@tvelocity514 @RadOnc250
Thank you for the kind words. Let me preface this by saying that my school changed its curriculum so that preclinical studies were shortened to 1.5 years, and we were given a 7-8 week study period beginning a week before Christmas. That said, I opted to start early with my Step 1 study by taking the summer between 1st year and 2nd year to review what I learned as an MS1. I gathered the majority of my materials (FA, Pathoma, USMLERx Qbank) shortly after starting summer research last May. My goal during the summer was 1) Review GI (most recent block completed at the time), 2) Focus on ONE broad topic -- I settled on Immunology since I enjoyed studying for it and knew I'd see it in my upcoming blocks for 2nd year 1st semester (MSK, Neuro, Repro/Endo). During my commute to research, I'd listen to 1 Goljan lecture. At night, I'd complete a block of 10-20 ?s in GI, Immuno, and whichever subject Goljan covered that day. I tried to stay on this schedule during the summer, but research was hectic and I'm not one to skimp on netflix time with my fiancee.
Resources used:
FA, Pathoma, USMLERx Qbank, UWorld (1 mo + 1 wk subscription), Lange Pharm flash cards, Goljan Audio + RR Path, Lippincott microbio flash cards, Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple DIT.
UWorld Avg (1st pass) -- 75%
USMLERx Avg (75% complete) -- 71%
NBME Scores:
12/18 1st CBSE (administered by my school) - 195
01/19 NBME 13 -- 235
01/27 NBME 15 -- 230
02/10 NBME 16 -- 247
02/17 UWSA 2 -- 238
02/23 Real NBME -- 251
My study period was between 12/27-2/22.
12/29 - 01/16: 7-9am I started with a review of my pharm + microbio flashcards. I was able to get through 1 chapter of flashcards and finish by 9-930 am.
9am - 12pm --> Watch DIT videos. I was able to finish 6-8 videos before lunch. YMMV depending on how comfortable you are with the material before (I watched almost all of the videos on 1.75x speed since the lecturers speak at a snail's pace). Break at noon to call the fiancee and grab a bite to eat.
1-5pm --> Watch the rest of the DIT videos for that day. My goal was to finish 16 videos/day to complete the entire series in 2 weeks.
6-8pm --> Gym + Dinner. I listened to Goljan on the drive to the gym + while working out.
8-11pm --> Watch Pathoma, review FA. I probably watched more pathoma than review FA since DIT is essentially a thorough 1st pass of FA.
After rinsing + repeating for ~2 weeks, I started on UWorld. I completed 3 blocks/day, 1 hour to complete the block (timed, random, non-tutor mode) and took 1-2 hours to review my right + wrong answers. At the end of the day (~8 pm), I'd look at my notes regarding which concepts I struggled with most that day, and used Goljan RR, FA, Pathoma, and other resources to reinforce the material. Youtube has a number of informative videos that helped me understand physiology, embryology or anatomy related concepts (I found David West's videos on resp physio to be a big help, but there is no need to watch his entire series!)
After completing UWorld + reviewing Uworld tailored Anki flashcards, I took NBME 16. I was 13 days out and ready to take the test, but I opted to not move up my test date. I completed all of my wrong ?s on Uworld, half of my flagged ?s, then took UWSA2. The 238 was a wake up call for me, so I turned my attention back to USMLERx. I could not bear reading FA, so I found the USMLERx Qbank to be my go to by only taking 3-4 blocks of 44 med/hard questions up until the day before the test. The day before the test, I took one block of 44 USMLERx ?s, watched Pathoma, and read a few relevant FA pages (RR at the end, and the midbrain stroke section of Neuro FA)
On test day, I warmed up by going on a jog, reviewing flash cards, and completing 15 ?s on USMLERx. I walked into that test sky high with confidence, and left feeling like I at least broke 230.
Overall, I completed > 5000 unique questions before taking the real deal. I made a strong effort to complete 1000 questions before my dedicated studying period, which wasn't too daunting if you stick to completing a block of 10-20 daily. Also, I made a better attempt to familiarize myself with FA, pathoma, and USMLERx by using each resource as supplements to class material throughout MS2 1st semester.
I've left out some detail for brevity sake, but I hit most of my main points. I truly believe that Step is 50% content, 40-45% mental, and 5-10% luck. Don't skimp on your sanity! You need to believe you can score 250 < in order to achieve it! This is something that I think schools neglect, and I picked up from playing sports--visualize your success. I took time before every block to visualize myself getting every answer right, and scoring 100% on each block. I even changed my iPhone wall paper with a customized message of "thumbs up" and "smiley faces", and the "break 2__ !" Of course that never happened, but it did wonders to my confidence and was a game changer when I was hitting a wall during my study period. As tasar said, this test is doable!
