Third year MBBS:

So basically you’ve already studied anatomy, physio, and biochem in 2nd year.
If you have already done Kaplan and BRS in the first 2 years, good. If not, then take a few
weeks and revise the whole physiology from BRS along with watching BnB videos for
physio topics from all modules. Read FA along with them. Skip Kaplan.
If you have done Kaplan earlier, you can skip BnB now, however I'd definitely recommend
that you watch the videos at a faster speed just to revise the high yield stuff (which I
personally did). Do the physio anki cards from all the systems, so that you’re done with this
subject forever.

Also do anatomy (from BnB MSK module and 100 concepts of anatomy pdf), including
neuroanatomy from Dr.White’s Kaplan lectures. Skip the rest of kaplan anatomy, however
Neuroanatomy is a must. Do the respective anki cards and get done with this subject!

Biochemistry, watch Dr. Turco biochem kaplan, the whole book, including the genetics
portion. Do anki metabolism cards only after you have finished the whole metabolism part as
the cards are mixed, then do all the chapters from chapter 1 upto metabolism (vitamins etc)
and follow up by anki vitamins cards (optional), then do genetics videos+book
(understanding) followed by anki genetics cards (memorisation. Again, this is optional,
depends on your study method). Do read FA alongside everyday. If you understand FA
completely, good, otherwise also watch BnB biochem alongside for better understanding (I
did them, and recommend too. Like I already said, BnB for everything!)
Get done with all these in no more than a month or less because you have already studied
all these in the first 2 years, this is just a recap and doing anki cards so you don’t have to do
them again later on.

Now, Pathology and pharmacology. I’d recommend that you do these together in around
2-3 months. For patho, watch Pathoma first, followed by its anki cards (pathoma tags), then
do BnB alongside FA, followed by BnB tags and FA tags to do the missing parts in pathoma.
You might need detailed guidance on how to use anki. I have conducted 2 zoom
sessions where I have explained it in detail directly in the anki app. Follow the link.
https://youtu.be/ti9Q502jPuc?feature=shared

These 3 resources are enough for both proff and step exam. No other resource, literally, loud
and clear. But, do these well, and you know what I mean.

For pharm, do kaplan first (Dr. Raymon, and NOT Dr. Harris). You can watch general pharm
from Dr.Harris, but from ANS and onwards, watch Raymon’s. After you finish a chapter in
kaplan, watch its respective sketchy videos, and then do the anki cards (optional – Anki
cards are based on sketchy pharm, so do not do cards right after kaplan, rather do sketchy
before starting cards).

Then do microbiology (you might do this alongside pathology, as I did). BnB videos to
understand basic general micro, and then start watching sketchy micro. Alongside, watch
BnB videos for every bug, and read from FA. Follow with anki cards (Lolnotacop deck). Micro
should take you no more than a month overall. However I would recommend that you not
only do micro alone, rather do the other minor or major subjects alongside.

Then do psychiatry. BnB videos followed by reading FA, and then anki cards. That’s all.
This should take you no more than 2 weeks.
After that, do biostatistics and epidemiology. BnB videos followed by reading FA, and
then anki cards. You might not understand this subject at first, don’t worry. Watch Randy Neil
videos from first to last, and again and again. Biostatistics should take you no more than 1-2
weeks.

After that, do ethics and communication. There is no specific famous resource for this,
except UW and a few other videos (Dirty medicine, Randy Neil etc). I recommend doing
Khan 100 cases of ethics, and also Conrad Fischer 100 cases of ethics if you want to dig
deeper. I did not do any of these per se (The reason is, step 1 these days tests
communication more, ethics less. While these books are mainly on ethical scenarios.
However if you do them, you will feel very confident with these questions in all step exams in
future. You have got time, do them!). You can also watch/listen to my sessions on
ethics/communication/biostats for quick review and HY scenarios. Follow the link.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTgiIfsqeO0m8k53Uy8Gtfwjo62LV11Mj&feature=shared

That’s almost all the content you need to study for step1. You should be done with all this
somewhere midway or so in third year.
Now, Do NBMEs. Mainly the latest NBMEs. Do any 2-3 of them, and see how many
mistakes you make. I did them offline, and one online. For me, doing online NBME was NOT
helpful at all, so I do NOT recommend buying it. It does NOT correlate with the actual
exam’s interface. UW Self-Assessments do. Skip the NBMEs before 20, they're no more
predictive.
1:15 hr for one block (50 ques). You should be making no more than 40-50 mistakes. If you
made more, don’t worry, it’s just to figure out where you stand for now. UW will polish you.
Now buy a 6 or 12 months UW subscription. You might have already bought UW 12 months
midway while covering the minor subjects, when you’ve done major chunks of
patho/pharm/micro and may do around 5 questions a day just to get familiar with the ques
style. But only after covering the whole content, start the real q-bank phase of your prep. If
you’re buying UW only after you have covered the whole content, 6 months should be
enough.
Start from around 20 questions daily, thoroughly. Make anki cards where necessary (only
from things which are not there in anking deck). Never do untimed, systemwise. Do random,
timed (cuz that’s how the real exam is!)
Initially you can randomise mcqs from subjects you’re very good at, and then add up more
and more until you’re finally doing mcqs from the whole content randomly.
After you get accustomed to questions, start doing at least one block (40 questions) a day.
Finish first pass in no more than 3-4 months.
Note that if you’re making new anki cards from UW, do them the same day or at least the
next day. Otherwise, you won’t be able to do them in the end (happened to me, it was a
huge blunder. Do not do that to yourself.)
Do an NBME after every 3-4 weeks. You should at least do 3-4 nbmes before ending the
whole UW. However, don’t do any NBME in the NBME 26-30 list for now.
When you finish all UW ques, also UW anki cards, and anking deck around 28k cards, do
UWSA1 (you should score in 250s range in UWSA1, remember that UWSA1 is over
predictor)
After that, do your UW wrong questions first, and then marked questions. This would take
you around a month. Do at least 2-4 blocks a day. Review only wrongs, and educational
objectives for corrects, and may be some important points here and there. This is to develop
your stamina for the 8 hr step1 exam)

Do NBME 26-30 here and there, preferably with at least 1 week gap each, within which you
work on your weak areas. You may purchase online NBME 29 or 30 just to get familiar with
NBME test taking interface etc, however the real exam’s interface is more like that of UW
tests and AMBOSS tests. So you can skip the online NBME. Depends on whether you want
to spend that extra 10k rupees.
You might do AMBOSS blocks for ethics/communication/biostats/weak areas. Don’t
purchase AMBOSS. Go to their website and request a scholarship. They usually give a 50%
discount, and a free account if you email them again and fill/write out a few forms/essays
(which I did). However AMBOSS is not necessary. I did only a few blocks, and didn’t review
them, so basically just for fun cuz I had gotten it for free.
At last, do UWSA2 and get that 250+ score on it. Follow it up by free120 (search on google
and you’ll get the link)
You’re ready now!
Towards the end, do 5-6 blocks a day, and at least a few times, do 7-8 blocks a day to
simulate the real exam. It worked for me. I was fresh as hell in the exam by doing so much
practice, as advised by a senior whom I would definitely thank wholeheartedly.
You should be done with step1 somewhere before or after 3rd proff if you religiously follow
this timeline.

Remember!
● Do take breaks and days off. This article does not include everything I did, I might
have done more, or maybe less, but that’s almost everything you need to know.
The rest make your own plan. I did go out on hangouts almost every week, long
trips, attended family functions and everything. You do not have to kill yourself to
do step 1, or any other exam.
● Step journey is a long long thing, do not rush. Take a break if you may – and you
definitely will need to. Breathe & take it easy.
● Do not think it’s too early for you to do all that as some people might
suggest. That’s a trap. Do yourself a favour – don't get misled. You know what
I mean! Do your thing your way!
● Stay consistent (e.g. religiously doing UW questions/anki reviews every day).
● I started doing anki/UW late, for you, do it the way I recommended and get done
with step1 with a better timeline than mine.
● Do not waste time by making hand-written notes if you already are using anki.
If you have started very early (e.g. in first/second year), add stuff into anki cards,
which is beneficial in the long run.

That’s all from my side, Good luck.

Do let me know if you have any queries, and whether or not this helps you and to what
extent. Let me know if I missed something. Either text me on whatsapp or email me.
Good luck!