Preparing for Step 1 during Medical School Classes

[RaverMD]

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Hello everyone,

I am a fresh M1 and am potentially interested in Dermatology, so I am already thinking about STEP 1. I have talked with many upperclassmen who all have said if they could go back they would start using First Aid during their classes to avoid seeing any "new" material on STEP 1. I understand many of you have strong opinions about not preparing for STEP 1 until later for a variety of reasons. I appreciate this, but am not looking for those opinions in this post.

The upperclassmen have mentioned adding notes from First Aid to class notes. For example, adding anything that is not covered during class to their condensed notes so they're studying a little First Aid material as they study for their exams. I am currently in Anatomy, Histology, and Cell Structure and Function, and have been having difficulty finding relevant information from First Aid to add to what I'm learning. I assume this is because of the broad nature of the courses and the fact that they are not heavily emphasized on STEP 1. Either way I'd like to get as much info as I can during each course and would appreciate any advice!

For those of you who have prepared for STEP 1 throughout your courses or are currently doing so...do you have any advice on how to achieve this? Have any of you prepared another way while taking classes?

Thank you all in advance for your thoughts!

 

[mcloaf]

You can skim FA if you want during 1st year. As you're discovering, though, most of what you're covering as an M1 (assuming you have a 2 year preclinical curriculum) is either largely irrelevant or taught at too basic/nonpathological a level to be that important when it comes to Step 1.

I'm not generally against the idea of Step preparation beginning as early as you want, but the reason people tell you not to worry about it during M1 is that most of what you're covering doesn't matter that much anyway or you'll redo it again in greater depth during M2. As an M1 the best "boards-relevant" thing I did was keep up with all my classes in Firecracker to build a strong base for M2 year.