How To Boost USMLE Step 1 Test-Taking Skills

by | May 14, 2023 | Uncategorized

How To Boost Your USMLE Step 1 Test-Taking Skills

Want to step up your USMLE Step 1 test-taking skills & see an instant increase in your Qbank and NBME scores?
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Here’s a breakdown of the right way to tackle your USMLE Step 1 exam practice questions 👇
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Let’s get started!
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Step #1. Read the last 1-2 lines first

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The goal: To get a sense of what the vignette is going to want us to extract.
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Why this matters: Imagine this… You start reading the vignette from the top, make your way through, you’re feeling good about where this is heading, then BAM!!
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The last line asks you something completely unrelated to the vignette.
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What are you going to do now?
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Re-read the whole thing, of course.
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Had you read the last line first, you’d know what you’re looking for and you could have avoided this disastrous situation.
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So always start with that last line first…
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Worst case scenario is that it tells you what you need to look for in the vignette and you have to read it (ex. Which of the following brachial plexus structures is most likely to be injured as a result of this patient’s injury?)…
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Best case scenario it asks you a direct question (ex. Which of the following brachial plexus structures is derived from the C7-C8 roots?).
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Do you see how much time you’ll save when doing your USMLE Step 1 practice questions if you take 2-3 seconds to read that last line first?
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Cool! Let’s move onto the next step.
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Step #2. Use the highlight function

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The goal: To isolate the important information that helps you get to an answer based on the last 1-2 lines of the vignette.
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Why this matters: This will save you tons of time if you have to review the vignette more than once (ex. You need to think about it further, you’re examining the answer choices and you want to cross-reference the info given in the vignette).
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If you highlight the important information, then your review of the vignette is quick and high-level.
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If you don’t highlight, you’re re-reading the entire thing; this is a huge waste of time that yields zero benefits (it’s all downside).
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Make sense? Good! Moving on.
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Step #3. Formulate an answer as you read the vignette

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The goal: Based on the last 1-2 lines (from step 1) and your highlighted info (from step 2), you want to begin formulating an answer as you move through the vignette. 
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Why this matters: You want to give yourself the greatest opportunity to answer the question correctly (we’re assuming), and in order to do that, you need to minimize the amount of distractors that you allow to pull you from the correct answer.
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The practice of formulating an answer, or at the very least a direction for the answer, as you read through the vignette, will ensure that you are getting more focused on the correct potential answer.
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Let’s pretend that the vignette is pointing us in the direction of a diabetes-related renal disorder…
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As you make your way to the answer choices, having that idea in mind should allow you to eliminate any options that don’t relate to your train of thought.
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For example, if the last line of the question says “Which of the following conditions is most likely responsible for this patient’s findings?”, and the vignette points to a diabetic patient with a clear renal condition, your common sense should have you laser-focused on a consequence of diabetes, not something else.
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The more you practice this, the easier is becomes and the better you’ll become at identifying the correct answer choices.
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Step #4. Practice, review your accuracy, & refine your skill

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The goal: To make all of these practices second-nature.
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Why this matters: When you sit down for your exam, it’s important that you’ve built the best habits into muscle memory so that you can focus on content.
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You can’t do your absolute best on your USMLE Step 1 exam if you’re worried about remembering to read the last line first… 
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You can’t do your best on the USMLE Step 1 if you keep forgetting to highlight and end up wasting a bunch of time re-reading the vignette…
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You can’t do your best on your USMLE Step 1 if you’re running short on time at the end of every block and start stressing out…
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You can’t do your best if you go into exam day without a proven strategy that you’re confident will help you maximize your results.
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You’ve been empowered with a winning USMLE Step 1 question-answering strategy.
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The most important thing to do moving forward is to implement these habits into every single question you answer.
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The more you practice, the better you’ll get…
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Ultimately, this will improve your chances of success on exam day. I hope this helps!
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