I’m from Armenia, Yerevan , 22 y.o. Studying in Yerevan State Medical University (7th(thelast year) year medical student)
Started my preparation in September 2015 (total 11 months) . Before that I red Biochemistry , Anatomy , and Immuno+Micro Kaplan LNs, without paying attention to details , (just red once) .
On Sep 1 started Biochemistry Kaplan classroom anywhere 2014 and LNs– 11 days
Then 2 days for Biochemistry section from FA and DIT 2014
Then 3 days for Histology (Kaplan LNs) + 8days for Anatomy (Gross+Neuro) Kaplan classroom anywhere + LNs + UW Biochemistry section (22 questions a day /total-11 days)
A day for watching Test taking strategies and Managing your USMLE study timeline videos from Kaplan classroom anywhere 2014 (KCA-2014)
Then 3 days for Immunology (KCA-2014)+ LNs , + Anatomy UW (20 Qs/day)
A day for FA+DIT2014 Immunology (first videos(DIT) then FA)
Then 7 days for Microbiology (KCA-2014) +LNs + Anatomy UW (20Qs/day)
3 days for FA + DIT 2014 Microbiology (DIT->FA)
14 days for Behavioral science and Biostatistics (Becker’s videos + KCA2014 videos 8 hour video /day (total 7 days) + (Kaplan + Becker LNs +(UW Microbiology 50Qs/day(4day))(7 days total)
1 day for DIT2014+FA Behavioral science
10 days gap ( couldn’t study)
11 days physiology (KCA2014+LNs) + UW Microbiology (25/day(5days)) + UW Behavioral (24Q/day(6days)
10 days Pharmacology KCA2014+LNs + UW Physiology (17Qs/day)
2days DIT2014+FA Pharmacology
12 days Pathology (KCA2014+LNs) + UW Pharmacology (31Qs/day)
A day for Pathology FA + Foundations videos from DIT2014
NBME 7 offline – 190/200=190X1.39=264
A month for Goljan Pathology 700pages without audios (You could do it faster) + Pathology UW-(25Qs/day) (15 days total)
NBME 15 offline – 185/200= 185X1.39=257
20 days for Pathoma video + book + Pathology UW(what remained ) + FA+DIT2016 Systems (all)
A month for UW2016 offline (2nd time after UW 2014),
A month for Kaplan Qbank online
NBME 16 offline (192/200=192x1.39=267)
20 days for FA+DIT2015 (all)
NBME 17 offline 196/200=196x1.39=272
A month for FA2016+ DIT2015 again
3 days for Bistatistics Subject review (online)UW , + 100 cases of ethics by Conrad Fischer )
NBME 18 online a week before exam (extended feedback 60 $) – 273
There were some days I didn’t do anything related to exam .
Exam was on 4th of August 2016 , score report day-24th of August 2016 (Wednesday is a typical day for score reporting after 8am Eastern time )
About Exam !!
The environment was excellent !!, Not noisy . 7 blocks (6 of which were 40 question blocks , the last one had 28 Qs) Questions were similar to NBME 18 .
I found 265 Questions out of 268 somewhat familiar (from the sources I did) , and 3 Qs were totally unfamiliar (1 I found in Goljan after Exam) 12chapter there is a sentence about TERT mutation)
So it means that Exam is doable , no need to worry , just study hard , and you will find Exam Questions familiar. And that familiarity will help you relax during and after the Exam while waiting for Score report)
That 3weeks last like 3 years but finally I got my results and I can’t describe my reaction !!! (just remember the tremor ) hahaha , ,
So that’s all , I have Schedule organized by myself for Step 1 (an Excel document) , so that’s why I could write that much details .
And Thank you guys for All the Likes, Reactions , Comments, Letters for my post in USMLE preparation Forum group.
Good Luck on your Exam!!!