Be An Inspiration.

Once again, here is my disclaimer: There is no set formula for doing well! Using a certain resource doesn’t guarantee a good or bad score. Just find what works for you. 

I got a >250 score using this method. However, considering that Step 1 will be P/F soon, you may not need to go to the same depths as I did (though I believe that having a good Step 1 base comes in handy throughout clinicals and for Step 2).

My dedicated time: 4 weeks

Main Resources used:

First Aid

Sketchy Micro and Pharm

Boards and Beyond (BnB)

UWorld QBank

Pathoma

Minor Resources used:

Class

Anki

First Aid Rx QBank

Kaplan QBank

Practice Exams Taken (probably outdated, just take the most recent NBMEs):

NBME 16, 17, and 18

UWorld Test 1 and 2

Some questions you may already have:

1. Anki isn’t a major resource?!

Yes. The only decks I used were the Sketchy Micro and Pharm decks.  Use Anki only if it works for you!  My friends and I did not like using Anki.

2. You didn’t use more than one Q bank?

I barely used the Rx Qbank from September to December. I switched over to UWorld in January and did 1.5 passes. That said, I know people who did use all two/three and liked that plan more so, again, use what you feel is best for you.

Short descriptions and opinions on each resource:

1. First Aid: It is essentially an outline of all the material you need to know. Kind of useless until you learned the information well using other resources. I annotated my First Aid with info from other resources to make it into a general guide.

2. Sketchy Micro: I’m a visual learner and therefore this resource was amazing. If you aren’t a visual learner, this might not be for you (Again, I know people who didn’t use this resource and they did very well). As for the basics of microbiology (i.e. differences between gram + and gram – bacteria), you will need another resource to cover that, like Boards and Beyond. I watched the videos twice through and then used the Sketchy Micro deck on Anki to solidify my recall. https://sketchymedical.com/products/micro

3. Sketchy Pharm: The less accomplished sibling of Sketchy Micro. It’s not as great as Micro due to all of the stuff crammed into it, but it helps seeing the same information presented in different ways. There are definitely other ways to learn Pharm if you weren’t a fan of Sketchy in the first place i.e. Kaplan videos. I watched the videos once through and then used the Sketchy Pharm deck on Anki to solidify my recall. https://sketchymedical.com/products/pharm

4. Boards and Beyond (BnB): I loved BnB. I watched almost all of his videos with class or as a substitute for class as I neared dedicated. Then, I watched his videos again during dedicated. He provides a solid base of knowledge, and gives you very high yield points to remember.  https://boardsbeyond.com/homepage

5. UWorld: Love-hate relationship with this one but is a must do. I spent SO MUCH time on this resource. I wrote 1.5 times up above as I did do 50% of the Qbank again during dedicated, but essentially stopped by my second week because I already remember everything from my first pass. I spent 6-8 hours a day on UWorld to really, really understand all the concepts that were tested. I also know that most people spent 4 hours and did multiple passes. Whatever works for you! https://www.uworld.com/

6. Pathoma: I don’t think I used Pathoma as detailed as most people did. It was my first pass of information as it was very smoothly organized and gave me a good general framework of knowledge. That said, there are a few chapters that are gold in Pathoma that you should etch into your brain: Chapters 1-3 and any of the Repro stuff. I did two total passes and three passes of Chapters 1-3/Repro. https://www.pathoma.com/

7. Class: Controversial opinion, but I think that class was actually very helpful and tried to keep up with it as long as I could. I like seeing the same concepts presented to me in different ways and found useful clinical pearls and reasoning. This will be very dependent on your learning style and the quality of the lectures at your school.

8. Anki: If someone gave me a point for the amount of times I heard “Anki is the only thing correlated with a good score,” I would have gotten a 301. Like I said above, I hated Anki. There are plenty of people who love Anki and obviously do very well, but there are also plenty of people who hate Anki and do well too! So, if you don’t like Anki, do NOT feel the need to use it. I used the SketchyMicro/Pharm deck during dedicated, courtesy of Pepper: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B44NJCzq9BCDbUZNSVBRNEFBX1E

9. First Aid Rx Qbank: First aid in question format. I used it very sparingly from August to December. Is pretty straightforward and if you learn via questions, feel free to use it. https://www.usmle-rx.com/

10. Kaplan Qbank: Used Kaplan also very sparingly until January (where I switched to UWorld). The questions are harder and make you think more. I think I liked Kaplan a bit more than Rx. https://www.kaptest.com/usmle/practice/step-1-qbank

11. Bonus: Firecracker. I tried using it, but thought it was too much information.

My General Schedule:

August to December: I focused on class and tried to do Zanki (key word tried). I inconsistently did 10 questions a day in Rx or Kaplan (very inconsistently). I just took the time to really understand the concepts in class. It was important for me to not start studying too early as I knew I would burn out. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

January to Pre-Dedicated:   

Started UWorld (all random, test mode) in January, dividing the total amount of questions to the day before I started dedicated. I was not able to always do the allotted questions per day so it ended up piling up near the end of this study period. Really understand the concepts, don’t just memorize the answers. I didn’t need to do a full second pass because of my deep first pass.

Pathoma was what I used as my first pass/introduction for every organ system/class block. As stated above, it provides a wonderful general framework.

Then, I watched Boards and Beyond videos as a replacement for class for my deeper dive, while annotating my First Aid with high yield points from BnB.

Sketchy Pharm was used for any relevant drugs per unit/organ system.

Tried to 2x class before each quiz/test (may not be relevant to you).

Did a scattered review of Sketchy Micro throughout pre-dedicated time.

Day before dedicated: Took my first practice test, NBME 16, for a baseline.

My dedicated (4 weeks) to the day before exam: I focused on what I was weakest at.

Biostats in BnB

Ethics in BnB

Molecular Biology/ Genetics in BnB. *FYI: Biochemistry I solidified using the Endocrinology questions in UWorld during Endocrine.

Intro Micro in BnB

Immunology in BnB

I re-watched Boards and Beyond/ read First Aid and Pathoma for whatever else I needed to re-review

Reviewed Pharm and Micro with Anki cards based on Sketchy

Did 50% of UWorld again in the first two weeks before realizing I didn’t need a second pass

Took UWorld 1, 17, UWorld 2, and 18 in that order for each week.

Took day before exam off.

Final Notes:

Once again, here is my disclaimer: There is no set formula for doing well! Using a certain resource doesn’t guarantee a good or bad score. Just find what works for you. 

I got a >250 score using this method. However, considering that Step 1 will be P/F soon, you may not need to go to the same depths as I did (though I believe that having a good Step 1 base comes in handy throughout clinicals and for Step 2).

My dedicated time: 4 weeks

Main Resources used:

First Aid

Sketchy Micro and Pharm

Boards and Beyond (BnB)

UWorld QBank

Pathoma

Minor Resources used:

Class

Anki

First Aid Rx QBank

Kaplan QBank

Practice Exams Taken (probably outdated, just take the most recent NBMEs):

NBME 16, 17, and 18

UWorld Test 1 and 2

Some questions you may already have:

1. Anki isn’t a major resource?!

Yes. The only decks I used were the Sketchy Micro and Pharm decks.  Use Anki only if it works for you!  My friends and I did not like using Anki.

2. You didn’t use more than one Q bank?

I barely used the Rx Qbank from September to December. I switched over to UWorld in January and did 1.5 passes. That said, I know people who did use all two/three and liked that plan more so, again, use what you feel is best for you.

Short descriptions and opinions on each resource:

1. First Aid: It is essentially an outline of all the material you need to know. Kind of useless until you learned the information well using other resources. I annotated my First Aid with info from other resources to make it into a general guide.

2. Sketchy Micro: I’m a visual learner and therefore this resource was amazing. If you aren’t a visual learner, this might not be for you (Again, I know people who didn’t use this resource and they did very well). As for the basics of microbiology (i.e. differences between gram + and gram – bacteria), you will need another resource to cover that, like Boards and Beyond. I watched the videos twice through and then used the Sketchy Micro deck on Anki to solidify my recall. https://sketchymedical.com/products/micro

3. Sketchy Pharm: The less accomplished sibling of Sketchy Micro. It’s not as great as Micro due to all of the stuff crammed into it, but it helps seeing the same information presented in different ways. There are definitely other ways to learn Pharm if you weren’t a fan of Sketchy in the first place i.e. Kaplan videos. I watched the videos once through and then used the Sketchy Pharm deck on Anki to solidify my recall. https://sketchymedical.com/products/pharm

4. Boards and Beyond (BnB): I loved BnB. I watched almost all of his videos with class or as a substitute for class as I neared dedicated. Then, I watched his videos again during dedicated. He provides a solid base of knowledge, and gives you very high yield points to remember.  https://boardsbeyond.com/homepage

5. UWorld: Love-hate relationship with this one but is a must do. I spent SO MUCH time on this resource. I wrote 1.5 times up above as I did do 50% of the Qbank again during dedicated, but essentially stopped by my second week because I already remember everything from my first pass. I spent 6-8 hours a day on UWorld to really, really understand all the concepts that were tested. I also know that most people spent 4 hours and did multiple passes. Whatever works for you! https://www.uworld.com/

6. Pathoma: I don’t think I used Pathoma as detailed as most people did. It was my first pass of information as it was very smoothly organized and gave me a good general framework of knowledge. That said, there are a few chapters that are gold in Pathoma that you should etch into your brain: Chapters 1-3 and any of the Repro stuff. I did two total passes and three passes of Chapters 1-3/Repro. https://www.pathoma.com/

7. Class: Controversial opinion, but I think that class was actually very helpful and tried to keep up with it as long as I could. I like seeing the same concepts presented to me in different ways and found useful clinical pearls and reasoning. This will be very dependent on your learning style and the quality of the lectures at your school.

8. Anki: If someone gave me a point for the amount of times I heard “Anki is the only thing correlated with a good score,” I would have gotten a 301. Like I said above, I hated Anki. There are plenty of people who love Anki and obviously do very well, but there are also plenty of people who hate Anki and do well too! So, if you don’t like Anki, do NOT feel the need to use it. I used the SketchyMicro/Pharm deck during dedicated, courtesy of Pepper: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B44NJCzq9BCDbUZNSVBRNEFBX1E

9. First Aid Rx Qbank: First aid in question format. I used it very sparingly from August to December. Is pretty straightforward and if you learn via questions, feel free to use it. https://www.usmle-rx.com/

10. Kaplan Qbank: Used Kaplan also very sparingly until January (where I switched to UWorld). The questions are harder and make you think more. I think I liked Kaplan a bit more than Rx. https://www.kaptest.com/usmle/practice/step-1-qbank

11. Bonus: Firecracker. I tried using it, but thought it was too much information.

My General Schedule:

August to December: I focused on class and tried to do Zanki (key word tried). I inconsistently did 10 questions a day in Rx or Kaplan (very inconsistently). I just took the time to really understand the concepts in class. It was important for me to not start studying too early as I knew I would burn out. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

January to Pre-Dedicated:   

Started UWorld (all random, test mode) in January, dividing the total amount of questions to the day before I started dedicated. I was not able to always do the allotted questions per day so it ended up piling up near the end of this study period. Really understand the concepts, don’t just memorize the answers. I didn’t need to do a full second pass because of my deep first pass.

Pathoma was what I used as my first pass/introduction for every organ system/class block. As stated above, it provides a wonderful general framework.

Then, I watched Boards and Beyond videos as a replacement for class for my deeper dive, while annotating my First Aid with high yield points from BnB.

Sketchy Pharm was used for any relevant drugs per unit/organ system.

Tried to 2x class before each quiz/test (may not be relevant to you).

Did a scattered review of Sketchy Micro throughout pre-dedicated time.

Day before dedicated: Took my first practice test, NBME 16, for a baseline.

My dedicated (4 weeks) to the day before exam: I focused on what I was weakest at.

Biostats in BnB

Ethics in BnB

Molecular Biology/ Genetics in BnB. *FYI: Biochemistry I solidified using the Endocrinology questions in UWorld during Endocrine.

Intro Micro in BnB

Immunology in BnB

I re-watched Boards and Beyond/ read First Aid and Pathoma for whatever else I needed to re-review

Reviewed Pharm and Micro with Anki cards based on Sketchy

Did 50% of UWorld again in the first two weeks before realizing I didn’t need a second pass

Took UWorld 1, 17, UWorld 2, and 18 in that order for each week.

Took day before exam off.

Final Notes:

Ok, so, I’ll preface this by saying that I scored just a bit above average on step. This will not be a guide for those of you looking to score super high. But I will tell you how I improved my score by 42 points in 42 days:

- I made a scheduleI started studying at 8 am each morning and studied for about 12 hours. I spent about three days on each organ system/discipline. I made more time for those I knew would be difficult for me, so I had to deduct time from subjects that I felt I had a better grasp on. Let it be known that three days is not enough time to feel you have a comprehensive grasp on a subject. You’re gonna have to take the exam anyway so try not to panic.- I adapted my study resourcesI used USMLE-RX for many subjects, but sometimes I found their videos weren’t working for me. In those cases, I turned to YouTube, first aid, Pathoma, sketchymedical, and whatever else did cover the content and explained it in a way that made sense and that I could remember. I am not good at brute memorization, so it was crucial for me to have a decent grasp on the concepts. I ended up watching all of Pathoma and sketchypharm during dedicated. I also found khan academy to be surprisingly helpful.- I didn’t take many notesI did draw a bunch of diagrams during my biochem review, but other than that, I avoided taking notes. Notes are good to review material, and I wasn’t going to be reviewing this material again. Some people find writing things down to help them remember, so if that’s the case, you do you - but remember, your time is very limited, so allocate it wisely.- I did lots and lots and lots of uworldI chose to do uworld by subject as I was reviewing, and most days I would do a random set of 40 I had previously done as a warm-up. I had other friends that did random question sets the whole time. Of my friends who did random, one did great, one did average, and one failed. I found doing it by subject helped solidify the content.- I did practice tests every weekI took at least one NBME every week. Near the end I also did the uworld tests. The NBME tests consistently underestimated my score. The uworld tests overestimated it. Just taking them helped me get in the habit of focusing for long blocks and whittling down answers. After I took each NBME, I went through my missed questions and made a “cheat sheet” which gave me the 1 fact I would have needed to know to answer those questions correctly. I reviewed this sheet before each subsequent NBME and before I took step.- I had realistic goalsI wasn’t aiming for a 270. I was aiming for average. I ended up doing slightly better than that, although that improvement was not always reflected by my NBME practice scores. My advice to anyone who doesn’t have their heart set on a really competitive specialty is don’t drive yourself off a cliff trying to score super high. It’s just not worth it and you’ll likely do worse because of the stress. Pick a goal that makes sense for you. Remember, you’re competing against med students all over the country, being an “average” med student is nothing to sniff at.- I blocked distractionsI used stayfocused on my computer and freedom on my iPhone to avoid social media while I was studying. This is crucial.- I talked to my friendsI didn’t study with my friends from school (in fact, I went to another state to stay with my parents while I studied) but I did text or call them. It helped keep me sane, and remind me that I wasn’t alone when I felt awful.- I went outsideI went to a yoga class every week. I went to museums. I had dinner with friends. I even went on a date! I also read several novels and took lots and lots of bubble baths. Make sure you have at least a little time for yourself to do the things that are meaningful to you or you will go crazy.- Speaking of crazy…I took care of my mental health. I started an SSRI months before step, and took benzos as needed during dedicated (half a Valium to help me sleep the week before.) I have ADHD, so I also found a schedule where I could take my stimulants to focus throughout the day. I also continued to see my ADHD coach each week, and applied to get accommodations on step well in advance of my test (like months before.)

Your background knowledge plays the main role in the studying for USMLE. It determines the time, the books and the “stress” level..:) Many US med students don’t use all books i am going to talk about, they read First Aid, prepare for 5 weeks and pass USMLE with 230+ score. In contrast, students from foreign countries ( like me ) can not do this, because we have :

1. language problem.

2. our background knowledge usually is not enough. 

Personally, I wasn’t the greatest student even in my country. Everything was very different, and i was a different person with different dreams and desires. Here in US, i realized that medicine is my passion and i want to become a doctor no matter what; so, i have to study 3 times harder, than any other med student. But the good thing is, i do not have tight time frame, as american students have. Clearly, It doesn’t mean that I do not have it at all.

There are many source of material for USMLE step 1 exam, and first of all you need to find which one is right for you. This choice you need to do in each category:

1. Books

2. Lectures

3. Question Bank.

Lets start from the books. Generally, students divided into two groups:

1. Users of book series (like Kaplan lecture notes) 

2. People who find the best book in each category and use it. (like Goljan in  Pathology ) 

I am something in between :) My selection of books:

First Aid

Kaplan Lecture Notes

Pathology by Goljan

Behavioral Science by High Yield

Microbiology and Immunology by Deja Review

Lectures you can find online or attend Kaplan preparation course, then you will have access to all their lectures + you will get their Lecture Notes. Some lecture fragments you can find on youtube.

Question bank is the most important source. It improves you testing skills, makes you familiar with the “screen and format” you will have on the actual exam, shows your weak and strength sides, and the most important: helps you to apply knowledge on the clinical vignette. 

There are two popular Q Banks: Kaplan and Usmle World.

Many students write in their reviews that UWorld Q-bank’s questions are almost the same they saw on their exam day, that is why i keep it at last. Now, Im using Kaplan’s Qbank, which i purchased for 299$ for 12 months and I’m very satisfied with it. 

Now that I’ve taken step, and before I’ve gotten my results, here are some reflections I’ve had relating back to second year. I may edit this as I reflect some more, until then, feel free to ask me anything! 

What I would have kept the same: 

My extracurriculars - they gave me the motivation and encouragement to make me feel like I was still relevant. It gave my life as an M2 more purpose and drive. It forced me to not slack off on studying because I had major time constraints. 

My effort throughout the year to become more and more okay with being selfish. Everyone is right, if there’s a year to be selfish, it’s second year. It’s draining and exhausting and even when second year is done, you still have to do dedicated! Throughout the year I pushed myself to learn how to say no and how to put what I wanted and needed first. It helped me a lot during dedicated because by the time dedicated rolled around, all the guilt I had for not being able to please everyone and do everything, was gone. By the time dedicated came, I was incredibly comfortable with doing just ME. Some people are already okay with that right off the bat, but for someone like me, it took time to develop that. 

Starting UWorld during second semester. I wasn’t super on top of it, but I definitely used focused blocks to help me study for exams and I’m really glad I did. I think by the time second semester rolled around I was more comfortable with path and medicine so doing the questions was more beneficial for me. I don’t know if starting it during first semester would have helped me (I don’t think it would have hurt), but given that I didn’t even do the Rx questions I bought, who knows if the extra UWorld time would have even happened.

Doing Pathoma throughout the year. It not only helped me during the year, but since I had already done Pathoma so thoroughly once, doing it during dedicated was MUCH better. 

Didn’t let step stress take over my life until dedicated. I was adamant with myself about not letting step ruin my life all year long. That was the best decision I made. I of course stressed A TON during dedicated but I’m so happy that I didn’t let it get to me during the year. I had more than enough stresses already without step being one of them. Second year courses are hard!!!

What I would have changed:

I really do wish I had mastered more material from coursework. My last block exam was my best one and that’s the stuff that I really felt strongest in (of course it helped that it was the most recent, but I truly think I just learned it better too.) It’s so hard to study new stuff during dedicated. And especially hard to re-memorize/learn when you have a shaky foundation. 

I wish I had been better at Sketchy Micro throughout the year. There’s a learning curve, and I think I took too long figuring it out. (and that’s okay too)

I wish I had actually used the Rx questions I bought. Lolol. 

I know a lot of 2nd years are starting to gear up for boards and I wanted to give some quick essential advice:

1. Limit your resources

Using too many resources will bog you down. Have some essentials. Most people find success with the core four: UFAP. UWorld, First Aid, and Pathoma. It’s okay to add some of your other faves in there as well (I used Goljan, SketchyMedical for bugs/drugs, random YouTube videos, and did a bit of DIT.)

2. Create a Schedule

If you’re bad at this, try using Cram Fighter. I used Google Calendar and took 2 hours to chart out what I wanted to do every day. This way I didn’t have to think about what I was going to study next. It was already planned.

3. Questions Questions Questions

There is no doubt in my mind that my good board score is highly attributable to the amount of questions I did. UWorld should be your main go to, but I utilized Kaplan and Comquest as well. I also did EVERY NBME and the UWSAs. If you can assess your weaknesses and track your progress you will make great strides.

It might be a little late in the game for some, but I thought I would share my two cents on how I studied! 

1. Realize that your step 1 score is important but that you are so much more than it! I wrote on my mirror that “who you are is more important than your step 1 score.” I looked at this multiple times every day and fully believe it in my bones. 

2. Choose and gather your resources. A lot of this will be based on how you like to study and what has worked well for you so far. Here’s what I used in order of my most helpful to least helpful: First Aid for Step 1; USMLE World question bank; Pathoma; Doctors in Training; NBME practice tests; Goljan Rapid Review Pathology and audio. See below for how I used these resources. Multi-colored fine point pens, highlighters, and note cards are a must.

3. Make a schedule. I’m a firm believer in studying for 6-8 weeks. (I did 8 weeks, including the last two weeks of second year and six weeks of dedicated study time). I am not a proponent of studying while your classes are still in session. You should focus on learning new material and laying the groundwork. Start your schedule with important personal dates that you have to take off - weddings, graduation, etc. Add in practice tests. Then work your resources to fit into your schedule. Always leave one day off per week. 

Ex1) itching >> pruritus

Ex2) Asthma: Cough for 6 months, no sputum, on and off, aggravated at night.

>> Intermittent nonproductive chronic cough (duration 6 months), nocturnal aggravation.

Pain:

Pain during urination > Dysuria, Dyschezia (painful defecation), Dyspareunia (painful sex, intercourse), Dysmenorrhea (painful menses), Pleuritic pain (pain agg with breathing), Odynophagia (pain during swallowing)

Bleeding:

Hematuria (bloody urine), Hematochezia (bloody stool), Melena (black stool), Hematemesis (vomit), Intermenstrual bleeding (bleeding during menses), Postcoital bleeding (bleeding after intercourse)

Menstruation:

Menarche (1st menses), Metrorrhagia (irregular menses), Menorrhagia (heavy&long menses), Hypomenorrhea (light menstrual blood flow), Amenorrhea (absence of menses), Oligomenorrhea (infrequent menses), Dysmenorrhea (painful menses)

Skin:  

Red or purple skin - Petechiae (less than 3mm), Purpura (3–10 mm), Ecchymoses(10mm~)

Rash on face > Malar rash

Get rash worse in sunlight > Photosensitivity

Pruritus (itchy), Non-Pruritic (not itchy).

Sweating > diaphoresis / Blue extremities > cyanosis

 Hair: Alopecia (hair loss), Hirsutism (excessive hair)

Urination: Nocturia (urination at night), Incontinence (uncontrolled leakage of urine), Oliguria, Polyuria, Urinary frequency.

Diabetes-related: Polyuria, Polydipsia, and Polyphagia

Neuro: Numbness/ tingling > Paresthesia, Gait difficulty > Ataxia, Vertigo (room spinning around) vs Lightheadedness,

Sex: Homosexuality, Heterosexuality, Multiple Sexual partners vs Monogamous (one partner long time)

Psychiatric – MDD-SIGECAPS:

Insomnia (difficulty falling asleep / staying asleep), Anhedonia (lack of interest), Worthlessness(guilt), Fatigue (lack of energy), Diminished Concentration, Appetite changes or Weight changes, Psychomotor retardation (move & speak slow) or Agitation (move & speak fast), Suicidal Ideation, Plan or Attempt

Others:

Actually, the beginning of December 28th.

I sat in the library and completed a pathophys lecture. 2/106 now. Staph Infections.

I tried to start DIT biochem according to FA. I downloaded some more resources.

Current Study Plan:

Write down all notes from lecture –> Place appropriate notes in respective section in FA

Path: Annotate Sketchy Path, Pathoma Notes, Goljan, DIT, Najeeb/Kaplan/Firecracker/Robbins if necessary. BRS Physio or even Guyton Physio too. –> Place alongside lecture notes. Review every 2-3 days.

Make visual mnemonics as needed, OR

Type up all notes from respective section into Notability at end of each slideshow

Pharm: Annotate Sketchy Pharm, Print Pharm Ninja Notes, DIT, Najeeb/Kaplan/Firecracker. Place alongside lecture notes. Review every 2-3 days.

MAKE CHART FOR EACH DRUG WITH THE FOLLOWING:

(1) mechanism of action

(2) disease/condition it’s used for

(3) kinetics / half-life

(4) ADVERSE EFFECTS!!!

(5) contraindications

End of week: Review notes, do uWorld block on section. Annotate uWorld. 

Find out about current USMLE World via my institution. Do appropriate one block a day AT 6AM SHARP. Figure out timing situation shortly before New Year.

ANY FREE TIME: Anki or uRx. No exceptions.

This begins every second. I’m already years behind.

Hello! This will likely be my first and last blog post, but I’ve had many people ask for board prep advice, and I figured this was the most efficient way to get it out to everyone at once! I had a ton of advice along the way, so am happy to give back in any way that I can.

I will start out by telling you guys that my MCAT was well below average. I spent so much time looking up correlations between MCAT and board scores, and was convinced that I couldn’t do well on boards. This caused me a ton of anxiety, and despite what my NBME assessments, class grades, and Qbank averages told me, I doubted myself until the day I received my scores back.

My scores USMLE: 257 COMLEX: 826

What I did

My goal going in to med school was to give 110% every single day, so that no matter what happened, I could not regret anything because I knew I had done everything I could. I maintained this mentality the entire way through, and it landed me where I am right now.

This being said, I never had a “goal score” for my boards. My goal was to max out my potential.

For the entirety of my first and second year, I put in on average 11-12 hours of work on weekdays, and 14-16 hours each day of the weekend. Obviously there were days I did less, but this was the exception and not the norm.

The absolute best advice I can give in regards to boards is to focus on class work and build a solid foundation. This is UNDERRATED. I knew many people who spread themselves thin with “board” resources, and wasted their time studying those rather than focusing on their class work. This is a huge mistake. The class work IS the “board material”. There is no point in venturing outside of your class work until you have that down solid.

1st year – 100% focused on classes. No board materials used.

Summer between first and second: DO NOTHING…except….Sketchy Micro. I watched this one time through during the summer, and the advantage it gave me is indescribable. During the fall, I would watch the videos again as we talked about them in class. Overall I went through the entire thing about 3 times. Not only was my micro class an absolute breeze, but after the fall semester, I hardly ever looked at micro again. These videos were so solid, that come board time I still remembered every detail, so there was no need to continue to study micro. I maxed out the micro score on both COMLEX and USMLE, and it was due primarily to this program. (We did also have an excellent micro class at school, so I don’t want to undercut that either).

2nd year

Fall semester: This semester I was still about 95% focused on classes and 5% focused on boards. I started Kaplan Q bank, as well as USMLErx. I ONLY did these along with class work (ex: if we were learning cardio path, I only did cardio path questions). This not only helped me get used to board style questions, but also hammered in the class material.  

I also did dabble around in COMBANK a little bit. I think I finished a little over half of it.

Spring Semester My primary focus was still class work. I bought Uworld in February or so, but still only did questions that corresponded with my class work. However, if we were learning GI path, instead of JUST doing GI path questions, I did ALL GI questions. This re-exposed me to anatomy, Biochem, histo, and other topics from first year.

I also began to diligently watch Pathoma. If we were learning GI path, I would learn the class material well, and then watch the Pathoma videos to hammer in the info. This was crucial.

I had all of Pathoma and Uworld done x1 before I got to my dedicated time.

Towards the END of my spring semester, I started messing around with First Aid. I had not really opened it before this time. If we were learning about cardio, I would make time to review cardiac anatomy and phys (we are not systems based). Again, this not only helped for boards, but also for classes.

Spring break Biochem was my weakest subject- I think I had literally forgotten all of it. Over spring break, I watched the entire Kaplan Biochem series (schedule below). I made very detailed, yet simple notes, and from then on only worked from those. The number of pathways I had to learn after watching was daunting, to say the least. I came up with the idea of “pathway time” (dumb, but it worked well for me). For 15 minutes a day, I would stop what I was doing and draw out a biochem pathway. I would re-draw that same pathway for several days until I knew it cold, then would move to the next. I had all of the pathways down in about 4-5 weeks, and had turned my worst subject into one of my best. By working on this during the school year, I was completely done with Biochem before dedicated even started.  Breaking Biochem down in to short quick segments made it less stressful for me, and made it easy to attack.

Dedicated Here is my dedicated schedule. I will stress the importance of regularly scheduled assessments. From what I’ve read, a lot of people are scared of taking assessments, so they just continue to study blindly, take an assessment a month or two later, do poorly, and then feel like they wasted those one or two months with ineffective studying. For this reason, I chose to space my assessment exams about 1 week apart. This way I could track my progress, and quickly make adjustments to my study methods if needed. This also allowed me to identify any weak points and quickly address them.

Uworld Stuff During dedicated I finished Uworld for a second time. Many people advise saving Uworld until dedicated. I went back and forth trying to decide when to start it, and ultimately chose to begin early (thanks to the help of a super smart radiology resident I know ;) ). This was hands down one of the best decisions I made in regards to my board prep. Yes, Uworld is unequivocally the best resource there is for Step 1; so why the heck wait until dedicated to start?! Doing this qbank twice allowed me to get the most out of it. There were SO MANY things I picked up on the second time around that I would have otherwise missed. Start this in your spring semester, and do it in tutor mode, along with class work. Your second pass during dedicated should be random timed. Uworld for me was NOT about tracking scores; it was about learning from the questions and explanations.

I also kept a Uworld Journal (I read about this on someone else’s blog, so thank you for the idea!).  A Uworld journal is a word document that I used to keep track of questions I got wrong. I would read the explanation, and then pick the ONE FACT that I needed to know to answer the question right. I would type up the one fact in question form, and then answer it below. (Ex: What type of collagen is found in bone – Type 1).  I’m a wordy person (as you can probably tell), so this ‘one fact’ thing was awesome for me because it kept things short. The goal was to review this journal frequently, which I actually did not do very well, but the night before my USMLE I read through the entire thing and can say for sure I got several questions on my test that came from this journal. Uworld is huge, and keeping this journal was the only way for me to remember everything I had missed.

Between Uworld, USMLErx, Kaplan, COMBANK, and my assessments, I did somewhere between 12-13k questions. This was the most important thing I did. They can only ask questions so many ways. By exposing myself to this number of questions, there was not much that I hadn’t seen. A huge chunk of my questions were done during second year, but as stated above, I always did them in a way that would correspond with what we were learning in class at that time. I think I good goal to set is at least 10k questions.

Pathoma I finished Pathoma for a second time during dedicated. I had a strong path background, so 2x was enough for me. If you are still hazy on any of the path, I would highly recommend watching Pathoma as many time as you need to until you have it down cold.

First Aid Went through first aid twice. Not much else to say about this!

Between my USMLE and COMLEX I took the USMLE 5 days before COMLEX. The idea was to study for the USMLE alone, and then in the 5 days between read the green book and do COMBANK OMT questions. This did not happen haha. I was brain dead after my USMLE. I think I read about half of the green book and worked maybe 200-300 COMBANK questions or so. I am not some OMT wizard or anything, so its safe to say the OMT on my COMLEX was easy (fortunately). Know your VSR’s and Chapman points cold. VSR’s were probably 80% of my OMT questions. I used a youtube video to learn them (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-r_QriTMSc) 

Assessments I Took 

- NBME assessments - forms 15, 17, 13, 18

- UWSA - 1, 2 

- Free 120 

- COMSAE form E 

- COMBANK assments 1 and 2

- Kaplan full length 

Thoughts on these - take as many as you can, especially the NBME assessments. My overall score on the USMLE was the exact average of my NBME assessments. They do a good job of letting you know where you stand and what you need to brush up on. Take one at the very start of your dedicated time period to get a baseline score. This will let you know where you stand and show you how much work you need to do to reach your goal. I think getting a baseline is super important. 

All of the COMLEX assessments (except COMSAE) were taken during the spring semester of school. These were all required by the school. 

Overall, the material I used in dedicated was no different than what everyone else uses. The work I did in my first two years is what laid the foundation for me to score well.

My MCAT is evidence that anyone can do this. Just takes a lot of work! Happy to answer any questions that I can!

Board Schedule

I was NOT able to stick to these time blocks. However, I DID finish everything I was supposed to finish each day by the end of that day. The time blocks were just not realistic for me. I had several days after my UWSA2 to just hit weak areas. In retrospect, I took WAY too long to study. 4 weeks would have been ideal. 

My Biochem Schedule (spring break)

Remember that it’s hard for everyone and no one woke up one day knowing it all.

Don’t compare yourself to others : you don’t know what’s behind that girl who spends hours at the library, or that guy that claims he knows everything by heart. Do your thing and have faith.

It’s not because you’ve “studied” for 6 hours straight that you’ve actually been productive. Quality over quantity, always (I still tend to forget about this sometimes)

Don’t ditch physics and chemistry. Also, don’t ditch any important textbook chapter to save you time! You’ll thank me later.  

Please take care of your mental health. Take your medication if you need some, and look for help if you’re feeling stuck.

Try to stay healthy and to keep moving, it actually helps a lot.

DRINK. YOUR. WATER.

Find YOUR study method. It’s not because everyone else is studying something in a certain way that it’ll work for you.

Don’t lose too much time on useless details. Focus on key concepts instead.

Nothing is ever like it seems and nothing is ever like you imagined. 

Stress is only bad if you see it that way. You can’t avoid stress but you can see it in a positive way instead. Whenever you’re feeling anxious just close your eyes and take a deep breath and think about something that makes you happy. This could be anything : your cat, your family, a warm cup of tea… just imagine something that will put a smile on your face. You’ll feel relieved.

Have faith that the Universe has a plan for you. Accept fear and embrace it with love. You’re allowed to expect miracles.  

Sleep is SO IMPORTANT : make sure you sleep at least 7 hours every night! Sleep is actually the best way to memorize what you’ve learned in a day.

Delete social media from your phone if it’s bothering/distracting you. Also, remember that ¾ of what you see on Instagram is fake.

Take real breaks. One hour break won’t make you lose time. It’ll make you more productive, especially if you’ve been studying for hours. Your brain will process what you’ve learned whilst you’re doing other things.

Learn how to be disciplined. Build a routine. Try to stick to it. But remember to change one thing at a time so you won’t feel overwhelmed.

Please go outside when it’s sunny and get your dose of happiness and vitamin D

Good people exist so please don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Be grateful. Always.

You will never know what people think of you, and most of the time you’re the only one who’s been judging yourself.

Don’t drink too much coffee.

Meditate, even for 5 minutes each day.

Don’t forget to have fun along the way !

While re-reading this I feel like these tips can be applied to everyone and not only med students! Don’t hesitate to write your own advice in the comments :) 

Hope you liked it! 

The @thestudyingapollo‘s guide to summarising dense and long subjects!!

Hello guys! I’m back to normal posting schedule with something that I had been asked before and that is: how can I turn my big ass dense pile of notes into effective little summaries? Well, brace yourselves because this is something that has saved my ass in more than one occasion, and I’m hoping it will help at least one of you too!! 

As you can see in the first picture, I was working on my pathology notes, which is one of the longest and most dense subject at my uni. I had to learn lots of structures, pathologies, test and names, and I was going crazy before I paired with one of my friends and the two of us turned that scary set of notes (seriously, 700 pages for one subject is no joke) into a manageable little pile of summaries, charts and diagrams! Here is the process we followed: 

First of all, we worked wit our original class notes. They were dense, so we tried to highlight, following a colour-coding system, the most relevant bits of information. And you may ask yourself: how do I know what is important and what not? Well, if there is one word or sentence that helps you remember the simplest concept you’re working with and construct all the details around it, that’s what you MUST highlight. Doing it like that, you can look at your notes and remember the core of the concept, and work on remembering the rest from that simple concept. 

This is no magic trick, you need to work in order for this process to work, but I assure you, it makes difficult ass subject with a lot of material much more manageable. So, don’t leave this for a week before your exam, you will die guys! Working on the notes from your class of that same weeks helps you in remembering what your professor stressed in class and you will identify the essential information much more easily! Of course, if you don’t understand something, look it up, ask your classmates and specially your professor, it’s their work help you understand the material!!!

Doing little diagrams and drawings in your original note will help you in remembering stuff and you can skip all the little details while making your summaries, concentrating only in the important stuff. The basic concepts will help you answer lots of questions in the exam and understand the little details and bits of information much better!

Try to make these little summaries after you have studied each chapter. To keep your notes organised, pick a color for each section: for example, I used orange for the digestive system, pink for the cardiovascular system, yellow for the nervous system, green for the lymphatic organs, and so on. Using bold titles written or highlighted in different colours for each section will improve your memory! Also, using BOLD TITLES is essential, and will organise your memory in little boxes and sub-sections. That way, you will remember the information easily, it will be like opening a Matryoshka doll! Of course, number each section of every chapter. Organisation is the key to success! (look at image number 3)

If there is one central branch of information, use diagrams to organise your thoughts! (just like in image 4). If there is something that refers to that information but doesn’t fit in the structure of your diagram, simply use little sticky notes! Again, use little drawings!!!

If something is too complex or there is a section that has lots of information, try to condense it into a table like in image 5! For example, in the table that you see in image 5, I compared the characteristics of the different types of Lymphoma! I put the different points I need to know of each one, and that helped me in realising the points they had in common and their differences; by doing this, you can learn the info that is common for all of them just one time, and then use your energy in memorising the differences, which is what your profs will probably test you in! 

Something important you need to know is that you only need to write IMPORTANT information. Especially in college and university, professor tend to ramble a lot when they’re teaching a class, and that’s why you can’t put absolutely everything in your summaries notes, because this is not a guide on re-writing your notes, this is a guide on how to understand and organise the most important information! The basics of your subject are what are going to give you the most chances to pass, extra details are going to give you extra points, but if you don’t know the basics, extra details are useless! Also, if you have to learn difficult structures, color your drawings (like in image 6), that way you can visualise its different parts when you’re sitting the exam! 

Use red or another bold color for essential info! Also, remember that you can fit a lot of info in a single sheet of paper, so try not to over do it! Too many colours can get overwhelming, and using a super duper small handwriting to fit everything in your notes is a waste of time. I know that the summaries in image 7 look super menacing, but believe me, my class notes were much, much worse. It doesn’t have to be super pretty or colourful, you can do extremely useful summaries with a blue or black byro and a couple of contrasting colours. You may think this is time consuming, but there was no way I could fit 700 pages of info in my head in top of three other subjects that were not much better! It also helped me make revision much more peaceful: when I looked at the massive pile of class notes I got nauseous even, but I could take my little set of summaries anywhere around the house and revise easily. Also, since I had already worked on all the info, revising was much easier, because I had already worked with my chapters and tried to understand them as best I could so my summaries and tables and charts made sense!!! 

So, this is the process I follow for super dense subjects, and it works wonders for me, but it may not work for you! I learn a lot of stuff by writing it down in a much simpler way than it was given to me, and it makes revision for me much easier because I already worked with that. I hope this helps some of you, and if you liked this little guide, I’m open to suggestions on different ones that you may find helpful!!! 

Make some coffee/ tea / snack.

Instead of spending hours procrastinating on your phone, watch a motivational video while you eat.

Tidy your study space, get rid of dishes, mugs and anything that isn´t study related. Leave your glass of water.

Go wash your face with cold water.

Check time.

Turn off your phone and computer. If your study material is there, turn the wifi off.

Study.

Take a short break. (Go to the toilet, refill your glass, stretch, open a window, listen to music, talk to someone, call your mom, etc)

Follow this sequence four times.

Take a long break. (Get another snack, watch a motivational video, go on a short walk, read a book, do some yoga, take a shower, go outside, doodle, post something on tumblr, take a nap or whatever you´d like to do. DO NOT WATCH A TV SHOW YOU ARE NOT GOING TO STOP AND YOU KNOW IT PUNK. Also, make it so that your break doesn´t last longer that 25 minutes, don´t waste precious time)

save this for your next academic year and finals, and it’ll save your grades and time.

1. whenever you read a paragraph with new content, close the book/look away and ask yourself: “what have i just learned?” explaining the concept to yourself right away and asking follow-up questions will change the way you retain new material forever.

2. at first, it’ll be daunting, and it’ll be pretty hard to actually bring yourself to do this. trust me, it’ll be worth it - as this is scientifically proven one of the most effective study techniques.

3. to try this out, set yourself a timer for how long you estimate learning a concept might take. now take away 20% from that estimate. you won’t be able to reach this goal with basic highlighting and re-reading techniques - but with active recall, you will.

4. once you’ve understood the concept, use spaced repetition systems like anki flashcards to force yourself to retrieve this information in a set period of time. this way, your brain will always be reminded of this concept before it could possibly forget it.

5. teach it to others as much as you can. as with the old wisdom “see one, do one, teach one”, one of the only guarantees you’ve really gotten something is when you can effectively teach it.

hope these are helpful for you!!

Wear jeans/pants that “breathe” and bring a sweater, even if it’s scorching hot out, until you know which building blasts the AC to 60 degrees F and which feels like a sauna

Backpacks with thick straps are your friend!  Messenger bags are cool and all but if you’re commuting with a lot of stuff, symmetrically styled backpacks are better for your back

You are your own person and you can walk out whenever you need to or want to, so long as you’re not disrupting the class.  Meaning you can go to the bathroom without permission, take a breather if you’re anxious, answer an important phone call, etc.

If you don’t like the class on the first day, if you can- DROP THAT CLASS AND TAKE ANOTHER ONE!  It’ll only get worse from there!

If you can, take a class outside your major; it’s a good break from your expected studies.

You are in charge of your schedule.  Your adviser and guidance counselor is there to ‘advise and guide’ but if you don’t like certain classes and you can substitute for others, that’s your choice.

Consequently, if you are changing anything drastic in your plan, talk with your adviser and instructors.

Pay attention to your credit hours and grades.  Never leave this to the last week of school, you will be sorry and stressed beyond belief!

Unless it’s a lab book or otherwise specified, go to the class for a week or so before buying an expensive textbook.  Some classes, while having it on their required list, do not actually use the textbook a whole lot and you might find some of it scanned online.  Rent if you can or buy used online (schools actually don’t give discounts).  Use your best judgement on what you think you need.

Tell the people who go up to you selling or advertising things you are not interested in that you are in a rush to class and don’t have time to listen to them.  It’s less rude and they’ll leave you alone.

The smaller the class, the better it is to have some sort of acquaintanceship with a couple classmates.  They might save your ass if you are absent one day or need to study.  And talking with them makes the time go by faster without it being so insufferable.

You don’t need to join a club or sport, but internships are cool and useful!

If you can afford it, take a day off once or twice each semester if you’re too exhausted.  Just be aware of what you missed and if it was worth missing!

Your health is the most important, this goes for mental health too!!  Note: College-age/upper teens is when mental disorders like depression and anxiety are most commonly diagnosed.  Most schools have therapy services, especially during exam time.  Look into it if you need to!

Communicate with your professor if you are having trouble with something.  Anything.

Eat and stay hydrated.  Bring a water bottle and snack to class.

All-nighters will happen but never go over 36 hours without sleep.

ADDITIONAL ADVICE

Don’t let a mental health day turn into a mental health week because you will be so screwed.

Pay attention to the syllabus and do not lose it. A lot of professors put all of the assignment due dates in there and ONLY in there.

If your school has blackboard or moodle etc. CHECK IT. a lot of professors will only post certain info there and not talk about it in class

READINGS ARE NOT OPTIONAL.

I REPEAT. READINGS. ARE. NOT. OPTIONAL.

Put them in your schedule, read BEFORE class. And summarise it. For bonus points, come up with some questions about the text and go introduce yourself to your professor either after class or during office hours, and ask them about it. This will make them much more likely to remember you in a positive light (and possibly bump your grade up if you hit a hard patch.)

Your library will have a copy of your textbook. If you cannot afford to rent it, you can go to the library and borrow it from the front desk for a few hours whenever you need it. It is there for you, okay? 

Our university’s campus bookstore required the professors to “require” the most current edition of the textbook, which was mostly a scam!

-lectures might seem optional because attendance won’t be required or you don’t have to watch them live, it’s important anyways. so please, please watch/go

-with that said, even if your classes are asynchronous try to have a regular schedule for yourself, 

-it might seem weird and scary not being able to actually meet your professor and not being able to ask questions in person, but trust me they’re just as worried as you are. therefore, even if it’s scary or difficult be honest and reach out to your professor. it’s likely that there as unsure as you are, but knowing that means it can be better communicated with your class and accommodations can be made. 

-even though it seems easy to just wake up and open you’re laptop to your lecture, still try to get up in advance (as in not the 10 minutes before). dressing up and getting ready will help you transition into a work/study mentality if it’s part of a routine

-groupme and emails will become your best way of communicating with your classmates, TAs, and professors. sometimes its weird because you don’t know what level of formality to use with different people, don’t worry. they’ll make it clear to you how they’d like to be addressed either by their first names or their title (in my experiences, TAs prefer first name basis, some professors like being called by their first name or nickname and others exclusively by their title)