260+ bare bones

[phd89]

I'm speaking for the average person and not someone who has honored all their classes in the preclinical years...
So people have a lot of sources they recommend and some are rather comprehensive. In order to get a 260+ what is the bare minimum that you must study?

I know the triad of UW+FA+RR is recommended, but is that all or should we add to this. Kaplan qbank? Step 2 sources such as a medicine book? I guess what im asking is that can 95% of the questions be answered using the triad only or would we have to add to that?

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[Tig2575]

In order to get 260+, "bare minimum" should not be a part of your vocabulary.

 

[jfgavina]

If you do UW 6 times then just reading FA for about one month and try another last round of UW I bet you get a 260

 

[phd89]

In order to get 260+, "bare minimum" should not be a part of your vocabulary.

by bare minimum I mean those sources which give you the highest yield return in scores, obviously picking up 10 review books wouldn't be high yield. I'm referring to the combination of books which are the best if time is short and your aiming for a high score, not just average.

 

[jfgavina]

Dude, it's FA+UW. I think this is the general consensus here. RR too overwhelming..

 

[SlaveOfTCMC]

I rushed through RR path in 4 days in the week before the real exam


I did pick up a few tidbits that ACTUALLY did help me answer questions on the real test

3Q I got i wouldn't have gotten if I didnt read


And RR + UWorld is good enough for 220s.. 230-240s if you were good at learning the concepts and memorizing every single fact


But the fact of the matter is, to get that 250, 260, you're going to need other resources because there are some topics on there that are simply NOT in FA or UWorld

(side note: now that I am deep in Step 2 preparation, I have found that knowing some of the content here would definitely have helped me on the real Step 1)

Now you can definitely WORK IT OUT and narrow yourself down to 2 choices much of the time.


So it comes down to luck vs diminishing returns

whcih one is more appealing?

 

[jfgavina]

Ok, I believe in you. But given we have little time and we must build up our "theoretical" step 1 subjects of knowledge, and I still have a long way to run, what would you recommend in terms of step 2 materials to give a fast read before examination?

thanks for your advice.

 

[exeunt]

I rushed through RR path in 4 days in the week before the real exam


I did pick up a few tidbits that ACTUALLY did help me answer questions on the real test

3Q I got i wouldn't have gotten if I didnt read


And RR + UWorld is good enough for 220s.. 230-240s if you were good at learning the concepts and memorizing every single fact


But the fact of the matter is, to get that 250, 260, you're going to need other resources because there are some topics on there that are simply NOT in FA or UWorld

(side note: now that I am deep in Step 2 preparation, I have found that knowing some of the content here would definitely have helped me on the real Step 1)

Now you can definitely WORK IT OUT and narrow yourself down to 2 choices much of the time.


So it comes down to luck vs diminishing returns

whcih one is more appealing?

so what does it take to go from the 240 to 260 then?

 

[CatFactorial]

Answering more questions correctly.

This, that, and the other!

 

[lord_jeebus]

260+ is not about a minimalist approach, but doing a lot of things that on their own would only get you a few extra points. A very smart student who worked very hard throughout the preclinical years might be able to pull off a 260+ with a UW + FA strategy, but I don't think this is the optimal approach.

 

[DreamingTheLive]

Disagree about needing so many sources (5+). Better to know a few inside out IMHO. If you hate having money, sure, buy the whole lot of review books, q banks, etc. Good old fashion hard work throughout the year >>>>> # of sources 99% of time. Plus, you got to know thyself by now.

 

[235009]

I'm speaking for the average person and not someone who has honored all their classes in the preclinical years...
So people have a lot of sources they recommend and some are rather comprehensive. In order to get a 260+ what is the bare minimum that you must study?

I know the triad of UW+FA+RR is recommended, but is that all or should we add to this. Kaplan qbank? Step 2 sources such as a medicine book? I guess what im asking is that can 95% of the questions be answered using the triad only or would we have to add to that?

i think you have a warped view from reading too many SDN posts about step 1 that make it sound like getting a 260+ is a pretty standard or straight forward achievement. Truth is the "average person" has no chance at getting a 260+. That doesn't mean they can't get a solid 230+ or an excellent 240+ by putting in some honest hard work but to get to the astronomical numbers like 260+ you really have to be an outstanding student throughout the first two years of med school and start studying for step 1 with a stronger knowledge base than your "average person".

 

[DreamingTheLive]

i think you have a warped view from reading too many SDN posts about step 1 that make it sound like getting a 260+ is a pretty standard or straight forward achievement. Truth is the "average person" has no chance at getting a 260+. That doesn't mean they can't get a solid 230+ or an excellent 240+ by putting in some honest hard work but to get to the astronomical numbers like 260+ you really have to be an outstanding student throughout the first two years of med school and start studying for step 1 with a stronger knowledge base than your "average person".

This.

 

[SGuttenberg]

260+ is plenty achievable, but not at the last moment. Let this be a lesson to everyone. Study a moderate amount from the start of first year until sometime in early 4th year when you take step 2.

 

[Alvarez13]

260+ is plenty achievable, but not at the last moment. Let this be a lesson to everyone. Study a moderate amount from the start of first year until sometime in early 4th year when you take step 2.

Let me make a note of this, study moderately from 1st to 4th year in order to make a 260+ on Step I. Got it .

 

[235009]

260+ is plenty achievable, but not at the last moment. Let this be a lesson to everyone. Study a moderate amount from the start of first year until sometime in early 4th year when you take step 2.

Let me make a note of this, study moderately from 1st to 4th year in order to make a 260+ on Step I. Got it .

just goes to show you that the people who go around saying these things have no idea what they're talking about

 

[NdFrSpd]

I don't know if I qualify to answer this question....ONLY(sounds crazy anywhere except SDN haha) 258 . But I think a really high score comes down to both knowledge and the ability to apply your knowledge in novel questions. I can only speak for my step 1 experience but to get to a score of 260+, one will need MUCH more than being able to regurgitate or recognize memorized concepts.

Your gonna see stuff asked in ways you've never seen before. One of my problems came down to simple addition. All you needed to do was look at the graph given and figure out that it didnt need medical knowledge but just very good graph reading ability. But the stem of the question was written to lead people into thinking it requires medical knowledge. Just an example but my belief is that you can either know a LOT of things. Or know the basics of medicine VERY well. And by very well I mean being able to answer why for every factoid.

I personally stuck to FA and used it as an outline and thats all I did. That and a little bit of analysis/tweaking of answer changes helped boost scores.

with all that said, I do think that a small part of your score is an intrinsic ability which differs person to person, but I think that up to a certain score this can be made up for by sheer volume of knowledge (figuring something out vs knowing it because of memorization).

I recall reading a thread post a whiiiile ago and I don't think I've seen it put any better by anyone else.

"know the rarest of the common and the commonest of the rare" thats not to say you should forget about the commonest of the common haha.

 

[rem6775]

The best prep for Step 1 is doing well in your first two years, so if you've slid by, achieving a 260 by 1-2 months of studying is unlikely. If you have done well and studied, I believe it's important to know the best resources inside and out. I used a whole lot of review books second semester sophomore year, but during my dedicated time, I followed the advice of a friend who had taken it two years before me and also scored over 260: I limited it to the best sources and made sure I knew them cold. UW + FA + Goljan Audio.

 

[phd89]

I've heard that if you know First Aid in and out 90-95% of the questions will come from there, now obviously its not straight regurgitation and much of it is application, but if you do know First Aid in and out combined with qbanks will that be enough?
Many people just use review books to reinforce what is in FA at a deeper level so they understand more, but wouldn't FA if understood well be enough?

 

[fahimaz7]

You really have no chance of a 260+ if you're not getting honors and you're trying to do the bare minimum.

I used FA, UWORLD, and USMLERx and managed a 257. I studied for 42 straight days from 6am till I went to sleep. ~4.0 GPA prior to that. When you get to the top scores it's really +/- a few questions and you'll move 5+ points in either direction.

 

[Brewmeister]

Read FA + Complete UW + Intelligence + Luck

 

[Alvarez13]

You really have no chance of a 260+ if you're not getting honors and you're trying to do the bare minimum.

I used FA, UWORLD, and USMLERx and managed a 257. I studied for 42 straight days from 6am till I went to sleep. ~4.0 GPA prior to that. When you get to the top scores it's really +/- a few questions and you'll move 5+ points in either direction.

I once ate 12 hot dogs and then jumped off of my friends roof into their pool

 

[Clp321]

You really have no chance of a 260+ if you're not getting honors and you're trying to do the bare minimum.

I used FA, UWORLD, and USMLERx and managed a 257. I studied for 42 straight days from 6am till I went to sleep. ~4.0 GPA prior to that. When you get to the top scores it's really +/- a few questions and you'll move 5+ points in either direction.

This is a generalization... I honored 1 class! second year and actually failed a couple tests throughout but never a class. Studied RR, FA, UW, Qbank, and DIT and got 259. So moral is your grades don't really make that much difference. I studied HARD those 2 years. I feel like all the irrelevant stuff profs throw in there you gotta distill those years.

 

[Ty Webb]

This is a generalization... I honored 1 class! second year and actually failed a couple tests throughout but never a class. Studied RR, FA, UW, Qbank, and DIT and got 259. So moral is your grades don't really make that much difference. I studied HARD those 2 years. I feel like all the irrelevant stuff profs throw in there you gotta distill those years.

I think more the idea generally espoused by those who do well on step 1 is that working hard in school the first 2 years is what is important. Usually the grades follow but I suppose in some cases they do not.

 

[Gute]

I busted my butt from day 1 of med school until the day before Step 1.

I listened to Goljan >15x through, read FA multiple times through, and used at least one widely regarded board prep text (e.g. rr path, mmrs for micro, etc) WHILE taking each med school course. I didn't neglect the meat of the coursework itself: I attended every lecture to get the auditory system in it, studied hard for the tests, etc. As weird as it sounds, the minutia my professors seemed to emphasize ended up either important for Step 1 or was actually useful at some point later on the wards, Step 2, etc. As a M1/2 you just don't have perspective that the people teaching you have.

My goal wasn't to study for boards during coursework per se, but to constantly expose myself to that material, so that when boards studying time came, it was a time to test myself with questions rather than to learn minutia.

Ultimately, although Step 1 is alot of material, it is really not as exhaustive as the material you need for clinical rotations, Step 2/3 and beyond. This was just the first step in the road for me, and I'm barely into residency and can see many more knowledge goals that lie ahead. Learning is a lifelong process and you just can't cram this stuff in 4 weeks and expect to get the mythical >260 score that you want. If you truly want it, you gotta commit to it early on and stay with a proven, consistent plan.

I made >270.

 

[Tig2575]

I busted my butt from day 1 of med school until the day before Step 1.

I listened to Goljan >15x through, read FA multiple times through, and used at least one widely regarded board prep text (e.g. rr path, mmrs for micro, etc) WHILE taking each med school course. I didn't neglect the meat of the coursework itself: I attended every lecture to get the auditory system in it, studied hard for the tests, etc. As weird as it sounds, the minutia my professors seemed to emphasize ended up either important for Step 1 or was actually useful at some point later on the wards, Step 2, etc. As a M1/2 you just don't have perspective that the people teaching you have.

My goal wasn't to study for boards during coursework per se, but to constantly expose myself to that material, so that when boards studying time came, it was a time to test myself with questions rather than to learn minutia.

Ultimately, although Step 1 is alot of material, it is really not as exhaustive as the material you need for clinical rotations, Step 2/3 and beyond. This was just the first step in the road for me, and I'm barely into residency and can see many more knowledge goals that lie ahead. Learning is a lifelong process and you just can't cram this stuff in 4 weeks and expect to get the mythical >260 score that you want. If you truly want it, you gotta commit to it early on and stay with a proven, consistent plan.

I made >270.

Interestingly, I have pretty much the exact same story / experience.

 

[jfgavina]

I agree. I think that in 8 weeks of dedicated studying and fair pillars of basic knowledge you can't expect nothing above 250. with 2 years of dedicated studying everything is possible.

 

[exeunt]

I agree. I think that in 8 weeks of dedicated studying and fair pillars of basic knowledge you can't expect nothing above 250. with 2 years of dedicated studying everything is possible.

what about somewhere in between?

 

[ArcGurren]

As a foreword: I scored in the mid-250s. Not a 260+, of which the lack of achieving this is apparently a failure by SDN standards, but it's still a pretty damn good score and leaves me open to apply for any specialty including competitive programs.

1. I did not study for Step 1 starting with first year material... anyone who's saying that it's an absolute necessity is out of their minds. If you have a traditional curriculum, second year material is much much more covered and high yield.

2. Yes, you really do need a good knowledge base prior to your dedicated studying. The best way to do this is either (a) remember a good amount of what you learned during your first and second year, which involves doing well in your classes (b) use a qbank or some other teaching tool throughout the year to reinforce your memory. I did (b) as well as (a).

3. It is ridiculous to say that in order to score 260+ you have to honor all of your preclinical classes. I honored three of them, still did pretty damn well. I know people who honored 1 and scored 260+... taking a standardized exam is very different from taking exams where the professors want you to know about some stupid "fascinating" enzyme they're studying and ask nitpicky questions on them.

4. Do I think you need to be "special" or extraordinary to get a 260+? No, but you can't expect to score that way in just a couple months unless you're truly an extraordinary genius.

 

[Tig2575]

what about somewhere in between?

Then something in between.

 

[Jack is Back]

.

 

[Valadi]

I was pretty average student in my preclinical years and decided to lock it up for boards because I want to go into a very competitive specialty. Scored in the mid-high 250's using the following:

-DIT
-Read FA a couple billion times
-UW about 60% complete, think I was scoring high 70s low 80s at the end, mid-low 60s in the beginning
-RR Path once throughout the year and another 3 times during boards
-BRS Physiology once
-Rapid Review Biochem once
-Reviewed some Robbins chapters where I was getting a significant proportion of questions wrong (this REALLY helped boost my score, although it was mainly in sections where I hadn't read robbins to begin with)
-Pathophys for Boards & Wards I probably ran through 75% of it reading chapters before bed
-PharmMnemonics cards
-Random chapters of Cecil's on high-yield stuff (MI, diarrhea, pulmonary)

I took one-liner notes on stuff I didn't know and reviewed that list every few days until I got the random tid bits down.

Again, I was a pretty average student my first two years, so I had a lot to learn/relearn correctly to go up. If you were like me, I really don't think the triad of RR+UW+FA will get you the score you want. There's a much broader foundation that needs to be built first. In the end, it made me much better clinician and student. And, I learned how to study well for 3rd year and ended up doing MUCH better than I had in previous years.

As an aside, my first question was Gibb's Free Energy. Last was the Lac operon. Super random. So, that stuff does pop up. The ethics questions killed me and I don't think there was any way I could have studied for them.

Edit: To assuage people reading this, I really don't think you need to gun from day 1 to get a great score. Obviously, it doesn't hurt. Make sure you understand the concepts and fundamentals as the year progresses because it will be much easier to fill in the details than to learn a new medical paradigm. I went out hard pretty much 3x/week except for exam weeks for 2 years and took weekend trips often. You CAN have a life and make it if you study diligently and master the basics.

 

[Asp]

Scoring 260s is relatively easy with hard work, intelligence, and good doses of UWorld. It's consistently achievable. It's about half a standard deviation below the top scores in the country, which are around 273, maybe a little more depending on the year.

Bottom line, you're gonna need to invest about 2-5 quality hours of work per day for 3-6 months. You probably should skip classes to come up with this time, but if you're studying right (UWorld), you'll honor them anyway despite not studying specifically for them.

The USMLE is a very unique test in that it's ridiculously hard to break 90% correct overall. Even the top scorers are missing questions well into the double digits. Basically you're never going to know everything, and there's no end to studying, but stick to the fundamentals (UWorld) and nail that 90%.

 

[Asp]

so what does it take to go from the 240 to 260 then?

Consistency of effort. I don't think people take UWorld seriously enough. They think they can take it in timed blocks over a month and that's enough. You should do it tutor mode. It should take like 2-3 hours. You should go over the questions you got wrong at the end. Then do the whole QBank again. You need to ramp up to about 100 questions a day toward the end. Most people lack the discipline to do this for months straight. It's ****ing hard, intense, draining work. That's what it takes to score 260+, the (relatively) easy way.

UWorld is the steroids of the Step 1 game. Let me repeat that. UWorld is the steroids of the Step 1 game. I guarantee you everyone who scored in the top range abused it. No one there is natural. No one has achieved 270+ on just going to classes and reading First Aid and listening to Goljan 15 times, give me a ****ing break guys. First Aid = creatine. Goljan = protein powder. Going to classes = squats and gallons of milk. UWorld = steroids.

 

[Chirurg]

UWorld is the steroids of the Step 1 game. Let me repeat that. UWorld is the steroids of the Step 1 game. I guarantee you everyone who scored in the top range abused it. No one there is natural. No one has achieved 270+ on just going to classes and reading First Aid and listening to Goljan 15 times, give me a ****ing break guys. First Aid = creatine. Goljan = protein powder. Going to classes = squats and gallons of milk. UWorld = steroids.

don't doubt what you are saying...congratulations on your fantastic score last year, 270+ if I remember correctly.
what's your opinion on the utility of the NBMEs?
...not to see where you stand but to learn from them by answering them using google or whatever.

 

[jfgavina]

Consistency of effort. I don't think people take UWorld seriously enough. They think they can take it in timed blocks over a month and that's enough. You should do it tutor mode. It should take like 2-3 hours. You should go over the questions you got wrong at the end. Then do the whole QBank again. You need to ramp up to about 100 questions a day toward the end. Most people lack the discipline to do this for months straight. It's ****ing hard, intense, draining work. That's what it takes to score 260+, the (relatively) easy way.

UWorld is the steroids of the Step 1 game. Let me repeat that. UWorld is the steroids of the Step 1 game. I guarantee you everyone who scored in the top range abused it. No one there is natural. No one has achieved 270+ on just going to classes and reading First Aid and listening to Goljan 15 times, give me a ****ing break guys. First Aid = creatine. Goljan = protein powder. Going to classes = squats and gallons of milk. UWorld = steroids.

interesting...

 

[ctizzle13498]

First Aid = creatine. Goljan = protein powder. Going to classes = squats and gallons of milk. UWorld = steroids.


hhahaahahhahha i love it!

 

[Torquer]

. First Aid = creatine. Goljan = protein powder. Going to classes = squats and gallons of milk. UWorld = steroids.

THIS is becoming a bumper sticker

 

[otterpop]

THIS is becoming a bumper sticker

I agree, that was amazing.

 

[CatFactorial]

this is becoming a bumper sticker

So is THIS.

 

[MintChocolateChip83]

lol i love it. thats now officially my skype status.

 

[jfgavina]

First Aid = creatine. Goljan = protein powder. Going to classes = squats and gallons of milk. UWorld = steroids.


hhahaahahhahha i love it!

 

[Radonkulous]

Consistency of effort. I don't think people take UWorld seriously enough. They think they can take it in timed blocks over a month and that's enough. You should do it tutor mode. It should take like 2-3 hours. You should go over the questions you got wrong at the end. Then do the whole QBank again. You need to ramp up to about 100 questions a day toward the end. Most people lack the discipline to do this for months straight. It's ****ing hard, intense, draining work. That's what it takes to score 260+, the (relatively) easy way.

UWorld is the steroids of the Step 1 game. Let me repeat that. UWorld is the steroids of the Step 1 game. I guarantee you everyone who scored in the top range abused it. No one there is natural. No one has achieved 270+ on just going to classes and reading First Aid and listening to Goljan 15 times, give me a ****ing break guys. First Aid = creatine. Goljan = protein powder. Going to classes = squats and gallons of milk. UWorld = steroids.

Should I get Kaplan Qbank to supplement Uworld since it is dirt cheap now or is it a waste of money?

 

[jfgavina]

don't know if it helps but I went through kaplan and I find it good to get some details from first aid and some obscure content, if you know FA cold you're not going to get any advantage from doing it.

 

[Alvarez13]

Should I get Kaplan Qbank to supplement Uworld since it is dirt cheap now or is it a waste of money?

Did you not read the post? Don't use supplements. Use steroids!

 

[Asp]

Should I get Kaplan Qbank to supplement Uworld since it is dirt cheap now or is it a waste of money?

If you have enough time, yes. I think the Rx + World combination is superior, because through Rx you gain familiarity of First Aid. I did Kaplan, Rx + FA, then World.

 

[ArcGurren]

Should I get Kaplan Qbank to supplement Uworld since it is dirt cheap now or is it a waste of money?

I used Kaplan qb during my dedicated study time for practice questions and used UW as a learning tool during the year, and then used it again during dedicated study time by resetting and going through it again. It worked wonders.

 

[Radonkulous]

I used Kaplan qb during my dedicated study time for practice questions and used UW as a learning tool during the year, and then used it again during dedicated study time by resetting and going through it again. It worked wonders.

So what are your thoughts on the usefulness of Qbank?

 

[Redrox]

So what are your thoughts on the usefulness of Qbank?

I did all three of the Qbanks (rx through the year, qbank in april, world in June) and almost cracked your 260 mark. So believe me when I say:

Qbank is worthless.
Worthless
Waste of time

 

[Radonkulous]

I did all three of the Qbanks (rx through the year, qbank in april, world in June) and almost cracked your 260 mark. So believe me when I say:

Qbank is worthless.
Worthless
Waste of time

So Rx + Uworld is superior like Asp said?