Now that you've taken the Step 1, what would you have done differently?

[HiDoc88]

For those of you who just took the exam (congrats!), looking back now, what would you have done differently to study/prepare for the exam? Anything?

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[DrVanNostran]

For those of you who just took the exam (congrats!), looking back now, what would you have done differently to study/prepare for the exam? Anything?

I havent received my score, so maybe I would have done nothing differently lol.

I focused my studying on a doing a crap load of questions. I wish I had used Usmleworld throughout my second year so I could have read the explanations twice. If you haven't seen them, the explanations are an amazing learning tool that could be very helpful during school.

 

[drizzt3117]

Studied a lil more neuro and neuroanatomy... I think of the few qs I wasn't sure about 75% were from neuro.

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

Overall I feel pretty pleased with how the test went (granted I don't have my score yet, so hopefully I won't look like an idiot in two weeks). Anyway, for all those folks who haven't taken it yet, I would recommend that you look at more than just First Aid and USMLE World for Anatomy. Looking back, I'd say that about 1/2 of my anatomy, come test day, wasn't covered in either of the two aforementioned texts. Turns out I got lucky and ended up guessing correctly on the majority of these questions (I ended up looking them up after the test...yeah I know, cardinal sin). If I had to recommend, I'd say go w/ Rapid Review in addition to FA and UWorld. Anyway, hope that helps and best of luck to the folks out there still waiting to do battle with the beast.

 

[Captopril]

I would have focused a little more on Embryo & Anatomy details. Probably could have added a good 3-4 points to my score.

 

[DrVanNostran]

I would have focused a little more on Embryo & Anatomy details. Probably could have added a good 3-4 points to my score.

I think the problem is that there isn't a succinct anatomy source. They are all better for classwork rather than boards. BTW, how are you liking Step Up to Step 2? I am debating on that or FA for CK.

 

[greg1184]

I would have focused even more on First Aid and USMLE World. Gone through the book cover to cover more than once.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I would have taken it a week earlier. I'm quite happy with my study plan, regardless of how the test went. I learned everything about as well as I could have without making myself totally miserable and spending an inordinate amount of time on small details.

 

[username456789]

I think the problem is that there isn't a succinct anatomy source. They are all better for classwork rather than boards.

I think the problem is that anatomy cannot be made into a succinct source. It's just a ton of structures, and some of the stuff I got on my exam today would've been challenging even when we were doing anatomy in first year (and I did well in that class). With other subjects, you can have a decent idea of what major themes would show up and be able to reason accordingly (for instance, enzyme deficiencies in biochemistry). But with anatomy, their "clinical slant" on something might be "A patient is undergoing an angiography. Into which obscure vessel should dye be injected to visualize this obscure vessel which primarily serves the lateral 3/8ths of the superomedial quadrant of [insert any structure]." Sure, there are usually gonna be your typical brachial plexus lesions that are easy to prepare for, but for the most part I found the anatomy to be pretty much "hope you have a photographic memory because that's what we're testing today!."

I would have focused even more on First Aid and USMLE World. Gone through the book cover to cover more than once.

Same. I only got through 85% of UW, and while I was doing really well and learning (I think), it still bothers me that I didn't finish. And I definitely saw 2 or 3 questions that were almost verbatim from UW (plus a couple that were extremely similar but asked different things). So Who knows what else I would've found in that last 15% that would've helped. And a few other things, I just plain couldn't remember a simple detail that I knew was on page X of FA. I browsed it during M2, but then only really made two in depth passes through it all to memorize (with an extra run through parts of it at the very end, like micro/biochem.

 

[bbydoc]

but for the most part I found the anatomy to be pretty much "hope you have a photographic memory because that's what we're testing today!."

I think you summed up anatomy better than anyone...

 

[MilkmanAl]

Yep, pretty much. I missed some dumb stuff on anatomy, but there just isn't a lot you can do about it. I read the BRS chapter summaries which helped a little (good for a question or two), but there are plenty of things that you plain won't know unless you remember it. It's not worth the effort to memorize anatomy all over again to have a better chance at getting the 3-4 obscure questions correct.

 

[DrJD]

Yep, pretty much. I missed some dumb stuff on anatomy, but there just isn't a lot you can do about it. I read the BRS chapter summaries which helped a little (good for a question or two), but there are plenty of things that you plain won't know unless you remember it. It's not worth the effort to memorize anatomy all over again to have a better chance at getting the 3-4 obscure questions correct.

Hey Milkman I thought I saw in a different thread that you wished you had gone through USMLE World one more time. (I could be misremembering.) If you did say that, did you find that upon second pass it was still beneficial? Up to this point repeating questions has been low yield for me cause you remember the question from the first time through. Thoughts?

 

[NoWayOut]

Overall I feel pretty pleased with how the test went (granted I don't have my score yet, so hopefully I won't look like an idiot in two weeks). Anyway, for all those folks who haven't taken it yet, I would recommend that you look at more than just First Aid and USMLE World for Anatomy. Looking back, I'd say that about 1/2 of my anatomy, come test day, wasn't covered in either of the two aforementioned texts. Turns out I got lucky and ended up guessing correctly on the majority of these questions (I ended up looking them up after the test...yeah I know, cardinal sin). If I had to recommend, I'd say go w/ Rapid Review in addition to FA and UWorld. Anyway, hope that helps and best of luck to the folks out there still waiting to do battle with the beast.

OK..so I hear yah..but truth is I don't have time for a single review/text book.. but I am thinking about purchasing Anatomy Recall (hopefully less pages to go thru and Q&A format) with it's audio. What do you think? As for Neuro, I have done 2 quick readings of HY Neuro couple months back.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I actually went through it almost 3 times in total. (The first pass was everything from second year plus biochem - a good 75% of the question bank.) Every time through was excellent and very worthwhile. You have to make sure that you remember why the correct answer is correct, not just that it's the correct answer. Going through why the wrong answers are wrong is also very helpful. For me, it's all about repetition, so that's ideal for me. I also did my passes far enough apart (a week between them or so) that I didn't really remember that many questions. A fourth pass would have been nice but certainly not necessary. My time likely would have been better spent reading through FA and Goljan's margin notes again.

For the year, I'd suggest getting a subscription to USMLERx and saving USMLEWorld for your the last two weeks of school (NBME land) and dedicated Step 1 studying. Read Goljan religiously because a lot of our path teachers aren't terribly good and tend to leave out really important concepts.

 

[URHere]

In retrospect, I probably would have done 2 things differently:

1) I would have gone into biochem in depth. I went through everything UW and FA has, but my exam was very biochem heavy and I had 2 or 3 questions that mentioned enzymes and molecular markers I had never even heard of.

2) I would have done more of the NBME practice exams. I had two questions pulled almost verbatim from the one NBME I did take.

 

[username456789]

Read Goljan religiously because a lot of our path teachers aren't terribly good and tend to leave out really important concepts.

The best piece of advice I ever got regarding studying was from an upperclassmen who told me "Read Goljan from day 1 in Path and do your best to keep up with that regularly."

If anyone remembers, at first I wasn't a big fan of the book and its terrible outline form (my 6th grade english teacher would probably flunk it, the outline format is done that poorly), but it grew on me after I realized all the good info in it. For me, I had to still go through our class lectures/notes first to get more context, so that when I went back to read Goljan later on that topic, not only did it reinforce what we had been taught, but it filled in a lot of the gaps and answered many of the "why?" questions that our professors love to omit.

 

[drizzt3117]

The problem with the nbmes is that they don't have full explanations. My friend got a q straight from nbme7 tho, the b2 microglobulin one.

 

[username456789]

The problem with the nbmes is that they don't have full explanations. My friend got a q straight from nbme7 tho, the b2 microglobulin one.

Yeah, what's worse is that I forgot to pay for the one with "incorrect answers" listed or whatever, so I didn't even know which ones I got wrong. Fortunately, the one question that appeared very similar to one on NBME7 was pretty simple and I knew I knew the answer.

 

[drizzt3117]

Yeah, what's worse is that I forgot to pay for the one with "incorrect answers" listed or whatever, so I didn't even know which ones I got wrong. Fortunately, the one question that appeared very similar to one on NBME7 was pretty simple and I knew I knew the answer.

If I had had like 6 weeks instead of 4 to study for the boards I would probably have done more than nbme 6-7, I just felt like they weren't too useful in terms of learning, although they were useful in terms of seeing what the real thing would be like, if that makes sense.

 

[Real Name]

I would have focused even more on First Aid and USMLE World. Gone through the book cover to cover more than once.

Ditto. I wish I hadn't spent so much time on cell bio. I am not even sure if I had one cell bio question!!! I did miss about 4 questions that were in FA though.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I actually went through it almost 3 times in total. (The first pass was everything from second year plus biochem - a good 75% of the question bank.) Every time through was excellent and very worthwhile. You have to make sure that you remember why the correct answer is correct, not just that it's the correct answer. Going through why the wrong answers are wrong is also very helpful. For me, it's all about repetition, so that's ideal for me. I also did my passes far enough apart (a week between them or so) that I didn't really remember that many questions. A fourth pass would have been nice but certainly not necessary. My time likely would have been better spent reading through FA and Goljan's margin notes again.

For the year, I'd suggest getting a subscription to USMLERx and saving USMLEWorld for your the last two weeks of school (NBME land) and dedicated Step 1 studying. Read Goljan religiously because a lot of our path teachers aren't terribly good and tend to leave out really important concepts.

This.

I haven't taken the exam yet, but it is getting close, and I feel like there is something to be learned from each pass through UW.

I wish I had gotten Rx sooner. I think that it is great for hammering home certain points.

 

[clinicallabguy]

Those of you who referred to UW, are your referring to USMLE World?

Just want to make sure.

 

[Zback]

Those of you who referred to UW, are your referring to USMLE World?

Just want to make sure.

Yes, U World

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

OK..so I hear yah..but truth is I don't have time for a single review/text book.. but I am thinking about purchasing Anatomy Recall (hopefully less pages to go thru and Q&A format) with it's audio. What do you think? As for Neuro, I have done 2 quick readings of HY Neuro couple months back.

I just finished reading Lange's Road Map Gross Anatomy. At the beginning of crunch month I read HY Anatomy and I thought that book was the worst resource I've encountered yet in med school. I get almost all the anatomy questions wrong on UWorld, so I knew I needed something else. Road Map has lots of errors, but nothing that you won't be able to catch and dismiss, has too much detail on some things, but I found it to be an excellent review of anatomy. It only took 2 days to get through, too, and I feel like my grasp of anatomy is far better now.

This is coming from a guy who barely got through anatomy, if that makes any difference.

 

[radiodoc99]

Pay more attention to details in books and on questions!

 

[MilkmanAl]

I agree that HY Anatomy is ludicrously overrated. It's mediocre.

 

[NTF]

For the year, I'd suggest getting a subscription to USMLERx...

Just out of curiosity how do you use a qbank during the year? Do they separate the questions by subject so you can test yourself on stuff you've covered already in class? Or is it that you guys are just winging it just to see where you're at throughout the year?

 

[drizzt3117]

Just out of curiosity how do you use a qbank during the year? Do they separate the questions by subject so you can test yourself on stuff you've covered already in class? Or is it that you guys are just winging it just to see where you're at throughout the year?

you can do it by subject.

 

[kryptik]

Just out of curiosity how do you use a qbank during the year? Do they separate the questions by subject so you can test yourself on stuff you've covered already in class? Or is it that you guys are just winging it just to see where you're at throughout the year?

yes its divided into systems and basic sciences so you can do focused questions

 

[mordounhas]

If you're going to use a bank during the year, I'd use it with the appropriate subject- I think it would have helped me with my 2nd year coursework and possibly with Step 1. It's a minor regret of mine that I didn't do that.

 

[doc29]

I just finished reading Lange's Road Map Gross Anatomy. At the beginning of crunch month I read HY Anatomy and I thought that book was the worst resource I've encountered yet in med school. I get almost all the anatomy questions wrong on UWorld, so I knew I needed something else. Road Map has lots of errors, but nothing that you won't be able to catch and dismiss, has too much detail on some things, but I found it to be an excellent review of anatomy. It only took 2 days to get through, too, and I feel like my grasp of anatomy is far better now.

This is coming from a guy who barely got through anatomy, if that makes any difference.

Chimpanzee..does Road map anatomy has CT scans and stuff ? im currently using HY anatomy/neuroanatomy, but hy anatomy is too much and i dont have time to go thru everything.

 

[DocDanny]

looking back now, what would you have done differently to study/prepare for the exam? Anything?

Sacrificed a goat to the heathen gods.

 

[drizzt3117]

Chimpanzee..does Road map anatomy has CT scans and stuff ? im currently using HY anatomy/neuroanatomy, but hy anatomy is too much and i dont have time to go thru everything.

The pictures in that book are not awesome, hy is better.

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

Chimpanzee..does Road map anatomy has CT scans and stuff ? im currently using HY anatomy/neuroanatomy, but hy anatomy is too much and i dont have time to go thru everything.

It does have CTs, but as drizzt says, they're not quite as detailed as in HY. However, I found myself overwhelmed with details on the HY CTs, and my retention was minimal. Also, all questions I've seen that have CTs ask about the major structures, which Road Map covers.

 

[XRanger]

I actually went through it almost 3 times in total. (The first pass was everything from second year plus biochem - a good 75% of the question bank.) Every time through was excellent and very worthwhile. You have to make sure that you remember why the correct answer is correct, not just that it's the correct answer. Going through why the wrong answers are wrong is also very helpful. For me, it's all about repetition, so that's ideal for me. I also did my passes far enough apart (a week between them or so) that I didn't really remember that many questions. A fourth pass would have been nice but certainly not necessary. My time likely would have been better spent reading through FA and Goljan's margin notes again.

For the year, I'd suggest getting a subscription to USMLERx and saving USMLEWorld for your the last two weeks of school (NBME land) and dedicated Step 1 studying. Read Goljan religiously because a lot of our path teachers aren't terribly good and tend to leave out really important concepts.

wait..you said to save uworld for the last 2 weeks+1 month dedicated step 1 studying, so you managed to go over uworld 3 times during that period? I'm planning to go over uworld at least twice and maybe 3 times, so I was thinking of getting the 6 months uworld subscription cause my school's giving a discount for 6 month and 1 year subscription. So I was thinking of getting them in january and doing few questions then.

For fall semester, is it a good idea to get usmlerx to go along with the course? usmlerx follows FA right? and the new FA doesnt come out until decmber/january..so should I just get the older version?

 

[drizzt3117]

It does have CTs, but as drizzt says, they're not quite as detailed as in HY. However, I found myself overwhelmed with details on the HY CTs, and my retention was minimal. Also, all questions I've seen that have CTs ask about the major structures, which Road Map covers.

The neuroanatomy was pretty obscure. I do my research in neuro mr and I still couldn't be sure on some of the images.

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

The neuroanatomy was pretty obscure. I do my research in neuro mr and I still couldn't be sure on some of the images.

yeah, I would agree that neither of those books are adequate for neuro imaging questions. A neuroanatomy book like HY neuroanatomy book would fill in those gaps, albeit not preparing you for questions like the ones you had.

 

[drizzt3117]

wait..you said to save uworld for the last 2 weeks+1 month dedicated step 1 studying, so you managed to go over uworld 3 times during that period? I'm planning to go over uworld at least twice and maybe 3 times, so I was thinking of getting the 6 months uworld subscription cause my school's giving a discount for 6 month and 1 year subscription. So I was thinking of getting them in january and doing few questions then.

I wouldn't do UW except during your dedicated study period, get rx or kaplan or both for during the year.

For fall semester, is it a good idea to get usmlerx to go along with the course? usmlerx follows FA right? and the new FA doesnt come out until decmber/january..so should I just get the older version?

yep, I would get rx and use the old fa but upgrade when the new one comes out!

 

[drizzt3117]

yeah, I would agree that neither of those books are adequate for neuro imaging questions. A neuroanatomy book like HY neuroanatomy book would fill in those gaps, albeit not preparing you for questions like the ones you had.

Yeah HY neuro was ok, not great but probably enough.

 

[ar2388]

does FA tend to change much from year to year? ill be taking the exam next year but i got FA2010 and started to annotate some 1st year stuff like biochem... i would hate for that to be a waste.

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

does FA tend to change much from year to year? ill be taking the exam next year but i got FA2010 and started to annotate some 1st year stuff like biochem... i would hate for that to be a waste.

People have reported having questions on drugs that were only added to this year's version. So, it doesn't change much, but they update with pertinent new information and drugs that testers may use.

 

[DocDanny]

Sacrificed a goat to the heathen gods.

This still stands as the number one thing I should have done before the exam.

A close second would have been to go over more of USMLE World. As it was, I ended up doing 3,860 questions. but I should have done more.

 

[Xtrasystolic]

I would have moved my date up but 2 weeks so I wouldn't have had to wait this extra long wait in agony.

Seriously though, I would have tried to finish UW at least 2-3 weeks before my test date giving me time for at least one re-run through the incorrect answers(I finished 100% of it 3 days before my test day).

 

[PokerDoc]

I misjudged how long it would actually take me to do get through UW.. I only got to do about 400 wrong answers a second time. I would have spent more time in UW and less time reading. You can read all you want but you never know what theyre going to ask you.

I also never would have spent money on any of the HY books or any extra book except for goljan and HY Behavioral science (and even then, coulda just borrowed my roommates, it took 1 day to read).

 

[HiDoc88]

Thanks for the responses everyone! This really helps a lot! Anyone else care to share their experiences/advice?

 

[2012mdc]

For those of you who just took the exam (congrats!), looking back now, what would you have done differently to study/prepare for the exam? Anything?

In hindsight I wish I would have -

Mixed in a little bit of Kaplan Q Bank with UW. I went thru UW twice in full and some subjects even 3 times. I think I got too used to UW.

Looked at anatomy a little bit more, specifically weaker areas of anatomy. I was just burnt out by the end

Used the HY books as more of a reference than reading them as a supplemental. I think I spent too much time on HY Neuro and HY Molec

 

[pianola]

does FA tend to change much from year to year? ill be taking the exam next year but i got FA2010 and started to annotate some 1st year stuff like biochem... i would hate for that to be a waste.

The FA 2010 book is maybe 2x bigger than the one for 2008 (at least that's a rough visual estimation). It's terrifying. Where does it stop?

 

[pianola]

ar, one of my friends suggested using the 2010 book until December and then just get the new one right in January.

I'm sufficiently neurotic where I think I'll probably do that

haha

 

[Rikkye]

I got suckered into buying Kaplan Qbank since September because I thought it would be a good idea to do USMLE questions while studying system course. Bad idea. I didn't even touch the question until 2 months before the Step. On top of that, I bought UW Qbank as well and ended up with 2 Qbanks. $$$$$$

Someone should have told me about Gojian since day 1, I would have read that throughout second year instead of Robbins which was so low yield for Step.

Going over biochem, pharm, and bugs again 2-3 days before exam was an excellent idea.

Didn't care much for anatomy except for obvious testable concepts and do lots of anatomy questions. In the end, there's no way you can get every anatomy question. So don't stress.

Neurologic lesions at various level of brainstem. I only have 1 very specific question about it. Otherwise, know general concept is enough to get by. Trying to remember details is not fun.

Wish I pay more attention to heart sounds.

Bottom line: buy FA at the beginning of 2nd year and read it with each system course. For Step 1, READ AND MEMORIZE FA UNTIL THE BINDING FALLS OFF. best investment ever.

 

[ar2388]

ar, one of my friends suggested using the 2010 book until December and then just get the new one right in January.

I'm sufficiently neurotic where I think I'll probably do that

haha

haha fantastic.
maybe my friends and i will split the cost of FA2011 and just go through it page by page to see whats different LOL

hope your summer is going well pianola