Studying & UW during MS2

[futuredoctor10]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I wanted to ask current testtakers and esp. those who have done Step 1 before for some advice (taking Step 1 in summer 2012, starting prep now/this semester).

Did you study topics outside of MS2 material during the spring semester? For instance, MS1 topics or biochem?

How should we approach MS1 material with QBanks? I am not sure whether to do questions at random from UW covering MS1 and what we have done in MS2, or do it by systems and leave MS1 topics (like Biochem, Embryology) in the QBank until the summer. Thoughts?

 

[medstud87]

I'm wondering this as well

 

[Phlame217]

I am currently in my spring semester of MS2.

We get two afternoons allotted for"board review" times.

Wednesday from 1-5 I cover current board review questions. For example, we're doing renal pathology right now so I am doing qbank questions over that. I also add in physiology and anatomy questions from renal at the same time.

Fridays, I pick a ms1 chapter out of first aid and study it and then do questions over it. I should be done with two runs of First Aid by the end of spring break along with all of my first bank of questions (UsmleRx) and then I will start UWorld and review First Aid as necessary.

I also toss in studying of other materials on weekends as needed or allowed by current class work.

 

[HeyThere13]

At my school we have exams pretty much the last Monday of each month. So, every Sunday (except for the week preceding my exam) I read corresponding FA/Goljan chapters. During Christmas break I went through Goljan (G), FA, CMMRS, and HY Neuro and made a preliminary Step 1 schedule. I found it took me roughly 7 days to go through the above sources.

I like to work in long blocks so that I can take long breaks. So, A, B, C correspond to ~4hrs. During the week I focus mostly on school stuff. I try to do 90 UWorld Qs/week and read through the Goljan blue boxes that I have selected out as important.

Below is the first 3 days on my schedule. I did DAY 1 last Sunday and DAY 2 is this Sunday. I should be done with all 7 days of my schedule before Spring Break. I will run through my schedule again during Spring Break. I will tweak my schedule a bit when we get out in May so that I can incorporate more UWorld Qs.

DAY 1
1A: Behavioral Sciences (FA) , Biochemistry (G) 1, 7
1B: Biochemistry (FA)
1C: Embryology (FA), Microbiology (FA)

DAY 2
2A: CMMRS [1-9]
2B: CMMRS [10-20]
2C: CMMRS [21-28]

DAY 3
3A: CMMRS [29-33], Immunology (FA)
3B: Immunology (G) 2, 3, Path (FA), Pharm (FA)
3C: Cards (FA), Cards (G) 4, 9, 10

 

[futuredoctor10]

HeyThere13 - just curious, how do you have time to incorporate so much of the MS1 review while simultaneously learning this semester's material?

 

[Bernoull]

At my school we have exams pretty much the last Monday of each month. So, every Sunday (except for the week preceding my exam) I read corresponding FA/Goljan chapters. During Christmas break I went through Goljan (G), FA, CMMRS, and HY Neuro and made a preliminary Step 1 schedule. I found it took me roughly 7 days to go through the above sources.

I like to work in long blocks so that I can take long breaks. So, A, B, C correspond to ~4hrs. During the week I focus mostly on school stuff. I try to do 90 UWorld Qs/week and read through the Goljan blue boxes that I have selected out as important.

Below is the first 3 days on my schedule. I did DAY 1 last Sunday and DAY 2 is this Sunday. I should be done with all 7 days of my schedule before Spring Break. I will run through my schedule again during Spring Break. I will tweak my schedule a bit when we get out in May so that I can incorporate more UWorld Qs.

DAY 1
1A: Behavioral Sciences (FA) , Biochemistry (G) 1, 7
1B: Biochemistry (FA)
1C: Embryology (FA), Microbiology (FA)

DAY 2
2A: CMMRS [1-9]
2B: CMMRS [10-20]
2C: CMMRS [21-28]

DAY 3
3A: CMMRS [29-33], Immunology (FA)
3B: Immunology (G) 2, 3, Path (FA), Pharm (FA)
3C: Cards (FA), Cards (G) 4, 9, 10

Impressive! Did u read RR Path (goljan) and the other sources in 7 Days? If so, did u sleep? 😉

 

[HeyThere13]

Yep, I did everything in 7 day w/ sleep. Now the thing is that I have this schedule is to make sure I stay on it. Ha ha.

 

[HeyThere13]

HeyThere13 - just curious, how do you have time to incorporate so much of the MS1 review while simultaneously learning this semester's material?

I just use Sundays as my "review day." I prefer to focus on classes M-Sat along with UWorld Qs and Goljan blue boxes. I am still worried about anatomy and I have not figured out how and what to use for this 😕

 

[futuredoctor10]

I just use Sundays as my "review day." I prefer to focus on classes M-Sat along with UWorld Qs and Goljan blue boxes. I am still worried about anatomy and I have not figured out how and what to use for this 😕

Thanks for your reply! I think that's a good idea, to focus on MS2 stuff for most of the week (including the corresponding board prep resources, like UW questions and Rapid Review) and take some time out for the "review day."

I think I will do something similar but incorporate a little time spread out over the week covering particular topics.

And regarding anatomy -- similar situation for me, I am not sure what source I will use for this subject...