USMLE When should I start studying for Step 1 (other than doing well in classes) now that it's P/F?

[Ray_of_Sunshine_MD]

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As the title says, I was wondering when I should start.

For some context, my school gives us 5 weeks dedicated and the time frame they want us to take Step 1 is in early April.

Other than doing well in classes, when should I truly hunker down and begin seriously studying for the exam?

Would starting during winter break be a sufficient amount of time, or even overkill?

TIA.

 

[calivianya]

I would do the same as people were doing before until step 2 goes p/f, personally. I thought my step 2 had a lot of questions on it that I knew from studying so hard for step 1. That’s just my two cents.

I know plenty of people will say different, but I feel like my step 1 studying (starting early with anki, B&B, pathoma, etc) is a huge part of why I was able to score a 256 on step 2.

 

[Ray_of_Sunshine_MD]

I would do the same as people were doing before until step 2 goes p/f, personally. I thought my step 2 had a lot of questions on it that I knew from studying so hard for step 1. That’s just my two cents.

I know plenty of people will say different, but I feel like my step 1 studying (starting early with anki, B&B, pathoma, etc) is a huge part of why I was able to score a 256 on step 2.

Got it. Just to clarify, how far in advance did you begin to study seriously for Step 1 (other than doing well in your classes second year)?

 

[calivianya]

Got it. Just to clarify, how far in advance did you begin to study seriously for Step 1 (other than doing well in your classes second year)?

I would say around the end of the first year… but that was because I had micro at the end of the first year, and the easiest way to learn micro is Sketchy (at least to me). So I made some serious inroads on the lolnotacop micro deck from reddit starting at the end of first year and matured the whole thing by Christmas break… which was useful for boards and rotations both. I still remember most of that stuff.

I didn’t really start UWorld until after Christmas break my second year, which was a mistake in hindsight for me personally because I was not able to get UWorld done before I took step 1. I am bad with my time management, though.

 

[Chromium Surfer]

I would say around the end of the first year… but that was because I had micro at the end of the first year, and the easiest way to learn micro is Sketchy (at least to me). So I made some serious inroads on the lolnotacop micro deck from reddit starting at the end of first year and matured the whole thing by Christmas break… which was useful for boards and rotations both. I still remember most of that stuff.

I didn’t really start UWorld until after Christmas break my second year, which was a mistake in hindsight for me personally because I was not able to get UWorld done before I took step 1. I am bad with my time management, though.

For pharm did you do the lolnotacop deck and zanki pharm or did you just pick one that you preferred?

 

[calivianya]

For pharm did you do the lolnotacop deck and zanki pharm or did you just pick one that you preferred?

I did a little bit of zanki pharm, but I only ever ended up doing one section. I knew a bunch of pharm already, so I just ended up giving up on it and picking up random stuff I didn’t know from practice questions. I know people that liked both decks.

 

[wondervisions]

Summer before M2 do sketchy micro and pharm + associated anki