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thanx doctor ashraf for this golden valuble advices thats realy what we need to know.

and good luck ya doctor…

Thank you Dr ashraf 4 this helpful info..jzaak allah 5eer..the best thing u did is taking exams while u are fresh graduate..

Slam  laikm Dr. Mo3taz,

I think u can get the material as software and I hope if anyone in the group has the materials to send them to you, and I amnot sure but I think u may try to download it from the internet, try google.

الله يرحم والديك

 Hi good advice  if just gave step1 go for step 2 as soon as you can  4 mothes were enough for me and i have a baby.

Dear colleagues

i am starting  a new thread for sharing preparation experiences for USMLE STEP 1 exam.

i will be much obliged if you could kindly strict to the title of the thread in sharing experiences of exam preparation.

Personal Profile:

Graduation Year:2009-Univeristy of Khartoum-Average grades in college V.good

STEP 1 exam:May 2010. Score:229/99

Now lets Begin,

Part 1
1- You should start with Kaplan notes together with their Videos…
for microbiology and Neuroanatomy it is much better to use the old 2002 videos..
for pathology there are 2 options:
Goljan material ( Audio + Slides +Lecture transcript -brief in paragraph style -) Highly recommended (avoid goljan 500 page notes they are Time Consuming overwhelming ).
Or
Kaplan notes plus their videos .
Never both
2- Kaplan notes MCQs after the end of each chapter should be done
3- Do question from Kaplan Q book (Qbook and Kaplan notes should be done simultanously,subject by subject)…
4- after finish all kaplan material then Directly shift to Part 2..

Part 2
It is very important that u directly shift to this part without waiting Period
success depends on doing part one in a very restricted time frame
the aim of that is not to a give a chance for entering in to the endless circuit of memorizing and forgetting (Biggest Mistake).
here is ur status when u start this part
( remembering Big concepts but not remembering minuite details hence unable to solve MCQs efficiently)

what should be done in part 2

1- Study from First aid together with first aid q and answer
( First aid Q and A is optional )
first aid is much enough but weak in the following
(weak dose not mean to ignore it but rather to supplement it from Kaplan book)
     -Biochemistry(However it is excellent in metabolism)
     -Neurology ( Only the neuroanatomy part- need to be supplemented from Kaplan)
     -Gross anatomy is enough but needs supplementation from Kaplan notes…
     -First aid is considered excellent in both pharma and Microbiology
     -while studying pathology from first aid always refer to ( webpath Pathology ) for           Gross Pictures ( remember only importand high yield gross pictures dont do all of            them just take it as a reference for pics)

After reading all firsr aid (about 2 weeks)

here is your status:

(Unable to recall any information however u get familiar with the book )

2- Once finished first aid directly start Kaplan Q bank
it should be in ad junction with first aid
the questions should be taken (Subject based,Not timed,)
the whole q bank should take 45 days or more depending on how hard you study …

(the best way for memorizing first aid is through MCQs so after each mcq refere to page from where mcq was made and study the corresspoding topic in first aid)

3- By the end of this period u will be

(fully understating the basic core material needed for the exam, moreover you will be memorizing the fine details of first aid )

4-Subscribe Usmle world Q bank for 2 month
doing all questions in ad junction with first aid
questions should be done randomly ( simulating the real exam …. Disadvantage of doing system based questions is giving wrong feeling of security and never allowing for testing ability to recall old facts )
most important is to always annotate important facts on margins of first aid
5-the last thing to do is scanning reading of the heavily annotated First aid once ,twice and better if 3 times,how many times did i mentioned First Aid

6-Do your step 1 exam..

Wish you the best….

Other Points to be addressed:

1-Step 1 = First aid, so delaying using this book is absolutely and totally unwise, keep reading it throught out the whole part 2 of study mentioned above

2- Doing thousands of low yeild MCQs is worthless, Invest your time with high quality MCQs (Kaplan-WOrld) only.

3-Unlike step 2. USMLE World is not that miracle covering all exam material (impossoble to cover all contents of exam in only about 2000 questions, so dont rely much on that.USMLE world is excellent to sharpen ur knowledge and acclimatizing u with exam atmosphere.but never enough.Instead Use both banks as means for memorizing first aid.

4-for max benefit from USMLE world ( dont use old versions prior to subscription) because u are gonna use it as assessment tool as well. so if u do it before, then u bias your scores.

5-Never Use extra material, Refrences or textbooks or any of thousands of materials on market, let your study foccused to exam.