Study Schedule

[j802002]

Hi everyone,

I'm going to take the USMLE Step I in August of this year. The books I'm using are:

First Aid
Kaplan's Micro/Immuno, Pharm, Anatomy, Behavioral Science
BRS Path
BRS Physio
BRS Biochemistry
High Yield Neuroanatomy
and of course, Qbank

Here is my preliminary study schedule, I'm looking for advice on how to improve it:

29 days of studying
6 weeks (two days off a week, minimum 8 hours a day)

Days 1-4 Physio, Day 5 - Pharm intro stuff (pharmacodynamics etc.,)
Days 6-9 Path, Day 10 - Qbank all day
Day 11 - Histo + Embryo, Days 12-14 - Anatomy, Day 15 - Qbank all day
Day 16-18 - Biochem, Day 19 - Cell/Molecular Bio, Day 20 - Qbank all day
Day 21 - Immuno, Day 22-24 - Micro
Day 25-28 just questions all day
Day 29 - off
Day 30 - TEST

I am going to do Pharm as I go through path/phys in the first two weeks system by system. Also, I figure I'll take the last weekends to study a little.

I have a really short attention span so I'm going to try and study 8 hours a day, 10-6...with two 15 minute breaks and one 30 minute break for lunch.

I also need weekends off for sanity's sake.

I welcome your advice!

Thanks

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[bigtony99]

Hi everyone,

I'm going to take the USMLE Step I in August of this year. The books I'm using are:

First Aid
Kaplan's Micro/Immuno, Pharm, Anatomy, Behavioral Science
BRS Path
BRS Physio
BRS Biochemistry
High Yield Neuroanatomy
and of course, Qbank

Here is my preliminary study schedule, I'm looking for advice on how to improve it:

29 days of studying
6 weeks (two days off a week, minimum 8 hours a day)

Days 1-4 Physio, Day 5 - Pharm intro stuff (pharmacodynamics etc.,)
Days 6-9 Path, Day 10 - Qbank all day
Day 11 - Histo + Embryo, Days 12-14 - Anatomy, Day 15 - Qbank all day
Day 16-18 - Biochem, Day 19 - Cell/Molecular Bio, Day 20 - Qbank all day
Day 21 - Immuno, Day 22-24 - Micro
Day 25-28 just questions all day
Day 29 - off
Day 30 - TEST

I am going to do Pharm as I go through path/phys in the first two weeks system by system. Also, I figure I'll take the last weekends to study a little.

I have a really short attention span so I'm going to try and study 8 hours a day, 10-6...with two 15 minute breaks and one 30 minute break for lunch.

I also need weekends off for sanity's sake.

I welcome your advice!

Thanks

Well, I haven't taken the step 1 yet, I am actually taking mine in the 3rd week of June 05 but I can tell you what I think from a lot of other threads and from my own other readings.

I've heard that Kaplan Biochem is actually better than BRS, so I would try getting that instead if you weren't too atached to BRS.

I think 3 days for Anatomy is a LOT, from what I've read in other threads, one day is plenty. You should add on or two of those extra days to Path, it's about 60% of the boards and extra work wouldn't hurt. Or with those other days you could do more questions, they seem to be the key to improving scores. You could get rid of Histo and just make sure you hit it with path because the two are soo related.

I've heard, only heard, that the Kaplan Anatomy is too detailed, that between FA and HY that's more than enough. I've heard the anatomy on the boards is either easy like brachial plexus or ridiculous.

I hope that helps and please take my advice for what it costs.
Tony

 

[sapience8x]

from what i hear 6 weeks is alot. i know of 2 people who did that and regret it. they had no time off before 3rd year began and were burnt out by the 5th week.
also, since you have kaplan, read the part on the opening screen ( it's probably in a book somewhere too) that tells you how to use the course. it tells you how to create a diagnostic and how to prioritize your studying based on the results of the diagnostic. if you plan to use the lectures you can also plan your time that way. you can also prioritize by high yield infromationa dn the classes/ topics you did the worst in.
Also, HY anatomy seems waaay more detailed than Kaplan but i hear it's the best. I too heard tha kaplan biochem is really good and i am wondering if the neuroanatomy is as good or even better than HY? there might nto bee too much difference between the 2. Also many peopel in my class uses microbiology made ridiculously simple. i don't care for it msyelf and when it came down to studying for the shelf, i used kaplan and did well. but many peopel liek this book so you migth wnat toflip trhough it in your school's bookstore at least.
also i saw some days where you have qbank scheduled ALL day?!! most schedules i have seen have it integrated usually in the evenings. there is a sticky at the top of this forums, i think that has sample schedules. i actually think that i am goig to do my qbank sessions int he morning or during the day becuase that's when the actual test will be taken and if i do it in the evening i wont knwo what i got wrong because of sleepiness or becuase i didn't know it.
lastly, you might want to consider reading through FA in additon to doing questions in the last days befor ethe test.
hope this helps! Good luck!