International Physician Needs Advice on Step I Prep

[Miss physician]

Hi there,

I am an international physician residing in USA, any one who passed the step one USMLE can give me guide of how I can begin in my USMLE preparation:
1.what books should I read and focus the most.
2.how much time I need before taking the exam.
How can I make a preparation that makes me so confident to pass the exam from the first trial?

If I am working now, should I quit my job and focus on reading only?or I can make a balance between reading and USMLE step one preparation.

Thank you so much,
waiting for your reply desparately,

miss physician.

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[hj0517]

Miss Physician, I think most of your questions can be answered by 'it depends'.

Firstly, there are lots of threads regarding the issues brought up by yourself - for example the book list thread will give you a good idea of the books used for study.

Secondly, how long you spend is really up to you and where you are in your medical education. Are you already a graduate? in which case basic science may need more emphasis than diff diag. and treatment for example. Prognostic tests such as NBME's may help you with working this out.

Thirdly, this post doesn't really fit into the experiences and scores thread in which you posted it in so you may get more joy either searching old threads or creating a new one.

Relatively speaking, I am a junior member of SDN and heck I haven't even taken an NBME exam yet so my advice isn't backed up with credibility but I hope I have been able to help

 

[medstu2006]

Hi there,

I am an international physician residing in USA, any one who passed the step one USMLE can give me guide of how I can begin in my USMLE preparation:
1.what books should I read and focus the most.
2.how much time I need before taking the exam.
How can I make a preparation that makes me so confident to pass the exam from the first trial?

If I am working now, should I quit my job and focus on reading only?or I can make a balance between reading and USMLE step one preparation.

Thank you so much,
waiting for your reply desparately,

miss physician.

First Aid for USMLE Step 1 is the main book that everyone uses for Step 1. You should start out by buying the newest edition (2008). The book itself has a lot of info on how to prep for Step 1. It has a small section in there on test prep for international graduates too. There are also Kaplan courses available, but those are usually very expensive. I think you should start out with the free 150 questions that the NBME offers. Those questions are old USMLE Step 1 questions. By doing those, you will get some idea about the test and where you stand.

How much time do you have for your prep and just out of curiosity, what country are you from?