Preparing for USMLE Step 1 & 2
When I first started studying for Step 1, I was having a lot of trouble since there were so many resources. All the books were very different and they became a distraction to me. I wanted to go through all the books that were available in the market, and it was the most inefficient way to study.
Rule of thumb: PICK only ONE BOOK. Use one or two lectures (not more than that). Start Qbanks early, you can start with doing 10 questions a day, just make sure you are doing questions everyday and reading all the answers. Take NBME every 2-3 weeks to access your strengths and weaknesses.
USMLE Step 1
- Book: First aid Step 1
- Lectures: USMLE-Rx, Sketchy Micro, Sketchy Pharm
- Qbank: UWorld
USMLE Step 2 CK
- Book: Master the Boards Step 2 CK (Supplemented with Step Up 2 Medicine for IM sections)
- Lectures: Step 2 CK High Yield (correlates well with MTB), OnlineMedEd
- Qbank: UWorld
USMLE Step 2 CS
- Book: First Aid Step 2 CS
- Mock exam: Kaplan Step 2 CS Practice Exam with 1-to-1 feedback
Clinical Clerkships
Since my focus was on Internal Medicine, after completing all the cores, I chose electives that were IM-specific. With the same rule, I picked only ONE book per rotation and supplemented each with UWorld Q bank that was specific to the rotations that I did.
Core rotations
Family medicine: Case Files Family Medicine
Internal medicine: Step Up to Medicine
Surgery: Pestana Surgery Notes
OBGYN: Case Files OBGYN
Pediatrics: Pediatric Pretest
Psychiatry: First Aid for the Psychiatry Clerkship
Elective rotations
I used only 2 books for the following elective rotations: Step Up 2 Medicine, Master the Boards Step 2 CK,
Gastroenterology
Endocrinology
Nephrology
Neurology
Radiology
Infectious disease
Urgent Care
USMLE Step 3 (coming soon…)
*Disclaimer: There certainly are many other books and resources available but I am only sharing the ones that I used and found them useful during my study.