Is Sketchy Still Relevant for Step 1?

[gcuddles]

Without trying to say that Sketchy isn't an incredibly useful tool for both preclinical and clinical years, I've heard a few rising 3rd years say that Sketchy (Micro, especially) didn't help them at all on Step 1. Their rationale is that question writers are looking at Sketchy and purposefully turning away from the material covered within.

Have other people who have taken Step recently felt the same way? Should our time be spent elsewhere?

Thanks in advance.

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[LyMed]

I enjoyed Sketchy Micro. However, note that all resources are there to build up FA. I watched it, and it made going through the RELEVANT portions of FA a breeze. Without watching it, it would have been much more painful to do that chapter.

After which, I just went over anything in FA that wasn't in Sketchy. Microbio was a breeze on the step after that.

 

[doc4lax]

I swear by sketchy when it comes to micro and pharm. If anything, the micro videos give you a good foundational that which you can continually build your knowledge with Qbanks leading up to step. I did not read the micro section at all, as I thought it was dry. I mainly focused on uworld q's and sketchy, and I felt confident enough walking in on exam day.

In my opinion, sketchy pharm covers more than what you need to know for step, especially for side effects. However one should still read FA as, there as certain sections that the videos do not cover, such as repro, immunosuppressants, and some other random drugs.

 

[xClashx]

Just wrote step. Answer to all my micro questions were in sketchy. Take notes when u first watch it, or find them online. Took me ages to make notes bujt going through it made it a lot easier.

 

[woolsocks90]

I think most people who say that sketchy isn't helpful for step one are those who get an exam that has questions that are not straight recall from the videos. On my exam I am pretty sure only a handful of my micro questions were right from FA/sketchy and the rest were not covered in either. That being said, the questions that are not covered in either resource usually just require you to think to another level and chose the best answer even though you haven't seen it presented that way before.

Personally, I think sketchy micro/pharm is an amazing resource for step

 

[iBS1972]

If you are able to remember things from sketchy (not necessarily on the first pass), it will be the best thing you can invest for micro and pharm. There are things that are in first aid and not in sketchy, but very few (I would suggest looking at first aid after doing a vid on sketchy, so that you reinforce what you learned in sketchy and also so that you get all the details in first aid as well.)
You guys are very fortunate that sketchy micro/pharm is done before your M2 years. Sketchypharm vids were still being rolled out the week of my step, and you bet I watched them!

 

[Rekt]

Sounds like it varies form-to-form. Micro was my 2nd highest in UWorld right after path. Sketchy answered maybe 1/3 of the micro questions on mine. They were much more difficult than any qbank. Still great for pharm though. I still recommend SketchyMicro 100%, but you absolutely cannot skip the micro section of FA. Mine was also very heavy on parasites and FA was not good enough for these either.

 

[dempty]

Without trying to say that Sketchy isn't an incredibly useful tool for both preclinical and clinical years, I've heard a few rising 3rd years say that Sketchy (Micro, especially) didn't help them at all on Step 1. Their rationale is that question writers are looking at Sketchy and purposefully turning away from the material covered within.

This is a silly rationale. It's far more likely that certain questions have shown increased performance over time and have reached a point where the writers know that the question isn't performing the way it was designed. For example, a hard micro question was one where 30% of people got it correct, more or less, year over year. Eventually, this info makes it into sketchy and FA and a much larger proportion of examinees nail this question, say 70% of those who get that question. The writers decide it's no longer differentiating candidates or that it's clearly not a difficult question anymore, so they decide to write new questions for that topic and presentation. The same thing goes for buzzwords; any doofus can remember red currant jelly sputum, but fewer people can put together a clinical vignette with a less-obvious description than the buzzword.

Have other people who have taken Step recently felt the same way?

No. I will say that actually learning pharm from clinical micro made ridiculously simple was probably more useful than sketchy for me. Sketchy just had memory hooks without much meat, but it definitely was helpful for micro (didn't use it for other stuff).

 

[hunterjumper14]

Pretty sure every point I got for bacterial micro was a direct result of sketchy (I took it as they were releasing the viruses and before fungi/parasites) and micro/immunology was one of my higher sections. Sketchy is gold! Y'all don't know how lucky you are to have sketchy pharm.!

 

[theNinjaDr]

Hi everyone. I am looking for study materials for Step 1 and currently debating between Sketchy videos, usmlesimple and Boards and Beyond videos. Would one or the other be more useful/better in Micro and Pharm? Or should I just go ahead and study all of them? Would really appreciate any input. THanks!

 

[trs88]

Hi everyone. I am looking for study materials for Step 1 and currently debating between Sketchy videos, usmlesimple and Boards and Beyond videos. Would one or the other be more useful/better in Micro and Pharm? Or should I just go ahead and study all of them? Would really appreciate any input. THanks!

You need Sketchy no matter what. Boards and Beyond is good to create a foundation for most/all the topics. Never heard of usmlesimple

 

[MedNation907]

I can honestly say that sketchy was overkill for what I saw on my step, I think it just depends and some people get hit with weird micro questions. It (along with pharm) served me wonders in my medical career so far, Step 1 included.

 

[USMLE260BROOO]

this is the first I have heard of its un-usefulness...

 

[USMLE260BROOO]

because every tom dick and harry knows it (didnt have a single question on it).

just because people know a lot about it, it doesn't mean it doesn't show up

 

[ridethecliche]

It's like folks read a couple of comments of test takers freaking out that a bug that probably wasn't the answer wasn't in sketchy...
Seriously...
It's a resource like any other.

Would you stop using pathoma because Satter didn't cover something that showed up as a path question on the exam?

 

[Blunt Dissection]

I haven't sat for my Step 1 yet so I can't comment, but I've completed the Micro section for USMLE-Rx and scored between 90-100% on all my 20 question practice exams thanks to Sketchy. Definitely do not think I would be doing as well without it.

 

[futuredoctor66]

Upperclassmen have told me sketchy micro is no longer relevant. The boards now know about pharm and are testing things that were not in their videos. However, they did help them for class exams...but they regret having used it for boards. Sketchy was great when they first came out...no longer the case now :/

 

[Pepe18]

.

 

[Anti-PD1]

I'm also skeptical of people saying SM is no longer relevant. If that was the case, why wouldn't the NBME avoid FA content altogether? (There'd be nothing left to test lol)

That being said, I didn't like sketchy. Half the time I had to try to remember what the picture was in the first place to get anywhere. I used FC to just memorize FA basically, including micro. Worked well.

 

[sabsaf123]

Could any of you guys that are taking the exam this summer give us incoming 2nd years an update? I used sketchy for pharm and micro first year and I plan on reviewing them during second year. Is this a wise or are boards intentionally avoiding the content found in sketchy?

 

[Money Moniker]

I haven't taken Step yet, but the premise of this thread seems to be derived from a stupid concept. The boards are supposed to test that medical knowledge which is deemed relevant, not that which is deemed hard to find in learning materials lol. Why should the NBME care whether you learned your micro from watching Sketchy videos or from reading a bigole textbook, so long as you know it?

Are the surgical boards going to ask you to weave a basket as the final step of your licensing exam based on the premise that you just spent 5 years doing surgery every day in residency and so testing your surgical acumen is pointlessly easy?

 

[sabsaf123]

I haven't taken Step yet, but the premise of this thread seems to be derived from a stupid concept. The boards are supposed to test that medical knowledge which is deemed relevant, not that which is deemed hard to find in learning materials lol. Why should the NBME care whether you learned your micro from watching Sketchy videos or from reading a bigole textbook, so long as you know it?

Are the surgical boards going to ask you to weave a basket as the final step of your licensing exam based on the premise that you just spent 5 years doing surgery every day in residency and so testing your surgical acumen is pointlessly easy?

I totally agree but there are a couple of threads up that suggest that rising 3rd and 4th year students felt that boards were doing this.

 

[MrTaco92]

Well if they're not suggesting any other sources that are better then their advice is useless and they're just spreading fear. Sketchypharm is still very relevant. Sketchymicro is at the very least a solid foundation that'll still help you answer more than half of the uworld questions and at least some of your actual usmle questions. Qbanks and first aid will fill in the rest of your knowledge. Yes it did seem like board exam writers caught on to which questions were easy for us based off our knowledge of sketchymicro. But until a better resource comes out (good luck with that), everyone's gonna have just as hard of a time on micro.

 

[Peach Newport]

Well, considering sketchy micro and pharm can be used to answer virtually any Uworld or Kaplan question, this would mean that those resources ALSO are no longer good for learning micro and pharm.

I’m very skeptical.

It’s not like there are legions of people scoring ludicrously high on these sections that NBME is now forced to totally change their testing methods. We have plenty of people scoring average and below average.

I mean, sure, you’re going to have to use a modicum of clinical judgment, but that’s hardly making sketchy irrelevant.

 

[073116]

Sketchy is useful for Micro/Pharm. I personally tried it and didn't like it, for many reasons - like for example it takes a lot of time to watch those videos and I personally can memorize table instead rather spent time remembering often details that are not tested. Yes, I've heard from upperclassmen too that sketchy is not as good as it used to be for boards. It's still a good tool for supplementing regular classes/lectures, but for board prep - I would not touch it.