My step 1 Schedule

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rxfudd

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Yeah, I know it's a little anal - I like having a really detailed layout though, so I'm willing to overlook my OCD-ness for the moment. Let me know what you think - I'm most worried that I'm being too optimistic about how much I can realistically get done in a day.

BTW, I'm doing Kaplan intense prep and the numbers in parenthesis are the number of Kaplan pages I plan on reading that day. Also assume two hours every day for a 50 question Q-bank block plus answer checking. I'm going to try to work Q-book and the Kaplan full length in there somewhere, but that might be overdoing it.

Also, I expect to work about 12 hours each day (maybe a bit more on lecture days) and and am shooting for a 230 (give or take a few points).

http://www.geocities.com/[email protected]/usmle_schedule.htm

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It looks ok to me. My only comment would be that you may want to schedule some time off in there (most people take ~1 day off per week), and I think that you are spending too much time on pharm. Memorize what's in first aid, and then move on. It may be worthwhile to briefly go over pharm the day before the test, but I personally preferred to read behavioral science the day before the test because it was relaxing and fairly high yield. I also think that you are spending a too much time studying micro, but I should preface that with that it's ok to spend a little bit of extra time in subjects that you don't feel to confident in. I don't recall micro being too heavily emphasized on my test though. It's going to be tempting to spend more then one day on subjects like embryo and anatomy, but if you know what's in first aid, your good to go. I think that most people spend 1-3 days in anatomy and embryo combined. You may have to do ~100 questions of q bank some days to finish the 2,000 questions that they have too. Good luck!
 
I understand needing a detailed study plan. I did the same thing last year and would have been happy to post it online here if we could attach Word files. It's hard to comment on your plan w/o knowing your strengths and weaknesses. For example, I felt completely comfortable spending just 1 day on Phys, reading Costanza, and it was one of my stronger areas on Step 1.
 
Here's what I think...

- First and most importantly, I hope you have time off planned because going for 12 hours a day for 4 weeks straight could burn you out. Plus, it's a good idea to have free days for catch-up, since it's almost inevitable that you'll fall behind

- It might be better do to pharm after physio, and more towards the exam. Having physio before will be good because things like mechanisms of action build on your knowledge of normal physiology. Also, pharm is a lot of straight-forward memorization. If you do it early, it might be gone by the time of the exam.

- If you're going to work the Kaplan full length into your schedule, that's a whole day by itself. It's just like taking the real exam and you'll probably have to take the afternoon just to recover.

- You are probably putting too much time into biochem at the expense of behavioral sci and neuro. Those two subjects should be easy points, but they deserve about a day each.

- I think it's a good idea to end your review in the last few days and focus exclusively on doing as many questions as possible. It'll get you in the right mindset for the exam and help build your tolerance.

- Lastly, the day before the exam shouldn't be a full-on review day. Taking it off completely wouldn't be good either. Something in between will keep you focused but will leave you rested for the exam.

Otherwise, it's awesome that you have a schedule in place. That already gives you head start. Good luck!
 
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