1) Qbank – Try not to use it until you do your actual hardcore boards studying

2) First Aid for Step 1 – say hello to my little friend…

3) Golijan – I am his proverbial bitch…

4) Underground Clinical Vignettes Series (UCV) – Handy series of nine books that went through patient case
scenarios and highlight high-yield pathology and symptoms. Great for low-energy studying.

5) Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple – great for my weakest subjects. It had some funny descriptions and
pictures that helped in remembering.

6) BRS Pathology – I actually went through this once before realizing I didn't really like it. It was abit skimpy
in the details and I realized very early on that pathology was probably THE most important subject of the
boards which is why I also used…

7) Golijan Pathology Lecture notes – like his recordings… again I'm Goljan's bitch

8) BRS Physiology – good outline of the sweet spots of physiology but again sometimes short on
explanations…

9) Rapid Review Biochemistry – I liked this book more than Lippincott's which I thought was almost too much.
This book did a good job in integrating information with other subjects. (again written by Golijan)

10) High Yield Immunology – short and sweet

11) High Yield Anatomy – ditto. A friend actually used online Kaplan video lectures which he said were great
but were really long. Qbank likes to think that the only anatomy you need to know is the arms and legs
sometimes…

12) High Yield Neuroanatomy – short sweetness. But Cohen teaches so well I barely needed to study too much
about this.

13) High Yield Embryology – Buffalo really doesn't teach this very well and this is a good short book on it.
Note: there are two versions of this book. The shorter one (<100 pages) is too bare-bones.

14) Pharmacology – this is going to be surprising but the only pharm you need to know is in First Aid and
Golijan. Know it cold and you should be fine. You don't need to know dosing, brand names, and all that crap.
First Aid is the perfect amount.

15) Biostats/Psych/Ethics – These subjects are commonly ignored/forgotten but they are pretty important. I
"bought" Kaplan lecture recordings for these subjects. They're all given by one awesome lecturer (with
wickedly dry humor) and I thought he covered all of it really well in the span of a day in a half. Take good notes
in FA…

The schedule:

• Mid-Feb through May - After psych (many people found psych a good time to ease in), I began to skim
through most of the resources to get the "big picture" & familiarize myself with the books. Listened to
Goljan (average 1 hr per day). Found that I prefer to study from review textbooks with more text rather
than bullet points. (Figure out which style works for you!)
 • Mid March - CBSE (“diagnostic test” in Butler)
• School gave us 9 weeks off. Wks 2 & 9 were vacation time. ~7 weeks of main study time during with I
took 4 to 5 days off. Cooked dinner & worked out daily. (Very impt to give your brain a break & stay
healthy!) Studied 4 to 10 hours per day. Did ~100 Robbins &/or Q-bank questions daily (very important
to reinforce what you just read). Started to burn out at the end and was worried about forgetting things
from the early study days.

• Week 1 - re-listened to Goljan; BRS Path & questions

• Week 2 - pre-boards vacation!
• Week 3 - Immuno & Micro. I thought it was helpful to start with immuno, since the concepts of immuno are
revisited in micro & pathology.
• took NBME1
• Week 4 - biochem/cell bio/anatomy/embryo/general path
• Weeks 5,6 - organ systems in the same order learned at school. Re-listened to Goljan while running, grocery
shopping, driving.
• Week 7 (Last week!)
o Reviewed FA once. Didn't think it was worth doing q-bank in the last few days. Some people delegated to two
weeks to review FA but I was too burned out for that.
o 2 & 3 days before step 1: took NBME 2 and NBME 3
o Took Step 1!!!
• Week 8, 9 - enjoyed life!

About my Step 1
-Tons of biochem/molecular bio, biostats, ethical questions, neuroanatomy on my test. Mix of one-liner
questions & long clinical vignettes with extraneous lab values. Finished each section 10 minutes early.
-I marked no more than a few questions per section to review at end of block. if you don't know it the first time
around, you probably won't know it later.
-However, my bf had almost no biochem/cell bio, tons of pulm & tons of neuro & gross anatomy on his test.
Bottom line - every test is very different!

The resources:
• Practice questions:
o Qbank – Similar computer format as actual exam. Very detail-oriented. Beyond the scope of Step 1 at times.
Didn't want to spend more $ on UWorld, so I don't know what I'm missing out on, but I hear that it’s better.
51% completed
o Robbins Path questions - AMAZING. Challenging questions, highlights pathology buzzwords
o BRS path chapter questions & comprehensive exam – relatively easy, but helps to reinforce important
pathology after reading a chapter
o some Kaplan Q-book & some BRS Physiology chapter questions as needed
• First Aid - the lack of organization & typos got on my nerves and I whited out ~20% of the book. Grr I
seriously went through a bottle of white out each week. Don’t know of a better comprehensive review book
however.
• Anatomy/Embryology
o Couldn’t tolerate more than a few hours of Kaplan videos or to finish HY. Didn’t think it was worth
cramming generally low yield information, though I know one person who had an anatomy/neuroanatomy-
based test.
o Just memorized FA & crossed my fingers & got lucky.
• Biostats/Behavior Science/Psychiatry:
o Kaplan Video —> helpful for biostats & the professor is funny. overkill at times
o HY Behavior Science - read only the psychiatry section.
• Biochemistry/Cell & Molecular Bio/Genetics
o Lippincott's - worth the time
o HY Cell Bio (old edition) - couldn't stay awake during this read. borrrinnggg.
• Micro
o Clinical Microbio Made Ridiculously Simple - funny pictures, easy read!!
o Qbank micro is waaaaay beyond the scope of Step 1 – don’t be discouraged if you get questions wrong.
• Immunology
o HY - skimmed through & thought it was horrible
o Lange Review of Medical Microbiology and Immunology by Levison- easy to read & understand conceptual
• Pathology
o Goljan audio - amazing. Listened to him 3-5 times. His jokes got annoying but he gets you thinking
conceptually.
o BRS path - concise. Supplements Goljan audio
• Pharm
o FA - basically all you need to know for this topic!! know it well!
o Lange cards - helpful clinical vignettes. overkill at times. i may use it for step 2
o Qbank pharm is waaaaay beyond the scope of Step 1 – don’t be discouraged.
• HY Neuro - overkill at times, but tolerable. Know neuroanatomy well!
• BRS Physiology - great!

Summary:
• Goljan audio, Robbins path questions, Lange immuno, CMMRS, Lippincott's biochem, kaplan video for
biostats only —> invaluable. I found that the audio and video lectures "spiced up" my studying - it was a nice
change from those words that blur together at the end of the day.
• When other people are bragging or whining about how much or how little they are studying - IGNORE
THEM! Everybody has their own studying style, and people need more or less time than others.
• I hate HY. The series should be renamed "low yield". However, many other people recommended it to me, so
it depends on your learning style. If you to use it, stick with older editions, because the newer editions are
waayy too long and overkill.
• Practice questions are crucial for solidifying concepts!!! Start your day with them, use them as a reading
"break", do them before you go to bed.
• Didn't use a histo source. Can often figure out the answer based on question stem. Use google if you want to
see what something looks like - saves some $$!
• Don’t stress about your CBSE “diagnostic score”. It is possible to go up >80 points! (I went from 179 to 241).
Your NBME usually predicts your grade +/- 10 points (My best was 247 three days before the real thing).
• Studying for Step 1 sucks, especially when the weather is warm & sunny. But, remember that you survived the
MCAT! In my opinion, MCAT was a much more horrendous because you are not guaranteed a life as a doctor,
general chemistry equations have little to do w/your patients, and all of your non-pre-med friends are out
partying. While studying for Step 1, remember that you WILL be a doctor, most of what you’re studying is
clinically impt, & nobody is partying - your classmates are suffering & studying too!
• Personal health - again, I cannot stress the importance of taking care of yourself. Make sure you are sleeping
and eating well. If you are feeling pathologically anxious, you should see someone. This is really serious and
some people do need professional assistance during this tough time.

How I studied for Boards...(in great detail!)

wakka_x_3 17 Jan 2008, 21:30 -0-500

Here is the email I had promised to send with my strategy. So after your
exam is over give it a read and then don't think about it again until the
spring!

I know the time is quickly approaching and the school puts a lot of
pressure on you guys which turns into hysteria amongst the secondsh year
class. So hopefully this will help settle your nerves and come up with a
good plan.

First off if you are a textbook reader/studier this is not for you. The
only text I read during 1st and 2nd year with any consistency was Lilly
during cardiology. I like and look for lists, outlines and pictures.

So my approach was I bought First Aid and during the spring semester read
about 10-15 pages per week. That will take you maybe 45 minutes - at most!
The only reason I did this was for word recognition (oh the kidney I
remember what that is!) and to settle my nerves and feel like I was doing
something. I did not memorize anything and I did not write anything down at
that time. By doing this it also tells you what is in first aid. When you
begin reading it you will quickly realize that there is not a lot in first
aid - it's bare bones. So that is all I did during the year. Study for your
courses it will help you with the boards.

Once school ended I decided that for 6 weeks I would put life on hold and
studying for the boards. I'm generally a busy person so I had to limit
myself to one non-studying activity per day. To give you an idea of how
strict I was with my self Wegmans, getting gas or the gym all counted as an
activity. So if I did any one of those things I did nothing else that day
besides study. However, I planned one day off per week (Sunday for me) and
every weds night off (to go to LH) so I had breaks (or time to catch up). I
also put 2 flex days in my study plan. Flex days are work days with no
assigned reading so that if I'm behind I can catch up. I did 1 day at the
end of 2 and 4 weeks. This helped me catch up without freaking out because
I did end up getting about 1 day behind at the end of 2 and 4 weeks. So
like in medicine those are your lifestyle modifications for board study.

As for what and how long to study daily this is what I did:

I picked one book for every subject - that is all you will have time for.
Don't think that you will read one book and then maybe use another for
referencing things you don't understand - YOU DON"T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!
This is how people in my class got into trouble. The list of books I used
for each subject and comments on them are listed below at the end of this
email.

Once I had gathered all my books. I took out a calender and I took each
book, looked at it and made a decision on how much I could REASONABLY read
in one day plus do UCV's and QBank questions and wrote it on the calender.
The UCV's (underground clinical vignettes) are very short and easy - a good
evening activity. So I would pair them with the book of that subject and
assign a certain number to be completed per day. Examble of schedule is at
the end of this paragraph. The other task everyday is to do Q Bank. Q bank
is key to your success. You should always, always, always do them mixed up.
It just makes sense. The real test is mixed and if you are reading
pathology that day of course you are going to get more questions right if
you do just pathology questions in Q bank because its fresh in your head.
Now this means that in the beginning of your studying you will be doing
VERY poorly on Q Bank. Don't be surprised if you get a 35%! You haven't
studied most of the material yet it's OK! So you need to do at least one
section (50 ?'s) everyday (because that's the format of the real test). I
tried to alternate on weekdays and do 2 sections every other day. On
Saturdays I would schedule in the whole morning (4 sections) to help build
up test stamina. Its a long test! But your study schedule will help you
prepare also.

So this what I would write on my calender:

Day 1 BRS Path pgs 1-88, Pathophysiology UCV book 1 #1-45, 50 Q bank
Questions.
Day 2 BRS Path pgs 89-160, UCV book 1 #46-90, 100 Q bank questions
Day 3 BRS Path pgs 161-240, Pathophysiology UCV book 2 #1-30, 50 Q bank
questions

And on an on…. for each book until you get to the week before the exam.
Plan out everyday this carefully and you will not get behind.

It is an 8am starting exam so that is when I started my day. I was in my

study spot seated and ready to read at 8am on the dot. Not leaving the
house, not parking the car etc. I would read and take notes (see next
paragraph on how to take notes) until noon with a 10 minute bathroom/snack
break. Then I would eat lunch for 1/2-1 hour. Then read again from 1pm to
3:30. I found that was sufficient to accomplish my assigned reading daily.
I would then do 1 or 2 (depending on the day) 1 hour 50 question q bank
blocks. Then I would check them. After that I went home ate dinner and did
my one activity for the day. After dinner I would do only light studying
the UCV's or Flashcards (see next paragraph for thoughts on flashcards). So
that was the schedule 5 days a week. Then Sat I would do 4 blocks of
questions and then read a half day with no evening studying.

As for the actual studying. You will have every intention of making
charts, study sheets & flash cards. YOU DON'T HAVE TIME! if you are
stopping that much through your daily reading you will never get through
it. However, I also understand that if I just sit and read I don't really
pay attention. So the solution to this is First Aid. Use it like a work
book. As you're reading flip to the relevant section (ex. the cardiology
part of the physiology section while you are reading the BRS Cardio
Chapter) and anything you deem important that is not in first aid (which
will be a lot) WRITE IT IN. So at the end of your reading period (1 week
before the real exam) you will have a complete Step 1 study manual which is
a compilation of all your review books, first aid, Q bank answers and
UCV's.

What I did over that last week was I took one section of first aid (ex:
biochemistry) and read it straight through all in one day no matter how
long it took. The purpose of this was so I saw everything in that subject
together (for comparison/reference) all in one day again right before the
exam. Then the last day before the exam I went over a list of things I know
that I always forget and just need to see one last time AGAIN (like I will
ever remember it after the exam!?!?) as well as did my flashcards again.
Try to have a low key day and get a good nights sleep before the test. The
worst thing you could do to yourself is be tired for this exam. On the
subject of flash cards as mentioned above you do not have time to make them
yourself. The only two subjects they are useful for is micro and pharm. So
I bought the BRS Microbiology and BRS Pharmacology Flashcard sets. They
were worth every penny. DO NOT buy the BRS Pathology flashcards they are
too easy and do not have enough info.

Now for Q bank. Do the questions as described above. Treat it like the real
exam EVERY TIME. Q bank has two parts: regular and IV q bank. IV is more
clinical (translate to MUCH EASIER) so it is in your best interested to do
every single (4,000) regular q bank questions first and do IV when you need
a little pick me up/ego boost. Another place where friends of mine got
bogged down is in the answers. The Q bank explanations are generally good -
but long. So if you got a question right assume that you either knew it or
could figure it out again. Read only the ones you got wrong or totally
guessed on and got right, taking note of what you learned from them your
first aid "work book" for future review in your last week. I also when
starting q bank always selected the question option "all unused and all
previously wrong" That way you get new questions you have never seen and
they mix in the ones you have previously gotten wrong until you get it
right. Its good re-enforcement - if you can't learn it hammer it in!

Full length practice test. This is very important. You need to know how
long that day really is before you actually do it. Kaplan offers a test.
You can either do it online or you can go to their center. Either way is
fine as long as you treat it like the real test. However, a mistake made in
my class was to do it the week before your real exam. BAD IDEA. People who
did poorly freaked out a week before their exam. So do it 2 weeks before
your test so if you freak out you have time to recover and change your
study strategy. You can also take a test in the real Sylvan Learning
Center. I did not do this it might be something to consider. I think its
like $40 but you definitely have to plan in advance and schedule it with
them.

Changing your test date. DON'T DO IT. People who did didn't do any better.
Unless you have a major crisis that derails studying so badly you can't get
back on track. Llike you miss 3+ days or more remember you should have a
day off per week and 2 flex days built in. On that note, life goes on
during this time. People get married, families have reunions etc. Plan in
these things in your schedule above and beyond your study days and don't be
overly optimistic about getting studying done during these things. Stick to
your plan and don't get behind and you will do alright.

So those are my wise (and long because I'm on a very easy rotation right
now and have ample time to type) words of wisdom. The books I used are
listed below. Remember, pick ONE and stick with it. Also remember which
subjects you were good and more importantly not so good at. The light at
the end of the tunnel is this will eventually end and you will be so smart
and ready to start third year you will hardly be able to believe it!

Good Luck
Supercool MedStud
Disclaimer: This is how I studied and it worked for me but it may not work
for you. Make changes based on your own style. With that feel free to pass
this on to anyone who wants it.

Resources:

1. QBank- It should be required!! Buy it!

2. Kaplan Books- Too wordy, not compatible with my style of learning I did
not use any of them. Too textbook-like.

3. Underground Clinical Vignettes (UCV's)- 9 book series you can usually

buy used or new all together. Good big picture on diseases and good clincal
review.

4. Board Review Series (BRS) Microbiology Flash Cards- Awesome for quick
review, or to take with you places where you might have to wait. ( A
doctors appointment? Wegmans checkout line? treadmill? etc..)

5. BRS Pharmacology Flash Cards- Same as the micro ones - Awesome.

So those are the accessories so to speak, now for the books…

1. First Aid for USMLE Step 1- This is your work book and new best friend -
never go anywhere without it!

2. Medical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple- perfect level for the

boards, excellent pictures and mnemonics.

3. Lippincott's Biochemistry- I am terrible at biochem so I read the whole

book and it paid off for me. However, if you are a little more adept at
biochem classmates of my used and were happy with High Yield Biochemistry.

4. BRS Pathology- excellent. Take lots of notes in your first aid workbook.

5. BRS Physiology-excellent. Take lots of notes in your first aid workbook.

6. BRS Pharmacology- perfect level of depth. Lippincott's (red book) is too

much info. You do not need to know dosing, brand names, clearance etc. BRS
provides you with the generic name, mechanism of action, indication and
side effects which is all you need to know. Also a brief summary of
pharmaco kinetic/dynamics at the beginning.

7. BRS Psych/Epidimiology- perfect level of depth and two subjects in one

book! What more could you ask for?

8. High Yield Anatomy- Any more info than this book is too much But
re-learning the brachial and sacral plexuses is a must!
9. High Yield Neuroanatomy- Dr. Cohan is such a good teacher that you will
learn your neuro so well you will hardly need to review it. So this short
book is more than enough.

10. High Yield Embryology- A must read since we don't have a formal course.
Its short though! But a word of caution there are two editions of this book
you want the longer one that is approximately 130 pages. The other (~ 70pg)
book is TOO bare bones.

11. High Yield Histology- Thank goodness for flex days because I forgot
about this subject. So plan it in. Its a short book.

So about the PASS program. You may get different

stories from anyone you ask because everyone had very different
experiences. For myself, I thought it was very beneficial. I needed
the schedule to help push me through everything or i would never
finish on my own. There were definitely ups and downs tho. We got up
every day t 545 and had class from 7 until 4-5. Dr. Francis was
hilarious, very entertaining, and he really knew what the test takers
were thinking(hes takin pretty much every practice question out
there.) His test taking strategies really helped me too, because i am
a very slow test taker and would not have gotten through it
otherwise. Champaign was an awesome town and i actually had a good
time studying with people and hanging out in coffee shops. After
class we usually got sometihing quick to eat and spent time studying
in groups which really helped me even tho i had never studied in
groups before. THen i would try to do at least 30 questions before
bed. ALl in all, a very long day, but fun.

Downsides…… sometimes the class was very very long and you felt
like you wasting time. Many students there have failed a few times
and arent the sharpest tools in the shed. Dr. Francis, tho funny,
wastes time on jokes and stories (good and bad). Also, many times Dr.
Francis is just flat out wrong. NO other way to put it. I dont know
where he gets some of his facts or reasoning, but it is borderline
comical, and thats how i took it so it didnt bother me. It really
bothered other people who were less flexible. They would get angry.
I just figured there was alot he was teaching me alot otherwise, and
if i thought he were wrong i would just look it up in 2 other sources
or something like that. (1st aid is wrong too sometimes). He also
tells you not to look at first aid, but i find that a mistake. After
i was done i went through 1st aid in like 2 days and there are some
pts he leaves out, and little pointers that are helpful in addition to
his course. It really is tough to find time to do both during the
program though, so i guess that is another minus. Finally, the
business side is run HORRIBLY. His brother does the business, and he
is a money grabbing ass. They gave us the wrong address and never told
us they moved when we got there. And i had to call 3 times, and then
beg in an email for my security deposit back on the housing. Took 4
months to finally get it. I think some people never got it back.
Recap…for me the progrm was helpful. Im not sure if i could have
gotten the same score studying on my own, but either way, my score was
as high as my highest targets. Dr. Francis is funny, and the course
is entertaining. I had fun there. His test taking skills were amazing
and helped me the most. It also was a good schedule for me and kept
me focused and motivaated. HOwever, some would say hes wrong alot,
wastes alot of time, and they didnt have time for anything else. SOme
people think they did worse than if they just studied on their own. I
know that doesnt sound like much help but i tried to give both the
good and bad.