Alright here's my write-up, as promised.
Me: average student (2nd quartile, don't know exact ranking but I'm usually within 5% of the average so probably lower down in second quartile), mid-tier school with an average step in the 240s.
Step 1: 261
NBME 13: 234
CBSE: 248
UWSA1: 258
UWSA2: 256
NBME 15: 263
NBME 16: 261
NBME 17: 257
NBME 18: 255
NBME 19: 255
Free 120: 87% - 248
UWorld: 86%
Rx: 84%
Kaplan (~50% complete): 84%
Spring semester of M2: I started studying in January. I did Rx, 30 problems/day. I read every word of every answer explanation and every associated First Aid page. It took me an average of 3 hours/day. I honestly think this was the biggest factor in my success. It got repetitive after a while, like I read the FA page about macrocytic anemia about 50 times. But by the time I was done with Rx, I had probably 90% of First Aid down cold. I did take notes when working through Rx, but never looked at them again after writing them haha. I think just the process of writing helped me remember stuff better.
I did some of Kaplan during first semester of M2 to study for EOB exams, and sporadically throughout the spring semester and dedicated. I think Rx is infinitely better than Kaplan. Kaplan has so many completely irrelevant questions that I couldn't even find the answer to with google. Rx focuses on higher yield stuff. I think it's especially good if you struggle with memorizing stuff, because it forces you to nail down First Aid. Rx also has short videos, which I used whenever I found a topic I struggled with (mostly biochem, which ended up being my best section on the real deal despite being probably my worst block of M1/M2).
I followed along with my classes in Pathoma.
Multisystems course: my school has a 3-week multisystems course right before dedicated. At this point I started UWorld and was studying around 5-6 hours a day. The beginning of MS was when I took the CBSE and NBME 13. I didn't take any notes on UWorld but I did make my own Anki cards. By the time I started UWorld I felt like I had a good grasp on the high-yield concepts, and was more focusing on nailing down lower yield details.
Dedicated: I took 3.5 weeks of dedicated (school offered 6.5). I finished UWorld about 2 weeks into dedicated. Knew I was not going to do it again because my first pass percentage was already pretty good, and I would probably just answer the questions based on memorization from my first pass. As I was finishing up UWorld, I also watched the cardio and pulmonology chapters of Physeo, which I found very helpful. I re-watched chapters 1-3 of pathoma, which I found extremely high yield. I watched a few other chapters of pathoma again just to feel like I was being productive but that was mostly a waste of time since I had already been through pathoma once during classes.
My last week and a half or so was mostly NBMEs and days off. I took a LOT of NBMEs in that time, which wasn't my original plan, but I felt like I was ready to move my test up at that point and wanted to get them all done.
I took the last day off before the test. This is a must, in my opinion.
The test: Won't say too much because everyone has a different experience, but I walked out feeling pretty decent about it. It was just slightly harder than the free 120. I didn't look up answers so no idea how many I got wrong.
I never used DIT, B&B, or any pre-made Anki decks. I watched a few Sketchy micro videos (staph, strep, neisseria), which were only slightly helpful. I think Sketchy pharm is a total waste of time but I know some people swear by it.
