We have been running a USMLE-style question breakdown webinar series this summer, and were getting requests to bring back another installment this month. Our friends at TrueLearn rose to the occasion to provide us with USMLE Step 1-style questions from their SmartBank for our tutors to dissect in real time during the webinar.

Hosted by our exceptional USMLE tutors, Drs. Fred Bertino and Sana Majid, and TrueLearn's Director of Academic Success, Sherry Smith, this webinar focused on providing guidance and high-yield techniques for how to approach a brand-new set of USMLE Step 1-style questions and maximize your score. We covered tips on questions that require dissecting long vignettes, interpreting labs, selecting answer choices presented in a table, and more! We also answered attendees' questions during our live Q&A following the webinar, and that's all captured here:


If you'd like to utilize TrueLearn's SmartBank for your Step 1 studies, enter promo code MST50 at checkout for 50% off the purchase of any USMLE Step 1 SmartBank subscription at TrueLearn.com! (Click here to automatically apply this offer to your shopping cart.)

If you're ready to work with a tutor like Fred or Sana to maximize your studies, take out the guesswork, and get your best score, call us or email us at any time to be matched with your tutor! 212.327.0098 or HQ@medschooltutors.com.

Here's more information on the essential elements for succeeding on Step 1, and best practices for utilizing NBMEs in your prep. Lastly, here's one of our top posts breaking down what scoring a 260 on Step 1 really means.

I remember the pure joy of realizing I could now pursue my dream of becoming a doctor, the acceptance phone call I got from the dean of admissions followed by the excitement of telling my friends and family. But as my school start date crept towards me, anxious thoughts started to swirl in my mind. How would I possibly learn the sheer volume of material that I would soon face? I asked this question to a few people on the interview trail, and still recall what one wise, grizzled 4th year shared with me, "Medical school is not any harder than the courses you took in college, in fact in many ways the material is easier -- physics, organic chemistry, and on -- you won’t encounter any subject close to that difficult in class. The hardest part is the volume. It really does feel sometimes like ‘drinking from a fire hose."

Are you looking for a time-efficient and effective way to get down all of those nitty gritty details in First Aid? Flashcards are one of the best tools you can use to memorize material. 

Throughout my academic career, I’ve made it a habit of performing some large gesture to signify the completion of every major academic milestone. When I completed the ACT, I celebrated by burning the review book in a bonfire at my parent’s house. After learning that I did well enough on the MCAT, I purged the Kaplan books from my life in the fire pit at my college house. While I’m not a pyromaniac, you can guess what happened to my First Aid for Step 1 when I finally closed that chapter of my life.