Non-Traditional Student Creating Study Plan --- 1 Year of Prep -- PLEASE HELP Gauge My Plan!!

[detroit313]

Hello everyone,

Am a non traditional student (took three years off to deal with personal / family illness) and held back one year due to transfer (from US to Caribbean school) so havent seen some of my first / second year material in 5-6 years.

So far have started studying for Step in February and plan on taking it next year, April-May 2015. Know it's a year of studying and it's highly unique but I only have one shot to pass and do well otherwise probably will not even sniff a residency. Know the odds are against me but plan to work my hardest to pass Step 1 and 2 and worry about getting a residency later.

Since February, have done the following:
- Completed 2 passes thru Pathoma (one with videos/annotation) + reading First Aid for Path
Have a pretty good grasp in pathology since that was the last class I took and I did well in it. Have listened to the Goljan lectures following along with the audio transcript (half way thru these lectures) and plan on finishing them and reviewing pathoma for a 3rd pass thru Path material.

- Completed Majority of Microbiology Videos Kaplan (minus viruses which should be done with soon)
- Completed Micro related Pharm Kaplan videos
- Completed Behavioral Videos Kaplan

Plan on listening to the rest of the Kaplan videos minus Pathology section for a first pass and to review all the material that I have not seen in a while. This should take me a while at least 3 months as have to go over Anatomy, Physio, Neuro, Biochem, Pharm, Genetics, and Immuno (nearly all of M1/M2)

After finish listening and annotating Kaplan notes, plan on going back and reading the Kaplan notes + associated sections in First Aid and then doing subject specific questions from USMLE Rx.

After finish USMLE Rx I will then move on to my other question banks:
- USMLE World, Kaplan, USMLE Weapon, practice NBMEs

So to summarize in case no one wanted to read this long post (i apologize) my plan consists of:
- Path using Pathoma + FA + really good class notes
- 1st pass of all M1/M2 material using Kaplan Videos / Notes
- 2nd pass of Kaplan notes using First Aid with USMLE Rx questions for each subject
- 3 hours of subject review in the morning + questions for the rest of the day until the test using Uworld, Kaplan, USMLE Weapon Qbanks in that order
- Finishing off with NBME ( i have 15 of them to go over )

Know this seems like alot of material to get thru in 12 months but want to know if Im missing any aspects to my plan and if need to add anything that Im missing.

Remember I did average in medical school but due to illness and transferring I have lost the majority of recall from M1/M2 so I basically need to relearn everything again (not an issue as I learn well from videos and taught myself the majority of medical school classes to begin with)

I want to get the highest score possible to secure a residency due to my non-traditional disadvantaged status

Any and all help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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[bulldogmed]

I would say that you probably don't need as much time as you think you do. Take an NBME to see where you are. I bet you could pass with a good score in 3 months. Don't short-change yourself. 12 months is so long; I don't think you can hold everything in your head for that long. Seriously, try to take it sooner.

 

[detroit313]

me would say that ye probably don't need as much time as ye think ye do. Take an NBME to see where ye be. me bet ye could pass wit a good score in 3 months. Don't short-change yourself. 12 months be so long; me don't think ye can hold everythin' in yer head for that long. Seriously, try to take it sooner.

I need more time bc I think it will take a long time for me to do the Kaplan videos once and then read and memorize them afterwards.

Remember i am learning 90% of this material like it's the first time since it's been so long, i have a rough idea about some of these topics but it's all new learning from here on out.

Any other suggestions?

 

[witzelsucht]

If you are going to take a whole year, you might as well read big robbins for path, then do robbins review questions and webpath.

 

[detroit313]

If you are going to take a whole year, you might as well read big robbins for path, then do robbins review questions and webpath.

I know that a year seems like a long time but i think at least 3-4 months will be dedicated to listening to Kaplan videos and attempting to relearn the material.

For example it took me 10 hours of listening to Kaplan Behavioral at 1.8x speed to get roughly half of the videos done (5 hours)

So even listening to almost double speed it still took me double the hours to finish it. This is because i pause the video to underline points in the text with colored pens and read the material and try to absorb as much as possible.

Ive done webpath and robbins review questions during my Path course and think that Pathoma + my lecture notes + quick skip of rapid review should be enough for Path.

What's worrying me is the other courses that I havent taken in 4-5 years that i have to basically relearn...

Also getting thru the Qbanks in a timely manner is worrying me as well. Should i be annotating incorrect answers (my FA is unbound and hole punched into binders for each section and I was planning on annotating on looseleaf and sticking the pages with the corresponding section)

UWorld has explanations for each answer + an educational objective for the topic... which should i annotate or both?

Also i plan on doing USMLE Rx then UWorld then Kaplan then Weapon should i switch the order up?

Also why is everything in pirate slang i dont quite understand this? Is there some kind of inside joke in the boards i missed?

 

[witzelsucht]

Idunno man...I've never been one for the underlining/annotating business. I just do UWorld and webpath and keep a word doc of important points, very minimal. I feel like you aren't being efficient, maybe just watch the videos and keep your focus high without annotating, but I don't wanna push my personal study habits on anyone. I don't know about the order either but aim for getting through uworld at least 3x

 

[Polymyxin]

I also had to get back into studying after a loooooong break break from 2nd year of medical school (>6 yrs). I'm taking the exam this June. Looking back, the MOST important thing is to UNDERSTAND and MEMORIZE FA. During this year spend your time planning on how to memorize FA (with understanding). There is some stuff in FA that you just need to memorize, but a lot of it you need to understand conceptually. Don't memorize which diseases are associated with elevated direct-bilirubin / indirecet bilirubin. You can reason your way through this stuff. Spend time making sure you understand this. Other stuff you just need to memorize, like a lot of the biochem.

I think you need to use FA as a guide and be more targetted in your appraoch. Stay away from the Kaplan videos. They are very popular among IMGs. For example, you mentioned you finished the Kaplan Behavioral. I also watched those videos. After doing practice questions, I realize a lot of that was a a waste of time. I know when I started studying, most of FA looked like gibberish. So, again use FA as a guide to point out what you need to learn (don't memorize...try to understand). You need to streamline your resources. Ex: don't do Kaplan physio, read BRS Physio.

Also, take a look at firecracker.me
It might take some getting used to it, but give it an honest chance for the one month free trial. This flash card program is a great way to both LEARN and MEMORIZE whats needed for step 1. The only downside is that it requires a major daily committment. Also, the material isn't always high-yield.

 

[detroit313]

I also had to get back into studying after a loooooong break break from 2nd year of medical school (>6 yrs). I'm taking the exam this June. Looking back, the MOST important thing is to UNDERSTAND and MEMORIZE FA. During this year spend your time planning on how to memorize FA (with understanding). There is some stuff in FA that you just need to memorize, but a lot of it you need to understand conceptually. Don't memorize which diseases are associated with elevated direct-bilirubin / indirecet bilirubin. You can reason your way through this stuff. Spend time making sure you understand this. Other stuff you just need to memorize, like a lot of the biochem.

I think you need to use FA as a guide and be more targetted in your appraoch. Stay away from the Kaplan videos. They are very popular among IMGs. For example, you mentioned you finished the Kaplan Behavioral. I also watched those videos. After doing practice questions, I realize a lot of that was a a waste of time. I know when I started studying, most of FA looked like gibberish. So, again use FA as a guide to point out what you need to learn (don't memorize...try to understand). You need to streamline your resources. Ex: don't do Kaplan physio, read BRS Physio.

Also, take a look at firecracker.me
It might take some getting used to it, but give it an honest chance for the one month free trial. This flash card program is a great way to both LEARN and MEMORIZE whats needed for step 1. The only downside is that it requires a major daily committment. Also, the material isn't always high-yield.

I have Sketchy Micro + Picmonic which i used with Kaplan Videos to really help me nail down Micro.

I also have a subscription to USMLE Rx which comes with FlashFacts similar to firecracker. Do you think i should get firecracker or is it too low yield?

I am trying to streamline as much as possible and am just using Kaplan Videos as a first pass bc it's hard for me to read the books alone at times

I dont know if i should do a pass ALONE with First Aid or use DIT with FA like others have suggested.

 

[Polymyxin]

I never liked flash facts...i bought it too. Firecracker's key benefit is the concept of "spaced repetition". In case you're not familiar, look it up on Wikipedia. I think that parts of it are low yield, but most of it is pretty good. The only way to complete Firecracker is to start at least a year before your exam date. That is why I recommend it for you. It does have an option to only show "high-yield" stuff, called lite mode.

 

[detroit313]

I never liked flash facts...i bought it too. Firecracker's key benefit is the concept of "spaced repetition". In case you're not familiar, look it up on Wikipedia. I think that parts of it are low yield, but most of it is pretty good. The only way to complete Firecracker is to start at least a year before your exam date. That is why I recommend it for you. It does have an option to only show "high-yield" stuff, called lite mode.

Im on firecracker dont see a lite mode anywhere, nvm saw it in the account settings

 

[Polymyxin]

if you use it...
make sure you only flag topics that you have JUST learned (the idea is to keep that knowledge fresh)
it'll take some getting used to, but try to do 100-200 cards per day. (it might take a month to buildup to that level)

 

[mdtobe249]

I have Sketchy Micro + Picmonic which i used with Kaplan Videos to really help me nail down Micro.

I also have a subscription to USMLE Rx which comes with FlashFacts similar to firecracker. Do you think i should get firecracker or is it too low yield?

I am trying to streamline as much as possible and am just using Kaplan Videos as a first pass bc it's hard for me to read the books alone at times

I dont know if i should do a pass ALONE with First Aid or use DIT with FA like others have suggested.

so you had a good experience with sketchymicro? would you recommend it?