# USMLE Vault — Free Step 1 Guides

> Free, method-first guides for IMGs preparing for USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK and Step 3, by Dr. Marish Asudani. Concrete protocols with dated schedules, named resources and score thresholds.

The canonical home for this content is https://usmlevault.com — most pages here carry a canonical link to their usmlevault.com/blog twin.

## Guides

- [Microbiology by System](https://drmarishasudani.com/micro-by-system): Every system's organisms — nine per-system pages plus antimicrobials.
- [367 changes. We went through the book page by page.](https://drmarishasudani.com/2025-vs-2026): Every change between First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2025 and 2026 editions - 367 additions, rewrites and deletions mapped page by page, system by system.
- [All three Steps in under 12 months.](https://drmarishasudani.com/all-steps-12-months): Step 1 in 16 weeks with the first NBME at week 12. Step 2 CK in 6 months. Step 3 in 45 days. The full schedule, with every guide linked.
- [How to Use My Anki Decks the Right Way](https://drmarishasudani.com/anki-decks): How to run the Foundation Anki and NBME Booster decks for Step 1 — card counts, daily targets, and when to use each.
- [The Full-Length Step 1 Assessments](https://drmarishasudani.com/assessment): Two full-length 14-block Step 1 assessments on USMLE Vault — one completely free. 280 questions, real-exam stem length, deliberately harder than NBME, with a full strength report and an honest pass verdict.
- [4 Resources I Would Never Use Again](https://drmarishasudani.com/avoid): Boards & Beyond, Kaplan, USMLE Rx and Pixorize — why I would not use any of them if I were starting Step 1 today, and exactly what to use instead.
- [Biochemistry — The Complete Playbook](https://drmarishasudani.com/biochem): How to split Step 1 biochemistry into 7 pieces and place each one immediately before the organ system that depends on it.
- [Biostatistics and Ethics](https://drmarishasudani.com/biostats): The five-step order for Step 1 biostats and ethics — decode First Aid, the free HY Biostats PDF, AMBOSS instead of UWorld, Neil Randy, then NBME Anki in revision.
- [Canon Events — and the Fix for Each](https://drmarishasudani.com/canon-events): The ten things almost every IMG does during USMLE prep — restarting on Monday, NBME 28 first, opening UWorld cold — and the specific fix for each one.
- [The Part Nobody Plans For](https://drmarishasudani.com/community): The Accountability Partner, the Monday leaderboard, and how to find one study partner in your exact week of prep.
- [You Need 4 Resources. Not 40.](https://drmarishasudani.com/core-4): The four Step 1 resources that matter — First Aid, UWorld, Sketchy micro and pharm, Mehlman — and how USMLE Vault ties them together.
- [What Is the First Aid Guide](https://drmarishasudani.com/fa-guide): The USMLE Vault First Aid Guide explained — page-by-page decoding of all 646 pages: high-yield flags, ELI5 explanations with analogies, MCQs on every page, concept walkthroughs, and the FA 2026 changelog.
- [The last two weeks.Five resources, nothing new.](https://drmarishasudani.com/final-14-days): The five resources my students run in the last two weeks before Step 1. No new content — consolidation and active recall only.
- [You Are Already Studying for Step 1.](https://drmarishasudani.com/final-year-mbbs): Dr. Marish's method for preparing USMLE Step 1 during final year MBBS. Your college syllabus and Step 1 are the same content in two languages — this is how you make one pass count for both. 11 systems in about four months, first NBME in month five, exam four to six weeks later.
- [When Is a System Actually Finished?](https://drmarishasudani.com/finish-a-system): The five-point completion checklist that replaces “it felt done” — and why saving questions for random mode costs you three weeks.
- [Renal, Start to Finish, in 6 Days](https://drmarishasudani.com/renal-6-days): The whole Renal system in 6 days — micro (11 organisms, WRWRT) and pharm (3 drug groups, FWRT) first, active reading of First Aid pp. 596–628 on the First Aid Guide, Mehlman for active application, Foundation Anki for active recall, then UWorld with RPSR. Renal is free.
- [How to Actually Complete First Aid](https://drmarishasudani.com/first-aid-method): The four-reading method: how to read, apply and retain the whole of First Aid in 8 weeks — 4–5 days per system, using the First Aid Guide, UWorld and the Foundation Anki deck.
- [Motivation Fails. Systems Win.](https://drmarishasudani.com/habits): The four accountability moves for Step 1 prep: a written target score, a fixed exam date, checked-off daily tasks, and a study community.
- [Inside a First Aid Guide Page](https://drmarishasudani.com/inside-a-page): What a First Aid page looks like with the teacher written back in — a real Concept Walkthrough, a real “How is this tested?” entry, and the 5-second search.
- [Step 1 During Internship — 14 Weeks](https://drmarishasudani.com/internship): How I finished Step 1 in 14 weeks during a working internship — the phone-first setup, front-loading Sketchy, the per-system loop, and my real NBME progression.
- [MBBS to Match](https://drmarishasudani.com/journey): Graduated MBBS April 2024, Step 2 CK August 2024, matched March 2025 — Step 1 in 14 weeks from a 50% first block, three USCEs, zero publications, three interviews, IM in Florida.
- [First Year to Final Year](https://drmarishasudani.com/med-school): The whole of MBBS mapped against Step 1 — what to study each year, in what order, and the one habit that makes all four years compound.
- [How to Use Mehlman Medical](https://drmarishasudani.com/mehlman): Three rules for Mehlman Medical: watch the videos not the PDFs, run full system playlists, and only use him when UWorld for that system is ≤65%.
- [How to score more than 75% on your NBMEs](https://drmarishasudani.com/nbme-75): The 68 to 75% jump is a review-quality and pacing gap, not a content gap. The five moves that take a comfortable NBME score into a strong one.
- [Taking Your
    First NBME](https://drmarishasudani.com/nbme-first-time): The 7–10 day consolidation protocol before your first NBME: Sketchy Micro, Anki, timed blocks, the two-pass method, and NBME 27 exam simulation.
- [The NBMEMCQ Protocol](https://drmarishasudani.com/nbme-mcq-protocol): A four-phase system for answering NBME questions: which images to look at, how to read the stem, decoding the last line, and working the options.
- [The Exact NBME Order](https://drmarishasudani.com/nbme-order): Which NBME to take and when — 26 for confidence, 27 and 28 as the real baseline, 29 and 30 to repair, then 31, 32 and 33 with the Free 120s.
- [The Exam Is Already Published. Fourteen Times.](https://drmarishasudani.com/nbme-booster): Every topic of every NBME from forms 20–33, distilled to a tutored one-liner and sorted system-wise. 4,174 cards; students have moved 49% → 75% in 15–20 days.
- [The NBMEReview Protocol](https://drmarishasudani.com/nbme-review-protocol): How to review an NBME the same day: offline format, blind score check, the practice-gap vs knowledge-deficit framework, and a system-wise notebook.
- [Stuck at 62–65% on your NBMEs for weeks?](https://drmarishasudani.com/nbme-stuck-scores): Three moves for breaking an NBME plateau: Mehlman plus AMBOSS for weak systems, two high-yield PDFs, and the NBME Booster deck.
- [USMLE High-Yield Nutrition Review](https://drmarishasudani.com/nutrition): Full nutrition review for Step 1 and Step 2 CK: GI absorption, all vitamins and minerals, drug-nutrient interactions, archetypes, tables and traps.
- [Complete Pharmacology in 48 Hours.](https://drmarishasudani.com/pharmacology-48-hours): The FWRT method — Find, Watch, Read, Test. The exact system Dr. Marish used to finish all of high-yield Step 1 pharmacology in 48 hours, plus the system-wise resource map telling you which drug to learn from where.
- [How to Know You're Actually Ready](https://drmarishasudani.com/ready-or-not): The trend, not the score. Which NBMEs actually carry a verdict, the exact bar for attempting Step 1, and the two timing mistakes that cost people the exam.
- [The resource stack.](https://drmarishasudani.com/resources): Every resource I actually used across Step 1, Step 2 CK and Step 3 — five per exam, in order, with how and when to use each. Everything free.
- [The Seven Sheets](https://drmarishasudani.com/sheets): Every cheat sheet from the post — free downloads, plus the rule for when each one enters your prep and what it is actually for.
- [The Whole of First Aid, in Six Days](https://drmarishasudani.com/six-day-revision): ~2,400 page-mapped cards at ~400 a day revises all 646 First Aid pages in five to six days — the protocol, and the two moments to run it.
- [Complete Sketchy Microin 6 Days. Actually Remember It.](https://drmarishasudani.com/sketchy-micro): The WRWRT method and a day-by-day order for finishing all ~85 Sketchy Micro organisms in 6 days, with First Aid page numbers for same-night MCQs.
- [Five Resources. Not Forty.](https://drmarishasudani.com/stack): Everything you need for Step 1 in five resources, First Aid, UWorld, the NBMEs, and Mehlman plus Neil Randy — with the one job each does.
- [Free Step 2 CK Guide](https://drmarishasudani.com/step2): The exact resources behind a 254 on Step 2 CK in under 20 weeks — annotated First Aid, Mehlman playlists, Amboss 200, Divine Intervention podcasts, AJ mnemonics and CMS forms.
- [System Guides](https://drmarishasudani.com/system-guides): Every system's microbiology and pharmacology in one place. The organisms that belong to each system with the WRWRT method, and the drugs with FWRT — free from USMLE Vault.
- [The 16-Week Step 1 Plan](https://drmarishasudani.com/timeline): A four-phase 16-week Step 1 plan: 9-day foundation, 10–12 weeks of systems in a fixed order, 8–10 days of revision, then NBMEs from form 27.
- [You Already Did UWorld. Here Is the 12-Week Plan.](https://drmarishasudani.com/twelve-weeks): Finished most of UWorld 6-12 months ago and forgotten it? The 12-week plan: audit, five weeks of consolidation, then forms — with a real student's scores.
- [How to Solve UWorld](https://drmarishasudani.com/uworld-rpsr): The RPSR method for UWorld: 4 days of First Aid prep per system — First Aid attacked from 4 angles before UWorld, 20-question untimed tutor blocks, and First Aid-based bookmark review.
- [You're not short on resources.You're drowning in them.](https://drmarishasudani.com/what-is-vault): Overview of USMLE Vault's four parts: the day-by-day Schedule, the University video library, the page-by-page First Aid Vault, and the Anki decks.
- [How to Study for USMLE in First Year](https://drmarishasudani.com/year-1): First-year physiology, anatomy and biochemistry — done system-wise with your standard textbook, First Aid and the First Aid Guide, so university prep and Step 1 prep become the same work.
- [How to Study for USMLE in Second Year](https://drmarishasudani.com/year-2): Second year is the most important year for Step 1 — Sketchy Micro, then pathology with Pathoma and Robbins, then pharmacology, all system-wise with First Aid and the First Aid Guide.
- [Giving Step 1 in Third Year](https://drmarishasudani.com/year-3): If you used first and second year properly, third year is not where you learn Step 1 — it is where you assemble it. The 16-week dedicated phase, the NBME order, and the readiness thresholds.
- [How to Actually UseYouTube for Step 1](https://drmarishasudani.com/youtube): Five free YouTube resources for Step 1 — Mehlman, Randy Neil, Dirty Medicine, the antimicrobials video — and how the Vault maps them to First Aid pages.

## Product

- [USMLE Vault](https://usmlevault.com): the First Aid Guide — all 646 pages decoded with page-by-page MCQs — plus Anki decks, full-length assessments and a day-by-day schedule engine. Renal is permanently free.
- [University](https://usmlevault.com/university): every free PDF and how-to video.
- [Schedule](https://usmlevault.com/schedule): four questions produce a day-by-day plan built backwards from your exam date.
- [Anki](https://usmlevault.com/anki): Foundation Anki and the NBME Booster.

Updated: 2026-09-14
- [A Teacher on Every Page of First Aid](https://drmarishasudani.com/ai-tutor): The USMLE Vault tutor, built on Gemini Pro: open on every screen, knows exactly which First Aid page you are on, and answers every question in 3 steps — simple, mechanism, how the exam tests it.
- [Anki, Rebuilt: NBME 34, Timed Mode, and First Aid on Every Card](https://drmarishasudani.com/anki-timed-mode): Three changes to the USMLE Vault Anki, built from student feedback: NBME 34 added to the Booster (4,374 cards), a Timed mode that caps every card at 2 minutes, and a First Aid link on 6,474 cards that opens the page right on the card.
- [ELI5, Test Yourself, and the Rule-Out Button](https://drmarishasudani.com/eli5-test-yourself): What ELI5 is, how 2,849 ELI5s now follow each First Aid page in reading order with topic tabs, 649 new ELI5s and 398 new Test Yourself MCQs, and the new Rule out button that teaches elimination.
- [Week 1 to Exam Day: The Whole Road, Before You Start](https://drmarishasudani.com/road-to-exam-day): The USMLE Vault schedule now shows every block from week 1 to exam day, not just to the first NBME: the NBME checkpoints, what happens if NBME 1 is below 65% or 65-70%, how the exam date is set or checked against a booked one, and how to change your system order.
- [How to Pass USMLE Step 1 in 2027 (Day 1 to Exam Day) — Video Guide](https://drmarishasudani.com/step-1-2027-video-guide): The companion to the YouTube video — every chapter with its timestamp, what is said there, and the free guide for each step: 5 resources, micro and pharm in the first 10 days, each system, UWorld, the NBME order, and exam day.
- [The Day Before Step 1, and Exam Day](https://drmarishasudani.com/exam-day): Be a little tired on the day before so you sleep 8 hours before the exam: Rapid Review and weak systems until 5–6 p.m., lights out at 9 p.m., then the exam-day rhythm of 20 questions, deep breaths, and 5–7 minute glucose breaks.
- [Dr. E's Exact Schedule: 59% Baseline NBME to a Step 1 Pass in 34 Days](https://drmarishasudani.com/dr-e-schedule): A US MD student (MS3) in the middle of rotations: 59.5% baseline NBME, 74.5% on NBME 31 after the FA Foundation Anki and Pepper Micro Sketchy decks, NBME 28–30 as 20-question blocks, the NBME Booster system by system, 78% on NBME 32, and a Step 1 PASS 34 days after the baseline.
- [The Last Month Before Step 1: The Exact Day-by-Day Plan](https://drmarishasudani.com/last-month-day-by-day): Every day from NBME 27 to Step 1 — ready means above 68% on all 3 of NBME 31, 32 and 33 with 3–4 minutes left per block; then the NBME Booster system by system, Randy Neil and 40 Mehlman Arrows a day, 3 full 14-block days, and a final week with nothing new.
- [The NBME Images Anki: Every NBME Image, as Flashcards](https://drmarishasudani.com/nbme-images-anki): Every image ever asked in the NBMEs as flashcards — what it is, and why it runs in the final week before Step 1.
- [The NBME Booster, Pharmacology Only](https://drmarishasudani.com/nbme-booster-pharmacology): Every pharmacology question ever asked in any NBME as flashcards — run in the final week, after pharmacology revision from First Aid.