USMLE STEP 1 DETAILED STUDY SCHEDULE

Hello everyone,

I have been receiving a lot of emails in regards to creating a specific daily study schedule for Step 1. Studying for this exam can be overwhelming so having a clear pathway of what to do each day is very helpful. I will share how I studied for this exam and hope you find inspiration on creating your own personalized plan. Remember, each learner is unique and different studying methods can be used. By sharing my Step 1 study schedule, I hope it gives you an idea of how you can set up your study plan based on your timeline and goals. Please keep in mind that I mainly just used FA, UW and my notes during my studying. I found that keeping my studying very simple gave me the best results. I loved having lots of repetition of just FA, UW and high-yield notes during my study process. I found this method to give me the greatest improvements during my practice exams. I know this is a big exam, its overwhelming and scary but you made it this far in your medical journey and you are going to do amazing!! Here is how organized my step 1 studying:

1) Create a total overview of the months leading up to your exam

- This should have your target Step 1 date and weekly practice exam days. It should also include when you wish to start UW, finish UW and an overall idea of how many blocks to do per day to reach your goal.

2) Create a daily schedule of what you wish to accomplish each day

- This should include how many pages of FA you wish to reach each day, how many blocks of UW you want to complete per day and how many pages of your notes you wish to review every day. Creating an hourly schedule really helped me with this. By having a clear idea of how my day was organized, I kept my studying efficient and balanced.

3) Check off tasks and be consistent with your studying

- Having a visual aid of your step studying through the use of an organized schedule was a game changer for me. I was able to keep track of all of my goals and finish everything in a timely manner. This allowed to me to stay on track and check off each target throughout my day to hold me accountable and allow me to finish my tasks each day.

Study Plan

I studied for about 4 months. Prior to this, I had just done my medical school lectures and practice questions to study for medical school exams. This gave me the foundation to begin step studying.

Week 1-3

- This was my first time reading First Aid. I read about 30 pages of First Aid each day and highlighted, explained concepts to myself to get an overview of the important concepts.

Week 4-12

- Each day I would consistently do the following 3 things: read 20 pages of FA + 1-2 blocks of UW and review the questions + reviewed my notes + did some practice exams to see where I was

- I also did all of my UW incorrect questions during this time as well

Week 13-16

- Read FA again + re-started UW + read all of my notes + weekly practice exams to track my scores and make sure I was consistently improving and hitting my target

Daily Schedule

Here is an example of how a study day looked for me while studying for step 1.

7:00-8:00am - wake up, drink coffee, eat breakfast, plan my day

8:00-10:00am - read 10 pages of FA (I went in order by topic)

10:00-12:00pm - 2 blocks of UW (random, timed)

12:00-1:00pm - lunch, relax

1:00-5:00pm - review UW blocks

5:00-7:00pm - read 10 more pages of FA

7:00-8:00pm - dinner

8:00-10:00pm - relax, gym, shower

10:00-10:30pm - read notes to help with repetition and memorization

It is very helpful to have a daily schedule that you can see throughout the day to make sure are organized with your day. I used Journal Through Medicine to plan out each of my day. This allowed me to finish everything I wanted to accomplish before test day.

Other helpful links:

♡ My daily planner that I used to organize my daily schedule:

https://www.amazon.com/Journal-Through-Medicine-medical-self-care/dp/B097BJX5YF

♡ High-Yield Step 1 Notes I read for repetition everyday:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQ5CCQFH

♡ High-Yield Step 1 Review Videos

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtH5IDvnaKbKa_1ZpXsfXvfarP6u_IRa6

♡ What I reviewed 1 week before my Step 1 exam: https://www.medstudentsuccess.com/post/usmle-1-week-high-yield-review-resources

♡ How to tackle Step 1: https://www.medstudentsuccess.com/post/analyzing-graphs-quickly-and-effectively

♡ True Learn discount code: success25

https://truelearn.referralrock.com/l/success25/

Please feel free to shoot me an email if you would like more information about Step 1, creating a personalized study plan or anything else that you would like to talk about!

medstudentsuccess.contact@gmail.com

medstudentsuccess.com

Good luck studying,

Med Tutor Hussain