I was an average student throughout my Med School barely scraping through some final

exams and never got anything above a 70% (Aggregate). In fact, in my final year i was
amongst the bottom third of the people who passed so yeah needless to say that i was
average at best!
Preparation:
Time:
12 months of studying
I actually took like 13.5 coz i was unable to study anything for 1.5 months after my first
read due to personal reasons
I used to study 6 days a week and usually anywhere from 6-8 hours a day in the start
eventually i took it up to 8-10 but there is that 1 day every week that you can hardly
study 4 :/
My advice is to keep 1 day of the week off for your friends and family and dont bother
with kaplans uworld or any of that stuff on that day. If you try to have a 7 days a week
routine you'll suffer a burnout every month and well that's very counterproductive!
Believe me! I've tried..
Q) What is the minimum time one needs for a 250+ in step 1?
Answer: Varies from student to student whenever your nbmes tell you 250+ you are all
set!
Q) How much time should i spend on my first and subsequent reads?
Answer: Well dont spread your subjects over a very long period of time because by the
time you get to the last, you'll forget the first and the vicious cycle will continue. I guess
a good estimate would be from 3-4 months for your first read. I know this because i took
about 5 months for my first read which i felt wasnt the right way to go
Books used:
Pathology :
Most of you will probably not believe me but the most important book for the usmle is
Pathoma! PATHOMA PATHOMA PATHOMA!
*Goljan like NUTRITION
*Urinary/rectal incontinence.
I had quite a few questions on nutrition and it is a topic that is at best, weakly covered
by pathoma. I performed quite well on nutrition though because I took educated guesses
on all the questions and managed to get them right.
Other than that Pathoma = 200 pages of high yield stuff and the lectures are wonderful.
Dr Sattar is a life saver! He will explain everything in the most simplest of ways and will
make sure it is etched somewhere in your memory when the time comes.

600 pages a lot of photos and has a lot of information other than pathology like
pharmacology, physiology, biochemistry etc.
So going through Goljan one loses track of what is high yield and what is low yield. That
being said however Goljan is the undisputed king of all pathology texts for step 1 and if
you want to take 2 extra months just for Goljan, go for it! I mean why give the step 1
early, isnt it fun to prolong your misery for another 2 months? :P
Q) Goljan vs Pathoma ?
Answer: Pathoma Pathoma Pathoma Pathoma!!!
Q) Is pathology the most heavily tested exam subject?
Answer: Yes it is! About 50%-70% of your exam will involve pathology in one way or the
other. Mine was closer to 50-60% I guess.
Pharmacology:
I used Kaplan Pharma for my first read and annotated my FA 2013 while doing my
second read. Kaplan is a good book and Dr Raymons lectures are awesome! You dont
really need anything else for pharmacology.
Q) How was pharmacology on the exam?
Answer: well, it was a mixture but I found it easier than the other subjects and not as
heavily tested as I had expected.
Q) I keep forgetting drugs what is the solution?
Answer: well there are two ways about it, you can either do a lot of pharmacology
questions I did both the Kaplan Q bank and Uworld oryou can make your own flash
cards and flowcharts. Either way active learning works best!
Q) Can I skip the general pharmacology part?
Answer: NO! General pharmacology is more conceptual than cramming thus is heavily
tested on the exam because they can twist around the concepts to mess with your head
but if you think them through they are pretty easy to answer.
Physiology:
I used Kaplan physiology here too, the book is simple enough and the lectures are great.
I do find Conrad Fischer wastes a lot of time but he helps you memorize with his stupid
dances and songs. The nephron guy is kind of annoying but if you can get over that, his
lectures are ok. Dr Kudrath kicks ass though!
Some people go for BRS and I think it saves some time so do whatever suits you.
They will ALWAYS mix it up with Pathology or Pharmacology.
We dont live in an era where they will ask you you about the value for splay or the
laplace law! That time is gone!

Q) How best to prepare for physiology?

Answer: Make sure you understand the concepts! Memorization just wont work
here as most questions with arrows pointing up down sideways will require
you to take a concept and apply it. I suggest uworld physiology and pathophysiology to
be the best question materials.
Q) Im getting hammered in Uworld Pathophysiology I got an aggregate of 60% what do
I do?
Answer: Calm down and drink a glass of cold water! I was getting a low score too as
Uworld pathophysiology is really hard just focus on learning the concepts and
remember uworld is about the learning not the scoring!
Biochemistry:
FA during my second read. I left some of the molecular bio stuff on Kaplan so had to redo that in the end and since I wasnt being too risky I did genetics at the end from both
Kaplan and FA and I did get a high performance on genetics!
Biochemistry exam questions are not that abundant in my experience and vary in
difficulty from being super hard to easy.
Molecular biology is crappy with rats and their cousins popping up here and there.
**Genetics is a bit tricky so learn the concepts and know the inheritance of diseases!
Btw that stuff you thought was useless in the Kaplan book, like Dolichol Phosphate, N
and O linked glycosylation, Leucine Zippers and the chapters on receptors.. Well IT IS
IMPORTANT just give it a couple of days and youll be done.
Q) I suck at Uworld biochemistry I feel like giving up what do I do?
Answer: Im sure I sucked much harder but I have a high performance J Uworld
Biochemistry is a notch harder than the exam.
Q) What extra materials can I use?
Answer: Kaplan Genetics and Kaplan Cell Biology Qbanks
Q) Do I have to know each and every minor detail about the biochem
pathways?
Answer: No just learn the high yield stuff. FA pathways are more than enough
Immunology:
Used Kaplan Immunology and it was enough. I did this pretty early in my first read and
since my first read was spread over 5 months I had totally forgotten everything about

this L so I had to re-do it and this time

I did it well made concepts annotated FA did both Uworld and Kaplan Qbank made sure
I would never have to open Kapan Immunology again. Learn all the stupid CD markers,
Interleukins and make sure you have a good concept about this subject because it is
heavily tested.
Btw, make sure to know all the lymph drainage pathways given in FA since you will find
those tested on the exam more than once!
Q) Do we have to know all the vaccines?
Answer: Yes know them all, they will be tested!
Q) I finally got through learning the whole complement pathway what next?
Answer: You just wasted a lot of time :P just know it generally! The diseases and
deficiencies!
Q) Do I have to learn the ENTIRE hypersensitivity table in FA?
Answer: Yes you do! It will be tested on the exam!
Q) Those autoantibodies they arent important right?
Answer: Yeah they arent if you want to drop a couple of questions on the exam :P
Q) So what are you trying to say?
Answer: Know everything there is to know about immunology from First Aid, it is a high
yield subject and cannot be overlooked.
Microbiology:
I used Kaplan Microbiology for my frist read noted everything down on FA during my
second read and this was one of my strongest subjects. Luckily, I was very heavily tested
on this on my exam day and there all these weird bugs that I had never seen on uworld
or elsewhere. This is one subject that is very easy to score on, know it well and make
sure you note down all the extra stuff on FA since FA is a little deficient on microbiology.
Then again maybe I just had an exam that had all the weird microbes :S Anyway know
all the +ive stranded, ive stranded,
double stranded, single stranded, married, divorced, single bugs out there!
I had a high performance here too.
Q) Gen bacterio is low yield right?
Answer: No, know the toxins and which viruses have a membrane derived from nucleus
and cell membrane of the human cells and all that other stuff from FA.
Q) Ive never heard of anyone being tested on strongyloides stercolaris and west nile
virus Ill just skip them is that okay?

Answer: I havent either but that doesnt mean I WASNT tested on them :/ Honestly I
had the weirdest bugs popping up here and there
Q) So I should pick up a big fat book on bugs and memorize it?
Answer: No just go through FA with annotations from Uworld and put side notes for the
bugs that are missing in FA like Trichenella, Trichuris Trichura, etc
Anatomy:
I used Kaplan anatomy and it was enough. I mean I did get weird questions that arent
on Kaplan or FA but I used my educated guesses and got them right. This is another one
of my higher performance areas, know the spine anatomy well.
Know your crossections well and I guess Kaplan and Uworld images for CT scans Xrays
were enough for me.
Tricky subject though I had muscles that I had forgotten since my second year of med
school.
You might have to stick to your Kaplan till the end for this.
Neuroanatomy was very doable from Kaplan and Uworld so was gross anatomy.
My embryology was really tricky and I had to think really hard before attempting every
question but got them right. Histology is one subject that isnt tested very heavily on the
exam I barely remember seeing a question maybe two on that.
Q) So should I do all the limb muscles again from a big textbook?
Answer: No that would be a waste of time just know the Kaplan Anatomy Text very well
Q) Neuroanatomy scares the crap out of me what do I do?
Answer: Find a study partner go over it with them. Kaplan neuroanatomy lectures will
help a lot the guy does a decent job and I listened to them twice! I went over
neuroanatomy with a friend and aced it on the exam.
Q) I was thinking about leaving the first 150 pages of histology what do you think?
Answer: I think you are making a very smart move j ust go over the cell biology
chapter if you must and the bone chapters other than that skip it!
I skipped the entire 150 altogether!
Behavior Sciences:
As an IMG this was my Achilles heel and I did put a lot of effort into this subject before
the exam. I gave it 2 weeks the first time and about 7 days the second time. I was slow
the first time as I had some other concerns to attend. I used Kaplan Lecture Notes and
Conrads 100 cases for ethics for this i dont know about BRS or any other book since this
is what all the people around me used too.

This is especially tricky for IMGs because our ethics and those in the US are very well
different to say the least and I was always stuck between 2 options that looked right on
the exam.
I annotated my FA with all the extra info from Kaplan and found FA to be better for
DSM5.
Btw, make sure you have a general idea about the changes in DSM 5 like which diseases
have been REMOVED. Dont waste your time on those and focus the rest. Conrads 100
cases can be done in a day, I did it in 6 hours though the exam didnt have any of those
cases :/
The psychiatry portion and the sleep portion are pretty straightforward in both Kaplan
and FA so just go over them.
Also take a couple of hours to go over Medicare and Medicaid from Kaplan. The Kaplan
lectures help a lot so be sure to watch them atleast once especially the physician patient
relationshiop and the rules lecture.
Q) I am getting worried that FA is not enough for Psychiatry I think Ill stick to Kaplan is
that ok?
Answer: Yes it is but FA when annotated slightly covers everything and Id rather have
everything at one place rather than jumping between different books at the end wouldnt
you?
Q) Ive heard about people doing Step 2 Uworld for Psychiatry is that worth it?
Answer: If you have time why the hell not! Questions make a man perfect! I did it since I
wasnt very confident in this subject and found it slightly helpful but you can skip it if
you want its not an absolute essential!
Biostatistics:Perhaps my least favorite subject :P I got hammered on it in the exam
too
I used Kaplan lecture notes for this and along with that there are these 30$
uworld notes on Biostats that were wonderful for explaining a lot of my misconceptions!
Other than this a few friends of mine did the questions from High Yield Biostatistics and
said that they were very helpful and can be done in a day. So Id suggest those too if you
have time. My exam did not test NPV, PPV, SN, SP or any of those simple calculations L
I got hammered by all those stupid questions that took a concept and twisted it like a
pretzel! Then again maybe I just had a bad day with this subject :/
Uworld biostatistics does a wonderful job with the questions too! I did my biostatistics
in 2 days the first time and 1.5 days the second time did the Uworld notes in 1 day too.
Q) Anything else i can use?
Answer: Step 2 Uworld, It has 1 block of biostatistics that you can do IF YOU HAVE
TOO MUCH TIME on your hands
My Preparation
I spent a total of 5 months on my first read. Used to watch the lectures then read the

text.
During my second read I annotated my First Aid 2013 and this took me another 4
months! I reviewed my FA twice after that before the exam.
I did one extra thing during my second read I used to do questions after finishing a
subject. Uworld and sometimes from Kaplan Qbank would be my source for the
questions but I found the Kaplan Qbank to be low yield except for Genetics and Cell
Biology.
Doing Questions after finishing a subject made me have a very strong grasp on my
subjects and was a good way to go but did take a lot of time and indeed my second read
stretched over 4 months. After I realized this I stopped doing questions finished my
second read and took an online subscription of Uworld for 3 months did that till the
exam and made sure to keep annotating my FA. I booked my exam date 2 months
in advance and it was the day right after my Uworld Subscription ended. I
had a plain simple reason for doing this, I wanted to be in touch with
questions till the day before my exam and honestly my last 3 months were
all about Uworld NBMEs and UWSAs. I must have done around 6500-7000 questions
for the exam and thats the key for a 250+! Questions Questions Questions! Active
learning! I used the uworld as a learning tool didnt care if it was a 60% or a 100% all I
cared about was learning new information and clearing my concepts! I never paid much
heed to my uworld percentage that being said however, it sure is encouraging to see your
uworld performance graph to rise steadily from block 1 to the last block!

NBMEs, UWSAs and FRED:

Gave quite of few of these and at the end I started giving 1 nbme each week about 10
weeks before the exam
NBME 1: 162 (gave this after half of my second read was done)
NBME 4: 171 (10 weeks out)
NBME 7: 181 (9 weeks out)
NBME 11: 179 (8 weeks out)
UWSA 1: 260 (7 weeks out online)
NBME 13: 251 (6 weeks out online)
NBME 15: 245 (4 weeks out online)
UWSA 2: 265 (2 weeks out online)
NBME 16: 247 (1 week out online)
Fred Usmle: 90% (3 days out)
NBME 12: 186 (2 days out)
My thoughts, you can skip the UWSAs and the old NBMEs just do 2-3 latest NBMEs and
in my experience I perhaps wasted money buying 3 NBMES. Just do 13,16 online as they
are closest to the real exam in my experience. UWSAs are outdated and dont have much
of a predictability value. Fred Usmle is very important for the exam do it twice
if you can! Btw my offline nbme scores arent the 3 digit scores, they are the number of
correct questions!

Q) what is the best time to give a NBME exam?

Answer: Give 1 as u start your uworld or are mid-way through it and the next in 2-3
weeks then one as you end uworld to see how much you have improved. Best to take a
date if you are getting near your desired score.
Q) Is it a smart move to give a NBME 2 days before the exam?
Answer: NO! I was retarded for doing that, if I had screwed it up gotten a 210 or
something I would have gone into the exam in very low spirits so make sure you are
done with all your NBMEs 1 week before the exam.
Exam Day:Make sure to relax one day before the exam, hang out with friends youve
done all the hard work one more day wont make you any smarter! Have a sleeping pill
ready for the night before the exam I used zolpidem fell asleep in 15 minutes was up
around 7:30 am and at the exam center at 8:15. The center was right next to my house so
I was there in 5 minutes. Make sure to time you breaks properly I used to take a break
after every block and take a walk outside in the sun for a minute or two eat something
and then get to the next block. In case you have time left for a block and are done
reviewing your marked questions add it to your break! I added about 9-10 minutes to
my break!
My technique for solving MCQs was based on 3 steps
Step1: What topic is he asking me about?
Step2: What concept in particular is being tested
Step3: What is the answer?
After that Id go over to the answer options and look for the answer that I had deduced
in my head in case I could not get to the answer in my head I would start striking out the
options that I could and would eventually be left with 2 options at this point it would
take a guess and move on!
So thats It guys all done and dusted I scored a 251 !