Here's the writeup of my study strategy I wrote up two years ago.
Step 1 study strategy:
Final result: 248
During M2 year until February, I just studied for classes with the intent to pass. I used Pathoma to study for pathology, but otherwise, I stayed away from any other materials.
Starting after February break, when our class schedule became lighter, I started studying in earnest.
1. Every day, I would attempt to go through 5-6 DIT lectures (pirated), annotating extra information into First Aid and answering the quiz questions as if I was taking a real quiz. At this point, I did no extra review of First Aid.
2. Every day, I would go through 1 Uworld set, usually on tutor mode, and it would take 3-4 hours. I would annotate new information from any question into First Aid.
3. I made it my goal to redo all of Pathoma by April 30.
4. Once April 1 hit, I started doing at least 2 Uworld sets a day. I did NOT study for the school's basic science shelf exams. Once I got through all of Uworld, I started doing all of my incorrects a little, and I distinctly remember resetting my Uworld subscription on April 15, at which point I started over.
5. Once May 1 hit, I started doing about 4 Uworld sets per day. They went faster because I had already seen the question. UWorld is, in my opinion, the MOST IMPORTANT part of the process. You can pass on DIT for a day, and you can pass on Pathoma for a day, but just DO THE UWORLD QUESTIONS EVERY DAY. Ultimately, I got through Uworld a total of 2 times.
6. Once April 12th hit (specific date because that's when I started doing a spreadsheet), I started doing one NBME practice exam OR one UWorld practice exam every week. I did the expanded feedback so I could see what I got wrong. UWorld overestimates, the NBME scores predict pretty well. The pattern of scores I got is documented in the following google doc. I'm CMS Student 1(For references, CMS students 2 and 3 are actual students, so you can get a good idea from them how the NBMEs approximate your real score). I would suggest doing ALL of the NBMEs so that you know how it feels to feel TERRIBLE about Step 1 and then see a score that's (hopefully) better than what you expected.
https://docs.google.com/a/my.rfums....ABOJMt7-Uy8KKB4Nz9YFIoXSCPQpxdXqOo/edit#gid=0
7. Around May 1st, I made it my goal to do two FULL PASSES of Pathoma within the final month. I got through it around 1.4 times, and the extra chapters I did were the first few, since they're incredibly high yield.
Final two pieces of advice: EVERY SINGLE PERSON (except me, maybe because former M3s prepared me) I've talked to comes out of Step 1 thinking they did terribly and stresses about it for a full month before the scores come out. JUST DON'T DO IT. Trust the practice exams you took. They approximate your score pretty well.
Also, if you have taken 3-4 practice tests and you're in the 240s or 250s and you still have 6 weeks left to study, MOVE YOUR EXAM UP A FEW WEEKS. You will likely burn out, and if you're doing well, there's no reason to go crazy spending another 6 weeks studying. If you take your exam early, you get a summer vacation. I essentially had a whole month off before rotations because I took step 1 in late May, and it was the best decision I ever made. You need that time before rotations.
One final word: If you are passing, DO NOT delay your first rotation. You are unlikely to improve much after dedicatedstudy time unless you were COMPLETELY slacking off. Everyone has a cap to their performance.
I'm not answering any more questions about studying for Step 1 until you've at least hit M2 year because asking about study strategies this early is ridiculous.
