Step 1 8 weeks out. NBME 230. Suggestions?

[glutacine]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Greetings.

I've been studying roughly 2-4 hours a day since about 5 months ago for my upcoming Step 1 (8 weeks). Dedicated study period just started a couple weeks ago (7 hours minimum per day). I've gone through:

Kaplan LN (with video lectures) x 1
First Aid x 1
UWorld x 1 (70% on most blocks, some less)
Pathoma x 1
I'm currently doing BRS Physio.

Gave an NBME about a week ago and got a 230. I might be overreaching but I'm aiming above 260 (they say aim for the stars) and I'd like your suggestions on how to make the most of my remaining 2 weeks. Go through the Kaplan Qbank? USMLERx? FA again?

Thank you for reading through the post. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[glutacine]

EDIT: I'd like your suggestions on how to make the most of my remaining EIGHT weeks*. I tried editing but it won't let me, saying the content is inappropriate.

 

[ActinicKeratosis]

Greetings.

I've been studying roughly 2-4 hours a day since about 5 months ago for my upcoming Step 1 (8 weeks). Dedicated study period just started a couple weeks ago (7 hours minimum per day). I've gone through:

Kaplan LN (with video lectures) x 1
First Aid x 1
UWorld x 1 (70% on most blocks, some less)
Pathoma x 1
I'm currently doing BRS Physio.

Gave an NBME about a week ago and got a 230. I might be overreaching but I'm aiming above 260 (they say aim for the stars) and I'd like your suggestions on how to make the most of my remaining 2 weeks. Go through the Kaplan Qbank? USMLERx? FA again?

Thank you for reading through the post. Any advice is appreciated.

You're sitting pretty with a 230 going into dedicated. I would do UWORLD a second time, go over Pathoma again (no need to watch the lectures if you've already seen them, just review the book), and reference First Aid as you go through UWORLD. You may also want to bust out some Kaplan anatomy questions. Take another NMBE in about two weeks to see where you are at. If you do those things you have a good chance of getting 250-260's (depending on luck of the draw with questions come test day).

 

[glutacine]

You're sitting pretty with a 230 going into dedicated. I would do UWORLD a second time, go over Pathoma again (no need to watch the lectures if you've already seen them, just review the book), and reference First Aid as you go through UWORLD. You may also want to bust out some Kaplan anatomy questions. Take another NMBE in about two weeks to see where you are at. If you do those things you have a good chance of getting 250-260's (depending on luck of the draw with questions come test day).

Thanks! That's encouraging. I haven't gone through the Pathoma videos even once, is that something I should get around to doing?

Also, I just finished my first pass of Uworld about a week ago, so I was thinking of signing up for the Kaplan Qbank, getting it done in about 10-15 days (reading the explanations only for the ones I get wrong or flag) before going back to FA + 2nd Uworld pass (good idea referencing FA with it, haven't done that yet). Any thoughts? Not sure if I'm on the right track here, starting another Qbank with 2 months left.

 

[ActinicKeratosis]

Thanks! That's encouraging. I haven't gone through the Pathoma videos even once, is that something I should get around to doing?

Also, I just finished my first pass of Uworld about a week ago, so I was thinking of signing up for the Kaplan Qbank, getting it done in about 10-15 days (reading the explanations only for the ones I get wrong or flag) before going back to FA + 2nd Uworld pass (good idea referencing FA with it, haven't done that yet). Any thoughts? Not sure if I'm on the right track here, starting another Qbank with 2 months left.

At least for me watching the Pathoma videos at 2x speed one time helped. If you learn by simply reading the book then that should suffice. That's impressive that you have gone through Uworld once before dedicated. I wouldn't normally recommend Kaplan Qbank as the quality of the questions is vastly inferior to Uworld. In your case however, it may be worth it to give Kaplan a run through as you have plenty of time. Kaplan also does have good anatomy questions, which is something that Uworld lacks. Use Kaplan for new questions, but focus the majority of your efforts on UWORLD x2, First Aid, and Pathoma.

 

[glutacine]

At least for me watching the Pathoma videos at 2x speed one time helped. If you learn by simply reading the book then that should suffice. That's impressive that you have gone through Uworld once before dedicated. I wouldn't normally recommend Kaplan Qbank as the quality of the questions is vastly inferior to Uworld. In your case however, it may be worth it to give Kaplan a run through as you have plenty of time. Kaplan also does have good anatomy questions, which is something that Uworld lacks. Use Kaplan for new questions, but focus the majority of your efforts on UWORLD x2, First Aid, and Pathoma.

I see! Thanks very much for your input. I'll begin with the Kaplan Qbank Anatomy then and update with my NBME scores after a week or so

 

[ActinicKeratosis]

I see! Thanks very much for your input. I'll begin with the Kaplan Qbank Anatomy then and update with my NBME scores after a week or so

Sounds good. Keep me posted.

 

[glutacine]

Sounds good. Keep me posted.

Well... I don't know what to feel. Since my last post, I've done BRS Physiology, brushed up on virology from sketchy, read about 50 pages from FA that I'd marked earlier, and did Kaplan Qbank Anatomy and Behavioral sciences sections. Gave the NBME 16 and got 239. On one hand, it's an improvement, on the other, I don't know whether it's enough of an improvement for about 10 days of studying... Results showed a weak biochemistry and microbiology score

I'll probably take up sketchy for bacteria too, and any suggestions on what else to do in the meanwhile would be nice. I have about 6-7 weeks to go.

 

[ActinicKeratosis]

Well... I don't know what to feel. Since my last post, I've done BRS Physiology, brushed up on virology from sketchy, read about 50 pages from FA that I'd marked earlier, and did Kaplan Qbank Anatomy and Behavioral sciences sections. Gave the NBME 16 and got 239. On one hand, it's an improvement, on the other, I don't know whether it's enough of an improvement for about 10 days of studying... Results showed a weak biochemistry and microbiology score

I'll probably take up sketchy for bacteria too, and any suggestions on what else to do in the meanwhile would be nice. I have about 6-7 weeks to go.

Don't be discouraged with a 239. A nine point improvement in ten days is awesome. I was getting upper 230's on a few of my NBMEs even far into studying. I wasn't getting upper 240's/250's until a few weeks out of the exam. I think after your second pass of UWORLD you'll at least break 250. What are your weakest areas according to the most recent NBME? What do you think your weaknesses are in general? A combination of UWORLD and Kaplan Anatomy are plenty for the anatomy section in my opinion.

 

[glutacine]

Don't be discouraged with a 239. A nine point improvement in ten days is awesome. I was getting upper 230's on a few of my NBMEs even far into studying. I wasn't getting upper 240's/250's until a few weeks out of the exam. I think after your second pass of UWORLD you'll at least break 250. What are your weakest areas according to the most recent NBME? What do you think your weaknesses are in general? A combination of UWORLD and Kaplan Anatomy are plenty for the anatomy section in my opinion.

I see! In the latest NBME, my lowest scores were Biochemistry, Micro/Immuno, and Histology. I think I'm weak in Pharma too, but I dunno, the NBME didn't reflect that. Histology is the one I'm most concerned about, because I can't make sense of most of the slides I'm shown. Also, you were very right about the Kaplan anatomy, it helped loads! That was one section that was better in Kaplan than in Uworld. Thanks again 🙂

 

[doyouhaveaflag]

Thanks! That's encouraging. I haven't gone through the Pathoma videos even once, is that something I should get around to doing?

Also, I just finished my first pass of Uworld about a week ago, so I was thinking of signing up for the Kaplan Qbank, getting it done in about 10-15 days (reading the explanations only for the ones I get wrong or flag) before going back to FA + 2nd Uworld pass (good idea referencing FA with it, haven't done that yet). Any thoughts? Not sure if I'm on the right track here, starting another Qbank with 2 months left.

If you have the time, I highly recommend watching the Pathoma videos. Dr. Sattar says a lot of things that aren't written in the book, and he has some very useful pointers for how to remember some of the minutiae.

He also pointed out things that are "high yield" that didn't even occur to me to memorize before watching the videos, but that I actually had a fair number of questions on. I could literally hear his voice in my head while taking the NBMEs and the real thing.

 

[ActinicKeratosis]

I see! In the latest NBME, my lowest scores were Biochemistry, Micro/Immuno, and Histology. I think I'm weak in Pharma too, but I dunno, the NBME didn't reflect that. Histology is the one I'm most concerned about, because I can't make sense of most of the slides I'm shown. Also, you were very right about the Kaplan anatomy, it helped loads! That was one section that was better in Kaplan than in Uworld. Thanks again 🙂

I'm glad the Kaplan Anatomy helped. In terms of biochemistry, instead of memorizing every intermediate of every pathway, focus on knowing the major enzymes and intermediates that are associated with the diseases. Micro/Immuno/pharm just takes time with memorization. Histology/path can be tough because of the breadth of the material. This is where Dr. Sattar's Pathoma really helps. You're on the right track.

 

[glutacine]

If you have the time, I highly recommend watching the Pathoma videos. Dr. Sattar says a lot of things that aren't written in the book, and he has some very useful pointers for how to remember some of the minutiae.

He also pointed out things that are "high yield" that didn't even occur to me to memorize before watching the videos, but that I actually had a fair number of questions on. I could literally hear his voice in my head while taking the NBMEs and the real thing.

Wow, I'm missing out! Thanks for the heads-up! Definitely going to watch those and redo Pathoma as well then.

I'm glad the Kaplan Anatomy helped. In terms of biochemistry, instead of memorizing every intermediate of every pathway, focus on knowing the major enzymes and intermediates that are associated with the diseases. Micro/Immuno/pharm just takes time with memorization. Histology/path can be tough because of the breadth of the material. This is where Dr. Sattar's Pathoma really helps. You're on the right track.

Ah yeah, the rate-limiting enzymes and such! Also, I hate Pharmacology...

So two votes for Pathoma. I guess I'll do Pathoma with the videos, Sketchy for bacteria, Parasites from somewhere else (maybe Levinson) since I've heard sketchy sucks for parasites, and just hammer down the Pharma/Biochem in First Aid. I'll post back in a couple of weeks with the results from NBME 17.

Thanks again!

 

[glutacine]

I'm glad the Kaplan Anatomy helped. In terms of biochemistry, instead of memorizing every intermediate of every pathway, focus on knowing the major enzymes and intermediates that are associated with the diseases. Micro/Immuno/pharm just takes time with memorization. Histology/path can be tough because of the breadth of the material. This is where Dr. Sattar's Pathoma really helps. You're on the right track.

After Pathoma, and the rest of the Kaplan Qbank, NBME 18 = 248. Got about 2 weeks left. This anxiety sucks.