USMLE Official 2015 Step 1 Planning and Strategy Thread

[Transposony]

Title says it all.
Let's discuss our strategy to conquer this beast in 2015.
I believe this deserves a separate thread instead of cluttering up the Official Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread as wells as people creating separate threads to ask questions about this topic.

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[Mr. Mojo Risin]

Great thread idea.

My plan of attack:

First Aid, UWorld, Pathoma + RR Biochem, RR Path sprinkled in. Going through Rx at the moment.

I'm considering DIT for when the time comes.

 

[Transposony]

My Strategy: (similar to as suggested by Phloston)

1. FA with USMLERx -----> Take Notes
2. KLNs with Kaplan Q Bank (0r Becker eCoach with Becker QBank-BUT no reviews yet)-----> Take Notes
3. Pathoma with UW-----> Take Notes
4. FA+ Notes Review +/- Robbins Qs

FA tells me what I must know and my Notes will tell me what I don't know.
Track my progress with NBMEs.
Might skip (2) partially or entirely due to time constraints.
Will also do MicroCards, Boards and Beyond and use Robbins/Wikipedia/Medscape etc for reference.
Might consider Integrated cases by Dr. Raymon.

 

[seminoma]

My Strategy: (similar to as suggested by Phloston)

1. FA with USMLERx -----> Take Notes
2. KLNs with Kaplan Q Bank (0r Becker eCoach with Becker QBank-BUT no reviews yet)-----> Take Notes
3. Pathoma with UW-----> Take Notes
4. FA+ Notes Review +/- Robbins Qs

FA tells me what I must know and my Notes will tell me what I don't know.
Track my progress with NBMEs.
Might skip (2) partially or entirely due to time constraints.
Will also do MicroCards, Boards and Beyond and use Robbins/Wikipedia/Medscape etc for reference.
Might consider Integrated cases by Dr. Raymon.

Can you elaborate more on your schedule? For instance, what do 1, 2, 3, 4 represent? Are they each a day of the week and you're going to do a 4 day rotation type of thing?

 

[Transposony]

Can you elaborate more on your schedule? For instance, what do 1, 2, 3, 4 represent? Are they each a day of the week and you're going to do a 4 day rotation type of thing?

1,2,3,4 roughly means Month 1 --> NBME, Month 2--> NBME etc.
However, it all depends on the quality of learning so my schedule is flexible to accommodate spending more time on topics I am not comfortable with.
I have not tried rotation type review but would like your input.

 

[seminoma]

1,2,3,4 roughly means Month 1 --> NBME, Month 2--> NBME etc.
However, it all depends on the quality of learning so my schedule is flexible to accommodate spending more time on topics I am not comfortable with.
I have not tried rotation type review but would like your input.

Interesting idea! How much time do you have for dedicated prep? My schedule is basically 1 chapter of FA (longer chapters are split over 2 days) and 2 UW blocks per day. My dedicated prep time will be 6 weeks and I'll be able to finish UW once with 1.5 weeks left of prep time. I also have both UWSAs and some NBMEs sprinkled in here and there. I'll also be able to get through FA 2x. Other resources I have written in right now are Pathoma, Lange pharmcards, and potentially the UWorld biostats thing. I considered a rotation type of thing, but I think I'll work best by doing basically the same thing everyday.

I've been using a stopwatch to time how long it takes me to do things like review blocks of qbanks, read a chapter of Pathoma/FA, etc and my dedicated prep calendar is roughly 8 hours of actual studying with 4 hours worth of intermittent breaks built-in. Obviously the remaining 12 hours of the day will be spent sleeping, working out, and eating. The 4 hours of built-in breaks are purely rest periods in between study periods.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I'm not sure what I should be doing for the step, I have several sources available to me, but I'm not sure which I should lean towards at the moment as for qBanks, I'm planning on using uWorld, Kaplan & Qmax. But I'm still not sure what I should stick with though.

I've read through Pathoma at least 3x while I was in Pathology and supplemented it w/RBP. Both Biochem and Pharmacology, I've used KLN while I was studying the course. My issue is now, should I stick with RBP, or should I use Goljan RR?

 

[Mattinthehat250]

I'm not sure what I should be doing for the step, I have several sources available to me, but I'm not sure which I should lean towards at the moment as for qBanks, I'm planning on using uWorld, Kaplan & Qmax. But I'm still not sure what I should stick with though.

I've read through Pathoma at least 3x while I was in Pathology and supplemented it w/RBP. Both Biochem and Pharmacology, I've used KLN while I was studying the course. My issue is now, should I stick with RBP, or should I use Goljan RR?

What's RBP?

 

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

What's RBP?

Robbin's Basic Pathology

 

[seminoma]

The aortic stenosis murmur seems to begin immediately after S1, whereas there is a slight delay after S2 before the mitral stenosis murmur begins.

Is this because there is less of a physiologic (normal) delay between S1/aortic valve opening compared to the delay between S2/mitral opening?

I'm not sure what I should be doing for the step, I have several sources available to me, but I'm not sure which I should lean towards at the moment as for qBanks, I'm planning on using uWorld, Kaplan & Qmax. But I'm still not sure what I should stick with though.

I've read through Pathoma at least 3x while I was in Pathology and supplemented it w/RBP. Both Biochem and Pharmacology, I've used KLN while I was studying the course. My issue is now, should I stick with RBP, or should I use Goljan RR?

Every seemingly random path detail we've been tested on could have been found in Goljan RR. To me that's enough to ignore Robbins except for reference purposes.

 

[Transposony]

Every seemingly random path detail we've been tested on could have been found in Goljan RR. To me that's enough to ignore Robbins except for reference purposes.

Problem is, he has already used Robbins.
Maybe just use Robbins as reference while doing QBanks.
IIRC Phloston doesn't recommend either of them and in his opinion doing all three QBanks is enough for path.
But then, different strokes for different folks.

 

[seminoma]

Problem is, he has already used Robbins.
Maybe just use Robbins as reference while doing QBanks.
IIRC Phloston doesn't recommend either of them and in his opinion doing all three QBanks is enough for path.
But then, different strokes for different folks.

I meant for second semester. Obviously I can't speak to Step 1, but Rx/Kaplan definitely are not enough to do well in classes.. At least not at my school due to the level of minutiae tested. Phloston did say that though, and I trust what he says for Step 1. I'm definitely going to be dumping RR path once school is over.

 

[Transposony]

Here is the strategy used by Modeselektor for a 254 !

 

[stepone2015]

So here's my plan. Let me know what you all thing to add/subtract.

I'll have completed at least one pass of UW/RX/FA/Pathoma prior to dedicated.

The idea is to do roughly 60 pages of FA per day in a memorization pass. If I get done in under the time I allot for those pages, I'll read ahead. That would allow me to squeeze in maybe an extra rushed pass at the end.

I'll start with doing 3 blocks per day (~30 minutes to do the block, 1.5 hours to review) of RX before switching to UW. The remaining time will be spent reviewing and redoing wrong/flagged questions (I flag questions if I think I got them right by luck).

Phloston recommends doing some Kaplan materials especially covering neuroscience, so I'll probably look into that for the 'misc' section of studying.

As for NBME's, I won't be doing anything else the days I do those doubles. The idea is to build stamina for the real thing. They may underestimate my real score via fatigue, but I'm okay with that. Doing UW/RX to date, I find I can complete blocks of questions with material I'm familar with in about 20-25 minutes. With material from first year (rusty), it takes me about 25-30 minutes. I'm going to start doing NBME's while allotting only 50 minutes per block and slowly increase the handicap until I get to 25 minutes per block, which should be pretty intense. Depending on how things go, I may up that to 30, but we'll see. The idea there is because everyone seems to report having timing issues on the real deal. I want to prep for that even though I am a naturally fast test taker. I really want time left over to review questions once on the real deal as I have a history of making dumb mistakes (meaning to pick A yet picking B, etc). I catch myself making dumb mistakes like that on school exams roughly 1 in 100 questions, which is significant.

I will be taking a half day off here and there, especially if I'm ahead of schedule.

Edit: that first double NBME (1 and 2) is done over spring break. That bit got cut off.

 

[dextor2003]

So here's my plan. Let me know what you all thing to add/subtract.

I'll have completed at least one pass of UW/RX/FA/Pathoma prior to dedicated.

The idea is to do roughly 60 pages of FA per day in a memorization pass. If I get done in under the time I allot for those pages, I'll read ahead. That would allow me to squeeze in maybe an extra rushed pass at the end. I'll have read through FA once prior to dedicated.

I'll start with doing 3 blocks per day (~30 minutes to do the block, 1.5 hours to review) of RX before switching to UW. The remaining time will be spent reviewing and redoing wrong/flagged questions (I flag questions if I think I got them right by luck).

Phloston recommends doing some Kaplan materials especially covering neuroscience, so I'll probably look into that for the 'misc' section of studying.

As for NBME's, I won't be doing anything else the days I do those doubles. The idea is to build stamina for the real thing. They may underestimate my real score via fatigue, but I'm okay with that. Doing UW/RX to date, I find I can complete blocks of questions that I'm familiar with in about 20-25 minutes. With material from first year, it takes me about 25-30 minutes. I'm going to start doing NBME's while allotting only 50 minutes per block and slowly increase the handicap until I get to 25 minutes per block, which should be pretty intense. Depending on how things go, I may up that to 30, but we'll see. The idea there is because everyone seems to report having timing issues on the real deal. I want to prep for that even though I am a naturally fast test taker. I really want time left over to review questions once on the real deal as I have a history of making dumb mistakes (meaning to pick A yet picking B, etc). I catch myself making dumb mistakes like that on school exams roughly 1 in 100 questions, which is significant.

I will be taking a half day off here and there, especially if I'm ahead of schedule.

Edit: that first double NBME (1 and 2) is done over spring break. That bit got cut off.

damn son, entire blocks in 25 minutes? you're a beast.

 

[Cowboy12]

Here is a modified Taus I've been toying with. I am on the fence about still using the HY molec mentioned in the original Taus but other than that I am just adding an extra resource for behavioral, neuro, biochem, and a couple staples like BRS phys. I really like video based lectures so including the pathos videos, KissPharm, SketchyMicro, and having the option of DIT seemed like a fit for me. May easily be overkill but at least its thorough. I'm either going to attempt to follow this or do something completely different and just try to do a question heavy study plan with as many UW passes as possible, maybe using kaplan as well, along with FA & Pathoma. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[syoung]

This is what I made a few days ago for my upcoming schedule. 4/20 test date, 3/13 dedicated start date

Planning on using UWORLD Qbank for my 2 full days and 1 half day of structured testing and as well as from mar 26 til apr 12 (basically ensuring I go through UWORLD 1x). USMLE Rx Qbank for the first 2 weeks of studying (however many questions get done until I start UWORLD); this is to help w/ annotating FA

Materials:
FA, pathoma, sketchy micro (I already bought it so planned on 2x), clinical neuroanatomy made easy, goljan audio 2x (to skip some of his filler words)

Do you think that's enough time? I'm concerned about 2 things:

1) not finishing USMLE Rx; ie not finishing 2 full Qbanks
2) not having enough time to review. whether it's the 3-4 hours I've set aside for dedicated review for subjects/organs or the 1-2 hours I've set aside at night to review the day's questions.

so to address this:

1) should I start doing some USMLE Rx throughout the next few months? roughly 25x week?
2) shorten lunch/dinner time, wakeup/breakfast in morning, especially towards the 2nd week on?

I've made this to try to be consistent with when I workout (time of day), as well as waking up, meal times, and bedtimes

Thoughts and comments?

 

[Transposony]

Looks like a great plan.
I won't compromise on break time to avoid a burnout.
In fact you should reserve entire Saturday/Sunday as "off day".

 

[aspiringmd1015]

i used mostly Kaplan for my prep, except patho of course, i used pathoma. so majority of my notes/highlighting are within the margins of my kaplan books. So to integrate that into first aid, does it sound ridiculous to break up my kaplan into sections and insert them into FA accordingly(my FA is in a huge binder)

 

[Transposony]

i used mostly Kaplan for my prep, except patho of course, i used pathoma. so majority of my notes/highlighting are within the margins of my kaplan books. So to integrate that into first aid, does it sound ridiculous to break up my kaplan into sections and insert them into FA accordingly(my FA is in a huge binder)

I just don't see the point in doing so.
Better would be to write down the HY points from KLN into FA.
Ideally, the point should not be more than a simple sentence at the maximum.

 

[Phloston]

So here's my plan. Let me know what you all thing to add/subtract.

I'll have completed at least one pass of UW/RX/FA/Pathoma prior to dedicated.

The idea is to do roughly 60 pages of FA per day in a memorization pass. If I get done in under the time I allot for those pages, I'll read ahead. That would allow me to squeeze in maybe an extra rushed pass at the end.

I'll start with doing 3 blocks per day (~30 minutes to do the block, 1.5 hours to review) of RX before switching to UW. The remaining time will be spent reviewing and redoing wrong/flagged questions (I flag questions if I think I got them right by luck).

Phloston recommends doing some Kaplan materials especially covering neuroscience, so I'll probably look into that for the 'misc' section of studying.

As for NBME's, I won't be doing anything else the days I do those doubles. The idea is to build stamina for the real thing. They may underestimate my real score via fatigue, but I'm okay with that. Doing UW/RX to date, I find I can complete blocks of questions with material I'm familar with in about 20-25 minutes. With material from first year (rusty), it takes me about 25-30 minutes. I'm going to start doing NBME's while allotting only 50 minutes per block and slowly increase the handicap until I get to 25 minutes per block, which should be pretty intense. Depending on how things go, I may up that to 30, but we'll see. The idea there is because everyone seems to report having timing issues on the real deal. I want to prep for that even though I am a naturally fast test taker. I really want time left over to review questions once on the real deal as I have a history of making dumb mistakes (meaning to pick A yet picking B, etc). I catch myself making dumb mistakes like that on school exams roughly 1 in 100 questions, which is significant.

I will be taking a half day off here and there, especially if I'm ahead of schedule.

Edit: that first double NBME (1 and 2) is done over spring break. That bit got cut off.

It's posts like this that make me realize I don't have OCPD.

View attachment 188235
View attachment 188236
View attachment 188237

This is what I made a few days ago for my upcoming schedule. 4/20 test date, 3/13 dedicated start date

Planning on using UWORLD Qbank for my 2 full days and 1 half day of structured testing and as well as from mar 26 til apr 12 (basically ensuring I go through UWORLD 1x). USMLE Rx Qbank for the first 2 weeks of studying (however many questions get done until I start UWORLD); this is to help w/ annotating FA

Materials:
FA, pathoma, sketchy micro (I already bought it so planned on 2x), clinical neuroanatomy made easy, goljan audio 2x (to skip some of his filler words)

Do you think that's enough time? I'm concerned about 2 things:

1) not finishing USMLE Rx; ie not finishing 2 full Qbanks
2) not having enough time to review. whether it's the 3-4 hours I've set aside for dedicated review for subjects/organs or the 1-2 hours I've set aside at night to review the day's questions.

so to address this:

1) should I start doing some USMLE Rx throughout the next few months? roughly 25x week?
2) shorten lunch/dinner time, wakeup/breakfast in morning, especially towards the 2nd week on?

I've made this to try to be consistent with when I workout (time of day), as well as waking up, meal times, and bedtimes

Thoughts and comments?

No toilet breaks?

 

[syoung]

It's posts like this that make me realize I don't have OCPD.



No toilet breaks?

toilet breaks when i finish step 1

But seriously @Phloston, any thoughts on this 5 week plan? If I'm concerned w/ time, I was thinking of shortening my wakeup/breakfast to 1 hour, lunch and dinner to 30 min each...

 

[Phloston]

toilet breaks when i finish step 1

But seriously @Phloston, any thoughts on this 5 week plan? If I'm concerned w/ time, I was thinking of shortening my wakeup/breakfast to 1 hour, lunch and dinner to 30 min each...

Based on your plan, I don't even think my brain is capable of relating to your level of organization. What's going to determine what gets you certain questions right or wrong on the real deal will hugely be situational (i.e., your mental state in the moment and not over-thinking things). No amount of studying will change that. Seriously. I could have probably studied for three fewer months and backpacked through southern Asia and would have gotten a higher score on the Step 1 had I just chilled out and not over-thought a handful of easy-medium-difficulty questions. So what I'm saying is the technicalities regarding your exact preparation methods don't matter. A generalized route and resource coverage is important (which you clearly have), but don't worry about taking a little time here and there for activities, family, etc. In the end, your score won't change because of that stuff. People tried telling me that before the Step 1 and I didn't believe it. But it's true. You'll only see that after you sit the real deal though.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I planned on going through First Aid at least 4-5 times, but seeing these schedules, makes we wonder if I should do it at least another couple of times. Although, I like the idea of reading for understanding and not memorizing the first time around, I guess that could work for anything not named Micro or Pharm.

 

[daniel1234]

Hi everyone,

I am planning to take the USMLE step 1 in mid July and I was wondering if people can give me some feedback and advice regarding my schedule and resources.

Question 1) are there other sources of questions that are good in addition to NBME and Uworld bank that I should be doing first? i.e. are the questions from FIRST AID cases book worth doing first?

Question 2) my school doesn't end until end of June so I'll be studying part time, is this a good schedule?

a) now to end of February => read FIRST AID once and do FIRST AID CASE question?
b) February to end of March => go through Pathoma book and video once
c) March to end of June => go through Q bank and NBME samples and use resources such as pharmacology flash cards, clinical microbiology made easy, go over first aid for any weakness (any other resources I should use here or questions source?)
d) end of June to mid July (studying full time) => go through Q bank and NBME

Thank you

 

[Transposony]

My Strategy: (similar to as suggested by Phloston)

1. FA with USMLERx -----> Take Notes
2. KLNs with Kaplan Q Bank (0r Becker eCoach with Becker QBank-BUT no reviews yet)-----> Take Notes
3. Pathoma with UW-----> Take Notes
4. FA+ Notes Review +/- Robbins Qs

FA tells me what I must know and my Notes will tell me what I don't know.
Track my progress with NBMEs.
Might skip (2) partially or entirely due to time constraints.
Will also do MicroCards, Boards and Beyond and use Robbins/Wikipedia/Medscape etc for reference.
Might consider Integrated cases by Dr. Raymon.

..............

 

[addy]

So here's my plan. Let me know what you all thing to add/subtract.

I'll have completed at least one pass of UW/RX/FA/Pathoma prior to dedicated.

The idea is to do roughly 60 pages of FA per day in a memorization pass. If I get done in under the time I allot for those pages, I'll read ahead. That would allow me to squeeze in maybe an extra rushed pass at the end.

I'll start with doing 3 blocks per day (~30 minutes to do the block, 1.5 hours to review) of RX before switching to UW. The remaining time will be spent reviewing and redoing wrong/flagged questions (I flag questions if I think I got them right by luck).

Phloston recommends doing some Kaplan materials especially covering neuroscience, so I'll probably look into that for the 'misc' section of studying.

As for NBME's, I won't be doing anything else the days I do those doubles. The idea is to build stamina for the real thing. They may underestimate my real score via fatigue, but I'm okay with that. Doing UW/RX to date, I find I can complete blocks of questions with material I'm familar with in about 20-25 minutes. With material from first year (rusty), it takes me about 25-30 minutes. I'm going to start doing NBME's while allotting only 50 minutes per block and slowly increase the handicap until I get to 25 minutes per block, which should be pretty intense. Depending on how things go, I may up that to 30, but we'll see. The idea there is because everyone seems to report having timing issues on the real deal. I want to prep for that even though I am a naturally fast test taker. I really want time left over to review questions once on the real deal as I have a history of making dumb mistakes (meaning to pick A yet picking B, etc). I catch myself making dumb mistakes like that on school exams roughly 1 in 100 questions, which is significant.

I will be taking a half day off here and there, especially if I'm ahead of schedule.

Edit: that first double NBME (1 and 2) is done over spring break. That bit got cut off.

Any chance you'd be willing to share that excel file?

 

[addy]

I'm about to make my dedicated period plan and was curious what your guys' thoughts were about this---

I did UWorld during 2nd year and made anki cards out of all the educational objectives--been going through them every day. I will also have done one pass of UWorld/Pathoma/FA before dedicated time-- which I have 6 weeks of.

So, I was thinking I'd do USMLERX and Kaplan and then UWorld a second time during dedicated. I should be able to get done with USMLERX and Kaplan in 3 weeks (and if I don't finish it then I'm not going to lose sleep over it) and then I can use the rest of my 3 weeks time doing a thorough last pass of UWorld and NBME's.

Any thoughts on this? I see not a lot of people doing all three banks during dedicated.

 

[seminoma]

Any chance you'd be willing to share that excel file?

Yes please!

 

[seminoma]

I'm about to make my dedicated period plan and was curious what your guys' thoughts were about this---

I did UWorld during 2nd year and made anki cards out of all the educational objectives--been going through them every day. I will also have done one pass of UWorld/Pathoma/FA before dedicated time-- which I have 6 weeks of.

So, I was thinking I'd do USMLERX and Kaplan and then UWorld a second time during dedicated. I should be able to get done with USMLERX and Kaplan in 3 weeks (and if I don't finish it then I'm not going to lose sleep over it) and then I can use the rest of my 3 weeks time doing a thorough last pass of UWorld and NBME's.

Any thoughts on this? I see not a lot of people doing all three banks during dedicated.

I would stop using UW and do Kaplan/Rx for the rest of MS2, then do UW exclusively during dedicated.

 

[seminoma]

Does anyone know if DIT has a list of "5 star topics" available? Or do you have to just go through all the videos and write them down?

I still haven't decided if I'm going to do DIT during dedicated or not.

 

[addy]

I would stop using UW and do Kaplan/Rx for the rest of MS2, then do UW exclusively during dedicated.

As I said earlier, my test is in 56 days (1.5 year curriculum). That's why I wanted to try to knock them both out during dedicated.

 

[seminoma]

As I said earlier, my test is in <2 months (1.5 year curriculum). That's why I wanted to try to knock them both out during dedicated.

Oops, sorry haven't kept up with all the posts. Conventional wisdom is that UW during dedicated is the best use of time. I don't know if anyone or anything could convince me to spend time on any other qbank besides UW in the last 4-6 weeks before my test.

 

[seminoma]

What do you guys think about doing an NBME two days before test day? (Monday = NBME, Tuesday = Break, Wednesday = Step1). I'm thinking about it, but I'm worried that if I do poorly on the NBME I'll get freaked out.

 

[QualityProcess]

What do you guys think about doing an NBME two days before test day? (Monday = NBME, Tuesday = Break, Wednesday = Step1). I'm thinking about it, but I'm worried that if I do poorly on the NBME I'll get freaked out.

My plan is to an NBME/COMSAE each week during dedicated (5) except the weekend immediately prior to the real deal. The week up to step1 and comlex, I'll just be cramming facts, rather than dealing with any conceptual material

 

[seminoma]

My plan is to an NBME/COMSAE each week during dedicated (5) except the weekend immediately prior to the real deal. The week up to step1 and comlex, I'll just be cramming facts, rather than dealing with any conceptual material

Yeah I'm considering that too, but I don't want to fall out of practice with questions/stamina. Right now I have my schedule written so that I finish UW 6 days before my exam. 3 of the next days are spent on FA only (micro, pharm, etc) and then the NBME day, and then a break day, and then Step.

 

[Transposony]

Does anyone know if DIT has a list of "5 star topics" available? Or do you have to just go through all the videos and write them down?

I still haven't decided if I'm going to do DIT during dedicated or not.

IMHO you don't need DIT.
Better spend that time taking NBMEs and reviewing NBMEs already done.

 

[stepone2015]

Any chance you'd be willing to share that excel file?

Yes please!

https://mega.co.nz/#!CVUTmB6B!4j2KHBMdFwvd-da-p-1pkZK-UsgX33ilXBgRByD-7oU

You have to adjust it to fit your schedule/study time, of course.

Also, I'm considering substituting out 2nd RX pass for a first pass of Kaplan during dedicated. More unique questions instead of a lower yield bank. Also, was thinking of dropping that middle FA pass for the Brosencephalon anki deck passes. I learn great from anki, so why not? What do you guys think?

 

[stepone2015]

It's posts like this that make me realize I don't have OCPD.



No toilet breaks?

If you think that's bad, I have an excel spreadsheet for every grade on every test/quiz/grade I've gotten since day 1 of med school. I did that mostly because the way grades are shown on our school website is horribly intuitive. And because I'm psychotic.

 

[Transposony]

https://mega.co.nz/#!CVUTmB6B!4j2KHBMdFwvd-da-p-1pkZK-UsgX33ilXBgRByD-7oU

You have to adjust it to fit your schedule/study time, of course.

Also, I'm considering substituting out 2nd RX pass for a first pass of Kaplan during dedicated. More unique questions instead of a lower yield bank. What do you guys think?

 

[syma]

I don't know where to begin with my planning. I want to take the exam 3rd week of August. I have UsMLE rx until May, and do plan on getting uworld. And possibly pathoma. I just don't know how to organise my time.

I will have 3.5 weeks dedicated. I figured I would just work through it. Lol, didn't realise how much planning is involved.

 

[addy]

https://mega.co.nz/#!CVUTmB6B!4j2KHBMdFwvd-da-p-1pkZK-UsgX33ilXBgRByD-7oU

You have to adjust it to fit your schedule/study time, of course.

Also, I'm considering substituting out 2nd RX pass for a first pass of Kaplan during dedicated. More unique questions instead of a lower yield bank. Also, was thinking of dropping that middle FA pass for the Brosencephalon anki deck passes. I learn great from anki, so why not? What do you guys think?

I think if you're scoring well on your practice tests then doing the bro deck would be an inefficient use of time. Instead, I'd think you'd be better off taking your feedback from your exams and working on your weak points.

Question for you. I am thinking of trying to do Rx and as much of Kaplan as possible, both within 21 days and leaving the rest of the days to do UWorld 2nd pass (did first pass during school and made anki cards out of everything that I'll have reviewed prior to dedicated. You think that's doable/wise? Or would it be better to just do Rx slower and then go into UWorld? My test is mid-march and will have done one pass of FA/Uworld/Pathoma prior to dedicated (starts in 10 days).

 

[stepone2015]

I think if you're scoring well on your practice tests then doing the bro deck would be an inefficient use of time. Instead, I'd think you'd be better off taking your feedback from your exams and working on your weak points.

Question for you. I am thinking of trying to do Rx and as much of Kaplan as possible, both within 21 days and leaving the rest of the days to do UWorld 2nd pass (did first pass during school and made anki cards out of everything that I'll have reviewed prior to dedicated. You think that's doable/wise? Or would it be better to just do Rx slower and then go into UWorld? My test is mid-march and will have done one pass of FA/Uworld/Pathoma prior to dedicated (starts in 10 days).

If you did just qbanks those days and nothing else, you'd have to do roughly 210 questions each day. That's not impossible, but it depends on how fast you can do a block and still learn from it. If the pace is too much faster than what you're used to, you might burn out or just not learn from questions.

An alternative would be picking out the highest yield Kaplan sections a la phloston (I think he said neuroanatomy and cardio heart sounds, not sure) and just doing those plus RX.

 

[seminoma]

IMHO you don't need DIT.
Better spend that time taking NBMEs and reviewing NBMEs already done.

I completely agree. However, I've found that I benefit significantly from video lectures compared to reading a book. Doing DIT will be a way to do my 2nd pass of FA during dedicated (rather than reading it a second time). It will take longer than just reading FA, but I think it will help my retention significantly.

That said, DIT is stll in the air.. I have two calendars written out right now. One includes DIT, the other does not. I haven't decided which to do yet, and I probably won't do so for sure until the summer.

 

[stepone2015]

What do you guys think about doing an NBME two days before test day? (Monday = NBME, Tuesday = Break, Wednesday = Step1). I'm thinking about it, but I'm worried that if I do poorly on the NBME I'll get freaked out.

I think it's too many questions, and yeah, you might freak out if you mess up. Best to do the free 150 as recommended by many others and take it easy. I plan on doing my last NBMEs a week prior to the test.

For me, I need to punctuate studying material frequently to avoid feeling like I'll never finish whatever it is I'm doing. That's why in my study plan, each day I alternate doing questions with reading FA and doing things like Pathoma. If I haven't done a ton of qbanks/NBMEs in the days leading up to Step 1, I think it will help me feel fresh and ready to pound out 8 hours of questions.

 

[seminoma]

I don't know where to begin with my planning. I want to take the exam 3rd week of August. I have UsMLE rx until May, and do plan on getting uworld. And possibly pathoma. I just don't know how to organise my time.

I will have 3.5 weeks dedicated. I figured I would just work through it. Lol, didn't realise how much planning is involved.

Everything is extra serious on SDN haha. I don't think most people are worried about their step 1 schedule at this point in the year.

I think it's too many questions, and yeah, you might freak out if you mess up. Best to do the free 150 as recommended by many others and take it easy. I plan on doing my last NBMEs a week prior to the test.

For me, I need to punctuate studying material frequently to avoid feeling like I'll never finish whatever it is I'm doing. That's why in my study plan, each day I alternating doing questions with reading FA and doing things like Pathoma. If I haven't done a ton of qbanks/NBMEs in the days leading up to Step 1, I think it will help me feel fresh and ready to pound out 8 hours of questions.

Good point. My test center still doesn't have the free 150 dates scheduled.

 

[syma]

When is it best to do Pathoma?
What do people do during their dedicated study period?

 

[addy]

Everything is extra serious on SDN haha. I don't think most people are worried about their step 1 schedule at this point in the year.

Some of us are on a 1.5 year curriculum so this is our crunch month!

 

[ALUCSD18]

Hello, MS1 here. Do you guys recommend I buy any step 1 resources now, or should I wait until the end of the year/ early next year when pathoma comes out with different subjects? Thanks

 

[stepone2015]

Hello, MS1 here. Do you guys recommend I buy any step 1 resources now, or should I wait until the end of the year/ early next year when pathoma comes out with different subjects? Thanks

No. Get out of here man, you're too young for this stress.

But seriously, kick ass in class, and save the gunnin' for 2nd year. For starting M2, Pathoma is a must and UW/RX if you can manage.