However, there were other critical things about our program that set us up for easily passing the ABIM:ġ. Again, they preferred to accept medical students with high Step scores (the thought–whether or not it’s correct–was that this predicts internal medicine board pass rates). My internal medicine residency program had a very high ABIM pass rate. Every generation of students is savvier about learning and has better learning tools available to them.Įxample #2: American Board of Internal Medicine Optimal learning strategies are better-understood. There are medicine-specific, computer-based spaced-repetition systems like Firecracker that weren’t around when I was in medical school. Spaced repetition software is more popular now than it was back then. There’s more than one way to eat a pomegranate. I’ve heard that at Caribbean medical schools, students are drilled with endless multiple-choice questions and mock Step exams for months, becoming expert at taking the test. Of course, other methods were also effective. The study strategy for Steps 2 and 3 is analogous. I told our preclinical directors about it. We shared the strategy with other friends. I shared this strategy with a friend who carried it out perfectly, then studied supplemental material - both question banks, other review books - and got an even higher score than I did. I think that in my particular case, knowing First Aid backward and forward was the key to doing well. However, I took two NBME practice exams a few weeks apart during the second month of studying and did very well on them, predicting the great score that I got on the actual Step 1. Also, and this scares me in retrospect, I only completed 36 percent of the Kaplan Qbank.
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In my own case, things didn’t unfold so neatly: I read First Aid five times, took notes in First Aid while reading relevant parts of Rapid Review Biochemistry, then read BRS Physiology once and skimmed BRS Pathology and High-Yield Biostatistics quickly. Later, one of my classmates who did very well on Step 1 told me that he used the same strategy. I first learned about the above strategy from an upperclassman who went into emergency medicine. Form #3 was considered most representative. These exams felt very different from Step 1, but word on the street was that one’s score supposedly correlated well with one’s actual Step 1 score. I don’t know if this is still the case.Ģb. With better explanations, diagrams, and a lower price point, USMLEWorld eventually became the “gold standard” question bank.
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Skim the images in Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease.Ģa. High-Yield Biostatistics: read it very quickly, taking notes in First Aid. High-Yield Neuroanatomy: I remember really enjoying this book during med school, but I don’t recall how much I studied it for Step 1. Goljan’s High-Yield Review (~100 pages): best studied the week before the exam. Edward Goljan’s pathology audio lectures: Best to take notes on these lectures while listening to them during the first month of studying. Stop studying a couple days before the exam to “recharge” before you take it.īRS Physiology: read it twice, taking notes in First Aid.īRS Behavioral Science: for those who didn’t take a psychiatry rotation before studying for Step 1.ĭr. Treat studying like a job: Get up at the same time, start studying at the same time, and finish studying at the same time each day.
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Total study time: no longer than 8 to 10 hours daily for eight weeks or less. The following was a popular Step 1 study strategy at our school in the late 2000s: However, these advantages aside, it remains the case that some study strategies are more effective than others. There were probably other indirect reasons, too. Also, BCM seemed to have a bias for admitting good test-takers (our average MCAT score was unusually high). We studied for and took Step 1 after we had completed several key clinical rotations. There were several indirect reasons for our high scores. BCM’s average Step 1 score, compared with other medical schools, was rumored to be among the top few in the nation (a quick search failed to verify this, though). I attended Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in the late 2000s.