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Hello everyone. I am a second year who will write the exam in June 2011. Meanwhile let this be a good thread where everyone share their study progress and recent trend of the exam.
Official 2011 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
- Thread starter ProtossCarrier
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Hey there, I plan on taking both COMLEX and USMLE towards end of May.
I've been reading 1 case out of Case Files: Micro and First Aid Cases almost everyday for couple weeks now. It's working really well because I'm seeing lot of the stuff that I have encountered before (and of course, I don't remember half of it). It's a good refresher and hopefully will make things easier to learn during dedicated study time.
This is directed towards DO students who are taking both boards...what are you folks planning on doing for using a Qbank to prep for COMLEX? Stick to Uworld, NBME, and NBOME practice exams?
I've been reading 1 case out of Case Files: Micro and First Aid Cases almost everyday for couple weeks now. It's working really well because I'm seeing lot of the stuff that I have encountered before (and of course, I don't remember half of it). It's a good refresher and hopefully will make things easier to learn during dedicated study time.
This is directed towards DO students who are taking both boards...what are you folks planning on doing for using a Qbank to prep for COMLEX? Stick to Uworld, NBME, and NBOME practice exams?
Question to anyone studying now...
I've been doing GT since October...like it alot, has REALLY helped with micro. In January I figured I would do 46 questions a day from usmlerx to help me familiarize myself with first aid. Would you just do random 46 blocks? Or review a section and go over it?...I've done random blocks so far and it's working in some areas, but I also feel pretty scatter brained.
Goodluck to all..june 15th cannot come and go soon enough!
I've been doing GT since October...like it alot, has REALLY helped with micro. In January I figured I would do 46 questions a day from usmlerx to help me familiarize myself with first aid. Would you just do random 46 blocks? Or review a section and go over it?...I've done random blocks so far and it's working in some areas, but I also feel pretty scatter brained.
Goodluck to all..june 15th cannot come and go soon enough!
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I have stopped going to all lectures and just study by syllubus, and try to get an hour of board studying a day.
I've being to systemically review subjects, first up is micro. Any good suggestions? I plan to use FA + micro cards.
Goal is 250+
I've being to systemically review subjects, first up is micro. Any good suggestions? I plan to use FA + micro cards.
Goal is 250+
Hi
I'm planning on taking the exam in 5 months ..
I'm an IMG currently in the states. I finished a 6 year medical school more then 2 years ago so i guess a lot of work need to be done in regard to basic science subjects.
My Resources:
FA 2011
RR Goljan
HY NA
BRS Physiology
plus some of Kaplan LN
My plan:
a modulated Taus method.
first run through : 1 month
2nd : 3 months
3rd : 1 month
I'm not sure if this gonna work for me but I'll try my best. It has been along time since I last sat on a serious study session .
I hope I'll find some encouragement here ..
Please share with us ur study plan and feel free to give ur opinion in mine .
Wishing all the 2011 USMLE takers the best of luck : )
I'm planning on taking the exam in 5 months ..
I'm an IMG currently in the states. I finished a 6 year medical school more then 2 years ago so i guess a lot of work need to be done in regard to basic science subjects.
My Resources:
FA 2011
RR Goljan
HY NA
BRS Physiology
plus some of Kaplan LN
My plan:
a modulated Taus method.
first run through : 1 month
2nd : 3 months
3rd : 1 month
I'm not sure if this gonna work for me but I'll try my best. It has been along time since I last sat on a serious study session .
I hope I'll find some encouragement here ..
Please share with us ur study plan and feel free to give ur opinion in mine .
Wishing all the 2011 USMLE takers the best of luck : )
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Taking mine June 15th. Ugh! Started studying recently, getting about 50% on USMLE World (which I think is passing using that magic formula 2.3*%+87=score, wohoo!).
ar2388, when does your semester end?
ar2388, when does your semester end?
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I'll be taking both boards as well. USMLE on June 6th and COMLEX on June 10th. I'm using Uworld Qbank for USMLE and COMBANK for COMLEX. I'm also using NBME #4 and #7 closer to the test date. From what my upperclassman have told me, studying OMM in between the USMLE and COMLEX exams is good (especially the viscerosomatics). They also recommend starting the COMBANK 1 month out from the exam.
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I end on aprill 21
We end in March and I'm taking it April 26. Eek! Having trouble motivating myself to start studying, but I've managed to get through about half of Goljan audio and have done some USMLER (not nearly as much as I wanted to).
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I'm done mid-may, taking it four weeks later in mid june. Seems like different schools end at different times.
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Hey guys,
I haven't been on SDN since premed time, but I'm starting to lurk again now that the ominous Step 1 is fast approaching
(I'm taking it April 19th since classes end in Feburary for us, sort of).
I'm hoping to get some Pharm done throughout the next couple of months, then study from FA + other resources (including USMLERx and Kaplan QBank) for 4 weeks, and then do questions full time for 3 weeks (mostly from USMLEWorld + 2 CBSSAs).
I've heard from someone at school that the last 3 CBSSAs are really the only ones worth anything, since they are catered to the new format. In fact, he went so far as to say he would recommend against doing the first 4. What do you guys think?
Anyways, good luck to everyone out there!!
I haven't been on SDN since premed time, but I'm starting to lurk again now that the ominous Step 1 is fast approaching
(I'm taking it April 19th since classes end in Feburary for us, sort of).I'm hoping to get some Pharm done throughout the next couple of months, then study from FA + other resources (including USMLERx and Kaplan QBank) for 4 weeks, and then do questions full time for 3 weeks (mostly from USMLEWorld + 2 CBSSAs).
I've heard from someone at school that the last 3 CBSSAs are really the only ones worth anything, since they are catered to the new format. In fact, he went so far as to say he would recommend against doing the first 4. What do you guys think?
Anyways, good luck to everyone out there!!
Popping by in here.
School finishes mid May for me. I'm taking 6 weeks to study for it.
I've been on top of things all through school so I hope FA, RR, USMLE World will be enough for me.
Been reading RR 2x through during each block so far during MS 2, trying to get through all the USMLE Rx Q's per system during each block as well, and listened to Goljan at least once as well. Hopefully this will pay off in the end!
Anyone know of any good 6 week study schedules structured around RR, FA, and UWorld?
Hoping for 250+
School finishes mid May for me. I'm taking 6 weeks to study for it.
I've been on top of things all through school so I hope FA, RR, USMLE World will be enough for me.
Been reading RR 2x through during each block so far during MS 2, trying to get through all the USMLE Rx Q's per system during each block as well, and listened to Goljan at least once as well. Hopefully this will pay off in the end!
Anyone know of any good 6 week study schedules structured around RR, FA, and UWorld?
Hoping for 250+
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Taking USMLE on June 18th and COMLEX on June 23rd. Just trying to read RR with my current systems. Also trying to brush up some phys.
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I did nbme1 on 1st jan and scored 220 and nbme2 online after 15 days study ( but revised only bichem, genetics, cell bio and nutrition portion)and scored 229 ... my next online nbme is after a week, will be doing micro, immuno, beh science and biostat during this time.
I m not satisfied with my nbme scores but im going to work hard to score better next time. Any suggestions regarding prep????
Really need to get motivated.... Im going too slow in revision
GOODLUCK
I m not satisfied with my nbme scores
but im going to work hard to score better next time. Any suggestions regarding prep???? Really need to get motivated.... Im going too slow in revision
GOODLUCK- Joined
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I did nbme1 on 1st jan and scored 220 and nbme2 online after 15 days study ( but revised only bichem, genetics, cell bio and nutrition portion)and scored 229 ... my next online nbme is after a week, will be doing micro, immuno, beh science and biostat during this time.
I m not satisfied with my nbme scores
Really need to get motivated.... Im going too slow in revision
i am taking the exam in 2 months. i read your blog where you had mentioned that you were using kaplan books, 1st edition goljan and UW.
Wondering what is your strategy at this point? Are you still using 1st edition goljan or have you switched to 3rd edition?
In my case I have read through 1st edition and have yet not started with 3rrd edition. I am wondering whether it would be worthwhile doing the 3rd edition. I would however go through pictures from 3rd edition.
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Taking my exam in June...gl everyone!
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took my exam yesterday,
some background info :
Materials used : Kaplan lecture notes 2011 (newest ones), kaplan liveprep, UW, etc.
UWSA 1 - 244
UWSA 2 - 263
NBME 5 - 244
NBME 6 - 240
NBME 7 - 260
NBME 3 - 255
NBME 4 - 263
NBME 2 - 253
Yeah, i like donating money to the NBME.
To Psychforme - can you predict my score please???!!!
Length - Killer, much longer than NBMEs, granted there were single liners here and there but I missed like 3 questions at the end of the second block due to lack of time.....just had to pick something before time ran out.
Personally, i felt the clock on the real exam was bugged and was running faster than normal!!!
Difficulty of exam - seemed fair, nowhere near as hard as UWorld, but similar concepts tested. The material tested isnt hard/impossible, its just hard because of the time factor, gimme another 10 minutes for each block and i probably would have left the center with a sardonic smile Yeah there were a lot of research oriented questions but they could be figured out if you knew what they wanted. Again, this took time to think, 70 seconds fly by so fast and in the later blocks your brain doesn't want to think, it wants to pick something and move on...
Resource Ranking:
1. Uworld - this qbank probably has the most exam-like content, although it may seem vague at first, stick to it, it will pay off in the exam. The question length is much much longer than uworld though, so you should be doing them in like 60percent of the time. Without Uworld, i can imagine how the exam would have been for me.
2. Kaplan notes - worth their weight in gold, memorize their tables and you should be in the money, i have heard Kaplan MEd essentials is basically all the tables, so look into that if you dont got time.
3. FA 2010- not so much, i flipped through it the days before the exam, seemed full of facts, but the exam didnt test facts, in fact 95% of the questions are application application application.
Learn to guess - there were situations in the exam when i had it narrowed to like 2 choices and had to guess, this was hard for me, but it helps to be able to just make good guesses FAST, i would dwell on a question for a few minutes and timing is everything in this exam.
How do i feel? i feel like i could be anywhere on that score distribution, its hard to tell, no instant score gratification like in the nbmes..
good luck to anyone preparing.
some background info :
Materials used : Kaplan lecture notes 2011 (newest ones), kaplan liveprep, UW, etc.
UWSA 1 - 244
UWSA 2 - 263
NBME 5 - 244
NBME 6 - 240
NBME 7 - 260
NBME 3 - 255
NBME 4 - 263
NBME 2 - 253
Yeah, i like donating money to the NBME.
To Psychforme - can you predict my score please???!!!
Length - Killer, much longer than NBMEs, granted there were single liners here and there but I missed like 3 questions at the end of the second block due to lack of time.....just had to pick something before time ran out.
Personally, i felt the clock on the real exam was bugged and was running faster than normal!!!
Difficulty of exam - seemed fair, nowhere near as hard as UWorld, but similar concepts tested. The material tested isnt hard/impossible, its just hard because of the time factor, gimme another 10 minutes for each block and i probably would have left the center with a sardonic smile
Yeah there were a lot of research oriented questions but they could be figured out if you knew what they wanted. Again, this took time to think, 70 seconds fly by so fast and in the later blocks your brain doesn't want to think, it wants to pick something and move on...Resource Ranking:
1. Uworld - this qbank probably has the most exam-like content, although it may seem vague at first, stick to it, it will pay off in the exam. The question length is much much longer than uworld though, so you should be doing them in like 60percent of the time. Without Uworld, i can imagine how the exam would have been for me.
2. Kaplan notes - worth their weight in gold, memorize their tables and you should be in the money, i have heard Kaplan MEd essentials is basically all the tables, so look into that if you dont got time.
3. FA 2010- not so much, i flipped through it the days before the exam, seemed full of facts, but the exam didnt test facts, in fact 95% of the questions are application application application.
Learn to guess - there were situations in the exam when i had it narrowed to like 2 choices and had to guess, this was hard for me, but it helps to be able to just make good guesses FAST, i would dwell on a question for a few minutes and timing is everything in this exam.
How do i feel? i feel like i could be anywhere on that score distribution, its hard to tell, no instant score gratification like in the nbmes..
good luck to anyone preparing.
Last edited:
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took my exam yesterday,
some background info :
Materials used : Kaplan lecture notes 2011 (newest ones), kaplan liveprep, UW, etc.
UWSA 1 - 244
UWSA 2 - 263
NBME 5 - 244
NBME 6 - 240
NBME 7 - 260
NBME 3 - 255
NBME 4 - 263
NBME 2 - 253
Yeah, i like donating money to the NBME.
To Psychforme - can you predict my score please???!!!
Length - Killer, much longer than NBMEs, granted there were single liners here and there but I missed like 3 questions at the end of the second block due to lack of time.....just had to pick something before time ran out.
Personally, i felt the clock on the real exam was bugged and was running faster than normal!!!
Difficulty of exam - seemed fair, nowhere near as hard as UWorld, but similar concepts tested. The material tested isnt hard/impossible, its just hard because of the time factor, gimme another 10 minutes for each block and i probably would have left the center with a sardonic smile
Resource Ranking:
1. Uworld - this qbank probably has the most exam-like content, although it may seem vague at first, stick to it, it will pay off in the exam. The question length is much much longer than uworld though, so you should be doing them in like 60percent of the time. Without Uworld, i can imagine how the exam would have been for me.
2. Kaplan notes - worth their weight in gold, memorize their tables and you should be in the money, i have heard Kaplan MEd essentials is basically all the tables, so look into that if you dont got time.
3. FA 2010- not so much, i flipped through it the days before the exam, seemed full of facts, but the exam didnt test facts, in fact 95% of the questions are application application application.
Learn to guess - there were situations in the exam when i had it narrowed to like 2 choices and had to guess, this was hard for me, but it helps to be able to just make good guesses FAST, i would dwell on a question for a few minutes and timing is everything in this exam.
How do i feel? i feel like i could be anywhere on that score distribution, its hard to tell, no instant score gratification like in the nbmes..
good luck to anyone preparing.
Congrats on completing the exam.
I really need advice from you since you are fresh out of the exam.
I have almost 2 weeks to go and am pretty lost and unguided.
I have done kaplans long ago. Did you UW too months ago. And now reviewing FA but that is going slow.
I have medessentials but I only did the immuno in that, nothing else.
What would you advice me to do please....I am so running out of time.
Thanks
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well, first off relax, stress wont help you out.
Be honest with yourself, find your weak areas and go study those from FA/ kaplan notes.
also, keep doing atleast a block of questions per day.
stay cool towards the end.
Be honest with yourself, find your weak areas and go study those from FA/ kaplan notes.
also, keep doing atleast a block of questions per day.
stay cool towards the end.
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Ive heard good things about Kaplan....I've been usin them throughout the year to study for courses (micro, pharm). Im using Goljan for path. For boards review was I was gonna annotate my FA w/ the kaplan books for pretty much all the subjects except for path and physio (using BRS). Do you think this is unnecessary? The idea would be to to have one source I could have w/ everything I want to know for the exam. I have uworld too which Ill start doing later (test is in May).
Also, how spaced our were your practice exams? How did you plan those in to your study time?
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my practice exams were all within the last 40 days of prep. The last one being like 5 days before the real thing. (NBME 2)
yeah, it would be a good idea to annotate everything into FA, but i felt like i was rewriting the whole kaplan book into there, and it didnt make sense to me, i mean just cuz i annotate doesnt mean i will be reading less, it just meant i will be reading one book, instead i chose to use the time to reread my kaplan notes. If you make margin notes in kaplan, you can zip through those books like one a day towards the end...
I think FA has a lot HY stuff, but it wasnt for my style of learning, i cant memorize stuff, i will loose it in a few days but if i understand why/where/how it happens i retain that for longer...
yeah, it would be a good idea to annotate everything into FA, but i felt like i was rewriting the whole kaplan book into there, and it didnt make sense to me, i mean just cuz i annotate doesnt mean i will be reading less, it just meant i will be reading one book, instead i chose to use the time to reread my kaplan notes. If you make margin notes in kaplan, you can zip through those books like one a day towards the end...
I think FA has a lot HY stuff, but it wasnt for my style of learning, i cant memorize stuff, i will loose it in a few days but if i understand why/where/how it happens i retain that for longer...
hai guys,
i m new to this, already with an attempt, so gonna give my best shot this time. i failed due to personal reasons,but i guess i cant blame anyone for it. i m gonna try the TAUS method which i stumbled across yesterday. Sounds like a good plan.. im gonna stick to it..ill update you all
thanks & goodluck
i m new to this, already with an attempt, so gonna give my best shot this time. i failed due to personal reasons,but i guess i cant blame anyone for it. i m gonna try the TAUS method which i stumbled across yesterday. Sounds like a good plan.. im gonna stick to it..ill update you all
thanks & goodluck
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Taking USMLE/COMLEX mid June.
I'm trying to stick to the Taus plan, so I started off with one of the subjects I felt shakier on (micro). I've been reading CMMRS and annotating it into FA, but it's been taking forever (started CMMRS on Jan 5 or so, just finishing it now). I'm pleased because reading CMMRS has taken me from getting 55% or so on Uworld micro blocks to 80-90%, but now I need to go do that for all the other big topics, which is going to be a challenge. One saving grace is that I came into med school with a lot of pharm knowledge and I've generally not had much trouble with Uworld pharm questions. Behavioral science has been going well too because I've been reading HY Behavioral Sci in sync with our psych classes. Still, I gotta really step on the gas when it comes to reading non-FA sources and quit annotating so much detail.
I'm also reading FA/Goljan 2x with each block. I started listening to Goljan audio last summer, so I've been through most of those lectures at least twice. As far as the COMLEX goes, I've been reading Savarese in sync with my OMM class; not sure I'm gonna bother with Combank, but who knows. I'm gonna be like Taus and not take an NMBE till the end of my first pass - I don't want to get psyched out.
250 or bust....
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Test date - May 23
Last shelf exam - April 29
So far, I'm staying on top of my coursework and fitting in about 10 pages of FA and one random block of Qbank a day, annotating things into FA from those questions. I'm using USMLERx by the subject to prepare for shelf exams, and I'll be starting UWorld in March. I'm definitely a "question" studier, so I want as many as possible.
Besides random moments of "AHHHHHH", M2 is generally pretty sweet. The countdowns are on: 96 (days left in M2)/120 (til test day). Then vacation and M3!
Good luck everyone!!
Last shelf exam - April 29
So far, I'm staying on top of my coursework and fitting in about 10 pages of FA and one random block of Qbank a day, annotating things into FA from those questions. I'm using USMLERx by the subject to prepare for shelf exams, and I'll be starting UWorld in March. I'm definitely a "question" studier, so I want as many as possible.
Besides random moments of "AHHHHHH", M2 is generally pretty sweet. The countdowns are on: 96 (days left in M2)/120 (til test day). Then vacation and M3!
Good luck everyone!!
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This is interesting because almost everything I've heard about Kaplan has been negative. In fact, we had a lunch guest lecture with an ex-Kaplan doc instructor on whether or not we should take the USMLE, he himself stated that he felt the Kaplan materials had a lot of room for improvement.
Their "revised" 2010 Qbank is supposed to be a big improvement over the previous one, but I've done a few blocks of it and it still seems focused on minutiae that may or may not be high yield. I'm still not sure how much of it I'm going to use.
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I'm talking about the Kaplan notes, no the Qbank. I too have heard the complaint that the kaplan questions focus too much on little details. Ive heard nothing but good things about the kaplan books tho (especially pharm, micro, and biochem).
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Same here. I will be purchasing their books
took my exam yesterday,
some background info :
Materials used : Kaplan lecture notes 2011 (newest ones), kaplan liveprep, UW, etc.
UWSA 1 - 244
UWSA 2 - 263
NBME 5 - 244
NBME 6 - 240
NBME 7 - 260
NBME 3 - 255
NBME 4 - 263
NBME 2 - 253
Yeah, i like donating money to the NBME.
To Psychforme - can you predict my score please???!!!
Length - Killer, much longer than NBMEs, granted there were single liners here and there but I missed like 3 questions at the end of the second block due to lack of time.....just had to pick something before time ran out.
Personally, i felt the clock on the real exam was bugged and was running faster than normal!!!
Difficulty of exam - seemed fair, nowhere near as hard as UWorld, but similar concepts tested. The material tested isnt hard/impossible, its just hard because of the time factor, gimme another 10 minutes for each block and i probably would have left the center with a sardonic smile
Resource Ranking:
1. Uworld - this qbank probably has the most exam-like content, although it may seem vague at first, stick to it, it will pay off in the exam. The question length is much much longer than uworld though, so you should be doing them in like 60percent of the time. Without Uworld, i can imagine how the exam would have been for me.
2. Kaplan notes - worth their weight in gold, memorize their tables and you should be in the money, i have heard Kaplan MEd essentials is basically all the tables, so look into that if you dont got time.
3. FA 2010- not so much, i flipped through it the days before the exam, seemed full of facts, but the exam didnt test facts, in fact 95% of the questions are application application application.
Learn to guess - there were situations in the exam when i had it narrowed to like 2 choices and had to guess, this was hard for me, but it helps to be able to just make good guesses FAST, i would dwell on a question for a few minutes and timing is everything in this exam.
How do i feel? i feel like i could be anywhere on that score distribution, its hard to tell, no instant score gratification like in the nbmes..
good luck to anyone preparing.
Congrats again - Would you mind sharing what % of UW questions you were answering correctly?
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planning to write Step in late May or June. my school will offer a comprehensive shelf exam twice this semester. the first is coming up pretty soon. I plan to use that as a benchmark, like the online NBMEs.
took NBME #1 as a diagnostic test, pre-studying - 440/209 (yay! over 200)
i'm also doing a modified Taus. for my first pass, currently going through First Aid, one section at a time (have completed BS, Psychiatry and Biochem...currently on Micro), while annotating from various books (see below). using USMLERx as my first qbank (will switch to World later)...have done about 400 questions (medium and hard) so far, 71% average.
books I plan to use: BRS behavioral (read cover to cover), Kaplan MedEssentials (has really good diagrams for biochem), Goljan path book (studied this heavily during path so it's already marked up); BRS physio, HY neuro
I'm wondering, is a 240+ a feasible goal for me?
took NBME #1 as a diagnostic test, pre-studying - 440/209 (yay! over 200
)i'm also doing a modified Taus. for my first pass, currently going through First Aid, one section at a time (have completed BS, Psychiatry and Biochem...currently on Micro), while annotating from various books (see below). using USMLERx as my first qbank (will switch to World later)...have done about 400 questions (medium and hard) so far, 71% average.
books I plan to use: BRS behavioral (read cover to cover), Kaplan MedEssentials (has really good diagrams for biochem), Goljan path book (studied this heavily during path so it's already marked up); BRS physio, HY neuro
I'm wondering, is a 240+ a feasible goal for me?
Started studying mid August 2010, took the exam January 20th 2011 (last Thursday)! Total prep time: 4-5 months
NBME 1 (after watching kaplan videos): 185
NBME 6 (late Oct): 197
NBME 7 (Dec 31st): 240
UWSA 2 (Dec 31st): 252
NBME 3 (two weeks to go): 231
USMLE Rx simulation (1 week to go): 266
Materials used:
Pathology: BRS pathology, RR pathology, Kaplan Pathololgy
I would recommend reading BRS path once then listening to Goljan audio along with the RR pathology. I tried to read RR pathology but found the format difficult to deal with although I loved Goljan audio. Kaplan pathology was okay for pictures and I mainly used it while attending live lectures where I had Dr. Barone as a lecturer and he was pretty awesome.
Microbiology: First Aid, Clinical Microbiology made Ridiculously Simple (better than Kaplan micro)
Wasted a whole week watching Kaplan microbiology videos which were really not necessary. If I could start over, I would read CMMRS and supplement with First Aid.
Physiology: BRS physiology (highly recommend this), Kaplan Physiology
Kaplan physiology along with the videos were pretty decent. I only 'discovered' BRS physiology a month before my exam and although everyone says not to read new material so close to the exam, I gave it a quick read and really liked it. I think if you know BRS physiology cold it's sufficient for the exam.
Biochemistry: Kaplan biochemistry, First Aid
I watched the videos but didn't know the material really well until I attended the Live Lectures and had Dr. Hansen as a lecturer. She is pretty amazing and I went from Biochem being my weakest subject to one of my strongest. First Aid has a few conditions that weren't covered in the Kaplan textbook which is why I'm mentioning it.
Pharmacology: First Aid, Kaplan
I had a pretty good pharmacology lecturer during Live Lectures as well. I annotated Kaplan pharm into First Aid and I think that was enough.
Behavioral Sciences: Kaplan, First Aid
I read the Kaplan behavioral sciences book once and didn't touch it again. Reviewed First Aid before my exam. I had Dr. Fadem (she writes the high yield behavioral book) for live lectures and I've heard good things about her book but I didn't end up using it. My med school was pretty keen on Behavioral so I felt like I had a good starting foundation and it was my strongest subject in all my NBMEs.
Anatomy: Kaplan anatomy, HY neuroanatomy, First Aid
Anatomy was my weakest subject in all NBMEs and the actual exam. I kinda wish I had given more time to it. I felt the Kaplan anatomy book was overdetailed so I read it once but didn't really go back to it. I didn't read all of HY neuroanatomy just the bits on brainstem and spinal cord and some pictures. My neuroanatomy was pretty solid towards the end because I spent some time going through the pathways, pictures etc but I still really sucked at overall anatomy. I did get a lot of random anatomy questions on my exam (not just brachial plexus!) so yeah contrary to what you may have heard First Aid is NOT enough for anatomy.
Question Banks:
Finished U World once and then did incorrect questions again. The No 1 thing I would recommend is to annotate into First Aid concepts from UWorld as you go along. If 50 questions sounds too much, start off by doing 10-20 questions a day just make sure you annotate. The difficult questions in the actual exam are UWorld style so this is really helpful. I managed to annotate maybe 40-50% of UWorld into First Aid as I was pretty lazy in the beginning. My average was 56% first round and 80's towards end of second round.
I also did Kaplan Qbank, finished around 60%. I think I was on 65-70% towards the end. I don't know if I would do the Kaplan Qbank if I had to start over, I didn't find it extremely useful.
USMLE Rx. Finished 30%. Averaged 77%
I bought this about two weeks before my exam because I kinda run out of questions to review on UWorld and wanted to consolidate First Aid. I reallly liked it. It makes you notice the small details you skimmed over in First Aid. It was also good for doing a full 8 hour simulation test a week before the exam. It predicted me 266 though but I think it has a +/- 20 error margin. I almost prefer this as a second Qbank over Kaplan but Kaplan seems to be more popular and my scores haven't come out so maybe I'm wrong.
August to October: I started off watching Kaplan videos for Biochemistry, Microbiology and Physiology. My studying during the first few months was kinda on-off and I maybe did 4-5 hours a day. I found the videos good but a little slow and most of the time I was nodding off. I also listened to Goljan audio once (using RR pathology along with it) during this time but again it was a bit slow for me and I didn't really appreciate Goljan at this point
October to first week of December: Kaplan 6 week live lecture course. Lectures were amazing for pathology (Barone!), pharmacology and biochem. Others were decent but not anything to be over the moon about. The only downside of the lectures was that it didn't give me a lot of time to study in the evenings and I was lucky if I finished a block of UWorld questions at the end of each day. I guess it depends on how focused you can be. I also spent some of the time there socializing ( yes you do meet some decent people on the course) so I wasn't really pushing myself 100%.
December to exam: Crunch time. Ended up studying maybe 12 hours a day minimum, barely left the house etc. I was never an amazing student at med school but once I made a timetable and realized how much I needed to get through I just sucked it up and starting working my a** off. My score bumped up from 197 to 240-250 after three weeks of intense studying. I didn't really want to move my Jan 20th exam date because I had holiday plans end of January.
Things that really worked for me.
1. I went through First Aid using the DIT videos. This really forced me to buckle down and get through First Aid instead of just skimming over it. You may not need it if you are a focused person but if you are slightly attnetion deficit like I am, this really helps as Dr Jenkins kinda drills all the facts into your head. I watched them 1.7x times speed.
2. Listening to Goljan pathology again. I appreciated Goljan so much more second time round after I had a better pathology foundation. I also listened to this at 1.7x times speed as he was going too slow on normal speed.
3. Making connections. Annotate, annotate, annotate. If you read about a disease in First Aid, that is maybe mentioned in another section, make the connection and write it down. The actual exam is all about concepts and making connections. E.g. Paget's disease may cause high output cardiac failure (mentioned in the musk section of First Aid). Write this down in the cardiology section also. Add to it what kind of physiological values you would expect in high output cardiac failure. So this way you end up connecting musk +cardiac path+ cardiac physiology.
Actual exam:
More tiring than any of the 8 hour simulations I took. Maybe it's the stress bubbling away underneath. Make sure to get a good nights sleep before I know a lot of people who couldn't sleep the night prior and this really affected their performance. Avoid caffeine after midday the day before, go out for a movie or dinner with a friend.
I got to the Prometric Center around 7:15 am and I think ended up starting my exam at 7:30 am or something. Did the first two blocks back to back, took a break after 3rd and 4th, did blocks 5 and 6 back to back, took another break then did my last block. I had a massive headache during my 4th block which I think was due to caffeine withdrawal so I took a break after that and had my lunch and some coffee.
Question-wise: some of it was really really easy. There were definitely quite a few 'free' questions where you were kinda like 'come on are you serious?'
Then there were the mid-range questions where you kinda felt good about yourself because you were like 'this would be difficult if I hadn't studied my ass off but I did'.
Then there were the horrible ones. Most questions I could narrow down to two choices then I'd be stuck between them for ages. Some questions were so bizarre that I felt like shouting at my computer screen. There were questions I felt like even if I had spent another year preparing for Step1 I wouldn't have known the answer.
Time wise I was surprised by how I didn't have 20 minutes extra like I normally did for my practice tests. I had three minutes left after going through my marked questions in Block 1 ( I did spend a considerable amount of time going back and forth between choices) so I cranked it up and sped up a bit for the blocks after. But yeah as I said I'm normally a fast test-taker and I didn't have lots of extra time in the real thing.
That was really long. I hope that was useful for you guys. Still waiting for results I think I'll be happy with anything over a 240 but would be really disappointed if I ended up with a 220 or something. I don't even wanna think about results right now!!
NBME 1 (after watching kaplan videos): 185
NBME 6 (late Oct): 197
NBME 7 (Dec 31st): 240
UWSA 2 (Dec 31st): 252
NBME 3 (two weeks to go): 231
USMLE Rx simulation (1 week to go): 266
Materials used:
Pathology: BRS pathology, RR pathology, Kaplan Pathololgy
I would recommend reading BRS path once then listening to Goljan audio along with the RR pathology. I tried to read RR pathology but found the format difficult to deal with although I loved Goljan audio. Kaplan pathology was okay for pictures and I mainly used it while attending live lectures where I had Dr. Barone as a lecturer and he was pretty awesome.
Microbiology: First Aid, Clinical Microbiology made Ridiculously Simple (better than Kaplan micro)
Wasted a whole week watching Kaplan microbiology videos which were really not necessary. If I could start over, I would read CMMRS and supplement with First Aid.
Physiology: BRS physiology (highly recommend this), Kaplan Physiology
Kaplan physiology along with the videos were pretty decent. I only 'discovered' BRS physiology a month before my exam and although everyone says not to read new material so close to the exam, I gave it a quick read and really liked it. I think if you know BRS physiology cold it's sufficient for the exam.
Biochemistry: Kaplan biochemistry, First Aid
I watched the videos but didn't know the material really well until I attended the Live Lectures and had Dr. Hansen as a lecturer. She is pretty amazing and I went from Biochem being my weakest subject to one of my strongest. First Aid has a few conditions that weren't covered in the Kaplan textbook which is why I'm mentioning it.
Pharmacology: First Aid, Kaplan
I had a pretty good pharmacology lecturer during Live Lectures as well. I annotated Kaplan pharm into First Aid and I think that was enough.
Behavioral Sciences: Kaplan, First Aid
I read the Kaplan behavioral sciences book once and didn't touch it again. Reviewed First Aid before my exam. I had Dr. Fadem (she writes the high yield behavioral book) for live lectures and I've heard good things about her book but I didn't end up using it. My med school was pretty keen on Behavioral so I felt like I had a good starting foundation and it was my strongest subject in all my NBMEs.
Anatomy: Kaplan anatomy, HY neuroanatomy, First Aid
Anatomy was my weakest subject in all NBMEs and the actual exam. I kinda wish I had given more time to it. I felt the Kaplan anatomy book was overdetailed so I read it once but didn't really go back to it. I didn't read all of HY neuroanatomy just the bits on brainstem and spinal cord and some pictures. My neuroanatomy was pretty solid towards the end because I spent some time going through the pathways, pictures etc but I still really sucked at overall anatomy. I did get a lot of random anatomy questions on my exam (not just brachial plexus!) so yeah contrary to what you may have heard First Aid is NOT enough for anatomy.
Question Banks:
Finished U World once and then did incorrect questions again. The No 1 thing I would recommend is to annotate into First Aid concepts from UWorld as you go along. If 50 questions sounds too much, start off by doing 10-20 questions a day just make sure you annotate. The difficult questions in the actual exam are UWorld style so this is really helpful. I managed to annotate maybe 40-50% of UWorld into First Aid as I was pretty lazy in the beginning. My average was 56% first round and 80's towards end of second round.
I also did Kaplan Qbank, finished around 60%. I think I was on 65-70% towards the end. I don't know if I would do the Kaplan Qbank if I had to start over, I didn't find it extremely useful.
USMLE Rx. Finished 30%. Averaged 77%
I bought this about two weeks before my exam because I kinda run out of questions to review on UWorld and wanted to consolidate First Aid. I reallly liked it. It makes you notice the small details you skimmed over in First Aid. It was also good for doing a full 8 hour simulation test a week before the exam. It predicted me 266 though but I think it has a +/- 20 error margin. I almost prefer this as a second Qbank over Kaplan but Kaplan seems to be more popular and my scores haven't come out so maybe I'm wrong.
August to October: I started off watching Kaplan videos for Biochemistry, Microbiology and Physiology. My studying during the first few months was kinda on-off and I maybe did 4-5 hours a day. I found the videos good but a little slow and most of the time I was nodding off. I also listened to Goljan audio once (using RR pathology along with it) during this time but again it was a bit slow for me and I didn't really appreciate Goljan at this point
October to first week of December: Kaplan 6 week live lecture course. Lectures were amazing for pathology (Barone!), pharmacology and biochem. Others were decent but not anything to be over the moon about. The only downside of the lectures was that it didn't give me a lot of time to study in the evenings and I was lucky if I finished a block of UWorld questions at the end of each day. I guess it depends on how focused you can be. I also spent some of the time there socializing ( yes you do meet some decent people on the course) so I wasn't really pushing myself 100%.
December to exam: Crunch time. Ended up studying maybe 12 hours a day minimum, barely left the house etc. I was never an amazing student at med school but once I made a timetable and realized how much I needed to get through I just sucked it up and starting working my a** off. My score bumped up from 197 to 240-250 after three weeks of intense studying. I didn't really want to move my Jan 20th exam date because I had holiday plans end of January.
Things that really worked for me.
1. I went through First Aid using the DIT videos. This really forced me to buckle down and get through First Aid instead of just skimming over it. You may not need it if you are a focused person but if you are slightly attnetion deficit like I am, this really helps as Dr Jenkins kinda drills all the facts into your head. I watched them 1.7x times speed.
2. Listening to Goljan pathology again. I appreciated Goljan so much more second time round after I had a better pathology foundation. I also listened to this at 1.7x times speed as he was going too slow on normal speed.
3. Making connections. Annotate, annotate, annotate. If you read about a disease in First Aid, that is maybe mentioned in another section, make the connection and write it down. The actual exam is all about concepts and making connections. E.g. Paget's disease may cause high output cardiac failure (mentioned in the musk section of First Aid). Write this down in the cardiology section also. Add to it what kind of physiological values you would expect in high output cardiac failure. So this way you end up connecting musk +cardiac path+ cardiac physiology.
Actual exam:
More tiring than any of the 8 hour simulations I took. Maybe it's the stress bubbling away underneath. Make sure to get a good nights sleep before I know a lot of people who couldn't sleep the night prior and this really affected their performance. Avoid caffeine after midday the day before, go out for a movie or dinner with a friend.
I got to the Prometric Center around 7:15 am and I think ended up starting my exam at 7:30 am or something. Did the first two blocks back to back, took a break after 3rd and 4th, did blocks 5 and 6 back to back, took another break then did my last block. I had a massive headache during my 4th block which I think was due to caffeine withdrawal so I took a break after that and had my lunch and some coffee.
Question-wise: some of it was really really easy. There were definitely quite a few 'free' questions where you were kinda like 'come on are you serious?'
Then there were the mid-range questions where you kinda felt good about yourself because you were like 'this would be difficult if I hadn't studied my ass off but I did'.
Then there were the horrible ones. Most questions I could narrow down to two choices then I'd be stuck between them for ages. Some questions were so bizarre that I felt like shouting at my computer screen. There were questions I felt like even if I had spent another year preparing for Step1 I wouldn't have known the answer.
Time wise I was surprised by how I didn't have 20 minutes extra like I normally did for my practice tests. I had three minutes left after going through my marked questions in Block 1 ( I did spend a considerable amount of time going back and forth between choices) so I cranked it up and sped up a bit for the blocks after. But yeah as I said I'm normally a fast test-taker and I didn't have lots of extra time in the real thing.
That was really long. I hope that was useful for you guys. Still waiting for results I think I'll be happy with anything over a 240 but would be really disappointed if I ended up with a 220 or something. I don't even wanna think about results right now!!
Thanks so much for the post! I got a lot out of it. I did the Kaplan course too but felt I didn't get much out of it as I should have.
What is DIT? Where can I get these videos from and how long does it take to go through all of them?
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Doctors in training. Scoll down on the step1 forums page. There is a pretty long thread about the pros and cons of this program.
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See, the only Kaplan book I've heard good things about is biochem (and perhaps some of their OMM review material for the COMLEX). In the previous post, I was talking about both their notes and the qbanks - and I've perused the Kaplan materials because our school bought a copy of the complete set for each student. CMMRS, IMHO, is much better than Kaplan micro (I have both) and I'd rather use something like the BRS pharmcards than the Kaplan pharm materials.
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Kaplan pharm + their videos is by far the best book they have that i have read and i have heard about. I use that and the lippincott pharm cards and I feel pretty well prepared. I used CMMRS, and just put the kaplan micro into the tables of CMMRS and that worked out well for me on the micro shelf. There were questions on that shelf that I only got right b/c of Kaplan. I think it a lot of what students choose to use depends on the upperclassmen at individual schools. I know I base all my book purchases and study material based on my conversations I have w/ the 3rd years at my school.....When student after student gives me the same recommendation for a subject, then I take that is a sign that that is the book to use. I havent talked to someone who did NOT recommend Kaplan pharm + videos. Same with books like Goljan, CMMRS, etc. With something like biochem, Ive got recommendations for RR biochem and Kaplan biochem....I just chose kaplan b/c i already had the book.
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