Help needed for Step 1 Studying, tips and tricks please!!

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Hi everyone,

I'm posting this as my plea for help from anyone and everyone on how to study better and score higher on the USMLE Step 1!!

I did NBME 15 today and scored a 217, this is after months and months of studying. My goal for the Step 1 was initially a 250+ but now I'll be happy to even score in the 230s.

I've done a bunch of NBMEs before this one, here is my progress from July 2015 to Nov 2015.
NBME 11: 183 (July 2015)
NBME 12: 205 (August 2015)
NBME 15: 217 (November 2015)

My process of studying so far has included doing Pathoma and annotating the book once, most of the Kaplan videos and annotating the books (all before July 2015), a little bit of Kaplan Qbank. Since August 2015 I've been working on/off on Uworld and only consistently started doing 1 block a day since October, I've done about 75% of Uworld now. I've made an attempt at going through First Aid once but it takes me almost the entire day to review 1 block of Uworld questions that I never get to doing anything else.

I feel like I've been studying forever, and clearly I'm not studying 'right'....I need some advice on how I can optimize my day, optimize my time, and study better. Should I use Pathoma again? Rapid review/Goljan? Sketchy for Micro? Or just continue focusing on Uworld and First Aid? When should I aim to schedule my exam? I feel like I'm just burning out and might never end up doing it...

Please help, any advice will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Phloston]

Hi everyone,

I'm posting this as my plea for help from anyone and everyone on how to study better and score higher on the USMLE Step 1!!

I did NBME 15 today and scored a 217, this is after months and months of studying. My goal for the Step 1 was initially a 250+ but now I'll be happy to even score in the 230s.

I've done a bunch of NBMEs before this one, here is my progress from July 2015 to Nov 2015.
NBME 11: 183 (July 2015)
NBME 12: 205 (August 2015)
NBME 15: 217 (November 2015)

My process of studying so far has included doing Pathoma and annotating the book once, most of the Kaplan videos and annotating the books (all before July 2015), a little bit of Kaplan Qbank. Since August 2015 I've been working on/off on Uworld and only consistently started doing 1 block a day since October, I've done about 75% of Uworld now. I've made an attempt at going through First Aid once but it takes me almost the entire day to review 1 block of Uworld questions that I never get to doing anything else.

I feel like I've been studying forever, and clearly I'm not studying 'right'....I need some advice on how I can optimize my day, optimize my time, and study better. Should I use Pathoma again? Rapid review/Goljan? Sketchy for Micro? Or just continue focusing on Uworld and First Aid? When should I aim to schedule my exam? I feel like I'm just burning out and might never end up doing it...

Please help, any advice will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

The best piece of advice is to comb the scores thread and garner tidbits of info from there.

 

[Transposony]

Looks like you are burned out already.
In addition to the excellent advice from Phloston (with his new avatar) I would suggest:
1. Take a break to re-charge your batteries (go for a trip to see that the world still exists outside the USMLE).
2. Use less resources but use them well (IMHO UFAP is sufficient to score around 230).
3. Find out the "gaps" in your knowledge i.e. which topic(s) you are getting the most questions wrong.
4. Do question based study i.e. do as many questions as possible and review those questions from all angles.
5. Try to get a study partner since discussing with someone can cover that difference between a 217 and 230.

 

[alkaabi]

Looks like you are burned out already.
In addition to the excellent advice from Phloston (with his new avatar) I would suggest:
1. Take a break to re-charge your batteries (go for a trip to see that the world still exists outside the USMLE).
2. Use less resources but use them well (IMHO UFAP is sufficient to score around 230).
3. Find out the "gaps" in your knowledge i.e. which topic(s) you are getting the most questions wrong.
4. Do question based study i.e. do as many questions as possible and review those questions from all angles.
5. Try to get a study partner since discussing with someone can cover that difference between a 217 and 230.

what is IMHO UPAF?

 

[Transposony]

what is IMHO UPAF?

UWorld, First Aid and Pathoma.