USMLE step 1 experience

My name is Kinana Aburayyan , a fresh graduate from Al-Quds University , Palestine .

Preparation duration : 6 months.

NBME 15 ( 6 weeks before exam ) : 261.

NBME 17( 2 weeks before exam ) : 255.

Real deal: 257.

I haven’t done step 2 yet.

I graduated from medical college in june,2016 , after which I started my internship . I used to
stay at hospital till 3:00 pm . every day I start studying at 6:00 pm for 6-8 hours . I tried to study
at work as much as I can .

I started preparing for the USMLE step 1 in late july,2016 by reading FA . I wanted to get an idea
of what I am going through . I finished section 2 in around a week . I then decided to watch
pathoma videos . I covered an average of 2 chapters a day from both the videos and the note
book . the videos were really helpful and helped me with not only pathology , but also with
immunology , microbiology and other subjects .it took me around 20 days to finish the whole
thing + FA pathology . I then read RBS physiology + FA physiology for a week or so. Moved to
high yield neuroanatomy + FA neurology , went fast through it in 3-4 days . then started to read
Kaplan videos for biochemistry + Kaplan biochemistry book . I used to cover 2 4-hour videos per
day and took me around 12 days to get done with biochemistry . over the subsequent 9 days , I
read the first 100 pages of “microbiology made ridiculously simple” and had a second reading of
FA microbiology ( I didn’t continue with “microbiology made ridiculously simple” because I felt
FA was more than enough! ) . I watched immunology videos and FA immunology in 3 days . I
finally studied Kaplan videos and book along with FA pharmacology over 10 days .

By October , I was almost done with FA . at least twice for section 2 , and at least once for
section 3.

In October 4th , I subscribed for online Uworld for 3 months . I did it subject wise . in the first few
blocks I did it in a timed manner, but then I decided to do it in tutorial mood because it was
faster for me this way . at the beginning I barely did a block/day but then I became faster doing
around 70 questions / day . It took me 2 months to finish the whole thing with an average score
of 86% ,on the 95th percentile . during this period , I didn’t take a lot of notes into my FA because
it was really huge as it is and I didn’t want to overwhelm myself . I made around 1000 ANKI cards
covering mostly pharmacology and pathology, and I used to review them every now and then .

For biostatistics , I studied the first 30 pages from Kaplan behavioral book , it was very simple .
for anatomy , I just did uworld + FA , you feel a little bit weak in it , but you do just fine in the
exam . for psychiatry , I watched some of Kaplan videos along with FA which I revised at least 3
times .

Once I finished uworld (dec,10th ) , I did NBME 16 online in which I got 261 . it was such a relief
for me that I’m on the right track . I then did 100 cases by Conrad Fischer for ethics in 2 days .
for the next month I decided to go through uworld for the second time . I completed around 95
% of it over one month . at this point, around 18 days were left before my exam date . now I
started with FA right from the beginning . I was able to finish it just 2 days before the exam . 2
weeks before the exam , I did NBME 17 online and I got 255 . In the last 3 weeks , I used to solve
an average of 2 blocks of NBME offline with my friend , we timed ourselves . we didn’t care
about the score but we used them as a learning tool . we covered NBME 10,11,12,13,7.

The exam day :

I had 7 blocks , each with 40 questions and I had an hour for each block . I was very time
conscious and I made sure that I had an extra 10 min for each block to review tagged questions .
I had around 4-5 questions per block which were confusing a bit and around 2-3 WTH type of
questions . FA helped a lot , but many questions were dependant on your background . the
questions were the same length as uworld questions . I had a break after each block through
which I ate some chocolate and had some coffee . it was a long tiring day , but I was able to stay
focused till the end . after I finished , I had this feeling that the exam was harder than I expected
and thanked God I didn’t do it right after my third year because it was largely clinically based .
there was no particular subjects I felt myself weak at . indeed , in my exam analysis , all fields
were in the high performance side .

Bottom lines :

 My target was 250 + .

 My ultimate sources were first aid and uworld . all the other sources helped me to
master FA which would’ve otherwise been impossible . FA is very complicated and
without the other books , I would’ve been memorizing without understanding .
 My study duration was around 6 months which I think is more than enough for an
average student .
 Studied FA twice with some subjects like microbiology more than 4 times .
 Studied uworld twice .
 NBMEs were helpful in that you get an idea of what the exam going to look like . you get
used to see difficult questions and you get trained how to think logically about them .
also they help you to better manage your time.
 Anki cards are helpful but you need to keep revising them . make your own cards!.
 I had days off whenever I felt tired . I used to sleep and go out to see friends .
 I studied an average of 6-8 hours a day in the first 3 months and up to 15 hours a day in
the last 2 months .
It was a really hard and stressful journey , I challenged myself everyday . some days I
stayed awake till the morning , I tried to give my maximum . I felt burnt and wanted to
give up at some points, but every time I felt down , I was able to hold on . I kept
thinking that if anyone could do it , this means that I can do it ! .
Finally, All thanks go to my family and friends who believed in me and supported me till
the end .
My word to you my friends , don’t ever give up on your dreams . work hard and always
give your best . and as what a friend once said , ALAWAYS BE ALLERGIC TO AVARAGE !

MY BEST WISHES FOR ALL OF YOU

Kinana .M. Aburayyan