Took the exam last month before the rollover to this year’s testing pool. Learned a lot from SDN over the years, so hoping to pay it forward and help some folks who are making their plan. Sorry in advance for the long read!
How I studied:
I entered the summer after MS1 with big Step 1 study goals. I think I even bought a BRS and Goljan book, but before the Amazon 2-day package was even delivered, I had fallen off the study bandwagon. Never happened. Did not crack any books that summer. Fast forward to the end of winter break of MS2 when I finally got the energy to think hard about Step 1 and develop my plan…
I ended up initially choosing FA and Kaplan Qbank. Uworld, Pathoma, USMLE Secrets, and a set of Lange Biochemistry flash cards would be added to the mix later.
In January, I started reading one chapter of FA daily and doing at least 10 Qbank questions related to that chapter plus 5-10 questions of mixed topics that I had already covered that week. Since there were 10 Organ Systems chapters in FA, I did this in 2-week blocks. That is, I did the above for 10 days during a two-week period and used the other 4 “off days” to work on my normal coursework, catch up on any FA chapters I was behind in, or to just relax. I did not read any of the General Principles chapters at that point, but instead relied on Qbank for exposure to those topics.
In February, I continued the 2-week 10 chapter+Qbank blocks. However, I did start adding in General Principles chapters, namely Microbio and Behavioral Science, on 1 or 2 of my “off days” in each 2-week period. Once I was 8 weeks out from my test date, I took my first NBME practice form to get a sense of how my plan was working.
Result: NBME 11 – 8 weeks out – 600/245
For the next 3 weeks in March, I stayed the course with FA and Qbank and once regular classes ended, I hit the General Principles chapters and took my second practice form.
Result: NBME 12 – 5 weeks out – 650/260
I was now at the start of my school’s dedicated study period, and I had decided to take 5 weeks to prepare. I bought Uworld, USMLE Secrets (on the recommendation of a friend), and the Lange Biochem cards (since I realized biochem, especially metabolism, was one of my weaker points).
The first 2 weeks of the study period, I kept each day organized by system (e.g. cardio). I did 10 Uworld questions related to that day’s topic first thing in the morning, and then read the corresponding FA chapter. After I would do 30-50 Uworld questions on mixed topics that I had already covered that week. Around this time I would take a couple of hours off each day to eat dinner, exercise, or relax. Then, at night I would read the Secrets chapters related to that day’s system. It took 10 days to do the Organ Systems FA chapters and then I used the remaining days to do General Principles, either in FA, Secrets, or with flash cards. I ended this 2 week period with another NBME practice form.
Result: NBME 15 – 3 weeks out – 630/256
I decided to change gears somewhat at this point. I bought Pathoma, and committed to watching all the videos in one week while only taking typed notes on concepts that were missing from FA. So, I started each day that week with 30-40 UWorld questions on all topics, watched as many Pathoma videos as I could during the day, took my break and then did a faster-than-before read of 1 or 2 FA chapters at night. Another week down so I took a NBME practice form.
Result: NBME 16 – 2 weeks out – 640/258
The next week, I shifted my focus to be more on UWorld questions and General Principles. I did 40-70 UWorld questions each morning, did a fast read of 2 FA Organ Systems chapters after, and then did a more focused read of General Principles topics at night. I decided to not take any other NBME practice exams, so for the final week I just did rinse and repeat of the week prior.
The day before my exam, I did a few UWorld questions, scanned through the Classics and Key Associations in FA, and then did targeted review of topics I felt were still my weaker ones.
At the end of the study period, I had done a first pass on all but about 400 “pathology” questions on UWorld at just under 90% correct. I did not say this above, but I was also continuing to do small 5 question sets of Kaplan Qbank questions sporadically throughout the day when I needed a break from reading. Overall I felt that UWorld and Kaplan Qbank approach topics through a slightly different lens and complement each other nicely.
Also SUPER IMPORTANT – from the very beginning I was annotating my copy of FA based on items that popped up in the different qbanks, Secrets, or even my regular coursework. I think this was critical, as has been said on here before, FA off the shelf is great but does not have everything or always explain things in a way that stuck with me. In the end, my copy was loaded with red pen and diagrams I had taped in.
Test day:
Thought I would throw this part in here since lot of people above are feeling anxiety post-test day. My confidence was 100% shot when I walked out of the test center. I mean completely demolished. The exam certainly felt more difficult than what I had experienced prior, with plenty of WTF moments and a list full of others that I thought of afterwards and knew I had missed. Despite that, after 3 weeks of waiting…
End result: >275
As others have said, the absolute best thing you can do is to study hard in your preclinical classes, but having a good plan once Step 1 comes around is also important. Keep in mind that everyone does this differently, so be willing to be flexible with your plan, as well is with which resources you use.
Good luck and big congrats to those who finished!
