Step 1 prep during MS2

[SolarLuminosity]

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I'm currently finishing up MS1 and have a few questions regarding Step 1 prep during MS2. I followed the plentiful advice of not studying for Step 1 during MS1 and I don't plan on studying this summer. However, I would like to prepare very well throughout next year. I have heard of people going through Pathoma, FA, and USMLERx or Kaplan QBank, in addition to their classes. I am interested in doing this, but I wonder how feasible this actually is. Having no experience with doing Step 1 questions and reviewing material in FA after learning it in class, I have no idea how much time this would take. For example, if I have lecture for three weeks on Cardiology and a day off before our test, how am I supposed to get through Pathoma, FA, and questions. Is Pathoma customizable enough that you can select very specific subjects so that I can follow along each day, or couple of days? Would it make more sense to study the previous subject during the current subject? This seems even less feasible. My curriculum is systems-based if that matters. Sorry for so many questions, but I just want to make sure I have a reasonable grasp of what studying will look like during year 2. Any personal anecdotes about using these resources in this way would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[witzelsucht]

The idea is you do Pathoma on week 1 of cardiology so you know what's important and have a good foundation. Then you do your qbank/FA all throughout the last week of three to solidify your knowledge. Your classes will not be aligned with any step 1 materials 100%, so you have to understand you will be using these sources to reinforce some things from lecture, and learn other things that havent been taught. All of pathoma is only 30 hours, so about 3 hours per organ system more or less; its not a huge time commitment. You use Uworld (not Rx) with classes to learn new material. If you think you are just going to go over lecture material 2x by doing quesitons and review books youre gonna have a bad time

 

[Porfirio]

I just got done taking Step 1 (last week).

This is what I found:

Preparing
1) Pathoma was great for a starting place (2-3 months before your exam). I found it to be of little help for Step 1 because Pathoma is all Pathology with tons of pictures. I did not have a lot of Histology/Pictures on my exam.
2) DIT (Doctors in Training) was amazing for getting through FA. I could not read FA on my own. It was too boring, and I liked having a video/audio version of FA. I completed DIT 10 days before my exam.
3) Uworld was the best tool to use. I would suggest doing this 1 month before your exam date (and only focusing on this).

Step 1 Exam
1) There was a lot more text in my exam questions compared to Uworld. Be prepared to read more text on Step 1.
2) There were more laboratory reports (data). Granted, my Step 1 exam was more Anemia heavy.
3) 8 hrs is a LOOOOONG time.
4) Practice exams were not very similar to Step 1 (length/amount of text/difficulty of questions). They helped, but not as much as they could have.
5) Be prepared to "guess" and not be worried about guessing.
6) I did not find the "Behavioral Science" section of Uworld all that helpful for preparing for Step 1 Ethics type questions. I found the Ethics questions to be harder on Step 1.

If I could go back in time:
1) I would have completed Pathoma 1 month before I finished
2) I would have finished DIT 1 month before my exam date
3) I would have focused on Uworld for a solid month before my exam
4) Honestly, I do not believe this would help all that much

Other:
1) Be prepared to gain weight - you will be sitting on your a*s for long periods of time. You still need to go to the gym.
2) You will spend a lot of time alone. It sucks.
3) You may feel an odd feeling when you finish Step 1 and "re-enter the normal world."
4) When I finished Step 1, I did not feel all the preparing I did helped a great deal. After taking Step 1, I felt that I could have crammed all that information into my head 1 month before the exam. Step 1 is a ton of "buzzwords (red current jelly)," "classic presentations (African American Woman with Lung problem = Sarcoid)," "random medical trivia (Using the amino acid codon table)," and "obsolete medical knowledge (Colchicine for Gout)."

Good luck, you will do fine, and this too shall pass.

 

[Dr Dazzle]

I just got done taking Step 1 (last week).

This is what I found:

Preparing
1) Pathoma was great for a starting place (2-3 months before your exam). I found it to be of little help for Step 1 because Pathoma is all Pathology with tons of pictures. I did not have a lot of Histology/Pictures on my exam.
2) DIT (Doctors in Training) was amazing for getting through FA. I could not read FA on my own. It was too boring, and I liked having a video/audio version of FA. I completed DIT 10 days before my exam.
3) Uworld was the best tool to use. I would suggest doing this 1 month before your exam date (and only focusing on this).

Step 1 Exam
1) There was a lot more text in my exam questions compared to Uworld. Be prepared to read more text on Step 1.
2) There were more laboratory reports (data). Granted, my Step 1 exam was more Anemia heavy.
3) 8 hrs is a LOOOOONG time.
4) Practice exams were not very similar to Step 1 (length/amount of text/difficulty of questions). They helped, but not as much as they could have.
5) Be prepared to "guess" and not be worried about guessing.
6) I did not find the "Behavioral Science" section of Uworld all that helpful for preparing for Step 1 Ethics type questions. I found the Ethics questions to be harder on Step 1.

If I could go back in time:
1) I would have completed Pathoma 1 month before I finished
2) I would have finished DIT 1 month before my exam date
3) I would have focused on Uworld for a solid month before my exam
4) Honestly, I do not believe this would help all that much

Other:
1) Be prepared to gain weight - you will be sitting on your a*s for long periods of time. You still need to go to the gym.
2) You will spend a lot of time alone. It sucks.
3) You may feel an odd feeling when you finish Step 1 and "re-enter the normal world."
4) When I finished Step 1, I did not feel all the preparing I did helped a great deal. After taking Step 1, I felt that I could have crammed all that information into my head 1 month before the exam. Step 1 is a ton of "buzzwords (red current jelly)," "classic presentations (African American Woman with Lung problem = Sarcoid)," "random medical trivia (Using the amino acid codon table)," and "obsolete medical knowledge (Colchicine for Gout)."

Good luck, you will do fine, and this too shall pass.

What's the best way to get used to step 1 buzz words? Is u world enough? It seems that a lot of it is knowing concepts and pattern recognition.

 

[chronicidal]

4) When I finished Step 1, I did not feel all the preparing I did helped a great deal. After taking Step 1, I felt that I could have crammed all that information into my head 1 month before the exam. Step 1 is a ton of "buzzwords (red current jelly)," "classic presentations (African American Woman with Lung problem = Sarcoid)," "random medical trivia (Using the amino acid codon table)," and "obsolete medical knowledge (Colchicine for Gout)."

Correct me if I'm wrong, colchicine is still recommended as prophylaxis against recurrence of gout during the initiation of antihyperuricemic therapy, and for treatment of acute gout in patients who can't take NSAIDs.

 

[Porfirio]

What's the best way to get used to step 1 buzz words? Is u world enough? It seems that a lot of it is knowing concepts and pattern recognition.

UWorld uses a lot of the buzz words.
DIT will straight up tell you buzz words as they teach you the topic.
FA will sometimes tell you buzz words.

There is plenty of overlap from these resources. The best is UWorld.

 

[Porfirio]

Correct me if I'm wrong, colchicine is still recommended as prophylaxis against recurrence of gout during the initiation of antihyperuricemic therapy, and for treatment of acute gout in patients who can't take NSAIDs.

NSAIDs, Glucocorticoids, and XO inhibitors seem more likely.

 

[alpinism]

Correct me if I'm wrong, colchicine is still recommended as prophylaxis against recurrence of gout during the initiation of antihyperuricemic therapy, and for treatment of acute gout in patients who can't take NSAIDs.

It is. For both an acute attack w/in 36hrs and prophylaxis. Although most Rheumatologists I've seen stick to NSAIDs and steroids.

ACR management guidelines part 2: http://www.rheumatology.org/Practice/Clinical/Guidelines/Gout_(Members__Only)/

 

[dyspareunia]

I just got done taking Step 1 (last week).

This is what I found:

Preparing
1) Pathoma was great for a starting place (2-3 months before your exam). I found it to be of little help for Step 1 because Pathoma is all Pathology with tons of pictures. I did not have a lot of Histology/Pictures on my exam.
2) DIT (Doctors in Training) was amazing for getting through FA. I could not read FA on my own. It was too boring, and I liked having a video/audio version of FA. I completed DIT 10 days before my exam.
3) Uworld was the best tool to use. I would suggest doing this 1 month before your exam date (and only focusing on this).

Step 1 Exam
1) There was a lot more text in my exam questions compared to Uworld. Be prepared to read more text on Step 1.
2) There were more laboratory reports (data). Granted, my Step 1 exam was more Anemia heavy.
3) 8 hrs is a LOOOOONG time.
4) Practice exams were not very similar to Step 1 (length/amount of text/difficulty of questions). They helped, but not as much as they could have.
5) Be prepared to "guess" and not be worried about guessing.
6) I did not find the "Behavioral Science" section of Uworld all that helpful for preparing for Step 1 Ethics type questions. I found the Ethics questions to be harder on Step 1.

If I could go back in time:
1) I would have completed Pathoma 1 month before I finished
2) I would have finished DIT 1 month before my exam date
3) I would have focused on Uworld for a solid month before my exam
4) Honestly, I do not believe this would help all that much

Other:
1) Be prepared to gain weight - you will be sitting on your a*s for long periods of time. You still need to go to the gym.
2) You will spend a lot of time alone. It sucks.
3) You may feel an odd feeling when you finish Step 1 and "re-enter the normal world."
4) When I finished Step 1, I did not feel all the preparing I did helped a great deal. After taking Step 1, I felt that I could have crammed all that information into my head 1 month before the exam. Step 1 is a ton of "buzzwords (red current jelly)," "classic presentations (African American Woman with Lung problem = Sarcoid)," "random medical trivia (Using the amino acid codon table)," and "obsolete medical knowledge (Colchicine for Gout)."

Good luck, you will do fine, and this too shall pass.

Interesting.. I've always been told that they don't use buzzwords on the exam much.

 

[dyspareunia]

Correct me if I'm wrong, colchicine is still recommended as prophylaxis against recurrence of gout during the initiation of antihyperuricemic therapy, and for treatment of acute gout in patients who can't take NSAIDs.

We learned colchicine only usable during acute attacks. Too many side effects to use as prophylaxis.

 

[Brain Bucket]

Interesting.. I've always been told that they don't use buzzwords on the exam much.

buzzwords are always there, they just keep changing. Still, what you should be looking for are 'buzz-patterns'. Every shelf I've taken so far (6) is rife with them.

 

[dyspareunia]

buzzwords are always there, they just keep changing. Still, what you should be looking for are 'buzz-patterns'. Every shelf I've taken so far (6) is rife with them.

Yeah, buzz-patterns is more in line with what I've heard from those who have taken the test in the past 2-3 years. That and knowing what the buzzword actually means so you can recognize a description of the buzzword in addition to the buzzword itself.

 

[Slack3r]

We learned colchicine only usable during acute attacks. Too many side effects to use as prophylaxis.

We were told a lower dose for px or used 1st line if NSAIDs contraindicated.

 

[DermViser]

buzzwords are always there, they just keep changing. Still, what you should be looking for are 'buzz-patterns'. Every shelf I've taken so far (6) is rife with them.

For the love of God, the NBME shelf exams are RETIRED USMLE Step 1 questions. They're retired for a reason and no longer used on current USMLE Step 1 exams. The actual buzzword is usually not used on the real exam, but a description of that buzzword.

 

[Brain Bucket]

For the love of God, the NBME shelf exams are RETIRED USMLE Step 1 questions. They're retired for a reason and no longer used on current USMLE Step 1 exams. The actual buzzword is usually not used on the real exam, but a description of that buzzword.

Breakdown:

"buzzwords are always there, they just keep changing" => There are only so many ways to describe something.

"Still, what you should be looking for are 'buzz-patterns'. Every shelf I've taken so far (6) is rife with them." => The patterns are on the Shelf exams not the buzzwords. The same patterns are on UW, RX, Kaplan, Webpath, Robbin's review, Lange, and Pretest. Therefore, more high yield. Sattar and Goljan cover a lot of them.

 

[chronicidal]

Breakdown:

"buzzwords are always there, they just keep changing" => There are only so many ways to describe something.

"Still, what you should be looking for are 'buzz-patterns'. Every shelf I've taken so far (6) is rife with them." => The patterns are on the Shelf exams not the buzzwords. The same patterns are on UW, RX, Kaplan, Webpath, Robbin's review, Lange, and Pretest. Therefore, more high yield. Sattar and Goljan cover a lot of them.

Breakdown: common findings exist, and they will be described in various words.

 

[Brain Bucket]

Breakdown: common findings exist, and they will be described in various words.

Breakdown:

 

[W19]

Bumping this thread:

Does anyone recommend to do USMLE-RX during MS2? I am planning to do both USMLE-RX and Kaplan during MS2 and then concentrate on Uworld, Patoma and FA for step1 prep...

 

[joker2400]

Bumping this thread:

Does anyone recommend to do USMLE-RX during MS2? I am planning to do both USMLE-RX and Kaplan during MS2 and then concentrate on Uworld, Patoma and FA for step1 prep...

I think that Kaplan and RX are good to do during the year. I did RX with each system we covered and then used Kaplan as kind of a running review starting after the 3rd system. You should also work in Webpath, Pathoma, and FA into your studying. I usually did Pathoma as an intro to the unit and read through FA the night/morning before the test.