Free USMLE guides
Consistency & mindset
Staying on track, anxiety, distraction, burnout. 12 guides.
By Dr. Marish Asudani · Published · Updated
How do I stay consistent while studying for Step 1?
Start with How to Actually Stay Consistent: How to stay consistent: structure gives scores gives dopamine; 4 tips including a 6-day renal challenge, plus 10 daily-setup habits. Then The Accountability System — How to Actually Stay on Track for Step 1 and The Real Reason You Can't Stop Getting Distracted.
Start here · Mindset
How to Actually Stay Consistent
How to stay consistent: structure gives scores gives dopamine; 4 tips including a 6-day renal challenge, plus 10 daily-setup habits
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Mindset
The Accountability System — How to Actually Stay on Track for Step 1
The accountability system for Step 1: hard target score, hard exam date, ticked daily tasks, community (Vault check-ins, leaderboard, study partner)
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Mindset
The Real Reason You Can't Stop Getting Distracted
Why you get distracted (no hourly structure, methods that don't give scores, multitasking) and the fix for each
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Mindset
Perfectionist vs Repetitionist
Why studying 1 topic perfectly once fails, and how to be a 'repetitionist' who hits each topic 5 ways (FA Guide, Mehlman, Anki, UWorld, review)
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Mindset
How to Study 10 Hours Without Burning Out
How to study 10 hours a day (or all night) without burning out: hour-by-hour checklist and making each hour produce UWorld/First Aid results
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Mindset
The Part Nobody Plans For
Accountability for Step 1: Vault Accountability Partner check-ins, Monday-reset leaderboard (80% earns the day), and finding 1 study partner in your week
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Mindset
"I'm So Anxious About How Much I Have to Study"
Reframes study anxiety as lack of structure/method, points to the First Aid method, RPSR UWorld method and a day-by-day task list
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Mindset
Delete Reddit Before Step 1
Why Reddit's '60-65% on NBMEs is fine' advice and fear-mongering hurt IMGs; restates the readiness bar (above 68% on NBME 31, 32 and 33, offline) and lists the guides to read instead
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Mindset
Canon Events — and the Fix for Each
10 common IMG prep mistakes (new plan weekly, B&B, UWorld cold, NBME 28 first, online NBMEs, 2 sets of notes, waiting for internship) and the fix for each
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Method
10 IMG Mistakes in Step 1 Prep
10 common IMG Step 1 mistakes in order (content phase and NBME phase), each with its fix and link
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Mindset
Things to Study When You're Bored (Step 1)
6 format switches when bored of First Aid: FA Foundation Anki, Mehlman, Divine Intervention PDF, Listen to the Vault, Neil Randy PDF, Rahul Damania
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NBME strategy · 24 hours
24 Hours After a Bad NBME
24-hour protocol after a bad NBME: same-day review of incorrects, sort misses by system and error type, score-based next road, 5-day habit drill
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Every guide here runs on one app
First Aid guide, Anki, NBME booster and assessments, in USMLE Vault.
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