as you can tell by this partial screenshot of my performance summary so far, Kaplan doesn’t think i’m ready* to write Step 1 yet. and neither do i.

here is what the NBME Self-Assessment Comprehensive Basic Science Form 6 thinks:

it’s basically a lot of mumbo jumbo. the scoring scale for Step 1 isn’t just a straight up this-many-right out of this-many-total percentage (ie: you got 30 wrong out of 100, so you get 70%), so graphic interpretations of your weak areas must be easier to understand than the crazy standard deviations and means the NBME uses to figure out who’s smarter than who.

still, the question remains: how do you know when you’re “ready” to write the biggest exam of your med school career? personally, i’m hoping to pull off a Slumdog Millionaire and am running on the assumption that everything in my life has led up to this point.

but seriously.

Brandon sometimes teases me about how much i read and how many different resources i use to study. since Step 1 is coming up** and is a timely topic, i figured i would give a quick run-down of the popular high-yield materials i have used and my concise opinion about each. as usual, this is just my personal opinion and not necessarily what all the cool kids are doing.

it’s short and sweet. cuz i’m too busy reading the stuff to be writing about it.

(in alphabetical order)

Exam Master
this question database is provided free to MUA students and i would only rate it a 6/10. the questions vary from insanely easy to ridiculously hard. some of the images are weird and it sort of lost credibility in my books when i had a question asking me about “Graham-positive” bacteria. hmm.

First Aid
i can’t count how many times i’ve heard “oh, i’ll just memorize First Aid and be fine for Step 1!” and rolled my eyes in response. don’t get me wrong, i really like the way First Aid is organized (and have since bought the Organ Systems and Basic Science versions as well), but i don’t think it should be your one and only resource. and depending on what edition you’re looking at, you may be memorizing errors. be sure to keep your Merck Manual handy.

Kaplan PLS
the online system is slowwww, the videos we have access to down here in the Caribbean are a little outdated, and the questions focus on detail recall rather than problem-solving. in short, i don’t really like it and will be giving away my review books for free as soon as i can find someone to take ‘em off my hands.

Kaplan QBank
i think the Facebook Daily QBank Challenge will be pretty cool once they work out the kinks and errors. and the online QBank totally kicks my butt. those questions are HARD. i will probably buy a subscription after i finish up with USMLE Rx (see below).

Merck Manual
not a high-yield review book by any means, but my bible. i use it to fact-check all other resources on my easter egg hunt for errors.

NBME Practice Exams
there are 6 of these available online for the Comprehensive Basic Science questions. i have heard they are good indicators of your progress and plan to write one on each of the next several Saturdays leading up to our comprehensive final.

USMLE Rx
from the makers of First Aid, the Step 1 Qmax test bank is extremely similar to USMLE World in question style, degree of difficulty, and user interface. but i’m impatient with the slowwwwness of test and result page loading and there definitely are a few bugs. the percentages and stats (you vs. everyone else vs. just you) don’t seem to be working properly. as a simple example, if i’ve used 1722 questions out of a possible 2802, that is definitely more than the “52% usage” reported on my overview screen. occasionally, you don’t get credit for selected answers and a little ‘i’ indicating ‘incomplete’ shows up instead.

as a sidenote, i also have a 1-month subscription to the Flash Fact flashcard deck and love it. if you really want to memorize First Aid cover-to-cover, you need the flashcards.

USMLE World
i loved this question bank when i first subscribed back in MED 1 in September 2007. then i exhausted all 2000+ of the questions and noticed that they were no longer updating old answers or adding new ones. which is really too bad. reputed to be some of the toughest questions out there, this database could be strong and invaluable if it was kept a little more current and expanded on a regular basis.

… and that’s it! feel free to share your experiences with particular resources or let me know if you highly recommend something not on my list. good luck with your studies!

————
*but at least i have a green light for the Pathology shelf exam on Monday.

**i don’t have enough money to take one of the fancy review courses in the USA after Basic Sciences finish here on Nevis. so i am studying for our Comprehensive Final the same way i would for Step 1 and using it as a sort of test run to gauge how much work i have left once i leave here.

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