best study resource for step 1 in a crunch

[imfromcanada]

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hey guys,
i wanted some opinions on my situation:

i'm a canadian med graduate and will be writing the step 1 in 3 weeks - what do u think is the best resource to study from? i've gone through first aid briefly and definitely, the biochemistry and embryology is challenging (i have a very very minimal science background). i haven't done any practice tests yet, but do have a copy of the kaplan qbook (not the online qbank). do u think it's worth it to get the one month of uworld?

thanks!

 

[BloodySurgeon]

absolutely...

 

[thinkenergy]

I would postpone the exam if time allows...

UWorld is a must, also consider other resource such as BRS, HY, Kaplan

 

[Valadi]

I would postpone the exam if time allows...

UWorld is a must, also consider other resource such as BRS, HY, Kaplan

Postpone.

I know of canadian trained surgeons that did fellowships in the US. They just did kaplan qbank questions for a couple months and went in to the exam. But these guys were only looking to pass since they had already gone through residency/fellowship training and were looking for US licensing.

If you want to apply to a US residency, score is important. You should postpone to maximize it.

 

[Go Ducks]

I have to add my vote to the postpone poll. You should take an NMBE right now to get an idea of how you are on day 1. It will give you an idea of what you have to work with. Most people who are successful do all of UWorld, plus memorize the **** out of FA, plus usually do some sort of extra source (Kaplan course, DIT, gunner training, Golgan's rapid review + audio).

When doing UWorld, read all the explanations and memorize the important stuff.

 

[imfromcanada]

to clarify, i've already matched so score isn't really important to me at this point - i just need to pass...hopefully
it'll be tough for me to postpone since i'm starting residency july 1st

do u guys think 3 weeks of FA + Uworld will be enough to pass? I also have a set of kaplan lecture notes for each of the topics but its from 2007 i think.

and sorry for the super noob comment, but what is dit?

thanks for the help!

 

[Valadi]

to clarify, i've already matched so score isn't really important to me at this point - i just need to pass...hopefully
it'll be tough for me to postpone since i'm starting residency july 1st

do u guys think 3 weeks of FA + Uworld will be enough to pass? I also have a set of kaplan lecture notes for each of the topics but its from 2007 i think.

and sorry for the super noob comment, but what is dit?

thanks for the help!

Then you're probably fine assuming you were a decent student during med school. I would make sure to get through the entirety of UW by the time you take the exam and annotate FA with it.

DIT is a video lecture series + workbook that helps you get through all the material. I thought it was very helpful, and might be moreso for you since you're probably several years removed from the basic science curricula.

You're in a time crunch so I wouldn't bother with kaplan Qbook. Use lecture notes as much or little as you wish (again, you're just trying to pass)

 

[Valadi]

DIT website http://doctorsintraining.com/

 

[Go Ducks]

to clarify, i've already matched so score isn't really important to me at this point - i just need to pass...hopefully
it'll be tough for me to postpone since i'm starting residency july 1st

do u guys think 3 weeks of FA + Uworld will be enough to pass? I also have a set of kaplan lecture notes for each of the topics but its from 2007 i think.

and sorry for the super noob comment, but what is dit?

thanks for the help!

I didn't realize that you just need to pass. In that case, I'm guessing that FA + UWorld is probably your best choice. You probably don't have enough time to adequately study FA if you add Doctors in Training (DIT), which takes two weeks. I don't know about Kaplan because I haven't done it. DIT is more about picking up the extra points to get you from passing to a higher score. It also tells you what to focus on, but other people have posted DIT's "5 star topic" lists on this website before so you can use that instead. Basically it tells you to focus on everything...

Take all this with a grain of salt though, because I haven't actually taken the real test yet either 🙂 I really would recommend taking an NMBE though. They helped me a lot with tracking my progress.