2007 USMLE Step I Experiences

[missmod]

I think I'll start the thread, since I just finished Step I today! Boy does it feel good to have it over with. In case you guys are wondering, my med school is on a different schedule, so we do basic sciences in 1.5 years, do one year of clerkships, and then take the boards.

So I started a 6 week study schedule (started after new years). The first five weeks, I studied for about 9-10 hours with a lot of breaks and took weekends off to either have fun or catch up/review. The last week I saved just for review and as many questions as I could fit into my 10 hour day. I have to say, this last week was the worst. Not in the no-sleep-cram-for-a-test kind of way, but in the huge-weight-on-your-shoulders kind of way.

Now for a breakdown of the subjects...

Biochem: There was not a lot of biochem on my exam. A few key enzyme deficiency ones (Lesch Nyhan, Maple Syrup Disease) but all of the questions were very obvious and did not require you to put much thought into it. Don't blow off porphyria and lead poisoning-- for some reason I got so many questions on that!

Molecular Bio: This was a big one! I think the NBME is moving away from the biochem towards questions on molecular bio. Many questions about DNA regulation, transcription, translation, bacterial plasmids, etc. Sometimes these questions look very scary -- they are always so long and use long names for molecules or restriction enzymes that you have never heard of. You need to get used to the question style and realize that what they are asking is very simple. The NBME forms have questions very similar to the molecular bio ones I saw on the exam.

Pharm: Another one I thought would be difficult but not. Big drugs you should know a lot about (like antihypertensives, drugs for hyperlipidemias, cardic drugs, etc.) However, I wouldn't worry too much about the side effects for every tiny drug -- especially the chemo and immunosupressant drugs that kept on tripping me up so much.

Micro/Immuno: I had not a single question on parasites! That huge chart of worms and helminths in First Aid had me worried for a while, but it was not a big part of my exam. If anything, just know the key phrases because if they do test you on it, it would be a really obvious scenario. Mostly bacterial processes and what you would use to treat them... or what was their mechanism of disease (i.e. endotoxn, exotoxin, etc.) Know immunology and cytokines well, as well as the functions of all the cells. Different immune deficiencies were all asked on my exam (there is one page in First Aid that sums them up very well).

Anatomy/Neuroanatomy: Always combined with a pathology question or an imagine. I had a few branchial plexus/lumbar plexus questions. Many questions would give you a clinical scenario, then ask you to identiy the artery/nerve/organ on a CT scan/MRI/angiogram/brain cross section. Again, I think Qbank does not help you much at all because there aren't that many images. All i can say is look through some atlases quickly as you are studying anatomy -- not Netters bc that won't help much, but books that will give you real radiographic images.

Physio: This was almost always combined with Pathology--they would ask the physiology behind some path process. I had so many questions where the question asked "what would be the levels of x, y, and z enzymes/hormones?", answer choices being "increased, decreased, etc"

Pathology: Not as detailed orientated as Kaplan. Very little histology related pathology -- most of the questions though, required you to make a diagnosis and then know something about the pathophys of the disease or the treatment of the disease. There were also a lot of images -- MANY more than Qbank's representation.

All in all, I think the test more manageable than Kaplan's Qbank. Don't let Qbank discourage you -- ! Doing the questions help you to learn, so if you were getting them all right then the questions are too easy and not really helping you much. I do remember many questions that I knew only because I got the question wrong on Kaplan's Qbank. Also, the NBME tests are VERY good and very representative of the real thing. They also help you get used to the wording of the Q's, which can be a LITTLE different from what Qbank is like. I did forms 2, 3, and 4 and I thought 2 and 3 were the best. A few images on those practice exams were repeated on my actual exam.

Goljan's book and lectures were great. He pointed out lots of things that wound up being on the exam and presents them in a way that really sticks. Also, his images are a great resource.

I've been lurking for a while and haven't really posted since applying to med school, but I have to say you guys have really helped me out during my boards studying. Good luck to everyone else getting ready to take this monster.

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[tadalafil09]

247-99 !! Stick with FA, UW, Goljan.

 

[valeposh]

Hi everybody! Thanks for all your experiences, they're really useful to read!
I have a couple of questions though:
1) I want to start preparing Step 1 and I was wondering which books you think I should buy?
2) could you explain me better the whole scores thing? What's the best score you can get? And what's a "good" score?
3)If someone gets a low score, can they re-take the exam?

Thanks so much,
Val

 

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[TheEleventhReel]

Well, I finally get to post in this thread as an experienced member. So here goes (sorry in advance if this is really scattered):

1. My test was not difficult. It was not the test I expected it to be. After talking w/friends and reading the experiences on here, I expected to be challenged and have to think in ways I've never thought before. NO! My test was 85% like the free 150. After reading the question, I either knew the answer or I didn't. The majority of my test was 1-2 step reasoning. 10-20% I had to think about, 15% I just had no clue. All that being said, I don't think I did very well. Why??? Because I didn't know FA well enough. At least half my test consisted of questions where I had to know one little fact to get the answer right. An example (which wasn't on my test): Patient presents w/blah, blah, blah and he has a translocation of the Ras gene. What is the Ras gene (i.e. tumor supressor, proto-oncogene). That's a really easy question if you memorized which genes were which. I, unfortunately, did not. It was in my schedule, but I never got around to it. I had it in my mind that this was a reasoning test, but mine was not.

2. Here's a little breakdown of the types of questions I had:

Anatomy - maybe 2-3 embryo (which was nice b/c I did not study embryo at all except for the few things I picked up when I was doing goljan). Know your peripheral anatomy! There were a few other pretty easy visceral anatomy questions.

Neuro - Maybe 10, most associated w/an image. Half were pretty easy, the other half were a bit tougher.

Path - Not much path. Mostly renal, cardiac murmurs, and endocrine. I studied Goljan religiously during M2 and for this test. Unfortunately, he didn't help me all that much. The questions were either stupid easy or very vague.

Pharm - FA is more than enough. Basic MOA/SE and some graphs dealing w/autonomics. UW was way harder than the real deal.

Biochem/molec - Spent about 4 days and knew it pretty well. Had about 10-15 questions, with 75% easy ones and 25% I wouldn't have gotten right if I had my PhD.

Phys - Mostly renal phys. They weren't that difficult, but I just wasn't prepared enough for phys.

Biostats/behavioral - Only a couple biostats. Maybe 10-15 "what do you say" type questions. I could narrow it down to 2 and just had to guess.

Genetics - Pretty straightforward. One hardy-weinberg I had no clue about.

Micro - Somewhat straightforward. I had one weird question involving a knee aspirate pic and had to identify the bacteria w/out a gram stain (and no, S. aureus or N. gon. weren't answer choices). Really, really bizarre.

I know everyone says this, but if I could do it all over again, I would memorize FA and know it cold. I only got through it once b/c I spent too much time w/other subject books. Oh well, lesson learned.

3. Sources:

Path - Goljan. Even though path wasn't heavily represented on my test, I still say he does such a great job of explaining it. Most of the path on my test was basically "what's the diagnosis?" I had very few mechanisms. Even still, I think I understand path pretty well b/c of him and would recommned at least listening to his audio lectures one time through. He really is amazing.

Pharm - FA and Lange pharm cards. All you need (beware that the Lange cards do have quite a few errors though.)

Phys - Costanzo's phys book (not BRS, but her actual textbook). Great book, just wish I would've spent more time w/it.

Micro - MMRS is great. Really helps you to remember things by giving you stupid pics that for some reason stick in your brain. BTW, I only had around 5 non-bacteria questions (2 worms and 3 virus questions, very basic though).

Biochem/HY cell/molec - RR biochem. A fantastic book and I highly recommend it. I got asterix's on all my NBME's in biochem/genetics b/c of this book. I didn't remember a word of biochem from M1 and this book was fantastic. HY cell/molec was ok (DEFINATELY don't buy the 2nd edition) but I think the molec chapter in RR biochem was better than most of HY cell/molec. I wish I would've just memorized the chapter in HY cell/molec dealing w/types of receptors (i.e. tyrosine kinase, etc.) and which hormones/cell signaling pathways use them.

Neuro - HY neuro and FA. The first half of HY neuro is pretty good. The last half I thought sucked. You need to look over cross sections of the brain and brainstem b/c the questions were really easy if you knew where things are located.

Embryo - Didn't touch it and I'm glad

Anatomy - Just did upper and lower extremity and used FA. Know your brachial plexus and do the UW questions and you'll be fine.

Immuno - Lange. Great book and more than enough for the 5 questions I had on it

4. Scores:

UW - did about 95% of it but did it by subjects after I'd studied them. Don't think that really hurt me, but I thought it'd be a good idea to reinforce the stuff I had learned. I guess I averaged anywhere from 50-85% on a given test. I'd say my overall avg was around 60ish %.

NBME 2 - 219 (1 month out after reviewing about 50% of path)

NBME 4 - 206. Not really sure what happened there. Granted, it was the toughest, but most ppl agree it is the most difficult b/c of the biochem/molec (which I got an asterix in).

Free 150 - 86%. Pretty easy but representative of the majority of my questions on the real deal.

NBME 3 - 232 (3 days out). This form really played to my strengths and gave me a great confidence boost for the last couple of days of cramming.

Real deal - As stated before, it wasn't as tough as I was expecting. Unfortunately, it didn't play to my strengths. It also scares me that there are much more difficult tests out there b/c I have a feeling the grades will be scaled according to test difficulty.

Overall, I wish I would've gone through FA at least 5 times. My test was a lot of regurgitate this fact and I just didn't know them well enough. I was shooting for a 220 (nothing crazy but a good score IMO) but I don't think I got it. The good news is that's it's over and I never have to study for that thing again. I put in a solid month of hard-core studying, but I just didn't know the specific details I needed to answer the questions on that thing. Just wanna say thanks to Jeebus, Taus, and others for the great advice they gave. Good luck to all those who are up next and if I can give one piece of advice, KNOW FIRST AID!

 

[MaxMoonMD]

Because I didn't know FA well enough. At least half my test consisted of questions where I had to know one little fact to get the answer right. An example (which wasn't on my test): Patient presents w/blah, blah, blah and he has a translocation of the Ras gene. What is the Ras gene (i.e. tumor supressor, proto-oncogene).

Woah, I HATE those kind of questions, at least, if I don´t know the answer.
It´s like those t[14;18] Lymphoma Questions...

Anyways, congratulations on being done and good luck for breaking your 220.

 

[Arctic Char]

247-99 !! Stick with FA, UW, Goljan.

congrats!! and i agree: FA, UW, Goljan . . . know it cold, but no more than these 3. good luck to everyone else out there

 

[AK_MD2BE]

When people say, "stick to UW, FA, and Goljan", (like the previous post), do they mean just the Goljan audio, or do they mean the Goljan audio + his book, RR Pathology?

 

[Arctic Char]

When people say, "stick to UW, FA, and Goljan", (like the previous post), do they mean just the Goljan audio, or do they mean the Goljan audio + his book, RR Pathology?

fair question. i meant just the audio, but to be quite honest i slept with his pathology book for 5 months, so i guess i recommend it as well. his lectures go with the book well, so you'd do yourself a favor to use both.

 

[werd]

Hi everybody! Thanks for all your experiences, they're really useful to read!
I have a couple of questions though:
1) I want to start preparing Step 1 and I was wondering which books you think I should buy?
2) could you explain me better the whole scores thing? What's the best score you can get? And what's a "good" score?
3)If someone gets a low score, can they re-take the exam?

Thanks so much,
Val

briefly,
1) def. first aid for step 1. i also personally recommend the kaplan book series (expensive though).
2) average score is about 217, passing is 182. the maximum possible score is unknown. what makes a score good depends both on you and on your residency plans.
3) you can only retake if you fail.

 

[valeposh]

Thanks so much!!
My goal would be EM. So I suppose I need a high score.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Thanks so much!!
My goal would be EM. So I suppose I need a high score.

EM doesn't seem particularly competitive when it comes to step 1. Its average of 221 is lower than that of IM, pathology, and gen surg.

 

[joe6102]

2) average score is about 217, passing is 182.

Average is 218 and passing is now 185.

 

[txguy]

Just wanted to add my experience in here for future test takers to use as a gauge for their studying:

During the first 4 weeks I basically used FA as a guide to my Step 1 studying--I filled in pathogenesis/mechanisms into FA from various other sources, depending on the subject (RR for path, CMMRS for micro, etc). Then during the final 10-12 days of studying which I refer to as the "cramming" period, FA was my only source--I went through it a total of 3 times (twice during these last 10-12 days). I definitely recommend not doing any questions during at least the final week of studying--FA is very high yield during these last few days before the exam. You'll be surprised how much you remember from this wonderful book!

Here's my testing Hx:

NBME 1 taken before studying: 195
USMLE World (70% complete): 70% correct
Step 1: 239/99

One last tip: during your first 2 years of medical school, I think the best way to study for the boards is to do well during 1st and 2nd year! At the most, follow along in FA and possibly RR as a review after you have already learned the material from your school lectures. Do not "review" for the boards before you have even learned the information. You will shock yourself at stuff you will remember from 1st and 2nd year during your Step 1. It is impossible to review everything during the usual 6 weeks students take to study for the boards, so this is even more reason to try and do well in your classes.

Good luck all

-tx

EDIT: One more thing--after the exam I felt like crap! I got a total of 1 hr of sleep the night before and coming out of the test I really felt like I got no more than a 200 on the exam. During the entire time from that point to getting my scores 4 weeks later, I thought I was the only one who thought they did bad and actually did do bad. So just expect to feel like crap after the exam and know that as much as you try to remember every single question on your exam, you really cannot gauge how well you did. afterwards.

 

[domer621]

NBME 1 taken before studying: 195
USMLE World (70% complete): 70% correct
Step 1: 239/99

Great job, tx!

 

[mudphudwannabe]

Now that I have my score, I guess I'll post a bit more of my study strategy. A bit about me -- I was a slightly above average med student as far as grades, but I didn't commit my life to studying. I would basically go to class every day, not study during the week, but cram the weekend before exams. I just don't have a lot of stamina for hours upon hours of studying, so I didn't see how I could tolerate 4+ weeks of it. So, here it is:

Overall schedule: 3 weeks - started the Monday after finals in May, weekends off. I studied at home, so I was starting to get a little stir crazy by the end of 3 weeks..but I think that was the choice with the fewest distractions for me. My strategy was basically the same as FA's organization - systems based with a few subjects that didn't fit (like biochem, behavioural, psych, etc). I took about 2 days per major organ system, then 1/2-1 day for the smaller subjects, and that left me a few days before the exam to review/catch up. I should also add that I didn't do any specific boards-directed study during 2nd year. We had a boards study group during spring semester where we went over the 150 released questions, but this was very laid back and I didn't do any prep for it.

Daily schedule: ~6-8 hours of studying a day
1 hour of 50 USMLE World questions, plus 1-1.5 hours of going over explanations, then read BRS Phys, Path, and FA for the rest of the day
A big deal for me was getting on a regular schedule so I wouldn't be sleepy for the exam, so I tried to wake up every morning around 7am and start studying by 8. I took an hour lunch, and was done every day by 4 or 5. I didn't study in the evenings. I relaxed, made myself nice dinners, worked out, and got plenty of sleep.

Resources used: BRS Path, BRS Phys, First Aid, USMLE World for questions
This was just enough for me, and not too much. I learned things fairly well the first time around, so I just needed a quick refresher. USMLE World kicked my butt, but it was good practice for the real thing! My average at the end was about 60% with 50% of the Qbank complete, but my scores did not consistently improve over the time I was studying. It's definitely good for getting used to what it feels like to be answering a low percentage right! It's best for preparing you for the more challenging types of questions. On the real exam, there will be a few easy ones thrown in too.

I felt very well prepared with these resources, but I should comment that 2 subjects that were a bit lacking were anatomy and neuroanatomy. I didn't particularly enjoy those topics, so I didn't look for another resources and in the end it didn't matter much (there were only a couple of questions, and I was able to either answer them correctly or make an educated guess). But, if you are worried about those subjects, you might want to find something to supplement BRS Path, Phys and FA.

Days before the exam: I mostly just reviewed FA and checked on any weak points. I did not read FA cover to cover 2-3X or memorize it like some people recommend here - I just read it once the first time through, then briefly looked over sections again 1 more time before the exam.

The day before the exam, I stopped studying at 1pm and relaxed the rest of the day. I also BLOCKED SDN on my computer in the days before the exam. I highly recommend this for anyone whose anxiety level goes up a little bit upon reading the huge laundry lists of books people used, minute details they're asking about, etc, especially so close to the exam.

And the results... 252/99! I was hoping for above 230, but mostly just aiming to pass. I'm very happy.

 

[Arctic Char]

bump

 

[DreamRavyn]

260/99 - posted on the official results thread today, too

Book List:
First Aid '07 (only the first half before they start doin organ systems)
Step-Up (ignored anything covered by the first half of First Aid)
RR: Biochem, Immuno/Micro
HY: embryo, histo, cell bio, brain&behav
USMLE Roadmap: Gross Anatomy (This is an awesome book - one day it will overtake HY anatomy) ... it's a shame that in the end, only half of it is useful (thorax, abd, brachial plexus) and FA has enough of the rest
Pharm Recall + Lange Flashcards (these are little overkill for the actual pharm that is asked ... i do love the flashcards, however - it's just a great way to make these stick - i hope they come out with a new edition sometime - but of course, if it's in FA's pharm, you MUST know it)
BRS Path
BRS Phys

I think that's all I used - I'm far from my bookshelf right now, so something might be missing ...

Best of luck to everyone!

 

[Terpskins99]

USMLE 235/98
COMLEX 548/85
(Seems like everybody scores higher on USMLE than they do COMLEX. I pretty much approached COMLEX as a practice test, since I really wasn't finished with board prep at the time.)

NBME #3 216 (1 month out)
Kaplan Qbank average 60% (finished all about 1 1/2 months out)
USMLE World average 61% (finished about 70%)
Robbins Review average ~60% (finished only the first 3 topics)
All questions done 50 random per block timed. <-- extremely thankful I forced myself to do this.

Studied on and off from March (when my Kaplan class began) until the end of August (average of about 4-5 hours of review per day, not counting questions/answer review time). Did most of my review from March until the end of June (when I took COMLEX) and essentially did just questions and FA throughout July/August.

Like everyone else said, UWorld is the bomb. My main regret is that I started with Kaplan Qbank (came with the kaplan course) and decided to finish all of it before starting UWorld. Stupid stupid mistake, because I didn't anticipate running out of gas like I did (and time... I still had about 50% of UWorld remaining with only a week before my test). If I had to go through this whole ordeal again, I'd have never started Qbank and instead worked through all of USMLE World two or three times. It doesn't matter if you see the questions again, as long as you TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE ANSWERS. I also wish I had done the other three NBME exams.

Books:
First Aid (wish I had worked this more than I did... some parts I read several times over whereas other areas I merely skimmed).
Kaplan 2006-2007 Series (esp Pathology, Pharm, Biochem, Behavioral, Micro/Immuno... barely touched Anatomy or Physiology. Pharm, Biochem, Behave and yes even the Path were outstanding, imo... but you have to take the course and/or have access to the DVD's otherwise they're largely worthless)
BRS Pathology (ok book, read through this once)
Rapid Review Pathology (EXCELLENT book, I read through and essentially re-wrote the entire book)
Micro made ridiculously simple (good book to start with for micro review)
Rapid Review Micro (read through parts of it, mostly to see its take on certain topics MMRS and Kaplan Micro discussed)
Rapid Review Biochemistry - nice book, but a little too in depth for the purposes of boards.
HY Neuroanatomy - nice last minute review (but I was already pretty comfortable with my grasp of neuro, as our school is exceptional at teaching the subject... its also the field that I plan to go into. If you feel weak at neuro, I'd recommend getting one of those large color atlases reviewing neuroanatomy because the subject is EXTREMELY high yield for boards.)

Extra:
Kaplan on-campus course (14 days of lecture) - very useful
Gold Standard audio (Pathology, Micro, Pharm, Biochem... on and off for a couple of weeks. I thought they were ok... felt more geared towards Step II/rotations though... particularly the pharm, since they kept referencing trade names)
Goljan audio - Do I even need to say how useful this was? Listened to it at least 3-4 times over.
BRS Pathology flashcards - fun cards to start review with
BRS Micro flashcards - same deal
Brenner Micro cards - AWESOME cards to use once you've finished your first pass of micro review. They had just enough information for boards, had extra neat tidbits unrelated to medicine to make the cards a little more fun to read and most importantly they have color pictures of most of the high yield bugs.
Webpath homepage/Robbins Atlas of Pathology- AWESOME resource, a wonderful change of pace from reading/annotating all the time. More importantly, do NOT underestimate how many pictures are on the test. I was alarmed (in a good way, fortunately) at the number of images on the real thing. They popped up at considerably higher frequency than either my practice NBME or Qbank/UWorld. While knowing the picture usually isn't necessary to answer the question, it almost always leads you to the correct answer much faster. Time is money on the boards.

What's missing here is my physiology review. I do own BRS Physio along with Costanzo's Review 2nd edition (kind of redundant because they're written by the same person... long story as to why I have both), but I pretty much punted physio because I was already very comfortable with the subject. If Physio is a weak topic for you, my recommendation is to definitely pick up Costanzo's Review and read it cover to cover. It goes more in depth than BRS Phys, but not so deep as to be overkill for the USMLE. While you're doing that, hit Guyton's Physiology review questions as often as possible (as always, review the answers).

What I would have done if I had a chance to take it all over again...
1) Take more time to figure out a better plan from the beginning and stick to it.
2) Do all the NBME's and repeat USMLE World over and over again
3) Start Rapid Review Path earlier and answer all of its questions
4) Try to read through Big Robbins and finish Robbins Review (not absolutely necessary, but I would have felt much more comfortable had I done so... though I studied Rapid Review intensely, I still had a couple of path questions on the real thing that stumped me... I'm certain I would have clipped the 240 mark if I had done that... heheh, I probably would have broke 240 if I didn't delay my test so long either, so whatever).
5) Read though Lippincott's Biochem and Pharm

Good luck, folks!

 

[doc20]

No one is updating this because 'JayneCobb'
locked this thread and hide it here

 

[cubanMD]

Hi!..I'm an IMG..just want to share my experience in Step 1 with everybody interested, specially with people who studied in Cuba...I used to read these threads and always found them very useful in my prep...ok, so, I began reading Kaplan Lecture Notes in Sept/2006...since I graduated in 2003 and never had a chance to study again (you don't wanna know why..), it was very difficult to concentrate, so I read approximately only 30 pages/day...by the third month reading and watching the video lectures I almost went through all material..then I started working full time, and couldn't read a single line on december...new year, new motivations!...back to Kaplan Lectures Notes for the second time, but faster and convining with Board Simulator questions (Lippincott)...I remember doing near 3500 q, no real test format but good explanations...after that I did Qbook...then used PreTest series which I found solidified my knowledge...by then we were in June and since work only allowed me 6 hours daily I quitted...read FA once and prepared to live like a nun in a convent for the next three months:

UW 75%
100% questions in 1 month, all random, 50 q blocks, timed, read all explanations

Kaplan Qbank 78%
near 90% of the q in 1 month, got bored at the end, UW better explanations, but Kaplan covered certain topics I didn't see in UW

USMLE prep CD 88%

...felt very confident in september, last week FA again and my notes from UW (they helped me answer many picky q in the test)...took exam Sept 22/2007..results 21 days later, online

259/99... payoff!!!...after a year full of sacrifice..my advice...I did it that way cause I want Surgery, but is all about dedication and perseverance..you can do it too

 

[latinfridley]

Scores received today at 11 pm (3.5 weeks post test).

Studied for 6 weeks, 7-10 hrs per day, 6-7 days/wk
Resources:
BRS Phys
RR Path
USMLE Roadmap Infectious Disease
FA 2007 (in ring binder, with annotations) - went through it about 1.5 times total
USMLEworld Qbank ~70% complete (avg scores 68-84% last 250 q's)

NBME#1: 6 wks out - 216
NBME#4: 4 wks out - 232
NBME#3: 1.5 wks out - 232

Goal: > 240
Final Score: >240

Advice:
- Take NBME's to gauge your progress while studying.
- Start USMLEworld early, and do your best to complete it by test date (which I did not do)
- First Aid has 90% of what you need to know for this test. It is very hi-yield. Try to review several times. I was able to get through it 1.5 times. The areas I didn't score as well in on the real thing happened to be the areas I wasn't able to review more than once in FA.
- The test is long. Don't underestimate the importance of taking breaks, prepare before hand with NBME's and USMLEworld q's.

Thanks to all who posted their experiences and advice, it was very helpful.

 

[MadameLULU]

So happy for you Latin!!!!

 

[MaxMoonMD]

So, now it´s my turn to summarize my Step1 experience.
First of all, I benefited a lot from this forum and want to thank everyone who contributed to some very helpful threads like the Exam Experience Thread, the score thread and so on...
Well, my original Test Date was in Mid October, but believe it or not, due to technical reasons we could not take the Test on that day (you don´t believe it? I can show you the print out from prometrics...), so because classes had already started and I was on the wards I had to wait till December. It was hard to keep the info fresh during that time, especially because I had to learn for an oral exam at the end in internal medicine.
In the end, I think it cost me not as many points as I had feared, but I made some stupid mistakes on basic stuff which might have been prevented if I had taken the test earlier.

Anatomy: More questions on anatomy than I had thought, but most of it was very basic stuff.
In my opinion no need to put much effort in it, reading the whole kaplan lectures would have been a waste of time. Maybe 1-2 CT´s/MRT´s.

Neuro: No hard stuff, 1 angiogram, 2 CTs, question on MS, Lambert Eaton, Huntingtons, 1 brachial plexus, hydrocephalus, 1 brainstem, sometimes combined with pathology. First Aid is all you need combined with some pictures e.g. from HY Neuroanatomy. No need to read the whole HY Book.

Embryology: Maybe 5-7 questions, no fancy stuff.

Genetics: Easy questions, 2 pedigrees, anticipation...

Biochemistry: Was a bit disappointed because there was only a small amount of questions.
1-2 Vitamin questions, 1 Lead Poisoning, 1 Porphyria, 3 questions on hyperammonia, 2 Lesch-Nyhan, 1 gout. First Aid covered most of it I think.

Mol.Bio/Immuno: Very basic stuff, again not as many questions as I had hoped for. 1 Hox question, 1 about CD markers, 1-2 cytokine questions, some strange (maybe experimental) questions.

Behavioral/Psychiatry/Biostats.: Seriously, there were 2 or 3 “what would you say” questions where I thought they forgot the right answer. Then again there were lot´s of easy points to be made in Behavioral. Had to pick the right formula for odds ratio, question about study design, prevalence, confidence intervall...not that hard.

Microbiology: Lots of questions, mostly bacteria (very basic) (Neisseria, Actinomyces israelli, Legionella, Staph aureus...), some virus (Herpes, only one EBV) , 2-3 fungi (one question about an outbreak in a kindergarden...I had never heard those names before), 2 parasites. Some questions about antiotics and there side effects. No stuff like bile solubility, lactose fermenting, special agar plates etc...UW was a lot harder.

Pathology/Physiology: By far the biggest part of the exam. Had lots of cardio questions (Dilatative Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, cardiac cycle...), lots of genitourinary , the usual renal stuff (renal stenosis, RAAS...), everything was pretty balanced I think except maybe only a small amount of hematology questions. No lymphoma

Pharmacology: Lots of pharma questions, but I found them a lot easier than those on USMLEWORLD (maybe because I learnt alot thanks to them).

The test began relatively easy, and after the first block I thought “THIS is Step1? Way to go!!”, but then the blocks got more and more difficult, peaking at the last block.
Maybe because of that hard last block I didn´t feel that good after the test, to be true, I felt like I blew it. I made like 10 stupid mistakes, I mean, REALLY stupid mistakes (which should have been easy points) not counting the questions I can´t remember.
Can´t really tell if I failed, passed or even aced the test, the last one being more unlikely.
Well, guess I have to wait until next year for my score report.

By the way, time was no real issue, though it was a close call at block 4 and 5 with only 5 minutes left, most of the time I had like 10-15 minutes left.

Now I have to prepare for finals, while having Step1-Flashbacks.
I hope the time I invested was well spent, if not I feel like the biggest idiot on earth.

 

[BabyPsychDoc]

Well, I guess it is my turn now to contribute. This forum has ben vital in my preparation for the exam - thanks to everyone, guys!

"Old grad", FMG, currently working in a 60-80hrs/week job in the UK. Hence, started my prep WAY ahead of the time. I took the test yesterday, but started studying for in back in April. Sometimes, it was just a couple of pages read during my lunch break. Sometimes, it was 20Qs on UW. When I was on nightfloat (5 weeks altogether since April), I could not study at all.

I did the free 150Qs to assess myself before starting my prep and got 82%. This was really encouraging and I initially was going to just read FA and go ahead. But, as I was reading FA I realised that I forgot some necessary details forming "the big picture" - and without the big picture in my mind, reading the (very useful!) compilation of facts from the FA was pointless. So, I bought some review books and signed up for 6/12 membership with UW.

Biochem - Clin Biochem Made Ridiculously Simple. This book is not very popular on this forum but it worked for me. Again, it gave me the big picture that I could hang on the details from the FA. Lippincott review is too long, too detailed, and would be a COLOSSAL waste of time - for my test, at least.

Behavioural sciences - HY +FA. You do not need any more than that.

Micro - CMMRS +FA+Goljan.

Cell bio - HY +FA.

Pharm - HY+FA+Goljan. That is enough. Trust me.

Physiology - BRS.

Path - BRS + Goljan. Goljan rocks! His book is a gem. There were a few things on my exam that I would not have had a clue about if it was not for Goljan.

Anatomy, embryology - FA only. I felt it was sufficient for my test.

After I went through the books once, I started doing qs on UW. One month before the exam, I completed 100% of the qs! Towards the end, I was averaging around 80% on the UW; I started with about 50% average across all disciplines. As I was doing the qs, I would make notes of the most salient points that I did not find in the books. When I was done with the qs, I went through the FA, my notes, BRS and Goljan again.

The test was evil. The first block was the most difficult and disheartening. or, maybe, I felt that way because I am not a morning person - and my test started at half past 8 am. I foolishly spent too much time on a couple of difficult questions and had to say bye-bye to the sure question that I knew an answer to - because I ran out of time. Don't do that.

After that block I regrouped, downed another can of red bull, went potty and things went better. I was able to finish other blocks 15-20 min ahead of time, and used the remaining time to review the qs I was not so sure about. It worked well - at least I felt it worked well. Whether it did or not, I will find out when I get my score.

My test was light on biochem. Damn! I spent hours memorising the pathways and regulators - there was nothing of it on my test! There were a couple of qs about common carbohydrate metabolism disorders and the lysosomal storage disorders. Couple of stupid qs about delta G - I think I got it right, but I am not sure.

Cell bio was almost non-existent on my test. Another DAMN! I did MSc in cell bio, and was hoping to get plenty of qs in this area. I may have had 2. That is all.

Anatomy , embryo - maybe, had about 10 qs altogether. MRIs, CTs - know them inside out, both head and trunk. The qs were not too difficult, and in any case, you either know the stuff or you do not. One MRI pissed me off - it asked about caudate nucleus location in a rather poor quality image on the horizontal section of the brain. I could pinpoint all the major brain structures on sagittal and coronal views, but this one I did not know and had to work it out. Being a girl did not help. I think I got it, though.

Micro was strong on my exam - and so was path. I was happy about these two. They were my strengths to start with, and I studied them hard still. I think I got the vast majority of the qs right on these. Know chracteristics of bugs (Gram stain, optochin resistance, bacitracin resistance, catalase/coagulase etc). Know their toxins. Know the MOA of all ABx and the way that bugs can become resistant to each particular ABx class. Only one micro qs I did not know and had to guess, having narrowed it down to two options. When I got home, I checked online - I got it!!!

Path was probably about 60-70% of my exam. Only few qs I knew instantly, the rest I had to figure out. I did feel happy about those, though.

Behavioural science - I had very little psych stuff compared to calculations and "what do you say" qs. I was happy about calculations, not so happy about the limited number of psych (psych is one of my strong points). Ethics qs were evil, as there were oftentimes two or more responses I felt could be appropriate. I just had to guess and generally chose the most non-confrontational response that would most likely result in the patient feeling warm, fuzzy and generally appreciated. Blah!

Anyway, it is over. It was a long day. I had two cans of red bull and three cans of coke to keep me awake and alert through the day. And in the evening, I celebrated!

I hope I will never have to do it again.

I will post my score when I get it.

I forgot to say that I did two NBMEs: one 6/12 ago (Form 1), then Form 2 mid-November. First one - untimed, second one - timed. Both gave me the score of 510/222. I did not do any NBME tests after that to avoid any further disappointment.

 

[valeposh]

Hey everybody!
Thanks so much for posting your experiences, they are a great help!
I have a question: I'm about to buy the books to prepare step 1: do you think FA and Step-Up are enough to get ready? I mean, apart from all the books I used to pass the exams, which I'd use for any doubt (Robbins, Harrison, etc).
I'd really like to get a high score, my goals being Cardiology or EM.
Thanks so much to anyone who'll answer!!

 

[doc20]

......

 

[UCLAstudent]

Hey everybody!
Thanks so much for posting your experiences, they are a great help!
I have a question: I'm about to buy the books to prepare step 1: do you think FA and Step-Up are enough to get ready? I mean, apart from all the books I used to pass the exams, which I'd use for any doubt (Robbins, Harrison, etc).
I'd really like to get a high score, my goals being Cardiology or EM.
Thanks so much to anyone who'll answer!!

That won't be enough. In addition to First Aid, you'll want to get individual books focused on specific topics (physiology, pathology, micrbiology, biochemistry, etc.). Most people use books from the BRS and/or High-Yield series. Goljan is also popular. Do a search to find out which books people prefer for each subject. Robbins and Harrison will not be an efficient use of study time for Step 1.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I've gotten quite a few PM's regarding my study plan in the last couple months so I thought I would finally make my comprehensive contribution to this thread.

Resources Used:

Comprehensive: Kaplan 8 book set of notes and ~160 hours of corresponding Live lectures. First Aid 2006.
Anatomy & Histology: Netters for a few drawings; HY histology, a quick run through.
Embyrology: just kaplan
Behavioral Science: just kaplan
Biochemistry: just kaplan
Physiology: BRS physio, only did the questions
Pathology: Goljan RR Review, Goljan Audio lectures, Uni of Utah Webpath, did questions and looked at pictures, Robbins Review Question Book
Pharmacology: Lippincott's sparingly, BRS note cards
Microbiology: CMMRS sparingly, BRS notecards
Question Banks: USMLEworld, Kaplan Q bank
Practice tests: 4 NBME's

Philosophy and Implementation:
Going to a school which is P/NP for the first two years, I placed achieving high grades in classes rather low in priority. After focusing on studying for classes during MS1 year, I decided for purposes of maximizing my options when it comes to matching I would focus on two things during MS2 year: research and Step I. Thus I purchased the Kaplan Qbank, Kaplan notes and Kaplan Live Lectures at the beginning of MS2 year. I only went to class in the mornings and spent the saved time in lab and studying independently be it for class or for board review.

Many people place an emphasis on doing as well as you can in class but I do not believe this is the best way. Students can spend all their effort studying for class but that leaves no time/energy for research, extracurricular activities, or board review. Studying to maximize your grades for classes is especially problematic for P/NP curriculums, since the last 10% of your grade is likely minutae the professor happened to want you to know and which you may never see again. I find that a balance of these activities is best for your happiness and for your CV. My goal in classes was generally to pass comfortably.

During Second Year:
During MS2 year while studying for each organ system covered in class, I reviewed the Kaplan Physiology, Pharmacology, and Pathology notes and videos corresponding to that particular organ system. This provided a summary of the high yield facts which are likely to be seen on the boards and helped orient me to which facts I should focus on knowing well while studying for class. In addition I did the relevant questions in Q bank. I also had Goljan MP3's on my iPod and listened to these whenever possible, mostly while driving. University of Utah's website and the Robbins Review of Pathology were helpful for my pathology class and I did as much of them as I could. This of course takes time but I felt the sacrificed school lectures and studying was not a great loss. I scored around the mean in my classes and was happy with that. I would not suggest following this approach if you are not able to pass classes comfortably as if you don't at least pass you'll never get the chance to apply your board review. Doing this throughout second year allowed me to have built a reasonable base of knowledge of the organ systems by the time classes ended.

Dedicated Board Review:
I had 7 weeks after MS2 year and used all of it for board review. Some people studied for three weeks and took the test and I'm sure did fine, but I felt that spending as much time as you have available is the best, though not most efficient, way. I also felt if I had taken the exam early I would have had difficulty enjoying my weeks off while waiting for my score. I spent the first three weeks reviewing MS1 topics: microbio, anatomy and histology, biochemistry using the same methods as above. The last four weeks I reviewed all subjects in an organ system based manner. I supplemented the kaplan materials with the above mentioned books though in most cases very sparingly. CMMRS I read perhaps 10 pages of, Lippincott's a bit more, I went through the note cards many times until I was quite familiar with them and could run through both sets within an hour. I found BRS's format helpful in that I could indeed get through them quite quickly, though they were sometimes lacking on details. During these 7 weeks I switched to using UsmleWorld and I annotated my First Aid with facts from answers I got wrong in UW or found worth noting.

I switched studying modes every hour or so to keep things from becoming boring, i.e. watch a lecture, do 50 questions, read notes, do flash cards, take a break, repeat. I probably studied 10 hours a day, the first 4 being quite effective and the rest probably much less so. I did NBME 1 six weeks before, NBME 2 four weeks before, NBME 4 two weeks before and NBME 3 the week of the actual test. Before doing an NBME I spent two days reviewing all of my First Aid. Thus I was able to review First Aid four times thoroughly before the test though I still missed a few questions on the test that I knew in my minds eye was just a factoid in First Aid. The NBME tests are definitely worth doing because they are very predictive and contain a few identical questions to the actual exam, they also test the same concepts. I ended getting 70's and occasionally 80's in UWorld.

Test and Post Test:
While taking the test I had about 10-15 un-sures in each question block, most of which I could get down to between 2 answers. I did not feel time was an issue, I had generally 10 minutes left per block. I took plenty of breaks with the extra time I had, sometimes just to listen to some 50 c on my iPod between sections.

Immediately after finishing the exam I felt reasonably confident. However the weeks spent waiting for the score were rather nerve wracking as catastrophic thinking kicks in when you remember the questions that you could/should have gotten right. I thought of more than a few pharmacology questions that I should have known but didn't. Don't stress too much, even though you will, since the scores not going to change any more.

I received my score from the office exactly three weeks after the exam date, 262/99. Came in the mail a week later.

In retrospect I think very highly of the Kaplan Notes and lectures and regret not having them as an MS1. I place a high value on having live lectures to listen to in addition to notes to read because they provide the modes of audio and visual input into your brain and can help pace you when you bog down in dense reading. They also provide the base of knowledge which after fine tuning with question banks and first aid would allow one to do quite well on step 1.

I've gotten quite a few questions regarding using Kaplan 4 book vs 7 book series. Having seen both, it is my impression that the content is nearly identical but that the 4 book series is just the 7 book series reorganized into organ systems. I prefer the 7 book series because its not really any longer and it goes with the lectures much better.

I hope this helps and PM's are usually quickly answered.

 

[alphaholic06]

I've gotten quite a few PM's regarding my study plan in the last couple months so I thought I would finally make my comprehensive contribution to this thread.

Resources Used:

Comprehensive: Kaplan 8 book set of notes and ~160 hours of corresponding Live lectures. First Aid 2006.
Anatomy & Histology: Netters for a few drawings; HY histology, a quick run through.
Embyrology: just kaplan
Behavioral Science: just kaplan
Biochemistry: just kaplan
Physiology: BRS physio, only did the questions
Pathology: Goljan RR Review, Goljan Audio lectures, Uni of Utah Webpath, did questions and looked at pictures, Robbins Review Question Book
Pharmacology: Lippincott's sparingly, BRS note cards
Microbiology: CMMRS sparingly, BRS notecards
Question Banks: USMLEworld, Kaplan Q bank
Practice tests: 4 NBME's

Philosophy and Implementation:
Going to a school which is P/NP for the first two years, I placed achieving high grades in classes rather low in priority. After focusing on studying for classes during MS1 year, I decided for purposes of maximizing my options when it comes to matching I would focus on two things during MS2 year: research and Step I. Thus I purchased the Kaplan Qbank, Kaplan notes and Kaplan Live Lectures at the beginning of MS2 year. I only went to class in the mornings and spent the saved time in lab and studying independently be it for class or for board review.

Many people place an emphasis on doing as well as you can in class but I do not believe this is the best way. Students can spend all their effort studying for class but that leaves no time/energy for research, extracurricular activities, or board review. Studying to maximize your grades for classes is especially problematic for P/NP curriculums, since the last 10% of your grade is likely minutae the professor happened to want you to know and which you may never see again. I find that a balance of these activities is best for your happiness and for your CV. My goal in classes was generally to pass comfortably.

During Second Year:
During MS2 year while studying for each organ system covered in class, I reviewed the Kaplan Physiology, Pharmacology, and Pathology notes and videos corresponding to that particular organ system. This provided a summary of the high yield facts which are likely to be seen on the boards and helped orient me to which facts I should focus on knowing well while studying for class. In addition I did the relevant questions in Q bank. I also had Goljan MP3's on my iPod and listened to these whenever possible, mostly while driving. University of Utah's website and the Robbins Review of Pathology were helpful for my pathology class and I did as much of them as I could. This of course takes time but I felt the sacrificed school lectures and studying was not a great loss. I scored around the mean in my classes and was happy with that. I would not suggest following this approach if you are not able to pass classes comfortably as if you don't at least pass you'll never get the chance to apply your board review. Doing this throughout second year allowed me to have built a reasonable base of knowledge of the organ systems by the time classes ended.

Dedicated Board Review:
I had 7 weeks after MS2 year and used all of it for board review. Some people studied for three weeks and took the test and I'm sure did fine, but I felt that spending as much time as you have available is the best, though not most efficient, way. I also felt if I had taken the exam early I would have had difficulty enjoying my weeks off while waiting for my score. I spent the first three weeks reviewing MS1 topics: microbio, anatomy and histology, biochemistry using the same methods as above. The last four weeks I reviewed all subjects in an organ system based manner. I supplemented the kaplan materials with the above mentioned books though in most cases very sparingly. CMMRS I read perhaps 10 pages of, Lippincott's a bit more, I went through the note cards many times until I was quite familiar with them and could run through both sets within an hour. I found BRS's format helpful in that I could indeed get through them quite quickly, though they were sometimes lacking on details. During these 7 weeks I switched to using UsmleWorld and I annotated my First Aid with facts from answers I got wrong in UW or found worth noting.

I switched studying modes every hour or so to keep things from becoming boring, i.e. watch a lecture, do 50 questions, read notes, do flash cards, take a break, repeat. I probably studied 10 hours a day, the first 4 being quite effective and the rest probably much less so. I did NBME 1 six weeks before, NBME 2 four weeks before, NBME 4 two weeks before and NBME 3 the week of the actual test. Before doing an NBME I spent two days reviewing all of my First Aid. Thus I was able to review First Aid four times thoroughly before the test though I still missed a few questions on the test that I knew in my minds eye was just a factoid in First Aid. The NBME tests are definitely worth doing because they are very predictive and contain a few identical questions to the actual exam, they also test the same concepts. I ended getting 70's and occasionally 80's in UWorld.

Test and Post Test:
While taking the test I had about 10-15 un-sures in each question block, most of which I could get down to between 2 answers. I did not feel time was an issue, I had generally 10 minutes left per block. I took plenty of breaks with the extra time I had, sometimes just to listen to some 50 c on my iPod between sections.

Immediately after finishing the exam I felt reasonably confident. However the weeks spent waiting for the score were rather nerve wracking as catastrophic thinking kicks in when you remember the questions that you could/should have gotten right. I thought of more than a few pharmacology questions that I should have known but didn't. Don't stress too much, even though you will, since the scores not going to change any more.

I received my score from the office exactly three weeks after the exam date, 262/99. Came in the mail a week later.

In retrospect I think very highly of the Kaplan Notes and lectures and regret not having them as an MS1. I place a high value on having live lectures to listen to in addition to notes to read because they provide the modes of audio and visual input into your brain and can help pace you when you bog down in dense reading. They also provide the base of knowledge which after fine tuning with question banks and first aid would allow one to do quite well on step 1.

I hope this helps and PM's are usually quickly answered.

Thanks. I'm a Kaplan fan too. I have been using them throughout M1 and they have helped me tremendously both in class and especially with the shelf exams. Although Step 1 is still better than a year away, I've been thinking of following a study plan very similar to yours. It's good to see some evidence that this plan has actually worked.

 

[CanIMakeIt]

Sources:
Questions: UW + some Kaplan + 1 NBME + free 150 Qs
Biochem & Genetics: Kaplan + FA
Anatomy & Embryo: FA + HY Neuroanatoy
Micro & Immuo: Kaplan + FA
Path: BRS Path + FA
Physio: Kaplan + BRS Physio + FA
Pharm: FA
Behavioral Sc and Psych: FA + Kaplan

Questions:

Questions for most part were straight forward. The only thing is KNOW FA. I had so many questions in most sections, where I knew where to find the answer in FA but couldn't recall a simple fact. I would say that about 80-90% of the test can be answered using FA.

My test was very cadio and neuro heavy. I had NO acid-base questions and I had prepared well for them. Most neuro questions were brain slices (path pictures not CT or MRI) - about 15 of them. there was one question where they showed this guy from behind (with a little back hump) and wanted to know what neuro dzs he had (no idea what it was). Few tricky ones as well. There were all kinds of cardio Qs (every kind you could think of).

Anatomy, embryo, Micro were all straight forward. this lesion on this anatomical loaction...(what will they present with -- 2 step questions .. had to know what nerve was in there and what would that lesion cause). For micro most things were 2 steps but not hard. infact the easiest Q on the exam was from Micro (gave me a gram stain and 4 out 5 choices were viruses ... so i did not even look at what kind of bacteria it was). Embryo straight out of FA. For neuroanatomy, I did HY neuroanatomy - literally saved my a** on the exam ... make sure you know chapter 1 cold.

Path was fair and not very many Qs where I would go WTF.... mostly I would remember where in FA was the answer but couldn't recall the fact to answer the Qs (so my fault). Was Cardio heavy. Other subjects were fairly equally represented)

Pharm for most part was straight out of FA. Except for a few tricky ones (and those drugs were covered by UW in adequate details). Some pharm questions about autonomic Qs were tricky or required good understanding of FA section (Intro to Pharm part)..had 1 t1/2 Q but no other calculations

Physio: I don't remember much of those questions. mostly were presented as pathophysiology rather than straight physio. but there were straight physio questions as well (mostly from GI, Endo, Renal, cardio, and Repro).

Biochem and Genetics: Most Qs were not hard. all the pathways kind of question were either in FA or kaplan, so no surprises there. Some random gene questions in molecular. Cell bio was pretty straight forward. Don't remember much about histo Qs.

Behavioral sc: was kind of hit or miss. lots of what will you do next kind Qs. 1 child development Q (how old is this kid if she can do blah blah blah..straight from FA), 2-3 Qs on side effects of drug overdose/withdrawal. few calculations Qs of OR, Sn, Sp etc. One weired Q where I was given a darn statistical distribution by class interval and was supposed to calculate mean, median, mode (eg 0-10 7 etc).

Other than that I had to calculate delta-G from the chemical equations given (straight forward .. remembering formula not required)

Question banks: I though Kaplan was too picky and "do you know this random fact or not" kind of Qs. UW were more thought provoking kind. But I did not finish Kaplan so don't know.

NBME were dead on as far as my weaknesses went. dead on meaning my final step 1 chart was almost identical to my NBME performance (except I had improved on a few of my weaknesses and did worse on cardio)

Good luck to everyone who hae not taken it yet.

 

[AmyO]

Were you happy with the Kaplan + FA combo you utilized as your primary resources? This is what I'm planning on doing w/ supplementation from Goljan's Rapid Review Path. Thanks!

 

[CanIMakeIt]

Were you happy with the Kaplan + FA combo you utilized as your primary resources? This is what I'm planning on doing w/ supplementation from Goljan's Rapid Review Path. Thanks!

I did not have enough time to read kaplan anatomy book and instead used HY neuroanatomy. But I tihnk if you start reading kaplan now along with FA (with either BRS or RR path) you should be more than fine. Make sure you do UW.

Also if you can find Goljan Audio, it can make your life better. I wish i had done those to understand a few things.

Good Luck....

 

[MaxMoonMD]

After waiting since December the 11th for my score report and after a long and annoying reverification process I can finally post my Step1 Score.

Did the NBME self-assessment forms in the following order:

NBME 1 410 (195)
NBME 2 390 (190)
NBME 4 470 (211)
NBME 3 450 (209)

USMLEWORLD: did all questions once, then maybe half of them a second time.

Overall performance after I went through UW questions the first time was 52%. (if I remember correctly)


Step1: 227/95



I had to wait so long for my score report that I was a 100% sure that I failed.


See you on the other side.

 

[frescanese]

USMLE Step 1: 265
NBME x 2 (with 6 and 5 wks before the test): 240, 240
USWorld: ended getting high 70s, low to mid 80s
Preclinical Grades: 55:45, HP:H

Time to Study: Two clinical months and a 2 wk winter vacation (10 wks)
Average study time: 40:40:20; 8 hrs:5 hrs:2-3 hrs / day. Took quite a few days off.

Sources:
1) FA
2) BRS Phys
3) BRS Path
4) Some of RR Path
5) Some of RR Biochem
6) Goljan Audio
7) USWorld: did it once, read the answers once

Simply put, memorize FA. Read it like 4-5 times if you can. I made a word file from points I missed in my qbank and would review it occassionally. Everything else I read for comprehension only.

Good luck.

 

[frescanese]

FA was 2006, btw.

I spoke with a few people before the exam. One guy, I know, wasn't near the top of the class and he also broke 260. The key, if you can stomach it, is being a FA robot memorizer / regurgitator. Thinking too much can only hurt you. That goes for preparation and test-taking.

Sure, some people will get their 260 by reading 4000 pages of Kaplan. Just do it quietly and stop posting it on SDN cause you freak everyone out. If you want to learn the meat and potatoes; just memorize FA, do the USW or Qbank, read a few BRS, and get that 260 on the cheap.

 

[lankysudanese]

FA was 2006, btw.
Sure, some people will get their 260 by reading 4000 pages of Kaplan. Just do it quietly and stop posting it on SDN cause you freak everyone out. If you want to learn the meat and potatoes; just memorize FA, do the USW or Qbank, read a few BRS, and get that 260 on the cheap.

congrats on the score. but please realize that SDN is free to the public, and that freedom of speech ("advice") is valued. people tend to comment on what they used/experienced, and if they got their 260 using 4000 pages of Kaplan instead of your 4-5 reads of FA, then that goes to show that there is no single "optimal/best" way to prepare for this test.

 

[Pascal8]

congrats !!

 

[frescanese]

sorry, didn't mean to sound like stalin.

i guess, to put it in a way that isn't offensive:

reading about very comprehensive reviews done by other students was VERY intimidating. it caused me to doubt myself and my preparation strategy. what i learned, which backed-up what others had said, was there is a core knowledge base tested on the step. the core knowledge base is very well represented by FA. the few other resources, IMO, cover the few areas that aren't covered by FA.

one might say that additional, more comprehensive review will only add to your abilities as a future clinician. perhaps. however, we are all human and i think few people will be able to retain (or will need to retain) all that is contained in much larger review sets.

i only sound like a jackass because other people made me very nervous and unsure of myself, unnecessarily.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I think this only underscores the point that everyone should come up with an individualized plan that suits their needs, weaknesses, and level of motivation. If you think you need something, use it. If you think it doesn't meet your needs, don't worry just because "everyone else" uses it.

"What is sauce for the goose may be sauce for the gander but is not necessarily sauce for the chicken, the duck, the turkey or the guinea hen"

 

[Pascal8]

sorry, didn't mean to sound like stalin.

i guess, to put it in a way that isn't offensive:

reading about very comprehensive reviews done by other students was VERY intimidating. it caused me to doubt myself and my preparation strategy. what i learned, which backed-up what others had said, was there is a core knowledge base tested on the step. the core knowledge base is very well represented by FA. the few other resources, IMO, cover the few areas that aren't covered by FA.

one might say that additional, more comprehensive review will only add to your abilities as a future clinician. perhaps. however, we are all human and i think few people will be able to retain (or will need to retain) all that is contained in much larger review sets.

i only sound like a jackass because other people made me very nervous and unsure of myself, unnecessarily.

Hey u don't sound like a jackass . I'm thankful for your post as I myself was getting worried that I NEED to read all those pages .

So you are saying FA along with maybe BRS PHYS AND PATH in addition to one question bank is good enough for a decent score ( > 220 but < 240 ) ??

thanks

Thanks for your contribution

 

[lord_jeebus]

There was once a time when many people on this forum endorsed a simple First Aid + BRS Phys + BRS Path + Kaplan QBank strategy. For many people it worked for scoring above 240.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I, for one, am on the side of better safe than sorry when it comes to the boards.
The risk of not doing as well as I can on the boards outweighs the benefits of going minimalistic while reviewing.

 

[Powel6016]

Has anyone used the "pretest" question series to study for the boards? I use them to study for NBME tests and they help. I heard that they are too much for the board. Any ideas?

 

[Aloiv]

I have 3 more weeks to go, but I am nervous and I feel like I am not going to be able to gett everything done. I had planed an amount of days for each subject, but I am not getting done in time so I am pushing back.
I wanted to ask for some advice.
I am using first aid and Kaplan books. Kaplan books are so much. I am listening to Kaplan lectures and doing Q bank. I also bought USMLE World question which I really like. I planed to do 100 question a day including review, but I am moving slower. I am getting about 50 % on Kaplan and USMLE word...Does this mean I am not ready. Please give your advice.... what would be my best bet right now. Should I only listen to lectures and do question. Reading books is taking too long for me and I feel I am not going to be able to be done.
Also what is the best high yield place to learn path pictures??
I would really appreciate your thoughts

 

[hopefulrad]

MCAT: 30
USMLE: ~65-66% (about 50-55% completed)
NBME1: 228 (540)
NBME5: 221 (510)
Grades: overall an average of a HP (~3.0)

USMLE Step 1: 230 / 96



I just thought I owed it to this website to post my info so I could hopefully help some other paranoid medical student, such as myself. I took the exam on May 16 and got my score on June 11th.



Study materials:
GOLJAN!!!! -- he is the man! I listened to him while I worked out or on my way to class (i had a 20-30 minute drive to and from every day). His audio AND book are truly amazing ... I used him to study for my path/medicine lectures during second year more than my notes for class. He teaches you the things you NEED to know for the test and 80-90% of the time that also happen to be the things you need to know for class as well. The pictures in the new book are awesome as well as the diagrams.
I used him as my #1 source throughout all of second year for class.

FA -- this is a great resource I used it as a supplement to goljan. it has great mnemonics and summarizes concepts well.

BRS (path) -- used it a little but felt that goljan was a better fit for me ie didnt like the lack of photos and the organization.

USMLE World -- amazing... if you can do well on this you'll smoke the boards... generally speaking i thought that usmleworld had harder questions than what I saw on boards and the explanations were great. Do the questions and READ THE EXPLANATIONS even if you got it right it'll usually teach you something you didnt know.


So overall I would use Goljan, USMLE World, and FA. Know the material and know it well in the Goljan book and FA ... do the questions on usmleworld (as many as you can anyways) and review them and youll do just fine.

The best advice I can give is to work hard your first and second years... itll pay off. I took about 2 1/2 weeks off after finals to study for the boards and get them out of the way. I studied 8-10 hrs / day during that time and also tried to get through the material at least once or twice throughout the school year ie if we had a path or medicine test over cardiology i would study goljan and fa at that time. i wish you all the best of luck.

 

[genius19]

So, I am one of those people who has never posted but has appreciated all of the information and advice in these forums and figured I could contribute something now that I have finished step 1. Here is my step 1 experience:

Pre-Dedicated study time:
- Focused on learning each subject during my first year and a half, which really is key to being able to remember as much as possible later on. Read BRS path and Costanzo phys along the way.
- Bought Qbank in October and did about 50 questions in each organ system after the corresponding test in school, which was useful for finding out what my school didn’t teach me but I still needed to know.
- Listened to Goljan while walking to and from school.

Dedicated study time: 4.5 weeks, didn’t have a set schedule but had goals for what I wanted to do. I pretty much studied all the time except to eat, work out, play a game or two of Sudoku or check e-mail when I needed a break, and watch my favorite weekly TV shows (House and The Office). I want to get into a competitive residency so my goal was 250+, and although I’m not sure if that much studying (up to 12 hours a day) is really necessary it is possible to do it without going crazy.
- Path: BRS path, then Goljan lectures/rapid review and his high yields the day before the exam. If I could do it over again, I would have read Goljan during my second year in school, and then listened to him and read him again and read BRS path to fill in any holes. Goljan really is amazing for helping you organize and retain things and much better than BRS path (which, however, is worth looking at). Even though there weren’t too many path questions on the exam, I think that Goljan helped me organize my thoughts (much better than FA alone) and answer many questions even if they weren’t strictly path.
- Phys: BRS phys for each subject while I was also studying the path. I originally planned to read Costanzo phys but ran out of time and just consulted Costanzo when I wanted clarification of BRS phys (which was sufficient).
- Embryo: high yield embryo. Great book but honestly didn’t help me on the test too much (I had very few embryo questions and they were way too out there to study for them)
- Behavioral sciences: high yield behavioral sciences and high yield biostats. The Qbank ethics questions were also great and a few similar ones were on my exam. Although FA is probably more than adequate for behavioral sciences, spending a few hours reading through both high yield books a few days before the test was quick and useful.
- Biochem: Kaplan’s book. I also read through high yield cell and molecular bio right before the test, and I wouldn’t say it was essential (my test did not have many tricky molecular questions) but was a good idea to review and link biochem and cell/molecular bio to other subjects.
- Microbiology and Immunology: FA plus Levinson, Levinson, Levinson (microbiology and immunology, from Lange). You don’t need any more for micro than the bug summaries at the end, and even though some of the other chapters were kind of odd (sterilization techniques?) I have heard from several people about questions on their boards that were covered in those chapters. I had read Micro made ridiculously simple beforehand, but I felt that FA and Levinson were much more boards-appropriate.
- Pharm: FA plus Lange pharm cards. I also looked at Lippincott pharm but it was unnecessary and I wouldn’t recommend it.
- Anatomy: FA, neuroanatomy made ridiculously simple. High yield neuroanatomy was not high yield and had a lot of unnecessary info for the boards and I much preferred neuroanatomy MRS to refamiliarize myself with neuroanatomy, although I know a lot of people who hate MRS. I also read through clinical anatomy MRS because it had been a year since my anatomy classes, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I looked at high yield anatomy, especially for its imaging, but after taking the test I don’t think it was necessary given that all of my anatomy questions were brachial plexus type things, images covered in the back of FA, or impossible to study for.
- Questions: some Kaplan Qbook and mini Qbook questions, 60% of Qbank (I was getting high 70s and 80s near the end), questions in BRS path and phys and Goljan. I liked Qbank because it forced me to remember and integrate other subject areas while I was focusing on studying a single organ system. However, I stopped doing Qbank near the end and don’t think it is necessary to finish it. In general I thought Kaplan’s Qbooks and Qbank were not reflective of the questions on the exam and often tested irrelevant picky details, but were useful nevertheless.
- Tests (I only remember the predicted USMLE scores and not the actual scores): old NBME (on paper) 3 months before the exam—220, NBME form 3 3-4 weeks before the exam—mid 250s, NBME form 4 in the week before the exam—265, released questions 3 days before the exam—264.

After the test:
- Regrets: I put way too much information into FA and was unable to review it at the end. I don’t know if the act of writing all of that helped me remember it but I don’t think it was necessary to put every detail into FA. I also bought way too many books, but realized after reading the SDN forums which books I really needed and limited myself to those. Books I bought and didn’t use but wanted to: Robbins review of path, High Yield Histology. Books I bought and didn’t use and don’t think were necessary: USMLE step 1 secrets, Clinical Vignettes, Step-Up to the Bedside. I also regret reading FA only once—I don’t think that reading through it over and over again is the best way to study but reading through it a few times would be smart. Also, I had bookmarked a few “trouble” pages in FA (GI hormones, developmental milestones) to look at during my exam breaks, but I didn’t look at them and I ended up missing 4 out of the 5 questions I got on those subjects. So, if there is something you know you are weak in and can quickly review, don’t hesitate to look at it during the exam breaks.
- Advice: have confidence in yourself. I think the hardest part of the test is that you are thrown a ton of questions that seem like nothing you have seen before, but in reality it is usually material you know but in a different format. I believe that I read in the Kaplan Q book that you should stick with your first answer unless you remember something that definitively points to another answer, which I totally agree with. If you have been studying hard and your life has consisted only of looking at boards material for the past 4 weeks, then there is a pretty good chance that your gut reactions during the test will be correct and you have to trust that. There were several questions that I was unsure of and changed my answer from my gut feeling to another answer, and afterwards realized that my gut feeling was correct. But it is also good to mark and recheck questions you don’t feel sure of because you may catch an incorrectly calculated answer or remember something important (such as long QT syndrome being linked with deafness).
- Score: 265/99. I was dumbfounded when I got my score back given how crappy I felt after the exam and how many questions I knew I had answered incorrectly, but it all goes back to having confidence in yourself and in what you have studied. One caveat about my score—I tend to do extremely well on multiple choice tests, which I definitely think helped me get my score but which is unfortunately not something you can really study for.

Sorry this post is so long, I just hope it can help someone else with their step 1 prep.

How many questions do you think you answered incorrectly ?