We have 7 main subjects that are tested in USMLE Step1
1, Physiology
2, Pharmacology
3, Biochemistry and Medical Genetics
4, Anatomy
5, Behavioral Sciences and Ethics
6, Pathology (Most important)
7, Microbiology and Immunology
Study Material: Kaplan Lecture Notes, Goljan Rapid Review, Pathoma, Kaplan Question Bank, Usmle World online subscription and First Aid (latest edition)
Preparation time: 8-9 months
My study plan is following:
1st Read
1, Read all the above subjects from Kaplan Lecture Notes except Pathology for which I will do Pathoma and Goljan Pathology Book. You should target finishing the first read in 90 days.
2, You can listen to Kaplan Lecture videos for subjects in which you are weak.Listen to all the lectures for Medical Genetics and Behavioral Sciences and Ethics.
2nd Read
3, Then read all the Kaplan Lecture notes again but Goljan or Pathoma for Pathology. This time when you read a subject, simultaneously read the First Aid portion of that subject and solve the questions from Kaplan Q bank for that subject. Do not put a lot of effort in reading the detailed explanation of Kaplan Q bank questions, read only for the incorrect questions.
4, Second read should take about 60 days. You will need to study every day so that you can finish on time. Avoid gaps. Kaplan Q bank score does not matter but a score of 70% or above is decent
3rd Read
5, Read Kaplan Lecture notes again and Goljan or Pathoma. This should take 30 days. (You will study for several hours/day)
Post 3rd read plan
6, After the completion of 3rd Read I recommend reading First Aid for Usmle Step 1 for at least couple of times before you start solving USMLE U world question bank. Get online subscription of USMLE U world for one to two months depending upon your speed. Get an online subscription only as offline is not that useful.
7, UW question bank is learning tool therefore read word-to-word explanation for each and every question. This will require a lot of effort but its worth spending time, money and energy in understanding the core concepts in it. Make notes of the explanations.
8, when you are done with U-World solve the questions second time.
9, There is an assessing exam named U-world Self assessment made by same USMLE U-world people. There are two exams of U-World Self assessment exams. They predict your exam score. I feel the average of both the exams is very close to your real exam score.
10, after U-world questions bank ends, read First Aid for USMLE twice before you go for the real exam.
11, you may want to solve online NBME assessment exams. They are more accurate predictor than U-World Self Assessments but one exam is for 50$. However, you can get offline version too. The questions in it are very similar to the one found in real exam.
12, Lastly, solve the questions given on usmle website (Its FRED Software) and go through Ct scans, Mri, angiograms, Ekg, heart murmur and heart sounds before you take the real exam.
Dont give kaplan 3 reads. 2 maximum otherwise even 1 read is enough to just understand the concise firstaid. Kaplan is least useful. Uworld is most useful.
Kaplan is for the basic concepts. Once you understand the concepts its of no use. So do any editions but get rid of kaplan asap.
Main focus is question solving practice and reading explanations of uworld.
Also kaplan qbank is not important aswell.
First aid and uwolrd = main focus.
Good luck