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239

Dr. USMLE or: How I learned to stop worrying and love Step
1 (self.medicalschool)
submitted 9 months ago * by [deleted]

EDIT: Due to requests. I will be expanding on this post, this afternoon

with more details of exactly how I did things.
Hey Guys,
I posted a few weeks ago on the topic of what my USMLE Step 1 Score
was and it got a lot of attention and quite a few people have asked me to
post up what I did to get a 269 on my Step 1. Proof
Note that this method is how I got a 269. You are going to sit back and
ask yourself, do I really want to work this hard? Surprisingly, or not, it
takes a lot of work to this score.
I also stole this method from someone who sent it out to their class at a
different school and it ended up with me. So all credit goes to him.
Before my method I want to answer some of the most common questions
that I have received:
Q: Do I need to study before hand?

A: I did not at all. I didn't even know how the exam was structured until 6
weeks before hand. I did not use firecracker or any of those other
gimmicks.
Q: When did you take the test?
A: I took the test in June of my third year. It worked for me, some people
too it earlier, some later. I don't think it really matters.
Q: What resources did you use?
A: Look below.
Q: All I want is a 230. Is this a good method?
A: NO NO NO NO NO. If you want a 230 you can work significantly less
hard. This is a method designed to get the best score possible.
This plan was set up to be a 6 week all inclusive exam. I come from a PBL
school that does not teach to the exam so I did not do very well on a
practice test I took before starting (<200).
Resources:
1. First Aid For the USMLE Step 1
2. Pathoma
3. USMLE World Step 1 QBank
You got it, thats it. I used 3 resources only. "But don't I need more? Like
where am I going to get neuroanatomy? Don't I need a special book for
biostatistics?" NO NO NO NO NONONONONONON. That's it. Use these 3
resources and learn them inside and out. I promise you everything you
need to get a 260+ is in those 3 resources.
"Can I use Goljans Rapid Review?"
Have you read it? It is just a table and lists of stuff. Pathoma actually
takes the time to teach you concepts. These concepts will help you
understand more than just the disease at hand. Ie. Why Acne and
Cholecystitis are very similar.
The 6 weeks block was broken up into three 2 week blocks:
Weeks 1 and 2: These were the rapid learning phases. This is where I
learned that I really didn't know anything. What is galactosemia? Why
was I not taught all of this biochemistry?!?
Schedule for Mon - Sat (Sun was a break):
1. 8am-12pm: Read 1 section in the organ systems part of first
aid. Yup I took 4 hours to do this, really learn it this time
through. Don't rush it. Take the time and really understand
the physiology. (Plan to finish 1x through first aid by the end
of this 2 week section)
2. 12pm - 2pm: Exercise, Shower and Lunch.
3. 2pm - 4pm: USMLE World questions based on what ever topic
I was reading about in FA that day. Usually 2 sections of 46
(Tutor untimed). My goal was to learn, not to quiz myself. You

know nothing at this point of the test so why even test

yourself? Just learn the material.
4. 4pm-whenever: Pathoma (break it up so that at the end of 2
weeks you have finished a pass through it - I think there are
19 sections so somedays do 2 chapters).
Weeks 3 and 4: These were the weeks where the material had time to
sink in and you get to go through the material again and fill in any small
gaps you missed the first time.
Same planning of the day. AM First Aid. PM Question - I bumped it up to 3
sections of 46/day at this point. Again, go through pathoma with the
videos 1 more time.
At this point you have done 2x through all 2 of your resources. You will be
feeling pretty good. I think you are roughly 60-70% done with UWorld. I
took a practice test, NBME 12 and got a 253. So I would have been happy
here with that score anyway.
Weeks 5-6: This is the time to solidify what you have learned. You go
through First Aid AGAIN, you go through Pathoma AGAIN, and you finish
UWorld for each subject. I also highly recommend going back and redoing all of your missed questions at this point.
A typical day might be: GI First Aid, GI Pathoma, and GI Questions and
finish the Missed questions. Typically around 150-200 questions a day is
what you should aim for.
NOW YOU HAVE FINISHED ALL OF YOUR RESOURCES 3X!!!! YOU SHOULD
BE FEELING AMAZING ABOUT THE TEST. You truly do get to feel that
hubris.
General Tips:
1. Eat good food and exercise. You will see how stressful this
time can be if you don't take care of yourself.
2. Sleep as much as you can. Never sacrifice sleep for other
things. Sleep is paramount to learning.
3. Don't get discouraged, these 6 weeks will make the rest of
your life much easier. Trust me on this one.
4. If there is a topic you keep getting wrong, create a flash card.
At the end of the day, go through all of your flash cards from
all of the days. I couldn't keep Rotor, Dubin-Johnson, Gilberts,
etc straight for the life of me. So I put them on a flashcard
and looked at it everyday. Same for Purine synthesis and the
drugs that affect it.
5. Talk to people. Not about the test, but about life, the weather,
that crazy thing the cat on the internet did. It will help you
stay grounded as a person.
6. Avoid Caffeine.
I hope this helps guys, feel free to ask any questions. I'll update with any
changes I wanted to make as we go through. This is how I got a 269

working about 12-14 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 6 weeks. Don't feel
like you have to work that hard if you don't want to.

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best
[][deleted] 33 points 9 months ago

Again, I generally stole this method from another student. He went into a
lot more detail than I did. I will ask if I could post his write up along with
this one.

permalink
[]MedicalLab 29 points 9 months ago

That would be great. Sometimes the most important parts are the details
people don't think to include. A long post on this subject would be
appreciated.

permalink

parent
[]kuckimonsterM-3 5 points 8 months ago

any update on this? thanks!

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parent
[][deleted] 5 points 8 months ago

Life getting in the way. Still working on it.

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parent
[][deleted] 8 months ago

[deleted]
[][deleted] 5 points 8 months ago

Tutor Untimed. Used it as a learning tool in the form of questions rather

than a prep tool. All subject specific to whatever topic I was doing that
day.
permalink
[]gapteethinyourmouthM-4 2 points 7 months ago

How many mistakes do you think you made on the actual Step?

permalink

parent
[][deleted] 3 points 7 months ago

Absolutely impossible to say. Some of those responses I made were on

questions that I had no idea what the answer was and just guessed "c",
when looking those up, some were right - some wrong.
Others, I looked at the question, looked at the answers, know A..B...D
were wrong, therefore C must be right. That being said, I had no clue
what disease "C" even was....but knew it was the right answer.
If I had to ballpark, I was confident on around 40 questions each section
that I had the right answer.

permalink

parent
[]playyourpartM-3 12 points 9 months ago

This was originally going to be a PM but I decided to open this up to the

general medical school subreddit. My problem is that I have a difficult
time learning from first aid as a primary resource. I look at first aid and it
looks just like you described golijan. It just looks like a bunch of charts,
lists, and short blurbs. When you say, read through the organ systems in
firstaid and really learn it, how are you learning it?

permalink
[]SounderCoo 5 points 9 months ago

Listen to goljan, he has great explanations on the tapes. Also pathoma. I

hated FA w/ a passion and after my first pass mainly used it as a
reference book. Annotating UWorld into FA also helps put it into context
some more, it takes a long time(way more than 6wks, but you should
expect that regardless) but it paid off.

permalink

parent
[]owogof 1 point 6 months ago

Don't you think listening to pathoma and goljean is redundant since

they're both pathology focused?

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parent
[]whiplashWhoM-3 2 points 5 months ago

Pathoma is great for concepts, Goljan great for exam pearls. Dr. Sattar is
good about saying, "...and this is particularly high yield for exam
purposes," while Dr. Goljan is good about saying HOW a certain question
is most likely to be asked (e.g. taking it to the 2nd or 3rd order thinking
level).

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parent
[][deleted] -1 points 9 months ago

Who has time to annotate...

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parent
[]gotlactoseM-2 3 points 8 months ago

I think this also has to do with what you learn best from. Some of my
classmates are die-hard Anki fans, others like big picture. First semester, I
was very comfortable with studying from charts and tables, gave Anki a
try for the last block. Anki was far too time consuming and I became too
obsessed with little details.
Over winter break, I flipped open First Aid and gave myself a huge
facepalm as I realized that First Aid has amazing charts and tables for me
to supplement my studying with.
tl;dr: Everyone's different. Some are fans of tables/charts, others are fans
of flashcards.

permalink

parent
[][deleted] 4 points 9 months ago

I used DIT for this very reason. Take me slowly through FA the first time
to make sure I catch everything. I didn't want to endorse the product
because I honestly don't think its worth the $800 or whatever they
charge. If you can find it for free, then I'd use it.

permalink

parent
[]hellore 19 points 9 months ago

Wait, DIT isn't mentioned in the original post!!!

TELL US EVERYTHING YOU USED!

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parent
[][deleted] 4 points 9 months ago

I didn't mention it because I didn't think it was absolutely critical to the

method and probably wouldn't have used it again. It isn't worth what they
charge for it.

permalink

parent
[]playyourpartM-3 6 points 9 months ago

Did you go to FA first, then find the corresponding lectures in DIT then?
I've looked at the DIT curriculum which by itself is an 8 hr/day, 15 day
program. That would make it impossible to get through everything you
wanted to in week 1-2 right?

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parent
[][deleted] 2 points 9 months ago

I honestly, wouldn't have used it again. I didn't use it for Step 2 and don't
think I was missing out. It truly isn't worth the $800 they charge.

permalink

parent
[]ketoacidosethis 2 points 7 months ago

I'm not planning on spending the $800, but did you follow the order of
DIT lectures with your first aid passes? ie did you find that how they
organized it, helped you make connections that you wouldn't have seen
had you read first aid from page 1 to page 632?
ps there are 632 pages in first aid. sigh.

permalink

parent
[]weatherman15 1 point 4 months ago

How did you get through DIT in two weeks with only doing 4 hours of it in
the morning? With the 15 day plan it says its 5.5 hours of video runtime
alone notwithstanding the quizzes

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parent
[][deleted] 13 points 9 months ago

Let me get this straight... average student (not on the top 50%),
depression, 42 days = 91% // 269 !!! ( ) da fuck.

permalink
[][deleted] 7 points 9 months ago

It just shows you how this is just a standardized test. You can study for it
and take it. I don't think being in the top 1% of my class would have
changed my ability to do well on this test. At the end of the day, its a test.

permalink

parent
[][deleted] 2 points 8 months ago

Ok, I have FA 2011 edition (soon to get 2014)... my CVS section has 14
pages. So you read that in the morning, next you do CVS questions on
uWorld, next you see the Pathoma videos. Really that is it ?!?! Btw: this
FA is super condensed. Anatomy of the heart 1 figure and 1 paragraph.
Beats the hell out of the 6 months program I made for myself.

permalink

parent
[]mehphron 11 points 9 months ago

You mention going through each organ system at a time, but how did you
address the general sections of First Aid, like nutrition, metabolism, etc
(aka biochemical pathways)? Did those get their own study day, or did
you just throw those in whenever you had time?


permalink
[][deleted] 5 points 9 months ago

I did these every day. My school wasn't the greatest at teaching us them
so I knew I needed to hit it extra hard. Everyday I spent some time doing
Micro, Pharm, and Biochem. Not too much. Maybe 30 minutes each over
coffee and breakfast.
Uworld teaches you a lot as well.

permalink

parent
[]AlGamaty 10 points 9 months ago

Stupid question here. You mentioned that in weeks 1 and 2 you would
read 1 section of organ systems per day from FA. Are you also referring to
the micro, pharm, anatomy, etc. sections at the beginning of the book or
just the sections on systems?

permalink
[][deleted] 7 points 9 months ago

Controversial. I did a little Micro and Biochem everyday throughout the

study period. My school did a god awful job teaching it so I needed to
learn it all from scratch. This meant spreading it out more. I should have
mentioned that in the post. Thanks.

permalink

parent
[]tuberculosis89M-3 10 points 8 months ago

I am studying currently for Step 1 and I go to a top tier school and let me
tell you, very few people are spending 12-14hrs a day, 6/7 days a week
for 6 weeks. They are on facebook, music, chatting etc. I think it is all
about efficiency and it seems like OP was quite dedicated.. also very few
of them are going to go through each resource 3x, let alone complete
100-200 questions a day...
I agree that we all will use these resources but few will utilize this
strategy and be highly efficient

permalink
[]peacefulchaos89M-2 40 points 9 months ago

You forgot your 4th resource-Innate intelligence.

permalink
[][deleted] 58 points 9 months ago

Unlikely. 31MCAT and not in the top 50% of my class.

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parent
[]peacefulchaos89M-2 35 points 9 months ago

My word!

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parent
[]tigecyclineMD-PGY1 19 points 9 months ago

Doesn't mean you're not brilliant! Look no further than this dude on SDN.
This guy studied for about a year in a crazed attempt to break 270. He
got a 262, which is awesome, but I think that it's a perfect example of
how it's difficult to "will" oneself with a perfect preparation plan into these
astronomical scores.
So don't self yourself short, dude. While you prepared very well, you
couldn't have done it without being very bright too.

permalink

parent
[][deleted] 5 points 9 months ago

I loved following his saga. He was taking it a little after I did. I even got a
message after I posted my test feedback with questions of his.
You can see him on the Step 2 forums now.

permalink

parent
[][deleted] 6 points 9 months ago

funny, I'm opposite. I aced all my undergrad stuff easily. Med school and
boards are a really challenge to me.

permalink

parent
[]hellore 15 points 9 months ago

Mah brother. 38 on the MCAT, breezed through undergrad.....and failed

my first block of med school.

permalink

parent
[]gotlactoseM-2 6 points 8 months ago

In the upper 30s as well on the MCAT, never truly stressed over undergrad
except around deadlines, now on my hands and knees to get a decent
passing score.

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parent
[][deleted] 5 points 8 months ago

Here be as well.
Funny thing is, biology and memory has always been my weak point.
Even in high school I struggled in that.
In college, biochem destroyed me.

And now here I am in medicine. Lol.

permalink

parent
[]Shiblon 2 points 7 months ago

It's nice to know there are more people out there like me. Upper 30s
MCAT, School never actually required much study for me. Med school has
been a difficult trip. I'm scared out of my mind right now for Step 1.

permalink

parent
[][deleted] 3 points 7 months ago

Ya. Fuck boards.

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parent
[]SynapticSightM-3 1 point 7 months ago

I was as well -- gonna throw out there that I coasted off of intelligence
but more recently dxed myself with ADD. Explained a TON of my
behaviors. Also completely changed how I study.

[][deleted] 9 months ago

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parent

[deleted]
[][deleted] 10 points 9 months ago

Yeah, but getting a 269 on the USMLE... you are competing only WITH
OTHER MED STUDENTS. The average med student is more intelligent than
the average person. Therefore, someone who gets [more than 2 SDs?]
above the average USMLE score is even smarter.
If it were as easy as "oh this person is in med school, of course this
person will get a 269 on the USMLE" than a 269 would be the average
score. But it's not.
permalink
[]zebrake2010 8 points 9 months ago

Beyond a point, innate intelligence doesn't matter.

OP studied his ass off.

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parent
[]dodave2016M-2 15 points 9 months ago

Beyond a point, studying your ass off doesnt matter.

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parent
[]JohnGalt316M-3 7 points 9 months ago

don't worry about things outside of your control

it is a quality mentally strong people have

permalink

parent
[][deleted] 4 points 9 months ago

Completely agree. Maybe a question here or there I got because of test

taking skills. But in reality, a majority of what I got right was because I
did so many questions.

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parent
[]Tennex1022 2 points 3 months ago

The way i see it there are 3 things required to do well in medschool.

Understanding, Memory, and Ambition. People who are succesful in
medschool tend to have a good amount of all 3

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parent
[]screw_hypomania 10 points 9 months ago*

er....how is acne and cholecystitis similar?

permalink
[][deleted] 11 points 9 months ago

They are both tubes that get blocked off for whatever reason (stones,
steroid-engorged follicles, etc). Block off tubes get infected. Bartholin
cysts...yup same thing too.

permalink

parent
[]avalon214M-3 6 points 8 months ago

that's honestly the exact type of stuff they don't teach you in med school

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[]wighty 4 points 8 months ago

But pathoma does ;) It's one of his principles of pathology!

permalink

parent
[]TheOncologist 1 point 6 months ago

Dr. Sattar is my hero.

permalink

parent
[]gwink3M-3 2 points 8 months ago

Don't worry, Sattar loves this though!

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parent
[]gburgdan 8 points 9 months ago

I love this, this is what I'll do. Except the caffeine part, I plan to drink an
excessive amount.

permalink
[]herman_gill 3 points 7 months ago

Scale down your dosage of caffeine and scale up your dosage of theanine
as you go throughout the day.
So early morning: caffeine
Late morning: caffeine
Early afternoon: strong green tea
Mid afternoon: mild green tea
At night: Theanine pill

permalink

parent
[]ketoacidosethis 3 points 7 months ago

Please tell me more about this substance called 'theanine'. It intrigues

me.

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parent
[]herman_gill 5 points 7 months ago

http://examine.com/supplements/Theanine/
Found in green and black tea. Sort of acts like a balance for caffeine's
effects, it's some really interesting stuff.
Also probably useful as an adjuvant treatment for schizophrenia, but we
won't ever learn about that. They'll probably teach that 15-20 years down
the road in school.

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parent
[]smackythefrog 1 point 9 months ago

Yeah, but then when you think you're getting adequate amounts of sleep,
you'll be losing out on the quality of it because of caffeine.
You'll stumble upon this fact as you go through FA or watch
DIT/Kaplan. ;)

permalink

parent
[]Yotsubato 9 points 9 months ago

Keep away from the coffee after 3PM and you'll sleep like a baby at 10
pm. At least thats how it is for me.

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parent
[]smackythefrog 3 points 9 months ago

Right, but most people drink coffee to stay up late into the night and
that's when all the sleep issues happen.
Otherwise, nothing wrong with a few cups to wake you up, like you said,
before 3 PM.

permalink

parent
[]Shiblon 4 points 7 months ago

Some of us don't wake up before 3 PM...

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parent
[]neutralmind 1 point 9 months ago

Caffeine affects the quality of sleep within the same day even with a small
amount (30 fl. oz of coffee). However, quality of sleep improves the next
day even with just overnight abstinence.

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parent
[]sixtythree 4 points 9 months ago

How much have you retained since?

permalink
[][deleted] 14 points 9 months ago

Hard to say. I mean, some of the things (I'm looking at you biochem) I
have forgotten completely. As far as other annoying things like pharm and
micro, I have found myself using a lot in the clinics.

permalink

parent
[]LabRatTrick 4 points 9 months ago

What are you going into with this kind of performance?

permalink
[]MDPharmDPhDPharmD, MD/PhD Student - M1 4 points 9 months ago

His profile posts indicate radiology.

permalink

parent
[]LabRatTrick 1 point 9 months ago

Thanks, sorry should have checked.

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parent

[][deleted] 6 points 9 months ago

Yup, Radiology for me. I don't have any grand aspiration to be a ENT,
Plastic Surgeon, or Dermatologist.
PS. Radiology is awesome and more people should do it.

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parent
[]Xera3135MD-PGY2 4 points 8 months ago

On the contrary, you don't want more people to do it. It is becoming

saturated as it is, and it would appear that more and more people will
have a difficult time finding a job that they want.

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parent
[]royalmarquis 4 points 9 months ago

Did you use an annotated First Aid or a blank First Aid?

permalink
[][deleted] 6 points 9 months ago*

Completely blank. Went in with nothing. I think I posted somewhere else,

I wasn't really great mentally (psychiatrically) for most of my M2 year. I
was one of those 30% depression statistics you hear about. So I really
didn't have much planned to go off of.

permalink

parent
[]royalmarquis 10 points 8 months ago

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. At the same time, I'm happy that you were
able to achieved the success that you enjoy now. It's very clear that you
severely busted your ass to overcome the Step 1 like you did.
I was wondering if you could comment on precise study techniques. For
example, in your schedule I noticed you devoted 4 hours to learn and
remember material. Is there a special way in which you read or re-read
those materials during those four hours? Did you try to photographically
memorize everything and reproduce it on another sheet of paper?
Secondly, how did you study using the UWorld. I'm doing UWord right
now, and it takes me on average 10 minutes per question (this involves
me wikipedia-ing background, referring to Goljan and FA, and writing
notes down). How were you able to use UWorld in the short time limit you
gave yourself, yet remember so much?
In other words, what specifically did you do to become hyper-efficient?

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parent
[]ketoacidosethis 1 point 7 months ago

I am also curious about these questions... just to rehash:

1. how, exactly, did you use your 4 hours to learn &

remember material? (flashcards, re-read, re-write,
etc)
2. what was your UWorld process? (how were you so
efficiently able to move through the amount of
questions you did in the time that you did)
3. Any secrets for your new-found hyper-efficiency?
Thank you, Good Sir! You are an inspiration to all of us 30 MCAT'ers!

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parent
[]trance_triceps_etc 4 points 8 months ago

Can you talk about your thought process when you are going through a
tough question? What do you eliminate and how do you eliminate? How
do you guess? Just looking for some test taking skills. Great score
brother- right on!

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[]cocimonster115 3 points 8 months ago

I feel like there is a lot of factors that could have attributed to the OP's
scoring so high besides this list of resources and study schedule. For
example, even if you were not a strong student, maybe your a good
standardized test taker.
My question(s) to the OP: 1) Did you take a preliminary practice exam? If
so, what was that first score? 2) How many points did you improve over
your practice exams? 3) How did you review 2 - 46 question tests in two
hours? This means you spent on average of 1 minute and 18 seconds
reading the question stem, thinking about the question, picking an
answer, and then reading the explanation at the bottom.

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[][deleted] 6 points 8 months ago

1. Yes, 160
2. 3 weeks 250, 5 weeks 261
3. Maybe I spent a little more time. THe idea is that you
don't dwell on questions and get the learning point and
move onto the next question.

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parent
[]royalmarquis 4 points 7 months ago

There are a few subjects not covered by Pathoma: Statistics, Behavioral

Science, Biochemistry, etc. Would you say First Aid is enough?

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[][deleted] 4 points 7 months ago

FA + Uworld, more than enough.

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parent
[]vasopressorM-2 3 points 9 months ago

Sounds like you didn't take any practice tests? Is that right? How did you
feel about not practicing within the time constraints for the test?

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[][deleted] 3 points 9 months ago

I took 1 practice test about 3 weeks out. I got a 253. I knew that if I
continued to take practice tests I would only psych myself out. I know
some people take a ton, but I felt that for my own mental status that
taking as few as possible (once I passed a threshold score I was happy
enough with).
Note: For step 2, I didn't take a single practice test. We will see how I did
in 2 weeks.

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parent
[]Microscopia 2 points 8 months ago

How'd you do on Step 2, if you don't mind my asking?

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parent
[][deleted] 4 points 8 months ago

http://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschool/comments/1wdsqr/because_none
_of_you_asked_for_it_how_i_studied/

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parent
[]Microscopia 2 points 8 months ago*

Wow, perfect timing!

Congrats on another great score, I hope your interviews were also a
success

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[]MDPharmDPhDPharmD, MD/PhD Student - M1 7 points 9 months ago

Thanks for doing this. I was going to make a general Step 1 question at
the end of my MS1 to get everything in order to study and this topic will
be immensely valued.

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[][deleted] 4 points 9 months ago

Hit me up for more information then. I can help you out more with
specific questions.

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parent

[]gotlactoseM-2 1 point 8 months ago

Do you think it would help if I flipped through First Aid starting second
semester of M1? I'm not trying to be gunner, but I have two reasons:
1) I'm very receptive to seeing concepts from the big picture perspective
and I realized First Aid has pretty decent charts and tables that already
organizes the information well and
2) I've read other Step 1 advice that encouraged pre-clinical students to
start looking through textbooks and Step 1 material while they're
studying for blocks to familiarize themselves with the books so they get
easier to go through during dedicated Step 1 studying.
Studying on my own, I tend to organize lecture material into charts and
tables anyway, so I feel that I would benefit from #1 if First Aid already
has the concepts organized for me so I can go straight to learning rather
than spending time organization the material myself.

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parent
[]Studdy 2 points 7 months ago

It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to read 1 section of FA in 4 hours. Impossible

I tell you.

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[]royalmarquis 2 points 7 months ago

I was wondering if you could comment on precise study techniques. For

example, in your schedule I noticed you devoted 4 hours to learn and
remember material. Is there a special way in which you read or re-read
those materials during those four hours? Did you try to photographically
memorize everything and reproduce it on another sheet of paper?
Secondly, how did you study using the UWorld. I'm doing UWord right
now, and it takes me on average 10 minutes per question (this involves
me wikipedia-ing background, referring to Goljan and FA, and writing
notes down). How were you able to use UWorld in the short time limit you
gave yourself, yet remember so much?
In other words, what specifically did you do to become hyper-efficient?

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[][deleted] 3 points 6 months ago

I saw a youtube video once where goljan was talking about step 1, I feel
that it does a much better job trying to describe how you should use
questions.

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parent
[]kumquat_of_destinyM-2 2 points 4 months ago

So let me get this straight... You went through an entire sectino of first
aid in only 4 hours? Cardio is 40 pages long. That means you MEMORIZED
one page every 6 minutes and took 0 breaks for 4 hours??

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[][deleted] 10 points 9 months ago

Everyone uses first aid. Everyone uses a video series like pathoma /
goljan audio / kaplan videos / DIT, etc. Everyone uses USMLE world.
If you are saying that this was your method, then your method is nothing
unique. Shooting up from low 200s to 260 would not be from the
uniqueness of your method, but from probably just that you're a smart
mother fucker.
Take me for example, I went through first aid, goljan audio, and 3
question banks with 8 total weeks of studying about 10 hours a day and I
did about average. My brain simply does not retain pharmacology and
micro well. Different brains are just different.

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[]teresminor 7 points 8 months ago*

The problem with your post is that it doesnt add anything new. Everyone
and their mother uses and memorizes FA, UW, and Pathoma during
dedicated time these days. But not everyone gets a 269. Heck the
average is 42 pts below that!
Just because you got a 31 MCAT and were bottom 50% in your class but
pulled off a 269 with this method doesn't mean that others will have the
same success with it as well. I think you have some exceptional gifts or
experiences that you're vastly underplaying here or you just happen to be
an outlier.
Because I guarantee you that 90% of med students are going to do just
what you did this spring and summer. But only 10% of them will
score within 20 points of you

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[]EzekielBread 2 points 9 months ago

Would you mind if I reposted this to my blog? I won't claim credit, and I'll
link to this post. Thanks!

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[][deleted] 5 points 9 months ago

Go for it

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parent
[]EzekielBread 1 point 8 months ago

Thank you!

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parent

[][deleted] 2 points 9 months ago

This is fantastic. Thanks for the post. I was actually planning to use these
3 resources plus the corresponding picmonics.

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[][deleted] 1 point 9 months ago

thanks man.

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parent
[]redditdefaultssuck 1 point 9 months ago

Bookmarked

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[]wighty 1 point 8 months ago

Did anyone else play a lot of video games? I played the crap out of CS:GO
beta :P I'd do some questions and then play 20 minutes/a few rounds... I
had the worse attention span. Same thing happened with Step 2 (but that
obviously doesn't matter as much, though still important).

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[]confettiyeti 1 point 8 months ago

What is the general consensus on studying during Christmas Break? Just

looking at this strategy, would doing the first two weeks over christmas
break be worth the potential burnout? It would make the first two weeks
of summer study less intimidating/exhausting and perhaps allow some
more time for practice tests.
Thanks for posting this!

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[][deleted] 5 points 8 months ago

Don't do it. Relax and enjoy. The 6 weeks is more than enough. Any
studying you do then will be counter productive.
I watched all 9 seasons of Scrubs during my winter break.

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parent
[]latrala2300M-3 1 point 8 months ago

excellent, thank you

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[]Spicy_MasalaM-3 1 point 7 months ago

OH YESSSSs

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[]slightsofHand 1 point 7 months ago

THanks

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[]chickentile 1 point 7 months ago

PBL....LECOM?

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[][deleted] 3 points 7 months ago

Nope. I go to an allopathic school.

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[]owogof 1 point 6 months ago

Thanks for the post, first of all. You've given a lot of helpful info. Did you
just go straight through the DIT lectures, from A to KK, or did you watch
the videos according to category? Thanks again

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[][deleted] 1 point 6 months ago

A-KK
Tried to make it as easy as possible!

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parent
[]owogof 1 point 6 months ago

Thanks for the quick reply! One more, if I may. I'm loving Pathoma. Did
you like Pathoma over DIT? If you could do it over again, would you have
gone through pathoma first and then DIT?

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[][deleted] 1 point 6 months ago

For sure, you're all lucky I'm a 4th year with nothing better to do.
Pathoma and DIT are vastly different things. Pathoma is what its name is
"A large mass of Pathology," DIT is essentially First Aid and covers a lot
more than just Pathology.

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[]owogof 1 point 6 months ago

LOL, looking forward to 4th year. Until then....thanks again for the tips

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[]Count_Cortisol 1 point 6 months ago

I'll be returning to this post in two years. Thanks!

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[]idontbsM-3 1 point 5 months ago

Hey man, there's so much I like about how you laid this out. I can relate
to a lot that you posted. You are an awesome person for helping all of us
trying to follow in your footsteps!
I'm approaching this with 7 weeks as opposed to 6, with a 3 week
DIT/pathoma/uworld first pass. Hopefully I'll be done with DIT and
pathoma with some dent in Uworld with exactly 4 weeks to go.
I do have one concern though, I'm having some slight trouble
remembering EVERYTHING i'm doing. I feel like at the end of the 1st pass
I'll have a pretty good understanding of everything, and the 2nd pass will
make it really really stick.
If you had taken a practice test after your first pass, what do you think
your score would've been? I feel like people's largest jumps are in their
first pass, but I feel like mine will jump more after the 2nd pass.

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[][deleted] 2 points 5 months ago

1. It comes with time, the more times you get a question

wrong the more it sticks in your brain. Definitely the first
pass is the "largest" jump, but it's the 2nd and 3rd passes
that get you your elite score.

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parent
[]Dr_Fucknut 1 point 5 months ago

1. Some of the organ systems have way more than 92 UWorld

questions (e.g. Neuro). During the first two weeks, did you
continue the same topic the following day until you finished
it?
2. Also, how did you manage to finish two tutor untimed tests
of 46 questions in only two hours????

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[]tungsten74M-1 1 point 5 months ago

Thank you

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[+]SounderCoo comment score below threshold (12 children)
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