re: Calling MD's/Med Students

She needs to seriously evaluate her study methods. First, she needs to be dedicating the time to studying for Step 1. If she isn't studying at least 8 hours a day for 6 weeks (probably longer since she failed twice), then she's not spending enough time studying. The USMLE Step 1 exam contains a massive amount of information that can't be learned/reviewed in a short period of time. There are no shortcuts.

Second, did she do well in her pre-clinical courses (first two years of medical school)? If she didn't learn the information well the first time, then it will be nearly impossible to do well on Step 1 because you need a good foundation of knowledge.

Third, she needs to make sure she is using the right study materials. Different people prefer different study materials, but you have to narrow your focus and use only 2-3 different sources and learn those sources forwards and backwards. The current Holy Trinity for Step 1 studying is First Aid (a review book), UWorld (a question bank), and Pathoma (vidoes plus workbook).

Everyone uses UWorld because it's over 2300 questions that are similar to the real exam. If it doesn't take a minimum of two hours to go through a block of 45ish questions, then she's doing it wrong. She needs to read over the explanation to every single question whether she got it right or wrong, probably while annotating in her First Aid book.

She should also be doing the NBME practice exams. Most people do these and it gives you a good idea of where you stand before taking the actual Step 1 exam.

This is a long post and doing all of these things will take a long time and a ton of work, but Step 1 is a brutal test that most people spend weeks/months preparing for.

Also, as others have said, she needs to absolutely kill her rotations and do well on Steps 2 and 3, and even then will likely need to apply very broadly for non-competitive residencies/preliminary positions.

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She should also be doing the NBME practice exams. Most people do these and it gives you a good idea of where you stand before taking the actual Step 1 exam.

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This, and it's something so many people neglect. I did every single one available for step 1 and step 2 and both times, my average score from all the tests was the exact score I got on the real deal.

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But, I agree with the rest of your post. I don't have much memory of preparing for Step 2 or 3, but I have vivid memories of how I studied 12 hours a day for Step 1.

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Step 1- I studied 12-16h/d for 4.5 weeks. I took 4 separate 4 hour practice exams.
Step 2CK- I read 1/2 of "Step 2 Secrets," did about 30% of qbank. Total time spent was the hours leaving the park at Disney World until I fell asleep for a week plus about another 3 days total.
Step 2 CS- I studied for however long the car ride from New Orleans to Houston is.
Step 3- I just took. I did 600 questions and about 12 of the cases. Grand total of about 8 days of really studying.

Do you know how you did on Step 3? I'm currently preparing for it also and wondering how exactly to prepare. Harder to find info about good test prep compared to Step 1.

For step 3, uworld is probably enough. First aid for step 3 is fine if you need something extra. I studied about 2 weeks for it and passed easily.

The important thing for step 3 now is to understand how the CCS case software works. Uworld works for this and there are some sample cases through the USMLE c

So as a nurse I gather from this thread that IM and Psych are the shite programs and fields to be in?

I assumed IM as those guys here in Houston always seem to look 26 years old and just in a 5th year of residency. Also, always seem to be in large groups?

Worked like a dog by a hospital or the guy over the practice?

Psych just seems to suck to me because it is psych?


What are the impossible residencies to get into? I assume plastics? CT Surgery? But it's only an assumption. Then ER and rad for the flexibility of leaving the job at the hospital.

False. NY, CT and Mass was the hardest bar exams in the US.

I guess Im the only one that didnt find the usmle bad.

If you are a good test taker you will do fine. Some people are just shitty test takers.

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ophthalmology.

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LASIK baby.

Orthopedic I forgot, but yes. A few of those established orthopod make major cash. Cranking out hips and knees like a cabinet factory.

Still have one in west Houston area that is old school. Abusive to staff. Throws trays!?

He'd get one tray past me. The next would be returned with velocity and I'd aim for that frickers hands or eyes.

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So as a nurse I gather from this thread that IM and Psych are the shite programs and fields to be in?

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While this is generally true IM is a necessary step for Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Hem/Onc and IM is full of people who could have gone into anything they wanted.

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What are the impossible residencies to get into? I assume plastics? CT Surgery? But it's only an assumption. Then ER and rad for the flexibility of leaving the job at the hospital.

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Integrated Plastics and Integrated Vascular are probably the most impossible because there are so few spots. But, matching IM at a top ten program is just as difficult as either of those specialties.