I just wanted to weigh in and say that I agree with neutropeniaboy, doepug and BatmanMD. Just to reiterate the most important points:
1. Now is too early to start studying for Step 1. Instead concentrate on doing well and really understanding the material in your second year courses.
2. Do not even think about reviewing first year material now. For one thing, second year material is MUCH more heavily tested. Also, the yield you get from reviewing first year topics this far in advance will be practically nil.
3. Four to five weeks of concentrated, intense study is more than enough preparation. But don't short your study time because you want a longer vacation (Simul). Spend as much time as you think you need to get ready. I took almost five weeks to prepare. I moved my date back 10 days from the original date, so that I had less than a week of vacation. But I don't regret this one bit, because I was very happy with my score. On the other hand, if I had just set an arbitrary deadline to take the test and taken it on that date because I wanted "x" number of days of vacation, I think I would have regretted it.
4. Know First Aid cold. Learn it like it is your job. If a topic isn't in FA and you're learning it before you know and understand ALL of the topics in FA cold, you're wasting your time.
Here is the way I approached studying, just as an example:
My primary study sources were First Aid and Q-bank. I limited my study exclusively to topics that were in those two sources. But I also used other sources, like BRS Physio, Micro Made Ridiculously Simple, and so on, to help better understand and retain the material in FA. I started using FA in the 2 weeks before the shelf exams for pharm and path, during which time I covered those sections twice very thoroughly.
After the shelf exams (when courses were finished), I studied about 10 hours per day, six days a week, for almost five weeks. I read during the day for 7 hours and then did Q-bank questions at night for 3 hours (1 hour taking a 50 question block and 2 hours very carefully going over the answers and understanding both the right and wrong answers). I did not do any Q-bank questions until after the shelf exams.
Early in the study period, I concentrated my study on the second year subjects like path, pharm, and micro, with some emphasis on physio (especially in the context of understanding pathophys of the diseases touched on in FA). I began to emphasize behavioral science towards the end and spent 3 good days on it alone (not consecutively, though).
I did not even look at biochem until 2 weeks before the test nor anatomy (gross, histo, and embryo) until 1.5 weeks before the test. I spent probably 2 days total on neuro, about 1.5 days total on histo and embryo, and 1 day on gross. I probably spent 3 days total on biochem. The fact that I reviewed these subjects toward the end of the study period meant that I only read through these sections of FA a few times which saved me time. I effectively crammed them, while maintaining and refining my knowledge and understanding of the second year subjects.
I scored a 246/99. During the first and second year I was an average student, usually scoring at or very slightly above/below the class average. So I think my study methods really paid off, because I'm definitely no genius.
Good Luck to all; I hope this helps! Sorry, it's so long-- I'm on family medicine now and I guess I'm a little bored.🙂
