One Medical Student’s Top 5 Tips to ACE Step 1

5 Tips to Ace USMLE Step 1

By: “@thediaryofamedstudent“

If you ask a bunch of doctors about their least favorite part of med school, 9/10 of them would reply:

“STEP-1”

Recently USMLE STEP-1 became a hot topic of conversation after they made it pass/fail. While people are still discussing the pros and cons of that decision, you still have to study for it. So here are 5 easy tips that might help.

1. Know your enemy, know yourself, and you can win a hundred battles without disaster.

Before you start studying, take a full-length NBME exam. With this, you’ll be able to gauge not only the exam and the area it covers but also your current preparedness level. Do not be discouraged by the score, but do pay attention to it. You can understand the areas you are both strong and weak at, and also the topics they pay more attention to (THE high yield content).

2. Too many cooks will spoil the soup.

Now that you know what you have to study, gather resources. Limit the number of information sources from which you study. Select one main review book for each subject. If you have several books, use one as your primary study material and the others as back-up to clarify points as needed. Then pick one or two main question banks to complement your reading.

(For a great selection of question banks at a reduced price, check out our Medical Student Discounts page!)

3. Be realistic and Faithful

Create a timetable, including time for both studying and relaxing. And please include some wiggle room because you’re a human, not a programmed robot and universe can always pull weird strings. This way you won’t feel utterly disappointed if you missed one whole evening by going to the dentist because of a sudden toothache.

4. Keep your sessions short

No more than an hour to an hour and a half with at least a 10-minute break. Your concentration declines significantly after an hour or so. In addition, the break time allows the short-term memory to be consolidated into long-term memory.

5. Emphasize integration.

Consider reviewing subjects together and/or by organ system. For example, if you’re studying the nervous system in Anatomy, also review your materials on the subject physiology, pathology, histology, embryology, pharm, etc.

This will greatly aid your preparation for USMLE, which emphasizes the integration of basic sciences. You can form a study group for this. Other people may look at the same material differently than you and help you expand your perspective and your understanding. But do pay attention because some study groups do everything other than studying.

Good luck y’all.

If you like to learn more study tips or just like to see the behind the scenes life of a med student (trust me they don’t show that part on Grey’s Anatomy or House MD), follow me on Instagram @thediaryofamedstudent

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