Studying for Step 1 during school year

[buckeyegal1129]

Hi everyone,

I’m an incoming M2 trying to organize some of my study materials from first year. My school told us not to study for Step during the summer other than looking over high-yield material for step and clinic that we already learned (primarily common cardiopulonary conditions like hypertension and common treatments/medications like statins, beta blockers, etc), otherwise we would get burnt out.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any advice for slowly studying old material during the school year (e.g did you do 2 hours a week for old stuff, certain number of topics, just waited until dedicated Step studying time, etc). Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

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[Lannister]

I started studying January of M2. I did about 3 hours of questions per day during the semester, 30 questions/day in sets of 10 on random (Rx). Took the test in early June, after 3.5 weeks of dedicated. Looking back, if I had to do it again I would do it exactly the same way. My best advice is to pick a date that you're going to start studying and then forget about it until that date. I spent so much time stressing about it fall semester, because so many people were already studying and I felt like a slacker. But in the end I'm glad I waited, and I wish I had spent less time worrying about what everyone else was doing.

 

[aksks]

does anyone have a template plan that they used to study? trying to figure out an efficient way to study over the next year or so

 

[ASGD1983]

It greatly depends if you are an above average or below average student in your class. For those who struggle - they NEED to start early. There will be no dedicated time enough to compensate for that. SDN is biased towards top 25% students and hence take all advises with huge grain of salt. Basically speaking if majority of them start studying in January-March, you need to start in Fall. Period. Unless you are one of them - then by all means chill and do as they say.

 

[sunshinefl]

It greatly depends if you are an above average or below average student in your class. For those who struggle - they NEED to start early. There will be no dedicated time enough to compensate for that. SDN is biased towards top 25% students and hence take all advises with huge grain of salt. Basically speaking if majority of them start studying in January-March, you need to start in Fall. Period. Unless you are one of them - then by all means chill and do as they say.

But... as someone starting M2 that is not the top of the class, if I’m already working really hard in order to pass the classes, how do we study enough for step 1 on top of that. The people already doing the best have the most time and energy to spare. It’s a catch-22.

 

[Black Coffee 24/7]

But... as someone starting M2 that is not the top of the class, if I’m already working really hard in order to pass the classes, how do we study enough for step 1 on top of that. The people already doing the best have the most time and energy to spare. It’s a catch-22.

This is from someone who has punted all second year lectures in favor of the whole Zanki mantra running around. I scored average on Step 1. However, there's a lot of clinical stuff and Step 2 materials on the real exam that separates the 240s-270s from the 220s. I rechecked my whole Bros, Zanki, and UW for those questions after the exam, and they are definitely not in those decks. You guys are forgetting that Bros and Zanki only make those decks for the minute details and develop their clinical thinking through class.

The best suggestion that I have for you is to commit to memory Sketchy Micro and Sketchy Pharm. These things will clear you of 90-95% of Pharm and Micro questions on Step 1. You don't even need to look at FA Pharm and Micro if you commit these to memory. FA is very overrated.

Right now, you need to focus on doing well in class through class lectures. Separate the meat from the useless garbage by referencing it to UW or FA. However, I can't stress it enough that if you want to do well, you need to make it a routine to do questions everyday starting 2nd year. I Zanki everyday during my second year and it was a waste of time. If I can go back, I would do about 10-20 quests everyday and finish through Kaplan and USMLERx by end of Dec. Then, I would try to finish UW 1st pass by end of April. If you finish these three Qbanks by the end of April, you are well on your way to destroying board.