Hey Playah,

I did excellent on all the basic science sections and my advice is still don't waste your time. 90% of the exam focuses of path, pharm, and micro. Try to get more clinical knowledge since that is the most helpful.

Your studying should be geared toward a combo of what the test emphasizes and what your weaknesses are.

My studying went like this: 1/2 day of epid, genetics, histo, and neuro. 1 day of biochem and anatomy. 3 days of physio. 3 days of pharm, 3 of micro, 4 of path, and multiple full day practice exams and time spent reviewing my answers. Total, I spent about 3 1/2 weeks studying before taking the test. This is of course in addition to working my tail of during my first 2 years and trying to learn as much as possible for my classes (the best way to a good Step 1 score).

My downfall was pharm. It felt like a 3rd of the test was pharm but that's only because it was my worst subject and I noticed how hard those questiosn were. Like I did, most people empahsize their worst areas, for many that is probably genetics and biochem. Furthermore, while there may be an increasing emphasis on gentics, biochem, and molecular biology, don't interpret that to mean that these are anywhere close to a huge portion of Step 1.

If I were to change my study schedule I would have eliminated histo and anatomy, since histo isn't tested other than relevant path, and anatomy I knew like the back of my hand, and focused that time on pharm since that is where I sucked.

The test seemed to have the following proportions for me: 65% path (half of these questions ultimately were biochem, pharm, micro, or genetics, but the stem was usually diagnosing the disease or something else you learned in path). In my opinion the BRS path is the best resource. 10% entirely pharm. 10% entirely micro. 15% for basic science stuff, epi was probably the heaviest on my test. I know I only had 3 anatomy Q's, and my only neuro Q's were the last 3 on my test (Wallenberg syndrome, stroke, and MS). Genetics, Biochem, and Molecular bio were certainly there, and while none where strengthes in med school (granted I did get A's in all) I wouldn't say I remember any, or that they were a significant portion of the test. Bottom line, know your path, and if you don't, start learning it now.

If you still want an answer to your question about the best genetics book, I would say don't use anything other than High Yield unless you made extensive highlights/notes in the longer review books or make superbly conise notes for each class. I hated High Yield while going through my classes because they just weren't thorough enough, but for Step 1 all of your classes over teach you. You need to refresh the basics of every subject super fast (you have 1/2 to 1 day for most basic science stuff), and High Yield is the best way to do this.

Remember often that you love learning (or you wouldn't be here), otherwise it just gets stressful. Looking back on it, I didn't like studying for Step 1, but it really is a superb way to consolidate and refresh all that you learned during the first 2 years of med school. Good luck.

I think everyone suffers from recall bias on step 1. People remember things that sitck out in their minds.
I would highly caution you to think this test is the ratios previously mentioned. There are multiple different tests with different topics.

My test was 60% pharm/path/micro/phys......and a whole lot of genetics, cell, epi/biostat of , and lots random shit.....

the pharm on step 1 is not that detailed but you need to undertstand classes of drugs.....

mechanism of action, side effects, cardio and antibiotics are money.

also step I is not clinical by its very nature.....it is basic science....so dont get bogged down learning all kinds of heart murmurs and such......they expect you to recognize syndromes and basic diseases....but few if any questions on questions on treatment/management.

there are high yield and brs books out there for every single subject on this exam, but you would be insane to use any of them until you have memorized (and UNDERSTAND) every single line in first aid.....
the way i see it there are three types of genetics questions......ones that are in first aid, ones that arent in first aid but are in subject books like high yield, and ones that you wont know unless you did PhD work on that specific subject.......in my opinion/experience, the great majority of all genetics/biochem questions were ones that i could figure out based on the info in first aid and the ones that werent in first aid were so advanced that i cant imagine them being covered in a subject book........remember, first aid is updated every year to reflect changes in the exam (ie more genetics/biochem info).....also remember that genetics is generally considered a very low yield subject and in my opinion should not be studied outside of first aid until you can teach path, micro and pharm......
sorry for the rambling, good luck and pm me with any more questions....

I totally agree with the previous post. The First Aid is where your studying should start and finish. Most people I know, including myself, attemped to get through the First Aid more than once. I appologize for leaving out this crucial study guide; I am apparently such a believer in the First Aid that it goes without saying.

Now with that said, I think most will agree the First Aid is definitely not a thorough reference, and in my humble opinion not enough to ace Step 1 unless you have already mastered all the info while going through your courses. Many will and have argued that your time is better spent memorizing one great source like the First Aid versus breezing through multiple references, like the High Yields in addition to the First Aid, but nobody knows, so you'll have to decide for yourself. While I attemped two passes, I couldn't even get through the First Aid once completely without dying of boredom, so to try to just use that one source and read through it slowly or multiple times to memorize it was just too painful. Tailor your study stratagy to how you learn the best, just use good sources.

Just to nip the next post in the ass, I also think Q-bank is a superb compliment to your studying regimen, and highly recommend finishing all the questions (this was the most helpful study source for me personally).

Also, since this post was originally asking about Genetics, at least in my experience, every genetics question I got came from the Genetics chapters in Robbins Basis of Pathology (which I skimmed during my path class) or the BRS Path book (memorized during path class). Speaking of which, I definitely recommend memorizing the BRS path while in your class and using it to review path before Step 1 instead of the the First Aid path section or the High Yield Path. This and perhaps physio are the two generally agreed upon exceptions to the rule of not using any BRS series book to review before Step 1. Again, I wouldn't even study genetics as a seperate topic, but rather as a part of your path studying. Unfortunately, there are few two-for-one deals to cover molecular and biochem, so use the First Aid, and if you want to be a little more thorough I recommend the High Yield's.

Again, good luck. Damn, I need to work on my brevity.

As stated above: used First Aid and Step-Up but quickly realized that those are simply outlines and needed more substance. Supplemented with BRS Path and Pharm, Qbank (only finished ~50% of it), HY neuro/behav. Robbins question book (spent 1wk doing ~1100 path questions and BRS)

Nobody's mentioned Mosby's Rapid Review series yet (all I can remember is white-covered books, each came with CD's of questions/printed questions). Specifically, Mosby's Biochem was great-it reviewed the metabolic pathways and genetics without requiring blatant memorization. It seemed to add some depth to First Aid's pathway drawings that really helped to remember the necessities.
I also used the series for Anatomy and Microbiology. I would recommend it to anybody. Each subtitle reads fairly quickly and triggers what you've already learned (even if it was briefly and over a year ago.)
I agree to an extent that you won't see much biochem, anatomy but I also told myself that they are (should be) gimme, straightforward questions that I'd be disappointed to be stumped. I felt that the test asks enough questions that you can't prepare for, so I should know my basics. Others may disagree, but it worked for me.

Good luck

I agree that most of the focus should be on things like pathophysiology, pathology, and pharm. However, I had a hell of a lot more cell biology, anatomy and genetics than I expected. Genetics was addressed very well in First Aid, and the hardest genetics questions that stuck out in my mind were all manipulations of hardy-weinberg, and QBank had great questions on inherited disease. Don't worry about crazy genetics stuff - you won't find that on step 1.

Cell Bio was not really addressed in first aid very well and it appeared on the step in a little more in detail than I expected and a lot was mixed in with general pathology. I'd say half of it was experimental/application type stuff but were answerable without any real memorized info. The other half was rote memorization, like cell compounds and organelles and desmosomes and stuff like that but nothing really too difficult.

Biochem was definitely well done in first aid, and with qbank there was more than enough coverage. Shouldn't be a problem.

Anatomy was a pain in the neck, some CT's and stuff. It's tough to study for, because there is just way too much anatomy and too little time, unless you give yourself say 7 weeks to study for the test. My buddies and I really didnt have a consensus as to which book was the best. First aid was decent and very consice.

It's always helpful to read these posts because they are real stories but you have to take them with a grain of salt - everyone has very different tests and very different strengths and weaknesses. If you want to buy 70 books to study, go ahead, but just understand how much more painful the whole process will be. Personally I thought first aid and BRS path did the job real nice and think that if you memorize the hell out of them from start to finish, you should score very well.

pfr