Step I time to study

Started by Direct Laryngoscopy
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Direct Laryngoscopy

Direct Laryngoscopy

Account on Hold
Verified Member
Physician
20+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I'm curious how much each school gives their students time to study for step 1. For those with "less" time, would extra time have made a difference in your studying and would it have changed your mind about attending that school?

I guess I'll start: My school gives us a little under 8 weeks to take the test. I'm glad that they do cause I pushed my test back 1 1/2 weeks, cause I didn't feel ready enough.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
dpoke1 said:
I'm curious how much each school gives their students time to study for step 1. For those with "less" time, would extra time have made a difference in your studying and would it have changed your mind about attending that school?

I guess I'll start: My school gives us a little under 8 weeks to take the test. I'm glad that they do cause I pushed my test back 1 1/2 weeks, cause I didn't feel ready enough.
Click to expand...

6 weeks here. i got through everything i wanted to get through except i didn't finish kaplan (70% done), usmleworld (75% done), and robbins review of path (only three chapters done, lol). in the end, i don't think finishing any of those question sources would have made a difference for me, so the time was adequate for me. most students at my school actually took it a week before me, so i guess the time problem was fine for them (although everyone is crying about how hard the exam was). however, i was only one of a few students who was attempting to get through two 2000+ question banks.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
We were given 4 weeks. While this was definitely sufficient time to study and prepare for the exam, we now have very little vacation time before starting 3rd year. I think schools should give roughly 6 weeks off between 2nd and 3rd year - 4 weeks to study, and then 2 weeks for vacation. If you studied in moderate amounts during 1st and 2nd year, more than 4 weeks of studying is probably overkill.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I had 4.5 weeks to study, 1.5 weeks for vacation (though the people who scheduled the test earlier got a full 2 weeks of vacation). I thought this was sufficient time.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
We were given 10 weeks, but were "highly encouraged" to take at least a two-week break before starting third year. So, I had exactly 8 weeks to study. To be honest, it was too much time. Looking back, 6 weeks would have been plenty, especially since my practice test scores didn't change much in the last few weeks.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
we get 4 weeks between end of 2nd year and beginning of 3rd year, and we are recommended to take 1 week off before 3rd year.

probably 1/3 that I talked to said 3 weeks is plenty, 2/3 said they wish they had more time. To reiterate what uclastudent said, i have never talked to anybody that said there was a point in having more than 6 weeks.

If you're trying to use this as a way to choose schools, keep in mind that 2nd year studying is like studying for boards anyway, but it would be good to get a little longer to synthesize everything than what we get probably, but who am i to say at this point.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Most students at our school had 6 weeks between finals and the "deadline" of June 30 (although you could push that back if you had a good reason), but I think most people took 4-5 weeks of that time to study. I had to take it a bit earlier because I'm MD/PhD and we started a mini medicine rotation on June 18 -- I took 3 weeks to study and didn't take any time off after finals so I could have a week off before the rotation. That was really plenty of study time for me. I was completely stir crazy by the end, and it was a short enough time that I didn't really have to worry about forgetting things I had studied in the beginning. But that's just me -- I wasn't aiming for a super high score, just aiming to do the best I could (and hopefully pass!), plus I just don't have a whole lot of stamina for studying.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
MrBurns10 said:
I'm wondering how it's possible to get through all the material, practice questions, and then review/remember everything in 4 weeks. How many hours per day did you guys actually study and do practice?
Click to expand...
I had to slowly build up the stamina.....but for my last month I was doing 10-12 hours a day....the keys for me were taking frequent and planned breaks (usually hourly) and taking a couple longer breaks throughout the day to workout, cook dinner, etc

oh..and I almost forgot....caffeine.....
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nice. good to hear this stuff.

myself i have 8 weeks (i'm 10 days in at this point). i'm trying to spend as much time studying as i can, but at this point it seems to vary like the weather, and depends a lot on whether i'm doing questions or just reading review materials.

when i'm reading/reviewing, it is almost inevitable that i will take hourly 5-10-minute breaks. and, like taus did, i take about 2 longer breaks for working out and meals.

as far as questions, i have had a very consistent rate of 50 questions + detail review in 3 hours. which is nice. finish 50 Q's, go to the bathroom, walk around a bit, stare at squirrels and birds etc, then review the answers for 2 hours. and at that rate, i find its not so impossible to finish 200 Q's in a day. but i'm usually good at this stage with 150/day. that way i can review a little more if i need to before bed.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
If you combine reading, questions, and Goljan audio, 12-14 hours a day really isn't that bad and is sufficient if you have 4 weeks to study (I would not attempt this routine for more than 4 weeks unless you really have good stamina, cuz it does get tiring by the end). I started around 7 AM with Goljan for an hour while I ate breakfast and showered and got dressed, then reading for 4 hours, lunch break, 2 hours of questions (50 q's + explanations), 2 hours reading, Goljan while eating dinner and gym, 2 more hours of q's, then maybe 1 more hour of reading, and then Goljan before bed, that took me up to around 11-11:30 PM, so I got roughly 8 hours of sleep (definitely good to sleep sufficiently during boards studying). I did that for about 3 weeks, then tapered off the last week (started burning out) and did relatively more reading and practice questions with less audio, but shorter days (prob. closer to 8-10 hrs).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

beegmamamuskrat
Step II Your Step 2 study Advice
Replies
1
Views
360
drmednotes-
drmednotes-
D
Step II Dedicated time to study for Step 2 CK?
Replies
3
Views
5K
USMLE_Pro
USMLE_Pro
shjamil
Step I Study Buddy for Valley Stream, NY
Replies
0
Views
1K
shjamil
shjamil
U
usmle step 1 study partner
Replies
3
Views
3K
deleted1192955
D
D
USMLE/COMLEX A study buddy app for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 exam prep
Replies
1
Views
243
drmednotes-
drmednotes-