ones who build a new identity around learning, not knowing.

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

been hearing the same thing over and over lately:

“i’m studying all day but my scores still aren’t moving.”

want to hear directly from students and see where the disconnect actually is.

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

https://t.co/Fm1RnflUtz

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

@Doc_Red_ Just wait til year 31 bro. Was the roughest hahaha

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

My opinion: the real 2026 “syllabus” is no longer just content

It’s pacing, rhythm, and mental reset speed.

The students who win will be the ones who practice short blocks, not long scrolls 🤛

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

2026 USMLE/COMLEX update you’re not talking about: the exam is no longer one long marathon.

New block structure + shorter sprints = a fatigue curve that quietly changes how you lose points.

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

COMLEX is quietly doing the same thing structurally:

Level 1/2: cut from 352 to 320 questions in Spring 2026

Level 3: moving from two days to one day in January 2027

Fewer items + shorter exam = less room to recover from a bad block

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

Each block is a mini exam: you can’t go back once it’s closed, and the mental reset before each one suddenly matters way more than “overall stamina.”

This is where students who prep with long mock marathons get exposed.

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

The new USMLE software launches May 7 (Step 2 CK) and May 14 (Step 1), 2026.

Content, total questions, and total exam time stay the same, but you now get more 30‑minute blocks.

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

I've noticed something after years of mentoring:

The students who grow fastest aren't the ones who ask the most questions. They're the ones who come back after trying something with specific feedback on what happened.

"I tried what you suggested, here's what worked and here's what didn't"

That specificity is what makes a mentoring relationship compound!

[Dr. AP | Action Potential Mentoring, LLC @action_ap]

You're going to sit down on exam day having prepared for months.

And you will still see questions that make you pause.

That's not a sign you're underprepared.

It means the exam is doing its job: testing whether you can reason through the unfamiliar.

Stay in the question
Reason out loud in your head
Trust the mechanism