The Ultimate USMLE Study Plan

After researching the Step 1 and all that it entails along with reading other people's experiences I came up with the "Ultimate USMLE Study Plan."

First...My Study Materials:

• Main Books:
• First Aid
• Kaplan Lecture Notes (got off of amazon) and Videos(from a friend)
• Goljan Rapid Review of Pathology & Audio (offline)
• Supplementary Books:
• High Yield Neuroanatomy
• BRS Physiology
• Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple
• Lange Pharmcards

Second...Plan of Action

1. First Read: I will/am reading the Kaplan Lecture Notes, watching the corresponding video and taking notes, and then transferring those notes onto my lecture notes while reading the Kaplan lecture notes again. My main goal is to fully understand and visualize the concepts. I'm not memorizing per se I'm just taking it all in! After each subject I finish I will solve the corresponding section in the Kaplan QBook as a form of revision for that subject. I'm sure I'll get mistakes, so I will take notes on the questions I solved incorrectly. 
2. Second Read: During this time I will transfer the important concepts from Kaplan into First Aid to make one large USMLE resource. This will be time consuming as I will also be memorizing First Aid and Kaplan as I transfer the information into FA. I haven't figured it out yet, but I will also start solving questions, preferably timed. 
3. Third Read: Ensuring that I know my huge USMLE resource and implementing the concepts by solving tons of questions, I'm planning on using USMLEWorld and the NBMEs, maybe even KaplanQBank. 

In order to monitor my progress and ensure that I am absorbing all the information, or at least the majority of information, I will take a 'diagnostic test' after each read, I think I'll be using the NBMEs. That way I can tackle my weaker areas before it's too late! About a month before my exam date, I plan on going to my local Prometric testing center and taking the practice test they offer.

As a future International Medical Graduate, it's been recommended by Kaplan advisors that I take an average of 6-8 months to study for this exam. Now it's the end of June, so I plan on taking the exam at the end of December or early January, right in the middle of my clinical rotation to avoid conflict with my end-of-rotation exams.

In order for me to get the US and complete residency there in the program that I want, I need to get a 99 on the USMLE Step 1 exam.

I hope I didn't leave anything out....I'm still in the process of carrying out my ultimate study plan, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

Until tomorrow =)

Join Me On My USMLE Journey

I've been thinking about making a blog for a while now, but never actually went through with it, so here I am!
It's 12:50 am, and here I am studying for my Step 1. I am currently on my first read of my first subject, Anatomy, and it hasn't been easy! I've been off school for an entire month, and I still have not been able to get in a solid 7 hours of studying a day. Since I'm home for the summer, I don't know anyone planning on taking the USMLE Step 1 in my town, so what better way to keep me on track than a daily blog!! I'm here to lend support to others, and hopefully get some support from you.

I will go into the details of my educational background, the books I'm using and my overall plan for the Step 1 in my next post, so look out for that tomorrow.

Now I have to get back to Anatomy, more specifically histology....not one of my favorite subjects but I'll live, won't I?

Until tomorrow...