Studying for step 1 alongside classes

[bluesTank]

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So I have been told by several people and the First Aid book talks about it in the first section about making sure you start reviewing for the step 1 all throughout your first two years.

Now this kind of confuses me and I would appreciate some clarification. Aren't we studying for the step 1 BY studying for our classes? Isn't it kind of the same thing? Or does it mean that we should start studying ahead of where we are in class? Looking through the first aid book, I have no idea what most of it is talking about, so how am I supposed to study?

Any tips/suggestions or clarifications on what it means to study for the step 1 early?

 

[njbmd]

Attempting to "study" for USMLE Step I while you are learning your coursework is largely a waste of time. You study and learn for your coursework but "review" for Step I. If you have not learned the material in the first place, no review is going to be worthwhile and can take away from your mastery of your coursework.

You will have plenty of time to review for Step I at the end of your second year. I took Step I the second week of May (the first in my class to do so) after our courses had ended on April 28. I had thoroughly mastered my coursework and was totally saturated with Step I review by the time I took the exam (I was way early for my class). Most of my class took Step I in the last week of June or the first week of July.

I did very well on that exam but my key was having a very strong knowledge from my coursework. I had looked at First Aid a couple of times but did not do any USMLE review books (only used Pharm Recall) until the end of my second year.

Learn and master your coursework. Don't take time from your coursework for Step I as it is you will be largely wasting your time. If you don't do well in your coursework, you won't have a knowledge base to review for Step I.

 

[78222]

You will have plenty of time to review for Step I at the end of your second year. I took Step I the second week of May (the first in my class to do so) after our courses had ended on April 28. I had thoroughly mastered my coursework and was totally saturated with Step I review by the time I took the exam (I was way early for my class). Most of my class took Step I in the last week of June or the first week of July.
.

holy crap your class had a lot of study time! My school gave us 4-5 weeks😡😡

 

[Blesbok]

holy crap your class had a lot of study time! My school gave us 4-5 weeks😡😡

We had 5 weeks too. Which IMO was enough time if not a little more than enough, but I wish we would have had six so I could sit on my ass for a little while.

As for the OP, I recommend just relaxing and doing well in your classes for the first 1.5 years. Late in the first semester of second year, get a qbank and start doing some questions in your free time just to keep things fresh in your memory, but mainly just continue to focus and do well in your classes. Once classes are over second year, if you have done well in them and worked hard, studying for the step 1 will only take a few weeks.

 

[psipsina]

Attempting to "study" for USMLE Step I while you are learning your coursework is largely a waste of time. You study and learn for your coursework but "review" for Step I. If you have not learned the material in the first place, no review is going to be worthwhile and can take away from your mastery of your coursework.

You will have plenty of time to review for Step I at the end of your second year. I took Step I the second week of May (the first in my class to do so) after our courses had ended on April 28. I had thoroughly mastered my coursework and was totally saturated with Step I review by the time I took the exam (I was way early for my class). Most of my class took Step I in the last week of June or the first week of July.

I did very well on that exam but my key was having a very strong knowledge from my coursework. I had looked at First Aid a couple of times but did not do any USMLE review books (only used Pharm Recall) until the end of my second year.

Learn and master your coursework. Don't take time from your coursework for Step I as it is you will be largely wasting your time. If you don't do well in your coursework, you won't have a knowledge base to review for Step I.

Thanks NJMD. I've never liked all those review books during coursework and I always feel odd because I see people sitting there with first aid and HY and BRS while we are first seeing the material. I can't just randomly memorize stuff which seems like what you'd be doing if you just learned from the review books, I have to get in deeper so I can understand it if its going to stick in my long term memory. I do use the review books for questions before a test but thats it.

 

[78222]

We had 5 weeks too. Which IMO was enough time if not a little more than enough, but I wish we would have had six so I could sit on my ass for a little while.

Oh yeah, 4 weeks was plenty of time (any more and I would have gone crazy) but I still wish we'd had more time so I could have had more than a week of vacation before starting rotations.

As for the OP, I recommend just relaxing and doing well in your classes for the first 1.5 years. Late in the first semester of second year, get a qbank and start doing some questions in your free time just to keep things fresh in your memory, but mainly just continue to focus and do well in your classes. Once classes are over second year, if you have done well in them and worked hard, studying for the step 1 will only take a few weeks.

I agree with this. I started "studying" around January (took it in April). By studying though, I mean I just started using QBank to supplement my classes. In a sense though, I spent the entire second year studying for Step I though because I never really studied for my classes as much as I studied for the boards. I used Goljan to teach myself path much more than I used our lectures. By the time I took the boards I'd probably listened to every Goljan lecture 3-4 times and read through his notes roughly the same number of times. This did hurt my grades somewhat (I made pretty much straight Bs when I think I could have made As with a little more focus on class materia) but I think it helped me get the board score I wanted.

 

[GreenShirt]

I referenced FA and a neuro review book my first year for clarification when the textbooks went too in depth or a power point was disorganized. Whether or not you should invest in review guides the first year depends on what type of student you are. Some people enjoy reading all the background and minutia on a topic because it gives them a context from which to springboard to the main concept. I'm the reverse type of learner: I need the simplified version to start out with and then can build up with details from that skeleton. I used FA as a map to guide me through my learning. In essence, I was using review books not to study for the step I per se, but rather to complement my classes, which as other posters have mentioned is the "real" studying for the step I. I wouldn't get FA to pre-view topics you haven't covered to get ahead because you would be detracting from learning for your classes.

 

[Long Dong]

I'm going to go against the grain here. I studied board reveiw books alongside with class studying, as a matter of fact I only used board review books during year 1 & 2 and no text books. I'm not supper smart like everyone else on this thread who can just review for a few weeks and bust 250+ on the boards. My school gave me 8 weeks dedicated board review and I used all 8 of them, if they had given me more I would've of used more. I started from day one of med school with my HY and BRS. I wanted to keep my res options open and get the highest step 1 possible for me. I even pre studied path and micro during the summer between year 1 and 2. Again I wanted the highest step 1 I can get and luckly I got my dream residency. I think it is better to say I over did it then to say man I should of studied a little more and maybe I would've match ____ specialty or _____ city.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I also reviewed for boards during 2nd year - by reviewing first year material (and later, early 2nd year material) at a slow but continuous pace throughout the year. Repetition is the branding iron of knowledge.

Obviously you should not compromise your learning of new material in the process.

 

[kdburton]

Attempting to "study" for USMLE Step I while you are learning your coursework is largely a waste of time. You study and learn for your coursework but "review" for Step I. If you have not learned the material in the first place, no review is going to be worthwhile and can take away from your mastery of your coursework.

You will have plenty of time to review for Step I at the end of your second year. I took Step I the second week of May (the first in my class to do so) after our courses had ended on April 28. I had thoroughly mastered my coursework and was totally saturated with Step I review by the time I took the exam (I was way early for my class). Most of my class took Step I in the last week of June or the first week of July.

I did very well on that exam but my key was having a very strong knowledge from my coursework. I had looked at First Aid a couple of times but did not do any USMLE review books (only used Pharm Recall) until the end of my second year.

Learn and master your coursework. Don't take time from your coursework for Step I as it is you will be largely wasting your time. If you don't do well in your coursework, you won't have a knowledge base to review for Step I.

I don't know anyone who took it two weeks after class got out. The fact that you were able to do very well on Step 1 with such little review shows that you probably have some inherent ability that not many other people possess and I doubt could be extrapolated to many people as advice on a message board. The people I know that studied the least waited until after classes got done in the end of april and studied for at least 4 weeks hardcore. The ones that studied the most began with light review throughout second semester of MS2 and then for upwards of 6 weeks full time when classes got out. No one studied for two weeks. To the OP - don't bank on the fact that you're going to do well with two weeks worth of studying. You'll find out how much you need to study to do well in your classes and then you can decide based on that how much time you need to dedicate to what is probably going to be the most important test in your career.

 

[lord_jeebus]

2 weeks was fairly common in my class. 3 weeks was probably the average, and 4 was the maximum time available.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Med schools are great at teaching you low yield stuff half the time which won't be on the boards. Studying for step along with classes is the most efficient way to maximize your score.

 

[Doublecortin]

Med schools are great at teaching you low yield stuff half the time which won't be on the boards. Studying for step along with classes is the most efficient way to maximize your score.

although am a green MS1, I agree with the statement. A lot of professors, especially PhDs who are into hard core basic science research can spend a lot of time and test you on some ridiculously detailed pathway that they study and find fascinating, whereas you only need to know the basic features of the pathway for the boards.

In addition to studying for the test, I am also trying to concurrently study high yield concepts needed for step1

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

although am a green MS1, I agree with the statement. A lot of professors, especially PhDs who are into hard core basic science research can spend a lot of time and test you on some ridiculously detailed pathway that they study and find fascinating, whereas you only need to know the basic features of the pathway for the boards.

In addition to studying for the test, I am also trying to concurrently study high yield concepts needed for step1

You are very wise, grasshopper.

It is a very delicate balance between learning course material for good grades and reviewing for boards.

My advice is this: buy your review books early, like First Aid, BRS Physio, Goljan Path, etc. etc. When you go through the actual class, make sure you pay extra attention to the stuff that the review book talks about. That's your "I REALLY need to know this stuff" material because it may show up on boards. Spend your money time there. Then, in the weeks before the test force yourself to memorize the low yield boring stuff on the professor's research on neuronal network regeneration with TNF-Alpha blockade or whatever for the test.

I say this because grades DO help if you can pull them off (AOA, rank etc.) but don't feel bad about data dumping that material because you'll be sure to hold on to the "high yield stuff".

Also, review books sometimes explain key concepts that bad professors jumble around in your head, so they're valuable for that. There were some concepts in Neuro and BiochemI felt I was the only one in my class who understood because everyone was trying to understand it form the professor's incomprehensible notes.

 

[Blesbok]

I'm going to go against the grain here. I studied board reveiw books alongside with class studying, as a matter of fact I only used board review books during year 1 & 2 and no text books. I'm not supper smart like everyone else on this thread who can just review for a few weeks and bust 250+ on the boards. My school gave me 8 weeks dedicated board review and I used all 8 of them, if they had given me more I would've of used more. I started from day one of med school with my HY and BRS. I wanted to keep my res options open and get the highest step 1 possible for me. I even pre studied path and micro during the summer between year 1 and 2. Again I wanted the highest step 1 I can get and luckly I got my dream residency. I think it is better to say I over did it then to say man I should of studied a little more and maybe I would've match ____ specialty or _____ city.

I used goljan, FA, BRS, and lots of other board review books while studying for second year, but I used them to study for second year. I wouldn't just read through the whole thing, I would go through the sections pertinent to the material we were covering. This works well if you are at a school that is organ based.

 

[TheRealMD]

Blues, it makes much more sense after our first block when we start covering body systems. Buy First Aid, scribble a few notes after we've done a lecture on a particular topic, then come back to it when studying for the Step. This beats looking through a million powerpoints later on, since you're doing it as you go.

 

[docscience]

I did not do great my first year in school...I am ranked 95/148 students. I am a lot more pumped up this year and have been studying path and micro like a mad man. I am on top of things and will strive to do so.

I am hoping someone will tell me Step 1 is comprised of more second year material than physiology, biochemistry, gross, and embryology?

Anyone? Thanks

Think I have a chance for a great board score?

 

[sendwich]

Blues, it makes much more sense after our first block when we start covering body systems. Buy First Aid, scribble a few notes after we've done a lecture on a particular topic, then come back to it when studying for the Step. This beats looking through a million powerpoints later on, since you're doing it as you go.

is this typical? studying from class notes?

 

[lord_jeebus]

I did not do great my first year in school...I am ranked 95/148 students. I am a lot more pumped up this year and have been studying path and micro like a mad man. I am on top of things and will strive to do so.

I am hoping someone will tell me Step 1 is comprised of more second year material than physiology, biochemistry, gross, and embryology?

Anyone? Thanks

Think I have a chance for a great board score?

A great board score requires strength in all subjects. Get to work.

 

[lord_jeebus]

is this typical? studying from class notes?

It looks to me that he's describing using a few notes put in First Aid during class, not actual class notes.

 

[Instatewaiter]

I did not do great my first year in school...I am ranked 95/148 students. I am a lot more pumped up this year and have been studying path and micro like a mad man. I am on top of things and will strive to do so.

I am hoping someone will tell me Step 1 is comprised of more second year material than physiology, biochemistry, gross, and embryology?

Anyone? Thanks

Think I have a chance for a great board score?

Step it up 2nd year. The best way to do well on the boards is to do well the first 2 years. You cant re-learn the material and there are a lot of nuggets that you need for the boards that just arent in the review books. So study hard 2nd year and study hard during those weeks before the boards and you should do fine.

The boards are mainly 2nd year material with the exception of phys. Phys, path and pharm are the big 3.

Gross and embryo barely make a showing on the boards. Neuro does show up but it isnt too bad.

If you had biochem early in med school (like first class) you probably wont be too familiar with much of the biochem since most of what is asked deals with the diseases associated with deficiencies and you didnt have enough of a background to know what the hell those symptoms meant.