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| USMLE Step 1 Self-Study Schedule |
| This is an 8 week "organ based" self study schedule that one of our students followed to pass the USMLE Step 1. The study material comes from the book list that this student felt was the best resource to pass the USMLE. How does it work? 1. Plan this 8 week self study schedule so that your exam date is 4-5 days from the end of your 8th week. 2. Create a book list you are comfortable with, the one listed below worked well for this student and is highly recommended. 3. This student felt they were strong in immunology, genetics, and anatomy and therefore didn't study these subjects in great detail, if at all. Unfortunately, you cannot study everything and will have to leave some subjects out that the USMLE doesn't concentrate on as much. 4. The daily schedule tells you exactly what you should be studying everyday of the week: morning, midday, and evening. Some organ based systems require greater effort, but most days the schedule can easily be met. 5. With the exception of week 1, the weekly schedule is divided into organ systems. So for example, in week 2, you would be studying Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology. 6. That's it! Let's practice using the schedules. So it's your 4th week of studying and it's Monday of that week, what subjects will you be studying for that day? AM - Embryology => CV Midday - Histology => Circulation Eve => Pharmacology and 50 Qbank questions. How about Thursday of your 6th week? AM - Microbiology => GI infections, viruses Midday - Anatomy => GI system, liver, pancreas, biliary system Eve. => Pharmacology, and 50 Qbank questions Book List Unless otherwise indicated in "()", the underlined books listed below are the main books used to read and take notes from. Pathology - "BRS Pathology," and "Pathology" by Robbins Physiology - "BRS Physiology" by Costanzo Pharmacology - "Pharmacology" by Lippincott, "Pharm Recall" by Ramachandran Histology - "Basic Histology" by Lange, "Functional Histology" by Wheater Embryology - "Medical Embryology" by Langeman Microbiology/Immunology - "BRS microbiology and immunology" Anatomy - "Color atlas" by Netter, and "Human Anatomy" by (little) Moore Neurology - "Neuroanatomy and neurology illustrated" by some british author Genetics - "Elements of medical Genetics" by Emery Biochemistry - "Biochemistry" by Lippincott Neuroanatomy - "BRS neuroanatomy" by Fix Hematology - "Clinical hematology and fundamentals of hemostasis" by Harmening, "BRS Pathology" First Aid for the Boards Daily Schedule Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday AM Embryology Physiology Biochem Micro Heme/Beh. Catch up, re- *full-length Mid Histology Pathology Biochem Anatomy Beh./Heme view this wk's exam, relax, Eve Pharm, Qbank Pharm, Qbank Pharm, Qbank Pharm, Qbank Pharm, Qbank notes, vignettes Webpath.com For Biochemistry there are 7 units in the Lippincott book, which fits nicely into the remaining 7 weeks, 1 unit per week done on Wednesdays including the questions at the end of each chapter. On the weekend it's good to look at some pathology slides and review the pathology for that week. This student couldn't find a logical way to study all of the pharmacology so he just reviewed a little bit each night. Full-length exams should be done like you are in the real exam. Take a baseline exam sometime before you start any studying, take it cold. The score you get from this baseline exam is what you are trying to improve upon with each exam thereafter. This student took a full length exam every three weeks. Weekly Schedule *Week one is designed to be a general review of your basic science courses. It is not meant to be an intensive review of all the subjects rather a refresher on some basic concepts. The word "General" is highly stressed. This schedule is designed so that the reviewer will be taking notes for each subject everyday and those notes are then reviewed at the end of the week. Weeks that a full-length exam are to be done are underlined. Week 9 is really not a whole week. Rather, it's a time to review things still found confusing from the first 8 weeks. Week 1 (General) Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Histology: Gen. Pathology Intro Pharm Genetics Behav. & Cell (Costanzo) HistoPath 4 tissue types (Robbins) (Dassos notes), (Class notes), stats (First Aid) Gen. Pathology slides(Wheater) -Cell (Costanzo) histo cont. immunology (BRS ch 1-5) -Fundamental (Class notes) Histo (Lange) Week 2 (Neuro) Physiology Pathology Embryology Histology Hematology Microbiology Anatomy Neurophys/ CNS, PNS, eye. CNS, eye, ear, Sense organs, Disease of WBC CNS, eye/ear Head/Neck . Head/Neck Head/neck Oral tissues (Robbins) infections, Neuroanatomy Neurology (BRS viruses (Costanzo/ Pathology) Fix) Week 3 (Respiratory) Respiratory Resp, musculo- Res.,musculo- Resp. system Disease of RBC URTI/LRTI U. limb, lungs skeletal skeletal system (Robbins) infections, thorax viruses Week 4 (Cardiovascular) CV Heart/Vascular CV Circulation Platelet CV infections heart,vessels (Shafei) Circulation disorders viruses of head/neck Week 5 (Renal) Renal Kidney+tract Urogenital Urinary sys. Neoplasia Genitourinary Urinary system (Robbins) Infections, Viruses Week 6 (Gastrointestinal) GI GI, liver, bili- Digestive Digestive tract Chapter 3, 11 GI infections, GI system ary tree, & it's glands, 12 in BRS path viruses liver,pancreas pancreas liver/pancreas biliary system Week 7 (Endocrine) Endocrine Endocrine, Skin pathology Pituitary/hypo Blood(Wheater) Skin/soft Pancreas BRS path ch.6 (Robbins, BRS thal, adrenals, infections, L.limb, liver and 8 path) thyroid, para- viruses thyroid Week 8 (Reproductive) Reproduction Male/Female Urogenital Male/female Behavioral and Genitourinary, Perineum reproductive system reproductive statistics(1st multiple inf., vessels & systems, BRS systems Aid) viruses nerve trunks path chapter 13 of pelvis Week 9 (Review) Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Review problem Solve problem Absolutely EXAM areas and make list and review, nothing, enjoy a list get major sleep the day, get to bed early Helpful Information 1. Study 10-12 hours a day with plenty of breaks in between. It doesn't matter when the 10-12 hours are. 2. Workout 3 times a week and keep up with it. 3. Think of this as a job and at the end your getting a fat paycheck! 4. Weekends should be more relaxing. 5. Get good sleep. 6. Keep a regular schedule of study time, workout time, and relaxing time. 7. Go over questions with friends, quiz eachother. 8. Find someplace without too many distractions and that you work best in. 9. For motivation keep in mind that this exam is everything that you've worked for over the last 2-3 years. 10. The way you do well and pass the USMLE 1 is by knowing a wide range of subjects well rather than 2 or 3 subjects extremely well. This schedule allows you to do that. Be careful, sometimes you get caught up studying more of a subject that you are better at. Just remember: each question is the same amount of points and that it's your job to try and get as many of those points as possible, you do that by knowing a wide range of subjects. |
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