USMLE Step 1 Study Tips

Student from UI-Chicago, Class of 2005

I think the best advice you can get for boards is to study in the way that works best for you. If you don’t remember anything from sitting in class for hours on end, don’t sign up for Kaplan! If you know you don’t have the will power to make yourself study on your own, then maybe going to a course that you’ve shelled out tons of money for—another incentive to actually go to the classes—is the best way for you to go. Another temptation to avoid is accumulating materials that you will never get to.

Pick one review book for each subject or buy a set of Kaplan books.

Ignore what books your friends are reading, and resist buying something else that you’ll only feel guilty about not getting to before the test!

Your time is better spent reading one review book and knowing it well, in my opinion, although some people have trouble rereading something they’ve already seen once. I think it makes studying easier if you’ve used the review book before and have at least been through parts of it before, since when you study for boards, it’s the second time you’ve seen that page, and maybe you’ll be able to picture it in your head come test time.

Also, you will inevitably get sick of studying—that’s when I found it useful to study via questions, which is why I left taking practice tests or doing question books to closer to the test. If you can, I would also try to simulate at least one complete test day, just so you know that you actually have the endurance to make it through the darn thing and so you get an idea of how often you need to take breaks. Finally, I would say DO NOT SWITCH WHAT DAY YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE THE TEST. You will want to, because you will feel woefully unprepared, but you will never know everything you want to know, and odds are good that you probably won’t study all that much more in that added week or so because you’ll be so sick of studying! I myself bought a very expensive plane ticket to go on vacation with a friend, so there was no way I could switch my test date; I figured, at the worst, I’d fail and have to take it again, so why not get some vacation in before I had to study all over again! :) Good luck!