BACKGROUND
After M2, my school begins Step 1. Our class average is around 230 points. My grades ranged from ordinary to one standard deviation below the mean throughout our curriculum. During the first two years, I generally watched lectures at 1.5x to 2x speed from home and took notes on the slides on Evernote. After that, I'd go over everything again over the weekend and get on with my life. To be honest, I'm a big fan of flashcards. I used Zanki from anki app shared decks because it contains materials from almost all resources we use for step 1. I watched the videos and annotated the booklet accordingly. I was getting through First Aid for each block of curriculum by the end of M1 year. Nothing extreme, just trying to broaden my horizons and gain exposure to other information and perspectives on the same subject.Next goal was to avoid any other distractions from focusing in the way I knew I needed to.
PLANNING AND DATA COLLECTION
hope you are taking it seriously enough from the start (which, since you're reading this, I don't believe you aren’t)because i took it seriously, spoke with a number of upperclassmen and read web information. Searched for any info,pdf, videos legal and illegal to get ready.when you don t have resource defficency you should avoid 2 main mistake that i did
1) failing to establish a proper strategy
2)creating a too rigid study schedule
I wanted to attempt to stay ahead of the game. then i found Asana that is a free online project management program that I used. This was a huge deal. It allowed me to create "projects" out of my study resources (FA, Pathoma, Sketchy, and so on) and then plan time to complete each one over a period of time. I took advantage of the free version. Investigate it. Seriously.
USED RESOURCES
UWORLD
The holy grail, if you will. It was a divine gift. People, this is the golden ticket here. This is, without a doubt, your most valuable resource, and it should take you about 3-4 hours every morning to complete two blocks. First and foremost, let me state unequivocally that YOU SHOULD ONLY DO RANDOM UWORLD BLOCKS BECAUSE STEP 1 IS RANDOM.
Pathoma
It is a comprehensive guide produced by a well-respected and competent medical educator that breaks down USMLE ideas into small portions. Personally I suggest using it as a supplement to question-based learning; use it to learn big concepts rather than memorize specific information.
First Aid
You may despise it or admire it, but you must persevere. These pages are full with gems that help you to study examples while also learning high-yield facts. Great mnemonics creative animations also help you to memorize all the information given and you never know what you'll find on exam day.
ANKI
Anki is a Japanese word that translates to "memorization." Personally, I admire anki since these shared deck flashcards, especially Zanki, contained everything I studied and helped me remember and review it faster than any other method I've tried. It also assists you in identifying your strong and weak areas.
Sketchy
Because of its way of getting individuals to remember things, I assume sketchy is the exclusive leader in pharm and microbiology. In fact, it has one of the best mechanism of learning and making things to stay in your memmory for long periods.
B&B
Of course we all agree that b&b videos are one of the most informative and simplified explanations of scary,giant basic sciences that would be real headache if we used only textbooks.
Ready to begin?
Starting at the beginning Take your first CBSSA ("NBME," as they're commonly referred to) before making any form of study plan. Take the first one seriously, but don't prepare for it ahead of time. You'll need a solid understanding of what you know and don't know. Make a tailored study plan once you receive your results. Let's begin with psychiatry. Many people begin with Biochemistry, which is a difficult subject. It's challenging and, to be honest, not very profitable. Psychiatry is a no-brainer. Knowing the basic DSM criteria will give you an instant bonus of a few points for each UWORLD block. Feel free to do biochemistry after that. On a daily/weekly basis, use Asana to help you design your weakness-targeted study regimen. After then, it's on to the races! A typical day Always start with UWORLD. And, as I have stated, it should be in timed, random, test mode from the start. The most crucial resource is your mindset and motivation. Put everything you've got into it. In addition, never put off reviewing a UWORLD block. You will not devote the time that you should to it. Turn off your phone. Remove yourself from social media. This is your one and only chance.
Good luck.don’t forget Anking and stay positive.
After M2, my school begins Step 1. Our class average is around 230 points. My grades ranged from ordinary to one standard deviation below the mean throughout our curriculum. During the first two years, I generally watched lectures at 1.5x to 2x speed from home and took notes on the slides on Evernote. After that, I'd go over everything again over the weekend and get on with my life. To be honest, I'm a big fan of flashcards. I used Zanki from anki app shared decks because it contains materials from almost all resources we use for step 1. I watched the videos and annotated the booklet accordingly. I was getting through First Aid for each block of curriculum by the end of M1 year. Nothing extreme, just trying to broaden my horizons and gain exposure to other information and perspectives on the same subject.Next goal was to avoid any other distractions from focusing in the way I knew I needed to.
PLANNING AND DATA COLLECTION
hope you are taking it seriously enough from the start (which, since you're reading this, I don't believe you aren’t)because i took it seriously, spoke with a number of upperclassmen and read web information. Searched for any info,pdf, videos legal and illegal to get ready.when you don t have resource defficency you should avoid 2 main mistake that i did
1) failing to establish a proper strategy
2)creating a too rigid study schedule
I wanted to attempt to stay ahead of the game. then i found Asana that is a free online project management program that I used. This was a huge deal. It allowed me to create "projects" out of my study resources (FA, Pathoma, Sketchy, and so on) and then plan time to complete each one over a period of time. I took advantage of the free version. Investigate it. Seriously.
USED RESOURCES
UWORLD
The holy grail, if you will. It was a divine gift. People, this is the golden ticket here. This is, without a doubt, your most valuable resource, and it should take you about 3-4 hours every morning to complete two blocks. First and foremost, let me state unequivocally that YOU SHOULD ONLY DO RANDOM UWORLD BLOCKS BECAUSE STEP 1 IS RANDOM.
Pathoma
It is a comprehensive guide produced by a well-respected and competent medical educator that breaks down USMLE ideas into small portions. Personally I suggest using it as a supplement to question-based learning; use it to learn big concepts rather than memorize specific information.
First Aid
You may despise it or admire it, but you must persevere. These pages are full with gems that help you to study examples while also learning high-yield facts. Great mnemonics creative animations also help you to memorize all the information given and you never know what you'll find on exam day.
ANKI
Anki is a Japanese word that translates to "memorization." Personally, I admire anki since these shared deck flashcards, especially Zanki, contained everything I studied and helped me remember and review it faster than any other method I've tried. It also assists you in identifying your strong and weak areas.
Sketchy
Because of its way of getting individuals to remember things, I assume sketchy is the exclusive leader in pharm and microbiology. In fact, it has one of the best mechanism of learning and making things to stay in your memmory for long periods.
B&B
Of course we all agree that b&b videos are one of the most informative and simplified explanations of scary,giant basic sciences that would be real headache if we used only textbooks.
Ready to begin?
Starting at the beginning Take your first CBSSA ("NBME," as they're commonly referred to) before making any form of study plan. Take the first one seriously, but don't prepare for it ahead of time. You'll need a solid understanding of what you know and don't know. Make a tailored study plan once you receive your results. Let's begin with psychiatry. Many people begin with Biochemistry, which is a difficult subject. It's challenging and, to be honest, not very profitable. Psychiatry is a no-brainer. Knowing the basic DSM criteria will give you an instant bonus of a few points for each UWORLD block. Feel free to do biochemistry after that. On a daily/weekly basis, use Asana to help you design your weakness-targeted study regimen. After then, it's on to the races! A typical day Always start with UWORLD. And, as I have stated, it should be in timed, random, test mode from the start. The most crucial resource is your mindset and motivation. Put everything you've got into it. In addition, never put off reviewing a UWORLD block. You will not devote the time that you should to it. Turn off your phone. Remove yourself from social media. This is your one and only chance.
Good luck.don’t forget Anking and stay positive.
Last edited:
