IMG yr 2 Need any help on how to tackle STEP1

ment. But I'm currently an IMG student at a not very strong school. And would like advice on how to tackle on STEP. I'm currently in beginning of my 2nd year.

At the moment, I have been working on firecracker daily and of course following First Aid with my course work not to mention the USMLE content outline just to make sure i dont miss anything.

My school is by semester and by the end of MED 2 they have a NBME exam which is customized by the school. So in other words i need at least a 215 by the end of this year.



Any advice or help would be really appreciated.

 

Personally, I wasn't a fan of Firecracker. Some swear by it, but I don't think it's worth the time or money. With that said, if you have plenty of time (sounds like you have a year), then going through it might not be the worse idea. However, investing in a Qbank like USMLERx or Kaplan might give you some more insight on question structure and some more useful and testable info.

Like I've said before, uworld+FA+Pathoma is all you really need at this point, and those three together are significantly more useful than anything else.

Let us know if you have any other specific questions, and don't forget to post your own tips and what you've learned, as you continue your studies! Good luck

 

Which do you suggest personally?

I've heard Kaplan is usually the Qbank to go, do to its level of question being harder and but layed out more similar to USMLE. As for Rx I've heard it's more like flash card style and just a way to review FA.

I have a year but i also have to study for the exams in the school and unfortunately I need to focus on their material to pass. I was actually thinking of starting UWORLD. Or do you think its too soon?


I know this is on a personal basis but what are your thoughts on anki & DIT program. I received it for free but heard mixed info on it.

Thank you for getting back to me soo soon

 

IMO, no such thing as too soon for UWorld. It's a learning tool and you should use it as such. If you did UW 5x, you'd memorize every question, which essentially means you memorized >5000 facts. When you're ready to test yourself, use the NBMEs for that.

I did very few Kaplan or Rx questions, felt that Rx was better to memorize FA. FA, again, is the key to getting all the facts needed.

In my step1 review, you'll see that I highly vote against DIT unless you are only trying to pass. They don't prepare you well to pass and its wasted time that could be used doing questions. Anki is alright, again just to memorize facts. But FA/UW will also do that.