Hey guys international medical student from Greece here.
Just received my score-254 … so I would like to share my experience.
Resources
- First Aid
- Becker video lectures
- Pathoma
- CMMRS
- First Aid
- Kaplan qbank
- UWorld qbank
- ANKI
Preparation
January 2016-June 2016: First pass through my resources and annotation of First Aid 2015 (along
with my Med school courses)
DEDICATED (August 2016-January 2017) - 5 Aug-19 Oct: Studying of (annotated) FA2015 & transferring notes to FA2016
- 20 Oct 2016: NBME 12–>230
- 22 Oct-31 Nov: UWorld (1 block/day) & taking notes & review theory when needed
- 1 Dec-26 Dec: Review (annotated) FA 2016 & UWorld notes
- 27 Dec: NBME 17–>255
- 29 Dec-10 Jan: UWorld (2 blocks/day) & taking notes & review theory when needed
- 14 Jan: 2 assessments back to back & 1h total break —-> NBME 15–>252 & UWSA 1–>266
- 15 Jan-24 Jan: Review (annotated) FA 2016 & UWorld notes
- 25 Jan: NBME 18–>246 (not a good day)
- 26 Jan-5 Feb: Review (annotated) FA 2016 & UWorld notes
- (31 Jan–>practice session at prometric center = free 120 q’s–>89%)
- 7 Feb 2017: REAL TEST–>254
- Anki
I was pretty lucky to have a friend with whom we began our preparation together using the same
resources. He spent a lot of time (and I mean A LOT of time) creating his own flashcards , which he
shared with me. Every time I received a deck from him was like receiving a blessing from God(
).Sadly by the time I began my dedicated period he hadn’t completed about half of the sections of
FA, and I had to use Brocencephalon’s deck for the missing ones (Bro’s deck was far inferior
compared to the deck my friend was making, but I guess it was better than nothing). I did
flashcards everyday (at least one hour per day from November 2015 to 15 Jan 2017 without
skipping a single day) which really improved my long-term retention of knowledge and minimized
the time required for reviews. - Hours per day during dedicated
August-September : 6h/day (including Anki)
Oct-Nov: 7-8h/day (including Anki)
Dec:9h/day (including Anki) - Sites that I found useful
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/webpath.html
I didn’t use it systematically but if I had to prepare for step 1 again I would definitely incorporate
that in my studying
https://www.usmle-rx.com/proposed-errata-and-suggestions-fa-step-1
When you end a system or a section in First Aid just check out what other people proposed to
change in next first aid version. You will find too many hidden gems here PLUS you will have the
new First Aid long before its published
https://www.reddit.com/r/step1/comments/4uej4b/survey_results_2016_usmle_step_1_correlatio
n/
When taking your NBMEs just check out these correlation charts to assess where you stand.