Gianna
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Hey Dr Shar :icon_salut:
I saw your posts about your experience on Step 1, Congratulations for the great score!!!
I know you are american med student but even in different condition cause I am IMG
I find your advice so helpful, thanks a lot  /
I made my own compilation with your posts to encourage myself through this path :oops:
THANKS :icon_salut:
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Dr Shar wrote...
I got 244/99,
I studied for about 4 1/2 weeks. Here's my advice:
Learn most of the stuff during the first 2 years; this makes studying for the Step 1 a lot easier.
You'll just have to refresh a little.
Do plenty of practice questions on the computer and read the explanations.
Don't spend too much time on review books, focus on questions.
HERE'S MY SCHEDULE
First week
A.M. 1 chapter of First Aid (takes about 4 hrs)
P.M. 100-150 questions on Q-bank
Second & Third Week
A.M. 1 chapter of Step-Up (takes about 2 hrs)
P.M. 100-150 questions on Q-bank
Fourth Week
A.M. Read BRS Path and studied weak areas
P.M. 100-150 questions on Q-bank
Couple Days before test - Did incorrect questions on Qbank and looked at High-Yield and Remember
Step 1 Questions from previous years.
All of this was done in about 8-9 hrs a day and usually only half days on Sat & nothing on Sundays.
Don't waste months of your life studying for this thing. Just be really focused and study hard
during the time you put in for it.
Me and my friends got through this studying:
Pathology
Pharmacology
Behavioral Science &
Clinical Medicine
1 week before we began studying for the test.
So, I guess we did have a little jump start. However, we all 4 studied very hard from about 8am-5pm everyday for 4 & 1/2 weeks.
About "Step Up"
I did see a few errors. I and one of my study partners were actually going through it at the same time
and we would walk back and forth from each others cubicle in the library and show the mistakes we found.
But there really isn't enough to worry about and they are things that you know already.
However, I wasn't too impressed with Step Up. Its good side was that it was pathology oriented and
had more diseases than First Aid. Its bad side was that it just wasn't detailed enough and was very
weak in Pharm and Micro. But I do think that using it with First Aid is a great tag team.
Remember
When you begin studying, do it intelligently. That is, make sure you are focused every time you read something
and when you get done with each individual section, act like you have to explain it to someone else
to see if you really understand it.
Also
Don't put most of your attention on your strong areas; put it on your weak ones.
For me, Pharm and Biochem were my best & Micro and Histo were my worst.
So toward the end of my studying I focused more on those two weak areas and ended up doing
just as well in those as my strong areas.
Finally,
Do question after question after question after question etc... Doing practice questions is much more
important than reviewing books. My personal favorites are Q-bank and Board Simulator Series.
Q-bank is the most accurate replica of the actual test and is probably your best weapon
against Step 1.
BSS Board Simulator Series is also really awesome. It just is still in the old NBME format
and is also not on the computer. But, it has the best explanations of all the questions I've seen;
I just didn't have time to really use it.
Q-bank...
I do think that Q-Bank is good enough for practice questions. They are your best weapon out there
against the Step1. Make sure to do them and read the explanations thoroughly.
Then go back and do your weak areas and missed questions. However, if you have time
and have done all the questions on Q-Bank w/explanations, then I think that BSS
Board Simulator Series is outstanding and NMS review for the Step 1 is really good.
Please remember, doing practice questions is much more important than reviewing books.
God Bless.
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