USMLE/COMLEX 5 Months Until Step 1 - Need Study Advice

[spillingthetea]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi everyone,

I'm an incoming MS2 at a school with a 1.5-year preclinical curriculum, so I'll be taking Step 1 around December. We've taken one CBSE after immunology, pathology, neuro, heme/onc, and cardiology. I scored 35 (my NBME exams average: 92). We also took a formative NBME after first semester (anat/phys/histo/embryo/neuro), where I scored 64%.

I have a few questions about Step prep:

1. Summer studying

I'm doing research full-time this summer and have about one month before M2 starts. My school has us do Sketchy Micro and Pharm over the summer but recommends prioritizing Micro. Does that seem like the best use of my time?

2. Anki

I stopped using Anki toward the end of M1 because I found myself mindlessly doing reviews, and many B&B AnKing cards seemed to go beyond the videos. Despite finishing the B&B cards, I still felt the CBSE tested concepts I hadn't seen before.

Is it worth restarting Anki for M2 (neuro, cardio, heme/onc, pulm, etc.), or would my time be better spent elsewhere? If Step/CBSE tests these kinds of details, where are people actually learning them?

Also, my school requires two more CBSEs. The final CBSE cutoff is 55, even though I've seen people recommend waiting until 62+ before taking Step 1. Some M2s at my school scored in the high 50s on the CBSE and took Step a few weeks later. Is a 55 CBSE really enough with dedicated study, or is aiming for 62+ the safer approach?

3. AMBOSS vs. UWorld

My school provides AMBOSS for free. With only about five months until Step 1, would you:

Use AMBOSS only?
Buy UWorld instead?
Try to do both?

I'm worried that buying UWorld would leave me without enough time to finish either question bank well.

I'd appreciate any advice, especially from anyone who recently took Step 1 with a shortened preclinical curriculum.

 

[drmednotes-]

Five months is enough time if you prioritize rather than trying to finish everything. For the remaining summer month, I would follow the school's micro plan and add pharm only as time allows. Micro benefits from early spaced repetition, while you can revisit systems-based pharmacology alongside M2.

For Anki, I would not restart the entire backlog if reviews became mindless. Use a smaller targeted deck: unsuspend cards tied to current coursework, Sketchy, and concepts you miss in questions. The CBSE often feels broader than any single video source because it tests integration, so question review is where many of those details become usable.

Since AMBOSS is free, start there now for system-based questions. You do not need two full banks simultaneously. Consider UWorld closer to dedicated, when you can use it as the primary question bank and assessment-driven learning tool. Completing one bank thoughtfully is better than superficially finishing both.

A 55 may satisfy the school's administrative cutoff, but I would not treat that as the ideal readiness target. Aim for reproducible passing performance with a safety margin across more than one NBME/CBSE rather than relying on one borderline result. If you want help turning these five months into weekly targets around research and M2, feel free to message me.