By Molly Lewis
“No battle was ever won according to plan, but no battle was ever won without one.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower
You can find many different Step 1 test taking strategies online, but here’s what worked for me. Pick and choose the parts you like, mix in your own favorites, ask advice from people you trust, and, voila: your own Step 1 plan of attack!
First, a little logistical to-do list for the day before the Big Day:
- Does your car start? (Mine didn’t start – yikes! But, no need to panic- you’ve still got 24 hours to get it fixed! 🙂 ).
- Can a friend or family member be available to drive you, just in case?
- Do you know you’ll get there on time? Maybe take a test drive to the site, at the time of day you’ll be going (depending on how familiar you are with the area)- to make sure there aren’t any new construction detours, unexpected going-to-work traffic, etc.
OK, on to the test! Highlights from my personal “battle plan”:
- Or the neon sound-cancelling headphones the test site provides
- Ignore the picture (at first)
- Only look after you’ve gone through the rest of this question answering process.
- Then, a quick glance – but don’t freak out! You can normally answer the question without the photos
- Last sentence first
- Read it first, because it may be a basic science question that you can answer without wasting time reading that enormous novel of a question stem!
- Guess before reading answer choices
- If an answer choice fits your guess, you’re done!
- Well, almost done: quickly glance through the rest of the choices to make sure you still like your answer the best
- If none of the answer choices match your original guess, …
- Try to eliminate all but 2 options
- Weed out reasonable, but not quite right, answers by finding something in the question stem that makes that answer less likely
- “90 second limit”:
- If I’m still unsure of an answer after about 90 seconds, I give myself about 30 more seconds to commit to an answer and move on
- Learn what 90 seconds feels like by using a watch or timer with each practice question
- Then, on test day you’ll know when to move on without wasting time / stressing yourself out by glancing at the clock every 2 seconds
- “90 second limit”:
- Limit flagging
- “Flagging” a question gives you a false sense of security.
- You often don’t get time to come back
- Rereading the whole thing takes a ton of time
- You may make a rash decision in the heat of the last few moments of the test.
- So, if you think you’re on the brink of remembering something that will change your answer, flag the question.
- Otherwise, give it your best shot the first time around, and forget about it.
- “Flagging” a question gives you a false sense of security.
- Check calculations!
- It’s too easy to write an equation down wrong or make a math error – don’t let yourself lose “easy points”!
A few “etc.” thoughts:
- Don’t try to remember questions to look up the answers for later
- It wastes time and brainpower!
- It makes sense on your tests leading up to Step 1, but not here
- Maybe even take a walk!
Pack simple lunch/snacks
- Stuff you like, but not so exciting that you’re distracted from the test by anticipating what you get to eat for lunch!
- Peanut butter!
- Fat + protein + fiber = stay satisfied!
- I highly recommend it for your test day breakfast, too! 🙂
Sources
My brain!