USMLE Step 1 Study Tips

Amy Bailey, UI-Chicago, Class of 2005

Qbank is a must. Try and do as many questions as you can.
Try not to rely on memorization. Obviously you have to memorize things, but make sure you understand them also. Many of the questions were complex or things that I would have never studied. However, if you know the pathophysiology, that can help you to figure it out.
Pick a date for the test and stick with it. You are going to be stressed out, and you might think that you are going to fail. But in my opinion, pushing back the test just extends this agony. However, if you have hard evidence that you are going to fail (like you continue to get well below failing scores on Qbank tests despite how much you study that subject), you might want to disregard this suggestion.
First Aid is great, but you need to supplement it with other sources. I studied from other books, and wrote important details from these books and Qbank in First Aid and then studied from that.
I did not find any books that I really liked. However, pick a book and stick with it. You will waste a lot of time switching from book to book.
Bring lunch to the test. The site downtown has restaurants around there, but you have very little time for lunch and breaks.
Take a full-length practice test preferably on the computer. There is a lot of endurance involved in an 8-hour test and you should train for it. Also, you get eye strain from staring at the computer that long (I had a pounding headache by the end) so you want to prepare for that.
Most importantly, think about how you study best and do that. Everyone is different so if you don’t think that these suggestions will help you, just disregard them.