[drflyinfish007]

Thank you so much for your help, I am so sorry for bugging you again, but there were lots of complications trying to make schedule and other problems, and I haven't started. sorry for disappearing for while, but I am now back online and ready to go.

I have delayed my test until June, and it is now March. I took NBME in Jan and scored 160. Do you think its possible to increase to 240 range by June?

I have saved up so much loan money and put in so much money and time just planning, but not actually studying. Which was a huge mistake. Not taking the Falcon review course in Jan was quite easily the biggest mistake of my life.

I have Kaplan videos, and 2010 lecture notes. I have DIT videos. I have old PASS videos. I have every book imaginable, I have USMLErx, Kaplan Qbank, and UWorld.

I just don't know how to start, I think its my ADD.

1. I see that you had put BRS for pathology. Why do you not suggest listening to Goljan audio while annotating Rapid Review?

2. I understand Kaplan Biochemisty and Kaplan Behavioral are the best of Kaplan series (maybe physio too) and are best? sources for those subjects. But as these are lecture notes, what is your opinion on watching the videos with them?
I think people say the Kaplan physio videos are best of all videos?

3. What do you recommend for the other subjects,
Neuroscience (I have old HighYield, but some people recommending Kaplan lecture notes)
Embryo? FA only?
Cell Bio? the 1999 HY is famous from Taus religion
Genetics? or is this included with Biochem from Kaplan LE
Behavioral? I was newer BRS by Fadem and really old HY by Fadem, I want to use old because it's shorter?
Biostats? people say HY is best here? or kaplan vids enough?
is FA enough for all of pharm?
I want to read constanzo textbook for physiology, but everybody says no time. but since i lack background, am thinking at least read high yield chapters, like cardio, lung, and renal only?
CMMRS, can i Just read it front to back?
Immuno? Kaplan, HY immuno, and Lange are all discussed

QUESTIONS:

I think this is where I'm having my most dread now. Could you please help me here. Uw is best. qbank is 2. and urx is third. i was going to do all three four times each because I NEED A SCORE. and ALL THE EVIDENCE POINTS TO WHETHER YOU ARE WEAK IN BACKGROUND SCIENCES OR NOT, and ESP IF YOU ARE, A SEVERE amount of QUESTIONS can make you a 230+ because of all the connections they make, no?

Lately I threw out USMLERx and decided that as I studied each subject I would do Qbank on that subject to solidify, and finish all qbank.
Then as I got closer to exam, and actually had enough studying under my belt to answer questions correctly, I would do random UW in tutor mode and annotate FA with information.
Then week before test, do TIMED everyday and read MY ANNOTATED FA AT NIGHT. But how I was going to make Kaplan Qbank and UWorld two times each I had not figured out.

But now because it's March, and test is in June, I want to ask you a very important question. Do you feel throwing Qbank out entirely will hurt my score? I want to do Qbank and world both 2 times each. But is there enough time for that. I do not believe I am as fast as you are, and there are some thought trends and evidence that lead me to believe that the COST of ignoring Qbank entirely is minimal, maybe 5 pts, compared to the BENEFIT of doing UWorld 2 times, or 3 times?

Maybe once i MASTER world, i can then go back to do Qbank until exam if there is time.

I want to take latest possible date IN June I can get, which is 3rd week it seems.

I am so sorry for all the confusion and annoying questions. I deeply apologize. but you are a genius and I would love for your opinion and response to my posts. It seems that your USMLE score can be almost 50% based on STRATEGY alone, which is why am being so difficult to make super plan, and I know it must be difficult for you to put up with me.

I already hole punched and cut the binding of my FA and RR as per TAUS method back in early January, just haven't read them yet. I was going to modify taus and hole punch ALL my texts and create super binders for each system/subject. like I wanted lungs, renal, and cardio, to each have there own binder, with all the FA pages, RR pages, and pharmacology and EVERYTHING for each, in its own binder. Then I would work out the GI binder maybe, and have subject ones too, biochemistry binder, micro binder, and behavioral.

But then i realized this is going AGAINST the PURPOSE and DESIGN of tuas method which is to ESSENTIALLY MAKE ONE AND ONLY ONE SUPER BINDER that can be read everyday the last week of prep as you do UW questions. so am I off in this regard?

And as Taus method goes, how did you actually annotate into FA, and what books did you read and annotate, and which did you just read, because there is way too much to fit it all into FA. Am thinking of annotating everything except path. and keeping RR path on its own? but then I have two big things, and each time I annotate a UW question, i wont know where to put it.

Okay I am going to stop ..

I am so sorry. honestly. I wish I were better at explaining my situation.

Please Please ask me about anything you don't understand and I will clarify for you. sorry. And if you think 240 is impossible, then please tell me and adjust your advice for obtaining a possible score. I know you have insane score, which makes me believe that you know the test in and out, so you can understand the deeper design behind the test and can BETTER PREDICT how these different methods and sources of prep will affect final score. Thank you, i know its 240 long shot from 160, but I am going to study 14 hrs a day, 7 days a week, until June. its only 3 months of my original 6 month plan, but nothing to it, but just to do it now. I feel my score will shoot up initally from studying, but am scared of early plateau. did you have that problem or know how to avoid it?

 

[StepTaker]

General Answer

Before I tackle your questions one by one. Let me give you a general impression about your long post.

I think you are really wasting your time trying to figure which book/video/method/schedule/..etc to go about.

The trick for acing the USMLE Step 1 is by reading, reading, and reading then doing questions, questions, and questions. It doesn't matter really which way you do it but the basics is to read and do questions.

That's it. Don't make it complicated for yourself. You might get carried out with all those thousands of pages and hundreds of videos and a multitude of ideas and plans.

There's no magic plan that fits everyone. It's you who decided how to go on.

 

[StepTaker]

Re: Whick Kaplan Videos to watch

Personally I believe that all of the videos are crucial to watch. Importantly, though is to have a video version compatible with your notes versions so that you are not lost.
If you insist on cutting down on the number of videos that you want to watch then I suggest you have skip the Anatomy, Microbiology, and Biochemistry vids. However, I repeat, watching all vids is better than watching some of them.
Another point here, is that you should not confuse yourself with other videos. If you are going to watch Kaplan videos then these are more than enough.

 

[StepTaker]

RE: Which book is best for this and that subject?

We have a number of polls that our members have voted in to generate the best possible book in each subject.

If you have not done so then please go and see them here
http://www.usmle-forums.com/best-usmle-step-1-books/

You may also have a look at the simplified study plan posted here
http://www.usmle-forums.com/usmle-s.../786-usmle-step-1-preparation-books-plan.html

 

[StepTaker]

The 240 Goal

As you go along with your primary study materials. You can do the NBME and see where you stand.

I believe if you finish Kaplan Notes twice and Kaplan Qbank and UWorld and First Aid and Rapid Review Pathology, you will definitely touch that 240 score on your NBME.

No need (in my personal opinion) for any other resources such as Goljan audio or USMLERx.

 

[rasheed]

RE: Giving up on Kaplan Qbank

The most important two online qbanks as per our poll is Kaplan Qbank and USMLEWorld.
However, if you don't have time and you must sacrifice one of them then definitely you stick to UWorld.

 

[rasheed]

RE: Using UWorld

The idea is not to memorize the content of USMLE World. You will not see the same questions in your exam. USMLEWorld is fantastic as far as the thought processing, question style, tricks, and theme but not the exact content.

Ok, if you see a question in UWorld about Huntington's Disease then you should know that this disease is a high yield topic and you go back and review it in your notes and books but you don't need to annotate the extra notes that you have seen in UWorld and write them down on your materials. There's no need for that. UWorld explanations are often extensive and may go out of the context of high yield.

Having said so I also think that doing UWorld twice and thrice is not going to do any benefit. The idea is not to memorize it. The idea is to master the way you should solve questions from whatever Kaplan/Goljan/FA..etc knowledge you have accumulated in your brain.

 

[rasheed]

RE: Taus Method and Hole Punching

Consolidating your notes into FA or any other book is a great idea. Hole punching seems also to work with many students.

However, as I told you before do not go beyond the primary series that you rely on such as Kaplan notes and FA and Rapid Review. If you add more and more books and notes you will spend years preparing for Step 1 and you'll never finish.

 

[Seetal]

Agreed!!

I totally agree with our seniors up here. to top it all off, have faith in yrself. stop thinking about the time gone and focus on believing in yrself.

 

[drflyinfish007]

thank you from the bottom of my heart

I am so grateful I have found this forum, and thank you for all your advice, but I'm hoping to clarify simple something.

I understand what you are saying and I think I was just going crazy, because 50% of score is strategy people are syaing, and once i make a super duper plan, i dont have time for redo's or rechecks, so i find myself studying how to study, but u r right, its time to read

1. if it helps you help me, ill tell u my situation, i am not able to study effectively long term at all, and crammed everything in medschool even though i did not want to. I took an nbme in jan convinced my low score would give me a nice kick into overdrive, i think i scored something like 230, which varies alot depending on what conversion source you use, smoe say 170, others say 130 even. point is it was low. but nobody at my school cares and thers an actual betting pool amongst my peers of how high im going to score in june because of some "ability" they imagine I have.

but i am not so naive. do you still think 240 is possible. I believe i should stop thinking about number, and study as much as I possibly can.
I have a solid 3 months.

I believe part of why img love kaplan is because kaplan is genius marketing when it comes to such things.

This is the first time I am really hearing that the KAPLAN lecture notes way is the "longer way". I was under the impression that the general consensus was besides for nueroanatamy, viruses, immuno, behavioral, and biochem, that the kaplan books were overly detailed for step prep, and that ther qbank similarily tested on such nit picky details, that didnt help improve step score, which is more integration and problem solving. and most the time when people talking about how kaplan is "too much," they are not even thinking about the lectures.
I was thinking, that since behavioral and biochem are best of kaplan set, I was going to read those. and that led me to think that might as well watch the videos for those two if people online agreed the videos are worth the time.

2. I thought the US method 2 way of picking best book in each subject, was better because many of books are quite short, such as hy behaviral,

3. i believe at this point, less is more, cannot be stressed enough
so tell me what you think of this and high score

1. I will base everything off first aid. and the higher yield the subject, the more I will stray away for orther source use, and if I am getting questions wrong, i will then use the books from method 2 as reference or study them outright.

and then RR by goljan. These two books are must must must for me i believe and i will make them two the bibles.

anatomy, embryo, and histo, i will stick with whatever's in fa
if neuro is too hard in fa, i will use HY nuero
for behavioral, the 100 pg hy book is so highly regarded, i do not want to not use it, esp since these are such gimme points
I will read the immuno parts out of kaplan
If the micro in fa is not helping me, I will read CMMRS front to back
if the biochem in fa is not making sense, i will use deja review biochem, which is very very short and highly rated
according to taus, I should read 1999 cell molecular, but is this imp enough with my timeframe
i am ignoring my hy biostats book for time.
I do not want to miss a pharm question, as this is one of my classes. However, the consensus (I thought) was FA was everything you need for pharm.
I do not think I am going to get away without BRS PHYS.

as far as videos go, I feel even after going through absolute hell to obtain kaplan videos, I must use my PASS, because they are much shorter? they are quite older (there is new one out there somewhere) but a 4 week course, instead of the kap vids which I believe is a 8? week course. I have started the biochem one, which is 8 hrs long. I like it, but do not know if I will continue with all pass videos.

And I have DIT videos as well, which are only 2 weeks of class. I do not think I can ignore these either, because they help you get through FA, which is what i need right now, and will give me some structure hopefully. Also, im not hearing anything bad about them, only good, great, amazing, etc, etc.

And i MUST MUST finish qbank and world. I was wrong to think of dropping a q bank. I want to do qbank once. and world twice. AT lease the q's i got wrong. Ideally i should be doing Random World blocks for the last TWO WEEKS of my prep. and studying at night. and for the last week I want to read ANNOTATED FA EVERYDAY (after the blocks). which brings the question, is it better to do qbank first or world first.

Well, it seems when trying to cut the fat off my plan, i thought i was doing amazing, but I am still having trouble letting things go. I understand this forum really loves kaplan, but the time is a factor. and the stress from the betting pool doesnt help either =(

 

[khanar]

NBME score conversion

nbme in jan convinced my low score would give me a nice kick into overdrive, i think i scored something like 230, which varies alot depending on what conversion source you use, smoe say 170, others say 130 even. point is it was low.

There's only one conversion table for NBME score which is here
http://www.usmle-forums.com/recomme...s/155-nbme-scores-prediction-correlation.html

Your 230 score means 163 prediction which means you'll fail the exam.

 

[StepTaker]

Your plan is awesome

I understand this forum really loves kaplan, but the time is a factor. and the stress from the betting pool doesnt help either =(

We do not support Kaplan or any other medical education provider, we just happen to be showing their advertisements to cover the site's expenses.

Let me make it clear to the readers that you are referring to my post
http://www.usmle-forums.com/usmle-s.../786-usmle-step-1-preparation-books-plan.html
when you are talking about method 2 and the polls.

Now back to your plan. I think the way you decided to go is awesome. However, nobody can guarantee for you that you are going to hit 240. It all depends on how stuff are going to go with you the next three months. If you really study hard (8 complete solid hours per day) for the next three months reading the resources you mentioned then YES there's a big chance that you'll hit 240.

Do another NBME after a month or so. You'll see that your score is getting higher and that will give you a push to go on and to persevere.

 

[drflyinfish007]

confused?

There's only one conversion table for NBME score which is here
http://www.usmle-forums.com/recomme...s/155-nbme-scores-prediction-correlation.html

Your 230 score means 163 prediction which means you'll fail the exam.

on table 2 of section one on page 11 of first aid 2010 there is a conversion

where 200-250 cbssa is a 135-140 on step

which threw me off, cus i love fa,

but as u said, nbme chart said 163ish

 

[drflyinfish007]

bump for new advice please anyone strategy discussion

 

[khanar]

Another USMLE Step 1 Study Schedule

here's what you can do

• Review first aid for two days ...
• Do Kaplan systems 100 pages a day ... 75 questions at night, 75 in the morning (qbank)
• then end up with Fist aid for two days ...

Make Kaplan notes your hub where you keep notes and references from other materials such as BRS and others

Good luck

 

[sam01]

As you go along with your primary study materials. You can do the NBME and see where you stand.

I believe if you finish Kaplan Notes twice and Kaplan Qbank and UWorld and First Aid and Rapid Review Pathology, you will definitely touch that 240 score on your NBME.

No need (in my personal opinion) for any other resources such as Goljan audio or USMLERx.

Thank you for your advice.Please I got a question,while i was listening to goljan audio,i noticed he spent so much time explaning Hematology.I m wondering why.is hemato very high yield topic or something?

 

[khanar]

Thank you for your advice.Please I got a question,while i was listening to goljan audio,i noticed he spent so much time explaning Hematology.I m wondering why.is hemato very high yield topic or something?

Oh yes, hematology is a big subject in the exam

 

[khanar]

Thank you for your advice.Please I got a question,while i was listening to goljan audio,i noticed he spent so much time explaning Hematology.I m wondering why.is hemato very high yield topic or something?

Nope, Hematology is not that very high yield, It's that Goljan is in love with it and he dedicated lots of his talk about it but it's not very important for the exam.

 

[Seetal]

Nope, Hematology is not that very high yield, It's that Goljan is in love with it and he dedicated lots of his talk about it but it's not very important for the exam.

hmm.. thats what i thought. so of pathology which are highest targets for the exam?

 

[sam01]

Oh yes, hematology is a big subject in the exam

Are u sure.Many people say it s not that important