For IMGs whose Step 1 is tomorrow. You don't need more content. You need the right 24 hours, so you walk in fresh.
By Dr. Marish Asudani · Published
What should I do the day before Step 1?
Sleep late the night going into it, around 3 AM, and wake at 6 or 7, so you're a little tired. Get your Glucon-D, Tang and chocolates ready. Study only your bookmarks until 5 PM, then shut the books. Dinner, a 45 to 60 minute walk, lights out at 9 PM. You wake at 5 or 6 AM with 8 hours of sleep.
Read this firstYour content is done. Your NBMEs say you're ready. So the day before Step 1 is not a study day. It's the day that decides how you feel when you walk in.
The day before goes wrong in 2 ways. You cram something new until midnight, or you sleep in, feel rested, and then lie awake anxious on the night that counts. Both cost you the only sleep that matters: the 8 hours right before the exam.
So every line of this protocol protects those 8 hours. Nothing new. Nothing clever. Here it is, hour by hour, with the reason written right next to each step.
~3 AMSleep, the night going into it
5 PMBooks shut
9 PMLights out
8 hSleep before the exam
1
The week beforeWhere your day-before list comes from
On the day before, what you study is just your bookmarks. So where do the bookmarks come from? From the week before.
All week, while you do the FA Foundation Anki or the NBME Booster Anki, whatever you don't remember, you bookmark. Anything new from the PDFs, you note down. That list is the day before.
In the Vault, Pick & Mix pulls every card you flagged, across every deck, into 1 session. How Pick & Mix works →
Open your flagged cards in the Vault AnkiPick & Mix pulls every card you flagged in the FA Foundation Anki and the NBME Booster Anki into 1 session. That session is your whole study day.
Pick your example. The times don't change. Only the dates do.
Tap the example date
Night into 29 OctSleep at around 3 AM. Wake at 6 or 7 AM. Short on purpose. I don't want you well rested on the day before, because if you're well rested you might get anxious and not sleep on the night before the exam. I want you a little bit tired.
MorningSupplies for tomorrow, ready. Glucon-D, Tang and chocolates, because that usually keeps my energy levels high. Add a bottle of Gatorade: half a bottle goes in at each longer break tomorrow. Everything goes in the bag today, not tomorrow morning.Why: so that when you wake up tomorrow, you don't need to do anything except leave.
Morning → 5 PMStudy only your bookmarks. Go through every flagged card. Unflag the ones you remember. Keep the ones you don't remember flagged, and go through them again. You keep getting better. Bookmarks done before 5 PM? Then the Rapid Review section and your weak systems, straight from First Aid. Nothing new.Why: your bookmarks are the only things you still don't know, so they're the only thing worth your last study hours. This is not a day to learn anything new.
5 PMBooks shut. You only study till 5 PM. After that, don't even open your book. Not 1 flashcard.Why: after 5 PM, every page you open costs you sleep, not points.
EveningDinner, then a light walk of 45 minutes to an hour. Come back home at 8 or 8:30 PM.Why: you don't need to do anything when you go to sleep or when you wake up. No flashcards in bed, no last page. What you do is walk. The walk makes you just a little tired, not exhausted, just tired enough that you fall asleep properly at 9 and get a good night's sleep before the early start.
9 PMLights out.Why: rest at 9 PM, wake at 5 or 6, and you get a good 8 hours of sleep right before your exam, so you're completely fresh. You slept at 3 AM last night, so you're a little tired, and a tired body falls asleep at 9 instead of lying awake anxious.
30 Oct, 5–6 AMWake up after a good 8 hours of sleep, right before your exam. Completely fresh, and ready.
You wake up at 5 or 6 with 8 hours of sleep, and your supplies are already in the bag. In the exam: 20 questions, 3 deep breaths, 20 questions, then a 5–7 minute break with simple sugar. Repeat it to the end.
It's the same rhythm you trained on every NBME, because you took every NBME offline and timed: 20 questions in 30 minutes a block, a break every 40 questions. That's why exam day feels familiar. Why NBMEs are always offline →
