When I came to the test, I felt as though I was just taking another set of questions from USMLE World.Īlso, the explanations of questions are great. The thing that impressed me most about USMLE World was how similar the questions on the QBank were to those on the actual exam. There’s always the debate about whether Kaplan or USMLE World is the better question bank.
That should give you enough time to get your best score.Ĭhoosing the right resources will depend partly on your learning style, but there are a few that are must-haves. I would recommend starting relatively serious study starting in January of your second year and really serious study for 2-3 months before you take the test. Our school gave us about two months to really study for Step 1 (meaning we didn’t have any classes scheduled during that time). That said, it worked out ok without doing that, so don’t get too stressed out if you’re looking at your prep materials for the first time now. That way I would have been more familiar with the resources when it was time to really study. Looking back, I wish I would have been using the resources I used for my USMLE prep throughout first and second year. I needed to spend plenty of time studying, especially since my first practice test was a 208.
That way I wouldn’t be kept out of any specialty based on my score. I wasn’t too sure going into the test, so I set a goal of 245. If you’re not sure what you want to do, you’ll want to score as high as possible. If you know what specialty you want, you’ll have a good target for your score. Probably the best resource for what you need to do to match into particular specialties can be found here, the NRMP’s report on “ Charting Outcomes in the Match.” It goes into volunteer, research, and other activities as well as Step 1 scores for matched applicants in different specialties. The most competitive specialties have average scores of around 240. So, before you start studying, set your goal. You might be scared by this score, but that’s good encouragement to study. To determine where you are, you need to take a practice test. In my opinion, before you start really preparing for Step 1, you should have two things clearly in mind: where you are with your score and where you want to be. Although scary, there are things that you can do to help calm your anxiety and get your best score. If you are a second-year medical student, there is one thing on your mind at this time of year: Step 1.