Thoughts on Pathoma, sketchy, UWorld only for step 1

[Hollow Knight]

I have received As/high Bs in all my classes with anki. However, I'm like a few thousand cards behind on old blocks. The goal originally was to finish Pathoma, sketchy micro, sketchy pharm, and my old physiology/biochem/etc cards from my systems blocks, and a pass of uworld before I sit for my P/F step 1.

I'm starting to think of ditching the old cards I'm behind on and just doing pathoma, sketchy micro and pharm, and uworld. So y'all- is this enough for me to pass? I'll save time by dropping my old cards that aren't in these three resources, but I'm worried that if I don't finish all of Boards and Beyond like some of my friends that I'll still fail the exam. Thoughts?

I just need the courage to ditch the old cards. Or to get a kick in the pants to power through them.

I know everybody's like "It's P/F, just trust your curriculum," but my school has an abysmal fail rate recently, so I'm trying to put forth some effort.

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[Lifeblood_20]

I used Uworld thoroughly (made my own Anki card for every incorrect question) and sprinkled in bits of pathoma (only finished first 3 chapters) and sketchy pharm/micro (1 pass for all videos + Anki probably 100 cards per day) and passed. Did not use any B&B.

I did very minimal Anki in M1 and M2 year so I think you'll be fine. I'd recommend really focusing on learning from UWorld and NBME questions.

P.S. I love hollow knight too, took my name & profile from it

 

[OMSWeebHours]

I bought Hollow Knight a while back and still haven't played it. Made the mistake of buying so many steam games I have lost track of most

 

[Hippocratesintraining]

Same boat but man, there are so many cards even for just pathoma, sketchy micro and sketchy pharm alone.. at least in the anking deck. Trying to watch the all the videos, give the appropriate time to uworld (which i hear is pretty much all you need), and finish up classroom work, its hard to justify putting in so much time to anking even though everyone swears by it.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I used Uworld thoroughly (made my own Anki card for every incorrect question) and sprinkled in bits of pathoma (only finished first 3 chapters) and sketchy pharm/micro (1 pass for all videos + Anki probably 100 cards per day) and passed. Did not use any B&B.

I did very minimal Anki in M1 and M2 year so I think you'll be fine. I'd recommend really focusing on learning from UWorld and NBME questions.

P.S. I love hollow knight too, took my name & profile from it

What do people mean when they say they made a card for a U world question? Like the actual question answer or the content?

 

[Lifeblood_20]

What do people mean when they say they made a card for a U world question? Like the actual question answer or the content?

Either on the content that the question was testing on OR the reasoning for the correct answer being correct, depending on whether I got the question wrong because I didn’t now the content, or because I knew the content but reasoned incorrectly.

For example, say I get a question wrong about which antifungal to give for a patient with candida infection because I don’t know antifungals really well. I’d make a card that asks “common fungal infections + meds + mechanism?”. Then on the other side of the card I’d put a screenshot of the antifungal diagram/table that UWorld gives in the explanation.

Another example, say I get a question wrong about changes in preload/afterload/SVR for a patient with an arteriovenous fistula. I’d figure that I got the question wrong because I did not reason correctly. So on the Anki I’d ask “what are the changes in preload/afterload/SVR for a arteriovenous fistula” and on the other side I’d say “increased preload and decreased afterload and SVR because blah blah blah”

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Yeah that’s all you need. And lots of practice tests because the questions just don’t feel similar even though the knowledge is all there

 

[Styrene]

I used only UWorld and scored 93%ile (2018). That's all anyone needs really.

 

[inwantstobeadoctor]

I used only UWorld and scored 93%ile (2018). That's all anyone needs really.

Hi, can you give a little detail on how you utilized UWorld??

 

[Styrene]

I did all the questions except biostats. About 80-120 questions per day. For the questions I got wrong, I made 1-3 Anki cards on the pertinent info I missed. After doing all the questions, did the new cards that night. Next morning, reviewed all cards and went back to doing questions and making new cards. Added up to about 2-4 hours of card review per day and maybe 6 hours of doing questions. Might not be efficient for someone who isn't quick with making cards--I used the Anki smartphone app and Google keyboard to dictate the cards, saves tons of time.

Also did all the NBME and UWorld full-length practice exams interspersed.

This is the only source I used for Step 1.

 

[aldol16]

Really UWorld and Pathoma are all that are required if you have a decent foundation. Just do questions and review the things that you miss and their underlying concepts.

 

[inwantstobeadoctor]

I did all the questions except biostats. About 80-120 questions per day. For the questions I got wrong, I made 1-3 Anki cards on the pertinent info I missed. After doing all the questions, did the new cards that night. Next morning, reviewed all cards and went back to doing questions and making new cards. Added up to about 2-4 hours of card review per day and maybe 6 hours of doing questions. Might not be efficient for someone who isn't quick with making cards--I used the Anki smartphone app and Google keyboard to dictate the cards, saves tons of time.

Also did all the NBME and UWorld full-length practice exams interspersed.

This is the only source I used for Step 1.

Thank you!

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

So is pathoma just the book?

 

[Hollow Knight]

So is pathoma just the book?

It's an online course with videos that's basically the gold standard for pathology for step 1

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

It's an online course with videos that's basically the gold standard for pathology for step 1

Do you know if the book covers all the content in the videos?

 

[Sidus1011]

Do you know if the book covers all the content in the videos?

The videos add a bit more context to the underlying phys behind the disease processes, but overall the book should be fine if you're just looking for review rather than initial learning.

 

[MedBoardTutors]

I have received As/high Bs in all my classes with anki. However, I'm like a few thousand cards behind on old blocks. The goal originally was to finish Pathoma, sketchy micro, sketchy pharm, and my old physiology/biochem/etc cards from my systems blocks, and a pass of uworld before I sit for my P/F step 1.

I'm starting to think of ditching the old cards I'm behind on and just doing pathoma, sketchy micro and pharm, and uworld. So y'all- is this enough for me to pass? I'll save time by dropping my old cards that aren't in these three resources, but I'm worried that if I don't finish all of Boards and Beyond like some of my friends that I'll still fail the exam. Thoughts?

I just need the courage to ditch the old cards. Or to get a kick in the pants to power through them.

I know everybody's like "It's P/F, just trust your curriculum," but my school has an abysmal fail rate recently, so I'm trying to put forth some effort.

BnB seems to be overkill for many people. You're clearly working very hard on board prep, and with that background I expect you'll be fine. As long as you're LEARNING from the UW questions--much like you'd be learning from BnB, you can achieve similar results.

 

[PandaBaer]

I never used anki, pathoma, sketchy, or bnb and was in the 95+% on NBMEs. I think for a good prep you need 2 things, a solid content source and a solid qbank. I overdid it on both and didn't finish everything, even after cutting out some stuff.

My suggestion for core content is choose up to 3 of the following: Pathoma vs Goljan, BnB vs Amboss vs Osmosis vs OME, Sketchy vs Picmonic
My ranking is for qbank: NBMEs + UWorld > Amboss > Osmosis (less familiar with other resources, ie OME, BnB(?), usmleRX, etc.)

Most efficient would be: Goljan (can listen during drives, gym, chores) + Amboss (library + qbank) + UWorld + NBMEs.

 

[coconutlover]

I used Uworld thoroughly (made my own Anki card for every incorrect question) and sprinkled in bits of pathoma (only finished first 3 chapters) and sketchy pharm/micro (1 pass for all videos + Anki probably 100 cards per day) and passed. Did not use any B&B.

I did very minimal Anki in M1 and M2 year so I think you'll be fine. I'd recommend really focusing on learning from UWorld and NBME questions.

P.S. I love hollow knight too, took my name & profile from it

Would you suggest going hard on step 1 prep vis a via uworld or try to mature anking all 35k cards

 

[PandaBaer]

Would you suggest going hard on step 1 prep vis a via uworld or try to mature anking all 35k cards

Practice questions >>>>> flash cards

With questions you get both content and context, which helps with retention. If you do it in random mode, you also get spaced repetition.

 

[skeptastic]

I never used anki, pathoma, sketchy, or bnb and was in the 95+% on NBMEs. I think for a good prep you need 2 things, a solid content source and a solid qbank. I overdid it on both and didn't finish everything, even after cutting out some stuff.

My suggestion for core content is choose up to 3 of the following: Pathoma vs Goljan, BnB vs Amboss vs Osmosis vs OME, Sketchy vs Picmonic
My ranking is for qbank: NBMEs + UWorld > Amboss > Osmosis (less familiar with other resources, ie OME, BnB(?), usmleRX, etc.)

Most efficient would be: Goljan (can listen during drives, gym, chores) + Amboss (library + qbank) + UWorld + NBMEs.

You didn't find First Aid helpful?

 

[MrBigglesworth]

How much time do you have left?

Everyone studies differently. I don't advocate for Anki. If you have a solid foundation, hammering UWorld and Pathoma will get you to pass. I would do more qbanks as well if you have the time. You should review FA daily as well. Golijan is useful, but somewhat dated and not the most time-efficient

 

[skeptastic]

How much time do you have left?

Everyone studies differently. I don't advocate for Anki. If you have a solid foundation, hammering UWorld and Pathoma will get you to pass. I would do more qbanks as well if you have the time. You should review FA daily as well. Golijan is useful, but somewhat dated and not the most time-efficient

I'm just about to start studying for Step 1 this Friday. I started using UWorld practice questions for the psychiatry module we just had, and want to continue using them throughout the remainder of modules so that I'm reviewing previous content while handling the three modules we have left. I never stuck with Anki, so there is a lot I've forgotten. Currently trying to devise a study schedule, and it's not as simple as I thought it might be lol. Mostly trying to decide on resources, as I know too many will leave me in content review hell with practice questions being neglected. I love Pathoma, but I find the content has many holes in it when compared to FA and BnB. I'm thinking BnB + Sketchy Micro/Pharm + UWorld might be best (with FA review as well), but also worry I could be making a mistake in not using Pathoma.

Looking at Cram Fighter now and seeing what it looks like to devise a schedule using that tool. I'm all ears and eyes if you've got any tips or insight on getting through this. Looks like I've got about 5.5 months til the last date I could take Step 1. Dedicated is only 6 weeks and I think it would be a huge mistake to wait til then to start prepping, as I've definitely got content gaps.

 

[MrBigglesworth]

I'm just about to start studying for Step 1 this Friday. I started using UWorld practice questions for the psychiatry module we just had, and want to continue using them throughout the remainder of modules so that I'm reviewing previous content while handling the three modules we have left. I never stuck with Anki, so there is a lot I've forgotten. Currently trying to devise a study schedule, and it's not as simple as I thought it might be lol. Mostly trying to decide on resources, as I know too many will leave me in content review hell with practice questions being neglected. I love Pathoma, but I find the content has many holes in it when compared to FA and BnB. I'm thinking BnB + Sketchy Micro/Pharm + UWorld might be best (with FA review as well), but also worry I could be making a mistake in not using Pathoma.

Looking at Cram Fighter now and seeing what it looks like to devise a schedule using that tool. I'm all ears and eyes if you've got any tips or insight on getting through this. Looks like I've got about 5.5 months til the last date I could take Step 1. Dedicated is only 6 weeks and I think it would be a huge mistake to wait til then to start prepping, as I've definitely got content gaps.

Pathoma is something you learn, and learn very well. You do not have to keep coming back to it, if you know it cold. I literally wrote the thing out and it paid dividends. After that, you keep the knowledge and everything fresh by doing practice questions, and reviewing those questions often. That, alongside FA will get you to pass. Doing BNB / Sketchy is fine. Try to do something each day in the morning before rotations start if you can. You can dm privately and we can tailor things more if you want