Start with Basic Sciences or Organ Systems?

[HelloGoodbye]

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I am just starting my study period with about 5.5 weeks until Step 1.

I am just curious what most people do...start with the basic sciences (i.e. first 1/2 of first aid) or the organ systems/domains (i.e. second 1/2 of first aid)?

 

[MrBeauregard]

I haven't take the test yet, but I started with basic sciences. I chose this method because if you don't know anything about S. bovis as an organism, how will you interpret a patient with endocarditis and colon cancer? I personally think you need to basic sciences first and then you can incorporate each of those into the respective systems. I also do questions in a systems-based manner covering all disciplines. That's just my approach.

 

[deano5709]

My test is on June 4th, but I started studying back when we started having final exams a month ago. I studied for our final exams in those subject areas (path, pharm, micro, behavioral) and after finals I've gone back over first year subjects and miscellaneous stuff like genetics, embryo, and biostats. As of today I've been over everything by subject area once, and I'm going to do one more quick pass in the next week and a half over those materials again. This way when I start my last two and a half weeks of prep by organ system, I'll have seen everything twice and I can better put things together in a "big picture" way. Also during the first run through (which has taken much longer, being the first time through) I did questions based on subject areas and have recently started doing blocks of random questions now that I've gotten through everything once.

I think it helps to have seen everything at least once (that is twice, with once being when you actually learn it the first two years) before studying by organ system (at least in my head anyway) so that, as MrBeauregard said, you can better incorporate information into topics that encompass more than one discipline. Regardless, I think it helps to study it both ways at some point during step prep to make you think about things in multiple ways.

 

[shan564]

My test is on June 4th, but I started studying back when we started having final exams a month ago. I studied for our final exams in those subject areas (path, pharm, micro, behavioral) and after finals I've gone back over first year subjects and miscellaneous stuff like genetics, embryo, and biostats. As of today I've been over everything by subject area once, and I'm going to do one more quick pass in the next week and a half over those materials again. This way when I start my last two and a half weeks of prep by organ system, I'll have seen everything twice and I can better put things together in a "big picture" way. Also during the first run through (which has taken much longer, being the first time through) I did questions based on subject areas and have recently started doing blocks of random questions now that I've gotten through everything once.

I think it helps to have seen everything at least once (that is twice, with once being when you actually learn it the first two years) before studying by organ system (at least in my head anyway) so that, as MrBeauregard said, you can better incorporate information into topics that encompass more than one discipline. Regardless, I think it helps to study it both ways at some point during step prep to make you think about things in multiple ways.

I started with biochem and micro because I knew they were my biggest weaknesses and they're relatively high-yield. That way, every time I did questions or reviewed a genetic/metabolic/infectious disease in the systems section, I got a brief much-needed review of my weak points. I should have done the same with immunology (another weakness of mine), but I left it for the end because I found it intimidating.

Also, you should know that covering everything in FA by "basic science" and then by "organ system" will NOT make sure that you've seen everything twice. MOST of the necessary information is only in one section or the other. If you want to see everything twice, you might want to consider speeding up your prep by about 10-15% and spending the last week or so on a final pass of FA. I'm doing a third pass now (although the second pass was with DIT, so I'm not sure if it counts as an independent "pass"), and I'm surprised by how many new things I'm still picking up.

 

[deano5709]

I started with biochem and micro because I knew they were my biggest weaknesses and they're relatively high-yield. That way, every time I did questions or reviewed a genetic/metabolic/infectious disease in the systems section, I got a brief much-needed review of my weak points. I should have done the same with immunology (another weakness of mine), but I left it for the end because I found it intimidating.

Also, you should know that covering everything in FA by "basic science" and then by "organ system" will NOT make sure that you've seen everything twice. MOST of the necessary information is only in one section or the other. If you want to see everything twice, you might want to consider speeding up your prep by about 10-15% and spending the last week or so on a final pass of FA. I'm doing a third pass now (although the second pass was with DIT, so I'm not sure if it counts as an independent "pass"), and I'm surprised by how many new things I'm still picking up.

I guess I should have been more clear. I wasn't just talking about the first half of FA when I was describing studying for subjects. For subject studying I went through the entirety of FA (i.e. stuyding and making notes on the "path" section of FA and the "path" parts of all the organ systems). In addition I used some outside resources (BRS phys, CMMRS, etc...) to complete these first two passes. The notes I have taken during this time are arranged under organ system headings so that when I start studying organ systems specifically I will not be studying new material per se (although I am adding from UWorld), I'll just be studying the same set of information in a new way.