School of Medicine

Kurt Bernacki, Class of 2008

General Recommendations

• Do as many questions as possible.  If you finish Q-bank or USMLE World, do the questions over again.

Books

• Step 1 - Kaplan black books are good for review early in studying, but I only looked at them once.  Too much information to look at them again.  Reading and memorizing mnemonics in First Aid for Step 1 as the test got closer proved to work.  Step-Up for Step 1 is good with high yield tables.
• Step 2 CK - The only book I used was Crush Step 2 CK in the few days before the test.

Question Bank

• Q-bank: Good for Step 1
• USMLE World: Good for Step 2
• NBME Tests: Didn't Use

Schedule

• Step 1 - 32 days,  as I did a new subject everyday (pretty similar to others).  Each day, I would do all of the Q-bank questions related to that subject.  Some days, this meant doing over 200 questions at night after reading all day.   This way, I had gone through Q-bank once after I had read everything once.  Taking the actual test is all about endurance. Doing 350 questions a day during the days leading up to the tests helps you prepare.
• Step 2 CK -  I studied during a lighter elective month.  I tried to do 100-200 questions per day.  I read Crush Step 2 CK and I had a random mix of topics on every test.