How to Plan Your Step 1 Studying
PrefaceI want to preface this with sympathizing how hard it must be to find reliable resources and mentors that will help you figure out how best to study for Step 1 USMLE. There are countless Youtube videos and blogs where people share their personal scores and study methods. I am sharing my experiences with y’all in hope that it can help you get to your personal goal. There are people who score 260+ out there and good thing Step 1 is pass/fail now so it doesn't matter! This post will give you a jump start with your Step 1 planning and I'm positive that you'll be able to pass Step 1. I suggest you do your research on how you like to study, which med influencers study like you, where you are academically, what your goals are (aim for a score that is both realistic and challenging), and what you want to prioritize. Remember, it’s just as important to build your CV with other great extracurriculars and passions. When should you start planning your schedule?
- It is very important you are cognizant of how you want to do on Step right when you get into med school. You do this by making sure you are excelling in your classes, learning material right the first time and not taking an L on certain topics you don’t like, and building a good foundation.
- Remember to maximize your time during pre-dedicated so you are not overwhelmed in your dedicated
- My goal was to finish content review before dedicated starts so that during dedicated, I was only doing questions, practice exams, and reviewing my weaknesses.
- Depending on what type of curriculum your school has, that will determine how you arrange your study time. There are 2 types of medical school curriculum that I am aware of.
- 1. The 2 pass system where in your first year, you learn mostly physiology for every system and some diseases. The second year is when you learn all the pathology for every system and their diagnosis/ management. You essentially get 2 passes through every body system by the time dedicated comes around.
- 2. The 1.5 curriculum where you learn all the physiology/pathology and everything about that body system within 1 big block. So if you do the neuro block in your first year, you won’t see it again until dedicated. These schools usually give you a larger time frame for dedicated so you have sufficient time to review everything again.
What is your experience with prepping for Step 1?
- I made between 240-245 on Step 1. My school does not have letter grades but they do have Honors, Pass, and Fail. I honored a majority of my courses. I have incredibly terrible test anxiety and do poorly when pressured so I had to learn how to build my confidence and test taking strategies. My school does a 2 pass system and we get 6 weeks of dedicated study time. Because we get 2 passes, I really just focused on my courses the first year and didn’t start reviewing material for Step 1 until second year. Therefore, make sure you are adapting my schedule and advice to something that will work for you and your circumstances.
To ease your research, I have compiled some resources I found useful.
- On my Youtube channel, I have created a playlist of all the Step 1 study schedules / how to use resources that I thought were useful to my learning.
- I also looked at a few medical student influencers with blog posts that helped
- For you, I have created a series of blog posts, IG posts, and Youtube videos that can help you.
Other resources that will be helpful is
- Reaching out to upperclassmen at your school that you trust
- Asking your friends how they are planning on studying
- Being selective of what you read on Reddit
General tips
- Step 1 is pass/fail now so the scores do not matter anymore!! But, there are many benefits of learning this material well so you can actually know is going on during rotations. There are lots of pathologies and the better your foundation, the better you are at being able to diagnose these on patients and know what to ask/look out for.
- It's all about repetition and how many times have you seen that material. The more you go through those topics, the more you’ll understand and the easier it will be to relearn the material. I don’t expect you to remember something from a year ago. But I do expect that you learned it really well the first time which takes a while, that a year later, you can learn it with less time.
- Don’t try to do this alone. I had a study buddy/accountability partner the entire time. We created our schedules together and allotted room for our individual needs. It will help you stay on track because you don’t want to fall behind and y’all can talk about the same material.
- Be comfortable with not using every resource offered. You may or may not have time.
Good luck and continue reading my Step 1 series to learn more!lub dub,Shanon