Many of you emailed me and asked how to deal with Biostatistics. Now, Biostatistics was one of the most annoying subjects and I hated it with the passion.
But, Step 1 is one exam you don’t want to play with and take the risk. So what do we have to do? We have to master Biostatistics. I mean trust me they don’t leave you alone.
You will get questions on Biostatistics on almost every Step. So you might as well learn it well the first time so that you don’t have to learn so much in the second time right? You will also hear from lots of people that they didn’t get any questions on biostatistics. Some will say they got 1 or 2 easy ones.
Now, I will say they kind of changed the exam format because now you get mixed of everything per block. So who ever said they didn’t get this or that, they probably don’t remember what was on the exam.
Materials For Biostatistics
First Aid 2017 – This book pretty much has everything that you need to know for Biostatistics. And the good news is that it’s only a few pages. So the first thing you want to do is memorize those pages really well so that you can even picture those pages with your eyes closed. Make sure you are using the latest First Aid 2017.
USMLE World QBank – My oh my, UW’s Biostatistics might make some of you so mad that you might think about quitting. But the good news is that in a long run if you go over those biostat questions at least 2 to 3 times you are all set. So have some hope and keep working hard.
Now for some of you just First Aid & UW might be enough when it comes to biostat. However, for many, it is still difficult. If you still find it difficult and want to master Biostat I highly recommend USMLE Step 1 Lecture Notes 2017: Behavioral Science and Social Sciences. If you read and understand everything from the Kaplan’s biostat section and do UW after that you will be all set!
That’s all you need for biostatistics. I mean you might forget as you continue with other subjects but it’s normal. Remember, what I said? Steps are all about repetition.
There is no way you are going to remember everything. So the more you repeat the material the stronger you get at it. If you need help with Step 1 preparation or need my advice on study schedule, feel free to check out my consulting service.
Resources I used for my Step 1 Biostatistics preparation to get 266:
Good Luck Everyone!