Great question! You can use these last-minute tips here: https://www.yousmle.com/1-2-weeks-before-your-usmle-step-1/

Thanks so for this!

This is exactly where I am right now and this is exactly what I needed. Despite reading ALL the articles you have written, I couldn’t put off the urge to re-read FA one last time before my exam scheduled in 3 weeks BUT I will focus of questions and Anki while brushing up of the Yousmle course contents that I need and using the questions I do these last days to review what I need to from FA.

Now, I have a question, I have been able to catch up on my Anki Yousmle Step 1 and Micro decks but I am really behind on my Pharm deck. While Pharm is “not that bad” for me, there are somethings like diazoxide and diphenoxylate” and generally the way the cards are written that I only got from the few Anki cards that I have done. I will definitely plan to keep up with the deck for Step 2 CK but … with 3 weeks left, what is your advice? I have 1382 new cards and have done 298. Do I try to get through the 1382 with little to no hope of reviewing before step 1 or stick to what I have done and keeping up with reviews of the other decks.

Yikes. Without having worked with you, it’s hard to know exactly what the issue is. However, in my experience in tutoring students who score this low initially, it’s never just as simple as “buy First Aid, Costanzo, and Pathoma.” The resources aren’t really the issue – it likely goes much deeper, to how you’ve been APPROACHING your learning. That is a much bigger topic. It will take a great deal of dedicated work to become a more effective learner, but the good news is that you’re figuring this out now, and not after you’ve been studying improperly for a year!

Alec, I really need your help. I’m pretty bummed out. I just tried NBME 12 and my score was ridiculously horrid (130 to be exact). I thought I would’ve done slightly better than that because I felt I knew the answers to at least some of the questions. I haven’t scheduled my exam yet but I was hoping to do it before this year ends. I just subscribed to UWorld qbank + self-assessment, I bought First Aid, Constanzo physiology, and Pathoma. What should I do? I’ll appreciate any help.

Standard paced.

Thank you for the reply, Alec! Do you recommend I start with the Standard-paced or the Self-paced one? Also, when do you recommend I do UWorld?

Great question, Chris. I definitely recommend taking an NBME practice exam to start. I typically start w NBME 12, mainly because there doesn’t seem to be one test that is better than others at predicting the score, and since NBME 12 was released the longest ago, it will be least reflective of any changes to the test. I usually then have students do another NBME every 2-3 weeks, depending on their overall schedule.

Best of luck!

Alec

Thanks! Chris

Hi, thank you for your message. I’m not sure how your system is set up, but if you have another year of studying, my best advice would be to try and learn the things that you were supposed to be learning with your classes, and save going back and relearning things until later. Certainly, if you can go back and have time, you can do so, but I wouldn’t spend too much time trying to do this, since it will only make it more difficult for you to learn the stuff that you are covering with your classes.

Remember, the most important thing is that you learn how to learn. Once you have this, the rest will be more straightforward, but it’s easiest to do this focusing on the material you have in front of you, rather than trying to go back and relearn things you have already supposedly covered.