It’s April, which means you’re probably studying for boards. Or maybe you haven’t started studying, but you’ve spent a lot of time worrying about studying, which in my opinion is even more taxing emotionally.

I posted this strategy for studying for boards a while back – but it is buried pretty deep now, so I’m updating it and reposting it in case you haven’t seen it.

There are actually three parts to this topic. This part covers getting ready (making a study schedule and picking from all the resources out there), the next part details a strategy for answering boards questions (different than many of the questions in medical or dental school!), and the final part is a collection of student comments and advice arranged in topics. I hope you find this helpful.  Although we’re talking about the USMLE, much of this advice can be applied to any major board exam.

First, some general facts about step 1 of the USMLE:

• Right now, step 1 consists of 7 one-hour blocks of questions. There are 44 questions per block, for a total of 308 questions.
• After May 9, 2016, there will still be 7 one-hour blocks, but the number of questions per block will be different. The number will vary, but will not exceed 40; and the total number of questions will not exceed 280.
• If you do the math, that amounts to about 1.3 minutes per question (before May 9) or at least 1.5 minutes per question (after May 9).
• The majority of questions are in the form of clinical vignettes.
• Some questions don’t count (they are “test” questions for future exams).

You might think that the students who do the best on boards are those who know the most, or who had the highest grades in medical school. It’s true that the more you learn during the first two years (as opposed to during board review), the better. However, board success depends on more than just your knowledge of facts. It also depends on how thoroughly and efficiently you review for boards, how well you take tests, and – don’t discount this – your attitude. We’ll look at some review strategies and some general test-taking strategies in this post. Having an optimistic attitude is up to you (and you can do it!).

So what sources should you use? There are, as you probably know, tons of resources for studying for boards. Here are some that our students have found useful (*the resources with the asterisks have been really, really useful):

Book and question resources
First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 *
Qmax 1 question bank (by the people who do First Aid)*
Kaplan Q bank and Vignettes *
Goljan Rapid Review (books and audio tapes)
USMLEWorld Qbank
Med Essentials (Kaplan)
Board Review Series books (especially Phys and Path but also Biochem,  and Cell and Molecular Biology)
High Yield books (e.g., Histology, Embryology, Anatomies, Behavioral Science)
Robbins Review of Pathology
Gold Series CD’s
BRS Flashcards for Pharm, Micro

Heme and coag resources
For some reason, it’s hard to find a good heme/coag review book, which is why I wrote my  Complete Guide to Hematopathology and Clot or Bleed books. Here’s a comment written by Jay Allen on Amazon:

Kristine Krafts did a fantastic job of creating a succinct study guide to various hematological deficiencies and diseases. Is it extremely detailed? No. It’s not supposed to be. But it’s easy to read and gives you all the necessary information in the process. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny, which is something most science overview books should aspire to be.

It gives more detail than First Aid (for those medical students interested), but it never overstays its welcome.

Highly recommended to any medical student, undergraduate, or practicing physician trying to get an overview of hematopathology without falling asleep in the process.

Online resources

1. USMLE practice materials  *
2. Qmax *
3. USMLE World
5. Score 95
6. Doctors in training
7. USMLE Consult
8. Study Stack

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of these possibilities! If I had to pick two resources that are most useful, it would be First Aid and the USMLE-Rx question bank (Qmax). First Aid is more of an outline – you need to supplement it with more detailed sources – but it’s a great outline. And the Qmax questions are also great for practicing your skills. Look at these resources, and if you need to add some of the others, that’s fine. Just don’t overdo it! You don’t have time to do everything. Pick a few tried-and-true sources, and be done with it.

For pathology, you might also consider signing up for Path Bites (left sidebar on PathologyStudent.com) – it’s a free email newsletter that gives you a little bit of important path each day. One day we do general path stuff, the next we do systems path, working our way through Robbins. We also have a more intensive Neuropathology Mini-Course that people have found useful for boards. It’s a four-week course with three email lessons a week, and a summary every Saturday.

And for those times when you should be studying, but you just can’t bear to look at another review book, Path Bites Anthology is a great way to get little high-yield pathology into your brain in a fun, painless way.

Making a study plan
In general, no matter how you choose to attack the material, there are two things you need to do:

1. Make (and follow) your own, structured plan for reviewing high-yield material.
2. Answer lots of board-style questions.

Don’t skimp on either one! Build time for both into your plan (see below for a sample plan).

There are three basic ways to review material. You can do it by subject (anatomy, physiology, etc.), by system (cardiovascular, endocrine, etc.), or both. Most students use both methods of review. Here are some guidelines for each part of the review.

Subject-based review
1. It’s a good idea to review by subject following the chart on the inside cover of First Aid.
2. Make sure to cover the following subjects (note: It’s particularly important to do biochemistry and immunology/microbiology as subjects! You can’t expect to get everything you need to know in these two subjects during your system-based review!)

• Biochemistry *
• Immunology/Microbiology *
• Anatomies (gross, embryo, histo, neuro)
• Physiology
• Pathology
• Pharmacology
• Behavioral sciences
• Interdisciplinary (genetics, nutrition)

3. Pay attention to the general principles of each subject (First Aid has good high-yield general principles).
4. Get through the subjects section of First Aid at least 1-2 times.

System-based review
1. For each system, start with anatomy, then do physiology, then pathology, then micro, then pharmacology.
2. Make sure to cover the following systems (the order will depend on your own particular strengths/weaknesses):

• Cardiovascular
• Respiratory
• Renal
• GI
• Dermatology/musculoskeletal
• Endocrine/reproductive
• Nervous system
• Hematopoiesis and immune defenses

3. Each system should be covered in 2-4 days.

A review schedule for the remaining time before boards
So, can you do all this in the few months remaining before boards? Yes you can! Even if you haven’t started studying yet, you can do this.

You should plan to study for 6 days a week. 8-10 hours a day is best, it seems. Students who do less than 8 hours or more than 10 hours fare less well. Make sure you do lots of practice questions. Every morning, do 20-25 questions on material you covered the night before. Later that day, do some more questions on material you covered on previous days.

Here’s an example of how this might work during your systems review. Let’s say you’re reviewing respiratory:

• Monday morning: Review anatomy, embryology, and histology of the respiratory system.
• Monday afternoon: Review physiology of the respiratory system.
• Tuesday morning: Do 20-25 questions on respiratory anatomy/embryology/histology/physiology.
• Tuesday afternoon: Review pathology. Do questions on previous systems.
• Wednesday morning: Do 20-25 questions on respiratory pathology. Review pharmacology.
• Wednesday afternoon: Do questions on previous systems. Review microbiology of the respiratory system.

Whatever you do, make sure you a) review both systems and subjects, and b) do lots of questions. The exact methods are, of course, up to you! These are just suggestions based on what I know has worked for our medical students.

Next up: some test-taking (question-answering) strategies for boards…because boards questions may be different from questions you’re used to in medical school.