what would u do differently?

[blankaflour]

for those who already took the exam & recieve ur score
now u have experience 2 share & i am wondering
what would u do differently?i mean regarding preparation
&stuff

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[toehammer]

I did most of q bank (useful) + the q book (useful but not as much as qbank) + the 150 free questions (much easier than qbank, but useful) + kaplan live lecture (wouldn't have done this again)...

75% on qbank
241 on step 1

Though before i did any of this prep i did a couple practice tests and i did bad like 40%ish. So what would i have done differently? I would have learned the information better the first time. In retrospect I should have just tried to learn everything during the first 2 years of med school. It would have made it a lot less stressful towards exam time. Though if i had a conversation between myself now and myself 2 years ago i probably still wouldn't have taken my advice. So in the short term, i suggest reading the kaplan books because they have a good chunk of the information tested on the exam....also for farm, don't spend so much time on side effects, i dont think i had a single question on side effects, it was mostly drug mechanisms...biochem was like pure pathway memorization, neuroanatomy they just showed pics of spinal cord and asked what parts are damaged from a patient description, physiology was a bunch of graphs, anatomy was a little abstract...i had a couple questions asking about where to make surgical incisions to avoid hitting major vessels (the gist was to avoid hitting the hypogastric vessels in abdominal surgery, or something like that)....

so my suggestion....Do qbank....read the kaplan books, listen to goljian when your in the car, but dont try and memorize what he says verbatim...reading anything past this is really a waste of time because there are only so many little facts your brain can remember, no matter how long you start studying before the exam...that is why i say learn things well the first time because then the little stupid details will already be in your head.

other suggestion...if your school gives you a 2 month window to take the exam, take it within the first month because it will motivate you instead of making you procrastinate and wait until the last minute...also it will give you vacation which you will need before your rotations. I started out on a surgical rotation and im pretty tired, i waited until the last week before rotations to take the exam, which was idiotic.

 

[blankaflour]

what do u think of kaplan USMLE Step 1 Home Study Program
i mean they costly are they worth buying?
do u think integarting review books & self assessment books are good 2 use during the courses??or are they best 2 be use just before the exam?
does any one know if they r avilable 2 download for free?

if someone enrolled in system based curriculum do u think integrating kaplan system based books (part of the home study program) will be good 2 use during the curriculum or is it better 2 leave them just for the preparation??

 

[kito]

The books can help you during your second year, so if you have time you should definitely consider working them into your learning.

 

[toehammer]

Ultimately, don't study based on what other people tell you. Just use it as a guide. If everyone says qbank was fantastic it doesn't mean it will be fantastic for you. Try and look back on how you studied the first two years and reapply it to how you study for the exam.

 

[manta]

Is Home Study the same as WebPrep? If so, I was generally disappointed with the quality of the lectures, except for the behavioral sciences lecturer, who is awesome. With those lectures + QBank (I barely skimmed it in First Aid), I had no problem at all with this section of the test. It's not difficult material, but it is good to have been exposed to most of the scenarios beforehand.

I found the Kaplan books to be just one more set of books. It is redundant to have these plus BRS/HY. A friend of mine, however, loved them and wishes that she had them to study from first and second year. I agree that they would probably be more helpful as an adjunct to coursework vs. studying for step 1.

 

[chaser08]

Like you've heard before, you've got to find your own way. The key decide what you want to do and stick with it. You'll be so tempted to change your method/books/pacing of study when you talk to your classmates, but resist the urge! Know that everybody has a freak-out moment. The key is to get over it and move on.

As for Web Prep, it's hit or miss, but since I went halves with a classmate, I probably am not as pissed off as I could have been with the quality of the product. It was good for the times when I was tired of reading and allowed me to listen to a lecture while cooking or cleaning. It's not the most entertaining and is a little weak on the visual aids, but I guess it's worth it if you only have to pay ~$400 instead of ~$800. The guy for Behavioral Science is awesome. The guy for Micro is slow death.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have definitely listened to Goljan at least twice all the way through. I used him to study for Path last year, but only went back to re-listen to things I was weak on before Step 1. Because he is so conversational, he gives you little nuggets of information that aren't necessarily on topic but nevertheless good to know for the exam.

 

[RugbyJC]

A little background: I didn't start studying until after finals second year and used First Aide, Kaplan, and Q-bank as my only sources...and maybe a little BRS from path and behavioral, but not really. I also gave myself exactly one month.

The ONLY thing I would do differently was perhaps get a better grasp on biochem, my weakest area. It was something that I studied, but could have done more with and probably could have gone from having a slightly above average score to an above average score, but I really don't think it will make that much of a difference.

Bottom line: don't blow off something because you hate it and thing its going to be a low yeild topic.

 

[Taus]

^

 

[SuperFemDoc22]

Bump...I'm curious of any other answers

 

[DoubleOSevenn]

bump

 

[myershurt]

a lot of bumps with no replies - so i think i will give it a shot...

i posted a similar response on another message board, so for some readers this might be redundant - but...

i have the wonderful opportunity of taking this bastard again (180/74 in June of 2006) - so this is more of a "what i AM doing differently" than "what i would do differently."

the first time around, i had read (on this message board and others) that the test was highly clinical (and it is) so i focused most of my studies on signs, symptoms, presentation and treatments of diseases. i knew the boards would try and trip me up - so i further studied what diseases were associated with others - maybe what drugs to give if the pt was allergic to the DOC for the disease they presented with, other diseases that were caused by defects on the same chromosome, etc.

i found that i could memorize the bugs/drugs/buzzwords/FA material rather well, so this was my focus towards the end of my study schedule, and i went into the boards feeling like i had accomplished a lot, and ready to take them.

for some other background - i took kaplan live lectures (school required) and finished QBank, last 10 or so 50 question blocks 65-70%, took 2 NBMEs - 180 about a month before (form 3) , 206 two weeks before (form 2), USMLE released items - were a joke, i stopped after hitting 90% on the first block - i felt that they were too easy (as mentioned numerous times on this board), and i felt that i learned a lot in the 2 weeks after my second NBME and the real thing - so i only expected to go up.

i would recommend doing a few simulated exams beforehand - i did about 3 - 1 each friday before my test (also on a friday) so i was used to taking 350 questions on fridays, and stamina wasn't a problem. the released USMLE cd is good only for the first part that gives you the identical tutorial you can skip during the real test - the extra break time was great and necessary.

during the exam - i saw all of the figures, lab values, buzzwords, and FA material that i had studied and expected to see - but usually ONLY in the question STEM. the "questions" that i had been preparing for were useless when it came to the actual focus of the question following the stem. don't get me wrong - i did see a lot of familiar material that i could juck click and feel good about - BUT a lot of the "next-step" questions i had been anticipating were in essence a "step-back" - and caught me completely off guard.

the best way to describe it is that instead of being asked about a specific lung pathology that i had studied - the question stem would give me a description of a lung pathology, and then ask about either the basic mechanisms of neoplasia, or inflammation, or specific actions of something inside of one of the dividing cells - and how those applied to the disease being described. Very doable - but not what i had been focusing on.

After the test, i felt that had i gone over just the first five chapters of Robbins, the first five chapters of a physio text, the first five chapters of Katsung, and a college cell bio book I would have aced the thing. It truly is an application of BASIC sciences to clinical processes. The FOUNDATIONS of medicine and pathologic processes are key to doing well. The NBME didn't care that I knew every sign, symptom, drug, and test for something, they wanted to know WHY something was swollen, or WHY urine was black, or WHY a test that should be positive wasn't in a specific case.

theory also played a big part on my exam - i had pharm questions asking about drug design, and what to start with if i wanted to make a type of drug, and physio questions that tested situations that were not humanly possible (i.e. - a pt. has no spleen, liver, or kidneys, where would you find concentrations of RBCs, etc. - or other nonsense that tested knowledge of body functions outside the normal realms)

lots of pharm kinetics, every physio question had arrows going up, down, sideways (and not just of the expected ions/molecules - always gave something like an excersizing pt, then columns of arrows for sodium, potassium, Pco2, Pao2, and then something out of left field like monkey toes increased or decreased?), straightforward anatomy, behavioral, micro, immuno.

another suggestion that i have about understanding concepts comes from figures. i would always study figures exactly as they were presented in kaplan, FA, etc. - and these did show up on the exam. HOWEVER - like the other material - usually only in the question stem. For example - the question about collagen synthesis didn't care that i knew every step, or could draw it out on a white board - the actual question dealt with where each piece would come from - perhaps where it was going - maybe you know copper is involved - is it dietary? where was it stored BEFORE it was used in this process? - etc. - so know everything AROUND the figures - not just what is presented IN them.

i saw three exact questions from my NBME tests - so i recommend those - two had figures that were identical to the ones on the NBME forms - so i recognized them immediately. and not to scare anyone - there are quick one-liner questions that just seem too easy (i actually spend most of my time on these- just to make sure i wasn't missing something since they were so obvious). a friend described these questions nicely - they put one of them every 5 or 10 questions so that right before you want to shoot yourself or just cancel your score, you see a nice easy one that keeps you in the race.

this time around - this is my focus - mechanisms, and understanding of concepts. be prepared to apply understanding of everything that you memorize. i have heard good things about USMLE World, so i think that i will give them a shot when my test date gets closer, and am using FA and Goljan RR, supplemented with a few HY books for other subjects. I don't think it matters which books you use - just know that you are going to have to apply the concepts in ways you never have before, and truly understand anything that you read.

good luck to all - i'll be with everyone again in june of 2007 - let me know if you want me to rant on anything specifically...hope it helps...

 

[marr]

a lot of bumps with no replies - so i think i will give it a shot...

i posted a similar response on another message board, so for some readers this might be redundant - but...

i have the wonderful opportunity of taking this bastard again (180/74 in June of 2006) - so this is more of a "what i AM doing differently" than "what i would do differently."

the first time around, i had read (on this message board and others) that the test was highly clinical (and it is) so i focused most of my studies on signs, symptoms, presentation and treatments of diseases. i knew the boards would try and trip me up - so i further studied what diseases were associated with others - maybe what drugs to give if the pt was allergic to the DOC for the disease they presented with, other diseases that were caused by defects on the same chromosome, etc.

i found that i could memorize the bugs/drugs/buzzwords/FA material rather well, so this was my focus towards the end of my study schedule, and i went into the boards feeling like i had accomplished a lot, and ready to take them.

for some other background - i took kaplan live lectures (school required) and finished QBank, last 10 or so 50 question blocks 65-70%, took 2 NBMEs - 180 about a month before (form 3) , 206 two weeks before (form 2), USMLE released items - were a joke, i stopped after hitting 90% on the first block - i felt that they were too easy (as mentioned numerous times on this board), and i felt that i learned a lot in the 2 weeks after my second NBME and the real thing - so i only expected to go up.

i would recommend doing a few simulated exams beforehand - i did about 3 - 1 each friday before my test (also on a friday) so i was used to taking 350 questions on fridays, and stamina wasn't a problem. the released USMLE cd is good only for the first part that gives you the identical tutorial you can skip during the real test - the extra break time was great and necessary.

during the exam - i saw all of the figures, lab values, buzzwords, and FA material that i had studied and expected to see - but usually ONLY in the question STEM. the "questions" that i had been preparing for were useless when it came to the actual focus of the question following the stem. don't get me wrong - i did see a lot of familiar material that i could juck click and feel good about - BUT a lot of the "next-step" questions i had been anticipating were in essence a "step-back" - and caught me completely off guard.

the best way to describe it is that instead of being asked about a specific lung pathology that i had studied - the question stem would give me a description of a lung pathology, and then ask about either the basic mechanisms of neoplasia, or inflammation, or specific actions of something inside of one of the dividing cells - and how those applied to the disease being described. Very doable - but not what i had been focusing on.

After the test, i felt that had i gone over just the first five chapters of Robbins, the first five chapters of a physio text, the first five chapters of Katsung, and a college cell bio book I would have aced the thing. It truly is an application of BASIC sciences to clinical processes. The FOUNDATIONS of medicine and pathologic processes are key to doing well. The NBME didn't care that I knew every sign, symptom, drug, and test for something, they wanted to know WHY something was swollen, or WHY urine was black, or WHY a test that should be positive wasn't in a specific case.

theory also played a big part on my exam - i had pharm questions asking about drug design, and what to start with if i wanted to make a type of drug, and physio questions that tested situations that were not humanly possible (i.e. - a pt. has no spleen, liver, or kidneys, where would you find concentrations of RBCs, etc. - or other nonsense that tested knowledge of body functions outside the normal realms)

lots of pharm kinetics, every physio question had arrows going up, down, sideways (and not just of the expected ions/molecules - always gave something like an excersizing pt, then columns of arrows for sodium, potassium, Pco2, Pao2, and then something out of left field like monkey toes increased or decreased?), straightforward anatomy, behavioral, micro, immuno.

another suggestion that i have about understanding concepts comes from figures. i would always study figures exactly as they were presented in kaplan, FA, etc. - and these did show up on the exam. HOWEVER - like the other material - usually only in the question stem. For example - the question about collagen synthesis didn't care that i knew every step, or could draw it out on a white board - the actual question dealt with where each piece would come from - perhaps where it was going - maybe you know copper is involved - is it dietary? where was it stored BEFORE it was used in this process? - etc. - so know everything AROUND the figures - not just what is presented IN them.

i saw three exact questions from my NBME tests - so i recommend those - two had figures that were identical to the ones on the NBME forms - so i recognized them immediately. and not to scare anyone - there are quick one-liner questions that just seem too easy (i actually spend most of my time on these- just to make sure i wasn't missing something since they were so obvious). a friend described these questions nicely - they put one of them every 5 or 10 questions so that right before you want to shoot yourself or just cancel your score, you see a nice easy one that keeps you in the race.

this time around - this is my focus - mechanisms, and understanding of concepts. be prepared to apply understanding of everything that you memorize. i have heard good things about USMLE World, so i think that i will give them a shot when my test date gets closer, and am using FA and Goljan RR, supplemented with a few HY books for other subjects. I don't think it matters which books you use - just know that you are going to have to apply the concepts in ways you never have before, and truly understand anything that you read.

good luck to all - i'll be with everyone again in june of 2007 - let me know if you want me to rant on anything specifically...hope it helps...

Thanks for the great tips!! Hope you will do really well this time around. Best of luck

 

[ertugrul]

myershurt, thank you sou much for the message

 

[stretch210]

a lot of bumps with no replies - so i think i will give it a shot...

i posted a similar response on another message board, so for some readers this might be redundant - but...

i have the wonderful opportunity of taking this bastard again (180/74 in June of 2006) - so this is more of a "what i AM doing differently" than "what i would do differently."

the first time around, i had read (on this message board and others) that the test was highly clinical (and it is) so i focused most of my studies on signs, symptoms, presentation and treatments of diseases. i knew the boards would try and trip me up - so i further studied what diseases were associated with others - maybe what drugs to give if the pt was allergic to the DOC for the disease they presented with, other diseases that were caused by defects on the same chromosome, etc.

i found that i could memorize the bugs/drugs/buzzwords/FA material rather well, so this was my focus towards the end of my study schedule, and i went into the boards feeling like i had accomplished a lot, and ready to take them.

for some other background - i took kaplan live lectures (school required) and finished QBank, last 10 or so 50 question blocks 65-70%, took 2 NBMEs - 180 about a month before (form 3) , 206 two weeks before (form 2), USMLE released items - were a joke, i stopped after hitting 90% on the first block - i felt that they were too easy (as mentioned numerous times on this board), and i felt that i learned a lot in the 2 weeks after my second NBME and the real thing - so i only expected to go up.

i would recommend doing a few simulated exams beforehand - i did about 3 - 1 each friday before my test (also on a friday) so i was used to taking 350 questions on fridays, and stamina wasn't a problem. the released USMLE cd is good only for the first part that gives you the identical tutorial you can skip during the real test - the extra break time was great and necessary.

during the exam - i saw all of the figures, lab values, buzzwords, and FA material that i had studied and expected to see - but usually ONLY in the question STEM. the "questions" that i had been preparing for were useless when it came to the actual focus of the question following the stem. don't get me wrong - i did see a lot of familiar material that i could juck click and feel good about - BUT a lot of the "next-step" questions i had been anticipating were in essence a "step-back" - and caught me completely off guard.

the best way to describe it is that instead of being asked about a specific lung pathology that i had studied - the question stem would give me a description of a lung pathology, and then ask about either the basic mechanisms of neoplasia, or inflammation, or specific actions of something inside of one of the dividing cells - and how those applied to the disease being described. Very doable - but not what i had been focusing on.

After the test, i felt that had i gone over just the first five chapters of Robbins, the first five chapters of a physio text, the first five chapters of Katsung, and a college cell bio book I would have aced the thing. It truly is an application of BASIC sciences to clinical processes. The FOUNDATIONS of medicine and pathologic processes are key to doing well. The NBME didn't care that I knew every sign, symptom, drug, and test for something, they wanted to know WHY something was swollen, or WHY urine was black, or WHY a test that should be positive wasn't in a specific case.

theory also played a big part on my exam - i had pharm questions asking about drug design, and what to start with if i wanted to make a type of drug, and physio questions that tested situations that were not humanly possible (i.e. - a pt. has no spleen, liver, or kidneys, where would you find concentrations of RBCs, etc. - or other nonsense that tested knowledge of body functions outside the normal realms)

lots of pharm kinetics, every physio question had arrows going up, down, sideways (and not just of the expected ions/molecules - always gave something like an excersizing pt, then columns of arrows for sodium, potassium, Pco2, Pao2, and then something out of left field like monkey toes increased or decreased?), straightforward anatomy, behavioral, micro, immuno.

another suggestion that i have about understanding concepts comes from figures. i would always study figures exactly as they were presented in kaplan, FA, etc. - and these did show up on the exam. HOWEVER - like the other material - usually only in the question stem. For example - the question about collagen synthesis didn't care that i knew every step, or could draw it out on a white board - the actual question dealt with where each piece would come from - perhaps where it was going - maybe you know copper is involved - is it dietary? where was it stored BEFORE it was used in this process? - etc. - so know everything AROUND the figures - not just what is presented IN them.

i saw three exact questions from my NBME tests - so i recommend those - two had figures that were identical to the ones on the NBME forms - so i recognized them immediately. and not to scare anyone - there are quick one-liner questions that just seem too easy (i actually spend most of my time on these- just to make sure i wasn't missing something since they were so obvious). a friend described these questions nicely - they put one of them every 5 or 10 questions so that right before you want to shoot yourself or just cancel your score, you see a nice easy one that keeps you in the race.

this time around - this is my focus - mechanisms, and understanding of concepts. be prepared to apply understanding of everything that you memorize. i have heard good things about USMLE World, so i think that i will give them a shot when my test date gets closer, and am using FA and Goljan RR, supplemented with a few HY books for other subjects. I don't think it matters which books you use - just know that you are going to have to apply the concepts in ways you never have before, and truly understand anything that you read.

good luck to all - i'll be with everyone again in june of 2007 - let me know if you want me to rant on anything specifically...hope it helps...

Thanks for the detailed message...you mentioned that this time you will be reading FA and Goljan RR and some other HY books...my question is how will these books help with the "concepts" you mentioned are so important, as opposed to just the signs, symptoms, and treatments that seemed to be good to know, but not the way to get to the answer?

Thanks.

 

[HunterGatherer]

too many times I hear you need to know the "why and the how" but now I clearly understand what was meant by that. This probably deserves a sticky. Thanks.

 

[joe6102]

too many times I hear you need to know the "why and the how" but now I clearly understand what was meant by that.

That's exactly what I was thinking after I read it. Thank you myershurt!

 

[myershurt]

stretch -

I see your point - i'll try and clarify. I am using FA, Goljan, etc again - but this time around, if i see something i don't understand, i would obviously look it up in a more comprehensive source - but limited to the concise information listed. Example - if FA only gives 3 common presenting signs for a disease, and one drug to treat it - and i truly understand why those signs are caused by the disease, and the mechanism the drug uses to treat it - then FA is sufficient. If i see the same thing, but don't see how the signs/symptoms or the drug relate to the disease, I would do some research - but ONLY look at how the listed signs/symptoms/drugs listed in FA applied to the disease picture. Sort of a limited drilling for information.

 

[goodies]

so you would not recommend adding on symptoms or side effects beyond what is in FA? and that understanding why the symptoms or side effects that are present in FA occur is important..

 

[myershurt]

in a nutshell - yes. FA already highlights the important tidbit of information the NBME wants you to associate with the disease. you need to understand the relationship between that mentioned characteristic and the disease in depth more than you need to understand ten other characteristics for that disease superficially.

 

[shivasHeroLike]

what is a good source for understanding CONCEPTS ( HY series ? )

 

[mesoderm]

what is a good source for understanding CONCEPTS ( HY series ? )

I think this depends on the individual and how well they got the concepts in school the first time. Some only need FA, others (the avg student like me!) need more, like RR and Goljan and HY and on and on. Some concepts were emphasized more than others in school, so going through the review books helps me to pick and choose what to focus on. Some of the topics in school were poorly taught or poorly tested, so for these, I have to budget my time accordingly and use the resource that appeals to me the best. I am finding that some of the review books are good for some things, and poor for others. But that's just me, and based upon my own personal learning experiences in med school. Take some time and go through the HY books and determine if they serve their puropse for YOU and what you need for doing well on the boards.