Arfa Ashraf USMLE STEP 1 Experience 250 +

 

Lazy girl guide ; 250+

This isn’t something you should be reading to find out how to study, plenty of posts about that by people who did better than me. This is more of a 2 am post you read, when you’re drowning in anxiety and self-doubt, and everyone except you seems to have everything under control.

You aren’t alone, I promise.

I say lazy because I did not complete A LOT of things I wanted to do or was told that I absolutely had to do to get a good score. My prep was all over the place, and I was always jumping from one thing to another, never completing anything. If that’s you, and you can’t seem to work hard like everyone around you, or be as organized everyone else is, I hope this can give you some hope.

Here is a list of resources I used, and how I used them.

1.       Uworld: The absolute best.  With step 1 now going to pass/fail, the only resource you need. I started my prep directly with First Aid and U world. Please don’t worry if your percentage in the beginning is bad, it DOES NOT matter. I started with 40%, it only goes up. Also don’t worry if you can’t seem to do a block a day, I couldn’t either. There was only one day in the 10 months of my prep that I did 40 questions in a day. I would also strongly suggest you completely review a block before moving on. More often than not, I started a new block and just kept adding questions I still had to review to a list I made for after. Naturally, that after never came and in the end I had about 30-40 blocks I never reviewed completely. Don’t be like me.

 I started doing it system wise, did some random blocks in the middle, and then shifted to system wise again in the end for basic sciences. In my last month however, I was doing lots of incorrects random timed and that helped. For my incorrects blocks I only reviewed the questions I had gotten wrong again.

I completed uworld like one week before my exam. For the last ten blocks or so, I just attempted questions for the sake of it. Never reviewed those blocks.  Had about 700 incorrects and 300 marked questions still left. So please don’t worry if you don’t have time for a second pass or can’t seem to complete your first pass. If you have done it properly the first time, it should not matter. But please be careful of what you annotate on your FA. I made about a billion UW notes and did not read them even once.

2.       First Aid: I didn’t read FA “cover to cover” even once. I just couldn’t. Only read it while doing uworld questions, or would do only the pages that had info I was weak in. Don’t worry if you can’t seem to sit down and read this book. The best way to read it is either while watching B&B or doing UW questions. And don’t even worry about not being able to memorize everything in the book, it’s just not possible.

 

3.       Boards and Beyond: For systems I only watched the physiology videos since my patho was relatively fresh after fourth year. Again, DO NOT take any notes. Just watch and understand. For basic sciences, I watched all biochem, gen pharma, immuno, and biostat videos. They are good for making you understand what’s written in FA.

 

4.       Sketchy and anki: For micro, I didn’t watch all the videos, just the ones I found hard or difficult to memorize since I had already watched most of them in my third year.  Anki helped me the most with micro, I used the lolnotacop deck. It’s the best.

I tried watching sketchy pharma but found the videos too long. So, I only saw the antibacterials videos since I found them hard and followed it up with anki. Anki can be annoying at first but its amazing for things that just require memorization. Use it if you have memory issues.

5.       Pathoma: I only did chapters 1-3 properly. I planned to go over them again on my last day but could only do one chapter because of anxiety. So, it’s okay if you haven’t done them 5 times like everyone around you.  Didn’t really feel the need to do the rest since I had done it extensively in my fourth year. Just used it here and there for anything I felt I needed more help with.

6.       Anatomy shelf notes: I never managed to go through the complete file, but definitely do it if you’re having trouble with anatomy.

7.       Dirty medicine and Randy Neil: I did not watch a lot of these videos, only a couple for the topics I found hard. Personally however, I did not find the Randy Neil’s biostat videos helpful. Only doing more questions helped.

I started taking nbmes when I was done with 60% of Uworld. Took the older ones first, started with 190-220s. My scores in the newer NBMEs and UWSAs went something like this

UWSA1: 242

NBME 25: 224

NBME 27: 240

NBME 26: 243

NBME 28: 239

NBME 29 : Never completed it online. Did two blocks and made the mistake of checking the answers from the offline answers pdf. Had about 18 wrong in the first two blocks and I just gave up.

NBME 30: I was SO done with the nbmes by this time and I did not want to see a bad score 2 weeks before my exam so I just did one block a day without caring about how many I got wrong.

UWSA2: 258 (This just proved that NBMEs are horrible exams and predict nothing)

Free 120 : 90%

NBMEs were a huge source of anxiety for me because I just could not understand the way they asked questions. But don’t worry because the real exam is NOTHING like the NBMEs. If you aren’t scoring well on them but are doing well on uworld blocks and you know that you would have gotten the question right if they had asked in a better way, you’re good to go. I know it’s easier said than done but if you’re in your last month of prep, FORGET about the NBMEs. They are so variable for everyone. Only use them to figure out your weakness, and make sure you cover those topics from FA or B&B so you don’t make the same mistakes again.

For me however, my weaknesses stayed my weaknesses till the very end so don’t worry if there’s something you can’t master. You’re human after all.

Also, I only reviewed my incorrects from the NBMEs, never had the energy to go through all of the questions again. If you can though, I would prefer you do because lots of concepts repeat.

I had planned A LOT of things in the last week but I could barely study. Please know that it is normal. Don’t panic if you can’t study, you’ve done enough. Also don’t worry if you can’t seem to remember things, that’s also perfectly normal. You’ll remember them on the exam day, I promise. If you have sleep issues, please take something the night of the exam. I have never been able to sleep before a prof, so I knew I would need help sleeping. I tried zolpidem a week before my exam, and then took it the night before. Slept like a baby. Was great.

 I was a little nervous before the exam, but it all went away when the first block started. It is just going to feel like 7 slightly easier uworld blocks. Know that there WILL be questions you’ll have absolutely no idea about, do not let them be a source of anxiety. Flag them and move on. Time also won’t be an issue on the real thing, so don’t worry about that. I had 20-30 min for my flagged questions in every block. I took a 10 min break after every block, take light snacks that you can munch on, no heavy lunches.

Here’s the thing though. Everyone is going to be using the same resources but everyone’s way of using them is going to be different. Figure out your strengths and play to them, there is no one right way of doing things. Give this your best, but also know that everyone’s best is going to look different. This is YOUR journey, and there is no room for comparison. Don’t forget to take breaks, spend time with friends and family, and do whatever it takes to help with the anxiety because this is a long stressful journey. Just make sure your inner voice isn’t too overly critical of you, keep telling yourself that you’re doing your best. For some its going to be 10 hours a day, for some 6. Remember, NO comparison with the people around you. I took A LOT of breaks, could never study for more than 7 hours a day, and never had two good study days in a row. I wish I wasn’t so hard on myself and I hope you aren’t either.

Now that it’s going to pass/fail I hope the journey becomes more fun than stressful. Make sure you enjoy learning from Uworld, because it truly is the best resource out there. Try your best to learn as much as possible because it is going to help you in step 2. Your goal shouldn’t be just passing.

Also, do not hesitate to reach out to friends and seniors, they’ve been where you are and can help you. Be shameless when it comes to this because this journey can be extremely overwhelming, you’ll need all the help you can get.

Best of luck! You got this.