What to do? Where to begin?

[colts]

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Hey,

I'm going to be starting my second year soon. I have a couple of questions regarding Step 1.

When should I start reviewing the material?

Which review course (Kaplan, Princeton Review, etc.) is the best?

When should I take these review courses?

Which review books are the best?

Any input on these questions or the step 1 in general would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Rollo]

You should really browse through the 2011 USMLE experiences thread as most of your answers have already been answered in there.

But for what it's worth, learn your 2nd year materials well. Page through FA or get a year-long subscription to a qbank like USMLERx, Kaplan, or Uworld to review throughout the year. Most people start going through the material 2-3 months before lightly, and most of us had 4-6 weeks of dedicated study period.

Oh and buy Rapid Review Pathology too.

 

[colts]

I looked around, but couldn't really find and answer to "when to take the kaplan live prep course?"

If people could tell me when they took it or when is the best time to take it, that would be great.

Thanks

 

[M Tobaggen MD]

What you can do now is do well in your classes. While you're in school thats priority number 1. I didn't study for step 1 during the year and got honors in a bunch of my courses and felt that helped in preparation for step 1. Then again, one of my best friends started UW in January and took it with me in June.

 

[combat]

yup, you need to learn your MS2 subjects with sprinkle of dr.go***. I wish someone had told me this when i was MS2.

 

[Dextrocardia]

I looked around, but couldn't really find and answer to "when to take the kaplan live prep course?"

If people could tell me when they took it or when is the best time to take it, that would be great.

Thanks

No one is answering your question because very few people (at least on this site) take any live review courses. Read the thread that Rollo indicated for some great info - its very long, and it may hurt, but its worth it in the end (that's what she said).

 

[IandIatrogenic]

Yeah. Unless you're a poor student you don't typically pay thousands of dollars to have someone hold your hand through reviewing for boards.

The only think I wish is that I would have purchased a year's subscription to a couple Qbanks at the beginning of my second year.

Since you can select the topics the questions are over I think it would be an excellent means of reinforcing what you learn throughout your second year.

 

[SmokD]

Its important to try and do as well as you can in classes, but I would try and make sure to finish your first pass of Goljan and First Aid before you begin your dedicated boards studying. I would personally suggest also trying to finish USMLERx as well when your going through First Aid.

 

[hurdlepup]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10421965&postcount=11

This is a pretty good post.

Describes how to use a combination of review books, Goljan, QBanks, etc. This is prepping for STEP1.