First of all, I would like to thank everybody from this group for being supportive and for helping me with answers of many questions.
Time of preparation:
2 yrs
Resources:
-Genetics and biochemistry (I studied Kaplan book and watched Dr. Sam Turco videos that was very helpful for me.)
-Physiology (I studied Kaplan book and watched Dr. Najeeb videos for all systems as my basics was not good enough. Though its time-consuming but his videos made my basic very strong. But i would not recommend it for those who already have strong basic.)
-Anatomy (I watched Dr. Najeeb videos for neuroanatomy, studied Atlas of human Anatomy, and read the Neuroanatomy portion of the Kaplan anatomy book.)
-Pharmacology (I studied mainly FA and UW and General pharma from kaplan.)
-Microbiology (FA and UW)
-Immunology (I watched Dr. Najeeb videos for improving my understanding. FA and UW are enough for those who have strong basics.)
-Pathology (I watched videos of Dr.Husain A. sattar twice. The first 3 chapters are very important and I read these 3 chapters many times. Actually I read pathoma every time I read a system from FA. In my opinion, Pathoma is a gold mine for step 1.)
-Biostatistics (UW and UW Biostat review. I solved the questions many times to improve my grasp on this.)
-First Aid (I read it many times. It is not important how many times you read FA, the important thing is to read it by understanding each and every line. Even a little information is important and may be asked in real exam. So don’t avoid any line that may seem unimportant to you.)
QBANK:
UWORLD: 2 Times (I made flash cards of every system and subject and revised all of them several times.)
AMBOSS: Only for one month (I did only hard level questions. Initially I had no plan to do AMBOSS, but as my exam got postponed due to covid, I decided to do it. It is a good questions bank. If anyone wants to do it, I will suggest you do it after UW).
Anki flash card: Only for pharmacology (mostly for cvs, hematology, and cns drugs.)
Score: 243
Exam date: July 24, 2020
Practice tests:
UW first Pass - 65%
UW second pass - 90%
Free 120 - 75%
UWSA 1 - 222 (6 months before the exam)
UWSA 2 - 237 (2 weeks before the exam)
AMBOSS SA - 242 (March 2020)
NBME 20 - 196 (December 2019)
NBME 21 - 217 (January 2020)
NBME 22 - 232 (February 2020)
NBME 23 - 217 (May 2020)
NBME 24 - 226 (four weeks before exam)
NBME 18 - 231 (two weeks before exam)
Free old NBMEs:
NBME 19 - 232
NBME 16 - 235
NBME 13 - 234
NBME 15 - 238
NBME 17 - 240
Important points:
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New NBMEs are under predictive.
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Do 1st round of UW perfectly. It is very important to make flash cards, take notes and annotate the FA. Please don’t rush to the next question unless you understand the current question properly. It does not matter how many questions you do per day if you dont get the concept. In real exam, you will be tested for your understanding of concept. No question will be exactly same as UW, NBME, or any other question bank.)
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Use google and youtube for visualization as some topics need visualization for better understanding.
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Its very important to follow a routine 1 month before the exam. Wake up from sleep and go to bed in a timely manner, eat good foods, and do some exercise.
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If possible take a practice test in the prometric center where the actual exam is scheduled. It will reduce your anxiety in the actual test date. Bring a sweater with you as prometric center is cold that may not suit you. Take foods that you like to eat and tea/coffee. I took 3 breaks. Maintaining hydration and glucose supply to your brain is important.
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Do as many QBanks as you can. To me, the best ones are UW and Amboss. Do all NBME and try to find explanation and understand each question.