Set a goal every day. There's a lot of information to cover, it is helpful to break your studying down into manageable chunks. I found the study plan feature really useful. It showed me exactly how much work to do every day so I know I won't fall behind.
Set aside a specific time everyday to do random questions for the week, some may be able to do random everyday, others may only be able to do random questions on weekends. Some may only do timed, while others have to start on tutor then progress to timed. Find what works for you. Then once your dedicated time hits for STEP 1, ramp up the amount of questions you do. If there is anything I can go back and do, it would be doing more random questions earlier in the year that way dedicated won't be as difficult as if you were going into it cold cut. Then for the mistakes you find that you are consistently making, use the AMBOSS search tool to hit that topic. For example, if I keep making mistakes on the topic of "hypertension", I would find time during the week or that same day when I realize my mistake and hit a Q-bank target session of the topic of "hypertension". It is a great tool for learning and improving your weaknesses!
Set goals and try to follow through with them. Also add breaks into your schedule for the times you feel overwhelmed by all the information. Start board prep early enough to give yourself time to see all the contents/questions atleast once and best way that helped me learn information was to do questions and read explanation from them instead of doing passive reading throughs chapters of information in textbooks.
Start questions as early as possible! It's okay to get things wrong in the beginning, and questions are the most productive way to learn the material and not forget.
Focus on content review, especially early on. Supplement with subject-specific questions. You'll probably miss more than you would like, but just remind yourself that you're learning. As you finish up reviewing content, go heavier on questions. Start early! Set goals, and remember your priorities. Always take breaks, and don't feel guilty for it.
Do practice questions, as early and as often as possible. Anki is great, Pathoma is great, all the other resources are great but they will not sufficiently prepare you for the real deal if you do not do practice questions to put it all together.
I was frequently told that Step studying is a marathon, but it is easy to feel the need to continue on without taking sufficient breaks. I cannot stress enough how important significant breaks during dedicated are for mental health, clarity, and performance on the exam. Pace yourself, and when developing a study plan, make sure that it is pragmatic while still providing time for yourself to take significant time off.
I would watch sketchy medical starting from the beginning and then use amboss to fill in any gaps on material that you don't understand. Anki is also a great resource
I agree with the above about setting goals and sticking to them, but if what you are doing is not showing improvement within the first week of dedicated do not be afraid to pivot to something else. Dedicated is different in the sense that it should be a time to sure up your knowledge on the HIGH YIELD topics and not a time for the minutia.
I wish someone guided me going into MS2 but my advice to you would be start annotating first aid and start doing questions, even if its 5 questions a day or 20 questions a week. Any question is practice for you and being exposed to how it would be asked. You got this!! Stay positive and motivated. You're gonna do so well
If you're in your first year, the best advice I could give would be to do your first UWorld pass along with your curriculum. Use Amboss Knowledge as a reference because it is very concise and accurate. Finish your first pass of UWorld along with your studies M1/M2 and then reset it for your dedicated study. Also do the Amboss blocks alongside your studies. Even if you don't know the answer, or you haven't learned the material yet, the explanations are gold standard, and they will guide you in your learning, so you can narrow in on the fine details between similar presentations.
Step 1 is a marathon, not a sprint. There is a ton of content to learn and you're best served by splitting it up over a long period of time. If your goal is to complete the AMBOSS Q bank before dedicated, then take the total number of questions divided by days until dedicated to know how many questions you need to do each day. The same goes for anki cards, boards and beyond videos, etc. Try to set daily goals and stick to them. It's better to set less ambitious goals and end up doing more than set an ambitious goal you can rarely achieve. I unlocked new Anki cards every day based on my boards review resource studying and did mixed Amboss questions every day of M2. Having finished most of the board resources, anki, and Amboss, I felt more confident entering dedicated. Try to knock out your daily goals in the morning!
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Set a goal every day. There's a lot of information to cover, it is helpful to break your studying down into manageable chunks. I found the study plan feature really useful. It showed me exactly how much work to do every day so I know I won't fall behind.
Set aside a specific time everyday to do random questions for the week, some may be able to do random everyday, others may only be able to do random questions on weekends. Some may only do timed, while others have to start on tutor then progress to timed. Find what works for you. Then once your dedicated time hits for STEP 1, ramp up the amount of questions you do. If there is anything I can go back and do, it would be doing more random questions earlier in the year that way dedicated won't be as difficult as if you were going into it cold cut. Then for the mistakes you find that you are consistently making, use the AMBOSS search tool to hit that topic. For example, if I keep making mistakes on the topic of "hypertension", I would find time during the week or that same day when I realize my mistake and hit a Q-bank target session of the topic of "hypertension". It is a great tool for learning and improving your weaknesses!
Set goals and try to follow through with them. Also add breaks into your schedule for the times you feel overwhelmed by all the information. Start board prep early enough to give yourself time to see all the contents/questions atleast once and best way that helped me learn information was to do questions and read explanation from them instead of doing passive reading throughs chapters of information in textbooks.
Start questions as early as possible! It's okay to get things wrong in the beginning, and questions are the most productive way to learn the material and not forget.
Focus on content review, especially early on. Supplement with subject-specific questions. You'll probably miss more than you would like, but just remind yourself that you're learning. As you finish up reviewing content, go heavier on questions. Start early! Set goals, and remember your priorities. Always take breaks, and don't feel guilty for it.
Do practice questions, as early and as often as possible. Anki is great, Pathoma is great, all the other resources are great but they will not sufficiently prepare you for the real deal if you do not do practice questions to put it all together.
I was frequently told that Step studying is a marathon, but it is easy to feel the need to continue on without taking sufficient breaks. I cannot stress enough how important significant breaks during dedicated are for mental health, clarity, and performance on the exam. Pace yourself, and when developing a study plan, make sure that it is pragmatic while still providing time for yourself to take significant time off.
I would watch sketchy medical starting from the beginning and then use amboss to fill in any gaps on material that you don't understand. Anki is also a great resource
I agree with the above about setting goals and sticking to them, but if what you are doing is not showing improvement within the first week of dedicated do not be afraid to pivot to something else. Dedicated is different in the sense that it should be a time to sure up your knowledge on the HIGH YIELD topics and not a time for the minutia.
I wish someone guided me going into MS2 but my advice to you would be start annotating first aid and start doing questions, even if its 5 questions a day or 20 questions a week. Any question is practice for you and being exposed to how it would be asked. You got this!! Stay positive and motivated. You're gonna do so well
If you're in your first year, the best advice I could give would be to do your first UWorld pass along with your curriculum. Use Amboss Knowledge as a reference because it is very concise and accurate. Finish your first pass of UWorld along with your studies M1/M2 and then reset it for your dedicated study. Also do the Amboss blocks alongside your studies. Even if you don't know the answer, or you haven't learned the material yet, the explanations are gold standard, and they will guide you in your learning, so you can narrow in on the fine details between similar presentations.
Step 1 is a marathon, not a sprint. There is a ton of content to learn and you're best served by splitting it up over a long period of time. If your goal is to complete the AMBOSS Q bank before dedicated, then take the total number of questions divided by days until dedicated to know how many questions you need to do each day. The same goes for anki cards, boards and beyond videos, etc. Try to set daily goals and stick to them. It's better to set less ambitious goals and end up doing more than set an ambitious goal you can rarely achieve. I unlocked new Anki cards every day based on my boards review resource studying and did mixed Amboss questions every day of M2. Having finished most of the board resources, anki, and Amboss, I felt more confident entering dedicated. Try to knock out your daily goals in the morning!
Leave a comment