Hello everyone,
I am Dr. Rajshree Singh, a foreign medical graduate from Nepal. I studied in Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences-College of Medicine and graduated in the spring of 2018. Currently, I am working as Master Trainer for modules by AAP on neonatal resuscitation and by ACOG on postpartum hemorrhage. I plan to apply for a match in 2021. This is just a structured detail of my step 1 experience.
- Scores in test
- NBME 17: 260 (2 months before the test)
- NBME 19: 262 (1.5 months before the test)
- UWSA 1: 269 (1 month before the test)
- Free 120: 98% ( 3 weeks before the test)
- UWSA 2: 260 (2 weeks before the test)
- NBME 18: 256 (1 week before the test)
- USMLE Step 1: 262
2. Time period :
- Dedicated but on the job: 6 months
- Final prep: 2 weeks
- Total prep: 10 months on and off
- Breaks in between :
- 2 month due to starting a new job when I was 4 month in preparation
- 2 weeks break due to an episode of Viral Keratitis
| Phase | Materials | Color code on FA | Time duration |
| 1 | Kaplan books Pathoma1st round First Aid (FA) | Blue sticky notes or blue pen | 3.5 months during internship |
| 2 | 1st round Uworld system-wise – 73 % 2nd round FA, BRS physiology,100 clinical cases of medical Ethics by Conrad Fischer, Goljan Audio lectures from Spotify (1 week when I had Keratitis) | Yellow sticky notes and black pen | 2.5 months |
| 3 | 2nd round Uworld Random – 89% ANKI cards (24K cards) 3rd round FA (removed low yield sticky notes) | Yellow sticky notes and black pen | 2 months |
| 4 | Uworld marked questions 4th round FA with circling high yield texts Physeo videos in weaker topics of physiology board & Beyond (B&B only difficult topics) ANKI 7K cards (couldn’t finish) | Green pen or Green Sticky note for NBME & UWSA 6-B Pencil for circling (glossy papers need darker pencil) Red pens and red sticky notes for Physeo, B&B, internet/forum resources | 20 days |
| 5 | 5th round FA reading only the circled text Qmax 7 day free trial – 3 times 8 blocks/day for endurance | Subject-wise color-coded index sticky notes to marking topics to revise day before test | 10 days |
| 6 | 6th round FA reading selected topics in indexed sticky note | 10 hours |
- Test day
- Had a heavy breakfast
- Reached there at 7:30 AM
- Skipped tutorial
- Had figured out where the washroom and place to eat was during Free 120 trial test
- Packed Fried Rice with vegetables but had lunch in two parts after 4th and 5th block, also chocolates, sweets and did not eat dried food
- Poured 2 cans of caffeinated energy drink in a water bottle and apple juice in another bottle
- Wore trousers with no pocket, sweater, and ankle-length socks just to save time during check-in and check out
- Voided bladder after every block because I couldn’t if my senses were working !!
- Medicines: took a PPI early morning and prophylactic Acetaminophen after 4th block just in case I get a headache
- Submitted all test 5 mins early and took a break after every block: 10 mins for the first 4 blocks and 15 mins for last 3 block
- Pro-tip: Wrote CIN once and copied it (CTRL+C) and then every time I logged in I just pasted (CTRL+V)
- The thing I would do differently :
- Skip Kaplan and introduce Boards and Beyond earlier into the preparation
- Resisted from Heavily annotating information from Uworld into First Aid
- Made my own flowcharts and Illustrations instead of text while annotating
- Things I did right :
- Never compromised my sleep and food
- Spent time with friends and family whenever I had an off day
- Studied together with a study partner especially while doing ANKI and solving NBMEs
- Color coding contents while annotating First Aid
- Upper back yoga couple of times a day because constantly studying in one posture gave me Back pain and regular light exercise
- Downsizing content to filter out only important and confusing topics for last-minute revision
ALL THE BEST!
Hello! Thank you for this detailed information about your preparation. Although there are many videos on youtube about step 1 preparation, this blog feels more relatable as a mbbs student. I wanted to ask you a question, for someone who has not watched kaplan videos, will watching only boards and beyond be enough?
So useful