Delay Step 1?? Really need help

[jahrslof]

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Hi everyone! I could really use some help and advice. I am a M2 at a school with an 18 month preclinical curriculum and a 10 week dedicated period. I passed all my classes in M1, but I didn't learn the material well (I crammed with Zanki before exams) so I neither have a good baseline understanding of the material nor good retention of the material. Anki, however, worked well for me in that when I did the cards I knew the material well and retained the material for the exam, so I want to use Anki in dedicated (I have a bad memory and there is no way I will be able to remember the material without using Zanki, so it's a must for me). I made a schedule in which I do Zanki by systems and USMLERx by systems for the first 8 weeks of dedicated and do the typical 2 blocks of UWorld per day with weekly NBMEs for the last 6 weeks of dedicated (which would require me to have 14 weeks of dedicated), but my school essentially said 1) I can't ask for an extension until the beginning of dedicated (which gives me a lil anxiety thinking about waiting until then to find out whether or not I'll have the time I think I need), 2) It is going to be *really* hard to convince them to grant me an extension, and 3) If I am granted an extension, it could be that the extension I would be given is that they would require me to take an entire year (!!!) "personal leave of absence" or something (just to have the additional 4 weeks).

Idk what to do. I really think 10 weeks won't be enough to learn all of the material I need to learn and do all of the questions I want to do, and so I'm worried about passing with only 10 weeks, but I'm also worried about it being on my transcript or in my deans letter I took an entire year leave of absence. I guess my question is what are the pros and cons of both situation, how would you manage the situation, and is 10 weeks enough time? Maybe I could build a foundation in 6 weeks and do 4 weeks of UWorld? Or build a foundation in 7 weeks and do 3 weeks of UWorld? How feasible is 3 blocks a day of UWorld with keeping up with Anki reviews? This is stressing me out...I want to do well on Step 1 and I want to do whatever would be best in the long run, but I'm not sure what that is.

I would seriously appreciate any advice or guidance any of you may have!! Thank you thank you thank you!

 

[raiderette]

14 weeks is just too long. Take a practice exam to see your weaknesses and work from there. After 6 weeks, I was so done. You will start to forget what you studied two-months earlier. I used USMLERX during M2, not during dedicated.

 

[mrbreakfast]

a 10 week dedicated period.

You will begin to forget what you've been learning before you're even halfway through 10 weeks. Most people have trouble making it through 5-6. The only way you should take 14 weeks is if you're failing NBMEs shortly before the real thing.

Take a practice exam now, without any studying done, and realize most people fail their first NBME by like 20-30 points. Then, spend 4 weeks learning your weaknesses really well, take an entire week break, then do the traditional 5-week schedule.

2 blocks of UWorld per day

3-4 blocks of UW/day is typical, not 2. You gotta get that done even if you get nothing else done for the day. If you have 10 weeks, you might as well do 2 passes, or also get Kaplan Qbank and do that as well.

 

[jahrslof]

@raiderette @mrbreakfast thank you both!! My weaknesses include literally everything except pathoma 1-3, autonomics, immuno, and neuro. And that's a good point, but for me personally I'm not worried about forgetting material because I'm using anki now for the aforementioned subjects and because I'll be using anki in dedicated. It's just whether I'll have enough time to get through all of the decks I dropped etc.

 

[21Rush12]

You have a ton of time with 10 weeks, about twice as much as many of us. It’s normal to be nervous about this exam but I haven’t read anything you posted that makes me think you need more time.

Taking a whole extra year is a tremendous opportunity cost, and 10 weeks is a really long time. Why not try to get into dedicated and see how you progress after the first 4 weeks and then reconsider the gap?

 

[ciestar]

You’ve got time. Take an NBME at the beginning of your dedicated period and another one two weeks before your scheduled date to see what you’re scoring. If you’re not doing well (like <210 two weeks beforehand), postpone. My school had a deadline to apply the extension, but you were only pulled from your block 1 rotation. If you have to take a year off, it is so not worth it.

But 10 weeks is more than enough. That is about a month longer than my school got.

 

[theonlytycrane]

@21Rush12 @ciestar I don't want to take over this thread, but I hope this question applies to OP as well-

What's a realistic progression within a time frame like OP has (10 wks)? I.e. baseline NBME (pass) -> 220 - 230+ by the last two weeks? Looking at the older step threads it seems like even the higher scorers (except for a few) started dedicated in the 210-220 range and boosted up by 10-20+ points by their last NBME. I ask because it seems kind of scary to enter dedicated in the lower range (but I guess that's why we have dedicated?)

 

[ciestar]

@21Rush12 @ciestar I don't want to take over this thread, but I hope this question applies to OP as well-

What's a realistic progression within a time frame like OP has (10 wks)? I.e. baseline NBME (pass) -> 220 - 230+ by the last two weeks? Looking at the older step threads it seems like even the higher scorers (except for a few) started dedicated in the 210-220 range and boosted up by 10-20+ points by their last NBME. I ask because it seems kind of scary to enter dedicated in the lower range (but I guess that's why we have dedicated?)

It isn’t uncommon to enter dedicated on the low end. That is the point of the study time.

 

[21Rush12]

@21Rush12 @ciestar I don't want to take over this thread, but I hope this question applies to OP as well-

What's a realistic progression within a time frame like OP has (10 wks)? I.e. baseline NBME (pass) -> 220 - 230+ by the last two weeks? Looking at the older step threads it seems like even the higher scorers (except for a few) started dedicated in the 210-220 range and boosted up by 10-20+ points by their last NBME. I ask because it seems kind of scary to enter dedicated in the lower range (but I guess that's why we have dedicated?)

It’s hard for me to say how things would progress over 10 weeks since I really only know the experience of people who had 4-6 weeks.

Personal experience with just under 5 weeks was that with UW/Pathoma I was able to improve by >40 points. It is also REALLY hard to study that long with the intensity you need to. I know no amount of time sounds like enough but it’s a lot.

Make a plan, stick to it, and take practice exams to get an idea of how you’re progressing.

 

[fldoctorgirl]

10 weeks seems like forever.....

Why don't you start Zanki now? If you wait till dedicated, you're not going to mature all of the cards in those 10 weeks anyways. Zanki isn't supposed to be used for cramming, there's no way you're going to retain all of that info in 10 weeks.

 

[libertyyne]

you are passing your exams at school. Take the nbme and see where you stand, your gonna be fine with the dedicated provided by your school.

 

[jahrslof]

Thanks to everyone for your response! @fldoctorgirl I have been doing it and I am doing it now, but so far I have only done Pathoma 1-3, Autonomics, Antineoplastics, Micro, Antimicrobials, Neuro, and Pysch. So I still have about 75% of the cards left to do, and I was planning on doing them by systems beginning week 1 of dedicated. We're currently in Neuro now and I have found it to be really hard so I'm putting doing new unrelated Zanki cards on hold for now. I think in 10 weeks I could retain most of the info, but only because I have already done all of the cards once (I used them to study during the blocks, but I dropped them after each block was over).

 

[jahrslof]

you are passing your exams at school. Take the nbme and see where you stand, your gonna be fine with the dedicated provided by your school.

I did, but I'm concerned because it was never by much, and I haven't retained any of the info. But thanks for your response!

 

[raiderette]

I did, but I'm concerned because it was never by much, and I haven't retained any of the info. But thanks for your response!

Until you take a practice exam, you won't really know how much you have retained. Instead of Anki, my primary aides in preclinical were qbanks. Maybe get one like USMLERX and see how you do. It is another way to get an idea of specific weaknesses and read explanations. You can then adjust your Anki.

 

[mrbreakfast]

@21Rush12 @ciestar I don't want to take over this thread, but I hope this question applies to OP as well-

What's a realistic progression within a time frame like OP has (10 wks)? I.e. baseline NBME (pass) -> 220 - 230+ by the last two weeks? Looking at the older step threads it seems like even the higher scorers (except for a few) started dedicated in the 210-220 range and boosted up by 10-20+ points by their last NBME. I ask because it seems kind of scary to enter dedicated in the lower range (but I guess that's why we have dedicated?)

I don't remember my baseline NBME but think it was close to failing. I improved by about 10 points per week of work. That being said, I could barely finish dedicated without going crazy and don't think I would've improved much more with more time.

 

[vernhart]

You will begin to forget what you've been learning before you're even halfway through 10 weeks. Most people have trouble making it through 5-6. The only way you should take 14 weeks is if you're failing NBMEs shortly before the real thing.

Take a practice exam now, without any studying done, and realize most people fail their first NBME by like 20-30 points. Then, spend 4 weeks learning your weaknesses really well, take an entire week break, then do the traditional 5-week schedule.


3-4 blocks of UW/day is typical, not 2. You gotta get that done even if you get nothing else done for the day. If you have 10 weeks, you might as well do 2 passes, or also get Kaplan Qbank and do that as well.

From everyone I spoke to during step 1 studying, two blocks per day was the most common. Depends how you are going through them but it took all of 8 hours for me to get through two blocks. Some ppl I know do more but I'd say 80-100Qs per day is right around average

 

[21Rush12]

I aimed for 3-4 a day UW blocks, which meant on an average day I’d actually accomplish 2-3. Morning Pathoma, lunch, afternoon UWorld, rinse and repeat.