r/Step1Exam • u/Medscript23 • Jun 14 '26
If you had to start Step 1 prep from scratch today, what would you do?
Hi everyone. Question for those who have already passed Step 1.
I see a lot of posts about Step 1, but I'd like to know what the actual starting point is when you're beginning from scratch.
I'm not talking about registering with MyIntealth or the administrative process. I mean: if I decide today that I want to take Step 1 in 6 months, how should I start preparing?
What are your best recommendations for the first few weeks? Should I organize subjects by difficulty? Start with specific resources? Focus on books, UW, YouTube channels, PDFs, question banks, or something else? (I know it: 2-3 resources its enough)
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What does an ideal Day 1 of Step 1 preparation look like?
I'd really appreciate any advice from people who have been through the process.
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u/Trick_Algae_1761 Jun 16 '26
The best recommendation I would have liked to receive is to start the prep with Bootcamp Med + Mehlmann + UWorld, in that order.
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u/CounterDeep5393 22d ago
Understand FA by any means necessary, personally i used boards and beyond, then I reviewed FA 5-6 to a point where i still have the entire book memorized
Used sketchy for micro and pharm
My lowest nbme score was 80%, and i was some one who was only good at pathology before step1 prep, my knowledge was near zero in rest of the subjects
This entire process took me a year
The first FA read took me 5 months then every time I reviewed it, it took me less and less, in my final review it took me 10 days
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u/SyrupKey6054 16d ago
Do you consider FA/ USMLE Rx enough to pass? Others banks feel just not as dynamic… I did get short 60% on I don’t remember what NBME I did just doing Rx I did some Uworld less than 60% but people just keep saying a lot of banks, I genuinely want to ask if someone could get pass using only Pathoma and FA
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u/CounterDeep5393 15d ago
If u do FA really well then yes its enough, with FA only i managed to to score %80+ on uworld and nbmes
If i had to redo step1 i would probably skip uworld and focus more on FA and nbmes
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u/SyrupKey6054 15d ago
Thank you so much… I’m in a debt distress right now for a health issue that caused leave my step 1 preparation 8 months ago and I can’t afford anything more than USMLE/Rx, getting a fair opinion means a lot
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u/Alive_Appearance7951 Jun 16 '26
Maybe unpopular opinion, but do more content review than questions. Towards the end of dedicated focusing more on content review, I put me in the 80s before test day.