What should I be doing at this point?

[username456789]

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Hey guys, M2 here who, like all of you, is looking to do really well on Step I. I haven't really done anything specific towards Step I yet (besides buy a First Aid that I've looked at maybe a few times).

What's the best thing to be doing right now besides "doing well in classes" (which I am)? Just going along and trying to annotate First Aid along with my courses? I started to try to do that in Micro/Immuno earlier in the year but sorta fell off the wagon. I'm hoping to start that up again.

Is it worth it to buy/start doing the Kaplan Qbank? I've heard people talking on here about how they've been doing some hardcore studying since like last summer (between M1/M2) and I guess that's just making me nervous (I tend to be an overachiever like you all too, so I don't like feeling like I don't have a "leg up" on things).

Any solid suggestions? I don't want to have a blank slate when May comes around!

Edit: I was thinking of maybe spending some of Christmas break going back through First Aid for the stuff we've covered so far this year (not really going back over first year stuff) just to kind of catch up with all of that. Yay/nay?

 

[DRJJ1]

Hey guys, M2 here who, like all of you, is looking to do really well on Step I. I haven't really done anything specific towards Step I yet (besides buy a First Aid that I've looked at maybe a few times).

What's the best thing to be doing right now besides "doing well in classes" (which I am)? Just going along and trying to annotate First Aid along with my courses? I started to try to do that in Micro/Immuno earlier in the year but sorta fell off the wagon. I'm hoping to start that up again.

Is it worth it to buy/start doing the Kaplan Qbank? I've heard people talking on here about how they've been doing some hardcore studying since like last summer (between M1/M2) and I guess that's just making me nervous (I tend to be an overachiever like you all too, so I don't like feeling like I don't have a "leg up" on things).

Any solid suggestions? I don't want to have a blank slate when May comes around!

Edit: I was thinking of maybe spending some of Christmas break going back through First Aid for the stuff we've covered so far this year (not really going back over first year stuff) just to kind of catch up with all of that. Yay/nay?

this is getting ******ed we got people here with 4.0 s doign well etc etc they say and they come here for attention or boredom to post useless questions about what they should be doing dude,,get a job cause if you re not doing what you re supposed to by now forgittabouddd it move on and get a lab job

 

[AggieSean]

this is getting ******ed we got people here with 4.0 s doign well etc etc they say and they come here for attention or boredom to post useless questions about what they should be doing dude,,get a job cause if you re not doing what you re supposed to by now forgittabouddd it move on and get a lab job

🙄

Harsh toke, dude.

 

[username456789]

this is getting ******ed we got people here with 4.0 s doign well etc etc they say and they come here for attention or boredom to post useless questions about what they should be doing dude,,get a job cause if you re not doing what you re supposed to by now forgittabouddd it move on and get a lab job

What the hell are you even on right now?

Sorry, I should've said "anyone who can piece together sentences at a minimum 3rd grade level have any helpful advice?"

 

[mq123]

Hey guys, M2 here who, like all of you, is looking to do really well on Step I. I haven't really done anything specific towards Step I yet (besides buy a First Aid that I've looked at maybe a few times).

What's the best thing to be doing right now besides "doing well in classes" (which I am)?

I'm an MS2 also, so I don't have anything to tell you from experience. I've heard from many people, students and professors both, that the best thing you can do during second year is do well on the courses...

Just going along and trying to annotate First Aid along with my courses? I started to try to do that in Micro/Immuno earlier in the year but sorta fell off the wagon. I'm hoping to start that up again.

I myself have just started reading FA in detail, reading Goljan's RR path with class/lectures, listening to Goljan's lectures, and doing some paper-based review Qs from First Aid Q&A (I just ordered the Robbins questions book, kinda late).

Is it worth it to buy/start doing the Kaplan Qbank? I've heard people talking on here about how they've been doing some hardcore studying since like last summer (between M1/M2) and I guess that's just making me nervous (I tend to be an overachiever like you all too, so I don't like feeling like I don't have a "leg up" on things)..

People talking about how/how much they study tends to freak me out a lot, too, so I just make a plan for myself and stick to it... I've heard that it's better to save online QBanks for the weeks-before-the-exam studying, but I've recently been considering trying out Gunner Training to see how it is, and getting UWorld for later.

Any solid suggestions? I don't want to have a blank slate when May comes around!

Edit: I was thinking of maybe spending some of Christmas break going back through First Aid for the stuff we've covered so far this year (not really going back over first year stuff) just to kind of catch up with all of that. Yay/nay?

That's my plan for winter break... to take out year 1 stuff and read FA and get used to my year 1 notes...

Hope this helps!🙂

 

[NRAI2001]

"Annotating first" has become so cliche these days.. I feel like if you have to actively annotate FA you re probably doing it for the wrong reasons. It should come naturally and it should be unique to what is High Yield for your knowledge (everyone has their strengths and weaknesses)..

Does anyone else feel like FA has huge gaping holes in its content?? They leave out many many important things and correlations/complications. They bascially just define terms..

I ve been reading goljan and BRS path along with my M2 courses.. they are IMHO much more difficult reads than FA and much more complete.. if I had to read all of goljan only in my alloted step 1 study time it would be a very daunting and discouraging task- heck I may have pushed it aside to the point of never reading it; where FA can be read completely in 1 to 3 days. I think doing the more difficult stuff during the year in bits and chunks while your motivation and concentration is still up has been pretty helpful for me so far..

 

[Captopril]

If I could do it again, I'd read RR x 3 without touching FA or UW. Once every piece of pathology knowledge in the universe was in my brain, I'd get down to the boring stuff (UW/FA knowledge).

 

[greg1184]

Does anyone else feel like FA has huge gaping holes in its content?? They leave out many many important things and correlations/complications. They bascially just define terms..

Considering just about every successful USMLE test taker has said as one of their primary advide: Know FA cold. I would say No.

 

[NRAI2001]

Considering just about every successful USMLE test taker has said as one of their primary advide: Know FA cold. I would say No.

From what I ve heard

know FA cold --> you ll pass

FA + UWorld --> 215 range

FA + UWorld + (goljan, MMRS..etc a few others) --> 230+ range

 

[NRAI2001]

If I could do it again, I'd read RR x 3 without touching FA or UW. Once every piece of pathology knowledge in the universe was in my brain, I'd get down to the boring stuff (UW/FA knowledge).

Ya thats my feeling as well.. FA basically just highlights key terms, without explanation. Might be key for last minute reading for terms/key words.

 

[SweetTonics]

imho, spend as much time as humanly possible on path and pharm - try to really understand path and know ANS pharm like the back of your hand and i promise when it comes time to start studying, the rest will come naturally. for me, phsyio and biochem make so much more sense after path, even micro to a certain extent.

if you want to annotate anything - annotate RR
we got kaplan books from our school and i wrote in my pharm kaplan book a lot - i've found the kaplan videos by Dr. R the best resource in pharm so far (i'm a visual learner)

good luck! =)

 

[greg1184]

From what I ve heard

know FA cold --> you ll pass

FA + UWorld --> 215 range

FA + UWorld + (goljan, MMRS..etc a few others) --> 230+ range

Pretty much. No one here has ever said that FA was to be used as a sole source. In fact FA itself says that it is a BIG mistake to use it as your sole source. FA is a way of putting all of the main concepts together into one book for high yield studying.