*Raises hand*
But I can only realistically let you know tomorrow how it felt, and Oct 6 whether it worked.
I just came back from the exam. I can tell you I felt more comfortable than I did on Step 1 in terms of recognizing concepts.
I started my studying with Secrets and Crush, and I contend that they are really good for introducing yourself to the material. It's basically the really high yield stuff that, if you bump your head the night before and forget everything else, you'd still probably pass with it.
Of course USMLEWorld is the impressive resource that seems to have identical questions to the real thing. It almost goes without saying these days that USMLEWorld is a staple for any studying combination you have planned for yourself. But I have to give some credit to Kaplan's QBank as well. It's a bit more challenging than USMLEWorld, and the program is kind of glitchy. But they actually nail it more in terms of question length, and I think they help train you see through the odd and otherwise obscure diseases. I extended my exam date by a week just so I could run through their QBank really quickly, and I'm glad I did.
Step Up to Step 2 is, in my opinion, better organized than First Aid. Most of the material is word-for-word the same between the two, so dong both might be monotonous (or depending on how you learn, it might help you to see the same thing written twice in two resources). It's the material you're trying to build up to. So I think it works out well.
So in short, I did that combo and I think it worked out alright. But I'll know for sure in a month.
