(account deleted) 31 Mar 2008 22:15
The schedule:
- Mid-Feb through May - After psych (many people found psych a good time to ease in), I began to skim through most of the resources to get the "big picture" & familiarize myself with the books. Listened to Goljan (average 1 hr per day). Found that I prefer to study from review textbooks with more text rather than bullet points. (Figure out which style works for you!)
- Mid March - CBSE (“diagnostic test” in Butler)
- School gave us 9 weeks off. Wks 2 & 9 were vacation time. ~7 weeks of main study time during with I took 4 to 5 days off. Cooked dinner & worked out daily. (Very impt to give your brain a break & stay healthy!) Studied 4 to 10 hours per day. Did ~100 Robbins &/or Q-bank questions daily (very important to reinforce what you just read). Started to burn out at the end and was worried about forgetting things from the early study days.
• Week 1 - re-listened to Goljan; BRS Path & questions
• Week 2 - pre-boards vacation!
• Week 3 - Immuno & Micro. I thought it was helpful to start with immuno, since the concepts of immuno are revisited in micro & pathology.
• took NBME1
• Week 4 - biochem/cell bio/anatomy/embryo/general path
• Weeks 5,6 - organ systems in the same order learned at school. Re-listened to Goljan while running, grocery shopping, driving.
• Week 7 (Last week!)
o Reviewed FA once. Didn't think it was worth doing q-bank in the last few days. Some people delegated to two weeks to review FA but I was too burned out for that.
o 2 & 3 days before step 1: took NBME 2 and NBME 3
o Took Step 1!!!
• Week 8, 9 - enjoyed life!
About my Step 1
-Tons of biochem/molecular bio, biostats, ethical questions, neuroanatomy on my test. Mix of one-liner questions & long clinical vignettes with extraneous lab values. Finished each section 10 minutes early.
-I marked no more than a few questions per section to review at end of block. if you don't know it the first time around, you probably won't know it later.
-However, my bf had almost no biochem/cell bio, tons of pulm & tons of neuro & gross anatomy on his test. Bottom line - every test is very different!
The resources:
• Practice questions:
o Qbank – Similar computer format as actual exam. Very detail-oriented. Beyond the scope of Step 1 at times. Didn't want to spend more $ on UWorld, so I don't know what I'm missing out on, but I hear that it’s better. 51% completed
o Robbins Path questions - AMAZING. Challenging questions, highlights pathology buzzwords
o BRS path chapter questions & comprehensive exam – relatively easy, but helps to reinforce important pathology after reading a chapter
o some Kaplan Q-book & some BRS Physiology chapter questions as needed
• First Aid - the lack of organization & typos got on my nerves and I whited out ~20% of the book. Grr I seriously went through a bottle of white out each week. Don’t know of a better comprehensive review book however.
• Anatomy/Embryology
o Couldn’t tolerate more than a few hours of Kaplan videos or to finish HY. Didn’t think it was worth cramming generally low yield information, though I know one person who had an anatomy/neuroanatomy-based test.
o Just memorized FA & crossed my fingers & got lucky.
• Biostats/Behavior Science/Psychiatry:
o Kaplan Video —> helpful for biostats & the professor is funny. overkill at times
o HY Behavior Science - read only the psychiatry section.
• Biochemistry/Cell & Molecular Bio/Genetics
o Lippincott's - worth the time
o HY Cell Bio (old edition) - couldn't stay awake during this read. borrrinnggg.
• Micro
o Clinical Microbio Made Ridiculously Simple - funny pictures, easy read!!
o Qbank micro is waaaaay beyond the scope of Step 1 – don’t be discouraged if you get questions wrong.
• Immunology
o HY - skimmed through & thought it was horrible
o Lange Review of Medical Microbiology and Immunology by Levison- easy to read & understand conceptual
• Pathology
o Goljan audio - amazing. Listened to him 3-5 times. His jokes got annoying but he gets you thinking conceptually.
o BRS path - concise. Supplements Goljan audio
• Pharm
o FA - basically all you need to know for this topic!! know it well!
o Lange cards - helpful clinical vignettes. overkill at times. i may use it for step 2
o Qbank pharm is waaaaay beyond the scope of Step 1 – don’t be discouraged.
• HY Neuro - overkill at times, but tolerable. Know neuroanatomy well!
• BRS Physiology - great!
Summary:
• Goljan audio, Robbins path questions, Lange immuno, CMMRS, Lippincott's biochem, kaplan video for biostats only —> invaluable. I found that the audio and video lectures "spiced up" my studying - it was a nice change from those words that blur together at the end of the day.
• When other people are bragging or whining about how much or how little they are studying - IGNORE THEM! Everybody has their own studying style, and people need more or less time than others.
• I hate HY. The series should be renamed "low yield". However, many other people recommended it to me, so it depends on your learning style. If you to use it, stick with older editions, because the newer editions are waayy too long and overkill.
• Practice questions are crucial for solidifying concepts!!! Start your day with them, use them as a reading "break", do them before you go to bed.
• Didn't use a histo source. Can often figure out the answer based on question stem. Use google if you want to see what something looks like - saves some $$!
• Don’t stress about your CBSE “diagnostic score”. It is possible to go up >80 points! (I went from 179 to 241). Your NBME usually predicts your grade +/- 10 points (My best was 247 three days before the real thing).
• Studying for Step 1 sucks, especially when the weather is warm & sunny. But, remember that you survived the MCAT! In my opinion, MCAT was a much more horrendous because you are not guaranteed a life as a doctor, general chemistry equations have little to do w/your patients, and all of your non-pre-med friends are out partying. While studying for Step 1, remember that you WILL be a doctor, most of what you’re studying is clinically impt, & nobody is partying - your classmates are suffering & studying too!
• Personal health - again, I cannot stress the importance of taking care of yourself. Make sure you are sleeping and eating well. If you are feeling pathologically anxious, you should see someone. This is really serious and some people do need professional assistance during this tough time.
Feel free to send me a msg if you have any questions!!
