INFORMATIONS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

USMLE
STEP 1

Karimul Islam Rafi

AFMC 16
USMLE (STEP 1)
VICE PRESIDENT , AFMC CARNIVAL CLUB
BATCH REPRESENTATIVE , AFMC PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB
Resources :
BOOKS & VIDEOS
Must do
Kaplan (videos+ notes)
First Aid for step 1
Pathoma (videos + notes)
100 cases of medical ethics
Uworld biostat review
 DO CT+MRI+CROSS SECTIONS FROM BRS GROSS ANATOMY & HY NEUROANATOMY
May do
BRS Physiology
BRS Gross anatomy
BRS Behavioral science
High yield Neuroanatomy
High yield Cell biology
High yield Gross anatomy
Anatomy Shelf Note
MRCP Biostat review
 OTHER RESOURCES
 FACEBOOK : USMLE Step 1 Forum(300k + members)
-Whenever you have questions during reading FA or other material search in group using
keywords . This is gem.
 WHATSAPP Study Group
 WIKIPEDIA
 ANKIDROID
 YOUTUBE CHANNEL ( HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL,LECTERIO,FIRECRACKERS,STRONG
MEDICINE,STOMP ON STEP 1,THE PATH TO MEDICINE,USMLE FASTTRACK,ANATOMY
ZONE,DR SHARIFUL HALIM,BOARDS & BEYONDS,OSMOSIS,DIRTY USMLE )
 WEBSITES :
- easyauscultation.com( heart and lung sound ) , medworld.pk(free uworld online practice
version- 2016), startradiology.com .
 QUESTION BANK

MUST DO MAY DO

UWORLD KAPLAN
PASTEST USMLE
USMLE RX

- TO BUY UWORLD ONLINE , GO TO WWW.UWORLD.COM

- TO USE IT OFFLINE , DOWNLOAD IT FROM USMLE STEP 1 FORUM IN FB ( THIS IS
ILLEGAL ) OR GO TO MEDWORLD.PK ( 2016 VERSION )

- DO ATLEAST 2 QBANKS . I WOULD RECOMMEND USMLE RX . YOU CAN BUY IT

ONLINE OR DOWNLOAD PDF FROM FB GROUP , WHICH IS ILLEGAL .
 HOW TO SOLVE QUESTIONS

 FIRST READ THE LAST LINE OF QUESTION

 THEN QUICKLY LOOK OVER VITALS , ELECTROLYTE LEVELS
 NOW YOU ARE READY TO READ THE ACTUAL QUESTION STEM
 NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU STUDY , YOU WILL ALWAYS FACE ATLEAST 50-60 QUESTIONS IN EXAM THAT YOU
DO NOT KNOW THE DEFINITE ANSWER . YOU MUST SOLVE THEM BY USING METHOD OF EXCLUSION . ALWAYS
TRUST YOUR GUT FEELINGS .
 REGISTRATION
 REQUIREMENTS
- YOU HAVE TO BE A 5TH YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT TO TAKE STEP 1
- YOUR INSTITUTION MUST BE INCLUDED IN “ WORLD DIRECTORY OF MEDICAL SCHOOLS”

 PROCESS
- GO TO WWW.ECFMG.ORG . OPEN AN ACCOUNT WHICH WILL COST 75 DOLLAR . THEN YOU HAVE TO
REGISTER FOR EXAM , THEY WILL GIVE YOU FORM 186 ( GRADUATE) OR 183 (STUDENT) . FILL IT , GET IT SIGNED
BY COLLEGE AUTHORITY AND MAIL IT USA
- CHECK OASIS REGULARLY TO FIND OUT YOUR REGISTRATION STATUS
 COST
- I SPENT AROUND 1400 DOLLAR WHICH IS THE LEAST AMOUNT ONE MUST SPEND . IT
INCLUDES REGISTRATION FEE , PROMETRIC CENTRE FEE , BOOKS , QBANKS , ETC
 TRIAD SELECTION
- AFTER REGISTRATION THEY WILL LET YOU CHOOSE A 3 MONTH PERIOD DURING
WHICH YOU CAN TAKE THE EXAM ANY DAY . IF YOU WANT , YOU CAN EXTEND YOUR
PREPARATION TIME FOR ANOTHER 3 MONTHS BY PAYING SOME EXTRA MONEY
 DEDICATED STUDY PERIOD
‘WILL YOU LET YOUR PATIENTS DIE JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE TIRED & DISTRACTED?’

 DO NOT BURN OUT YOURSELF . TAKE BREAK WHEN YOU ARE EXHAUSTED
 DO NOT TALK WITH NEGATIVE MINDED PEOPLE
 TRY TO UNDERSTAND . IF YOU ARE GOOD AT MEMORIZATION IT MAY HELP FOR
SOME QUESTIONS BUT IN THE LONG RUN YOU WILL BE THE SUFFERER
 MOCK TEST/NBME
 WHEN TO TAKE – AFTER ONE COMPLETE READING OF YOUR STUDY MATERIAL
 WHICH ONE TO TAKE - TAKE NBME 12 OR 16 FIRST . LEAVE NBME 18 FOR LAST
WEEK OF PREP . DO NOT READ ANY NBME QUESTIONS IN ANY GROUP UNLESS
YOU ALREADY TOOK IT
 COST – 60 DOLLARS EACH
 SIGNIFICANCE - IT WILL SHOW YOUR WEAK AREAS
 HOW TO IMPROVE SCORE - READ THOSE WEAK AREAS FROM FA OR OTHER
REVIEW BOOKS PROPERLY AGAIN AND TAKE ANOTHER NBME . YOU SHOULD DO
NBME 16 , 17 , 18 AND 19 ONLINE. I DID ONLY NBME 16 AND 18 ONLINE THOUGH
 WHAT TO DO BEFORE TAKING NBME - READ RAPID REVIEW SECTION FROM FA ,
REVIEW ALL FORMULA . TUNE YOUR BRAIN BEFORE EXAM BY MUSIC OR SOLVING
RANDOM QUESTIONS FROM UWORLD
MY NBME SCORE REPORTS ARE SHOWN IN NEXT 2 SLIDE FOR
YOUR UNDERSTANDING . FIRST ONE IS NBME 16 ( SCORE-
244), NEXT ONE IS NBME 18 ( SCORE-260 ) . I STUDIED FOR 1
MONTH SERIOUSLY AFTER NBME 16 AND WORKED ON MY
WEAK AREAS , THEN I TOOK NBME 18.STAR ON RIGHT SIDE
MEANS YOUR SCORE IS OUTSTANDING IN THAT AREA .
BORDERLINE OR LOWER PERFORMANCE MEANS YOU NEED
TO WORK ON THAT AREA .
 HOW TO PREPARE FOR DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS

CT SCAN/ MRI/ ECG/ EEG /XRAY

– TRY TO ATTEND COURSES BY MEDISCHOOL AND AXIS MEDICAL SCHOOL BUT IF
NOT POSSIBLE DO NOT WORRY . IT IS COVERED IN FA ND UWORLD . YOU CAN USE
YOUTUBE ALSO

HEART SOUND – EASYAUSCALTATION.COM

LUNG SOUND - EASYAUSCALTATION.COM
 EXAM DAY
 MAKE SURE YOU SLEPT ATLEAST 6 HOURS THE NIGHT BEFORE YOUR EXAM
 JUST RELAX . YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE EVERYTHING POSSIBLE
 TAKE ENOUGH FOOD , COFFE AND ONE TIME GLASSES
 TAKE BREAK WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE BUT ALWAYS AT THE END OF A BLOCK
 MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE IN THE CENTRE, PROMETRIC STAFFS ARE EXTREMELY
HELPFUL
 TRY TO WEAR POCKETLESS DRESS . IT WILL REDUCE THE TIME SPEND IN SECURITY
CHECK .TRUST ME THIS IS IMPOTANT
 WATCH TUOTORIAL AND SOLVE FREE 120 QUESTIONS FROM WWW.USMLE.ORG THE
DAY BEFORE EXAM . SKIP TUTORIAL AT THE BEGINNING OF EXAM , THIS WILL GIVE
YOU EXTRA 15 MINUTES BREAK
USMLE STEP 1 EXPERINCES
 MASUM RAHMAN
JALALABAD RAGIB RABEYA MEDICAL COLLEGE
MBBS
USMLE ( STEP 1)
RESEARCH TRAINEE , MAYO CLINIC , USA

• USMLE Step 1 experience

• I am a graduate from Bangladesh
• Target : 240plus
Actual score : 242
Preparation time : dedicated study from November 2016 to july 2017.
But had pre exposure with Goljan , Kaplan and medical text books like Guyton, Robins
pathology, Davidson etc from 3rd year of medical school.
• Reading text books helped me a lot I think , but it is not mandatory KAPLAN is more than
enough for basic conception.
• Materials I used : Kaplan viedo plus texts for all subjects except patho, for patho I
used Pathoma ( video plus text ), 100 cases of ethics, BRS physiology, UWORLD offline
once, UWORLD online once, NBME .
NBME scores: did 5 online nbme
1.NBME 16 : 228
2.NBME 17: 225
3.NBME15 : 232
4. NBME 18 : 242
5. NBME 19 : 234
UWSA1: 247
UWSA2 : 245
• About the exam day ,
1.I didn’t feel any anxiety , it helped me a lot
2. Questions pattern were more like UW
3. Some question were very confusing
4. I ANSWERED most of the questions by exclusion method
5. there were 3 CT scan, 3 ECG, 2 heart sound and lot of picture and upcrease downcrease questions
6. I think from subjects the questions were very straight forward and doable question, Anatomy, Micro, Pharma .
7. I felt some difficulties due to memorization problem specially in pharma and micro.
8. Understanding the question SCENERIO is very much important, UW can help u at this point, all questions have
clues , but u have to identify them wisely I think.
9.I skipped some tough questions very quickly thats why I could invest those extra time on other questions.
10. Breaks : first 3 blocks in a row > break> 2blocks > break >1 block > break > last block
• Some mistakes that I should not have done during my preparation course
1.I did not completed UW online , around 200 question were left when I appeared on exam
2. I did not review all wrong UW online questions
3. I did not read or search the explanations of NBME questions eve NBME
18,19
4. I did not read UWSA questions with explanations
5. I did not review pathoma prior exam again
• My recommendations for future test takers
1.Do Kaplan videos and text if u think u have basic concept deficiency
2.Must do pathoma video plus text again and again
3.Emphasize enough on UW, invest your at least 70% time of preparation on read
4.Dont be panic with FA , u always feel like ur preparation is not complete , u r forgetting all stuffs
5. don’t read the FA alone, do it with uw.
6. don’t over think anything , uw concepts only is more than enough , there are so many things that
question may arise about the explanation , but u don’t have to learn more than what is described in uw
7. limit your resources , if u can do this u can invest more time on uw which is required.
8. We have to understand and also review it again and again, in a word repeation is the key.
• In Sha Allah every one will do good..
 MY EXPERIENCE

• I have full respect for traditional preparation system but this post is for people who always do things differently. Some of u
guys may know me as "Raf Sum". Aomine Daiki brother thank you for that support at last moment. I was freaked out 5 days
before my exam as i got 261 in nbme 18. Do not get me wrong, i just read basic science portion of FA(except micro patho)&
neuro+cardio from organ system . Basically 2/3 of FA pages i never opened. I actually dont care if you believe me or not, this
guy told me- you will be fine brother , trust your Score". Masum Rahman vai also told me I WIll be fine , he was my mentor
during whole prep. Then i took the test & got this. Now i realize why those who scored higher always said- This is not about
how many times you revise FA . This is about you. How u see things , how u analyze thigs“

• Let me introduce myself, I am a 5th year student From Armed Forces Medical College, Bangladesh. I'll simply write my
resources & nbme scores & my opinion why i got this score. I started preparing by reading posts of people who got more than
260.My target was around that . I bought all books used by them & studied..
• Time:
9 month, dedicated period- 6/7 month
Resources:
Kaplan videos(except micro,patho)
Uworld offline followed by online during last month( i did 10 block a day to build my stamina.Didnt bother to take notes
anywhere from uworld. Just wrote the page number of offline uworld which i got wrong or didnt knew before & revised them
during last month of prep. This was a lifesaver)
• Pathoma(video 1 times+ book 3 times, this is an amazing book. If u're from subcontinent like me, Dr hussain sattar will make
your life so much betterStart prep with one & u'll have more confidence during rest of the prep)
• First Aid- 1 time(Just basic science portion except micro patho, Neurology,cardiology)
• Brs- physio,behavioral science,gross anatomy
High yield -cell biology,neuroanatomy,gross anatomy
Anatomy shelf note
Uw biostat review
100 cases of ethics
Cardiology notes made by a guy from group,i loved that note( he compiled uw+FA)
• Qbank :
• Uworld
Pastest Usmle
Usmle rx
• Most important resource : ANKIDROID ( BROSENCEPHALON DECK)
• NBME score :
Nbme 1- 176( out 280,offline,December 22)
Nbme 12- 239 ( offline april 25)
Nbme 16-244 ( Online, may 25)
NBME 18 - 260 (Online, june 21)
other nbme'a were around 250,cant remember exactly
• Real deal : 255
• Suggestion :
Always study in your own pace. I cant follow routine . Someday studied for 16/17 hours ,
someday 1/2 hours. But i made sure to study every single day
• Whenever u got a question during reading, first search in the group using a keyword.
Remember, a lot of people passed this exam, they had same questions. You never know what
amazing information u will find there .Keep digging until you are satisfied
• Don't rush, i think i got less than my NBME because of that,i still had 33 minutes break time
when i left prometric
• Best of luck everyone