Main Resources I Used
- Bootcamp – I mainly used this early in dedicated to cover gaps in knowledge (especially vitamins + biochemistry including porphyrias + embryology).
- Pathoma – Ch 1-3 – watched + unsuspended cards (used the Lightyear deck instead of Anking), skimmed remaining chapters + watched videos for less familiar systems
- Sketchy Micro + Pharm (and Pepper deck) – many people hated on Sketchy Pharm, but I honestly saw my pharm score improve significantly once I went through the videos + unsuspended the cards – they’re also a great review of the pathophysiology!
- UWorld + CBSEs + 2 UWSAs (too cheap to buy CBSSAs, didn’t like offline option)
Pre-Dedicated
- I would highly recommend making a centralized spreadsheet to organize everything for studying. I had multiple tabs in my spreadsheet including: weekly schedule (what I planned to study on each day/how many UW questions to complete), specific flagged topics to review, Pathoma + Sketchy Pharm and Micro videos to review, CBSE statistics
- I started studying in block 6: my goal was to complete remaining Sketchy Micro (+unsuspend corresponding cards), watch Pathoma chapters 1-3, and get at least 20-30 UW questions in per week. Be flexible with yourself and build in rest/catch-up days!
Dedicated
- First week of studying (week after block 6 exams: ~1 day per system. This included skimming First Aid and going in depth on topics (with Bootcamp) I knew I had forgotten. I also made sure to watch all of the vitamins videos on Bootcamp (very high yield).
- Second week onward: UW practice! Mostly did integrated systems (did not do system specific blocks). Spend a lot of time reviewing questions you got wrong + guessed on. ○ I used a spreadsheet to review my incorrects: 1 cell for what what the correct answer was and why it was correct, 1 cell for why the incorrect answers were incorrect, and then I would go back and try to pick out key points from the question stem that would help direct me to the correct answer. ○ Utilize the learning objective in the answer explanation to see what they want you to take away from the question + ChatGPT to explain things you still don’t get
- Make sure to transition from tutored and/or untimed mode to timed mode as early as you can! Step 1 can be a test of how fast you read/skim so this definitely helps with pacing.
- Be flexible with your mindset and how you approach questions. These questions are basically testing your problem/puzzle solving skills so make sure to make use of all of the information given.
- How I approached questions: read the last line/question first! Then skim the answer choices to get an idea of what they’re trying to test you on (embryology? Risk factors? Pathophysiology?). Then, go back and skim the rest of the stem to look for most relevant info. You DO NOT always have to read the entire question.
- Use vitals! Abnormalities in BP, HR, temp help categorize (Infectious? Systemic?)
That was a lot of probably convoluted information, but hopefully there’s something of use to you! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or if you want to go over some questions together!