Is this plan ok? (IMG)

[RN1]

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Hi,
I have 1.5 years left to take step 1 but I'm an IMG. I already have first aid and I'm annotating information (new facts and mechanisms for subjects I have studied) from the 2006 version of UsmleWorld and Qbank into it (don't ask where I got these). I do this so first aid will be easier to read once I start reviewing.

Will I exhaust all the question banks if I do this (wasting questions that I could use to predict my score closer to the exam) or will the question banks renew their questions for the year 2008?

Should I change my plan or add something else? It's just 5 questions/day and a bit of reading from random review books so I still do well in class but remember that I'm an IMG so my classes don't prepare my for the USMLE.

Thanks.

 

[lord_jeebus]

The question banks will not change for the most part.

In addition to losing their prognostic value, you are weakening their value as ways to pinpoint areas of weakness closer to the exam.

A question bank has about 2000 questions. However, there are way more than 2000 things that can be tested on Step 1. If you learn a question bank, you get a set of high yield facts. If you find out what you don't know close to test time and review that fact as well as related facts that weren't being tested, you get a comprehensive fund of knowledge.

 

[RN1]

If this is the case then I will stop using them. What is the best method to prepare for the USMLE right now in my case?

 

[lord_jeebus]

Learn every detail from your regular coursework as well as you can. Understand everything, don't just memorize.

Some subjects have strong question books available which are good to use during classes. For instance, Robbins Review of Pathology. Many times the questions are found in review books, eg. the questions in the back of Baby Katzung and Levinson Review of Microbiology and Immunology (that name might not be exactly correct)

If you annotate First Aid, be careful not to overdo it and turn a High Yield book in to a Low Yield book.

 

[RN1]

Does anyone have more advice?