How to prepare for Step 1?

[Bearie]

---

Members don't see this ad.

First, I'm prepared for a bit of mockery and the "just enjoy these months" mantra. But, I will be attending medical school in August and am frankly a little bored these days.

I am a non-traditional student finished with school and have already taken a few years off so have already explored interests, worked, traveled around the world, etc. I stayed involved with business, volunteer interests, family and friends, etc. But, I miss intellectual stimulation of school and want to begin to prepare for Step 1.

So how to begin? I'm planning on purchasing First Aid. I was reading reviews and others mentioned supplementing with Kaplan's Q-bank. How to access? Any general tips or resources for preparation?

 

[MilkmanAl]

It's not really mockery. First Aid depends on you having learned the material first since it's just a bunch of facts stuck together. If you don't know how to connect them, you'll just be memorizing unfamiliar words. The anti-pre-studying crowd is the overwhelming majority for a reason. If you miss intellectual stimulation, read other stuff. Learn some basic economics. Research the pharmaceutical industry. Do something that will actually be a decent use of your time.

 

[Bearie]

I starting reading Step 1 forum and it seems like FA + UW is a good combination? I might shell out the $400 a year for http://www.usmleworld.com/purchase.aspx if it is useful?

Also, others mentioned RR? What does this stand for?

FInally, I understand NBME forms 1-7 are the closest thing to the real test? Where can I find them?

 

[Bearie]

I came across this from Taus: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6192274#post6192274

Is there anyway to buy all the Rapid Review books together? Which are most helpful?

 

[monkeygirl09]

I starting reading Step 1 forum and it seems like FA + UW is a good combination? I might shell out the $400 a year for http://www.usmleworld.com/purchase.aspx if it is useful?

Also, others mentioned RR? What does this stand for?

FInally, I understand NBME forms 1-7 are the closest thing to the real test? Where can I find them?

RR = Rapid Review Series

Reading First Aid - fine except what the other poster said about needing to actually know the material before reading it.

NBME and USMLE World? Doing these early is probably the worst mistake that people make. You want the Q Bank to be brand spankin new when you start using it during/after 2nd year. Same thing with the NBMEs. If you finish all the good practice material now what will you use before your actual exam? Don't kid yourself - you will remember things from them.

I honestly don't think there is anything you can do before you start medical school that will help you on Step 1. What you can do are things that will help you succeed during your first year. Specifically: relax (stop worry about step 1) and spend time with friends/family or, if you must, review a M1 subject that you feel weak in like biochem, genetics, physiology.

Good luck.

 

[vicinihil]

I think your ambition is good but as other posters previously mentioned, you have NOTHING to build on. Read a few books like "how to study for med school" or something of the sort so you can be ready for what's going to happen. Also, why don't you explore where you'll be going to school and explore the town. Make some friends on the acceptance forums. Research study methods and find which works best.

Before medical school started, I read a lot of books regarding medicine like Complications or Better. They are pretty good books to have you mentally prepared. Pauline Chen is also a good writer so you can find plenty on these topics on how other students/doctors cope with everyday lives.

 

[ChiDO]

Agree with all the posters above. I will also show you an example on how reading First Aid is dependent on what you have already learned.

Ex. In the Immunology section, there is a list of hypersensitivity reactions Type 1-4, and basically that is all, just a list of diseases. It is a lot more beneficial for you to know what each disease is and make connections. Under Type 4 it lists "Hashimoto's Thyroiditis," so ya, you could memorize that this is a type 4 HS, but it would be more beneficial if you knew what the disease was: ie. causes hypothyroidism due to destruction of the thyroid (now, that makes even more sense with a type 4 HS). Another example: Type 2 HS = rheumatic fever...good to know that it's post-strep infection and infects the heart. The complete list has about 40 diseases, so memorizing it is useless without knowing the connections, which you learn during M1 + M2.

 

[turkeyjerky]

lol at the thought of doing qbank before starting med school

 

[lord_jeebus]

If you want to do something now that will really make a difference for your education and future clinical practice, take a course in whatever foreign language is most spoken in the area of your future medical school.

Reviewing material you have not learned in the full context of medical school is futile and may even be counterproductive. Step I is a remarkably well-written test that evaluates your true understanding of your basic science courses, not your ability to regurgitate memorized facts.

 

[UAAWolf]

I think it's a good idea to prepare for medical school by taking classes you'll have again. I'm taking gross anatomy right now and busting my ass cause I know I'll have it again next year. I did the same for biochem and advanced cell/molecular.

I actually have skimmed some prep books that are more detailed...and personally I think it's a tad ridiculous saying theres no way we understand them til we're in med school. Realize a ton of undergrads have been exposed to nearly all the MS1 material if they took a lot of rigorous upper division courses..

 

[vicinihil]

heh I think there's a slightly DIFFERENT focus from a non-medical school class with the same name. Anatomy may be an exception given that >50% of the course is focused on memorizing names of body parts....face, ear, nose, nostril. But what most undergraduate courses will leave off is the MSK path that often is taught alongside anatomy....such as Erb's palsy, Claw hand, tennis elbow, winged scapula, etc etc. If your school offers a dissection lab then that's awesome, I don't know how many undergraduate institutions do. For me, once was more than enough.

A lot of my MD/PhD friends here who had to take Graduate Biochem and Graduate Cell bio feel like they are really missing out on the Med Biochem and Med Cell Bio knowledge because where we learned metabolic diseases, they learned methods of enzyme assaying, xray crystallography, flow cytometry....not very useful for the step1.

So yeah, if that's your thing, then go for it, but if you expect it to help you cruise through first year of med school, then wait until you get there and see.

 

[monkeygirl09]

If you want to do something now that will really make a difference for your education and future clinical practice, take a course in whatever foreign language is most spoken in the area of your future medical school.

This is the best idea I've heard yet. 👍

 

[cbtk18]

I think it's a good idea to prepare for medical school by taking classes you'll have again. I'm taking gross anatomy right now and busting my ass cause I know I'll have it again next year. I did the same for biochem and advanced cell/molecular.

I actually have skimmed some prep books that are more detailed...and personally I think it's a tad ridiculous saying theres no way we understand them til we're in med school. Realize a ton of undergrads have been exposed to nearly all the MS1 material if they took a lot of rigorous upper division courses..

 

[username456789]

Realize a ton of undergrads have been exposed to nearly all the MS1 material if they took a lot of rigorous upper division courses..

Just quoting this for posterity so you can come back and reread it in a year or two.

(By the way, I know plenty of Biochem/Molecular Bio majors who struggled mightily in Cell and Molecular Bio (which includes biochem and genetics) at my med school, largely due to the "Oh, I think I've seen this before" attitude.)

 

[MilkmanAl]

I think it's a good idea to prepare for medical school by taking classes you'll have again.

Interesting. Not too many people who are actually in med school feel that way. In fact, I don't know any.

Just quoting this for posterity so you can come back and reread it in a year or two.

I'm glad someone did.

 

[Footprints13]

I came in as an overeager medical student as well. I purchased FA and started looking over it. It was really confusing, and I couldn't really connect things. This is basically the same thing others have said. However, looking at it now, after going through the different blocks in medical school, I look at FA and laugh at how easy the stuff is that I was confused on. Additionally, I think you can also learn things incorrectly and that can make it more difficult once classes start because you have to forget the memorization parts of it and look at it in context of the patient and the system. From what I have seen and heard, board questions are not simply "what is x", but asks questions that require information to be integrated from different disciplines of you education.

I think if you wanted to pick a medical subject study anatomy. It is mostly memorization and there are several good study materials in regards to that subject area. It will save you time as you will have already gone through the anatomy right before school started so you can spend time focusing on your other classwork instead of having to put the extra time in to get anatomy down.

If I had to do it over again, I would focus on other aspects of life. Diversify your background and your knowledge. Most medical students, even non-traditionals, target the medical knowledge aspects but in order to really stand out look for something that will make you different. I got on to a research project with a fairly well known PI because we were able to discuss economic policies and health care reform. He wanted someone who he could converse with about non-medical stuff and I was able to set myself apart. The point is, you never know what outside interests will enable you to connect with an attending or professor and just like anything else medicine is about connections.