Step 1
As of this year, Step 1 has 7 blocks of 40 single-choice questions to do in 1 hour each. So it lasts a total of 8 hours with 1 hour break which you can divide as you want between each block. The scoring system depends on the others (it's a bit like a ranking exam but it's not officially said). Depending on the years and the schools you are aiming for, for IMGs it is recommended to get about 10 points or more above the American average (which my year was equivalent to 240 I think).
I'm sure there's a lot of data online on how to prepare for this exam but here are my thoughts on how I did it.
First of all you need a book called "First Aid for the USMLE Step One". There's pretty much everything you need to know for the exam. On average, Americans take 6 weeks to prepare specifically (they have already seen everything in class during the year), you should plan a little more. I took 6 weeks myself but I had already studied the 70% of clinical knowledge (anatomy, physiology, etc.) and statistics for my own board exam. I still had to relearn the basic science part with biochemistry, genetics and so on. And believe me; it was hard to get back to it!
Then, the 2nd thing in my opinion that is essential is a UWorld subscription. This is a bank of questions written by the group writing the exam questions. It's an excellent training; the questions resemble those of the examination in both format and contents. They also have training sessions: practice at least once to answer 7x40 questions in 8 hours, it's tiring!
Finally, I also used several videos that helped me a lot:
- Sketchy Micro: incredibly useful, they are drawings that gather bacteria/virus/fungi in a mnemonic form, a revolution of microbiology! Sketchy Pharm has come out since that time; I haven't tried it but I've heard mixed things
- Pathoma (comes with a book) for pathology: it's easier to see the microscope slides explained than just presented in a book.
- Kaplan videos: I watched the biochemistry and pharmacology ones because I did not have time to do the rest, they are lectures with a little more explanation than in the First Aid book.
And there are surely a whole lot of other resources (some listed at the end of First Aid), it's your turn now to find the ones that work best for you!
Last but not least, regarding the timing, allow 3-4 weeks to receive your results.
Good luck!
I'm sure there's a lot of data online on how to prepare for this exam but here are my thoughts on how I did it.
First of all you need a book called "First Aid for the USMLE Step One". There's pretty much everything you need to know for the exam. On average, Americans take 6 weeks to prepare specifically (they have already seen everything in class during the year), you should plan a little more. I took 6 weeks myself but I had already studied the 70% of clinical knowledge (anatomy, physiology, etc.) and statistics for my own board exam. I still had to relearn the basic science part with biochemistry, genetics and so on. And believe me; it was hard to get back to it!
Then, the 2nd thing in my opinion that is essential is a UWorld subscription. This is a bank of questions written by the group writing the exam questions. It's an excellent training; the questions resemble those of the examination in both format and contents. They also have training sessions: practice at least once to answer 7x40 questions in 8 hours, it's tiring!
Finally, I also used several videos that helped me a lot:
- Sketchy Micro: incredibly useful, they are drawings that gather bacteria/virus/fungi in a mnemonic form, a revolution of microbiology! Sketchy Pharm has come out since that time; I haven't tried it but I've heard mixed things
- Pathoma (comes with a book) for pathology: it's easier to see the microscope slides explained than just presented in a book.
- Kaplan videos: I watched the biochemistry and pharmacology ones because I did not have time to do the rest, they are lectures with a little more explanation than in the First Aid book.
And there are surely a whole lot of other resources (some listed at the end of First Aid), it's your turn now to find the ones that work best for you!
Last but not least, regarding the timing, allow 3-4 weeks to receive your results.
Good luck!
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