M1 Step 1 Advice

[sahdagah]

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I'm an M1 at an NBME-only P/F school looking to match into a competitive specialty that needs a high Step 2 score. I've heard that building a strong Step 1 foundation as an M1 is the best thing I can do as an M1 for a successful Step 2. I already plan to use Sketchy videos + Anki for Pharm and Micro, and Pathoma for Pathology, when the time comes.

I have two main questions:

First, what are the best resources for anatomy? I'm slightly confused about anatomy since there are more resource options available. Should I use Bootcamp, Costanzo, the 100 concepts anatomy Anki deck (which seems like something that can be crammed since it's <1000 cards), or all of them together? I assume Bootcamp is king for everything else.

Second, would it be effective to use Amboss as a question bank throughout my preclinical blocks, mainly for exams, then UWorld during dedicated for boards (UWorld is included in our tuition)? Or are question banks before dedicated not recommended?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Hollow Knight]

1. Anatomy isn’t represented very well on step 1 and step 2. Which is ironic because unlike some of the stuff they make you learn in college/med school, anatomy is actually super important to be a good doctor. Bootcamp wasn’t much of a thing when I was an M1, but I hear it’s really good for anatomy, and I think it has integrated Anki cards as well.

2.you should definitely do question banks before dedicated. UWorld is still the gold standard for step exams. What you’ll do maybe during M1 summer is calculate the number of UWorld questions you need to finish before dedicated (or by your exam) and divide that by the number of days left until step 1 and get those done before step 1. Or, if you’re really motivated, get them done before dedicated and then go to the beach…..

Amboss is great as a supplement. Use it to help with class exams and whatnot. I wouldn’t do any UWorld as an M1 because there just aren’t enough questions to do it for 2 whole years. Maybe do Amboss as an M1 and then save UWorld for later.

Don’t wait till dedicated to start UWorld though, you’ll be super super stressed and maybe fail. It’s too many questions to do in 4 weeks

 

[Hollow Knight]

Also as an aside: you’ll have lots of professors and students at your school (and maybe on Reddit/SDN) tell you that you’ll be a crappy doctor for using Anki and watching Pathoma. Those people are nuts, don’t listen to them. They won’t save you if you fail your boards…….

 

[sahdagah]

1. Anatomy isn’t represented very well on step 1 and step 2. Which is ironic because unlike some of the stuff they make you learn in college/med school, anatomy is actually super important to be a good doctor. Bootcamp wasn’t much of a thing when I was an M1, but I hear it’s really good for anatomy, and I think it has integrated Anki cards as well.

2.you should definitely do question banks before dedicated. UWorld is still the gold standard for step exams. What you’ll do maybe during M1 summer is calculate the number of UWorld questions you need to finish before dedicated (or by your exam) and divide that by the number of days left until step 1 and get those done before step 1. Or, if you’re really motivated, get them done before dedicated and then go to the beach…..

Amboss is great as a supplement. Use it to help with class exams and whatnot. I wouldn’t do any UWorld as an M1 because there just aren’t enough questions to do it for 2 whole years. Maybe do Amboss as an M1 and then save UWorld for later.

Don’t wait till dedicated to start UWorld though, you’ll be super super stressed and maybe fail. It’s too many questions to do in 4 weeks

This is some great advice, thanks. Honestly so glad you saw this post because so much of your advice you've already posted on sdn has been so helpful 👍

 

[Goro]

Make very good friends with your cadaver