Scored 263, had a very simple plan for those who are interested

[sharklasers]

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Disclaimer: I am a naturally good test taker (38 on MCAT) and did well during M2

During M2:
Do well in class
Use Pathoma and annotate into the Pathoma book
Do UWorld and annotate everything not in first aid into first aid

**Didn't read any of first aid as I did UWorld. for those tough anatomy and physio questions, or for those drug questions we had not covered yet, I simply tried to reason out the best answer and LEARNED from UWorld** If you have the time to read First Aid during M2, that certainly couldnt hurt, but don't sacrifice doing well in classes for this, imo

During dedicated study time: Had 34 days, but definitely could have done the same in less considering how unproductive my last week was

Read 40-50 pages of FA every day - get through 1st pass of FA in about 11-13 days
Do 2 blocks of UWorld every day - get through 2nd pass (1st during the year) in about 24 days
After first pass of FA, do practice tests every 3-4 days, and continue reading up on subjects you are consistently scoring the worst on.
Use pathoma as a supplement for those subjects


That is my complete plan! No books opened except for FA and Pathoma. No question bank other than UWorld. Supplemented with SDN and wikipedia lol.

 

[anbuitachi]

Amazing score!!!. What scores were you getting in uworld? I know the big X factor is the doing well in MS2 part.. which also depends on which school you are at and.. how they teach.. But I'm also using F aid and pathoma only.. and i find a lott of things were in neither source... yet a good % of ppl get those questions correct. Did you feel this way on the exam? Or did you feel like you knew most of the questions?

 

[Suncrusher]

nice!

 

[Ugen]

How many questions did you get right by just memory during your second pass of uWorld?

I ask because I got a similar score but I am a huge proponent of doing only one pass of uWorld in something like 3 weeks during your last 3.5 weeks of studying. I kind of think it's better to use other question banks until that time since uWorld is by far the best but obviously two passes worked for you so I'm not really sure what advice to give people when they ask.

 

[Anastomoses]

When people say read 50 pages of anything a day...I don't understand how they do that. My brain shuts down after a point.

How were your classes? Did you learn more from class lecture or home study during M2?
Great score!

 

[sharklasers]

Amazing score!!!. What scores were you getting in uworld? I know the big X factor is the doing well in MS2 part.. which also depends on which school you are at and.. how they teach.. But I'm also using F aid and pathoma only.. and i find a lott of things were in neither source... yet a good % of ppl get those questions correct. Did you feel this way on the exam? Or did you feel like you knew most of the questions?

I got 68% in my first pass during the school year, but as i said, i was doing questions with material from first year that i hadn't studied again or second year that i hadn't even learned in class yet.. this was done by system with all subjects

i got 87% in my second pass, during dedicated time. i did this all random

during my second pass of first aid, i realized that even though FA and pathoma didn't have some of the material, it is possible to eliminate choices and make an educated guess on at least 80% of UWorld questions (an underestimate)

on the real thing, i had to make way more educated guesses than i was used to making on NBMEs and 2nd pass of UWorld. but i guess they want you to make educated guesses and you just have to trust that your preparation!

 

[sharklasers]

How many questions did you get right by just memory during your second pass of uWorld?

I ask because I got a similar score but I am a huge proponent of doing only one pass of uWorld in something like 3 weeks during your last 3.5 weeks of studying. I kind of think it's better to use other question banks until that time since uWorld is by far the best but obviously two passes worked for you so I'm not really sure what advice to give people when they ask.

rarely did i get questions right just by memory. most of the time i would be able to completely reason out why the right answer is right. since it was my second pass, i also then tried to figure out why the wrong answers were wrong. i think this second part was pretty key as well.

if you do a second pass, its important to not just answer and move on but actually think through it completely. that way you can get the most out of it.

first pass is nice because of how important of a source everyone says it is. everyone says its super important to learn from it, and i didn't want to leave 2200 questions that i needed to read every explanation for until the last few weeks

 

[sharklasers]

When people say read 50 pages of anything a day...I don't understand how they do that. My brain shuts down after a point.

How were your classes? Did you learn more from class lecture or home study during M2?
Great score!

i never went to lecture lol, so home studying i guess. but our school gives us a gigantic packet of notes (i figure most schools do this), that contains all of the power points and even some notes on the side if the professors are nice enough to do that haha.

and yeah, 50 pages was pretty miserable. i guess you could probably decrease this, my productivity went down huge after i finished going through first aid once, so it would probably have evened out if i had tried to do 30 or something! that way you would still finish in under 20 days

 

[Barcu]

I broke 250 (just by a little) and also kept it simple. Only Uworld, FA, and NBMEs. I guess I am a decent test taker, but not a superstar by any means (took the MCAT twice- 30 and 31).

I did one block of Uworld in the morning and took the next 3-4 hours going over it and annotating in FA. I then did a second block in the afternoon and did the same thing. After dinner, I would usually read an FA chapter. I did that 5 days a week. The first two weeks, I did it by subjects (one block of cardio in the morning, respiratory in the afternoon) and went through all the subjects that way. The final weeks, I did random. I always did it timed.

On the weekend, I would take half of Saturday and read a long FA chapter (micro, biochem) or maybe a couple shorter ones.. I would take the rest of the day off. On Sunday, I would try and stimulate a full length (UWSA or NBMEs, sometimes two NBMEs). You want to do at least a couple sessions of timed, at least 7 blocks like the real thing.

Basically, practice questions, practice questions, and PRACTICE QUESTIONS! Take the time to go through both wrong and right answers thoroughly. Uworld has fantastic explanations.

In the end, I studied 5 weeks and made one full pass through Uworld, 2 (+ a little more) passes through FA, both UWSAs, and 5 NBMEs.

Don't underestimate the benefit of doing well first and second year. I did 5 weeks of dedicated study time for step 1 and did very little prep during the year. I did nothing during M1 except use BRS anatomy. During M2, I supplemented path with Goljan rapid review (get this book!). I think I may have made one pass through FA during the year (so 3 total times for year+study period). In terms of school, I actually went to classes because they forced me to keep up with the material, but most of my class didn't go, and I'm sure plenty of them did fine and I'm sure several of them beat my score. Do what works for you. The actual grades themselves aren't important but I think that if you looked at grades versus step 1 scores at any med school, there would be a pattern that higher grades led to better step scores (even if you think your curriculum isn't great).

I think solid work during first and second year are key to a good score and a simple study plan for Step 1. It may vary school a little. My school does all the pharm, path, and micro (aka the most important topics) 2nd year, while less important topics like embryo/anatomy, biochem are all first year. If you start some of those topics first year, maybe you need a bit of a tweaked study plan.

To me, it seems more dangerous to have an ambitious plan than a simple one. Don't try and overload on resources. You won't have time, and you want to focus on the high yield. Go through sources carefully. I think my one, slow pass through Uworld really benefited me (2 blocks per day) versus trying to go faster and get more passes. Don't study too long. I have heard complaints that people think they took too long to study. You begin to forget stuff you learned at the beginning of your study period. I took 5 weeks, and my real score was higher than my highest practice. I could have taken an extra week, but it may not have meant a better score. It's hard to predict, but don't think you need to take every day that you are provided. Take lots of breaks, and take a couple nights off after dinner. You also want to get good at making educated guesses. Uworld will throw something at you that you have never seen (or barely know). Step 1 will do the same. You have to guess and move on without letting it bother you.

And finally, be patient and don't freak out. I just started doing questions right away in my dedicated period without reviewing stuff. Some topics, especially biochem, were crushing me. The question style was different than my school exams so you need to get comfortable with the format and style. Don't worry too much about your percentages at first (or at all). It's about learning, and getting questions wrong actually helped me to focus on those more. My Uworld percentage was 65% by the end (but many blocks in the 50s at first), I was getting 220s on NBMEs 2 weeks before the real thing, 230s and low 240s the week before, and then 250+ on the real thing. You have to chip away at it.

That's what I did. Take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Transposony]

I believe that if you do well in school you are already set for 260+. The Q Banks only help you with time management and confidence. And if you are a good test taker like OP then it will an icing on the cake.
All those review books, Q Banks & courses are just there to spend your time & money till the test but what really matters is your background knowledge acquired during the school which is what is currently tested on the USMLE. Gone are the days when you can get a good score just by reading some review books and doing Q Banks like UW.