1 Year from taking Step 1, any tips?

[mary3x]

Hi everyone,

I'm 2 months from being done with first year and I feel like I've learned so much but at the same time nothing at all. Just holding First Aid in my hand gives me anxiety knowing that I'm going to have to memorize EVERYTHING (exaggeration) in this book. It seems impossible to know the finer details of every single disease.

Any tips on what I should be doing for a better board score/make 2nd yr bearable? I've heard firecracker, just reading FA, etc. I'm average in my class but I have no idea how I'm going to put the shear volume of material in my head.

thanks!

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[trs88]

It's just repetition. You'll see most of what you need to know all over again during second year. High yield topics tend to repeat themselves in lectures, FA, and then they show up on question banks which is the most important.

 

[mk04447]

I don't know how to take you seriously... I'm trying my friend, but it's difficult.

That's the point... you are supposed to be overwhelmed. You aren't any different from anyone else. It's difficult, I hear you. You have surpassed the glue eaters by years and years, well the competition is stiffer now.

Have a little faith, do FA when you can, and all will be golden. Then you can learn that being a doc isn't the panacea you believed. Don't get me wrong I love medice, but you'll be working 100+ a week because they are conditioning you to do so.

Accept it now, study, study, study, and you'll be better off. Sorry I couldn't be more accommodating, no doubt some will, but they will be lying. This is what you signed up for.

 

[Oh_Gee]

it's literally never too early to start studying

 

[AnAlienIntrusion]

Should we start studying in the summer after our first year? I wanted to take a couple weeks off to travel before I buckled down on research.

 

[GoldenFish]

Should we start studying in the summer after our first year? I wanted to take a couple weeks off to travel before I buckled down on research.

Absolutely not. Enjoy traveling, get some research done, then be ready to hit the ground running M2 year.

 

[jcorpsmanMD]

Should we start studying in the summer after our first year? I wanted to take a couple weeks off to travel before I buckled down on research.

I think it’s all up to the person. I personally plan on covering some biochem, keeping up with my Anki, research and traveling! It’s totally possible to relax & be productive. I personally can only binge watch Netflix and work out so much.

 

[Redpancreas]

Yes, calm down.

 

[DNC127]

start zanki in August. Do 150 new cards a day and dont miss a review. You will finish the end of January. Review for 4 months until you take the test. Profit.

Also, start USMLE Rx in august and go by system for the classes you have had / are doing.

Start Uworld Feb 1 and do 1 block a day. You will finish around april 1. Do it again you will finish start of June. Add in another bank if you need it, or just do 2 uworld blocks a day.

Start reading FA Feb 1 and annotate some of the little things in Uworld that arent in FA. Read 15 pages a day. You will finish in 45 ish days. Move to 20-25 pages a day after this until dedicated.

Starting Feb 1 watch 2 hours (1 hour if you use double speed) of Pathoma a day Until dedicated then up it. You should finish a pass every month.

Thank me later.

Really tho Zanki is whats essential. After you have finished it, reading FA and watching pathoma is even more effective because you have memorized every stupid little detail so if you see or hear a new detail you know it is actually something you don't know instead of it just being something you forgot. Starting zanki early is also key. I started it Jan 20 and finished it April 5.... I spent over 10hrs a day doing 500 new and 2000ish reviews a day towards the end... it sucked. And was less effective because I didnt space out the learning like I would have if I started in August. Start early and reap the rewards.

 

[watermelon master]

start zanki in August. Do 150 new cards a day and dont miss a review. You will finish the end of January. Review for 4 months until you take the test. Profit.

Also, start USMLE Rx in august and go by system for the classes you have had / are doing.

Start Uworld Feb 1 and do 1 block a day. You will finish around april 1. Do it again you will finish start of June. Add in another bank if you need it, or just do 2 uworld blocks a day.

Start reading FA Feb 1 and annotate some of the little things in Uworld that arent in FA. Read 15 pages a day. You will finish in 45 ish days. Move to 20-25 pages a day after this until dedicated.

Starting Feb 1 watch 2 hours (1 hour if you use double speed) of Pathoma a day Until dedicated then up it. You should finish a pass every month.

Thank me later.

Really tho Zanki is whats essential. After you have finished it, reading FA and watching pathoma is even more effective because you have memorized every stupid little detail so if you see or hear a new detail you know it is actually something you don't know instead of it just being something you forgot. Starting zanki early is also key. I started it Jan 20 and finished it April 5.... I spent over 10hrs a day doing 500 new and 2000ish reviews a day towards the end... it sucked. And was less effective because I didnt space out the learning like I would have if I started in August. Start early and reap the rewards.

How did you spend that much time on Zanki (if you had regular class at the same time?)

Are you saying that I should do Zanki completely random or should I do the relevant Zanki for the same block?

 

[Goro]

Hi everyone,

I'm 2 months from being done with first year and I feel like I've learned so much but at the same time nothing at all. Just holding First Aid in my hand gives me anxiety knowing that I'm going to have to memorize EVERYTHING (exaggeration) in this book. It seems impossible to know the finer details of every single disease.

Any tips on what I should be doing for a better board score/make 2nd yr bearable? I've heard firecracker, just reading FA, etc. I'm average in my class but I have no idea how I'm going to put the shear volume of material in my head.

thanks!

Do as many practice questions as you can. UWorld is your friend. FA is the bare minimum, and there will be stuff missing from FA that will be on Boards (according to lots of SDNers), and just as importantly, even after all this time, FA still has wrong stuff in it.

You should be focussing on filling in the holes in what you know, and go easier on material you're stronger in. In doing practice question now, you should NOT be drawing a blank with all the possible answers...but be able to narrothings down to two choices.

if you're drawing a blank with the entire question, that's a knowledge base issue.

If you winnow it down to two, then it's more like a fine tuning issue.

If you do the latter and continuously go for the wrong one, after changing your answer, then I suspect that it's a confidence issue. Good luck! The year will pass quickly.

 

[DNC127]

How did you spend that much time on Zanki (if you had regular class at the same time?)

Are you saying that I should do Zanki completely random or should I do the relevant Zanki for the same block?

Honestly I just ditched regular class and crammed for the tests on the weekends (we had tests on monday). Doing 150 cards a day + reviews shouldnt take more than 3 hours IMO so you should still be able to study for class and do zanki. And do zanki by system.

 

[libertyyne]

start zanki in August. Do 150 new cards a day and dont miss a review. You will finish the end of January. Review for 4 months until you take the test. Profit.

Also, start USMLE Rx in august and go by system for the classes you have had / are doing.

Start Uworld Feb 1 and do 1 block a day. You will finish around april 1. Do it again you will finish start of June. Add in another bank if you need it, or just do 2 uworld blocks a day.

Start reading FA Feb 1 and annotate some of the little things in Uworld that arent in FA. Read 15 pages a day. You will finish in 45 ish days. Move to 20-25 pages a day after this until dedicated.

Starting Feb 1 watch 2 hours (1 hour if you use double speed) of Pathoma a day Until dedicated then up it. You should finish a pass every month.

Thank me later.

Really tho Zanki is whats essential. After you have finished it, reading FA and watching pathoma is even more effective because you have memorized every stupid little detail so if you see or hear a new detail you know it is actually something you don't know instead of it just being something you forgot. Starting zanki early is also key. I started it Jan 20 and finished it April 5.... I spent over 10hrs a day doing 500 new and 2000ish reviews a day towards the end... it sucked. And was less effective because I didnt space out the learning like I would have if I started in August. Start early and reap the rewards.

how'd you end up doing?

 

[DNC127]

how'd you end up doing?

I still haven't taken it yet. I wouldn't call myself the smartest person in school just a hard worker, baseline NBME was a 234, baseline COMSAE (DO student) was 95th percentile with 9 weeks left until test day when I took those so we will see what happens! Now that I am in dedicated, if I could go back I would use the plan I gave to this person. I spent all of fall semester reading FA and watching pathoma and while it was good, it didn't stick as well as if I had just done zanki. Also, doing zanki as I said above made reading FA and watching pathoma more meaninful because I had most the information and those resources synthesized it.

 

[watermelon master]

I still haven't taken it yet. I wouldn't call myself the smartest person in school just a hard worker, baseline NBME was a 234, baseline COMSAE (DO student) was 95th percentile with 9 weeks left until test day when I took those so we will see what happens! Now that I am in dedicated, if I could go back I would use the plan I gave to this person. I spent all of fall semester reading FA and watching pathoma and while it was good, it didn't stick as well as if I had just done zanki. Also, doing zanki as I said above made reading FA and watching pathoma more meaninful because I had most the information and those resources synthesized it.

Good luck to you. Seems like you have a good plan in place, thanks for the advice!

 

[sunshine02]

I still haven't taken it yet. I wouldn't call myself the smartest person in school just a hard worker, baseline NBME was a 234, baseline COMSAE (DO student) was 95th percentile with 9 weeks left until test day when I took those so we will see what happens! Now that I am in dedicated, if I could go back I would use the plan I gave to this person. I spent all of fall semester reading FA and watching pathoma and while it was good, it didn't stick as well as if I had just done zanki. Also, doing zanki as I said above made reading FA and watching pathoma more meaninful because I had most the information and those resources synthesized it.

Did you finish all 18111 zanki cards? Just looking at the amount of new cards I have is overwhelming and I wonder if I should bother finishing all of the new ones...

 

[JooceMan137]

I'm in the same boat as you OP. What i'm doing is i'm just pumping out Zanki cards every day, and then doing a set of practice questions from Robbins path per day or read a FA chapter. With that said, I don't let myself get too intense about it, and take breaks.

 

[Tenk]

Get off SDN and study.

 

[Ho0v-man]

start zanki in August. Do 150 new cards a day and dont miss a review. You will finish the end of January. Review for 4 months until you take the test. Profit.

Also, start USMLE Rx in august and go by system for the classes you have had / are doing.

Start Uworld Feb 1 and do 1 block a day. You will finish around april 1. Do it again you will finish start of June. Add in another bank if you need it, or just do 2 uworld blocks a day.

Start reading FA Feb 1 and annotate some of the little things in Uworld that arent in FA. Read 15 pages a day. You will finish in 45 ish days. Move to 20-25 pages a day after this until dedicated.

Starting Feb 1 watch 2 hours (1 hour if you use double speed) of Pathoma a day Until dedicated then up it. You should finish a pass every month.

Thank me later.

Really tho Zanki is whats essential. After you have finished it, reading FA and watching pathoma is even more effective because you have memorized every stupid little detail so if you see or hear a new detail you know it is actually something you don't know instead of it just being something you forgot. Starting zanki early is also key. I started it Jan 20 and finished it April 5.... I spent over 10hrs a day doing 500 new and 2000ish reviews a day towards the end... it sucked. And was less effective because I didnt space out the learning like I would have if I started in August. Start early and reap the rewards.

So yeah im totally doing this. My school gives us a subscription to kaplan. Think their qbank could substitute adequately here?

 

[JooceMan137]

So yeah im totally doing this. My school gives us a subscription to kaplan. Think their qbank could substitute adequately here?

I'm curious too. I have Kaplan and USMLE RX currently, but i'm hesitant to deplete my resources too early in the game.

 

[DNC127]

Did you finish all 18111 zanki cards? Just looking at the amount of new cards I have is overwhelming and I wonder if I should bother finishing all of the new ones...

The deck I used was 27,000 and yea I finished them all

 

[DNC127]

So yeah im totally doing this. My school gives us a subscription to kaplan. Think their qbank could substitute adequately here?

I honestly dont like kaplan that much.. For reference, when I was gettin 60's on Uworld, I was getting 75-80's on Kaplan. Its pretty easy IMO. But yea you could use kaplan for that initial pass through systems, but I liked RX because it got me familiar with FA.

 

[libertyyne]

I honestly dont like kaplan that much.. For reference, when I was gettin 60's on Uworld, I was getting 75-80's on Kaplan. Its pretty easy IMO. But yea you could use kaplan for that initial pass through systems, but I liked RX because it got me familiar with FA.

so I have a question. I am in the classic curriculum and am trying to get RX, and kaplan done during the first 6 months of m2 so I can do Uworld the last half of m2. Do you think going through Zanki and pathoma over the summer will be sufficient for me to get the most out of kaplan and RX?
I dont want to be miserable during the last six of m2 before step having to go through kaplan and rx AND uworld. But I also dont want to burn through a resource if I wont get the full use out of it.

 

[DNC127]

so I have a question. I am in the classic curriculum and am trying to get RX, and kaplan done during the first 6 months of m2 so I can do Uworld the last half of m2. Do you think going through Zanki and pathoma over the summer will be sufficient for me to get the most out of kaplan and RX?

Yes. Honestly getting through zanki early will help you in everything. Class, any Q bank, ect. The key is to do in over a long time though. If you do it in 2 ish months like I did, you end up have 10 hrs of work a day to do on the cards and it burns you out real fast at the end. Spacing it out will make it more manageable, and also help you remember everything better because you don't feel rushed to get through your 1500-3k reviews ya know? I know I would be in a much better position had I started zanki in august.

 

[libertyyne]

Yes. Honestly getting through zanki early will help you in everything. Class, any Q bank, ect. The key is to do in over a long time though. If you do it in 2 ish months like I did, you end up have 10 hrs of work a day to do on the cards and it burns you out real fast at the end. Spacing it out will make it more manageable, and also help you remember everything better because you don't feel rushed to get through your 1500-3k reviews ya know? I know I would be in a much better position had I started zanki in august.

I have about 9 weeks, but will take the first and last week off. So really 7 weeks and was hoping on studying for about 4 hours a day, and any downtime i get on research. So ~1000 cards a day . 20 K cards should be doable in that time.

 

[Anti-PD1]

Firecracker or Anki. Pick your poison and enjoy it.

I recommend FC to everyone. Even to people in the grocery store. They let me cut the line sometimes.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Wait until dedicated

 

[Major]

start zanki in August. Do 150 new cards a day and dont miss a review. You will finish the end of January. Review for 4 months until you take the test. Profit.

Also, start USMLE Rx in august and go by system for the classes you have had / are doing.

Start Uworld Feb 1 and do 1 block a day. You will finish around april 1. Do it again you will finish start of June. Add in another bank if you need it, or just do 2 uworld blocks a day.

Start reading FA Feb 1 and annotate some of the little things in Uworld that arent in FA. Read 15 pages a day. You will finish in 45 ish days. Move to 20-25 pages a day after this until dedicated.

Starting Feb 1 watch 2 hours (1 hour if you use double speed) of Pathoma a day Until dedicated then up it. You should finish a pass every month.

Thank me later.

Really tho Zanki is whats essential. After you have finished it, reading FA and watching pathoma is even more effective because you have memorized every stupid little detail so if you see or hear a new detail you know it is actually something you don't know instead of it just being something you forgot. Starting zanki early is also key. I started it Jan 20 and finished it April 5.... I spent over 10hrs a day doing 500 new and 2000ish reviews a day towards the end... it sucked. And was less effective because I didnt space out the learning like I would have if I started in August. Start early and reap the rewards.

This post seriously needs to be stickied/pinned!
Thanks so much for sharing man!

Also, How would you implement Sketchy along with this?

 

[DNC127]

This post seriously needs to be stickied/pinned!
Thanks so much for sharing man!

Also, How would you implement Sketchy along with this?

Sketchy is in zanki!!! However, I watched sketchy micro over the summer a few times. If you watch an hour a day (half hour with double speed) you will finish sketchy micro every 20 days. I would try and get 3 passes in during the summer because it doesn't take much time or effort. I never watched sketchy pharm besides the cardio and renal drugs during systems, however zanki pharm has all of the sketchy pharm in it. So I did those cards without watching the videos and it was sufficient! I hardly ever miss a pharm question! However sometimes if there is a question or drug I am unfamiliar with I will just click "review" and look at the dots instead of watch the video. Also, whenever I have a micro question and it seems hazy I just review those bugs in sketchy doing the same thing because I am too impatient to watch the whole video. If I could go back I would try and get a pass or 2 of sketchy pharm in between summer and fall semester because it did take me a little longer to get the sketches down because I wasnt watching the video.

 

[DNC127]

I have about 9 weeks, but will take the first and last week off. So really 7 weeks and was hoping on studying for about 4 hours a day, and any downtime i get on research. So ~1000 cards a day . 20 K cards should be doable in that time.

For reference: I was going fast and it took me about 4 - 5 hours to do 500 new cards, and then I could do about 300-500 reviews every hour.

 

[Major]

Sketchy is in zanki!!! However, I watched sketchy micro over the summer a few times. If you watch an hour a day (half hour with double speed) you will finish sketchy micro every 20 days. I would try and get 3 passes in during the summer because it doesn't take much time or effort. I never watched sketchy pharm besides the cardio and renal drugs during systems, however zanki pharm has all of the sketchy pharm in it. So I did those cards without watching the videos and it was sufficient! I hardly ever miss a pharm question! However sometimes if there is a question or drug I am unfamiliar with I will just click "review" and look at the dots instead of watch the video. Also, whenever I have a micro question and it seems hazy I just review those bugs in sketchy doing the same thing because I am too impatient to watch the whole video. If I could go back I would try and get a pass or 2 of sketchy pharm in between summer and fall semester because it did take me a little longer to get the sketches down because I wasnt watching the video.

Awesome!! Thanks again!!

 

[RockMcat520]

The deck I used was 27,000 and yea I finished them all

What are your Zanki settings? Thanks

 

[DNC127]

What are your Zanki settings? Thanks

I am kind of a noob at the settings, but they were 1 min, 10min, 4 days, and then I had my max interval at 40 days.

 

[JooceMan137]

I'm really glad OP made this post. A lot of juicy info being shared here. In regards to Q banks: I have access to Kaplan, USMLE-RX, Past test, and board vitals at the moment. Which ones should I save strictly for dedicated (Besides UWorld), and which ones would be safe to use a year out from Step 1? I know it's too early, but i'm the kind of person that obsesses over things. The way I do things is that in order to be successful at something, you need to make it a lifestyle.

Should I save USMLE-RX for dedicated too, or is "more the merrier" for USMLE-RX since it's essentially like studying FA from the context of question stems? I don't want to feel like i'm just memorizing answers when it comes time for dedicated (hence why i'm saving Uworld for dedicated)

 

[JooceMan137]

I am kind of a noob at the settings, but they were 1 min, 10min, 4 days, and then I had my max interval at 40 days.

I appreciate the input. Just to clarify, what is the "4 days" for; and is your max interval of "40 days" for review?

 

[Panther_]

I'm not typically a flashcard person, but I thought I would start over the summer instead of reading through and going over my notes from the year. Where do you all get your Anki decks from (Brosencephalon website, reddit, etc.), and what settings are best for long term retention or does this depend on the person? I'm pretty far out from step, but I wanted to review the material I've learned over first year this summer before I start clinical rotations.

 

[Agent Michael Scarn]

I'm not typically a flashcard person, but I thought I would start over the summer instead of reading through and going over my notes from the year. Where do you all get your Anki decks from (Brosencephalon website, reddit, etc.), and what settings are best for long term retention or does this depend on the person? I'm pretty far out from step, but I wanted to review the material I've learned over first year this summer before I start clinical rotations.

Also sort of an entry level question here. When people say "Do zanki" or "Do bros," does that mean you're using that as your primary learning tool? Or are you getting your first pass at the information by actually doing the Pathoma vids/sketchy vids/school classes, and then zanki is like a supplement? Sorry, finishing up first year and wasn't really a huge anki-user, so I'm not really sure how zanki would work. How much are you paying attention to the school curriculum? Doing your classes and then add cards to your deck as they become relevant? I'm in a traditional curriculum (1 normal/1 patho) if it makes a difference.

Additionally, maybe a stupid question, but does having UWorld in the deck ruin the resource when you use it later in the run-up to the test as far as prognostics go? Just trying to start thinking about what resources I want to use and how to set it all up without over-stretching myself.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

When people say "Do zanki" or "Do bros," does that mean you're using that as your primary learning tool?

For me, yes. I start cranking new cards out the moment we begin a system.

Or are you getting your first pass at the information by actually doing the Pathoma vids/sketchy vids/school classes, and then zanki is like a supplement

It’s the other way around with how I do it. I do the cards and then supplement with other stuff.

How much are you paying attention to the school curriculum?

I literally only read the PPs once the day before the exam just to make sure the prof hasn’t thrown in any weird details.

If I were in a curriculum like yours I would do the phys as I went through first year and then do the path cards as you do path. Ours is systems based so I do all the cards for that system together.

So far it’s worked pretty well grade wise, and I feel like I have a much better fundamental understanding of the concepts than some of my classmates who just memorize the PowerPoints. Part of that is Zanki has Costanzo phys in it so you get a really solid foundation of normal physiology.

Don’t be afraid to tinker with your study methods and find what works for you