I recently got my score, I got 99/238. I wanted to share a few things that I think are helpful if you want to take step 1 and get a high score, I did not share my exact experience because I do not think it is the best way to go:
1- There is no such thing as a back door or a shortcut to getting high scores, no matter how good you were in your medical school and no matter how smart you think you are, it is going to take a lot of time and effort, so you should give it both. This of course does not mean that you should not ask for the correct way to prepare, or the best sources to study from, because you should.
2- Balance between your comprehensive and short review sources, USMLE requires that you use both. One way of doing so is to write your own notes.
3- It is all about the high yield:
Like any country, there are certain diseases or aspects which are more important in medicine than other, and you have to focus on "what the board loves to ask", whether because it is an endemic disease, a new subject of interest or just because they love it. For example I am not sure which is more important for the US board, cystic fibrosis or myocardial infarction!. And where I took my degree you are considered an illiterate if you can not tell Schistosoma eggs from each other, and a genius to know that Lyme disease has nothing to do with lime! Get a copy of First Aid and purchase a subscription in USMLE World Q bank. These two sources are very helpful and contain the highest yield material, I think they are irreplaceable.
4- Begin going through review questions early in the course of your preparation, this can be during the first reading or in the second reading, it will help you retain information and make you focus on the important high yield points.
5- Try making your own questions, make their theme about something you find difficult or confusing, try to make them difficult and tricky and provide distractors to make yourself aware of how to differentiate them from the correct answer. You should read too many questions to know how to make USMLE style questions. This will get you into the examiners mind and helps you to point a distractor whenever you see one.
6- Cram it all:
About 10 days to one month before the exam, try to cram all the high yield information from your "short review source" into your brain, this worked very well for me, in fact I did not have time to go through Biochemistry and Genetics for the last time before the exam, and guess what? I perceived them as the most difficult questions and my score sheet showed that I did worst in them. And this, is all what the American Graduates should do before taking the exam because they are already familiar with the content.
7- It will always be very difficult until you realize that gaining knowledge is one of the greatest pleasures in life, so do not do it for the exam, do it for the "joy" of learning, and the dark tunnel to practicing medicine in the US will become a sweet ride on a sunny day. Try to experience this joy by getting a study partner or joining a forum, but again, you should make sure that you are studying for an appropriate amount of time and not just having fun
.
8- Have faith in God and in yourself, these two are the ones you will count on through your journey. Do not insult yourself by saying that you do not have enough IQ to get a high score, I personally do not think it needs a lot of intelligence, and those who get bad scores either do not prepare well, do not prepare correctly or had bad luck or a nervous breakdown during the exam.
1- There is no such thing as a back door or a shortcut to getting high scores, no matter how good you were in your medical school and no matter how smart you think you are, it is going to take a lot of time and effort, so you should give it both. This of course does not mean that you should not ask for the correct way to prepare, or the best sources to study from, because you should.
2- Balance between your comprehensive and short review sources, USMLE requires that you use both. One way of doing so is to write your own notes.
3- It is all about the high yield:
Like any country, there are certain diseases or aspects which are more important in medicine than other, and you have to focus on "what the board loves to ask", whether because it is an endemic disease, a new subject of interest or just because they love it. For example I am not sure which is more important for the US board, cystic fibrosis or myocardial infarction!. And where I took my degree you are considered an illiterate if you can not tell Schistosoma eggs from each other, and a genius to know that Lyme disease has nothing to do with lime! Get a copy of First Aid and purchase a subscription in USMLE World Q bank. These two sources are very helpful and contain the highest yield material, I think they are irreplaceable.
4- Begin going through review questions early in the course of your preparation, this can be during the first reading or in the second reading, it will help you retain information and make you focus on the important high yield points.
5- Try making your own questions, make their theme about something you find difficult or confusing, try to make them difficult and tricky and provide distractors to make yourself aware of how to differentiate them from the correct answer. You should read too many questions to know how to make USMLE style questions. This will get you into the examiners mind and helps you to point a distractor whenever you see one.
6- Cram it all:
About 10 days to one month before the exam, try to cram all the high yield information from your "short review source" into your brain, this worked very well for me, in fact I did not have time to go through Biochemistry and Genetics for the last time before the exam, and guess what? I perceived them as the most difficult questions and my score sheet showed that I did worst in them. And this, is all what the American Graduates should do before taking the exam because they are already familiar with the content.
7- It will always be very difficult until you realize that gaining knowledge is one of the greatest pleasures in life, so do not do it for the exam, do it for the "joy" of learning, and the dark tunnel to practicing medicine in the US will become a sweet ride on a sunny day. Try to experience this joy by getting a study partner or joining a forum, but again, you should make sure that you are studying for an appropriate amount of time and not just having fun
.8- Have faith in God and in yourself, these two are the ones you will count on through your journey. Do not insult yourself by saying that you do not have enough IQ to get a high score, I personally do not think it needs a lot of intelligence, and those who get bad scores either do not prepare well, do not prepare correctly or had bad luck or a nervous breakdown during the exam.
