single source step 1 prep - my experience

[GluteusMaximus]

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Well, I've pillaged information from this forum for long enough (not so much the step 1 section, but other sub-forums). So thought it might be time to give back a little as my experience might help somebody out there.

A little background:

I am a final year resident from Canada who had to write the steps for fellowship purposes. I found this out at the end of October, registered and took the earliest date available (Dec. 3/12). I graduated from medical school in 2007 and therefore am now 7+ years removed from my preclinical med school curriculum. On top of that, my schools preclinical curriculum was not very basic science heavy. So, I went in to step 1 prep fairly fresh.

Considering the limited time I had to prepare for the test (4 wks, while working full time and completing fellowship interviews) I chose to utilize only 1 source: First Aid Step 1 2012. Read it twice. No secondary source used even to look up things that weren't well described. Just tried to understand as good as I could what is actually in the book. If there was something I couldn't understand well, just tried to memorize it and move on.

Score 2/1/13 - 233. Far from perfect. But considering my circumstances (limited med school basic science ed'n and length of time since preclinical curriculum) I think this answers the question I've seen asked before -> is First Aid enough to pass = YES.

 

[Checcles]

 

[peacefulchaos]

LOL that's freakin' hilarious. Your avatar I mean, of course.

As an aside, I hope you pick up a history book at some point in your life. Or GTFO of TX and interact with regular humans and explore society/the world.

 

[thatsmate]

I think this is more of a testimonial of how steeply the curve increases. Going from a 220 to a 230 is so much less than going from a 240 to a 250.

Also, lets ignore the trolls.

 

[GluteusMaximus]

I think this is more of a testimonial of how steeply the curve increases. Going from a 220 to a 230 is so much less than going from a 240 to a 250.

Also, lets ignore the trolls.

Understood. But, the point I was trying to make is not that by using solely FA you can score 250. I was in a unique situation in that my scores were not important (I required the steps for obtaining a visa only, not being ranked) and as such had no need to aim for 250 using multiple sources. All I had to do was hit that 188 to get my pass. I've heard many people ask in the past whether step 1 is enough to pass, and I've heard some say that it's not. As I came in to my study prep cold and used only FA and passed with wide margins, I think this answers that question.

 

[SetaStar]

Thanks so much for your candid post, it really serves me much as I too plan to use FA as my only source, if not main. I'm meticulously reading FA and plan on reading it twice, and given that I plan to sit for the exam at the end of August, will do UW if time permits. However, my question with this approach is the following:

Do you find that your residency experience helped you answer some of the Step 1 questions? I'm an American IMG who graduated in 2006 and decided to work in clinical research and obtain an MPH degree after I came back home, so given my lengthly stray from medicine I'm wondering if your experiences as a practicing MD helped?

Thanks so much in advance and hope you're having a great fellowship experience.

Cheers.

 

[SetaStar]

(Deleted contents of this post as it was a duplicate entry)

 

[doclovebugcali]

Hi Gluteus,

Thanks so much for your candid post, it really serves me much as I too plan to use FA as my only source, if not main. I'm meticulously reading FA and plan on reading it twice, and given that I plan to sit for the exam at the end of August, will do UW if time permits. However, my question with this approach is the following:

Do you find that your residency experience helped you answer some of the Step 1 questions? I'm an American IMG who graduated in 2006 and decided to work in clinical research and obtain an MPH degree after I came back home, so given my lengthly stray from medicine I'm wondering if your experiences as a practicing MD helped?

Thanks so much in advance and hope you're having a great fellowship experience.

Cheers.

Hi,

I am an old American IMG as well. I was wondering if you can tell me what did you do to get a clinical research position and to pursue an MPH degree? I don't know how to get my MBBS degree evaluated in USA and how to go about getting an MPH degree. I'd be grateful if you could clarify that. Thanks.

 

[cookiemonsterrr]

Well, I've pillaged information from this forum for long enough (not so much the step 1 section, but other sub-forums). So thought it might be time to give back a little as my experience might help somebody out there.

A little background:

I am a final year resident from Canada who had to write the steps for fellowship purposes. I found this out at the end of October, registered and took the earliest date available (Dec. 3/12). I graduated from medical school in 2007 and therefore am now 7+ years removed from my preclinical med school curriculum. On top of that, my schools preclinical curriculum was not very basic science heavy. So, I went in to step 1 prep fairly fresh.

Considering the limited time I had to prepare for the test (4 wks, while working full time and completing fellowship interviews) I chose to utilize only 1 source: First Aid Step 1 2012. Read it twice. No secondary source used even to look up things that weren't well described. Just tried to understand as good as I could what is actually in the book. If there was something I couldn't understand well, just tried to memorize it and move on.

Score 2/1/13 - 233. Far from perfect. But considering my circumstances (limited med school basic science ed'n and length of time since preclinical curriculum) I think this answers the question I've seen asked before -> is First Aid enough to pass = YES.

loooooool ... what a liar you are 🙂 hahahaaha

 

[rodmichael82]

How is it possible to even memorize all of the stuff in first aid?

There's just so much info!

 

[wanderer]

Interesting post.I feel that step 1 is moving away from buzzwords and easy associations so this may not work for many.

 

[SetaStar]

Hi,

I am an old American IMG as well. I was wondering if you can tell me what did you do to get a clinical research position and to pursue an MPH degree? I don't know how to get my MBBS degree evaluated in USA and how to go about getting an MPH degree. I'd be grateful if you could clarify that. Thanks.

Hi friend,

Sure, it would be my pleasure.

I graduated from med. school at a really young age and when I came back home, I realized how important it was for me to have more exposure with patients as the unique individuals that they are, something that a traditional curriculum does not emphasize (though things are finally changing).

I first started volunteering at a hospital to spend ample time with patients and this eventually lead to an offer in clinical research to work primarily with minority populations. That's when my interested fully developed in pursuing an MPH, so I prepped for the GRE and applied to public health schools. Did lots of independent research on that and asked the providers whom I worked with for their take on this direction...

That's pretty much it in a nutshell, hope this helps and good luck in all your endeavors.

 

[moodyblues7606]

Hi friend,

Sure, it would be my pleasure.

I graduated from med. school at a really young age and when I came back home, I realized how important it was for me to have more exposure with patients as the unique individuals that they are, something that a traditional curriculum does not emphasize (though things are finally changing).

I first started volunteering at a hospital to spend ample time with patients and this eventually lead to an offer in clinical research to work primarily with minority populations. That's when my interested fully developed in pursuing an MPH, so I prepped for the GRE and applied to public health schools. Did lots of independent research on that and asked the providers whom I worked with for their take on this direction...

That's pretty much it in a nutshell, hope this helps and good luck in all your endeavors.

Hi,
so there's nothing that can be done with my medical degree? no evaluation or equivalency? i heard there are some companies which do that here in USA. My second question is that all I would need to do is pass the GRE and go to MPH school? how many years is the MPH program and how much does it cost?
I've been thinking about doing a medical transcription course and work from home....

 

[doclovebugcali]

anyone?

 

[Morsetlis]

How is it possible to even memorize all of the stuff in first aid?

There's just so much info!

You hopefully spent the first 2 years of your med school memorizing most of it.

 

[Morsetlis]

Interesting post.I feel that step 1 is moving away from buzzwords and easy associations so this may not work for many.

You have to associate clinical presentation and patient / lab / experimental data with all that they signify and are secondarily associated to. In fact, it's like memorizing many, many stories rather than just sentence fragments. I completely agree with the way they're doing it.

Of course, there's not very many way to present "gout" so... the 10-second questions are still there 😉

 

[doclovebugcali]

Hi,
so there's nothing that can be done with my medical degree? no evaluation or equivalency? i heard there are some companies which do that here in USA. My second question is that all I would need to do is pass the GRE and go to MPH school? how many years is the MPH program and how much does it cost?
I've been thinking about doing a medical transcription course and work from home....

can someone help me with my questions? thanks.