USMLE Step 1 Study prep for 2013

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sanj238

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Hey folks, I've created an early board prep thread that will expand as the weeks and months progress.

I've completed my first year and in the last throes of my last summer ever...

My goal is to discuss what I'm working on and what others who may have started early as well may be doing. That way we can help each other out. People who've already taken the exam are welcome to post. Anyone else too of course.

I know its early, my last summer etc. Honestly, I dont go out much anyway and I've pretty much exhausted all of my free time sitting around. I'm way too bored not to study.
Here's a brief outline of what I plan to do until January when my true board prep begins.

I started out with rapid review early in the summer mainly because of how comprehensive it is and how little time I'll have to study the material once school starts.

Summer before MS II
Rapid review- finish all first year pathology material.
-finish first 8 or so chapters before August, basically. I plan to skip environment and nutritional pathology as I simply don't have time for it. I'm hoping its low yield

Finish BRS physio in one week plus questions
-I'm hoping the quick overview will help me with second year more than board prep. I can only hope systems will help me review this material

Finish Anatomy in two weeks
-A lot of second years I've talked to have made a few key points: 1 They forgot everything they learned in Anatomy 2. First aid is not at all comprehensive enough for it 3. Other material is necessary to supplement FA and to at least review this material twice over to get the tricky questions on USMLE right. So thats why I plan on doing BRS anatomy now

Begin Pathoma week before second year starts
-my goal is to start pathoma before school starts and to get through at least half of it. there's a total of 37 hours so I'm hoping this will be enough time to get through the first half of the material as an overview

Once school starts
1. I'm not sure I'll have enough time to do board studying but I plan to supplement school material with RR, FA, and pathoma. I think I'll start two days earlier (the weekend before a new block) to study the supplement material. Qbanks before exam to review and supplement.

So far I've completed 60 pages of RR (completely memorized page by page and basically know every word in those 60 pages) and just began BRS Phys.

tl;dr
I also want to integrate qbanks before a systems exam as a good review. Can anyone recommend good qbanks besides uworld that go subject by subject to help me prepare for
boards but are systems specific?
 
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sanj238 said:
Hey folks, I've created an early board prep thread that will expand as the weeks and months progress.

I've completed my first year and in the last throes of my last summer ever...

My goal is to discuss what I'm working on and what others who may have started early as well may be doing. That way we can help each other out. People who've already taken the exam are welcome to post. Anyone else too of course.

I know its early, my last summer etc. Honestly, I dont go out much anyway and I've pretty much exhausted all of my free time sitting around. I'm way too bored not to study.
Here's a brief outline of what I plan to do until January when my true board prep begins.

I started out with rapid review early in the summer mainly because of how comprehensive it is and how little time I'll have to study the material once school starts.

Summer before MS II
Rapid review- finish all first year pathology material.
-finish first 8 or so chapters before August, basically. I plan to skip environment and nutritional pathology as I simply don't have time for it. I'm hoping its low yield

Finish BRS physio in one week plus questions
-I'm hoping the quick overview will help me with second year more than board prep. I can only hope systems will help me review this material

Finish Anatomy in two weeks
-A lot of second years I've talked to have made a few key points: 1 They forgot everything they learned in Anatomy 2. First aid is not at all comprehensive enough for it 3. Other material is necessary to supplement FA and to at least review this material twice over to get the tricky questions on USMLE right. So thats why I plan on doing BRS anatomy now

Begin Pathoma week before second year starts
-my goal is to start pathoma before school starts and to get through at least half of it. there's a total of 37 hours so I'm hoping this will be enough time to get through the first half of the material as an overview

Once school starts
1. I'm not sure I'll have enough time to do board studying but I plan to supplement school material with RR, FA, and pathoma. I think I'll start two days earlier (the weekend before a new block) to study the supplement material. Qbanks before exam to review and supplement.

So far I've completed 60 pages of RR (completely memorized page by page and basically know every word in those 60 pages) and just began BRS Phys.

tl;dr
I also want to integrate qbanks before a systems exam as a good review. Can anyone recommend good qbanks besides uworld that go subject by subject to help me prepare for
boards but are systems specific?
Click to expand...

....Ladies and Gentlemen, ^ perfect example of complete inefficient use of time. Seriously, wait till you've had 2nd year subjects. You are like transitioning from middle to high school and are trying to study for the mcat. Get a Life.
 
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Skipping environmental and nutrition is a bad move. It's probably higher yield than 70% of the other pathology you'll see.

To do extremely well on STEP 1 you don't need to know anatomy at the level you knew anatomy during MS1. They tend to test very specific areas, and those are well covered by First Aid. You are going to get questions beyond First Aid, but relearning all of Moore's and knowing every detail in Netter's is overkill. I'd rather stick a 7 gauge hypodermic needle full of HIV and HepB into my penis.
 
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What? Isn't this the point of the entire Step 1 forum? This is like board-ception: board within a board.
 
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only thing you should do between m1 and m2 is memorize micro cold. i think it's important because it's not conceptually hard but, if you're like me and aren't a master of memorizing a huge list of facts, getting it down early is good. that way, you won't be panicking when you find out you need to know it all. of course, you'll probably forget the details by the time you're taking step 1. but having it come back very quickly again is important! won't waste time on studying micro, won't feel that anxiety and stress if needing to cram hundreds of facts solely for memorizing's sake in a short time.
 
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Check out gunnertraining.com. I haven't taken the test yet, but from the experience of others it can be super helpful. I do use it and it also helps with classes, not just board prep. It is a great tool if you use it long term, like starting it right now and using it during all of 2nd year and through dedicated prep time. There's a whole thread within the Step 1 section dedicated to gunnertraining, so you can see what other people think and say about it. And they offer a free 1 month trial so you can see if it's something you would like.
 
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kaplan medessentials, latest first aid, kaplan pathology lecture series book, uworld

if you have time still kaplan qbank

thats all, and you will get a 240+ at least I think
 
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san2 said:
kaplan medessentials, latest first aid, kaplan pathology lecture series book, uworld

if you have time still kaplan qbank

thats all, and you will get a 240+ at least I think
Click to expand...

I'm convinced you're a Kaplan marketing agent.
 
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sanj238 said:
Hey folks, I've created an early board prep thread that will expand as the weeks and months progress.

I've completed my first year and in the last throes of my last summer ever...

My goal is to discuss what I'm working on and what others who may have started early as well may be doing. That way we can help each other out. People who've already taken the exam are welcome to post. Anyone else too of course.

I know its early, my last summer etc. Honestly, I dont go out much anyway and I've pretty much exhausted all of my free time sitting around. I'm way too bored not to study.
Here's a brief outline of what I plan to do until January when my true board prep begins.

I started out with rapid review early in the summer mainly because of how comprehensive it is and how little time I'll have to study the material once school starts.

Summer before MS II
Rapid review- finish all first year pathology material.
-finish first 8 or so chapters before August, basically. I plan to skip environment and nutritional pathology as I simply don't have time for it. I'm hoping its low yield

Finish BRS physio in one week plus questions
-I'm hoping the quick overview will help me with second year more than board prep. I can only hope systems will help me review this material

Finish Anatomy in two weeks
-A lot of second years I've talked to have made a few key points: 1 They forgot everything they learned in Anatomy 2. First aid is not at all comprehensive enough for it 3. Other material is necessary to supplement FA and to at least review this material twice over to get the tricky questions on USMLE right. So thats why I plan on doing BRS anatomy now

Begin Pathoma week before second year starts
-my goal is to start pathoma before school starts and to get through at least half of it. there's a total of 37 hours so I'm hoping this will be enough time to get through the first half of the material as an overview

Once school starts
1. I'm not sure I'll have enough time to do board studying but I plan to supplement school material with RR, FA, and pathoma. I think I'll start two days earlier (the weekend before a new block) to study the supplement material. Qbanks before exam to review and supplement.

So far I've completed 60 pages of RR (completely memorized page by page and basically know every word in those 60 pages) and just began BRS Phys.

tl;dr
I also want to integrate qbanks before a systems exam as a good review. Can anyone recommend good qbanks besides uworld that go subject by subject to help me prepare for
boards but are systems specific?
Click to expand...

A couple things:

1. Scrap anatomy. It's too low-yield at this point to go over like you're explaining. Once you start Qbanks, if there are questions on anatomy that you're unsure about, look up that region and study it along with any important structures nearby. You can't study everything you went over in MS-1 and expect to retain it all for Step 1.

2. Absolutely DO NOT skip environmental and nutritional pathology. Those are two very high-yield portions of RR, as is the vitamin/nutrition section in FA. You should go over these a few times before you sit for Step 1.

3. Don't try to memorize pages in RR path (those first 60 pages you described). That book is so dense that you'll forget a lot of it. Instead, follow along in RR as you do systems in school and focus on understanding mechnisms. Trying to memorize pages will literally do you no good.

4. As far as Qbanks: if I could do it over again I would have done Kaplan during the year by systems as we went through systems (instead of starting it in January when I did). I am very glad that I saved UWorld for the end during dedicated study time.

5. Strongly consider starting GunnerTraining.
 
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MrBeauregard said:
A couple things:


3. Don't try to memorize pages in RR path (those first 60 pages you described). That book is so dense that you'll forget a lot of it. Instead, follow along in RR as you do systems in school and focus on understanding mechnisms. Trying to memorize pages will literally do you no good.

4. As far as Qbanks: if I could do it over again I would have done Kaplan during the year by systems as we went through systems (instead of starting it in January when I did). I am very glad that I saved UWorld for the end during dedicated study time.
Click to expand...

I strongly agree with these two points if you're going to study so far in advance. The only other thing that might be useful is looking/skimming through BRS Physiology prior to pathology. There's a lot of integration between the topics, so you might find it useful. Otherwise, just focusing on learning the material well during the year. That will make your dedicated study period post-M2 a more pleasant experience.
 
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do you guys recommend any textbooks to go over throughout the year to help understand mechanisms better?
 
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I'm a rising second year, similar to OP, and I'm trying to sort out my study plan for next year. My school does Neuro, Micro, Pharm, and Path second year. A lot of people have recommended doing the Kaplan Q-bank during the year along with classes, which I'll definitely do. I learned in M1 physiology and anatomy that I learn material best when I do lots of questions.

I need to decide, however, if I should do gunner training as well. I've heard people say that doing a section of Kaplan Q-bank can take as much as 2 to 2.5 hours. I know that GT requires a significant time commitment as well, not all of which is related to a particular organ system or class. Would trying to do GT and Kaplan Qbank be too much? I definitely want to do well in my classes this year- I'm not one of SDN's 'barely pass everything and just focus on Step 1' guys. I don't want to buy too many resources and find myself wasting them because I don't have time to follow through.
 
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I did U world, kaplan, rx for each exam during second year for each system for pathology. I did biochem in the summer.. Over kill probably
 
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I dont need your kind of commentary med8957. Trolling the forums with bilous excrement does not help anyone. Thanks
 
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MrBeauregard said:
A couple things:

1. Scrap anatomy. It's too low-yield at this point to go over like you're explaining. Once you start Qbanks, if there are questions on anatomy that you're unsure about, look up that region and study it along with any important structures nearby. You can't study everything you went over in MS-1 and expect to retain it all for Step 1.

2. Absolutely DO NOT skip environmental and nutritional pathology. Those are two very high-yield portions of RR, as is the vitamin/nutrition section in FA. You should go over these a few times before you sit for Step 1.

3. Don't try to memorize pages in RR path (those first 60 pages you described). That book is so dense that you'll forget a lot of it. Instead, follow along in RR as you do systems in school and focus on understanding mechnisms. Trying to memorize pages will literally do you no good.

4. As far as Qbanks: if I could do it over again I would have done Kaplan during the year by systems as we went through systems (instead of starting it in January when I did). I am very glad that I saved UWorld for the end during dedicated study time.

5. Strongly consider starting GunnerTraining.
Click to expand...

Mr. Beau, can I call you that?

Why do you recommend GunnerTraining? What is good about it? What are its cons? What have you heard from others? Its a serious investment so I dont want to make a decision lightly. Thanks for your input 🙂
 
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sanj238 said:
Mr. Beau, can I call you that?

Why do you recommend GunnerTraining? What is good about it? What are its cons? What have you heard from others? Its a serious investment so I dont want to make a decision lightly. Thanks for your input 🙂
Click to expand...

I have read countless posts on the Step 1 forum where the person admits to scoring 270+ on USMLE and contributes their success largely to GT. I was seriously considering signing up for it when I began MS2 but I'm too freaking cheap. It's actually one thing I regret. I got a very respectable score, but I almost feel like I could have done better and maybe boosted my score by 5+ points (maybe even 10) if I had done GT. There are just so many people who like the spaced repetition concept and feel like it really helped them stay fresh for the exam and trained them on rapid recall. The ability to rapidly recall information on Step 1 cannot be overlooked because it will give you more time at the end of your 46q block to look over the questions you weren't able to confidently answer the first time around. I don't think that doing GT will give you a 270+; that takes raw intelligence, test taking skill, immense depth of knowledge of material, and a little luck. I do, however, think it will boost your score enough to be worth the investment. The decision is up to you, but I really and truly think that if I had to study for Step 1 again (oh what a horrible thought that is) I would use GT.

I also saw your thread about Robbin's questions. I have the book and I did them for most systems we went over on MS2. It was a really good decision, as one choice professor likes to model his personal test questions after the Robbin's questions. They are straight-up path with little other discipline integration. As a result, they only resembled half (or a little less - I'm not really sure now) of the pathology questions on my particular Step 1. If you have the time I feel they are quality questions that can definitely teach you something. If anything, they are more unique questions for you to do in order to get used to reading, dissecting, and confidently answering a USMLE-style question.

Hope that helps. I'll be glad to answer any more questions you have.
 
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Well I just signed up for gunner training, and so far its pretty awesome. I signed up for the free trial. It seems pretty darn good.

That said,

what did you do for COMLEX? What prep material did you use? did you study combank or any other service? let me know.
 
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sanj238 said:
what did you do for COMLEX? What prep material did you use? did you study combank or any other service? let me know.
Click to expand...

I studied primarily for USMLE using Kaplan Qbank, FA, RR, and UWorld. I looked over Savarese before our school's final OPP test for second year, then once again over the two day break between USMLE and COMLEX (I also went through all of FA micro and repro during that two day break as well). Essentially, I was studying primarily for USMLE and then supplementing Savarese for OMM review. The majority of what you need in Savarese are the viscerosomatic levels and the Chapman's points, as well as the Chapman's points in the OMT Handbook.

The USMLE is a phenomenally better written test than COMLEX. I felt embarrassed and disappointed while taking COMLEX, mainly because I just couldn't fathom how a crappy test like that could be a part of the necessary assessment to ensure that I am competent enough to begin clinical rotations. The COMLEX just sucks. I felt more than prepared (actually a little over-prepared) for COMLEX by using the above resources, but they were just right for USMLE. I never used COMBANK or COMQUEST and I felt confident for the majority of the questions. I'll let you know my COMLEX score when I get it (should be next week) and talk a little bit more about it then.
 
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MrBeauregard said:
I have read countless posts on the Step 1 forum where the person admits to scoring 270+ on USMLE and contributes their success largely to GT. I was seriously considering signing up for it when I began MS2 but I'm too freaking cheap. It's actually one thing I regret. I got a very respectable score, but I almost feel like I could have done better and maybe boosted my score by 5+ points (maybe even 10) if I had done GT.
Click to expand...

By countless, do you mean 3 or 4?

GT is good not great, old sport.
 
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Shadowmoses said:
I cant be the only one who thought this was rather clever.
Click to expand...

I thought so as well. But wanted to remain focused on the thread topic. Also, the negativity which preceded it turned me off from anything diverting.

Mr. Beau, fear not, I am doing my due diligence. I've read through a portion of the GT thread and so far I like what I read.

I would really like to know how the COMLEX went. I'd rather avoid studying those questions, but if you've not done as well as you want then I might change course.

A professor warned me that I should study for both because the questions on COMLEX are less straightforward than USMLE. He stated that USMLE was more direct, and COMLEX was more vague and as a result difficult in its own way. This is incongruous with everything else I've heard.
 
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Hey,few more questions,

When's the earliest I can do the NMBE practice tests? I want to do at least one as soon as possible, at least to get a good feeling for what this test is about, even if I do horrible.

I remember doing a practice real MCAT test or w/e its called before i took orgo or physics and managed a 14. I was scared-but it lit my ass on fire.

I was wondering you'd recommend a similar approach this time.

Also, are Uworld questions by subject (I forget if I already asked this)...

If so do you recommend doing them alongside second year coursework?

How about Kaplans qbank?
do you recommend I do both Kaplan and Uworld?
 
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Ok, so I looked into Gunner Training a bit more...

and I'm not too big a fan. The question base isn't really that deep. Questions are mostly first order recall testing. The whole premise of Gunner Training is already what I do with RR..

I study the RR material and then reveiw periodically everything I've studied over and over...which is what GT does except charge you 250 for it. I don't think its necessary.

I was hoping, that after doing the questions, getting some wrong and then re-reviewing the material NEW questions would be provided (thats what I was hoping with the 6000+ questions they brag about). Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. For each section, whatever questions you come across are it. They repeat again when you re-review. At least two sets of questions per section would be nice to really test if you've reviewed properly.

Otherwise, I don't think its beneficial for someone like me who reviews his material on a regular basis...

also I need to save money
 
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sanj238 said:
Ok, so I looked into Gunner Training a bit more...

and I'm not too big a fan. The question base isn't really that deep. Questions are mostly first order recall testing. The whole premise of Gunner Training is already what I do with RR..

I study the RR material and then reveiw periodically everything I've studied over and over...which is what GT does except charge you 250 for it. I don't think its necessary.

I was hoping, that after doing the questions, getting some wrong and then re-reviewing the material NEW questions would be provided (thats what I was hoping with the 6000+ questions they brag about). Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. For each section, whatever questions you come across are it. They repeat again when you re-review. At least two sets of questions per section would be nice to really test if you've reviewed properly.

Otherwise, I don't think its beneficial for someone like me who reviews his material on a regular basis...

also I need to save money
Click to expand...

There are newer questions with exam simulations. You probably don't have access to them on the free trial.

Historically, I've always done better with different sources, which is one of the reasons I opted for gt. I know it's tricky with board studying and people have gotten burned using too many sources. I did really well in ms1 with this method and hope the trend continues. I figured that in between gt, class notes, Pathoma, rr, fa, Qbanks and maybe DIT (but probably not), I would have seen the material in so many different ways that it will stick better.
 
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I take my comments back- I did not realize I was looking at the limited version. When I switched to Comprehensive-which would be way more useful for me, I was really impressed.

GT would do well to explain this stuff a bit more...
 
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Another question.

I looked up Pollux' presentation for what he did to prepare for USMLE and he seems to emphasize kaplan notes a lot.

Anyone have experience with this? Are they worth it? I found used 2011 addition on Amazon for 225...would it be worth the trouble?
 
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