USMLE Ahead of schedule by 2 weeks - highest yield use of time?

[Foot Fetish]

So at the beginning of M2 I made a very ambitious Step 1 study schedule, and somehow I am actually ahead of schedule. After finishing all of Zanki, Kaplan Qbank (80%), USMLE-Rx (90%), UWorld x2 (83% first pass; 2nd pass TBD), and all NBMEs (scores TBD), I will still have 2 extra weeks. I do NOT want to move my test up - I want to use the extra time to do everything in my power to prepare for my dream score of 270.

What's the highest yield use of this extra time?

Here are some options I thought of (not mutually exclusive):

• Page-by-page read through of FA2018 (will almost certainly do this ✓...but that will only take up ~4-5 days max)
  
• Read through Pathoma (don't want to watch the videos since I'm not much of a video-watcher...I'm already kind of averse to even reading the book because it just seems like a First Aid clone)
• Go through a dedicated anatomy and/or neuro-anatomy textbook (e.g. BRS or HY)
• Re-do Kaplan/Rx incorrects
  
• Finish Goljan (already did ~10 chapters)
• Finish Robbins Review of Pathology Q-book (already did ~10 chapters)
• Go through a fourth question bank (Firecracker?)
  
• Reset my Zanki deck (~28,000 cards) and do them all 1-by-1 (insanity)

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

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[afib123]

don't think most of us can give advice to someone who is so prepared

 

[Foot Fetish]

don't think most of us can give advice to someone who is so prepared

In that case, there's only one thing we can do...We must invoke the illustrious @Phloston !

 

[Newyawk]

the yield on anything you do now would be very minimal. if you're not already at a 270 you will likely never achieve that score. preparation can only do so much, and you've prepared more than even IMGs who study for a year.

 

[Newyawk]

Once you are at 255, everything else is luck of the questions. I've done Kaplan x2, Rx, UWorld x2 (86 first pass), all NBMEs and my highest practice NBME was 263. So keep working at solidifying your knowledge on UFAP

The highest yield use of time is to take it before you start losing information. Many of my friends have taken it over the past couple weeks and the tricky questions are not things that would be covered in any resource you use (most of them actually used wiki or journal papers to look up the answers after the test). Hammering the stuff you know now is more important. There is no way your brain will retain all that stuff.

You want to make it so that you get every question right that you can get right from UFAP, so that the only questions up in the air are the random trivia questions.

255 is most definitely not the cutoff for luck playing a major factor. That implies that a 275 student couldve just as easily scored a 255. Nonsense.

And i just realized foot fettish is clearly jumping the gun here. He hasnt done all of what he has said, his test is in june...

 

[Foot Fetish]

255 is most definitely not the cutoff for luck playing a major factor. That implies that a 275 student couldve just as easily scored a 255. Nonsense.

And i just realized foot fettish is clearly jumping the gun here. He hasnt done all of what he has said, his test is in june...

Yeah, I wrote that I "will have" completed all that with 2 extra weeks left over if I continue checking things off at the current rate. The 2 "extra weeks" can be fit in anytime from now until the big day in June. Sorry if I wasn't clear earlier. So yeah, unless some unforeeable setback occurs, I'll need to think of something to do with those extra days. I'm thinking I'll just give into the hype and do Pathoma...because how dumb would I feel if I missed easy points by not using one of the most popular resources of all time...

 

[Newyawk]

Yeah, I wrote that I "will have" completed all that with 2 extra weeks left over if I continue checking things off at the current rate. The 2 "extra weeks" can be fit in anytime from now until the big day in June. Sorry if I wasn't clear earlier. So yeah, unless some unforeeable setback occurs, I'll need to think of something to do with those extra days. I'm thinking I'll just give into the hype and do Pathoma...because how dumb would I feel if I missed easy points by not using one of the most popular resources of all time...

I wouldnt wait til last minute to do pathoma. Do it now and push other things off. Thats just my take. Otherwise just move your test up. Really no use in an extra 2 weeks with someone as prepared as you will be. I took my exam in late may and my advisors told me to move it like a month closer (which wouldve made my dedicated like 4 weeks total). Although impossible to say, given my level of preparedness ("baseline" of 250 in late march) i think in hindsight i would agree with them. My score probably wouldnt have been that different.
In general, the nbme exams are notoriously innovative in that they will ask you a few Qs that exist almost nowhere. Im sure youve already covered the 90% that tests clearly defined principles. No matter how much you study, as long as youre using review resources, you wont be prepared for a small but significant portion of the exam (1-2 Qs per block). At least half of these Qs can be reasoned through, however.

 

[DubbiDoctor]

I wouldnt wait til last minute to do pathoma. Do it now and push other things off. Thats just my take. Otherwise just move your test up. Really no use in an extra 2 weeks with someone as prepared as you will be. I took my exam in late may and my advisors told me to move it like a month closer (which wouldve made my dedicated like 4 weeks total). Although impossible to say, given my level of preparedness ("baseline" of 250 in late march) i think in hindsight i would agree with them. My score probably wouldnt have been that different.
In general, the nbme exams are notoriously innovative in that they will ask you a few Qs that exist almost nowhere. Im sure youve already covered the 90% that tests clearly defined principles. No matter how much you study, as long as youre using review resources, you wont be prepared for a small but significant portion of the exam (1-2 Qs per block). At least half of these Qs can be reasoned through, however.

How did you do on Step 1?

 

[Phloston]

So at the beginning of M2 I made a very ambitious Step 1 study schedule, and somehow I am actually ahead of schedule. After finishing all of Zanki, Kaplan Qbank (80%), USMLE-Rx (90%), UWorld x2 (83% first pass; 2nd pass TBD), and all NBMEs (scores TBD), I will still have 2 extra weeks. I do NOT want to move my test up - I want to use the extra time to do everything in my power to prepare for my dream score of 270.

What's the highest yield use of this extra time?

Here are some options I thought of (not mutually exclusive):

• Page-by-page read through of FA2018 (will almost certainly do this ✓...but that will only take up ~4-5 days max)
  
• Read through Pathoma (don't want to watch the videos since I'm not much of a video-watcher...I'm already kind of averse to even reading the book because it just seems like a First Aid clone)
• Go through a dedicated anatomy and/or neuro-anatomy textbook (e.g. BRS or HY)
• Re-do Kaplan/Rx incorrects
  
• Finish Goljan (already did ~10 chapters)
• Finish Robbins Review of Pathology Q-book (already did ~10 chapters)
• Go through a fourth question bank (Firecracker?)
  
• Reset my Zanki deck (~28,000 cards) and do them all 1-by-1 (insanity)

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

What you're going to want to do are the offline, old NBMEs. I had a couple repeats on my exam and a repeat image with a different vignette. The summation of the offline forms will equate to an entire additional Qbank. I only recommend that to people who have 'extra time,' who have already 'maxed out' everything else, and who are hyper-gunner (I love your post btw. Reminds me of how I used to be actually).

In that case, there's only one thing we can do...We must invoke the illustrious @Phloston !

Haha thank you!

 

[Phloston]

Once you are at 255, everything else is luck of the questions. I've done Kaplan x2, Rx, UWorld x2 (86 first pass), all NBMEs and my highest practice NBME was 263. So keep working at solidifying your knowledge on UFAP

The highest yield use of time is to take it before you start losing information. Many of my friends have taken it over the past couple weeks and the tricky questions are not things that would be covered in any resource you use (most of them actually used wiki or journal papers to look up the answers after the test). Hammering the stuff you know now is more important. There is no way your brain will retain all that stuff.

You want to make it so that you get every question right that you can get right from UFAP, so that the only questions up in the air are the random trivia questions.

I largely share the sentiment that study alone can only get someone to the 250s. Above that it's a matter of innate test-taking ability, not making dumb errors, and having a 'lucky' allotment of questions yeah.

 

[Rihan]

Pastest has a (currently free) Qbank of 2100+ questions for Step 1. So I suppose you could use the extra time to squeeze in another question bank if you were so inclined. I can't really comment on the quality of the questions though.

Also why don't you have any NBME scores yet?

 

[DubbiDoctor]

Pastest has a (currently free) Qbank of 2100+ questions for Step 1. So I suppose you could use the extra time to squeeze in another question bank if you were so inclined. I can't really comment on the quality of the questions though.

Also why don't you have any NBME scores yet?

Because he's not taking the test until June, and refuses to move it up

 

[Newyawk]

How did you do on Step 1?

>265

 

[sahell]

255 is most definitely not the cutoff for luck playing a major factor. That implies that a 275 student couldve just as easily scored a 255. Nonsense.

And i just realized foot fettish is clearly jumping the gun here. He hasnt done all of what he has said, his test is in june...

I think you could score upto 270, but crossing 270 requires equal parts luck and having studied all sorts of minutiae you'll only find in the heavier textbooks.

 

[Newyawk]

I think you could score upto 270, but crossing 270 requires equal parts luck and having studied all sorts of minutiae you'll only find in the heavier textbooks.

The formula for murdering step 1 is the same as for every other standardized test: hard work, brains, great test taking ability.
If you dont have all 3 its unlikely youll cross into 270 range. I would probably argue even 260 range.

 

[sahell]

The formula for murdering step 1 is the same as for every other standardized test: hard work, brains, great test taking ability.
If you dont have all 3 its unlikely youll cross into 270 range. I would probably argue even 260 range.

Crossing 270 needs a lot more hard work than 260. I feel the effort required goes up exponentially, the higher you want to score. The more you have seen, the less you will need luck. Also I doubt luck alone landed anyone a 270.

I've never quite understood what test taking ability is, but it's everywhere for USMLE prep.

 

[theonlytycrane]

I did a couple of the offline nbmes (1-12) and there was a wtf question where the answer was something I didn't even know was possible. That exact same question was on my Step exam today and I got it right. So if you really want to use that extra time, old nbmes may be good

95% of my test could be answered with UFAPs (even though the UFAP info might just be a couple words in FA). The other 5% were more clinical "what would you do next," etc

noobie question: are the old offline nbmes something you find online someplace?

Also is this correct? 1-11 are offline and 12-19 are online?

 

[deferment baby]

Once you are at 255, everything else is luck of the questions. I've done Kaplan x2, Rx, UWorld x2 (86 first pass), all NBMEs and my highest practice NBME was 263. So keep working at solidifying your knowledge on UFAP

The highest yield use of time is to take it before you start losing information. Many of my friends have taken it over the past couple weeks and the tricky questions are not things that would be covered in any resource you use (most of them actually used wiki or journal papers to look up the answers after the test). Hammering the stuff you know now is more important. There is no way your brain will retain all that stuff.

You want to make it so that you get every question right that you can get right from UFAP, so that the only questions up in the air are the random trivia questions.

How were you able to complete all those Q banks as a M2? I have Kaplan and Rx, and I am about to complete my M1 year. I am a US MD medical student.