Step I Critique My Plan

Started by sd1984
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sd1984

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I failed the step 1, last week and not by a few points by several 15+ This is my new plan please take a look and let me know your thoughts.


During this schedule I will be building my FA into a super book.


This is a day plan from July 20th to August 29th.


1) Morning

48UW + Review and Own every concept in those 48

2) Afternoon (This section will change throughout the next 35 days as seen below)

4-5 hrs of first Kaplan Pharm videos for 1 week
kaplan physio vids + book for 8 days
goljan path RR for 9 days
MMRS + How the immune system works for 5 days
HY neuro for 4 days
Behavioral ethics biostats kaplan vids or HY series? 4 days
biochem genetics kaplan vids + book 5 days.

3) Late evening

Goljan Audio at night 1 hr



August 30th

Goljan 1hr
200 Incorrect Uworld Question (to prep for next day)


August 31st

UW assessment #1 / review assessment


September 1st - September 15th

96 Qbank + DIT (15 day course)

September 16th

Uworld assessment 2/ review assessment

September 17th - Sptember 26th

Go over annotated FA + do 96 Qbank questions

September 27th

Do NBME form ( which one is most accurate I already did 5,6,3,2) I can do them again?

September 28th

Review FA + Notes made in FA

September 30th

The real DEAL STEP 1 retake
 
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As far as DIT...

Jenkins recommends that you do not take the real test any more than 2 weeks after the end of the course. You're pretty close there on your schedule. When I started, I thought he was crazy, because I wanted as much time as possible post-DIT to review my weak areas. Looking back on the experience, I think he's right on when he says to take it within 2 weeks. I felt like his course got me into shape, and I peaked about 1 week after his course. The 1.5 weeks I studied post-DIT, I felt like I was forgetting as much as I was remembering.

So I guess my suggestion would be to either move DIT a little closer to your exam date, or better yet, break up the 15 days a bit with some of your other plans (like take a self-assessment half-way through, or take a day off from DIT to review some of your annotated First Aid). That's my advice, just based on my personal experience. Best of luck.
 
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i wouldn't take an NBME 3d before your real deal. the last date should be 1wk before, but that's me. i'd rather spend the last week just doing UW half in tutor and half in timed and reviewing FA (and other resources as needed). and i'll echo what the above said about DIT ending no more than 2wks before the real test as his little hints and quizzes only stay in your brain if they're recent. i never looked back at DIT notes or anything once i was done with the course and the 2hr predictive exam.
 
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#1 I would try to throw in some high yield sources in the few days before the exam. Goljan Gold series jived with my thinking and preparation very well.

#2 That is a pretty demanding schedule. If you fall behind, do not stress out and waste more time. Just find a place to get back on schedule. Also with schedules, if you find one thing (UW questions for example) is helping you more than something else, do not be afraid to adapt your schedule accordingly.

Keep sane
 
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appreciate it man, thanks!

alot of people say with my mark i dont have fundamental understanding.. i dunno if thats true or not, i mean... im going to stop relying on books and more on questions... that is agreat plan i hope it will work for me 🙂
 
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sd1984 said:
appreciate it man, thanks!

alot of people say with my mark i dont have fundamental understanding.. i dunno if thats true or not, i mean... im going to stop relying on books and more on questions... that is agreat plan i hope it will work for me 🙂
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From my studying experience, if you can get the fundamentals down for Path and Micro, the USMLE becomes your playground. I'd say read the crap out of general path from RR, and memorize intro Micro from FA (which I did before I started CMMRS today...it's made learning everything way easier). Just knowing the diff between exo/endotoxins, how the toxins work, the Gram +/- & morphology of the bact, components of the bact walls...it all makes a HUGE difference when diving in.
 
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Sorry to have high jacked this post. So can you guys give input about what to study for Micro and Neuro? FA covers it? I was thinking using Kaplan for Micro and using FA for biochem. Someone told me that FA isn't enough for neuro or biochem. What's your opinion?
 
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I agree with whoever said to learn the basic path and molecular biology well. Sometimes this can help you make some pretty good guesses even when you have no idea what the questions about.

I was NOT a fan of FA. I'd definitely read High yield neuroanatomy if that was one of your weekend sections.

High Yield molecular and cellular biology is pretty amazing as well. 2nd messenger systems are big and FA ignores some of the more frequently tested ones.

Best of luck
 
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Doctor10021 said:
Sorry to have high jacked this post. So can you guys give input about what to study for Micro and Neuro? FA covers it? I was thinking using Kaplan for Micro and using FA for biochem. Someone told me that FA isn't enough for neuro or biochem. What's your opinion?
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FA is enough for biochem. I think FA is insufficient for microbio unless you're already strong there, I supplemented with Micro MRS. I think FA + BRS phys is enough for Neuro.

As far as the OP's plan, I really think you're trying to cram too much stuff in. You already failed once, so I don't think the goal should be to cram as much info in as you can. I would stick with 3-4 resources (2 of those being FA and UW), and learn those really well instead of haphazardly learning 8-9 resources.
 
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Doctor10021 said:
Sorry to have high jacked this post. So can you guys give input about what to study for Micro and Neuro? FA covers it? I was thinking using Kaplan for Micro and using FA for biochem. Someone told me that FA isn't enough for neuro or biochem. What's your opinion?
Click to expand...

IMO, FA has pretty much everything you need for most biochem questions, but it's really bare bones and explains very little, so it could be tougher if you don't have a strong biochem background. I know the first time I read through the FA biochem section at the beginning of my studying I was WTFing all over the place. After looking up some things in lippincotts and going through all of World, I went back to FA right before the test and the biochem section made total sense and was a great review.

My advice would be to read through at least part of the section in FA first. If you feel like you are getting it and understand everything they are talking about, great, you probably need nothing else, because it's pretty much all there. If not, you made need a source with some more info.
 
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