study 8-11 hrs / day ??

i studyed from 10 am to 2 am every day for about 7 weeks, truely lost touch with the outside world, but i can assure you that you will rather work hard now, than later regret it.

anyone have a good study schedule they'd be willing to share?

Each person is different in regards to what works best for studying. Having said that, I do think that a well planned study schedule and development of routines can help almost everyone improve their performance when it comes to Step I. Ultimately, the amount of time someone has to spend studying will depend on how diligent they were in studying during their first two years of medical school and how well they retained that information (except for the genius, photographic memory type of people that drive the rest of us crazy...)

I'd recommend trying to simulate the test day as much as possible so you're in a routine when test day comes. For me, that meant getting my brain used to waking up in the AM and starting questions around 7:30 or so doing blocks of 50 randomized questions/hr just like the test for the first part of the AM (I gradually increased the amount of blocks I would go through the closer it came to my test date to get used to sitting through that many questions). I would then review over the tests looking through the correct and incorrect answer explanations (the HUGE benefit of question banks that so many people overlook) until early afternoon, and then study subject material that I'd scheduled to review for that day (e.g., spending 3 afternoons going through Biochem, 6 for Path, 4 for Physiology, etc.) for the rest of the day until about 7 or so. Then I had a couple of hours to go workout, get fresh air, spend some time with family/friends, or whatever else I needed to do after that and went to bed at a reasonable hour. It got REALLY old doing that day in and day out, but paid off in the long run. It's a short term sacrifice that is much easier to undertake than pulling your hair out trying to make up for and worrying about a mediocre Step I score when trying to get residency interviews.

i agree with getting your brain used to functioning at the hour of the testing. for me, i got to studying by 730am and kept at it until 730pm. i would aim to get 6 hours of solid work done in those 12 hours. so, i would start strong with 2 hours on and 1 off and then more off than on later in the day. this made it feel like i was never really just studying all day. i got really good a ping pong during those hour down times. after 730 pm, i would go workout and grab a drink with friends. would try and get in bed by 1130pm and start it all over the next day. i did that for 4 weeks. as far as subject, i did topic by topic during the first half of the day and then questions covering all topics later in the day to reinforce the stuff i had just reviewed and key me into what i needed to pay attention to when reviewing the next topic. good luck.

I had a schedule much like BoneBlaster; take breaks throughout the day so I felt fresh each time I returned to material. I'd get up at a decent time in the AM, start off with about 100qs, then study something that I felt was a weak point based on the qs. Then, went for a run, came back, did some reading based on a schedule, had a nice dinner, then finished up with some more qs.
Props to those who can study all the time (till 2AM!) but it's not for me; you all certainly make me feel like a slacker Nonetheless, I was very happy with my score.
Overall, study much the same way you have throughout undergrad and med school, don't change things up, just crank it up a notch.
-OR

Some of these guys were obviously able to do more than I could in a day. I'd start at around 9 or 10am, do q's based on organ system and then further broken down into topic, read the section in first aid. A good day was 80 q's and FA section (usually about 10-11 hours or so) Repeat 7 days x 5 weeks. Take exam - on a side note, I was left with a testing time that didn't start until 12pm - I do not recommend it - instead I would choose 8 or 9.