I want to preface all of this by saying a few things.
1) This is what worked for me. Everybody has different studying styles. So you found a successful style in your first two years by all means stick with it. If for the first two years you payed someone to yodel your notes to you while you slept the whole time on your textbooks and absorbed everything thru osmosis… uhhh… sure.. you get what I mean. Personally in my first two years, I wasn't a textbook studier. I liked notes, outlines, and review books and I think that kind of preparation worked out for me.
2) Step 1 is not nearly as bad as you think.
I really started "prepping" exactly one year ago. I bought a copy of First Aid and made a concerted effort to finish going through first aid once before the school year ended. What that meant was simply glancing (but not memorizing) about 10-15 pages a week making sure things sounded familiar and also I felt like I was doing something for the boards. Something I'm glad I did was that for the classes I was still going through I made a point of killing two birds with one stone and memorizing the relevant subject in first aid.
Along with first aid, I "bought" a copy of the Golijan Kaplan Lecture Recordings (if you don't have it, they're available "for sale"… just ask around). Golijan is awesome. Helped me out tons. His lectures and lecture notes were great for condensing, clarifying and correlation. (It also helps that he's a funny guy) I converted all the recordings into mp3, put them on my ipod and made sure I listened to every lecture at least once (while driving, while working out, while burning my endocrine notes in a bonfire) before the semester was over.
Step 1 was all about the "two-step" questions. For example, instead of asking for the disease after giving symptoms (one-step) they would ask the treatment (or even the side effects of the commonly-used treatment) after giving the patient's symptoms. Golijan and qbank were great in preparing for those types of questions.
I ramped up my studying after endocrine ended. The "boards review class" Brownie puts together is a joke. The only useful lectures were Hefner's path lectures, Lesse's microbiology, and the overdose lecture. I used the Essentials time instead to focus on areas I thought I was particularly weak on so I could go over those subjects twice before the test. For me, that meant going though "Microbiology made ridiculously simple" and BRS pathology in those 3 weeks.
Once the semester was officially over, I made my schedule to study. Time management is key. Everybody manages their time differently but one thing you don't have time for is to use multiple sources for references. Just pick one review book and go. Don't re-read Robbins. The only time I used more than one review book for a subject was path which I'll explain later. I devoted the next 5.5 weeks for studying. (I attached the schedule I made up). Everyday I planned out reading that I could reasonably do in one day and did a set number of Qbank questions (more and more questions as time went on in sets of 50). It's important to give yourself "free days" (about one every two weeks) to catch up and get ahead of your studying. Things happen (family functions, Mets games, movie premieres, getting dysentery etc) during your studying. It's inevitable. Plan for what you can and give yourself some leeway so you don't freak out.
Speaking of Qbank, it was pretty useful more so for getting into the groove of test-taking than the information I thought. A lot of the questions are centered on minutiae; don't be surprised to do really poorly when you start out (like in the 30's) and don't be afraid if you can barely break the 70% mark even when test time is looming. It's more important to get into the daily habit of answering questions and build testing endurance. Also, it's tempting to go over each answer explanation even if you got it right but the explanations, even though they are good, can get really long. For time's sake, unless you totally pulled something out of your ass and guessed, assume that what you got right you normally would've gotten right on the real test and just look up what you got wrong. Take mental or actual notes (in your First Aid) of what your get wrong so it doesn't happen again. And I also liked using the option of using "unused and previously wrong" test questions continually to sort of beat into my head what I got wrong. Plus from choosing that particular bank of questions, hopefully you'll inflate your score and ego abit. As a side note, don't do the IV qbank; not helpful unless you need a moral boost.
As far as practice tests goes, they are expensive and time-consuming but I thought they were useful. I took one at the prometric practice center you have to sign up for a few weeks in advance so I got the feel for the exam location (like how the test-taking stations were, where the bathrooms were, how ungodly the temperatures were, etc.). Plus I didn't believe it until it happened but the practice tests that the NBME releases online were great indicator of what your score will be. The anecdotal idea is that a NBME test taken within 10 days of your test day is going to be within 5 points of your actual score. Try not to take one of those suckers within a week of your test.
I tried to be very diligent in my studying, creating strict schedules and limited the procrastination. Everyday I sat down on my seat ready to study by 8:30, not getting out of bed, not getting into the parking lot, etc. I allowed myself up to an hour for meals and one non-studying activity a day (i.e. working out, groceries, raising the undead…). Usually in the evenings I would do my allotted set of qbank questions. Then at night, I did studying that needed limited brain power, usually either reading the relevant UCV or re-listening to Goljan.
I studied with a small group of friends. I like to equate it to a small group of islands. We were each doing our own thing but we were there for each other if we needed help. Freaking out was toned down because we all were going through the same thing. Plus, it makes it a lot easier to get up in the morning to study when someone is expecting you to be there.
First Aid really becomes your best friend and life line. As you study, take (high-yield) notes in your FA. This not only helps in solidifying information but giving you something to review in the last week before your test. Your first aid will be a compilation of all your review books, Goljan, qbank answers, and hard work.
Here's a list of what I used:
1) Qbank – Try not to use it until you do your actual hardcore boards studying
2) First Aid for Step 1 – say hello to my little friend…
3) Golijan – I am his proverbial bitch…
4) Underground Clinical Vignettes Series (UCV) – Handy series of nine books that went through patient case scenarios and highlight high-yield pathology and symptoms. Great for low-energy studying.
5) Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple – great for my weakest subjects. It had some funny descriptions and pictures that helped in remembering.
6) BRS Pathology – I actually went through this once before realizing I didn't really like it. It was abit skimpy in the details and I realized very early on that pathology was probably THE most important subject of the boards which is why I also used…
7) Golijan Pathology Lecture notes – like his recordings… again I'm Goljan's bitch
8) BRS Physiology – good outline of the sweet spots of physiology but again sometimes short on explanations…
9) Rapid Review Biochemistry – I liked this book more than Lippincott's which I thought was almost too much. This book did a good job in integrating information with other subjects. (again written by Golijan)
10) High Yield Immunology – short and sweet
11) High Yield Anatomy – ditto. A friend actually used online Kaplan video lectures which he said were great but were really long. Qbank likes to think that the only anatomy you need to know is the arms and legs sometimes…
12) High Yield Neuroanatomy – short sweetness. But Cohen teaches so well I barely needed to study too much about this.
13) High Yield Embryology – Buffalo really doesn't teach this very well and this is a good short book on it. Note: there are two versions of this book. The shorter one (<100 pages) is too bare-bones.
14) Pharmacology – this is going to be surprising but the only pharm you need to know is in First Aid and Golijan. Know it cold and you should be fine. You don't need to know dosing, brand names, and all that crap. First Aid is the perfect amount.
15) Biostats/Psych/Ethics – These subjects are commonly ignored/forgotten but they are pretty important. I "bought" Kaplan lecture recordings for these subjects. They're all given by one awesome lecturer (with wickedly dry humor) and I thought he covered all of it really well in the span of a day in a half. Take good notes in FA…
Anyways, that should be about it. (I need a drink…)
I hope this helps and good luck!
