USMLE STEP 1 – 265 EXPERIENCE
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USMLE Prep Courses
USMLE Practice Questions
USMLE Step 1 Review
Experience by Dr. Abel Joseph (Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, India):
Dear Step 1 takers,
DEDICATED PREPARATION TIME – 3 months
To be honest I started my preparation only at the beginning of my final year of med school, but
back then it was very half baked. I was too busy with my coursework to get around reading much
for the steps. I subscribed to usmlerx Q bank around early 2016 and started very positively but
never got around to finishing it. I had done around 50% of it when it expired.
SUGGESTION – IF POSSIBLE FINISH Rx IN A MONTH, It really shouldn’t take more than that if
you’re dedicated (I WASN’T – I pretty much wasted the bank). Rx will give you the confidence to get
all the easy questions right but that’s all, I wouldn’t recommend it if your nearing test day-Stick
with UW So for a year I was just reading the usual final year textbooks (Harrison’s Internal Medicine,
Hutchison’s Clinical Methods, Goldman Cecil Medicine helped a lot in my step 1 preparation.)- But
I guess you don’t exactly need it if you do the step 1 material well enough.
standard textbook and just have a look at FA. Trust me FA is such a simple book if you do it this
way. But this takes time. I would RECOMMEND this for 1st year and 2nd year aspirants! Or final
year students who plan on taking it a year later. This doesn’t require a lot of effort, Just look at FA
after your done preparing for your monthly exam, it hardly takes 10 mins. Take SLE for example
its about 10 pages on Harrison if you read that and look at FA you’d laugh.
After 8-10 months of very passive reading, We decided to apply for the step 1 around October
2016, At this point we also had to study for our final year exam. So all step 1 preparation had
come to a standstill. 3 months of absolute clinicals, No basic sciences.(I Don’t know if this helped
or just added to the pressure)
We finished our exams around December 2016, I was too exhausted from all the studying I
decided to take a 15 day break.
EXAM DATE WAS SET ON 10th APRIL 2017
So around Jan 3rd I had subscribed to UWORLD(3 months)
Did my First NBME(Form 15) on 15th Jan 2017 – Got a score of 250 – I was happy with that score
but I knew I had to work harder.
Here I’d like to point out the importance of setting a goal . I did it just to prove it doesn’t work
but I did get close and that’s all you’re looking for I guess. YOU MUST DEFINE A NUMBER FOR
YOURSELF, and not rest till you achieve it. (Hey I swear I know it sounds crazy but just try it. It
worked for me and my friend.) The 3 months of dedicated study were fairly straightforward. I did
UWORLD in random timed 1 block a day (I wanted to go much faster, But I couldn’t afford to do
uworld again so I made sure the first time was the last time as in that’s how well you should try
reading it. )
PROJECT UWORLD:
RANDOM TIMED 1 block a day
Time to complete – Over 60 days
Strategy – MEMORIZE, EAT, SWALLOW, CHEW, INHALE, MAKE LOVE to every line of UWORLD
this will help you break 240s easily…
Flag the questions you just know you have to see again!
Copy the tables, Print them, write them, Many people say don’t memorize for the usmle.
That’s true but I’d say go one step further, memorize what you understood. PEOPLE FORGET,
Make sure you keep reviewing.
To people doing UWORLD right now, I know you’re getting frustrated, you feel like breaking your
laptop. But calm down, breathe. This will show up on your exam one way or the other.
CONCEPTS ARE SIMILAR ON TEST DAY.
RESULT- Uworld turned out to be very predictive for me. So keep that in mind. You want to be
giving UWORLD your best. It serves as a tool for learning and assessment
UWSA 2 264 (91st percentile)
We all know how valuable NBME’s are. Nothing else to add on- JUST GOLD Strategy I used was –
An NBME a week after the first month of world. Make sure you understand ALL THE QUESTIONS
on NBMES. I used to hear a lot of rubbish about “Rubbish questions” “Too complex” “Wont be
tested” If you find something too complex you haven’t read it right. THEY ARE TESTING SIMPLE
CONCEPTS ON ADVANCED TOPICS
Most questions you can find answers on google.
MATERIALS USED DURING PREPARATION:
Pathology – Fundamentals of Pathology (Pathoma), UW and First Aid USMLE Step 1 –
I had Rapid Review Pathology by goljan too, but I just used it to look at pictures and the little notes
by the side! It’s a great book to drive in some concepts…
Biochemistry – Dr Turco – Kaplan Lecture Notes for USMLE Step 1 & Videos, UW and First Aid
USMLE Step 1
Pharmacology – Kaplan videos 2014, UW and FA
Physiology – BRS physiology, UW and FA
Microbiology & immunology – UW and FA
Anatomy – Kaplan videos 2014, UW and FA, SHELF NOTES
Behavioral science and biostatistics – Kaplan videos 2014, Conrad Fischer’s Kaplan USMLE Step 1
Medical Ethics: 100 cases of ethics, UW and FA
Other Material:
UWORLD
FLASH CARDS- SPACED REPETITION – Even writing on post-its and reviewing them occasionally
goes a long way.
FIRST AID USMLE Step 1
WEBPATH
Fundamentals of Pathology – PATHOMA
BRS PHYSIOLOGY
GOLJAN PICTURES WITH NOTES
GOLJAN RAPID REVIEW Pathology (Not necessary)
BRS BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE- Did the questions
KAPLAN Lecture Notes- SOCIAL SCIENCES
RX Questions – Helps you learn FA
High Yield GROSS ANATOMY + HY NEUROANATOMY
ANATOMY SHELFNOTES
GOOGLE & GOOGLE IMAGES – VERY USEFUL!
ONE WEEK BEFORE TEST DAY – My first aid was so heavy with all the notes and bits of papers- I
almost had a mental breakdown reviewing it. But I knew I had to. I actually took a picture of every
page on FA on my iPad and zoomed in to read everything. Last one week was just FA. I think this
also helped me keep really calm. I stopped doing NBMES and UWSAs by now. Didn’t want to freak
myself out.
TEST DAY – 10th April
I slept really well the previous night. GOOD SLEEP IS SO IMPORTANT. TIP: Read that UWORLD
table on sleep habits. . I reached the exam centre around 7am (Exam was at 8) Got a call from
my friend that he had postponed his exam as he fell sick. I kinda freaked out for 5 mins I started
getting worried if I was going to be sick too. But I drank some water and went in for the exam.
Block – Block 2 – BREAK – Block 3 – Block 4 – BREAK – Block 5 – BREAK – Block 6 – BREAK – BLOCK 7
(30ish questions). Head starts hurting around block 6. IT’S NORMAL. Don’t freak out. Your brain
still works. I washed my face with that hand soap in the restroom It was disgusting, But it
helped. The thing with doing all the practice tests is it makes you feel like the exam was just
another day. -Our scores got delayed by few weeks due to some school verification issue… But
finally when it came it was worth the wait. Thank God
Cheers and Good luck