Best way to use First Aid for step 1 and BSS?

Agree with those who say make your studying question heavy. I spent 6 wks total (mostly annotating first aid) and was doing nothing but questions for the last 2 wks (maybe a glance at a text to review something totally foreign). Getting yourself accustomed to doing many 50 question blocks in a row definitely helps preparing you for the timing of the test and with endurance. Its nice to have 10 minutes at the end of each block to review your work or settle back and throw in a lipper.

Good luck to everyone on the exam.

sorry for the rookie question but, what is meant by "annotate the first aid book" (yes I know the book)

"annotate the first aid book" =take notes. When I did qbank I referenced the answers in first aid and added additional info I thought was important in the margins. It was nice to have the majority of info in one book. First Aid and qbank is all you need--all other books should take a backseat. Good luck.

Yeah, I agree with above. Annotating First Aid is writing in the margins so that you don't have to go back to your big bulky books for reference.

I spent 4 weeks reading review books, like from brs, nms, lippincott biochem and pharm. I read, not studied during this period, emphasizing on taking notes. Then, spent 1 week reading the first aid with notes.

I did Q bank all throughout the period.
I did well in step 1.

If I could go back, I'd have spent one more week reading my first aid with notes and review more questions.

So here'swhat I did, with some suggested modifications...

1st/2nd year- annotate First Aid (wish I had done this!)

4 weeks prior to the exam- Write out a schedule, spend 12 hours reviewing a First Aid chapter, spend the next 24-36 hours doing QBank questions on this material, move on to next chapter and repeat, etc. Do this for each chapter in First Aid. When doing questions in First Aid, review every single one... Know why your answer (hopefully) was correct and why all others are wrong.

In addition, once each week do a simulation... Week 1: 1/2 exam (untimed), Week 2: 1/2 exam (timed), Week 3: full exam (timed) with include all prior incorrect answers, Week 4: full exam of new questions (timed). Review each practice exam in depth.
Worked well for me.

FYI: Most people I spoke to started in the 55-65% range, and if their timed scores rose to 75% by test time, they usually beat the mean. Also keepin mind, these stats are for the 2005 season.

Very much agree with DrHibbert.

I had a very similar plan of attack for step 1 and had a great result. I also read though Step-up, which I thought was useful because it had some different information.

Good luck on the exam. Take it seriously to avoid worrying about it during the application season, but realize that if you don't get the score you want that you can still find other ways to get in the game.