USMLE Step 1 Study Plan 1
Author's Stats:
Date of Exam: June 2007
Step 1 score: 240/99
Qbanks used: Kaplan
% of Qbank finished: 75%
Score on Qbank: 70-85%
Duration of study: 3 months
Overall grades: Mostly HP, some H and one or two P
Plan: The only real resources I used were Kaplan Qbank and First Aid. I definitely started studying about 3 months before the actual exam, but I didn't "really" start studying until it was about 1 month before the test. I basically memorized FA. I would review every day. My schedule was the following:
1. 7am-8am: Review FA pharm (I only studied Class, MOA, Clinical use, SE) of the drugs. I was memorizing this information, studying it very hard for 1 hour a day to commit the information to memory.
2. 8am-9am: Review FA micro and FA biochem alternating days
3. 9am-10am: Cumulative review of FA material organ systems that I have already studied
4. 10am-12pm: Memorize a new organ system in FA. During this part of the day, I would go through FA and write questions on the margin that directly relate to information on the page. For instance, my questions would include things like: "What are the Famous F's of the Limbic system" I found that by going through these questions, it was much easier to memorize FA than just reading FA.
5. 12pm-1pm: Lunch
6. 1pm-6pm: 100 Kaplan qbank questions relating to the organ system of the day (whatever I studied from 10am to 12pm). I would do the questions in tutorial mode and then annotate FA with key study points. With every annotation I would add a "question" into the margin of FA, which I would use to study during my daily cumulative review.
By using this method, I had nearly all of Qbank and FA committed to memory by the test day. I was done going through new material about 5 days before the test. The last five days are crucial. I spent about 12 hours a day, memorizing all the questions I wrote in the margins. I studied for a half day the day before the test. By then, I had almost all of FA and Qbank memorized. By doing this, I felt comfortable sitting for the test. The idea is that you can do well by knowing 2 high yield resources (FA and Qbank) really well instead of using 5-6 resources. It’s a minimalist approach, but it worked well for me.
Date of Exam: June 2007
Step 1 score: 240/99
Qbanks used: Kaplan
% of Qbank finished: 75%
Score on Qbank: 70-85%
Duration of study: 3 months
Overall grades: Mostly HP, some H and one or two P
Plan: The only real resources I used were Kaplan Qbank and First Aid. I definitely started studying about 3 months before the actual exam, but I didn't "really" start studying until it was about 1 month before the test. I basically memorized FA. I would review every day. My schedule was the following:
1. 7am-8am: Review FA pharm (I only studied Class, MOA, Clinical use, SE) of the drugs. I was memorizing this information, studying it very hard for 1 hour a day to commit the information to memory.
2. 8am-9am: Review FA micro and FA biochem alternating days
3. 9am-10am: Cumulative review of FA material organ systems that I have already studied
4. 10am-12pm: Memorize a new organ system in FA. During this part of the day, I would go through FA and write questions on the margin that directly relate to information on the page. For instance, my questions would include things like: "What are the Famous F's of the Limbic system" I found that by going through these questions, it was much easier to memorize FA than just reading FA.
5. 12pm-1pm: Lunch
6. 1pm-6pm: 100 Kaplan qbank questions relating to the organ system of the day (whatever I studied from 10am to 12pm). I would do the questions in tutorial mode and then annotate FA with key study points. With every annotation I would add a "question" into the margin of FA, which I would use to study during my daily cumulative review.
By using this method, I had nearly all of Qbank and FA committed to memory by the test day. I was done going through new material about 5 days before the test. The last five days are crucial. I spent about 12 hours a day, memorizing all the questions I wrote in the margins. I studied for a half day the day before the test. By then, I had almost all of FA and Qbank memorized. By doing this, I felt comfortable sitting for the test. The idea is that you can do well by knowing 2 high yield resources (FA and Qbank) really well instead of using 5-6 resources. It’s a minimalist approach, but it worked well for me.
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