Great video. Thanks for sharing. This is another great video that discusses important points when studying such as studying strategy, taking notes, how many times to review a resource, how to study UW and FA, how many nbmes to do, when to start each resource, and final tips for the exam day czcams.com/video/n8uuVtacmuc/video.html
This is by far the best usmle srep1 prep video on youtube! You guys have amazingly explained and discussed all possible scenarios a med student faces while preparing for USMLE step1 . The resources that you guys stated are actually gold. Honestly i watched this video 3 times before i started my prep.
Wow, there's hope for me too. I started off in the 30s, then 40s. Now I'm 50s. If you great achievers started here too, there's surely a lot of hope for me too. Thank you for the encouragement.
Stated very very well. Everything said in your video was clear, concise, understanding , and honest truth to good step 1 score and success . Questions questions questions... no other way around to this exam . Personally I think boards and beyond is great for anyone who is not clear on their basic foundations, and first aid rx n videos are also good for people that have a better understanding of basics . One thing I do agree with is rx is great easy question bank to use in a mix mode instead of system wise . I also used Kaplan but did it system wise in tutor mode to learn and understand questions and did rx is a mix mode to get the feeling of questions being random as that how it is on steps . Uworld is great , and thanks for sharing that it took you 7 hrs to read all 40 questions and to do them because it would take me anywhere between 5 to 6 hours as well and I thought it was not normal since people always stated it takes them only 1 hr. I did do uworld system wise 1 block and random 2nd block. You guys have done a fantastic job with explaining step 1 score and approach to achieving that score and wish you 2 and all other medical students and others commenting on this video great success!
@@danmanmd , my pleasure ! I was a struggling step 1 student myself at one point ! I couldn't agree more with your step 1 review. Please keep doing more videos , these videos are honest truth and helpful and Inspiring. 🤓
This was really helpful, please make a brief video on research papers and other credentials helpful for USMLE matching. And a big congratulations on getting such amazing scores.✌️ Inspirational!
21:27 Damn, those scores (esp guy on the left) are inhuman. How is he getting a 228 before even starting second year? The guy on the right is crazy too but man the red haired guy's scores are insane.
Thank you so much for the excellent advice and honesty! 7 hours to review a 40 question block is sooo much more realistic than the 1 hour I’ve been hearing! You reassured, terrified, motivated and inspired me in equal measures 🤣 Thanks also for the resource list - Costanzo is a new one for me but sounds essential. congrats on the HUGE scores and THANKS again 🙏
Thank You guys... It was one of the most honest and the best video on USMLE Step 1 that I've watched so far..... Keep Motivating. BTW any recommendations for IMGs aspiring to Match in Surgical Residency ??
I personally don't have much experience with IMGs, but most of the data agree that you'll be held to a higher standard, in general (www.aamc.org/cim/download/487768/data/sg-10.pdf). You'll have to outscore your fellow applicants on board exams as well as make your application stand out in other ways (research, volunteerism, etc.). Good luck!
I'm gonna come back in the future to edit this comment because I'm going for that 270+! Thanks alot for posting this video, it's what I needed coming at the right time!
Hi Dan! Can you reupload your video to studying for Step 2? I’m starting medical school in August and remembered that video to be very insightful. I only know about it because I used your videos for the MCAT, which was also gold. Thank you so much!
Fantastic video, it was honestly so helpful. I am an incoming M1 so I would be eternally grateful for your input on this. How did you guys take notes during lectures? (Hand written/typing?) Any techniques to take good notes, so the information really sticks for the long haul? When you read Costanzo's physiology, were you taking notes/writing in the margin and did you ever go back to read what you wrote? When you get a question wrong, how did you review it, especially when you had not learned about it at all in class (i.e. in a different system you had not covered?) so that it sticks with you? Thank you!
My thoughts on note taking: most content and facts that you learn in medical school are very easily accessible (with first aid or even a quick google search) so I think your time is better spent focusing on what your professor is saying rather than trying to write it all down. When a professor explains something in a way that gives you the "lightbulb moment," take notes on how they led you to a better understanding of that concept (or at least when in the lecture it was so you can find it on the recording) I highlighted Costanzo, color-coded by how imported I thought the concept was. I didn't take notes but I frequently referenced what I had already read. For Qs on topics I was unfamiliar with, I would spend a little extra time and try to go back to the very basics (essential principles in physiology) even if it didn't directly answer the question. I would try to remember the facts from the question and maybe take a note or two, but I trusted that with enough questions I would see the same information multiple times. Good luck!
Iam an IMG.I was diagnosed with an advanced cancer going into my 3rd year ...I took over an year off. Now, I am trying to study but I just feel so tired ..besides my godsister, everyone think that I should give-up. Thank you for the video, it was very helpful. 🙏
lf hey, please don’t give up. Don’t let it claim the rest of your life. I’m so sorry this happened to you, you’re stronger than you know. God bless you
I'm glad you found the video helpful, and more importantly I'm glad you're choosing to pursue your passion in the face of overwhelming adversity. That is what makes a strong and successful person, and I wish you the best of luck
Great video! I really want to implement the study strategies you have listed and was wondering if you could go into a little more depth of how you studied for step in place of lecture material during the end of M1 and all throughout M2. Did you not pre or post read at all for class/lab. Also what was your study schedule like during the year and into dedicated? Thank you for the helpful tips.
I spy with my little my eye a cross on the wall. Are you guys Christians? Either way, God Bless you both in all you do! Your advice has really given me a second wind and I pray my exam goes well!
Fun fact: as a Jesuit institution, Saint Louis U has a cross in every room on campus Disclaimer: this does not necessarily represent our religious beliefs Nonetheless, glad our video helped and good luck to you!
MVP Medical Review Ahhh, makes sense! You guys almost looked like two ministers in your Sunday’s best and the cross in the camera shot! You both wear it well! Well, you guys are ministering some STEP 1 Truth! Both of you are inspiring young men and will go far in the medical field. Happy studies for 3rd year 🙌🎉✨
Thank you, this was so helpful. You inspire me to do more Q banks. Can you also share what was your daily schedule for step 1 studying i.e study hours for QBanks vs lectures per day. And doing so how long did it take you to complete each question bank. Also do you recommend subscribing to amboss for step 1.
In brief: Pre-dedicated - ~40 random Qs per day (broken down into smaller sets when starting out) = 4-5 hours 2-3 hours of "reading time" Costanzo, pathoma, sketchy early on, etc. (attend lectures if you prefer) ~20 extra questions subject specific from a separate qbank to prepare for in-class exams = 2-3 hours 8-10 hours total. Treat it like a work day then workout, eat, relax Took a couple months to finish a Qbank Dedicated: 80 Uworld Qs random (2 timed blocks) - take your time and thoroughly cross-reference material. 40 Qs took me ~7hrs when I started. After time, I didn't need as much cross-referencing because I'd seen most things multiple times. Bottom line during dedicated = treat every Uworld Q like you'll never see that info again until the exam. Don't move on until you're comfortable. I personally didn't take many written notes. AJ annoted FA heavily + Final pass through pathoma. 10-12 hour days Amboss is very thorough and very challenging so don't be discouraged by low percentages. I don't feel as though I got as much out of it as UWorld, but I'd recommend utilizing the free trials of USMLERx, Amboss, Kaplan, TrueLearn, or any others and deciding for yourself which style you prefer.
MVP Medical Review Thank you so much for this in-depth and prompt reply. Really grateful. Please also let me know if it’s equally important to do all sections of costanzo physiology, or are some better explained than others. If so, which ones can we skip doing from costanzo? Also can you rank the Qbanks that you did in order of most useful to least.
Some are certainly better than others. For step 1 physiology, I'd say cardio is a must and is really closely tied to cardiovascular pathology so it is very high yield (this is my opinion from my personal experiences, by the way). I'd say respiratory is probably second. Renal, acid-base, endocrine, and reproductive chapters are very useful, but in my mind they go a little bit beyond the scope of what's "high-yield" for step 1; however, if you do read them in their entirety they will leave you with an excellent understanding of how those systems work, which I do recommend. GI was mostly describing the action of countless GI hormones (some of which are legitimately important and high-yield, others not as much), and to me it wasn't as useful as the others, with a heavy burden of memorization anyway. I actually didn't read much of the first 3 chapters, but if you need to brush up on the basics of cellular physiology then they might be useful. Ranking Qbanks: 1. Uworld 2. everything else I try not to rank them beyond this because I think they all have strengths and weaknesses, and certain people will find certain Qbanks more useful. In order of my recommendations (not rankings): Kaplan and Rx probably fall into the second tier behind Uworld and at this time would probably be my recommendations for the first or second addition. Third tier would probably be Pastest, Amboss (good, challenging questions, but for some reason I find it difficult to learn from; some love it), Truelearn is a pretty good Qbank that I recently found, but I haven't gotten through enough of it to raise my recommendation, and Medbullets was just okay to me.
Thanks so much for making this video! Found it extremely helpful and will be sure to share with other medical students. One question for you both - which laptop did you guys use for studying for step 1? I'm looking into buying a Macbook Pro 13 inch but wanted to see what others were using.
I use a Dell XPS 15. AJ uses a Macbook Pro. Probably not the most consequential decision you'll make regarding step 1, but we each liked ours if that helps you.
I appreciate all this great info and both of you are very motivating! In your first 2 years of med school, did you guys both attend lecture? What do you think is the best way to understand the material if a student decided not to go to lecture? I’ve heard of students not attending lecture as a MS1 and then not even looking at the lecture slides during MS2 to focus solely on boards. Do you think I would be shooting myself in the foot by doing just UFAPS and Question banks ? Thank you !
I attended essentially all lectures during M1, mainly because that's what I was comfortable with and attending lectures worked for me in undergrad. As I started reading ahead, doing Qbanks, and watching sketchy late M1-summer, lecture became less useful (I attended very few during M2) and I felt better off investing that time doing more Qs instead. Important note: I attended a pass/fail medical school and my in-house exam grades essentially didn't matter (although I still did very well and felt amply prepared for them from my study strategy) With the right resources and enough practice Qs, it's arguably more efficient to skip lectures. You just have to know yourself as a learner.
1) did you use Goljan's book? If book, 4th or 5th edition? 2) the notes that you took on those resources, were they annotations into FA/Pathoma? How did you organize your notes? 3) when you say "understand" the material, what extent are we talking about? Like knowing WHY rhinosinusitis occurs in the maxillary sinus in adults but ethmoid sinus in children?
1) I did not 2) I didn't take many notes. When I did, they were on scratch paper to organize major concepts or principles. AJ thoroughly annoted first aid, sketchy, and pathoma 3) My rule of thumb on "understanding": if Costanzo (physiology) or Big Robbins (pathology) didn't offer an explanation or said something along the lines of "the pathogenesis is poorly understood" then I didn't worry about, but I made a significant effort to understand and internalize what they did tell me, if anything
Hey, Im an MS1 and my goal is 270+. We are currently in Biochemistry. I wanted to start doing practice questions. I was wondering if it would be useful to start now and which of the three (UWorld, Kaplan, Rx) would I use. Also, when did your "pre-dedicated" studying start?
Save UW for last. I'd start with Rx because the questions are more straightforward (though not necessarily easier). "Pre-dedicated" for us was essentially the end of M1/beginning of M2
If you’re trying to find a way to go about the test and prepare for it, go with the guy on the rights advice. The guy on the left is insane and should not be anyone’s target. You’ll be left thinking you’re an idiot if you try and match him The guy on the right did very very well and is much more realistic progress. He still had a very hard reach score but following his advice will get your 240+
Thanks for the informative video! Did you guys ever watch Boards & Beyond? If/if not, what do you think of it? It's been my #1 resources these past few weeks but I noticed you guys never talked about it so now I'm not sure! Thank you!
Congrats guy! Thank you for making an amazing video! I have 2 questions: 1. When did you guys start qbanks? My school has 1.5 pre clinical so any recommendation? 2. When did you start sketchy micro? How did you guys fit it in your schedule? I'm struggling to find time to start micro. Thank you!
I started Qbanks the second half of M1, just over a full year before my exam date. Because sketchy is passive learning, I would do a couple videos at the end of my day of studying, when I felt like I wasn't quite focused enough to think through practice questions anymore. Most of sketchy I actually finished M1-M2 summer evenings after getting home from the lab where I worked.
MVP Medical Review I see. How did you go about using the resources? For example, did you read everything for cardio and then do qbanks? Or did you use qbanks to study?
We definitely started random Qbanks before finishing reviewing (sometimes before even starting) a particular subject or system. I spent about 2-3 hours per day of "reading time" pre-dedicated, but the bulk of the learning came via questions. You might amazed how much you learn and how much you improve long-term
Thanks, Dan and AJ! I appreciate your insight and just wanted to say that this video has shifted my perspective on how to adequately prepare for Step 1. Dan, you mentioned that when you started qbanks, you utilized the tutor mode feature untimed to get a sense of how to process through a question. At what point did you switch to doing timed blocks? Also, at what rate did you increase from smaller blocks to 40 q's per day?
Thanks for watching! I started with blocks of 10 and increased by 5 questions per block per week (i.e. blocks of 10 for a week, blocks of 15 the next week, etc.) until I reached full 40 questions blocks, preferably doing at least one block of that week's amount of questions each day. I started practicing timed blocks around the 20s and 30s, and upon reaching full 40 question blocks I began using timed mode exclusively. I started this at the beginning of M2 and by the time I reached 40q blocks I felt relatively comfortable using practice Qs as a primary means of studying for the remainder of the year.
@@danmanmd What do you mean by using practice Qs as a primary means of studying? I'm assuming you would need at least some baseline knowledge to even navigate through a question or were you just using tutor mode to see the answer and the explanations? I am at the start of my M2 year and also learn well from questions but trying to figure out how to set up my studying so that I maximize learning from practice Qs. I hope what I'm trying to say makes sense. Thanks in advance.
Hi MVP Medical Review! Thanks for your video. In regards to your "tracking progress slide" I noticed some rows saying form 18 vs the other table saying NBME 18. Are these the same? How were you able to take so many NBME's? I see that for this year, there's only 6 available.
Yes those are the same. The addition of Forms 20, 21, and 22 actually occurred during my dedicated period so I ended up taking even more NBME's than I planned
Congrats on the great scores!! You guys mentioned doing 2 simultaenous Q-banks at the beginning of M2 (1 random and one along with your curriculum), I'd like to do this as well and wanted to know if you would recommend sticking with Rx and kaplan as you did or not? I currently own (have not started) Rx and AMBOSS, but, as you mentioned, AMBOSS is more difficult. Would it be better to forgo AMBOSS esp while I'm still learning or would that be an okay resource for this?
Yeah I found AMBOSS pretty challenging. Given it's plentiful detail, it may be a good choice to go along with your curriculum. Ultimately, though, I think many of the currently available Qbanks can fill either role pretty well. And I'm not familiar with Physeo
Awesome video guys. Im curious about which of those qBanks you used in random mode and which ones you left to study by system, did you feel that there were ones best suited to do in a systems based manner?
I did Kaplan by system and the rest random. I thought Kaplan put the greatest emphasis on physiology, and by the end of each system I felt that I had a strong understanding of the major concepts. It honestly probably doesn't make much of a difference which on you save for systems though
Thank u guys for this video u answered many of my Qs regarding Qbank & dealing with side stuff going on in life alongside Step studying. I've been trying to find someone as study partner. When do u recommend having study partner? is it better towards dedicated when doing 40Q blocks start, pushing each other & analyzing together as u guys mentioned? Cheers
In my experience, it was more beneficial to have a study partner early on when you start working on Qbanks so you can bounce ideas off of each other and problem solve together. At this point you will have each seen different things and have unique strengths and weaknesses. By the time you reach UWorld and/or dedicated time, ideally you will have seen and be comfortable with most/all topics. This is the time to focus, practice, and fill in any gaps in your knowledge, and in my opinion it is less useful to have a study partner during this period (with the exception of reviewing NBME forms together)
And one more questions please: When you do on Random, do you do timed 1 block in an hour and then review all of the questions or you do with tutor mode and review the explanations question by question basis? Thank you!
You can start on tutor mode (I did), but the goal is to work toward timed blocks as soon as you are comfortable with it. It's important to practice efficiency with your timing.
Congrats on the great scores! Im gonna start Uworld soon and its gonna be my first Qbank so definitely gonna be doing subject mode. How much of a disadvantage is that gonna be against a random mode? And is using UWORLD more like a learning tool than an assessment tool not okay? Sorry for asking too many stuff.
Two major disadvantages to subject mode: 1) losing the benefits of spaced repetition (can be rectified with Anki or other means of spaced repetition); 2) you will find that many answer choices can be ruled out simply because they do not fall within the subject you are choosing to be tested over, although they may be on the differential and otherwise be good distractors. This may not only artificially inflate your scores, but it may rob you of important practice in critical thinking. There isn't a good way around the second issue and in my opinion it shouldn't be ignored. Uworld is a learning tool and it should be used as one. One of its advantages is that it also has the best predictive value of all the Qbanks and can be used to judge progress and proximity to goal scores. If you plan on doing other Qbanks in addition to Uworld, I would save UW for last, but if it will be your only one then you should use it however you think it will benefit you most.
Hi guys, this is my 3rd comment on this video. I again congratulate you both, great job. I just got my Step 1 result, 264. I wonder what you guys think about Step 2CK materials (except UWorld), and how long it would get to ace that with 265+, like 270 (timewise compared to Step 1), I gotta plan. I wish you both great success for Step2CK
Congrats on the great score! I'm currently trying to figure out the Step 2 game myself, so I don't have much advice to offer at this point. Yes, UWorld is a staple; Amboss has an extensive Qbank for shelf and step 2 as well. Given that you've done very well on Step 1, you probably understand the basics of pathophys, micro, pharm, etc. and are able to diagnose most conditions. To master management of those conditions for Step 2, you'll probably want to find at least non-Qbank resource to start learning the details. Online Med Ed has free videos, and a many students like those. I'll try to follow up in the future when I figure out my own Step 2 study plans.
@@okechukwuumeokeke8828 ,they have explained that they started right from day 1 of med sch by combining course work with Step 1 prep , use of Qbanks. Repetition is key. At end of every topic in med sch, do corresponding questions in First Aid and preferred QBank. Ultimately, you are unique, develop a strategy that reflect how you individually learn.
Is amboss a good qbank? I’m debating between that and becker bec becker has 2700+ questions. I won’t have time to do both. Like I told you i have done 1400 of rx and 1200 of pastest so won’t be buying them again. Currently I’m doing Kaplan then amboss then uw. Just curious how you approached studying bec personally for me I found physio and biochem very tough and just doing questions on it wasn’t enough for me so I did Kaplan lectures for them and questions and so now i have a decent grasp of them. I know you followed a question-centric approach and for me it was very difficult for my weaker subjects to just do questions. What’s your take on questions vs lecture/video resource on weak topics + questions?
I think Amboss is a decent Qbank. Very challenging and can be frustrating at times, so don't beat yourself up over low percentages. I don't know much about Becker, so I can't really help you decide between them. And yes, once you've identified your weaknesses you should be looking for content-based resources (e.g. textbooks, video lectures, etc.) in addition to your questions. Pre-dedicated, I would spend 2-3 hours per day of "reading time" trying to improve my content knowledge in new and/or weak areas, with the rest of my time spent on Qbanks.
Thanks for a fast response. Based on what you said in the video, you only did content review for physio and path and the rest came from qbanks, right. I’m asking this bec now my weaknesses are beh/biostat and anatomy/neuroanat and doing only questions isn’t gonna cut it and finding a good content resource for them is even more challenging! Thanks bro, keep up the good work. You seem like a genuine dude.
+sketchy for pharm and micro (very memorization-heavy subjects, questions alone probably not enough). Biostat was taught well at my school and I attended most of those lectures (pretty high-yield and worth a quick review). But yes, physio and path were the heaviest content review for me. Anatomy/neuroanatomy felt like a weakness no matter what I did, and in my opinion they weren't quite high-yield enough for me to dwell on (definitely missed some on the Step though). Biochem similar but a little more doable than anatomy. Good luck!
Great video guys, thanks! If you don't know micro and pharm how you answered that questions when they appeared on random? As to my knowledge these to need strong memorization. Thank you!
You're correct, those disciplines require strong memorization. Going through Sketchy or your resource of choice early (I did this between M1 and M2) is helpful to at least have the basics down. You'll answer the majority incorrectly to begin with, but it is a good to learn the details in more context. Also keep in mind that the particular detail being asked is not the only bit of knowledge to be gleaned from a micro or pharm question. Pay attention to the patient presentation for both micro and pharm questions, the indications for a particular drug with pharm questions, ask yourself how you would treat the patient with whatever infection being tested, etc. Finally, consistently refer back to your resource of choice to continually reinforce the details.
Great video! If I finished uworld + incorrects, is it worth doing Rx questions now? Or were Rx questions too easy compared to the real exam as people on reddit are saying. Or would you recommend Amboss instead? Thank you
Kaplan was actually my second favorite behind UW. But Rx and amboss both offer trial periods so I would try them and see which one you think you'll learn most effectively from.
Uworld was all timed and random. Our first Qbanks (Pastest and a little bit of Rx) were untimed to get a feel for how to interpret and answer questions. As you get close to the exam, timed and random is very important
This is great. So glad I️ came across your channel. What do you recommend we get or do before entering med school? I’m applying and hopefully starting 2020. I️ definitely want to get some of the products that I’ll be using early on. Things I️ can can do before classes start or just when classes start.
Enjoy your free time! Med school is awesome but it's also very busy, so make sure you save time for the things in life you enjoy before you start. If you really feel like getting started early, I'd build a foundation in physiology (as I said in the video). Costanzo's Physiology is my resource of choice but whatever your comfortable with is fine. I honestly wouldn't recommend much else at that point. Maybe some basic video lecture series if you're looking for more (FA Express vids, pathoma, Kaplan), but those can get expensive if you end up needing multiple years of subscription
MVP Medical Review awesome. Thank you for the advise and for the response. I’ll definitely get the book. I️ emailed myself this video. Saved it. And shared it. This breakdown is awesome. Thanks again! On a side note, saw one rude comment. Forget the haters. You both worked hard and are helping others get motivated to do the same. I️ appreciate it. Looking forward to your future videos.
deathkissgoodbye I have already used uworld long time ago once but didn’t take my time through it. Should I still use uw as my last qbank, planning on using 3 qbanks beside Uw. Do you know anything about using old nbmes as practice questions though they don’t have official answers to them. I have nbmes 1-19.
In my opinion UW has the best content and explanations so I'd still recommend it. Unfortunately, if you happen to remember specific questions the second time through you will miss out on some of the "active" learning and critical reasoning process that is so valuable. Keep that in mind and maybe supplement it with other questions. Retired NBME forms are fine, but to get the most out of it you'll have to spend a lot of time looking up explanations and cross-referencing on your own. FYI, NBME denies repeating questions from Forms on Step, and I didn't see any repeats (some people swear they've seen repeats though).
Hi I have a question on what you guys said about using the USMLE rx on random while starting MS2, do you mean doing random of literally all the topics? Because how would I do for example the pathology of the systems if I have not covered that yet in the school curriculum, or do you mean doing random for the blocks that we have already covered?
Hi. Thank you for the video. And congratulations. I have a question, if you could please advise. So my uworld subscription is getting over almost a month before I'll be taking my exam. I'll finish going through it by then at least one. Apart from uworld, I've only used Kaplan q bank, and recently started solving offline nbmes. So then, for the month before the exam, should I get a new one month uworld subscription, or use another question bank; and if so, then which one?
Tough question. If you're on pace to finish Uworld without extending the subscription then I'd go ahead and finish and maybe look into Amboss or Rx for some extra practice the final month before the exam
How did you approach going to class/watching the lectures? Just started M2 and am seeing how even watching could not be worth it. Thanks for all the input - incredibly helpful!
I found my study methods to be thorough enough that I would cover most, if not all, of the material that my class lectures covered. Unfortunately, most people do not learn very effectively from lectures and other means of "passive" learning. During M2, I found it more beneficial to engage in more "active" forms of learning. For me, this was practice questions, but flashcards and certain other strategies would fall into this category as well. I'd recommend being honest with yourself about how you learn most effectively, and basing your study strategies around that.
Congratulations for such great scores both of you docs. Thank you for giving back through the counsel on scoring in the 100th percentile. On Qbanks, I am using boardsvital and learning a lot from it. Did you have any reservations about it? How come it's not on your list? Please advise. Thanks
We didn't really explain why we chose the Qbanks we did (perhaps another video). In my opinion, Uworld is the gold standard and should be the last Qbank used. Other than that, find one you are comfortable with and stick with it! One reason I chose not to use boardvitals is that their Qbank contains 1500-1700+ questions, while most others contain 2100-2400+. My study plan was based on volume and seeing as many Qs as possible, so I opted for the larger Qbanks, but 1500 quality questions that you are learning from is far more valuable than 2500 that you're rushing to finish. If you like it, see it through!
Hey guys. First of all, great job. Congrats. I have about 2 months to the exam and I'm scoring around 83% on Uworld. As far as I understand, you guys left Uworld to the last. Can I learn what was your final Uworld correct % was? Thanks so much for the video. Again, great job!
@@danmanmd Thanks so much. I appreciate that. My last NBMEs were 261 and 255. With the NBME's, it seems like if you miss 5-6 questions, you are already below 270s and there seems to be 5-6 questions on every form that would make one hmm, I am not sure if this is A or C. Considering your margin was around 265-275, did you feel this way when you were doing the NBME forms, or did you just miss them for some other reason, if so, can I please learn why do you think you missed those questions. Thanks so much!!
Great work! I agree with you, every NBME has those questions. I just tried to reason through them as much as possible, and yes they require a near-perfect score to get into the 270s. I can definitely say that I missed A LOT more total questions on Step 1 than I did on NBMEs, so don't let those questions throw you off your game on test day
Hey, just wanted to know for the Kaplan q bank you did for systems, did you also do that on random q for the system you were on. Lets say you were doing cardiovascular. So for the 20q you did, was it on anatomy, pathology, physiology, (all mixed up)etc. or did you decide to do 20 questions on anatomy, until you finish all the anatomy questions, and then 20 question on physiology, etc. Hope that I was clear. Thank you for your videos.
Within the system, I kept the discipline randomized. Many well-written questions will be a blend of the different disciplines anyway. I don't necessarily believe that either way is significantly superior to the other though. If you like to further subdivide while you are learning the systems, go for it
hey Dan, i’ll take step 1 when it’s pass/fail (2022) i’m planning to approach it the same way you guys did, do you think that having a hard base from step 1 helps in achieving a high score in step 2 ck? thanks a lot!
Personally, I think having a strong foundation of knowledge from step 1 was the most important factor in my step 2 CK performance. That said, once you feel confident in your ability to comfortably pass step 1, it might be wise to start incorporating some step 2 prep into your schedule
Thank you guys for this video. I’m currently preparing for USMLE-1 . I was so relieved and motivated by your advice since I could not force myself passively read first aid and memorise, could retain information by doing questions only and do not want to do anki either. Problem is I already finished uworld 2 pass in the beginning and starting other banks . So should I do other banks now and go repeat uworld questions before exam? Saving uworld assessments for last month. Thanks ahead.
Thanks for this video! Had a question for you guys. When you had the dual question banks going (Kaplan and Rx) and did system specific on Kaplan and random on Rx were you doing random for everything you already learned or even systems you hadn’t learned in school yet? I’m in cardio now and we’ve done pulm and renal so should I do cardio pulm and renal or should I do everything including systems we haven’t learned yet? Cause I’ll just get all of those wrong since I haven’t learned it yet right?
I would include systems you haven't learned yet. There is certainly such a thing as "test-taking skills," and part of that is using critical thinking and reasoning to deduce the correct answer (or more often narrow it down to two viable options) when there are serious gaps in your knowledge. Even if you feel clueless about a topic, you still have a basic understanding of some physiology and biochem (from MCAT if nothing else). Early on is a great time to develop these skills. As you near the test, you'll notice that you correctly answering many questions that you very few of the fine details of the subject. Secondly, you will learn a great deal from these questions even though it will feel like all the info is being lost immediately. At this stage, the most important things are to learn basic principles (never to early to learn the basics) and develop pattern-recognition skills. Certain presentations are very classic for board exams, and the more reps you have, the sharper your skills will be down the road.
MVP Medical Review thank you! That makes a lot of sense! Will watch your other video on how to go about questions because it definitely does take a long time to go through
If your school starts systems as early as January of your 1st year, would you recommend doing the Kaplan Qbank and random questions at that point? Or still wait until March? I’m conflicted because I won’t see that system again and am not sure when I should do those system-specific questions.
I would do those system-specific questions with the system. You'll see those questions again on your other random Qbanks which will maintain your knowledge
MVP Medical Review I’ve not read them yet since I am still in my 3rd academic year(IMG), but almost all student I know who took the exam were using Kaplan LN + Kaplan videos (definitely took them a while to finish; 6 to 9 months for the dedicated period) . They scored in late 30s/40s ,and one of them even scored 251
@@XhandleToot They used only kaplan ?? I am studying kaplan pathoma and uworld my exam next month i am so afraid because i saw some video told that with out first aid u will not pass it
I did not use Boards and Beyond so I can't offer a direct comparison, but I will say that I found Pathoma to be so well-put-together that, if anything, maybe consider B&B in addition to Pathoma rather than instead of. Friends and classmates of mine have found B&B to be quite helpful if you enjoy the video lecture style, but to my knowledge they all still used Pathoma as well. Also, Pathoma is only a pathology review so it will not cover all the information that B&B will cover.
As a US-IMG, I was wondering if you recommend the Kaplan textbooks and videos? I felt they were time consuming and I was wondering if I should sacrifice my time for it. Thank you for this video!
So you've identified the problem. Passive learning resources (e.g. review books and video lectures) are comprehensive and provide a decent foundation of knowledge, but take significant amount of time away from active learning resources (e.g. Qbanks) which are far more effective. The best advice I can give is to limit your passive learning resources to a select few that you are comfortable with (for most people this is the "FAPS" of "UFAPS") with the remainder of the time spent with active learning. If you prefer video lectures to review books, you may consider Kaplan vids, Rx express vids, Boards and Beyond, etc, but doubling up on passive learning resources (e.g. Kaplan vids plus kaplan textbooks plus FAPS) is likely not the best strategy because of how time consuming it will be. Figure out the smallest combination of passive learning resources that you are comfortable relying on. Everyone will have a different combination. Hope this helps. Good luck.
Thank you for the response! I will definitely implement the methods you suggested. Would you recommend Kaplan videos or Boards and Beyond for a passive learning resource? @@danmanmd
Dan and Arjun, Congratulation guys ! Keep it up guys ! Show your awesomeness in step 2 CK too. All the Best ! Dan and Arjun, Can I know your UW first pass average if possible...
Do you two think it is ok to use USMLERx (all mixed) with Amboss (systems specific) instead of USMLERX and Kaplan? Often times Kaplan is more challenging and you guys also say Amboss is challenging too. Since I've already bought Amboss I was thinking of using that instead.
Of course. If you've already purchased it and you like it then definitely use it. In my opinion, they all fall into the 2nd tier (behind UWorld). No particular recommendations, but I do have some questions from a company called TrueLearn currently posted on my website. Feel free to check those out as well. mvpmedicalreview.com/truelearn Also 2nd tier behing UW, but the point is to find Qbanks whose questions and explanations you deem to be quality and believe you can learn effectively from. There isn't a rank order of effectiveness that will apply equally to everyone. If you like Amboss and Rx, then go for it
Hey very cool video. My question is as a soon to become second year student who wants to begin doing questions, why would I start them on random if I haven't seen all the systems yet?
czcams.com/video/Z-swh9VcJFA/video.html I think you've commented on the above vid too, but I hope I answered your question in that video. Briefly, it helps the info stick better when you do end up learning, creating very strong and durable memories
No. I didn't bother to do repeat questions so I only needed 3 or 6 month subscriptions to finish them. Starting approximately 3-6 months before your exam, Uworld is the only Qbank you should be worried about (and you don't need to worry about it before then), so it's okay if your secondary Qbanks expire before the exam.
Hi Idk if you still reply to comments but I have a questions regarding Costanzo Physiology. There are two versions of this book, a bigger one and smaller one. Idk which one to get. I have approximately an year to prepare for step. Which one did you use and which one do you think should use?
I assume you mean Costanzo vs BRS by Costanzo. If you have a year use Costanzo proper. BRS has same info but it’s harder to understand since it’s all in a list
Any advice for studying pathology? I use pathoma, but seem to have a difficult time with all the path images for each disorder, but perhaps this will just take time with repeated exposure to the imaging. I am curious if you have any tips? Thank you!
Is costanzo physiology the same book as BRS because I've noticed it's the same author? I'm wondering because you said in the video that Costanzo helped you but you didn't use BRS
Please check my FAQ page before posting comments, as many of your questions may have already been answered!
mvpmedicalreview.com/faq/
MVP Medical Review thanks a lot this truly is golden information I will pass this video on to my friends . Thanks again and congratulations 👏 👏 👏
Great video. Thanks for sharing. This is another great video that discusses important points when studying such as studying strategy, taking notes, how many times to review a resource, how to study UW and FA, how many nbmes to do, when to start each resource, and final tips for the exam day
czcams.com/video/n8uuVtacmuc/video.html
Does this still work?
If ur a genius masochist learn from the red guy.. if ur a smart hardworker learn from the tan one.. if ur average quit the video for ur own sake
No one is average if they are med school that's for sure!
This is by far the best usmle srep1 prep video on youtube! You guys have amazingly explained and discussed all possible scenarios a med student faces while preparing for USMLE step1 . The resources that you guys stated are actually gold. Honestly i watched this video 3 times before i started my prep.
Wow, there's hope for me too. I started off in the 30s, then 40s. Now I'm 50s. If you great achievers started here too, there's surely a lot of hope for me too. Thank you for the encouragement.
How did u do??
This advice is seriously gold, thanks so much guys. I really appreciate how open and honest you were.
I’ve never taken notes from a CZcams video. Until now. Thank you so much guys!
Stated very very well. Everything said in your video was clear, concise, understanding , and honest truth to good step 1 score and success .
Questions questions questions... no other way around to this exam .
Personally I think boards and beyond is great for anyone who is not clear on their basic foundations, and first aid rx n videos are also good for people that have a better understanding of basics .
One thing I do agree with is rx is great easy question bank to use in a mix mode instead of system wise . I also used Kaplan but did it system wise in tutor mode to learn and understand questions and did rx is a mix mode to get the feeling of questions being random as that how it is on steps .
Uworld is great , and thanks for sharing that it took you 7 hrs to read all 40 questions and to do them because it would take me anywhere between 5 to 6 hours as well and I thought it was not normal since people always stated it takes them only 1 hr. I did do uworld system wise 1 block and random 2nd block.
You guys have done a fantastic job with explaining step 1 score and approach to achieving that score and wish you 2 and all other medical students and others commenting on this video great success!
Thank you for the additional advice and input!
@@danmanmd , my pleasure ! I was a struggling step 1 student myself at one point ! I couldn't agree more with your step 1 review. Please keep doing more videos , these videos are honest truth and helpful and Inspiring.
🤓
This was really helpful, please make a brief video on research papers and other credentials helpful for USMLE matching. And a big congratulations on getting such amazing scores.✌️ Inspirational!
Coming soon, hopefully!
21:27 Damn, those scores (esp guy on the left) are inhuman. How is he getting a 228 before even starting second year? The guy on the right is crazy too but man the red haired guy's scores are insane.
@@joshamalraj4025 You think?🤔
Thank you so much for the excellent advice and honesty! 7 hours to review a 40 question block is sooo much more realistic than the 1 hour I’ve been hearing! You reassured, terrified, motivated and inspired me in equal measures 🤣 Thanks also for the resource list - Costanzo is a new one for me but sounds essential. congrats on the HUGE scores and THANKS again 🙏
Thank you for taking your time and making this video . I feel so motivated! Congratulations! I Hope all the best and all the success for both of you💐
Guys, I have to say this was a really, really good video from both of you! Thanks for the great advice...hope you all are finding success also!
Congratulations bros! That’s what annihilation is. All the best in your future endeavors, thanks for sharing the infos. & experiences with us !
The ginger doctor is so handsome, smart and handsome, you wife will be the luckiest one !
Thank You guys... It was one of the most honest and the best video on USMLE Step 1 that I've watched so far..... Keep Motivating. BTW any recommendations for IMGs aspiring to Match in Surgical Residency ??
I personally don't have much experience with IMGs, but most of the data agree that you'll be held to a higher standard, in general (www.aamc.org/cim/download/487768/data/sg-10.pdf). You'll have to outscore your fellow applicants on board exams as well as make your application stand out in other ways (research, volunteerism, etc.). Good luck!
I'm gonna come back in the future to edit this comment because I'm going for that 270+! Thanks alot for posting this video, it's what I needed coming at the right time!
And.... Step 1 is now pass/fail!!! Ohboy
thats from 2022 though
@@wojtek9500 2022 not 2021? Are you sure?
@@aamnagotrizz it changes on January 1, 2022, there's still 2 years left
@@mk.xo29 nope. It isnt fixed when it will change, we just know that it wont be changing before 2022
it's pass/fail already
Hi Dan! Can you reupload your video to studying for Step 2? I’m starting medical school in August and remembered that video to be very insightful. I only know about it because I used your videos for the MCAT, which was also gold. Thank you so much!
That’s my brother 😊❤️
where is your brother now ?
Imrana Rashid he’s an M3 at St. Louis
You should be proud
M3 means what bro?
Bless you both, gonna try my best and learn from your experiences.
Fantastic video, it was honestly so helpful. I am an incoming M1 so I would be eternally grateful for your input on this. How did you guys take notes during lectures? (Hand written/typing?) Any techniques to take good notes, so the information really sticks for the long haul?
When you read Costanzo's physiology, were you taking notes/writing in the margin and did you ever go back to read what you wrote?
When you get a question wrong, how did you review it, especially when you had not learned about it at all in class (i.e. in a different system you had not covered?) so that it sticks with you?
Thank you!
My thoughts on note taking: most content and facts that you learn in medical school are very easily accessible (with first aid or even a quick google search) so I think your time is better spent focusing on what your professor is saying rather than trying to write it all down. When a professor explains something in a way that gives you the "lightbulb moment," take notes on how they led you to a better understanding of that concept (or at least when in the lecture it was so you can find it on the recording)
I highlighted Costanzo, color-coded by how imported I thought the concept was. I didn't take notes but I frequently referenced what I had already read.
For Qs on topics I was unfamiliar with, I would spend a little extra time and try to go back to the very basics (essential principles in physiology) even if it didn't directly answer the question. I would try to remember the facts from the question and maybe take a note or two, but I trusted that with enough questions I would see the same information multiple times.
Good luck!
The best video ever about USMLE step 1 exam
Thank you very much
Iam an IMG.I was diagnosed with an advanced cancer going into my 3rd year ...I took over an year off. Now, I am trying to study but I just feel so tired ..besides my godsister, everyone think that I should give-up. Thank you for the video, it was very helpful. 🙏
lf hey, please don’t give up. Don’t let it claim the rest of your life. I’m so sorry this happened to you, you’re stronger than you know. God bless you
I'm glad you found the video helpful, and more importantly I'm glad you're choosing to pursue your passion in the face of overwhelming adversity. That is what makes a strong and successful person, and I wish you the best of luck
Great video! I really want to implement the study strategies you have listed and was wondering if you could go into a little more depth of how you studied for step in place of lecture material during the end of M1 and all throughout M2. Did you not pre or post read at all for class/lab. Also what was your study schedule like during the year and into dedicated? Thank you for the helpful tips.
GOOOAAALS! Thanks for sharing
BritxBrat2Fashion you is fine
Congrats guys..you're an inspiration to some of us🧡...which resources would you recommend for Biochemistry?
You guys are a blessing. Thank you very much!!!
By the way, a guy this year 2020 from Jordan 🇯🇴 got 277!! I do know it may be scaled the scores, but that is still impressive!!
Who is that guy? Did he produce any you tube channel or video related to his study skills or study schedule etc?
Mark my words I'll beat your record and get 280+✌You've inspired me.
Love it. Message me when you do
I spy with my little my eye a cross on the wall. Are you guys Christians? Either way, God Bless you both in all you do! Your advice has really given me a second wind and I pray my exam goes well!
Fun fact: as a Jesuit institution, Saint Louis U has a cross in every room on campus
Disclaimer: this does not necessarily represent our religious beliefs
Nonetheless, glad our video helped and good luck to you!
MVP Medical Review Ahhh, makes sense! You guys almost looked like two ministers in your Sunday’s best and the cross in the camera shot! You both wear it well! Well, you guys are ministering some STEP 1 Truth!
Both of you are inspiring young men and will go far in the medical field.
Happy studies for 3rd year 🙌🎉✨
Thank you, this was so helpful. You inspire me to do more Q banks. Can you also share what was your daily schedule for step 1 studying i.e study hours for QBanks vs lectures per day. And doing so how long did it take you to complete each question bank. Also do you recommend subscribing to amboss for step 1.
In brief:
Pre-dedicated - ~40 random Qs per day (broken down into smaller sets when starting out) = 4-5 hours
2-3 hours of "reading time" Costanzo, pathoma, sketchy early on, etc. (attend lectures if you prefer)
~20 extra questions subject specific from a separate qbank to prepare for in-class exams = 2-3 hours
8-10 hours total. Treat it like a work day then workout, eat, relax
Took a couple months to finish a Qbank
Dedicated:
80 Uworld Qs random (2 timed blocks) - take your time and thoroughly cross-reference material. 40 Qs took me ~7hrs when I started. After time, I didn't need as much cross-referencing because I'd seen most things multiple times. Bottom line during dedicated = treat every Uworld Q like you'll never see that info again until the exam. Don't move on until you're comfortable. I personally didn't take many written notes. AJ annoted FA heavily
+ Final pass through pathoma.
10-12 hour days
Amboss is very thorough and very challenging so don't be discouraged by low percentages. I don't feel as though I got as much out of it as UWorld, but I'd recommend utilizing the free trials of USMLERx, Amboss, Kaplan, TrueLearn, or any others and deciding for yourself which style you prefer.
MVP Medical Review Thank you so much for this in-depth and prompt reply. Really grateful. Please also let me know if it’s equally important to do all sections of costanzo physiology, or are some better explained than others. If so, which ones can we skip doing from costanzo? Also can you rank the Qbanks that you did in order of most useful to least.
Some are certainly better than others. For step 1 physiology, I'd say cardio is a must and is really closely tied to cardiovascular pathology so it is very high yield (this is my opinion from my personal experiences, by the way). I'd say respiratory is probably second. Renal, acid-base, endocrine, and reproductive chapters are very useful, but in my mind they go a little bit beyond the scope of what's "high-yield" for step 1; however, if you do read them in their entirety they will leave you with an excellent understanding of how those systems work, which I do recommend. GI was mostly describing the action of countless GI hormones (some of which are legitimately important and high-yield, others not as much), and to me it wasn't as useful as the others, with a heavy burden of memorization anyway. I actually didn't read much of the first 3 chapters, but if you need to brush up on the basics of cellular physiology then they might be useful.
Ranking Qbanks: 1. Uworld 2. everything else
I try not to rank them beyond this because I think they all have strengths and weaknesses, and certain people will find certain Qbanks more useful.
In order of my recommendations (not rankings): Kaplan and Rx probably fall into the second tier behind Uworld and at this time would probably be my recommendations for the first or second addition. Third tier would probably be Pastest, Amboss (good, challenging questions, but for some reason I find it difficult to learn from; some love it), Truelearn is a pretty good Qbank that I recently found, but I haven't gotten through enough of it to raise my recommendation, and Medbullets was just okay to me.
@@danmanmd Thanks again for your response, truly indepted to you guys for your comprehensive response to all my queries.
Thanks so much for making this video! Found it extremely helpful and will be sure to share with other medical students. One question for you both - which laptop did you guys use for studying for step 1? I'm looking into buying a Macbook Pro 13 inch but wanted to see what others were using.
I use a Dell XPS 15. AJ uses a Macbook Pro. Probably not the most consequential decision you'll make regarding step 1, but we each liked ours if that helps you.
I appreciate all this great info and both of you are very motivating! In your first 2 years of med school, did you guys both attend lecture? What do you think is the best way to understand the material if a student decided not to go to lecture? I’ve heard of students not attending lecture as a MS1 and then not even looking at the lecture slides during MS2 to focus solely on boards. Do you think I would be shooting myself in the foot by doing just UFAPS and Question banks ? Thank you !
I attended essentially all lectures during M1, mainly because that's what I was comfortable with and attending lectures worked for me in undergrad. As I started reading ahead, doing Qbanks, and watching sketchy late M1-summer, lecture became less useful (I attended very few during M2) and I felt better off investing that time doing more Qs instead.
Important note: I attended a pass/fail medical school and my in-house exam grades essentially didn't matter (although I still did very well and felt amply prepared for them from my study strategy)
With the right resources and enough practice Qs, it's arguably more efficient to skip lectures. You just have to know yourself as a learner.
1) did you use Goljan's book? If book, 4th or 5th edition?
2) the notes that you took on those resources, were they annotations into FA/Pathoma? How did you organize your notes?
3) when you say "understand" the material, what extent are we talking about? Like knowing WHY rhinosinusitis occurs in the maxillary sinus in adults but ethmoid sinus in children?
1) I did not
2) I didn't take many notes. When I did, they were on scratch paper to organize major concepts or principles. AJ thoroughly annoted first aid, sketchy, and pathoma
3) My rule of thumb on "understanding": if Costanzo (physiology) or Big Robbins (pathology) didn't offer an explanation or said something along the lines of "the pathogenesis is poorly understood" then I didn't worry about, but I made a significant effort to understand and internalize what they did tell me, if anything
MVP Medical Review thanks man and congrats on your scores.
What I should use for Anatomy , histology, embryology and biochemistry ?
Hey, Im an MS1 and my goal is 270+. We are currently in Biochemistry. I wanted to start doing practice questions. I was wondering if it would be useful to start now and which of the three (UWorld, Kaplan, Rx) would I use. Also, when did your "pre-dedicated" studying start?
Why though? If you're an US MD, 250 will open up any specialty to you
@@jaganjoseph386 Its more of a self-goal than anything else
Save UW for last. I'd start with Rx because the questions are more straightforward (though not necessarily easier). "Pre-dedicated" for us was essentially the end of M1/beginning of M2
If you’re trying to find a way to go about the test and prepare for it, go with the guy on the rights advice. The guy on the left is insane and should not be anyone’s target. You’ll be left thinking you’re an idiot if you try and match him
The guy on the right did very very well and is much more realistic progress. He still had a very hard reach score but following his advice will get your 240+
Thanks for the informative video! Did you guys ever watch Boards & Beyond? If/if not, what do you think of it? It's been my #1 resources these past few weeks but I noticed you guys never talked about it so now I'm not sure! Thank you!
Bump!
I wanted to know what was the role of your professor in your preparation?
None, usually.
Congrats guy! Thank you for making an amazing video! I have 2 questions: 1. When did you guys start qbanks? My school has 1.5 pre clinical so any recommendation? 2. When did you start sketchy micro? How did you guys fit it in your schedule? I'm struggling to find time to start micro. Thank you!
I started Qbanks the second half of M1, just over a full year before my exam date.
Because sketchy is passive learning, I would do a couple videos at the end of my day of studying, when I felt like I wasn't quite focused enough to think through practice questions anymore. Most of sketchy I actually finished M1-M2 summer evenings after getting home from the lab where I worked.
@@danmanmd Thanks a lot! Any resource would you recommend for anatomy?
Unfortunately no. Definitely my biggest weakness. See an earlier comment for my take on Step 1 anatomy in general
MVP Medical Review I see. How did you go about using the resources? For example, did you read everything for cardio and then do qbanks? Or did you use qbanks to study?
We definitely started random Qbanks before finishing reviewing (sometimes before even starting) a particular subject or system. I spent about 2-3 hours per day of "reading time" pre-dedicated, but the bulk of the learning came via questions. You might amazed how much you learn and how much you improve long-term
What learning resources did Daniel use for topics not covered in Costanzo? For example, immunology. Thank you
Amazing video! Thank you so much for the video
Congrats guys and thank you for sharing your study method
Thanks, Dan and AJ! I appreciate your insight and just wanted to say that this video has shifted my perspective on how to adequately prepare for Step 1. Dan, you mentioned that when you started qbanks, you utilized the tutor mode feature untimed to get a sense of how to process through a question. At what point did you switch to doing timed blocks? Also, at what rate did you increase from smaller blocks to 40 q's per day?
Thanks for watching! I started with blocks of 10 and increased by 5 questions per block per week (i.e. blocks of 10 for a week, blocks of 15 the next week, etc.) until I reached full 40 questions blocks, preferably doing at least one block of that week's amount of questions each day. I started practicing timed blocks around the 20s and 30s, and upon reaching full 40 question blocks I began using timed mode exclusively. I started this at the beginning of M2 and by the time I reached 40q blocks I felt relatively comfortable using practice Qs as a primary means of studying for the remainder of the year.
@@danmanmd What do you mean by using practice Qs as a primary means of studying? I'm assuming you would need at least some baseline knowledge to even navigate through a question or were you just using tutor mode to see the answer and the explanations? I am at the start of my M2 year and also learn well from questions but trying to figure out how to set up my studying so that I maximize learning from practice Qs. I hope what I'm trying to say makes sense. Thanks in advance.
thank you guys!! did you used Costanzo's book during dedicated?
Hi MVP Medical Review! Thanks for your video. In regards to your "tracking progress slide" I noticed some rows saying form 18 vs the other table saying NBME 18. Are these the same? How were you able to take so many NBME's? I see that for this year, there's only 6 available.
Yes those are the same. The addition of Forms 20, 21, and 22 actually occurred during my dedicated period so I ended up taking even more NBME's than I planned
Congrats on the great scores!! You guys mentioned doing 2 simultaenous Q-banks at the beginning of M2 (1 random and one along with your curriculum), I'd like to do this as well and wanted to know if you would recommend sticking with Rx and kaplan as you did or not? I currently own (have not started) Rx and AMBOSS, but, as you mentioned, AMBOSS is more difficult. Would it be better to forgo AMBOSS esp while I'm still learning or would that be an okay resource for this?
Also I was wondering if you think Physeo physiology would be a good way to get the in depth physiology background (rather than reading costanzo)?
Yeah I found AMBOSS pretty challenging. Given it's plentiful detail, it may be a good choice to go along with your curriculum. Ultimately, though, I think many of the currently available Qbanks can fill either role pretty well. And I'm not familiar with Physeo
Would appreciate a similar video for Step 2 once you guys are able to come across that!
czcams.com/video/8w7IyxzFbZI/video.html
Hope you find this useful!
Awesome video guys. Im curious about which of those qBanks you used in random mode and which ones you left to study by system, did you feel that there were ones best suited to do in a systems based manner?
I did Kaplan by system and the rest random. I thought Kaplan put the greatest emphasis on physiology, and by the end of each system I felt that I had a strong understanding of the major concepts. It honestly probably doesn't make much of a difference which on you save for systems though
Thank u guys for this video u answered many of my Qs regarding Qbank & dealing with side stuff going on in life alongside Step studying. I've been trying to find someone as study partner. When do u recommend having study partner? is it better towards dedicated when doing 40Q blocks start, pushing each other & analyzing together as u guys mentioned?
Cheers
In my experience, it was more beneficial to have a study partner early on when you start working on Qbanks so you can bounce ideas off of each other and problem solve together. At this point you will have each seen different things and have unique strengths and weaknesses.
By the time you reach UWorld and/or dedicated time, ideally you will have seen and be comfortable with most/all topics. This is the time to focus, practice, and fill in any gaps in your knowledge, and in my opinion it is less useful to have a study partner during this period (with the exception of reviewing NBME forms together)
And one more questions please: When you do on Random, do you do timed 1 block in an hour and then review all of the questions or you do with tutor mode and review the explanations question by question basis? Thank you!
You can start on tutor mode (I did), but the goal is to work toward timed blocks as soon as you are comfortable with it. It's important to practice efficiency with your timing.
@@danmanmd Thank a lot! Wish me luck on Step 1!
People worship the Smiths and the Kardashians, but these guys are my real heroes 😍
Congrats on the great scores! Im gonna start Uworld soon and its gonna be my first Qbank so definitely gonna be doing subject mode. How much of a disadvantage is that gonna be against a random mode? And is using UWORLD more like a learning tool than an assessment tool not okay? Sorry for asking too many stuff.
Two major disadvantages to subject mode: 1) losing the benefits of spaced repetition (can be rectified with Anki or other means of spaced repetition); 2) you will find that many answer choices can be ruled out simply because they do not fall within the subject you are choosing to be tested over, although they may be on the differential and otherwise be good distractors. This may not only artificially inflate your scores, but it may rob you of important practice in critical thinking. There isn't a good way around the second issue and in my opinion it shouldn't be ignored.
Uworld is a learning tool and it should be used as one. One of its advantages is that it also has the best predictive value of all the Qbanks and can be used to judge progress and proximity to goal scores.
If you plan on doing other Qbanks in addition to Uworld, I would save UW for last, but if it will be your only one then you should use it however you think it will benefit you most.
MVP Medical Review Wow thank you this was super helpful. Ill start off with Kaplan and Rx and will keep UWORLD for last. 👌🏼
Great video. Thank you both so much . Is there any text for Anatomy and Pharmac ; like Costanzo for Physiology
Perfect! Thank you!
Hi guys, this is my 3rd comment on this video. I again congratulate you both, great job. I just got my Step 1 result, 264. I wonder what you guys think about Step 2CK materials (except UWorld), and how long it would get to ace that with 265+, like 270 (timewise compared to Step 1), I gotta plan. I wish you both great success for Step2CK
Congrats....you performed really well
Congrats on the great score! I'm currently trying to figure out the Step 2 game myself, so I don't have much advice to offer at this point. Yes, UWorld is a staple; Amboss has an extensive Qbank for shelf and step 2 as well. Given that you've done very well on Step 1, you probably understand the basics of pathophys, micro, pharm, etc. and are able to diagnose most conditions. To master management of those conditions for Step 2, you'll probably want to find at least non-Qbank resource to start learning the details. Online Med Ed has free videos, and a many students like those. I'll try to follow up in the future when I figure out my own Step 2 study plans.
@@danmanmd Thank you very much. Look forward to hearing from you.
Bahadir Simsek how long did it take you to prepare for the step 1
@@okechukwuumeokeke8828 ,they have explained that they started right from day 1 of med sch by combining course work with Step 1 prep , use of Qbanks. Repetition is key. At end of every topic in med sch, do corresponding questions in First Aid and preferred QBank. Ultimately, you are unique, develop a strategy that reflect how you individually learn.
Is amboss a good qbank? I’m debating between that and becker bec becker has 2700+ questions. I won’t have time to do both. Like I told you i have done 1400 of rx and 1200 of pastest so won’t be buying them again. Currently I’m doing Kaplan then amboss then uw. Just curious how you approached studying bec personally for me I found physio and biochem very tough and just doing questions on it wasn’t enough for me so I did Kaplan lectures for them and questions and so now i have a decent grasp of them. I know you followed a question-centric approach and for me it was very difficult for my weaker subjects to just do questions. What’s your take on questions vs lecture/video resource on weak topics + questions?
I think Amboss is a decent Qbank. Very challenging and can be frustrating at times, so don't beat yourself up over low percentages. I don't know much about Becker, so I can't really help you decide between them.
And yes, once you've identified your weaknesses you should be looking for content-based resources (e.g. textbooks, video lectures, etc.) in addition to your questions. Pre-dedicated, I would spend 2-3 hours per day of "reading time" trying to improve my content knowledge in new and/or weak areas, with the rest of my time spent on Qbanks.
Thanks for a fast response. Based on what you said in the video, you only did content review for physio and path and the rest came from qbanks, right. I’m asking this bec now my weaknesses are beh/biostat and anatomy/neuroanat and doing only questions isn’t gonna cut it and finding a good content resource for them is even more challenging! Thanks bro, keep up the good work. You seem like a genuine dude.
+sketchy for pharm and micro (very memorization-heavy subjects, questions alone probably not enough). Biostat was taught well at my school and I attended most of those lectures (pretty high-yield and worth a quick review). But yes, physio and path were the heaviest content review for me.
Anatomy/neuroanatomy felt like a weakness no matter what I did, and in my opinion they weren't quite high-yield enough for me to dwell on (definitely missed some on the Step though). Biochem similar but a little more doable than anatomy.
Good luck!
Great video guys, thanks! If you don't know micro and pharm how you answered that questions when they appeared on random? As to my knowledge these to need strong memorization. Thank you!
You're correct, those disciplines require strong memorization. Going through Sketchy or your resource of choice early (I did this between M1 and M2) is helpful to at least have the basics down. You'll answer the majority incorrectly to begin with, but it is a good to learn the details in more context. Also keep in mind that the particular detail being asked is not the only bit of knowledge to be gleaned from a micro or pharm question. Pay attention to the patient presentation for both micro and pharm questions, the indications for a particular drug with pharm questions, ask yourself how you would treat the patient with whatever infection being tested, etc. Finally, consistently refer back to your resource of choice to continually reinforce the details.
@@danmanmd Thanks a lot my friend!
Great video! If I finished uworld + incorrects, is it worth doing Rx questions now? Or were Rx questions too easy compared to the real exam as people on reddit are saying. Or would you recommend Amboss instead? Thank you
Kaplan was actually my second favorite behind UW. But Rx and amboss both offer trial periods so I would try them and see which one you think you'll learn most effectively from.
I am going to model this. About to wrap up sketchy and ESCALATE THE QBANKS !
Thank you so much for the video! Very helpful...but question: you said you did the questions untimed for UWorld, so did u ever do timed for UWorld?
Uworld was all timed and random. Our first Qbanks (Pastest and a little bit of Rx) were untimed to get a feel for how to interpret and answer questions. As you get close to the exam, timed and random is very important
14k and 10k questions?! you guys are insane
Good talk! Thank you guys :)
This is great. So glad I️ came across your channel. What do you recommend we get or do before entering med school? I’m applying and hopefully starting 2020. I️ definitely want to get some of the products that I’ll be using early on. Things I️ can can do before classes start or just when classes start.
Enjoy your free time! Med school is awesome but it's also very busy, so make sure you save time for the things in life you enjoy before you start. If you really feel like getting started early, I'd build a foundation in physiology (as I said in the video). Costanzo's Physiology is my resource of choice but whatever your comfortable with is fine. I honestly wouldn't recommend much else at that point. Maybe some basic video lecture series if you're looking for more (FA Express vids, pathoma, Kaplan), but those can get expensive if you end up needing multiple years of subscription
MVP Medical Review awesome. Thank you for the advise and for the response. I’ll definitely get the book.
I️ emailed myself this video. Saved it. And shared it. This breakdown is awesome.
Thanks again! On a side note, saw one rude comment. Forget the haters. You both worked hard and are helping others get motivated to do the same. I️ appreciate it. Looking forward to your future videos.
Thank you so much!! This is really Helpful!
deathkissgoodbye
I have already used uworld long time ago once but didn’t take my time through it. Should I still use uw as my last qbank, planning on using 3 qbanks beside Uw. Do you know anything about using old nbmes as practice questions though they don’t have official answers to them. I have nbmes 1-19.
In my opinion UW has the best content and explanations so I'd still recommend it. Unfortunately, if you happen to remember specific questions the second time through you will miss out on some of the "active" learning and critical reasoning process that is so valuable. Keep that in mind and maybe supplement it with other questions. Retired NBME forms are fine, but to get the most out of it you'll have to spend a lot of time looking up explanations and cross-referencing on your own. FYI, NBME denies repeating questions from Forms on Step, and I didn't see any repeats (some people swear they've seen repeats though).
Hi I have a question on what you guys said about using the USMLE rx on random while starting MS2, do you mean doing random of literally all the topics? Because how would I do for example the pathology of the systems if I have not covered that yet in the school curriculum, or do you mean doing random for the blocks that we have already covered?
Hi. Thank you for the video. And congratulations.
I have a question, if you could please advise.
So my uworld subscription is getting over almost a month before I'll be taking my exam. I'll finish going through it by then at least one. Apart from uworld, I've only used Kaplan q bank, and recently started solving offline nbmes. So then, for the month before the exam, should I get a new one month uworld subscription, or use another question bank; and if so, then which one?
Tough question. If you're on pace to finish Uworld without extending the subscription then I'd go ahead and finish and maybe look into Amboss or Rx for some extra practice the final month before the exam
@@danmanmd Okay, I'll get either of those. Thank you. :)
How did you approach going to class/watching the lectures? Just started M2 and am seeing how even watching could not be worth it. Thanks for all the input - incredibly helpful!
I found my study methods to be thorough enough that I would cover most, if not all, of the material that my class lectures covered. Unfortunately, most people do not learn very effectively from lectures and other means of "passive" learning. During M2, I found it more beneficial to engage in more "active" forms of learning. For me, this was practice questions, but flashcards and certain other strategies would fall into this category as well.
I'd recommend being honest with yourself about how you learn most effectively, and basing your study strategies around that.
Real deal starts at 11:00.
Congratulations for such great scores both of you docs. Thank you for giving back through the counsel on scoring in the 100th percentile.
On Qbanks, I am using boardsvital and learning a lot from it. Did you have any reservations about it? How come it's not on your list? Please advise. Thanks
We didn't really explain why we chose the Qbanks we did (perhaps another video). In my opinion, Uworld is the gold standard and should be the last Qbank used. Other than that, find one you are comfortable with and stick with it! One reason I chose not to use boardvitals is that their Qbank contains 1500-1700+ questions, while most others contain 2100-2400+. My study plan was based on volume and seeing as many Qs as possible, so I opted for the larger Qbanks, but 1500 quality questions that you are learning from is far more valuable than 2500 that you're rushing to finish. If you like it, see it through!
Hey guys. First of all, great job. Congrats. I have about 2 months to the exam and I'm scoring around 83% on Uworld. As far as I understand, you guys left Uworld to the last. Can I learn what was your final Uworld correct % was? Thanks so much for the video. Again, great job!
I was right around 90-91%. I believe AJ was around the mid-80s.
Good luck!
@@danmanmd Thanks so much. I appreciate that. My last NBMEs were 261 and 255. With the NBME's, it seems like if you miss 5-6 questions, you are already below 270s and there seems to be 5-6 questions on every form that would make one hmm, I am not sure if this is A or C. Considering your margin was around 265-275, did you feel this way when you were doing the NBME forms, or did you just miss them for some other reason, if so, can I please learn why do you think you missed those questions. Thanks so much!!
Great work! I agree with you, every NBME has those questions. I just tried to reason through them as much as possible, and yes they require a near-perfect score to get into the 270s. I can definitely say that I missed A LOT more total questions on Step 1 than I did on NBMEs, so don't let those questions throw you off your game on test day
@@danmanmd thank you for the replies, much appreciated!
Good luck
Hey, just wanted to know for the Kaplan q bank you did for systems, did you also do that on random q for the system you were on. Lets say you were doing cardiovascular. So for the 20q you did, was it on anatomy, pathology, physiology, (all mixed up)etc. or did you decide to do 20 questions on anatomy, until you finish all the anatomy questions, and then 20 question on physiology, etc. Hope that I was clear. Thank you for your videos.
Within the system, I kept the discipline randomized. Many well-written questions will be a blend of the different disciplines anyway. I don't necessarily believe that either way is significantly superior to the other though. If you like to further subdivide while you are learning the systems, go for it
hey Dan, i’ll take step 1 when it’s pass/fail (2022) i’m planning to approach it the same way you guys did, do you think that having a hard base from step 1 helps in achieving a high score in step 2 ck? thanks a lot!
Personally, I think having a strong foundation of knowledge from step 1 was the most important factor in my step 2 CK performance. That said, once you feel confident in your ability to comfortably pass step 1, it might be wise to start incorporating some step 2 prep into your schedule
Thank you guys for this video. I’m currently preparing for USMLE-1 . I was so relieved and motivated by your advice since I could not force myself passively read first aid and memorise, could retain information by doing questions only and do not want to do anki either. Problem is I already finished uworld 2 pass in the beginning and starting other banks . So should I do other banks now and go repeat uworld questions before exam? Saving uworld assessments for last month. Thanks ahead.
Thanks for this video! Had a question for you guys. When you had the dual question banks going (Kaplan and Rx) and did system specific on Kaplan and random on Rx were you doing random for everything you already learned or even systems you hadn’t learned in school yet? I’m in cardio now and we’ve done pulm and renal so should I do cardio pulm and renal or should I do everything including systems we haven’t learned yet? Cause I’ll just get all of those wrong since I haven’t learned it yet right?
I would include systems you haven't learned yet. There is certainly such a thing as "test-taking skills," and part of that is using critical thinking and reasoning to deduce the correct answer (or more often narrow it down to two viable options) when there are serious gaps in your knowledge. Even if you feel clueless about a topic, you still have a basic understanding of some physiology and biochem (from MCAT if nothing else). Early on is a great time to develop these skills. As you near the test, you'll notice that you correctly answering many questions that you very few of the fine details of the subject.
Secondly, you will learn a great deal from these questions even though it will feel like all the info is being lost immediately. At this stage, the most important things are to learn basic principles (never to early to learn the basics) and develop pattern-recognition skills. Certain presentations are very classic for board exams, and the more reps you have, the sharper your skills will be down the road.
MVP Medical Review thank you! That makes a lot of sense! Will watch your other video on how to go about questions because it definitely does take a long time to go through
perfect
Thank you so much.
If your school starts systems as early as January of your 1st year, would you recommend doing the Kaplan Qbank and random questions at that point? Or still wait until March? I’m conflicted because I won’t see that system again and am not sure when I should do those system-specific questions.
I would do those system-specific questions with the system. You'll see those questions again on your other random Qbanks which will maintain your knowledge
This was so helpful for me , I am glad you have uploaded this video ❤️
But i find it odd that you have not mentioned Kaplan LNs , is there any reason?
I've actually never tried Kaplan LN and I wasn't quite sure whether or not it is still a popular resource. Did you find that series useful?
MVP Medical Review I’ve not read them yet since I am still in my 3rd academic year(IMG), but almost all student I know who took the exam were using Kaplan LN + Kaplan videos (definitely took them a while to finish; 6 to 9 months for the dedicated period) . They scored in late 30s/40s ,and one of them even scored 251
@@XhandleToot
They used only kaplan ??
I am studying kaplan pathoma and uworld my exam next month i am so afraid because i saw some video told that with out first aid u will not pass it
@@XhandleToot all the people I know that went through all the videos found it a waste of time. ): maybe cause its very dense, I dont know
Hazem rashoka I know it has been a while, but I hope you did well in your exam!
Is it fine to use Boards and Beyond for most of the systems instead of Pathoma?
I did not use Boards and Beyond so I can't offer a direct comparison, but I will say that I found Pathoma to be so well-put-together that, if anything, maybe consider B&B in addition to Pathoma rather than instead of. Friends and classmates of mine have found B&B to be quite helpful if you enjoy the video lecture style, but to my knowledge they all still used Pathoma as well. Also, Pathoma is only a pathology review so it will not cover all the information that B&B will cover.
As a US-IMG, I was wondering if you recommend the Kaplan textbooks and videos? I felt they were time consuming and I was wondering if I should sacrifice my time for it. Thank you for this video!
So you've identified the problem. Passive learning resources (e.g. review books and video lectures) are comprehensive and provide a decent foundation of knowledge, but take significant amount of time away from active learning resources (e.g. Qbanks) which are far more effective. The best advice I can give is to limit your passive learning resources to a select few that you are comfortable with (for most people this is the "FAPS" of "UFAPS") with the remainder of the time spent with active learning. If you prefer video lectures to review books, you may consider Kaplan vids, Rx express vids, Boards and Beyond, etc, but doubling up on passive learning resources (e.g. Kaplan vids plus kaplan textbooks plus FAPS) is likely not the best strategy because of how time consuming it will be. Figure out the smallest combination of passive learning resources that you are comfortable relying on. Everyone will have a different combination.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Thank you for the response! I will definitely implement the methods you suggested. Would you recommend Kaplan videos or Boards and Beyond for a passive learning resource?
@@danmanmd
Dan and Arjun, Congratulation guys ! Keep it up guys ! Show your awesomeness in step 2 CK too. All the Best !
Dan and Arjun, Can I know your UW first pass average if possible...
Thanks! mid-high 80's to low 90's
@@danmanmd Thanks a lot! Awesome!
Thank you so much for this.
Do you two think it is ok to use USMLERx (all mixed) with Amboss (systems specific) instead of USMLERX and Kaplan? Often times Kaplan is more challenging and you guys also say Amboss is challenging too. Since I've already bought Amboss I was thinking of using that instead.
Of course. If you've already purchased it and you like it then definitely use it.
In my opinion, they all fall into the 2nd tier (behind UWorld). No particular recommendations, but I do have some questions from a company called TrueLearn currently posted on my website. Feel free to check those out as well. mvpmedicalreview.com/truelearn
Also 2nd tier behing UW, but the point is to find Qbanks whose questions and explanations you deem to be quality and believe you can learn effectively from. There isn't a rank order of effectiveness that will apply equally to everyone. If you like Amboss and Rx, then go for it
Very interesting and inspiring to watch! So, what was the time frame that you completed the 14,000 & 10,000 questions? I didn't hear it in the video.
I started near the end of M1 and summer before M2, so about one calendar year
@@danmanmd So it wasn't during just dedicated Step time? How many questions do you think you did during dedicated?
Hi! Thanks a lot for that video! Could you also give an advice for Step 2 ck preparations. What resources have you used?
czcams.com/video/8w7IyxzFbZI/video.html
Hope you find this helpful!
Very helpful!
am an img. u guys really gave me a lot of motivation. thank u
Costanzo Physiology is great. But, for neurophysio, there's less in Costanzo I guess.
Hey very cool video. My question is as a soon to become second year student who wants to begin doing questions, why would I start them on random if I haven't seen all the systems yet?
czcams.com/video/Z-swh9VcJFA/video.html
I think you've commented on the above vid too, but I hope I answered your question in that video.
Briefly, it helps the info stick better when you do end up learning, creating very strong and durable memories
Did you have subscriptions to those question banks from the time you started until you took the test ?
No. I didn't bother to do repeat questions so I only needed 3 or 6 month subscriptions to finish them. Starting approximately 3-6 months before your exam, Uworld is the only Qbank you should be worried about (and you don't need to worry about it before then), so it's okay if your secondary Qbanks expire before the exam.
Hi Idk if you still reply to comments but I have a questions regarding Costanzo Physiology. There are two versions of this book, a bigger one and smaller one. Idk which one to get. I have approximately an year to prepare for step. Which one did you use and which one do you think should use?
I assume you mean Costanzo vs BRS by Costanzo. If you have a year use Costanzo proper. BRS has same info but it’s harder to understand since it’s all in a list
Any advice for studying pathology? I use pathoma, but seem to have a difficult time with all the path images for each disorder, but perhaps this will just take time with repeated exposure to the imaging. I am curious if you have any tips? Thank you!
Use zanki, particularly the cards associated with histology
great video
pass/fail step1. Get ready to start browning, boys!
Is costanzo physiology the same book as BRS because I've noticed it's the same author? I'm wondering because you said in the video that Costanzo helped you but you didn't use BRS
Same author, different book. BRS is the shorter, review-style book
Did you use Costanzo throughout M1 and finish it? Or did you start it later for step 1?
Started it at the beginning of M2 when we started systems. I would've started it during M1 if I had known about it earlier though
This was really helpful thanks
272 step god