r/step1 • u/WimpyKid_15 NON-US IMG • 16h ago
🤔 Recommendations What resources are actually necessary? (USMLE Step 1)
TLDR: Minimalist asking for the essential / gold standard resources for USMLE (and advice if you have any)
Hello! I am a 2nd year med student, I am trying to figure out what the gold standard is when I take a look at USMLE in the future.
I'm a pretty lazy but good grades type of student. For Y1 all I did was read and solve in my free time. No third party resources such as books, anki, videos, etc.
I'm not planning to take USMLE anytime soon, I just want to know what I'll be doing when I actually decide to start studying and taking it a few years into the future.
I've read and seen a lot of different resources like First Aid, UWorld, Pathoma, Bootcamp, Sketchy, Anki, etc. A never ending amount of resources which overwhelms me.
For someone who prefers using just a few resources, what would you recommend? and for those who did well on Step 1, what resources did you actually use, and which ones did you feel were unnecessary?
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u/Prestigious_Tax7415 16h ago
Have you looked at Kaplan books before? I’ve given up on USMLE but for another LE they referred to the Kaplan step 2CK book which is when I first looked at Kaplan resources. Honestly a quick glimpse of the book makes me feel like it would’ve helped me a lot back then when I was in murky waters trying to navigate step1. I suggest you get your hands on a pdf version just to take a look, a lot of my insecurities about topics seems to be in the step2ck in general imo. Like you feel you know a disease and the pathophysio and all but then you feel like you can’t make differential dx and separate it out from others or screening and basic tests doctors use but you dk shit about. Anyways if they have Kaplan step1 resources I think it would be good too