My plan for Step 1

[TheJiggler]

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Can people who have taken Step 1/ who are preparing for Step 1 give some guidance. This is my plan/ list of resources to study from.

Subjects:
First Aid used as outline of what to study in these resources
Path-- BRS path/RR path
Pharm-- Pharm Cards and
Micro-- Micro made simple
Immuno-- resource???
Cell Bio-- HY Cell bio (1999)
Behavior-- resourse?
Anatomy/Histo-- HY
Neuro-- HY neuro
Embryo-- HY embryo
Physio--- incorporated into Path studying

Questions: Q review (9 month subscription) + USMLE world the last 4-5 weeks + First Aid Cases

My goal is to be done with material by 4 weeks before the test date and just do questions, questions and questions by then.

Any suggestions?

 

[madeyedhl]

I think doing Uw is much better. just 4~5 weeks for uw? and... behav sci hy is short and simple, and brs a bit more dense but i would go for brs. good luck~

 

[mudphudwannabe]

I would recommend you have some kind of resource for physiology. I'm not sure what RR path is like, but BRS path does not have enough basic physiology. BRS physio was good -- I wondered at the time if any of the stuff I was reading in there was actually going to be tested since it seemed kind of putzy/too basic, but my test actually had quite a few very basic physiology questions that required that I remember equations or at least qualitative relationships.

In my opinion, BRS Embryo is overkill. If you have the book already, it might be useful to page through it, but embryology isn't one of those "high yield" topics. I bought BRS Embryo cheap and used, and didn't end up using it at all. Same for HY gross anatomy. I can't comment on the rest of the list since I only used FA, BRS Path, BRS Phys, and USMLE World. I can say, however, that 4-5 weeks for USMLE World is probably enough to get through most or all of it if you are doing 1-2 blocks a day.

I'm not sure that reviewing until 4 weeks before and then just doing questions is necessarily the best approach. That's not to say it won't work for you, but I know that for me there was definitely stuff that I reviewed that I would have forgotten in 4 weeks, wasn't in USMLE World questions, and ended up on my exam. I have heard of people doing just FA and questions, and scoring "well" (whatever that means)..so, who knows. I would just be concerned that if you do your intense review more than 4 weeks before the exam, you will end up forgetting a lot. How much time do you have to study? Will you be studying during classes? A lot of people I know intended to start reviewing during classes, but ended up not doing as much as they wanted to. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[TheJiggler]

thanks for the feedback

yeah i got tired and too lazy to keep typing last night. I'm using BRS Physio to review physio/ Costanzo the full textbook (just as a reference).

By being done reviewing material by 4 weeks, I meant going through once. That probably won't happen since my classes end in end of april. I was gonna annotate FA as I went along, and then the last leg just memorize whatever is in FA along with doing questions.

How long should I alott for a "crash course" in all the subjects? I was thinking of using FA as an outline and filling in the gaps with BRS books/ HY books/ etc.

 

[AlbertConstable]

I would use 1 book for path, BRS or RR. Pharm cards might be overkill. Consider HY Immuno if you're weak in that area. Add BRS Behavioral. HY Anatomy/Histo/Neuro/Embryo might be overkill also unless you are particularly weak in one of these areas. Add BRS Physio.

Good luck.

Can people who have taken Step 1/ who are preparing for Step 1 give some guidance. This is my plan/ list of resources to study from.

Subjects:
First Aid used as outline of what to study in these resources
Path-- BRS path/RR path
Pharm-- Pharm Cards and
Micro-- Micro made simple
Immuno-- resource???
Cell Bio-- HY Cell bio (1999)
Behavior-- resourse?
Anatomy/Histo-- HY
Neuro-- HY neuro
Embryo-- HY embryo
Physio--- incorporated into Path studying

Questions: Q review (9 month subscription) + USMLE world the last 4-5 weeks + First Aid Cases

My goal is to be done with material by 4 weeks before the test date and just do questions, questions and questions by then.

Any suggestions?

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

Pharm cards is probably too much.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Hardcore! (not a bad thing 🙂)

I would drop one of the path books, and possibly the pharm cards. I was not a fan of HY gross anatomy although I can't recommend anything great for that subject. I don't think a review book for immuno is necessary. I hated HY Histo.

I used BRS Behavioral Science but it isn't that useful. Flip through it or HY if you have time.

If you are able to finish all this material 4 weeks before test day, considering bumping up your test. 4 weeks of questions sounds like hell and I imagine your performance will plateau.

 

[Terpskins99]

I actually liked HY histo. HY anatomy was so-so... most of it stunk, but the pages at the end of each chapter discussing clinical correlation was pretty decent.

Anyhow, even though there was a significant amount of gross anatomy on my exam, almost all of it was in First Aid. Make sure to know your brachial plexus inside out, your vasculature (especially of the abdomen), rotator cuff and the knee ligaments. As always, focus on clinical significance (i.e. what nerve is impinged in saturday night palsy? how do most people get it?) and you should be fine.

 

[lankysudanese]

My goal is to be done with material by 4 weeks before the test date and just do questions, questions and questions by then.

I would start doing questions from the first day. Just do 50-100 randomly-chosen questions a day and then go over the answers in detail. Don't get disheartened by any low %'s at the beginning, just keep going and you will find that you are learning new stuff at a fast pace. In general, people seem to use Kaplan Qbank for this purpose, and then do UW during the last 4 weeks.

Good luck

 

[Ragnarok]

IV Q bank is waste of time. 😡

I went with Kaplan Q bank subjectwise and then UW random, timed, unused.
worked very well for me.

 

[alpha06]

IV Q bank is waste of time. 😡

I agree. Do Kaplan Qbank first then UW. I did 25 questions random, unused, untimed. I did several of these a day, in order to learn from the questions and prevent from getting burnt-out. Then I started doing 50Q random, unused, timed. At least, 3 blocks/day. Reviewd what I got wrong and read over those subjects.