i want a 210

[Borrow]

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whats up guys.

some background, i'm taking my step 1 in about 4 weeks. i go to a state MD school and am pretty much exactly average in my class. i know i can be above average if i tried harder but i'm content just passing. i have a kid and a wife. i own a home in the area of my medical school which happens to be the area the that i want to stay in. luckily for me, i live in an area where there a bunch of hospitals that offer residencies of my choice

long story short; i'm getting kind of tired missing out on my kids life from studying for medical school. don't get me wrong, there's nothing else i would rather be doing but i just don't want to miss out on anything more than necessary. i know that third year is going to be a huge time sink so i'm trying to make these next 4 weeks that i have off dedicated to studying for step 1 as stress less as possible and spend some time with my wife and kid.

-i could careless how prestigious or glorious my residency program is (in fact a lot of the programs i like are ones you've probably never heard of)
-all i want on step 1 is a 210
-i'm going into fm, pediatrics, or internal medicine

how much do i have to do score a 210? i would say i'm pretty good at, and don't mind studying, pathology, micro or pharm. however, i hate hate hate everything and anything in the sections of embryology and anatomy in step 1. not only do i hate them but it feels like i've never learned them, i can't even recall half the stuff.

tl;dr i just want a 210. i'm an average us md grad who wants to go to a small community residency. i want to do the least amount of embryology and anatomy. i don't mind studying pathology, pharm or micro. will mastering those three subject, and having a very, very basic understanding (as in, i can narrow down 5 answer choices to 3) get me a 210?

 

[Donald Juan]

You just need to do an NBME to assess yourself. You might not even need to do any studying to get a 210 or it might be a grueling time for you to get to passing.

Don't worry too much about anatomy and embryology, they aren't known to be heavily represented on the current tests and they are often easy. I would still recommend you try and do qbanks and learn the topics in those subjects as they come up, but you don't need any major dedicated time to them.

 

[bulldogmed]

To get a 210, all you have to do is make one pass through Pathoma, FA, and UW. Do that in 4 weeks, which is very doable, and you will absolutely pass, barring extreme circumstances.

 

[tartrate]

I agree with Donald. Assess yourself first, you might already be there or close to it.

I would say next step is to make a run of first aid. Might take longer than you think depending on how carefully you read. Do some questions, but don't stress on finishing a bank. I think doing one thorough pass of what bulldogmed mentioned will net a much higher score and take much more effort.

 

[Borrow]

thanks for the quick replies guys, i really appreciate it! hope you are all finding some time to enjoy the holiday weekend!

seems the consensus is to take an NBME to see where i'm at, makes complete sense. my plan was to run through first aid once for a few a days, then start knocking out some uworld questions and (hopefully!) getting through uworld at least once. i've watched all the pathoma videos during the regular year but i'll go through the ones where i think i'm weak in.

again, thanks for all the replies!

 

[J ROD]

At least go for the 220.....but yeah you just run through FA about 50 pages/day, do a block of UW, and read through Pathoma. In 4 weeks, you can cover a decent amount probably FA twice and and most of UW.

But start with a self assessment. Don't sell yourself short. You might can just put in some time and still get a solid score. Remember you only get one shot at this thing unless you fail. So, might as well give it a solid go and still have some time for stuff.

Also, study when they sleep. Early mornings and late nights. You will be amazed at how much you can get done and still be around to do stuff. That is how I managed to have some life so far. But, I can get by on 4-5 hrs/night for several weeks as long as I get one or two good nights of sleep or an occasional nap.