usmle advice

Dude, I don't know about everyone else, but if I started studying for Step I in January, I'd be comatose by say, ooooohhhhhhhh, March.

First of all, relax. It's only November 2!!! The best way to prepare long term for Step I, is to do well and study hard for your classes. I don't think it's necessary to specifically study for Step I for 6 months. Just bust your ass studying for your classes, then spend the last month or too bringing it all together. I found the Kaplan Q Bank to be really helpful for focusing studying and pointing out my weaknesses.

:pimp:

You're on crack... right? I know, I know, you hear how much people study for boards and how much they look at in your interviews, but jeez, hold up. They also look at your second year grades, so if you tank those to study for the boards, then that screws you just as much. I took the Kaplan course, which began the first week of May and then took the boards in mid/late June. Sure, I was in USMLE h$%& for a month and a half, but I had studied well for my classes, which helps more than you think for the boards, and made in the high 240s. If you were to do ANYTHING right now, then take a day here and there to look at your first year stuff, all of the biochem and cell biology and basic histo, but if you start hard core right now you will burn out. Oh yeah, you also need to get some more condensed reading material, like the Kaplan review series or something less than an entire book for each subject. If you try to study like that then all I can say is, good luck, you're gonna need it. )

Thanks for the replies, guys. The medical school I am at is one of those six year programs that takes students right out of high school and integrates the medical curriculum and undergraduate curriculum (our genetic and cell biology were undergraduate courses). That is why we do a couple clinical rotations in our second year (that is fourth year for us). So pretty much my second year classes are like this - pharmacology, behavioral science, two months of internal medicine (we have to do three of these before graduation), a two month return back to the undergraduate campus, a family medicine preceptorship, and an elective. Would my pathology grade count still as a second year course, then, if I took it first year (just wondering - everyone in our class got a B pretty much)? I am not going to hit the Boards books until December - still got to work hard in Pharmacology.

Since the other two guys didn't really answer your original question about which books, here's my take.

First of all, before books, you might want to look into Kaplan's online question bank. I'm not sure how much it cost (my school pay for it, pretty nice huh) but the questions and format are exactly what you will find on the boards! The explanations are terrific as well. I got numerous questions right on step 1 directly from recalling questions that I took online.

Books: A lot of this is opinion since I'm sure a lot of poeple did equally well using different books but this is what I did.

BRS Pathology was golden...I used it during the class as my text book and looked over it before the boards. A must have. I've not heard of the other book you mentioned of.

BRS Physiology is a good book. I went back through it in my studies and I was rewarded in the end.

Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple was a good book. It has all the basics in a easy to remember format. Thats the only book I used and I did fine.

Lippincott's Pharmacology is a good book that I used during the class. A little (Ok a lot) lengthy for cramming for the boards. I was pretty strong in Pharm so I didn't spend a lot of time on the subject. (Just Kaplan Questions)

Biochem- My undergraduate degree was in Biochem so again it wasn't the focus of my study. I used High Yield for quick once over, it was good.

Genetics - Waste of time. Even the few questions you would get on the exam you could get them right using your 7th grade science class knowledge.

Anatomy - Again waste of time. Not a main focus. I didn't have a single question that was pure anatomy on my whole test. If you must look over something, the clinical correlates from BRS are good. The high yield if you are too anal not to study the subject.(Note: I know plenty of people who studied way to much for Anatomy and their grade suffered...One day is all you need for anatomy)

Neuro - Neuro was well represented on my exam. I used the High Yield and Kaplan online. That was plenty.

Embryology - High Yield was good for quick last minute prep. I didn't like the subject so it was like pulling teeth to study for it. It's probably all you need.

Behavioral science - High yield was golden. It's all you need.

I also read First aid for Step 1. It was a terrific resource. Though definately not all inclusive.

Though it does sound like I'm a representative from High Yield sales dept, I felt that for the "less tested" subjects, that was a good source of information. Quick reading is a must.

The sources list above was what I used. No more, no less. I'm definately not a super standardized test taker but I ended up with a 256 in the end. I'm not complaining.

Good luck. And relax.

books that worked for me:

-brs path--> golden

-brs phys--> good book but also used class work

-hy embryo--> the old edition that has 50 pages was money. the new one was too damn thick.

-hy neuro--> solid book

-hy anatomy--> solid if your anatomy is a little rusty

-hy behavioral science--> solid for all that crap they didn't teach in you preclinical years

-micro ridiculous...---> great book

-kaztung pharm--> good but a little too much (what's in the first aid was good)

-pharm clinical vingettes--> good for clinical presentations of drug interactions and side effects.

-hy biochem--> combined w/ first aid will give you everything

-biochem clinical vingettes--> good for clinical presentation of wierd bichem diseases that turned up all over my test.

-genetics--> nothing. all you need gets covered in the FA

-First Aid--> great to takes notes in and to have as the final run through after all of your studying from other sources. knowing this book well will take you far.

-Kaplan qbank- i did all 2000 questions and they were very representative of the actual test.

i still had class while i was studying so i studied about 2-3hrs a day for about 6 weeks and then did the full court press for the last two weeks before the test. i got a 240/97 and i was happy with it. good luck.
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I agree with all of the above. One word of advice is not to change your current habit of study. If during the first two years you felt more comfortable doing questions, by all means tailor your studying to include more of these. I personally, have never really felt that I got much out of doing test questions, so my studying included none of these. (Correction, I did do the USMLE question disk that the NBME supplies because each generally has several repeats on it.) I actually took the Kaplan course (which I was disappointed with) and read First Aid for Step I once before and after the course. So I allowed myself approximately 4 1/2 wks. to study. Scored a 240. For the effort, I would have liked to have done better. But in retrospect, I thought 4 1/2 wks. may have been slightly too long, as I started to feel burned out. And burning out is about as bad as not studying at all. What ever you choose, Good Luck! )

I agree with everyone, don't change the way you study. Try to find what has worked to this point.
Given that, I can provide a little info on the Kaplan course. I am a lecture person and I found the class to be excellent. All of the professors are great. Many of them are BRS authors/editors so they know "board" material. Kaplan does a lot of research in finding out what type of question trends are occurring on a year to year basis and they gear the course towards those trends. On the negative side, the course costs $1000 but there are numerous discounts if your school is the home school or you sign up early which can reduce it to $850. Second it isn't offered that many places, I go to school in Philly and luckily there are 4 med schools here so they have an annual class here. Lastly, it is painful!! The class usually starts a few days after 2nd year ends and continues for 4 weeks including weekends about 7 hours a day. That usually scares most people away, but I took it with a group of friends and we all basically just chilled after class every day and then we took an extra week to do questions before taking the exam. We all scored well 230-255. Hope this helps.

Thanks for all your replies so far, guys. I felt there are some classes that our school did not do a good job of teaching - physiology, pathology, and neuroanatomy - that I will need a lot of preparation in. There are also those classes that I did not do so well in - microbiology - but I learned a lot in them and fell confident with those questions (My basic science grades are not that great overall). Since I have plenty of free time between December and May I will take all your advice an plan everything out so I can do really well on the step I. Keep in touch, guys.

Phys and Path are key topics. Neuro I studied the day before from First Aid and that was plenty.

I have to agree with those above. What ever studying technique is best for you and has worked stick with it. Second, I don't recommend more than 4-5 weeks of intense studying (8 hours/day), because otherwise you just burn yourself out. I studied for 5 weeks and wish I had only studied 4 because by the middle of my fourth week I was ready to take it regardless. Those I know that studied for 2 months actually did worse than those that studied about a month. Anyway here are some book suggestions.

If you know everything in the Kaplan Review Series (organ based) you should make a 250. I also recommend Kaplan's Qbank online and Robbins Pathology Question Review Book.

Hope this helps.

Here's my $0.02:
BRS path is a must
BRS phys...know it cold
BRS beh sci...excellent
HY biochem...adequate
HY gross anatomy...maybe too much, but probably worth going through anyway, esp clinical correlates (they're not going to show you the brachial plexus and ask you to identify which nerve comes off which cord, etc.
HY embryo...worth going through, but painful
Micro made rid simple...very worthwhile, I loved the pictures and they helped me remember the minutiae that is micro.
First Aid...good for whatever ails you. No seriously, read this book and memorize it. It can be used as a stand alone for pharm as well. I annotated mine as I studied in other review books and then used it my last few days of studying alone.

As far as questions, this is where I am more opinionated. I did Kaplan almost out of obligation because everyone advocates it. However, I did at least 3 tests from all five Board Simulator Series books. I know these may not be for everyone, but I personally swear by them. You must be committed to them and ignore all of your classmates who say 'they're too hard' and 'irrelevant.' I got my satisfaction when they scored in the 230s and I scored a 256.

These are just my humble opinions. I agree with the above posts about doing what works for you and also 4 weeks of concentrated study is plenty because you WILL burn out. I know it feels like you need to do something now, but trust us that the best thing you can do for yourself is to rock second year. I recall getting many questions right because I remembered something from an M2 lecture or syllabus. Good luck my friend.

A chance to cut is a chance to cure

I also agree with all of the above. since you mention you want to get a better base in pathology, I would do the BRS pathology AND do Robbin's Pathology question book. I can't say enough good things about the latter book!! The pics are high yield and the explantions are awesome (although I seem to remember that in a couple of chapters they mixed up the corresponding #'s of the questions and answers so you have to search around). I thought the closest thing to the actual test was Kaplan Q-bank but the best teaching source was Board Simulator (must do all of these tests even though you feel like you're getting your ass kicked!)