Starting board prep as an M1?

[Foot Fetish]

M1 here. I go to a school with a traditional curriculum and true pass/fail grading in the preclinical years. Some people in my class have already started doing q-banks and studying from FA, and I feel like I'm falling behind compared to them. I have been focusing on the professors' lecture notes and getting top grades in our class exams, but now I'm wondering if this was foolish / if I should have been using board material to study all along since our grades dont matter so long as we pass...should I jump on the board prep train or continue doing what Im doing?

All the people Ive talked to who got super high scores told me that the #1 thing to do is to complete as many q-banks as possible. Thus, I have decided that I want to complete USMLE-Rx, Kaplan, UWorld, Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology, and all of the NBME's (including the old, discontinued ones)...That's over 10,000 Q's. Will I be able to do all of that during M2? If I am dead set on studying this summer, would it be wiser to review M1 topics or to work ahead into M2 topics?

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Since I know your posting history and your study habits, I'm going to go ahead and make a recommendation that normally would never apply for most med students. For most people, they should never attempt this because they need to take the summer off from studying otherwise they will burn out guaranteed. I know you won't burn out.

Buy USMLERx. Buy pathoma. Buy Goljian Rapid Review of Pathology. Buy sketchy micro and sketchy pharm.

If you can get through sketchy, pathoma, a bunch of Rx questions, and read a few chapters of RR over the summer, you will be in a good position to do well in 2nd year which is the key to doing well on step 1. Don't try to study stuff from first aid yet (except for stuff you've learned in 1st year). It is a review book and its purpose is to remind you of things you learned, not to teach you anything. It doesn't have enough information for you to understand the topics. So if you never learned the topic, all you are doing is memorizing a few factoids. Start off with the resources that present topics in a more in-depth way (ie the resources I listed above). As you go through a system in pathoma + sketchy pharm, add that into the questions you do on Rx. If you finish Rx over the summer, get uworld or Kaplan to do during M2.


The Robbins path review book is okay but the questions are very minutiae based. It's nitty gritty pathology type stuff. You should buy it, but don't use it till M2 because it's too detailed for your purposes over the summer.

When it's time for dedicated, don't do the old nbme's. They're not representative of step 1 anymore. just do 15-19 and the UWSAs. That's plenty.

I think you will do well, you're smart and have a good work ethic

 

[Foot Fetish]

Since I know your posting history and your study habits, I'm going to go ahead and make a recommendation that normally would never apply for most med students. For most people, they should never attempt this because they need to take the summer off from studying otherwise they will burn out guaranteed. I know you won't burn out.

Buy USMLERx. Buy pathoma. Buy Goljian Rapid Review of Pathology. Buy sketchy micro and sketchy pharm.

If you can get through sketchy, pathoma, a bunch of Rx questions, and read a few chapters of RR over the summer, you will be in a good position to do well in 2nd year which is the key to doing well on step 1. Don't try to study stuff from first aid yet (except for stuff you've learned in 1st year). It is a review book and its purpose is to remind you of things you learned, not to teach you anything. It doesn't have enough information for you to understand the topics. So if you never learned the topic, all you are doing is memorizing a few factoids. Start off with the resources that present topics in a more in-depth way (ie the resources I listed above). As you go through a system in pathoma + sketchy pharm, add that into the questions you do on Rx. If you finish Rx over the summer, get uworld or Kaplan to do during M2.


The Robbins path review book is okay but the questions are very minutiae based. It's nitty gritty pathology type stuff. You should buy it, but don't use it till M2 because it's too detailed for your purposes over the summer.

When it's time for dedicated, don't do the old nbme's. They're not representative of step 1 anymore. just do 15-19 and the UWSAs. That's plenty.

I think you will do well, you're smart and have a good work ethic

Thank you so much! This is just the type of advice I was hoping for

 

[deferment baby]

Since I know your posting history and your study habits, I'm going to go ahead and make a recommendation that normally would never apply for most med students. For most people, they should never attempt this because they need to take the summer off from studying otherwise they will burn out guaranteed. I know you won't burn out.

Buy USMLERx. Buy pathoma. Buy Goljian Rapid Review of Pathology. Buy sketchy micro and sketchy pharm.

If you can get through sketchy, pathoma, a bunch of Rx questions, and read a few chapters of RR over the summer, you will be in a good position to do well in 2nd year which is the key to doing well on step 1. Don't try to study stuff from first aid yet (except for stuff you've learned in 1st year). It is a review book and its purpose is to remind you of things you learned, not to teach you anything. It doesn't have enough information for you to understand the topics. So if you never learned the topic, all you are doing is memorizing a few factoids. Start off with the resources that present topics in a more in-depth way (ie the resources I listed above). As you go through a system in pathoma + sketchy pharm, add that into the questions you do on Rx. If you finish Rx over the summer, get uworld or Kaplan to do during M2.


The Robbins path review book is okay but the questions are very minutiae based. It's nitty gritty pathology type stuff. You should buy it, but don't use it till M2 because it's too detailed for your purposes over the summer.

When it's time for dedicated, don't do the old nbme's. They're not representative of step 1 anymore. just do 15-19 and the UWSAs. That's plenty.

I think you will do well, you're smart and have a good work ethic

I won a Kaplan q bank two years ago through a raffle and I have to redeem it this year . Is it okay to start the Kaplan Q bank during MS1? Should I do it after each block? I wanted to start with USMLErx but I won't be able to do so since my Kaplan account will become active this September

What are your thoughts about USMLE consult q bank and Smash USMLE q bank?

Thanks!

 

[YoungDoc25]

How up to date do you think is needed for BRS physiology. I have the 6th edition from 2014 for M1 this coming fall. Do you guys feel like that's too old? It was free so I didn't want to turn it down!

 

[Saxappeal1]

OP, I don't think studying for Step 1 as an M1 is the best idea. I don't doubt that you have an insane power of will that lines up with what the previous posters have said. But burn out can happen to anyone. Also, at this point in time, since you're so far out from your test date, there is a decent chance that you'll forget a large amount of what you studied in this long time before your test. I'd say, sum of cons vs benefits, I don't think it is worth it. Just my 2 cents. At my school I've been seeing M1s doing FA, USMLE RX, pathoma, even sketchy. But a lot of the M2s that talk to them tell them that it doesn't make sense. Consider this: it is early April, 2017. Your test wouldn't feasibly be until at least late April, 2018. That means that you're going at least a year out to study an enormous amount of material, AND studying for your classes, which there is a possibility that there will be a decent amount of material that you go over in class that isn't in FA/Uworld/Pathoma, and vice versa. Again, just my opinion, it is totally up to you. If you think that studying a year out is beneficial and won' t interfere with class performance, then more power to you.