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Exam in 1.5 Months; Study Schedule!!

32K views 491 replies 24 participants last post by  Sabio 
#1 ·
So 2 weeks ago I started with this thread/schedule:
(What I have finished is in Green and What I still have to do is in Red)
(http://www.usmle-forums.com/usmle-step-1-forum/24830-exam-2-months-study-schedule.html)

**Doing Kaplan Qbank as much as I can while following this plan**

1) Starting with the three P's:
I finished off Pharm and Physiology in the month of March.

2) April 5th to April 15th: Pathology
-sources: Pathoma Videos + KLN (my own notes on Kaplan Book)

3) April 16th to April 25th: Work on Weak Areas
I will be using Kaplan Lecture Notes for all of these.

-Neuro: also using HY Neuro - this will prolly take me 3 days.
-Micro: Viruses (1 day)
-Beh. Sci: Biostats (0.5 day)
-Genetics, Immunology (1 day)
-Phys: Renal, Cardiac calculations (2 days)
-Path: Msk/Skin disorders, GIT Disorders (1 day)
-Pharm: Antibacterials/virals, Adrenergic pharm (2 days)
-Biochem: A few key enzymes, GSD's (0.5 day)

4)April 26th: Give an NBME !!
5)April 27th: Start DIT !!
So as you can see, I still have to finish off working on Neuro, Micro and Biochem. Then take an NBME and start on DIT. After a lot of contemplation on what sources to use for Neuro and Micro I have finally decided.

Here is my new plan -

1) April 24th to April 30th:
-Neuro (Kaplan Vids + Notes)
-100 cases of Medical Ethics
-Micro (Kaplan Notes)
-Biochem (FA)

2) April 30th: NBME 5 or 6

3) May 1st: Start DIT
(try to finish within 3 weeks)

I am hoping to finish DIT by May 20th and that will give me about 2 weeks to my exam. My eligibility period ends June 30th but I want to be READY for the exam by the first week of June.

Any advice or suggestions are welcome! And if anyone wants to tag along for the DIT ride, let me know, we can work on it together and keep each other motivated!
 
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#3 ·
Haven't booked my date yet.
Qbank - doing it subject wise and using it as a learning tool. Only done about 5 blocks so far.
NBME - taking it on Sunday hopefully and that will be the real assessment of where I stand.

What about you? You're planning on your exam around the same time right?
 
#8 ·
So 2 weeks ago I started with this thread/schedule:
(What I have finished is in Green and What I still have to do is in Red)
(http://www.usmle-forums.com/usmle-step-1-forum/24830-exam-2-months-study-schedule.html)

So as you can see, I still have to finish off working on Neuro, Micro and Biochem. Then take an NBME and start on DIT. After a lot of contemplation on what sources to use for Neuro and Micro I have finally decided.

Here is my new plan -

1) April 24th to April 30th:
-Neuro (Kaplan Vids + Notes)
-100 cases of Medical Ethics
-Micro (Kaplan Notes)
-Biochem (FA)

2) April 30th: NBME 5 or 6

3) May 1st: Start DIT
(try to finish within 3 weeks)

I am hoping to finish DIT by May 20th and that will give me about 2 weeks to my exam. My eligibility period ends June 30th but I want to be READY for the exam by the first week of June.

Any advice or suggestions are welcome! And if anyone wants to tag along for the DIT ride, let me know, we can work on it together and keep each other motivated!
Looking good. BTW for DIT, are you following the videos or doing the online $$ version??

Keep us updated on your progress and good luck.
 
#14 ·
Hey,

For DIT I have the videos so just going to watch those.

Thanks and good luck to you as well!


Funny and scary at the same time that I have been basically making a review schedule and when I looked at your post they are almost the same.

Qbank has been great so far, however I really need to spend a lot more time on it then I have been giving it these past two weeks. I need to hurry up and get to at least 80% finish before I buy UWorld.

Medical ethics really helped me a lot on the NBME I took brought me to average. I need to finish some of the cases I skipped and hopefully UW questions will get me to above average there.

HY neuro, basically neuro has been a rough subject for me and I see it continue to be rough. I need to spend a lot of time here, I'm started on Monday, I read through so many chapters today in HY plus I used RR for some of the pathology topics.
haha that is funny. How is your schedule coming a long ? I am always a day or two behind some how. Neuro is one of my weakest courses as well but since yesterday I've been doing KLN Vids and I think I am finally getting the hang of it! Hope your studying is going good!

yea, i'm planning to take the exam first week of june
which nbme are you doing this weekend? i'm going to do form 12 on saturday or sunday and hopefully score 205+.
I am planning on doing NBME 5 or 6 this weekend. May be I'll do some NBME's offline (1-4) just to get in the groove before starting DIT. Let us know how it goes! Good luck.

nice plan...donno why i cant schedule my studies well..i try hard to make plan but fail to stick to it..m listening kaplan vidz..pharma this time..still left with physio n path goljan..doin UW n FA as well..donno how m gonna do it..i had taken slot but m not ready yet ..will extend..can i hope u guys will help me in making well study plan?????...if i extend ..m having 4 months ..need a plan ..a rock solid one...itz urgent...help me folks ..plzzzz:confused:

What is your new schedule ? If you need any help, let me know :)

Lol!
I don't do anything at the hospital. I had to take my sister to the hospital since she had a surgery yesterday. I spend half the day yesterday and half of the day today.. I am gonu have to start studyn in 2 hrs (after my nap). I don't have clinical experience either. But ye I am excited to start it as well.
Oh ok.. Well hope your sister is doing well now! Good luck studying!
 
#9 ·
Funny and scary at the same time that I have been basically making a review schedule and when I looked at your post they are almost the same.

Qbank has been great so far, however I really need to spend a lot more time on it then I have been giving it these past two weeks. I need to hurry up and get to at least 80% finish before I buy UWorld.

Medical ethics really helped me a lot on the NBME I took brought me to average. I need to finish some of the cases I skipped and hopefully UW questions will get me to above average there.

HY neuro, basically neuro has been a rough subject for me and I see it continue to be rough. I need to spend a lot of time here, I'm started on Monday, I read through so many chapters today in HY plus I used RR for some of the pathology topics.
 
#84 ·
Medical ethics?

What is the resource you're using for medical ethics?! I could use a good one.

BTW, I am doing a similar schedule but just using DIT, Goljan & UWorld and start May 7th. SO not looking forward to it, but just a part of life right now :p

Funny and scary at the same time that I have been basically making a review schedule and when I looked at your post they are almost the same.

Qbank has been great so far, however I really need to spend a lot more time on it then I have been giving it these past two weeks. I need to hurry up and get to at least 80% finish before I buy UWorld.

Medical ethics really helped me a lot on the NBME I took brought me to average. I need to finish some of the cases I skipped and hopefully UW questions will get me to above average there.

HY neuro, basically neuro has been a rough subject for me and I see it continue to be rough. I need to spend a lot of time here, I'm started on Monday, I read through so many chapters today in HY plus I used RR for some of the pathology topics.
 
#11 ·
nice plan...donno why i cant schedule my studies well..i try hard to make plan but fail to stick to it..m listening kaplan vidz..pharma this time..still left with physio n path goljan..doin UW n FA as well..donno how m gonna do it..i had taken slot but m not ready yet ..will extend..can i hope u guys will help me in making well study plan?????...if i extend ..m having 4 months ..need a plan ..a rock solid one...itz urgent...help me folks ..plzzzz:confused:
 
#19 ·
I haven't done too many blocks. Only did about 300 questions so far on Pharm and Physio basically. Averaging around 50% but I started at 39% on my first block :toosad:

Getting better on the Qbank overall though. Once I hit about 500 - 700 questions and include more than just 2 courses, I think it will give me a better idea of my cumulative average.
 
#25 ·
Are you doing them random timed or subjectwise ?

When do you plan to focus on the Qbank, I mean just do qbank all day. The last three weeks or so?
I am planning on doing qbank in the last month of my prep. So starting May I will devote extra time just for Qbank (with DIT) ... but in the last 3 weeks it will be nothing else but Qbank + UW Notes + FA (repeat over n over again).

Alright.. Myn is between 30-40% as well.. I only did 6% of the questions.. Iam doing them after each subject/system.
Oh ok. When are you planning on writing your exam? And which subjects have you done so far in the Qbank? I am about to start immuno, genetics and behavioral so hopefully that boosts up my score lol

Update: 3 chapters of Neuro left .. two major ones though (Brain stem and Spinal Cord). Its about 4 hours of videos so just gonna focus on those today. Might throw in a block of immuno questions to refresh myself lol
 
#36 ·
Just did a block of Behavioral....got 61% :notsure: and I thought it was one of my strong courses ... :toosad::eek:

Todays TO DO LIST -

-1 Chapter of Neuro left
-Review Questions
-50 Cases of Medical Ethics left
-Start Biochem from FA

Long day ahead ...
cuz "behavioral" is half biostats...
I bought Kaplan qbank - did a block of subjectwise neuro, got 72%.
Not too bad, though questions seemed easy enough
 
#39 ·
to tell you the truth for me it worked this way - I read KLN back in a day and had a understanding of what is what... Now I had 1.5 weeks going through relatively thin (180 pages) of HY Neuro and I know that now I know what I should know for the test.
 
#40 ·
I am going through Kaplan Neuro right now. The Neuro videos are USELESS! They are so garbage that even "garbage" seems to be an big understatement...

I am still gonna finish what I started though since I only have one chapter left :eek:

I think I will be using HY Neuro for the pictures and may be skim through it.

@DocSikorski - 72% in a Neuro block is amazing! I am hoping to do a neuro block soon. And also, the Behavioral block I did wasn't biostats. I haven't reviewed Behvioral Psychology/ Psych Pharmacology ...and the Child Milestones!! That's primarily where I was lost.
 
#53 ·
Hello, I'm in the process of preparing for my exam as well

I'm in the first read of my kaplan lecture notes...so how many questions do you think i should do per day? some days i get in a block but some days i don even get to do questionss.... :(

GAAAA SO CONFUSING...I'M GOING MAD WITH THIS PREP!!!!

I'm almost done with kaplan patho..gonna start kaplan biochem next week..my plan is finish all kaplan lectures by may end.. TAKE AN NBME

jUNE WORK ON WEAK TOPICS..try n do high yield for neuro n molecular an goljan..

July do DIT...along w/ questions and then august give my exam..

as i have my eligibilty till september 30...

right now im only doing u world...do you think i should get one more qbanK? i'm onlly doing subject/ system wise questions on whatever i studied that day? when do you think i should focus heavily on mixed blocks? which month?

i HAVE the same problem..of not sticking to my plan properly.i need to be more strict with myself.. :(

that's good you have a good plan..GOod luck for your exam!!! seems ur well prepared...;)

if you can help me out that would be great...
 
#60 ·
...so how many questions do you think i should do per day? some days i get in a block but some days i don even get to do questionss.... :(

It depends on how much time you spend on reading. If you spend most of the time reading then you wont have much time on questions.


right now im only doing u world...do you think i should get one more qbanK? i'm onlly doing subject/ system wise questions on whatever i studied that day? when do you think i should focus heavily on mixed blocks? which month?

UW should be used random, timed mixed blocks. How long did you get it for? Kaplan qbank could be used as a learning tool to do questions subjectwise. Anyway, in the last 4-5 weeks leading up to the exam you should be at random mixed blocks. (I am trying to get there asap as well :eek:)


if you can help me out that would be great...
Hope that helped. Good luck!
 
#55 ·
Good job meng! I hope to start Neuro questions soon. I am trying to do some questions which is holding me back from my schedule but I decided that its better to focus on some questions before taking the NBME.

I working on Biochem ...didn't get time to start it yesterday. Will be doing questions in the Qbank from Immuno, Genetics, Beh Sci, Neuro, Embryo and Biochem.

I am thinking I need to spend some time finishing up as many questions as I can in like 3-4 days and then take the NBME. I want to finish Micro by Sunday ..so still gonna hope to finish everything according to this plan but just gonna push the NBME & DIT off by like 4 days lol
 
#61 ·
I have usmle world until July 06...but planning to renew it till my exam..which will be in august sometime!!!

yeah i'm only doing questions subject based rite now...not yet doin mixed..

it takes forever..one block w/ revision is taking me 3-4 hours..b/ ci type out explanatinos to answers i got wrong...

how do you do questions? for how long do you do them in a day???
 
#63 ·
Yeah questions take long. If I read then I dont get time for too many questions. Basically this month I've been trying to review as much as I can. So far I've only been able to do about 350 questions.

Done GI (anat/physio/path/pharm) annotating.
Endo Physio - Out of 11 chapters in kaplan - Done 2 chapters of KLN +videos, 2 chapters KLN.
Now thinking of reviewing/annotating something else before I hit the bed...
Nice! Good going buddy. Keep it up.

Update:
-Running behind my schedule since I still have to finish Biochem and Micro. I don't think I am taking an NBME on Sunday!!! I haven't allotted enough time to do questions. I am gonna finish Biochem and Micro and then focus at least 3-4 days on nothing but just questions .. get about 10 blocks done in the those 3-4 days and then take the NBME. That will shoot me up to around 800 questions done which will be good. I am using Kaplan Qbank btw. Suggestions ?
 
#68 ·
@islandcrazy: You are absolutely right. I shouldn't leave the NBME for later and to be honest, I am a little nervous to take it because I want to do good in it. I need the confidence and motivation after getting a good score on the NBME. Your schedule sounds good. According to your plan, it looks like you're planning on taking your NBME in 2 weeks from now (around May 12th) ... is that correct ?

@5hstar: Not sure if this was directed for islandcrazy or me but here you go...I used kaplan videos and notes for neuroanatomy. not gonna use hy since i dont want to spend anymore time on neuro...gonna do questions and move on from it. For biochem, I am using FA as well and some concepts from kaplan notes. I have UW notes as I did UW a while ago..so just gonna look over those notes and mainly focus on Kaplan Qbank questions. Gonna try doing mixed timed blocks after I start DIT...hopefully in a week or so.

@aj23 & @sukar: haha thanks guys, its a good motivation to write the updates on here to get positive feedback! I guess we all motivate each other in one way or the other :D aj23 - how much UW do you have left? and when is your exam?

Now here is an update:

-I took yesterday (Saturday) off completely and went out n hung out with some friends. I got no work done yesterday so I am still in the same spot as I was on Friday night. I thought I'd take a regret free day off from studying and start fresh this week! So basically, from today (Sunday) to next Sunday ...1 week, I am going to finish biochem from FA, micro from Kaplan notes, and do 10 blocks of questions. Then ready or not, NBME's here I come !!

What's everyone else's plan looking like for this week?
 
#69 ·
@5hStar: Also not sure who you directed your question at... but I did HY neuroscience book and today I will be doing Goljan CNS audio lectures and Pathoma. I'm doing the Kaplan Qbank subject wise because I really need to focus on some of my weak areas before I hit random, timed in UW which will be after my second NBME.

@Hope2Pass: Yup planning on taking a second NBME in two week. I took a first NBME in the first week of April because I needed to really understand my weak areas. It was basically a shock to the system but I'm happy I did it because I realised that I was lacking a lot of knowledge in some areas that I thought I knew. Gonna focus on Neuro, Pharm and Micro. Hopefully I can increase my NBME score.
 
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