πͺπππ§ ππ’ π π₯πππ’π π ππ‘π ππ’π₯ π¦π§ππ£ π?
π π¨π¦π§ ππ’:
β’Uworld qbank x2 or 3 times
β’First Aid x4 or 5 times
β’Pathoma videos
β’Anki flashcards
ππππ ππ
πππ ππππ ππ πππππππ πππππππππ:
β’Kaplan and Board & Beyond VIDEOS for subjects that you donβt understand
β’100 cases Anatmy shelf notes
β’Sketchy medical
(If you memorize with photos/ stories this might work for you. They sketch a story for every microbe, pathology, drug, etc. itβs impressive how they do it. I didnβt do it on my preparation, but a lot of people recommend it.)
β’Golijan Audios are very outdated (like 20 years old) but is so funny to listen to this guy, you can find his audios for free online. And listening to him while your are walking/ exercising is very fun, he makes tons of jokes, itβs like listening a Stand up comedian, but you are learning USMLE! lol
πππππ ππππππ ππ
πππ ππππ πππππ ππππ:
β’Amboss Qbank
β’Kaplan Qbank
β’USMLE-Rx Qbank
ππ
πππ πππ πππππ ππ ππππππ:
β’Use USMLE material to study for your classes
β’Make sure that you always review the material in First Aid while you are studying that unit in class.
ππππ:
β’Itβs VERY important to understand every concepts, do tons of questions, discuss the topics, take notes.
β’Once you start doing question after questions you will see that most of the concepts are repeated, to please UNDERSTAND them all!
ππ‘π² ππ§π π‘π¨π° ππ¨ π«πππ π
π’π«π¬π ππ’π?
β’First Aid is so compact, itβs the USMLE bible, literally has it has 95% of your exam. But itβs not just about memorizing it! Itβs also understanding every concept.
β’I would recommend to go over FA about 4-5 times.
β’I assure you that every time that you read it, YOU WILL SEE NEW CONCEPTS, that you never saw before, new things will appear like magic every time your read it! And make Ankis about it!
ππ‘π² ππ§π π‘π¨π° ππ¨ ππ¨ ππππππ?
β’Uworld is not just a qbank, it EXPLAINS almost EVERY USMLE concept.
β’My recommendation is to start almost from DAY 1, yes, start Uworld ASAP, and do it 2-3 times during your preparation period.οΏ½
β’Donβt worry about the %, how many right questions you are getting. WORRY ABOUT UNDERTANDING THE CONCEPTS!!
β’You first pass will take you about 6-8 months (Maybe less, maybe more)
β’Then do it again in like 3 months, and one more time during you FULL TIME DEDICATION PERIOD RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EXAM, CRAM UWORLD IN 3-4 WEEKS!!
ππ‘π² ππππ‘π¨π¦π π―π’πππ¨π¬?
β’Sattar explains everything exceptionally good!!
There might be like 2-3 errors in his videos. But everything is so well explained, and so HIGH YIELD.
β’His book is good, yes. But his videos are FABULOUS!!
ππ‘ππ π’π¬ ππππ?
β’Anki is a platform that you can make your own flashcard.
β’If you got android itβs free, also computer version is free, and for iPhone is $25 dollars, but trust me, itβs worth EVERY PENNY!!
β’You can put photos into your flashcard, different colors, and even audios.
β’You can also download otherβs people flashcards, but I highly recommend to make your own card!!
β’Soon I will show some examples on how I did my Anki cards, I made over 2,000! I will make a word document out of them and give it out. I canβt yet due to copyright reasons, but soon I will have mines available!
πππ πππ π πππππ ππππππππππ ππ ππ ππππ?
πͺπππ§ ππ’ π ππ’ ππ π ππ’π‘π§ πππ§ π ππ’π‘πππ£π§?
β’Watch videos
(Kaplan, Bnb, etc, even Youtube has a lot of great explanations!
β’Grab the book and read it from there!
(Eg, Kaplan books, High-yield books)
β’Discuss everything new that you learned with your friends. Make/ join Whatsapp group. Share questions with them and discuss!
β’I would call some friends at like 1 am after I finished my studies, while walking back home to the library, just to talk about the topics that we learned during that day.
β’I canβt stress this enough, itβs SO IMPORTANT to discuss concepts and share questions with your friends!!
β’There are tons of people studying for step 1 that can become your virtual friends!!
β’I actually made a lot of friends during my preparation, with some of them we even met in person and became my best friends.
β’What you are doing is not just STEP 1, itβs a journey, the USMLE JOURNEY. You will meet a lot of friends that will accompany you all along your journey!
πππ ππππ ππππ ππππ ππ ππππ ππ πππππ π
ππ ππππ π?
β’Very hard to answer.
β’It can go from 6 months to 2 years. A lot of people will lie to you, they will tell you: βI prepared STEP 1 in 2-3 months and got a great score.β
Donβt believe them, they either prepared for it all along their school years, or they are only mentioning their dedicated perior.
πΎπ π¬ππ‘π‘ πππ«π π₯ππ§π¨π€π£ππ‘ π₯π§π€ππ‘ππ’π¨ π©π€π€
β’We will face tons of problems, stressful situations, during out preparation.
Itβs very important to keep going, if you are facing a stressful time, try to do al least 5 questions a day or something. But donβt stop for a long time, because then itβs very hard to come back.
β’Thatβs why I recommend also making your Ankis. I had a lot of problems/ situations during my USMLE journey. I had to stop a couple of times. But I felt like even if I forgot a topic, I had it on mi Anki cards, and it was easy to review and remember it again
πππππππππ:
You will find TONS of bibliography for STEP 1. Try to stick to what works best for you
What Iβm describing is π΅πΆπ» π»π―π¬ πΆπ΅π³π πΎπ¨π to approach STEP 1 of course.
There are many many ways, Iβm just posting my recommendation!
Really study hard and deep for STEP 1, donβt rush trough it, even if they change to PASS/FAIL system, π
π πππ πππππ ππ ππππ πππ ππππ:exclamation:
Most of itβs concepts will be repeated in STEP 2 CS, CK, and even STEP 3! Learn it once very good, and you will learn it forever!
πΌπ© πππ§π¨π© ππ© π¬ππ‘π‘ ππππ‘ π‘ππ π ππ©βπ¨ ππ πππΎπ, specially if you graduated a couple of years ago from medical school.
I started my USMLE preparation after 2 years after finishing medical school. I felt like I was starting from CERO, literally from CERO. But after reading, studying, discussing topics, watching videos, things will start to sound familiar, and you will start to memorize and improve more and more everything
ππππ ππππ ππ πππππππ ππππ πππ πππππππππ ππππππ πππ ππ ππππ ππππ ππ ππ πππππ ππππππππ !!
Soon I will post how to study for STEP 2 CK and STEP 2 CS.
Good luck everyone, keep studying hard and pursing your dreams!!
πππ ππππ πππππ ππ ππππ, ππππ ππ ππππππππ πππ ππππππ, πππ πππ πππππ, πππ πππ πππππππ ππ ππππππππππ πππππ ππ !!
Love you all,
Sebatian Arruarana, MD
Fb: Doctor Sebas
Instagram: @doctor.sebas