What shouldn't I study, for Step 1 ?

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kornphan

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I have read so much on Step 1 all over the Internet that now I am totally confused and frustrated. I want a clear and concise answer on what subjects I should really concentrate on and what subjects that I can skim over ?... To all the Seniors on here ..... what's the bottom line ??..

Thanks..
korndawg

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Most students concentrate mostly on 2nd year material, which means path, pharm, and micro. Among the first year subjects, the consensus seems to be that physiology is probably the most important. Anatomy and embryology are among the least well represented subjects, but neuroanatomy (a subset of anat) usually gets a fair number of questions. Biochem can go either way with most people reporting not too many questions but a few reporting a considerable number, often related to molecular bio.

You should keep in mind, though, that everyone gets a diffferent test. Even though the distribution of questions should be similar across test takers, people come out reporting wildly different things.
 
You really shouldn't be that lost. Find yourself a copy of First Aid for Step I (and/or Step Up), and you'll have a very good guide of what's important and what's not. It's VERY easy to have too many sources/study guides for step I, so find one or two that work for you and just get to studying.
 
i agree with jed & KER... the m2 stuff does tend to get blasted pretty hard, and first aid does a good job of keeping it clear & concise...

that said, studying first aid to the exclusion of anything else will most likely get you a one-way ticket to your school's MedEd office for a little talk regarding why you didn't do as well as you thought, and what you need to do to prepare for the retake...

go through other sources, and write in the margins of first aid... when it becomes crunch time (approx. 10d or so before the test), you now have a concise, portable, high yield resource to concentrate on. many other posts in this thread have covered what the "good" the "bad" and the "ugly" books are for board prep - heck, even first aid has a ranking of review books in the back...

if you're interested, here was my list (in order of importance):
First Aid
BRS Path, BRS Physio
Micro Made Ridiculously Simple
Kaplan biochem, Kaplan pharm (some lippincott pharm/biochem)
High Yield: anat (just for the landmark tables, nerves, etc... most everyone overstudies anatomy) & embryo

FA behavioral science is sufficient for step 1... brs BS is just that - BS

just my $.02,
-tim

ps - do questions... lots of questions
 
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third years at my school ranked BRS behavioral as the far and away best review book for behavioral for step 1.

second was hi-yeild behavioral.....both by same author.


2 other schools polls (vcu and i think baylor) also highly recommended those behavioral books.

later
 
hey 12R34Y,

that's a good point... it is a good book, and my previous post may not have reflected that. what i meant to parlay is that if you're just now reading it, it's too in depth... many people @ my school felt that it's great for while you're taking the class (like BRS anatomy), but kind of a haul while trying to study for boards... i, like most of my class, thought the stuff in first aid is more than sufficient for the behavioral questions you'll get on the boards.

-t
 
yeah, i agree that BRS behav. would be quite a load in the few weeks cramming before the exam.
i'm using it during the course this spring.

later
 
7 main subjects:

Anatomy
Behavioral Science
Biochem
Micro
Path
Pharm
Phys

You could also arrange by organ systems, a la Step-Up.
 
Don't study any accounting, ancient greek history, or Middle East politics, no matter what anyone on this forum tells you. There, you have something you don't have to study.

P.S. Perhaps you should skim over good recipes for pesto, but this too will probably be low yield. Good luck
 
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