USMLE - food

I think this is highly dependent on the individual taking the test. I'll give you my own personal point of view. I have taken both Step 1 and CK and packed the same food for both.

1. Before both exams I had a light but "real" breakfast - no cereal or any of that rubbish. High-protein, but not enough to make me feel full. I get hungry really quickly and the idea was to have some real food in my stomach so I could hold on until around noon before taking a lunch break. I know other people would rather not have anything too heavy in their stomachs and would prefer to just eat some fruit or cereal. Just do what feels right for you.

2. For the exams I took several small-ish crustless sandwiches (easier to eat and wash down), water, juice, some chips to go with the sandwiches and some cookies just in case. This worked very well for me for my Step 1 and I figured I'd do the exact same thing for my CK. Instead of eating lunch at one sitting, I took multiple breaks throughout the day and ate a sandwich (or half), some chips and some water each time.

3. I don't really drink coffee or even much soda for that matter, so I didn't take any. However for my CK exam, the previously mentioned extremely high-carb lunch made me REALLY sleepy when I had 3-4 blocks to go. At some time halfway around the exam I had eaten everything I packed incluiding a very sugary orange juice... It would have been great to have an emergency energy drink then and there, but because I don't really like caffeine much I didn't even consider packing it. As for recommending caffeine, unless you depend on it to start your day or to keep going (I know many people do), I wouldn't suggest drinking it UNLESS you felt very drowsy like I did... This didn't happen to me on Step 1, probably because of the huge adrenaline rush and anxiety. For Step 2 I felt much more relaxed.


Your mileage may vary... a few days/weeks before the exam start developing a routine that you can test on weekends. For example, wake up, have some breakfast, do 3 blocks, take a break, do 3 blocks - in order to start building endurance and see whether you will need coffee/extra food/etc.

Don't try anything new on the day.
For me a tomato & cheese sandwich as well as an egg sandwich works very well. For drink sugary apple juice works for me. I don't use much caffeine so tend to stay away from it on the exam day as well. Some people use the time tested gandma's recipe of yogurt and sugar.
But as been said YMMV since its highly variable on what your body is used to.

You've gotten some pretty good advice already, so I'll just chip in a cautionary tale. On test day, I was planning to take two 20-minute breaks. I got back inside with 20+ minutes to spare after the first one, to find a line of people checking in to start their exams in front of me. While I didn't expect the staff to check me in ahead of them, I would have expected a little more courtesy, since they were well-aware that my clock was running. Instead, only one staff member was working - at the slowest pace humanly possible, slowly shuffling around the room, and disappearing for minutes at a time; the other woman just sat there texting and playing with crap on her desk. I knew there was no chance of another break, but had the additional surprise of being 3 minutes into my next block by the time I was finally checked in, meaning I'd have to do the next five blocks back-to-back.

Anyway, be extremely careful in your break-planning. Park as close to the entrance as you can if you plan to eat in the car, or have your meal in a locker. Try to relax for a few minutes, rather than feverishly search through FA. Keep an eye on a clock or a watch if you can. Lastly, if you see a line start to form, promptly head in; your break may be cut short, but you won't lose precious minutes to get more questions right.

For breaks, remember that the first 2-3 minutes and the last 4-5 minutes will be spent checking-out and checking-in, so prepare accordingly depending on your testing center.

I brought all my snacks into the test center with me, and I left my lunch in the car. I brought a little of everything...crackers, fruit, pretzels, nuts, water, soda, etc. Another guy at the testing center just brought protein bars. I was a little over-prepared, but I hate being hungry. For step 2, I remember I was starving after taking the first section despite breakfast, so I took a break then and about every two hours after. Those questions are way to long to read when you are hungry. For lunch, I brought a very safe sandwich. I wouldn't recommend trying to study at all.

If you don't have enough time to leave your computer to take a break, I took a break a couple times without leaving my testing station. Just doodled on the white board to give my head time to clear.

P.S. You should get the staff to let you check-in in front of people that haven't started.

Protein bars and RedBull make your day

personally on my Step 1, i took 5-10 minute breaks in between each section. I just use that time to use the bathroom, drink some water, chow down an energy bar, and just stare out of the window into the distance...

however, in between one section, I got cocky and decided not to take a break. big mistake. I felt very lethargic and winded during that second section. In fact, I made several very stupid mistakes in that second half. Stupid meaning... i missed chippies... my brain was rewired to think the wrong answer was the right answer

(e.g. a question essentially asked for the arterial supply for the transverse colon... I was so out of it that my brain actually told me "right colic artery, final answer!")

Food:

Im not sure what I had for breakfast. Cereal or oatmeal probably and coffee.

For snacks I think I had some cliff bars and bananas a pb&j sandwich coffee and water.

I didnt have a true lunch... I think eating snacks every couple blocks worked fine. Id recommend against a big meal for lunch if you want one.

SlaveOfTCMC said:

personally on my Step 1, i took 5-10 minute breaks in between each section. I just use that time to use the bathroom, drink some water, chow down an energy bar, and just stare out of the window into the distance...

however, in between one section, I got cocky and decided not to take a break. big mistake. I felt very lethargic and winded during that second section. In fact, I made several very stupid mistakes in that second half. Stupid meaning... i missed chippies... my brain was rewired to think the wrong answer was the right answer

(e.g. a question essentially asked for the arterial supply for the transverse colon... I was so out of it that my brain actually told me "right colic artery, final answer!")

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Hey SlaveOfTCMC,

I tried PM'ing you but I noticed you disabled that option. You always had great posts back in the Step 1 Forum and I had a question regarding the NBMEs for you. Would you mind PM'ing me? Thanks

McChickens. Portable, filling (but not too heavy), cheap, delicious. Plus, I'm pretty sure they're injected with morphine, which will help your intra-test confidence.

Curry, Thai food, a large meat lovers pizza with onions added, a gallon of milk...maybe one of those sizzling fajita combos as well. My goal is to distract everyone with the feast for the senses that are the highly aromatic foods and lactose intolerance.

MossPoh said:

Curry, Thai food, a large meat lovers pizza with onions added, a gallon of milk...maybe one of those sizzling fajita combos as well. My goal is to distract everyone with the feast for the senses that are the highly aromatic foods and lactose intolerance.

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LoL. Imagine if someone actually did this...

shan564 said:

McChickens. Portable, filling (but not too heavy), cheap, delicious. Plus, I'm pretty sure they're injected with morphine, which will help your intra-test confidence.

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I have to agree with this. During step 1 I had Mcwrap (Chicken wrap) after the first two blocks. It was sooo good (especially as I had a very light hurried breakfast- big mistake). Not too heavy but satisfying and yes, delicious. Don't know about the morphine hypothesis but I felt much better afterwards. For my subsequent breaks, I packed quartered apples soda and chocolate bars . That didn't work for me at all. Too much sugar I guess. By the time I was taking blocks 6 and 7, I was so "groggy" that I actually dozed on a few questions! ha!

This time (CK) I had a very good almost protein only breakfast.: one thin slice of bread, 6 mini sausages, some scrambled egg + coffee. This practically sustained me throughout! I wasn't hungry at all neither was I too heavy. I however forced myself to take a small fish sandwich after block 4 and a chocolate bar after block 6. This was because during my simulated exams at home, I only ate after block 4 and noticed a very significant drop in my scores after block 6.

The most important way to know what will work for you however, is to do a dress rehearsal with if possible a 9hr simulated exam and take notes afterwards. Do it at the same time of the day as the real exam, preferably.You don't want to be surprised on that day. There's no "one size fits all" diet. The fruits regimen was definitely not for me.

I bought a big bag of nuts & dried fruit. Snacked a little between each block. Also brought sugar free redbull in case I was getting worn down. Never left for lunch - figured it would put my mind to sleep. I'd rather power through the test and get it done.

Peanut butter sandwich.
2x 500 cc Gatorade Perform. Take 1/2 q 1 block.
4x 500 cc Red Bull. Take 1/2 q 1 block.

Ate a normal- light breakfast (fruit and some coffee) then bought 2 Starbucks and a sandwich in the morning which I brought in with me (one for the morning and one for the afternoon session). And a big Toblerone bar

Each break (I took one after most blocks of USMLE and all the ones they let me take for COMLEX) had a huge gulp of coffee and a bite of chocolate, then stretched for 1 min or so which was really important to me. Your back will feel the pain of sitting down. For lunch, ate the sandwich and had more coffee and then did the same thing with chocolate and coffee for the rest. Keep in mind I have history of hypoglycemic episodes so I wanted to keep my sugar up. And I normally drink a lot of coffee so I tried to keep that constant.

Not much else to say--used the restroom when needed, kept an eye on the clock. All of my breaks were super short on purpose, I didn't want to relax really, I just wanted to get some food in me before the next block and walk around for a few paces.

docray said:

... For my subsequent breaks, I packed quartered apples soda and chocolate bars . That didn't work for me at all. Too much sugar I guess. By the time I was taking blocks 6 and 7, I was so "groggy" that I actually dozed on a few questions! ha!

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That happened to me as well, during the 5th and 6th block. I had eaten cheese sandwich and coffee before that.

Any suggestions how to prevent dozing off?
Are you guys sure that it's due to the sugar only?