Usmle step 1 study tips

The first exam in the series is always the most extensive to prepare, even a marathon needs some strategy so with that in mind here’s a list of tips to make your preparation easier:

1- Pick a date.

Things just got serious, when you pick a date for your exam even if it’s not definitive (but still within your eligibility period, preferably pick your date at the start of your eligibility period) will get you in the “it’s on” attitude, picking a date and sticking to it will make you more focused and will give you an idea of how much you have to cover and the effort it will need.

It’s not masochism, instead think of it as a way to make you aware of the volume of material ahead; psychologically this will give you the right kind of pressure to start working towards your goal. So go ahead and give it a date, try to stick to it for your preparation but remember to be flexible if needed.

2-Make a Schedule.

First thing about making a schedule, be real. Adjust a studying schedule that will work for you, don’t try to imitate other people, some may need more time, others may need less. Only you know how much time and how many effective hours a day you can study. Also remember to think about you own way to prepare, if you use flashcards, music etc. adapt to prepare at your own habits.

Once you have a schedule that works for you, stick to it and be strict about following your own schedule. No one is going to be pushing you to study. You must have your goals clear all the time if needed place a post it somewhere visible to remind you why you are doing all of this.

3-Follow a guide.

Either you make a guide or follow a study guide, having a set course for your studies will make your studies more focused on the important facts and topics, don’t forget to also take into account your strong and weak topics to improve your performance.

Following a study guide or having a personal tutor will help you by taking advantage of others experience, for more on tutoring take a look to our blog USMLE tutoring: http://usmleprepguide.blogspot.com/2014/09/usmle-tutoring.html

 

4-Use question banks.

Question banks are by far one of the best ways to improve your preparation, having a constant test of your retention and developing the kind of logic needed for most questions is as important as memorizing important facts and the only way to develop your answering skills is to keep practicing.

As part of your preparation you should include questioning sessions during your schedule, don’t leave it for last, start as soon as you can, often you will find information in the explanations that will help you understand better a topic. 

You can find more about question banks and USMLE preparation in our blog about question banks, http://usmleprepguide.blogspot.com/2014/11/usmle-question-banks.html

 

5-Make your notes.

Notice I didn’t say take your notes, which means you should take important information and write it down in your own words, preferably as side notes in your review book, but also you can make a full review of a topic with your own words.

When taking quick reviews having information in your own way will make it easier to remember and to keep for the exam. Also don’t forget to relate important information from one topic to the other, in the case of pathologies and metabolic pathways for example.

6-Make morning reviews.

Every morning you should make a quick review of what you studied the day before, this will increase your retention and will let you find the things you miss or have already forgotten, also sometimes helps you understand better a topic.

Your reviews should be quick don’t take more than an hour; having your own notes will make this process quicker. 

7-Take your time.

This is important, take your time, this is not a sprint is a marathon, you should prepare as such. Don’t try to make things faster there is a right amount of time to prepare for each person and only you will know how much is enough, for step 1 people suggest to take 8 months for preparation that is a suggestion, you should take as long as you need, take off the pressure of fitting into someone else´s time frame, less time or more time doesn’t make a difference in your score, the really important part is to make a conscious preparation not to make it faster.

For more on time and your preparation take a look at our blog “when to take a step “ there are some good tips there too, http://usmleprepguide.blogspot.com/2014/10/when-to-take-step.html

 

Hopefully this tips will help you during your preparation, for more about our study guides check out our website at www.usmleprepguide.com , as always if you have more tips or any comments leave them below.

Step 2 CS hints… part 2.

There are lots of anxious candidates when it comes to step 2 clinical skills exam, but in reality it is the easiest of the series it only takes some preparation both in practice as well as knowing what the exam is about, if you’re planning on taking the exam soon take a look at our second part of step 2 cs hints,

Chief complaint.

This is by far the most important part of the doorway information, it will help you make an oriented interview and also to start the conversation, so when you enter each room you can introduce yourself and ask directly about the sp patient chief complaint, from there it’s pretty much downhill asking about different symptoms, finding possible signs and exhausting your questions for a syndromic diagnosis.

The chief complaint will give you the possible differentials; helps you ask oriented questions while you prepare a case in your mind, one thing you have to keep in mind is to keep all information in a coherent chronological order, that means that you should write down information so you don’t forget including their time of appearance, sometimes we find information about the case like appearance of symptoms, rash etc. in disorder, you can put them in order later while writing your patient note.

Ros

During your interviews with an sp (simulated patient), making a quick review of organs and systems may be a way to discover other symptoms not detailed or oriented during the chief complaint or your initial interview, it’s better to make the ROS after you have exhausted your questions about their chief complain, it’s not about detailing all  possible symptoms but to ask for example about headaches in a patient with abdominal pain, the idea is to discover other possible leads that may change your diagnosis.

Even when it doesn’t feel natural to ask about other organs and systems, it’s important to ask a lot and since it’s an evaluation of your questioning skills you should ask all you can about possible signs and symptoms, even if it feels uncomfortable to ask that much remember that is part of the evaluation, your skill to investigate in detail a patient story.

Ask for relevant familiar history.

Familiar history should be asked briefly a couple questions and you should be fine, for what is relevant depends on what you think your patient might have, there is always hereditary predisposition for cancer mainly breast, prostate and colon, heart disease, colon diseases, chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension should also be asked, as for psychiatric conditions bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have familiar predisposition.

Don’t beat yourself up with knowing all familiar predispositions a couple relevant to your differentials will be good enough. For the patient note you may text 2 or 3 lines of relevant familiar findings, including negative findings.

Hand washing or gloves,

Many students question whether to use gloves or use the sink, for me I think it’s better to wash your hands, the reason being that when you turn yourself away from the patient you have a little time to think about questions that may help your note, details you may have missed or time to think about the physical you are going to make.

Using gloves you must maintain conversation and keep eye contact, hand washing gives you a little more time to think. Try yourself and choose the one that feels more comfortable after all that is more important to make your interviews easier.

Relax!!!

This is really important, you must be comfortable with the situation, feel at home, think of it as another day at the office, after all this is what you will be doing the rest of your productive life, so take it as another day, don’t pressure yourself thinking about anything but the patient behind each door, it’s not really useful to think about your last patient or what cases could be lurking ahead, just focus on one case at a time and relax.

 

Thanks to all for taking time to read our blog, it’s great for us to help in any way we can, for a detailed and complete guide for your clinical skills exam check our guide at www.usmleprepguide.com , if you have any comments leave them at the bottom.