Passing Step 1 comfortably

[srirachamayonnaise]

Finishing up core clerkship and will be going into dedicated for 8 weeks. Haven’t done any serious study at all (haven’t started UWorld, only skimmed through 75% of FA, haven’t done Anki either) and just did CBSSA form 25 and scored in the LP range. My question is how much dedicated time do I really need to pass comfortably? So many questions on that form look familiar to me but I just missed them because I didn’t remember the exact details. I feel like if I read FA a couple times I will be able to retain enough to pass.

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[Dr. Anonymouss]

Don't be too worried about an initially low score. My first score was 63% and it was with a very similar approach. I didn't do any uworld at this point, although I did religiously do anki throughout pre-clinicals. At the end of my 6 week studying I was getting 80%'s and I felt confident going into my test day.

Edit: And as stated above, prioritize uworld over everything. Re-reading first aid multiple times isn't beneficial for your time. Work on going through all of uworld and devote 2-3 hours throughout the day to focus on weak areas which can be done through pathoma or first aid. But no sense reading it cover to cover. Focus on weak areas.

 

[Billiam95]

Honestly, I'd go balls to the wall studying for step1. I've been surprised in MS3 just how much info is either straight step1 material, or step1 dependent. You'd only be doing yourself a favor by learning as much as you can in the next 8 weeks.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Honestly, I'd go balls to the wall studying for step1. I've been surprised in MS3 just how much info is either straight step1 material, or step1 dependent. You'd only be doing yourself a favor by learning as much as you can in the next 8 weeks.

Yes, having strong step I knowledge plays a big part on step II. I've relied heavily on step I knowledge getting me through my shelf exams as there is a lot of overlap.

 

[aldol16]

8 weeks of dedicated is more than enough to comfortably pass. You could probably comfortably pass with 4 weeks. You should take a baseline NBME to see where you're at. If you're in the 230-250 range, you're probably going to pass comfortably.

 

[wondervisions]

Sketchy + UWorld and you will be golden. Might be a little late for all of sketchy but still would be useful for getting the softball micro questions.

IMO reading FA is low yield.

 

[guytakingboards]

I don't recognize a world where people are starting UWorld 8 wks out and other people are saying FA is low yield.

 

[deleted1079620]

I don't recognize a world where people are starting UWorld 8 wks out and other people are saying FA is low yield.

“FA is low yield” is incorrect. READING FA is inefficient, as the material in FA can be covered more quickly by uworld & anki.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I don't recognize a world where people are starting UWorld 8 wks out and other people are saying FA is low yield.

And there’s a lot more questions in uworld now. In my discussions with med students, it seems most aren’t finishing uworld anymore.

 

[Med Ed]

Finishing up core clerkship and will be going into dedicated for 8 weeks. Haven’t done any serious study at all (haven’t started UWorld, only skimmed through 75% of FA, haven’t done Anki either) and just did CBSSA form 25 and scored in the LP range. My question is how much dedicated time do I really need to pass comfortably? So many questions on that form look familiar to me but I just missed them because I didn’t remember the exact details. I feel like if I read FA a couple times I will be able to retain enough to pass.

With appropriate study intensity, the vast majority peak at 5 weeks +/- 1 week. Any longer and people get burned out.

 

[guytakingboards]

“FA is low yield” is incorrect. READING FA is inefficient, as the material in FA can be covered more quickly by uworld & anki.

Again this is a concept I don't recognize. When I took step 1 over a decade ago, UWorld and FA were collaborative resources. UWorld had info/tidbits that FA didn't have and vice versa. First Aid was our bible. We jotted down our notes from other resources (like UWorld, BRS, Goljian) into FA and people's copies of FA looked like a tattered mess with scribbled notes and associations everywhere and loose pages from wear. The advice I got was read FA cover to cover 3-4x.

It sounds like now all the info in FA has been parcelized into Anki notecards?

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Again this is a concept I don't recognize. When I took step 1 over a decade ago, UWorld and FA were collaborative resources. UWorld had info/tidbits that FA didn't have and vice versa. First Aid was our bible. We jotted down our notes from other resources (like UWorld, BRS, Goljian) into FA and people's copies of FA looked like a tattered mess with scribbled notes and associations everywhere and loose pages from wear. The advice I got was read FA cover to cover 3-4x.

It sounds like now all the info in FA has been parcelized into Anki notecards?

I actually find it really helpful to read it cover to cover, given that you understand all the basic concepts. Most of the step 1 questions are not tricky, meaning you either know it or not. It’s like a jeopardy show, different from MCAT, very very similar to bar exams, for which I had to read 20 500 page books in 3 months without the help of uworld question banks or the like. So to me 650 page FA is such a great way of drilling down my memory. I found Ueorld a bit tedious in the sense that I have to read through a long vignette and at the end they ask one little question about a very discrete piece of info in the vignette. Whereas FA is just very punchy.

 

[Billiam95]

Again this is a concept I don't recognize. When I took step 1 over a decade ago, UWorld and FA were collaborative resources. UWorld had info/tidbits that FA didn't have and vice versa. First Aid was our bible. We jotted down our notes from other resources (like UWorld, BRS, Goljian) into FA and people's copies of FA looked like a tattered mess with scribbled notes and associations everywhere and loose pages from wear. The advice I got was read FA cover to cover 3-4x.

It sounds like now all the info in FA has been parcelized into Anki notecards?

I think part of the answer is both resources have grown significantly over the past 10 years. Amazon has the 2012 version of FA at 680 pages versus 868 in 2022. From what I understand uWorld is much more comprehensive than it use to be, too - there were a little over 3,600 questions for step1 when I took it this past year (which I've been told is a much greater number of questions compared to just a few years ago).
Subjectively, I think the questions have become much more vague, so that the exam is as much about knowledge as it is about NBME test taking ability. Ergo, with dedicated tending to be the same amount of time as 10-20 years ago, but with more knowledge expected and more difficult questions, it makes more sense to cranking out questions versus passively reading FA.

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

I think part of the answer is both resources have grown significantly over the past 10 years. Amazon has the 2012 version of FA at 680 pages versus 868 in 2022. From what I understand uWorld is much more comprehensive than it use to be, too - there were a little over 3,600 questions for step1 when I took it this past year (which I've been told is a much greater number of questions compared to just a few years ago).
Subjectively, I think the questions have become much more vague, so that the exam is as much about knowledge as it is about NBME test taking ability. Ergo, with dedicated tending to be the same amount of time as 10-20 years ago, but with more knowledge expected and more difficult questions, it makes more sense to cranking out questions versus passively reading FA.

i agree. but the NBME questions seem much more streamlined than Uworld. First of all, the length of the vignette is much shorter and sometimes the question is just one sentence. Is that the same on the real deal? Second, the classical presentations are more prominent on the NBME questions, i.e., buzzwords and also the NBME is more likely to divulge the diagnosis before asking the question. Whereas Uworld tries to hide the ball more often.

 

[Billiam95]

i agree. but the NBME questions seem much more streamlined than Uworld. First of all, the length of the vignette is much shorter and sometimes the question is just one sentence. Is that the same on the real deal? Second, the classical presentations are more prominent on the NBME questions, i.e., buzzwords and also the NBME is more likely to divulge the diagnosis before asking the question. Whereas Uworld tries to hide the ball more often.

NBME practice questions tend to be shorter than uWorld, but the questions I got on step1 were much closer in length uWorld - from what I've read and heard, this is a common sentiment. Some of the longest questions I've ever seen (3-4+ paragraphs) were on Step1, although these may have been experimental.
Compared to uWorld, I think NBMEs are much more likely to have both very easy and very hard questions. 'Very easy' questions are somewhat self explanatory - use of buzzwords, etc. The 'very hard' questions I think are due to question writers leaving out pertinent details (ie, leaving out PE findings on an abdominal case) or intentionally only narrowing down the answers to 2-3, leaving to student to pick the 'best' answer.
I see a lot of these traits so far in 3rd year on the shelf exams, too.

 

[DrZoidbergDO]

Again this is a concept I don't recognize. When I took step 1 over a decade ago, UWorld and FA were collaborative resources. UWorld had info/tidbits that FA didn't have and vice versa. First Aid was our bible. We jotted down our notes from other resources (like UWorld, BRS, Goljian) into FA and people's copies of FA looked like a tattered mess with scribbled notes and associations everywhere and loose pages from wear. The advice I got was read FA cover to cover 3-4x.

It sounds like now all the info in FA has been parcelized into Anki notecards?

pretty much every resource is just in anking now.

 

[deleted1079620]

Again this is a concept I don't recognize. When I took step 1 over a decade ago, UWorld and FA were collaborative resources. UWorld had info/tidbits that FA didn't have and vice versa. First Aid was our bible. We jotted down our notes from other resources (like UWorld, BRS, Goljian) into FA and people's copies of FA looked like a tattered mess with scribbled notes and associations everywhere and loose pages from wear. The advice I got was read FA cover to cover 3-4x.

It sounds like now all the info in FA has been parcelized into Anki notecards?

Imagine if you were able to take First Aid & sort out what you knew really well to be seen less frequently, and then see the stuff you didn’t know more frequently, until you funneled down the unknowns over time. That’s the benefit of anki over reading FA multiple times.

 

[wondervisions]

i agree. but the NBME questions seem much more streamlined than Uworld. First of all, the length of the vignette is much shorter and sometimes the question is just one sentence. Is that the same on the real deal? Second, the classical presentations are more prominent on the NBME questions, i.e., buzzwords and also the NBME is more likely to divulge the diagnosis before asking the question. Whereas Uworld tries to hide the ball more often.

UW is designed to teach you concepts, not test you

 

[Captain_Falcon]

UW is designed to teach you concepts, not test you

I hear this all the time, and it’s not true. It can be both at the same time (and is, especially for those who have used board resources before and concurrent with the blocks)

 

[guytakingboards]

Imagine if you were able to take First Aid & sort out what you knew really well to be seen less frequently, and then see the stuff you didn’t know more frequently, until you funneled down the unknowns over time. That’s the benefit of anki over reading FA multiple times.

Obviously, the game has changed but that sounds stressful AF if you're only hammering stuff you don't already know cold. It's not like your brain spends a lot of time processing concepts you already know.

UW is designed to teach you concepts, not test you

Sounds like the utility of UW has changed in the new era as well.

 

[deleted1079620]

Obviously, the game has changed but that sounds stressful AF if you're only hammering stuff you don't already know cold. It's not like your brain spends a lot of time processing concepts you already know.



Sounds like the utility of UW has changed in the new era as well.

Hence the love/hate relationship most med students have with anki.

 

[PathNeuroIMorFM]

Finishing up core clerkship and will be going into dedicated for 8 weeks. Haven’t done any serious study at all (haven’t started UWorld, only skimmed through 75% of FA, haven’t done Anki either) and just did CBSSA form 25 and scored in the LP range. My question is how much dedicated time do I really need to pass comfortably? So many questions on that form look familiar to me but I just missed them because I didn’t remember the exact details. I feel like if I read FA a couple times I will be able to retain enough to pass.

The fact that you're in LP before dedicated is a good sign.

I would just go all out on UWorld for the next 6-8 weeks. It's probably a bit late to pick up Anki, but you might want to consider using it for Sketchy Micro if you're weak in that area.

 

[Anonymoose_65]

If you're already passing I don't see why you need more than 4-6 weeks. You sound very confident in yourself so take UWorld practice test 1 the first day of dedicated and an NBME practice test at the end of the first week. If you're comfortable with where you are performing, just continue to do 1 to 2 practice exams a week until you've done them all and sit the exam. If you are passing them with over a 230 and are continuing to feel so confident in yourself, take the exam sooner and get it out of the way.

The only real criteria for taking Step 1 now that it's P/F is the ability to pass consistently with enough of a threshold that you'll pass even on your absolute worst day. It's not like you're trying to grind to break a 250 or something.