llessac15
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 8
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I ended up making a 244/99. I didn't do the typical 3-5 months of studying either. Actually, most of my class didn't and we had really high scores. I only studied for about 4 1/2 weeks. Here's my advice:
1. Learn most of the stuff during your first 2 years. This makes studying for the Step 1 a lot easier. You'll just have to refresh a little.
2. Do plenty of practice questions on the computer and read the explanations.
3. Don't spend to 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 Q-bank 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. It is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Oh yeah, FYI, I started off getting 60-70% right on Q-bank and finished at 75-85% right when it became all path. Please reply with any questions.
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| abcd
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 13
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hi llessac15
I am totally agree with you.One should give the exam just after finishing second yr. with few wks revision ( Total Prep Time 2 yrs+4-5 wks)..not so bad.I really wasted time in doing other things ? now here I am ..feeling it is so tough now??Other people of the forum made this tough too by writing so many kinds of posts ..family,job,marriage,time gap ,language problem,sleeping habbits,memory problems,some are sick...dis, medical problems,other responsibilties ..oh the list is soo long!! cry
You did really good job..CONGRATULATIONS for highest score possible !
You made a good choice in choosing study sources too,but can I suggest doing Goljan ( just listen in faster mode !! ) wink
Hope this will help lots of people.
Thanks
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| rubensssss
Forum Guru
Topics: 95
Posts: 451
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llesac 15
Congratulation
You are really correct, but some of us finish school long time ago, and it really require a little of information from others books and finally a lot of question.
In my case I am been very burn out, I am not really sure if I am ready for this test because I have almost a year studying, but still I have to wait until agost 26.
I agree with you on getting FA chapter by chapter and word by word and mainly QUESTION A LOT OF THEM.
and againd CONGRATULATION very impressing score.
___________________
Ruben sssss
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| llessac15
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 8
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Thanks for all the congradulations. I was really blessed to recieve the score I got. Also, I do agree that there are different circumstances for different people. But, medical students as a whole spend too much time studying for Step 1. If someone has been out of school for, lets say a year, then really the only thing that they would probably need to do is add an additional two weeks to what I stated above and read through Kaplan lecture notes. Doing well on the Step is more of an understanding of basic sciences and the ability to figure out questions that you really have no clue what the answer is, rather than a "buzzword" memorization. Understanding and reasoning doesn't disappear in a year. I don't mean to be disagreable, but I hate to see people spend 6-10 months of unnecessary studying when they can move on with their lives. But, no matter how long you choose to study, the most important thing is to find a system that you feel comfortable with and that works for you. I pray that God blesses your time and efforts during your studying.
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| jay1
Forum Junior
Topics: 18
Posts: 53
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Hi IIessac,
You said...."Doing well on the Step is more of an understanding of basic sciences and the ability to figure out questions that you really have no clue what the answer is......"
Don't you think that med students already have this ability or they need IQ test before admission in Med Schools ?
ThankYou so much..and Yes...Congratulations !!
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| krampus
Forum Senior
Topics: 25
Posts: 107
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congratulations llessac15!
i think you did great, and you did it how it should be done; after your second year of medicine, when everything was fresh for you, and you were into thing. unfortunatly other people do it other ways..some do it after the finish medial school, some people who come from different medical systems take the Step 1 after 6 years of medical school, some after they are into rezidency in their home country, and some after they are specialists. so for these people, going back to the basics, to preclinicalmaterial is difficult, it takes time. they squize in learning hour during their regular program, they learn when they can. For some, English is their second or third language, so approaching the Step 1 material is much more difficult..so my point is, for some, taking this test means making a turn is their life . and as you said"no matter how long you choose to study, the most important thing is to find a system that you feel comfortable with and that works for you. I pray that God blesses your time and efforts during your studying." I pray together with you...
as for rjay, I just want to say, that it takes more than a high IQ to be a good doctor.
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| bm
Forum Elite
Topics: 37
Posts: 421
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congratulations! you must be a US medical student, taking step 1 right after 2nd year. too bad not all imgs can do that, especially if they just recently migrated to the US. oh well, everyone has their own style of studying
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| nuprin
Forum Elite
Topics: 16
Posts: 338
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congratulations!!! i'm hoping for good news soon. since i got similar qbank scores, your result is encouraging.
i had a question: there seem to be two different 244s, a 99 and a 98. did you get the test with a 217 avg and SD 24 or the 221 avg and SD 21?
i agree with you: one of the most useful things i did was getting through as many qbank qs as possible.
anyway, best of luck for the future as you start rotations!
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| jay1
Forum Junior
Topics: 18
Posts: 53
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.....I just want to say, that it takes more than a high IQ to be a good doctor. lol
You are soo right Kalsam.This is exactly the same message i wanted to convey to everybody .
Thanks.
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| llessac15
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 8
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To answer Nuprin question, I took the test that had a 221 w/ a 21.
To reply to other, I never said that all doctors must have a high IQ. I do think that would be beneficial to patients, but it is not a must have. My intention with my post is to just get people to quit freaking out over Step 1 and approach it with a level head and realize that you don't have to study for months for it. If you are an IMG and feel that you should spend a year on it, that is your business and maybe it is necessary. You can spend how ever long you want to studying on it and I will pray that God will bless your efforts. But I will not encourage anyone, even an IMG, to waste a year of their life in the effort to "smoke" Step 1. However, like I stated earlier, do what makes you feel comfortable.
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| nuprin
Forum Elite
Topics: 16
Posts: 338
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oh, also, when did you take your exam? i took it on 6.24 and i think my scores will be published this wednesday.
hoping that my number of posts will correspond with my score... :lol:
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| llessac15
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 8
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I took it on 6/3. I also hope that your number of posts is your score.
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| vas
Forum Junior
Topics: 10
Posts: 49
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You have an awesome score,congratulations! and that too with just 41/2 weeks of work....you must be a genius...wow!I heard there are mistakes in Step-Up book,did u come across any?I plan to add Step-Up to my list so please advice.Good luck in the other steps.Have a good one.
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| llessac15
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 8
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Thanks for the compliments Vas, but I am not a genius. I am one of those guys who had to take the MCAT twice just to get a good enough score to get into med school. Then, I had to bust my butt all through the first two years. I just had a level head going into the Step and knew that it was not an unovercomable mountain. Actually, I studied with 3 other guys and we all did the same thing I posted at the top. Our scores were as follows: 259, 244 (mine), 240, 220. The guy with the 259 is the brainiac in our class and also read the entire Kaplan lecture notes in 4 days in addition to the study schedule I used. One thing that I should add is that we just got through studying for our Path, Pharm, Beh. Sci., and Clinical Medicine a week before we began studying for the Step. So, I guess we did have a little jump start. However, we all 4 studied very hard from about 8am till 5 pm everyday for 4 1/2 weeks.
To answer your question about Step Up, I did see a few errors. Me 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, study 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 someelse 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 the Step. 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. Hope all of this helps and please reply with anymore questons. God bless.
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| vas
Forum Junior
Topics: 10
Posts: 49
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Hi!Thank you so much for the advice will try to follow.Any idea how your friend the brainiac managed to do kaplan lecture notes in just 4 days that sounds incredible..over 3000pages :shock: ,wow! must be one of those speed readers with lots of gray matter.I am just your plain old dyslexic with ADD so it will take me forever to do Kaplan :lol: Any idea where to get some Ritalin :lol: Take care and all the best.Have a good one....Carlsberg special brew will do great! :wink:
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| Ria
Forum Elite
Topics: 30
Posts: 229
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Hi,
Wow you got a great score!I am so happy for you.
I am planning to give step1 by Nov,you might think that I have alot of time then.But really I am not atall confident cause I graduated in 2003 plus I was not that serious during my first professional year.So I need to work extra hard now.But I sure do hope that I can get such a nice score as well,but relly can you help me?I wanna know is the Kaplan qbank book enough for questions and when is the best time to start doing question?
I hope you can give me your email add so I can contact you whenever I need help.
Thanks a lot for sharing your information with us.
All the Best for your next step. 
___________________
"The Only Way Out Is Through it"
Robert Frost
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| llessac15
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 8
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Ria, I know I spoke with you in a private message, but I wanted to post a reply to your Q-Bank question from the above posting. I do think that Q-Bank is good enough for practice questions. They are you best weapon out there against the Step. 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 Board Simulator Series is outstanding and NMS Review for the USMLE Step 1 is really good. Please remember, doing practice questions is much more important than reviewing books. God Bless.
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| aish
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
Posts: 74
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Wow, congrats and good luck in the future!
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| Ria
Forum Elite
Topics: 30
Posts: 229
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Thanks llesac,thats exactly what I wanted to know.
I have the Kaplan qbank,Board Simulator series and NMS review,your advise exactly matches what my friend told me.
But there is one thing I am not familiar with,I wanna know what are the tests that people are always mentioning( about how much they scored during practise)are those the full tests that are given in the qbank and all?Can you please clarify?
Thanks for your time once again.
May God Bess you!
___________________
"The Only Way Out Is Through it"
Robert Frost
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| llessac15
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 8
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Ria, I am not sure what they are talking about. They always mention some type of NBME practice tests. You'll have to ask someone else. Sorry.
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| nuprin
Forum Elite
Topics: 16
Posts: 338
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ria, i think most people are referring to
1) the usmle practice cd (also on the website) of 150 retired questions.
2) the nbme self-assessment exams, two forms, four hours each for $45 available on nbme.org
and
3) the kaplan full-length simulated exam (one on cd and a different one on qbank if you buy the super duper qbank package).
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| Ria
Forum Elite
Topics: 30
Posts: 229
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Thanks alot Nuprin,
I was always confused about them thanks for tell me.Its people like you who make this forum the best.
All the best to you and may God bless you!
___________________
"The Only Way Out Is Through it"
Robert Frost
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| rdsa3
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 26
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can anybody help me , i didnot study seriously in medschool bcoz of that im not good at neither anatomy nor biochemistry or patho, but now i want to give step 1 how do i start with ? which authors book are recommended for the above subjects and how do i start with those books ? and one more thing how do you all remember the exact position and place of orign of muscels and sometimes nerves and the path they pass in our body it all seems new again to me . please experienced brothers give any deliberate ideas . and taking in to consideration my current situation how long will it take for me to :roll: prepare for step 1 ?
please reply
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