Studying for USMLE Step 1 is the most challenging exam you do in your medical journey. Not only because you have to study basic dry material but for what also this exam of importance and impact on your match process. Getting a high score will give you more enthusiasm to complete the remainder steps. This will put you ahead of your peers in the chances of getting residency interviews when applying to residency. It will also put you higher in the match rank after the interviews. To achieve an honorable score You will need 3 tools to ace the exam:
I- USMLE Revision Tools
II- USMLE Studying Books
III- USMLE MCQs Banks
IV- Score Table
I-Revision tool
This is important as you will need to wrap up your information at the end of a long studying. I personally used the Ultimate review book, however, most applicants will use the First Aid for the USMLE step 1 by Tao Le for last days revision. Both are good, get one of them.
II-Studying tool
A-Kaplan USMLE Step 1 lecture notes by Kaplan
or
B-you can select a combination, many IMGs will get instead or in addition to the Kaplan some of these books to make sure they top score:
1-Anatomy
High-Yield Gross Anatomy (High-Yield Series) by Ronald W. Dudek
OR
BRS Gross Anatomy (Board Review Series) by Chung
2-Neuroanatomy
High-Yield Neuroanatomy (High-Yield Series) by James D. Fix
3-Embryology
High-Yield Embryology (High-Yield Series) by Ronald W. Dudek
OR
BRS Embryology (Board Review Series) by Ronald W. Dudek
4-Histology
High-Yield Histology (High-Yield Series) by Ronald W. Dudek
OR
BRS Cell Biology and Histology (Board Review Series) by Leslie P. Gartner
5-Biostatistics
High-Yield Biostatistics (High-Yield Series) by Anthony N. Glaser
6-Cell and Molecular Biology
High-Yield Cell and Molecular Biology (High-Yield Series) by Ronald W Dudek
7-Immunology
Immunology Made Ridiculously Simple by Massoud Mahmoudi
or
High-Yield Immunology (High-Yield Series) by Arthur G. Johnson
8-Pathology
Goljan Rapid Review Pathology
or
BRS Pathology (Board Review Series) by Arthur S. Schneider and Philip A. Szanto
9-Physiology
BRS Physiology (Board Review Series) by Linda S Costanzo
10-Microbiology
Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple (Medmaster) by Mark Gladwin
11-Pharmacology
Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology (Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews Series) by Richard A Harvey and Pamela C Champe
or
Katzung & Trevor's Pharmacology Examination and Board Review by Anthony Trevor, Bertram Katzung, Susan Masters and Marieke Knuidering-Hall
Getting this will help you memorize better, can be used complementary to Kaplan books or to one of the above two books: Kaplan Medical USMLE Pharmacology and Treatment Flash Cards
12-Biochemistry
Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry (Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews Series) by Pamela C. Champe, Richard A Harvey, and Denise R. Ferrier
13-Behavioral science
High-Yield Behavioral Science (High-Yield Series) by Barbara Fadem
or
BRS Behavioral Science (Board Review Series) by Barbara Fadem
14-Medical Ethics
Master the Boards USMLE Medical Ethics by Conrad Fischer
15-Medical Genetics
High-Yield Genetics (High-Yield Series) by Ronald W. Dudek and John E. Wiley
or
BRS Genetics (Board Review Series) by Ronald Dudek
or
You can get this combo for 3 subjects:
BRS Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Genetics (Board Review Series) by Michael Lieberman and Rick Ricer
III-MCQs tool
Kaplan Medical USMLE Step 1 Qbook by Kaplan
And one of these two:
USMLEWorld Step 1 Qbank (Online MCQs) from UW
Kaplan Step 1 Qbank (Online MCQs) from kaptest
IV- Score Table
