USMLE Step One Guide

[WhiteWashed]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if I could pick the brains of some people who have a lot more experience and knowledge than me on the Step 1 exam.

I am entering medical school this year. I was hoping to get your opinions on what you think is the best way to prep for the step one exam over the first two years of medical school.In other words, with what you know now about the Step 1 exam, how and what would you do differently starting from day 1 of medical school. I really want to get a solid game plan down and would really appreciate your help.


Thanks.

 

[batch5000]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if I could pick the brains of some people who have a lot more experience and knowledge than me on the Step 1 exam.

I am entering medical school this year. I was hoping to get your opinions on what you think is the best way to prep for the step one exam over the first two years of medical school.In other words, with what you know now about the Step 1 exam, how and what would you do differently starting from day 1 of medical school. I really want to get a solid game plan down and would really appreciate your help.


Thanks.

I would just try to learn everything as deeply as possible during your first two years. Especially try to get a intuitive sense of the overarching concepts. I wouldn't start prepping for USMLE Step 1 until your dedicated time off period (unless you have 5 or fewer weeks for that.) There is no need to do the review materials like Exammaster until your dedicated study period (6 weeks should be sufficient.)

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

If I could do it over, I would use highly rated step 1 review books along with my courses so that during my dedicated step 1 period it would be a quick read.

 

[WhiteWashed]

So do step 1 review concurrently with the school study area? Would you do USMLE questions in conjunction? Golijan (spelling might be off) lectures too?

 

[StressedMedStud]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if I could pick the brains of some people who have a lot more experience and knowledge than me on the Step 1 exam.

I am entering medical school this year. I was hoping to get your opinions on what you think is the best way to prep for the step one exam over the first two years of medical school.In other words, with what you know now about the Step 1 exam, how and what would you do differently starting from day 1 of medical school. I really want to get a solid game plan down and would really appreciate your help.


Thanks.

For first year, I would be worried about learning the stuff well and getting good grades. Worry about step I during 2nd year

 

[batch5000]

So do step 1 review concurrently with the school study area? Would you do USMLE questions in conjunction? Golijan (spelling might be off) lectures too?

I wouldn't. You learn most of what is on USMLE Step 1 in your course work. Why study review books concurrently? I think that what the other poster suggested would be that you familiarize yourself with the review text as you go along with your coursework so that when you reach your dedicated study time, you are already familiar with the review text. As for doing questions, I guess you could do Exammaster as you go along, but I feel that doing questions during your dedicated review period is croosh.

Golijan? Is that a genie in Arabian Nights or something?

Bottom line ... doing well in your coursework is croosh.

 

[thinkenergy]

Ditch all textbooks recommended by professors, they turn out to be useless, start reading FA, High Yield, BRS, even Kaplan as you study for your class, at the same time annotate FA as you go along. To prepare for your regular school exams, condense lecture powerpoints into your own notes 3 times, read it over 3 more times, your are golden. Another thing: get a study partner, keep yourself motivated, remember your ultimate goal is to do well on STEP 1.

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

So do step 1 review concurrently with the school study area? Would you do USMLE questions in conjunction? Golijan (spelling might be off) lectures too?

You do not need to worry about "studying" for step 1 till maybe second yr. Like the above posters mentioned do well in your courses and "familiarize"yourself with the review books.

i.e. get a copy of BRS physio

 

[batch5000]

Ditch all textbooks recommended by professors, they turn out to be useless, start reading FA, High Yield, BRS, even Kaplan as you study for your class, at the same time annotate FA as you go along. To prepare for your regular school exams, condense lecture powerpoints into your own notes 3 times, read it over 3 more times, your are golden. Another thing: get a study partner, keep yourself motivated, remember your ultimate goal is to do well on STEP 1.

Hmmmm ... I don't know if I agree with that. If you skip the textbooks, you miss a certain breadth and depth of medical education that I find quite pleasing. I would not treat the first two years as merely an extended USMLE Step 1 review course. There is so much more to your education than a high USMLE Step 1 score. Additionally, I feel that with a little bit of proclivity, a suitable USMLE Step 1 score can be procured such that you may enter the specialty of your choosing.

Cheers

 

[WhiteWashed]

Does anyone feel like they had the perfect study method and care the share what they did and how it resulted?

 

[batch5000]

Does anyone feel like they had the perfect study method and care the share what they did and how it resulted?

No, I'm sorry. No one has the perfect method. Some people may have very good study methods, but perfect? I regret to inform that it is simply not possible.

I believe that it might be too early for you to be concerned with the USMLE Step 1. I would focus on enjoying my summer before medical school begins. If you are inclined to get a head start, perhaps the Allopathic forum would be a better place to get the answers that you so crave.

I must say, I envy you right now. You have the whole summer ahead of you. I am stuck in the dank bowels of a library, destroying case after case of diet cola, pounding through Harrison's, Robins, First Aids, and Exammaster.

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

No, I'm sorry. No one has the perfect method. Some people may have very good study methods, but perfect? I regret to inform that it is simply not possible.

I believe that it might be too early for you to be concerned with the USMLE Step 1. I would focus on enjoying my summer before medical school begins. If you are inclined to get a head start, perhaps the Allopathic forum would be a better place to get the answers that you so crave.

I must say, I envy you right now. You have the whole summer ahead of you. I am stuck in the dank bowels of a library, destroying case after case of diet cola, pounding through Harrison's, Robins, First Aids, and Exammaster.

Why not UWORLD?

 

[batch5000]

Why not UWORLD?

I have only a few days experience with Usmleworld, so I do not feel qualified to recommend it. I do like what I have seen thus far, however. I am concerned that Usmleworld might be a fad - the flavor of the month if you will. Mainly, this is due to the religious zeal with which the frequenters of this here Forum speak of it. Perhaps I will be made a convert in short time. My big experience thus far is with Exammaster, with which I am greatly pleased. Medical students have been preparing for the USMLE Step 1 with Robbins, Harrison's and more recently, First Aid, for years. Why change a recipe for success?

 

[WhiteWashed]

If you had to recommend a resource to review concurrently with the schools curriculum, what would it be? I have heard that studying for the USMLE with your school works provides better clinical correlation. Would you say that is true?

 

[MrBeauregard]

I have only a few days experience with Usmleworld, so I do not feel qualified to recommend it. I do like what I have seen thus far, however. I am concerned that Usmleworld might be a fad - the flavor of the month if you will. Mainly, this is due to the religious zeal with which the frequenters of this here Forum speak of it. Perhaps I will be made a convert in short time. My big experience thus far is with Exammaster, with which I am greatly pleased. Medical students have been preparing for the USMLE Step 1 with Robbins, Harrison's and more recently, First Aid, for years. Why change a recipe for success?

No offense, but using Robbins and Harrison's to study for Step 1 is extremely low-yield. And UWorld is the best question bank because it best simulates the actual exam experience.

 

[Brotato]

I have only a few days experience with Usmleworld, so I do not feel qualified to recommend it. I do like what I have seen thus far, however. I am concerned that Usmleworld might be a fad - the flavor of the month if you will. Mainly, this is due to the religious zeal with which the frequenters of this here Forum speak of it. Perhaps I will be made a convert in short time. My big experience thus far is with Exammaster, with which I am greatly pleased. Medical students have been preparing for the USMLE Step 1 with Robbins, Harrison's and more recently, First Aid, for years. Why change a recipe for success?

I don't think you realize that what you are doing is not very common. When it gets to board prep time (6-8 weeks) NOBODY should be still reading Robbins or Harrison's. I have never heard of anyone doing this. They are massive textbooks to be used for depth during classes. When you're studying for boards you should be using review books and question banks. Unless you take pride in being the .001% who does things differently. In which case more power to you.

Also, not using UWorld because it's the flavor of the month is like not using Facebook because it's the flavor of the month. Sorry but they've both been around too long to be considered a fad. UWorld is the most popular Q-bank by far for a reason. Because it has excellent explanations.

 

[Brotato]

If you had to recommend a resource to review concurrently with the schools curriculum, what would it be? I have heard that studying for the USMLE with your school works provides better clinical correlation. Would you say that is true?

OP there are about a gajillion threads about this. Have you used the search function yet?

 

[WhiteWashed]

OP there are about a gajillion threads about this. Have you used the search function yet?

Yes, however I wanted an as up to date opinion as possible.

 

[Brotato]

Since you're most likely going to take physiology 1st year, if you want a good review book to follow along I'd recommend BRS Physiology. If you're in one of those integrated systems curriculums I'd recommend Pathoma.

But really you're getting ahead of yourself here. Your first goal when you start that 1st semester is to not fail. Study your butt off for anatomy and whatever other classes you have and make sure you pass. Then you can start putting together a plan to read review books along with your classes. But not before you get an idea of how much work is required to not fail your classes.