step 1 studying crisis

[DeVyne]

Helloooo! I hope everyone is doing well! I'm so stressed! depressed might be my actual state! I'm taking step 1 and I don't know when (probably when I'm prepared enough!), and what's stressing me is how I can remember all the things I have ever studied? I mean you revise and revise, fine, but do you actually remember all this material??
Can anyyyyyonnneee give me any study tips to help me remember all this information? Anyyyytttthhhiiinnngggg!!! I'd greatly appreciate it!
Thanks a whole lot

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[NewGuyBob]

Don't worry! EVERYBODY feels like that before step one, it is simply not humanly possible to memorize all the minutiae concerning all the courses in years 1 & 2 of medschool. The good news is that in the USMLE, questions testing your fact bank are very few. Most questions test your ability to analyze a situation and apply the BASIC CONCEPTS you already know (since you passed your classes). So hang in there! Finish your review books, notes, whatever, do all the questions you can get your hands on (NMS, QBank, QBook etc) and most importantly, do the NBME online assessment. So far the NBME assessment has proven to have good predictive value at lest among everyone I know (including me). Good luck!

 

[MacTavish]

Study First Aid and chill.

 

[huktonfonix]

Holy Crap, its only December. Enjoy your holidays and keep on studying for your classes. Thats what will make the difference. Don't worry about Step 1 until later (March or April is about right). I used First Aid, BSS, High yield, Q Bank, mostly and did fairly well. I studied for about 2 months. Any more than that and I would have gone insane. For some reason 1st and 2nd years at my school get more and more anal retentive. Some even started doing board stuff from day 1 in med school.

 

[DeVyne]

Thanks everybody
My problem is that I haven't lived in America for the past 20 years, and when it came to going to univeristy I thought instead of doing medicine in 8 years, I'll do it in 6 and save 2 years! (i studied in a british system and went off to some medical univeristy in Europe) BIG MISTAKE! Now I feel that I'll be spending two years just studying for this exam!!
Stupid me, I never thought I'd be taking the usmles, so after completing my first two years I didn't take the exam, I graduated this year and it's been just one month since I started studying for part 1, and recalling information you have studied 4,5 years ago isn't that simple! So I feel I have to study again! And this is stressing me out because I feel I don't know what to study! I have first aid, should I use it as my guide and reference for the material that I need to know? Are the Kaplan courses worth their price? I feel so lost, are there any sites where I can find information about the material that I need to study for the exam? As in: what do I really need to know in Biochemistry?, or should I just study the whole Harper book? (an example) How do I know what's too much information and what's really necessary? I'm asking these questions because I know different universities have different teaching systems and their syllabuses differ..
DeVyne in DiStReSs

 

[jed2023]

Originally posted by DeVyne
I feel so lost, are there any sites where I can find information about the material that I need to study for the exam? As in: what do I really need to know in Biochemistry?, or should I just study the whole Harper book? (an example) How do I know what's too much information and what's really necessary? I'm asking these questions because I know different universities have different teaching systems and their syllabuses differ..
DeVyne in DiStReSs

Studying your biochem from the Harper book would almost certainly be a bad idea for Step I review, although it would be fine to use it as a back up reference whenever your review book is unclear. Most US med students seem to choose either Lippincott's Biochem by Champe (which is pretty long) or BRS Biochem by Marks (which is much shorter and has more questions). For alternative choices you can check out the book review section of First Aid, or ask around.

One thing that is critical to keep in mind when studying for Step I is the idea of opportunity cost, which is popular in economics but apparently not well known among enough med students. The idea is that doing one thing automatically precludes doing other things for a given time interval. That is, if I waste 100 hours studying Biochem from Harper's that time might have been spent better (in terms of optimizing my score) by studying other subjects, or reviewing Biochem a second time.

This is precisely why many students love First Aid. It points you to the most critical information. Your job then is to review/learn the information pointed to. Most students use review books for this purpose (and textbooks only to clarify obscure points in their review books).

 

[ys]

I am an IMG, been out of med school for a couple of years,took the test three weeks back and feel I did decently. I used the following resources:

path - BRS (I highgly recommend)
phys - BRS (I highly recommend)
micro - Ridiculously Simple (I highly recommend), First Aid
pharm - First Aid (I felt it was sufficient)
biochem - First Aid (ran out of time so I used this)
behavioral - High Yield Series (Highly recommend)
neuro anat- High Yield Series
rest of anatomy - High Yield(For specific topics), First Aid
immun - same as above
cell and molecular biology- High Yield (I really liked this book, it is simple and informative, this was a subject not in my med school curriculum)
Q Bank (highly recommend)

I hope this helps.

 

[DeVyne]

I thank eveybody so much! Merry Christmas and enjoy your holidays!