The Subtle Art of USMLE Step 1
Practice Question Review 👇

Students are bombarded with different Qbank review strategies…

Tutor mode… Exam mode…

Which one is right for you?

That depends on where you’re at in the journey – sorry, I wish there was a more clear-cut answer, but there isn’t 🙁

But I will give you some strategies that you can use no matter where you’re at so that as you move through your questions, you’re extracting the most value from each one.

IF YOU ANSWERED THE QUESTION CORRECTLY ✅

For this scenario, simply ask yourself these 2 questions to make sure you’re on the right track:

Q1. Did I answer this correctly because I knew exactly what was going on and I answered based on that? YES or NO
Q2. Did I answer this correctly because somewhere along the line I made an assumption(s) or guessed? YES or NO

As long as you answered “YES” to the 1st question, you’re all good! Move onto the next.

If you answered “NO” to Q1 and “YES” to Q2, you need to re-evaluate where you went wrong and learn from it.

IF YOU ANSWERED THE QUESTION INCORRECTLY ❌

In this scenario, we know we missed something, so we need to figure out exactly what & why…. To accomplish this, review the question and then ask yourself the following two questions:

Q1. Did I misunderstand what they were asking me? YES or NO
Q2. Did I have a gap in my knowledge that prevented me from answering correctly? YES or NO

It is possible that you answered “YES” to both questions… If that’s the case, no sweat, I’m going to help you out….

If you answered “YES” to Q1, the next step is to re-read the question and dissect exactly what you missed… Your goal here should be to find your mistake and take note of it so that you can avoid it in the future.

If you knew what they were asking but simply didn’t have the content mastered sufficiently to find the right answer (ie. You answered “YES” to Q2), then you’ll need to take a few minutes to read-up on that specific content.

NOTE: You’re probably thinking that I’m asking you to take a lot of time to review content if you’ve got lots of mistakes… My question to you is “What other choice do you have?” If you’ve got weaknesses, you either take time to fix them or suffer the consequences.

Now… If you answered “YES” to both Q1 and Q2, simply combine my recommendations for each process individually (ie. Figure out where you misunderstood the question AND take time to fix the content weakness).

🎤 FINAL WORDS

Questions are an excellent tool to help you get USMLE Step 1 exam-ready… But you have to make sure you’re using them correctly so you can make meaningful progress each and every day.

It’s not about question volume…. It’s about making consistent improvements so you can reach your goal.

📙 If you found that helpful and want more med school help, grab a free copy of our Med Student Survival Guide by clicking HERE.

Thanks for reading!