USMLE Studying for USMLE Step 1

[jstargirl17]

Hello,

I am a second year med student and I am looking at creating a study schedule and plan for step 1. I am feeling kind of overwhelmed and I don’t know where to start

I struggled a little bit my first year since I had to retake 2 final exams and then I had to retake the first final exam of second year (which was anatomy). I have passed all of the retakes and since my school is pass/fail, only the pass shows up on the transcript (no indications for if you had to do a retake exam)

I have a free consultation with a blueprint representative early next week but I don’t know if BluePrint is a good company to use or not.. I also know there are other companies like Kaplan

Any advice or guidance is welcome

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Edit for future readers: I'm an M3 now, this is indeed good advice. See below:

What my school's academic support office is suggesting is to do

Pathoma, Sketchy Micro, Sketchy Pharm, and their AnKing cards

And then a Pass of UWorld, unsuspending cards from your incorrects.

Will this be enough? Remains to be seen. Seems like good advice to me.

 

[jstargirl17]

Hey everyone,

I’m a M2 and I’m scheduled to take my Step 1 exam in early March. Dedicated for my school starts on February 6th and you have to take it by March 16th if you still want to start clerkships on time by April 1st without delay.

I have some questions about how to effectively use Boards and Beyond videos. So I’ve watched boards and beyond videos for different modules that I’ve had during first and second year.

I have most of the slides on PDF files and downloaded to the notability app on my iPad. A couple of days ago I started going back through the cardio system. I’ve been watching the videos and taking notes on the PDF slides on my iPad while I watch the videos on my laptop. Afterwards I’ll do the corresponding UWorld questions based on a Google doc that someone posted on a different thread here on Reddit. For the most part the questions go pretty well with the videos and it helps me practice applying the info to questions.

However, I am not sure if I’m doing this right.. I bought a completely new first aid book solely just for UWorld explanations since my other first aid book is heavily annotated and written in since I use it a lot to study for my school’s NBME final exams.

I was thinking should I also add some notes from boards and beyond slides to my first aid book? And use a different colored from the color use for UWorld explanations?

I also use the UWorld journal feature and take notes on the explanations and copy/paste figures and tables for questions that I get wrong.

I struggled with cardio, pulmonary, and renal systems and I know that they’re all connected and related to each other. So that’s why I’m starting with these organ systems. Should I just continue going through all of the videos first for these organ systems and then go to UWorld questions? On UWorld I’m definitely seeing overlap with the different systems and if I haven’t finished watching all of the videos, I’m just wondering is it effective use of UWorld?

My other question is should I should I only watch the physiology videos for organ systems outside of these 3 (such as GI, Repro, Endo, etc)? I am a big supporter of Pathoma and those videos have been great for studying my different modules/blocks.

Any help, feedback, and suggestions is welcome

 

[Hollow Knight]

To answer your question @jstargirl17 , if you want the boards video info to remain in your skull, do the AnKing cards. It's amazing how efficient it is.

However, I'm not sure that's your best strategy. At this point working through all of boards and beyond might be too much. You MUST do pathoma. You basically are required to do sketchy pharm and micro; you may hate the cartoons, but you have to learn that stuff somehow.

Boards is for everything else. Do you have to do all of it? No. But do as much as you have time to get through, focusing on your weak areas.

Edit: this is good advice, my friends and I who did this passed step very well

 

[jstargirl17]

To answer your question @jstargirl17 , if you want the boards video info to remain in your skull, do the AnKing cards. It's amazing how efficient it is.

However, I'm not sure that's your best strategy. At this point working through all of boards and beyond might be too much. You MUST do pathoma. You basically are required to do sketchy pharm and micro; you may hate the cartoons, but you have to learn that stuff somehow.

Boards is for everything else. Do you have to do all of it? No. But do as much as you have time to get through, focusing on your weak areas.

But I might fail step lol. I'm repeating advice given to me by successful medical students and medical students who failed but said they wished they had done what I said above. I'll update this thread in the spring when I get my pass or fail back.

Hello,

Yes I have been doing the boards and beyond videos for cardio since I struggled with that area. After getting through the cardio videos, I was going to watch the respiratory and renal systems BnB videos. I have the Anking deck and I wanted to do the first aid flashcards. But should I do the boards and beyond flashcards?

I was definitely going to re-watch Pathoma for all of the diseases. I have started watching the sketchy videos (I bought the paperback journal/notebook for sketchy and have been taking notes in it as I watch). I was going to unsuspend the Anki cards for the sketchy micro and pharm. While sketchy micro is really good, some of the sketchy pharm videos aren't as good/helpful...

 

[Hollow Knight]

Hello,

Yes I have been doing the boards and beyond videos for cardio since I struggled with that area. After getting through the cardio videos, I was going to watch the respiratory and renal systems BnB videos. I have the Anking deck and I wanted to do the first aid flashcards. But should I do the boards and beyond flashcards?

I was definitely going to re-watch Pathoma for all of the diseases. I have started watching the sketchy videos (I bought the paperback journal/notebook for sketchy and have been taking notes in it as I watch). I was going to unsuspend the Anki cards for the sketchy micro and pharm. While sketchy micro is really good, some of the sketchy pharm videos aren't as good/helpful...

So I personally wouldn't just do Anki cards to do them (the first aid cards for example); I would pick a resource (Boards and Beyond) and use the anki cards to help you remember the things you learn from that resource. Does that make sense?

If you're going to watch the sketchy videos, do the anki cards so you don't forget. If you're going to watch a boards video, do the anki cards so you don't forget. I wouldn't just sit down and raw dog the first aid cards.

But again, we'll see if I pass....

 

[jstargirl17]

So I personally wouldn't just do Anki cards to do them (the first aid cards for example); I would pick a resource (Boards and Beyond) and use the anki cards to help you remember the things you learn from that resource. Does that make sense?

If you're going to watch the sketchy videos, do the anki cards so you don't forget. If you're going to watch a boards video, do the anki cards so you don't forget. I wouldn't just sit down and raw dog the first aid cards.

But again, we'll see if I pass....

I have been unsuspending the Anki cards for all of the sketchy pharm videos that I have been watching. I made a deck for Sketchy pharm and Sketchy micro. I have not started rewatching the sketchy micro videos yet. For the sketchy pharm videos I have been watching, I have filtered decks underneath the main sketchy pharm deck that I made to help keep things organized (I have the AnKing deck)

I am hoping to stay consistent everyday with it since I know that it is most beneficial when it is used everyday or as consistently as possible

 

[MedBoardTutors]

Hello,

I am a second year med student and I am looking at creating a study schedule and plan for step 1. I am feeling kind of overwhelmed and I don’t know where to start

I struggled a little bit my first year since I had to retake 2 final exams and then I had to retake the first final exam of second year (which was anatomy). I have passed all of the retakes and since my school is pass/fail, only the pass shows up on the transcript (no indications for if you had to do a retake exam)

I have a free consultation with a blueprint representative early next week but I don’t know if BluePrint is a good company to use or not.. I also know there are other companies like Kaplan

Any advice or guidance is welcome

Many people in our group used to work for Blueprint (back when it was Med School Tutors), and I sincerely believe they have excellent educators. Everyone is vetted and proven to be competent and engaging. I have zero doubt you'd benefit from working with them if you go that route. Another consideration is that maybe you don't even NEED actual tutoring or prep courses. I agree with the above advice that a few well-studied HY resources will carry you pretty far. For step 1 I think a lot of it is discipline, and allowing the material to slowly seep into your brain over time. You're emphasizing consistency, and frankly I think you're setting yourself up for success. 🙂