Med Step 1 study tips

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LSU-Cowboy

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This is for the 6 yr OMFS guys:

How did you guys study for Step 1? Did you study the Board Review Series books? Did any of you take Kaplan or a board review course? The reason I'm asking is because we don't take 2nd yr med school in my residency. Any info would help.
 
Here's what I did. First Aid for Step 1 is a great "outline" of the topics. For the ones that were fuzzy to me, I pulled out a review book (usually Board Review Series...the "grid" books) to read more. I also used the Kaplan Q-bank for 3 months and I thought it was pretty darn similar to the real exam. I started out only getting about 50% of the questions on QBank, but I was averaging around 65% towards the end of the 3 months. That got me around the national average on the USMLE.

I also did at least one of the NBME Self-Assessment online exams from their website about a week before the USMLE. Kind of pricey, but it was EXACTLY like the real exam, because it's made by the same people. The scoring/numbers are different, but if you calculate your score on the standard deviation curve, I got the same score on the Self-Assesment as I did on the USMLE.

The Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple was a good book also and I got several questions from it.

After I passed, I mailed all my books to OMFSRES who promptly used them as paperweights, doorstops, and toilet paper.
 
Hey cowboy...I feel your pain man. I took my Step I right after dental school as my program requires that I pass the stupid exam before the start of residency....in case you're wondering, I go to case western. Here's how I stuided. I read BRS path and physiology cover to cover. BRS phsyiology, you should know very well as the concepts are relevant to not only physiology but to pathology as well. BRS path has just too much info....it's almost impossible to know that whole book. I used FA and Kaplan questions as my guide. I basically memorized, I mean word for word memorized FA. The concepts I did not understand, I supplemented with BRS series or read the text books. I annotated notes from Kaplan directly on my FA book....you should see my FA, it looks like a rag. A week before hte test, I took my NBME and I was barely passing, but it turns out that the money I spent on that exam was worth every penny as a few of the questions (maybe 5 or so) were very similar to teh real exam. Plus taking the simulated exam is a real confidence booster. I read other text books as well, but I focused most of my efforts at studying and memorizing FA. It worked...I passed the exam, not with good scores, but I passed which was all I was hoping for. The exam is probably the most difficult exam I ever took in my life, but the good thing is that I remember absolutely nothing from the studying I did, so it no longer clutters up my brain. Thank God....
 
Yeah, if you memorize First Aid and supplement a little you will probably get 200+. You will at least pass.
 
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