# Neurology, Start to Finish, in 7 Days

> How to study neurology for Step 1 in 7 days: genetics, MSK, psych and ANS first, then micro and pharm, active reading of First Aid pp. 500–569 (ear pages skipped), Mehlman, FA Foundation Anki, and UWorld with the RPSR method.

URL: https://drmarishasudani.com/neuro-7-days
Canonical: https://drmarishasudani.com/neuro-7-days

## Questions this guide answers

- **How do I study neurology for Step 1?** Do not start neurology early. Finish genetics, MSK, psychiatry and ANS first, because CNS depends on inheritance, neurotransmitters, the autonomic drugs and psychiatry. Then do neuro in 7 days if you have 10–12 hours a day: Day 1 the 31 organisms and the neuro drug groups, Day 2 to Day 3 morning active reading of First Aid pp. 500–569 with the MCQs (skip the ear pages, 547–548), then the Mehlman neuro playlist, then the FA Foundation Anki neuro deck, then UWorld neuro on Days 5–7.

## Page text

USMLE Vault · Step 1 · Neurology
Neurology, start to finish, in 7 days
System 10 of 11, right before cardio. For IMGs who opened neuro once and closed it again.
68 First Aid pages 31 organisms 4 drug groups 291 MCQs 7 days
By Dr. Marish Asudani · Published 22 October 2026
How do I study neurology for Step 1?
Do not start neurology early. Finish genetics, MSK, psychiatry and ANS first. Then 7 days: the 31 organisms and neuro drugs, active reading of First Aid pp. 500–569 with the MCQs ( skip the ear pages, 547–548 ), the Mehlman neuro playlist, the FA Foundation Anki neuro deck, then UWorld neuro.
Read this first
This is only for you if you have roughly 10–12 hours a day for studying, and you're an intern or a graduate.
Working, or studying 5–8 hours a day? Keep the same order and stretch the days. Step 1 while working →
Neurology breaks people because they open it too early. CNS leans on almost everything before it: genetics, neurotransmitters, the autonomic drugs, psychiatry. Start it cold and every page feels like 3 subjects at once.
So this page has 2 parts: what you finish before neuro, and then the 7 days themselves.
Finish the prerequisites and neuro stops being random. And during CNS, skip the ENT and ear pages.
Students who did this
Real students, in their own words, on the exact tools in this guide. Tap to play.
Dr. K · Passed Step 1 An honest review of Vault Mentorship
Dr. N · Passed Step 1 An honest review of Vault Mentorship
Try a free 3-day trial → usmlevault.com · no card needed
Start here · before page 1
Neurology: micro and pharm first
Neuro starts with its own organisms and drugs: 31 organisms , the longest micro list of any system, and 4 drug groups (3 neuro groups plus the anaesthetics). Day 1 below does both, hour by hour. These are the full guides.
Microbiology
Neuro micro: the 31 organisms → The neuro list, grouped by class, with the WRWRT method worked on 1 organism
Microbiology by system → Why micro is 9 short lists, 1 per system, and how to run each one
Sketchy Micro in 6 days → The WRWRT method in full, if these organisms are new to you
Pharmacology
Neuro pharm: the 3 drug groups → Anticonvulsants, anti-parkinsonism drugs, morphine and the opioids
Anaesthesia pharm → The general anaesthetics, read with neuro
Pharmacology in 48 hours → The FWRT method and the whole drug map, system by system
All of antibiotics in 90 minutes → The drugs for the meningitis and encephalitis organisms: 1 video, then the cards
The NBME Booster pharmacology deck → Every NBME pharmacology question as flashcards, for your final week
Open Neurology in the First Aid Guide → The Micro and Pharm pills are at the top of the system in the First Aid Guide. Free for your first 3 days.
Where this system sits
The order: easy systems first, cardio last
Neurology is the 10th system of 11, right before cardio. MSK, psychiatry, genetics and ANS come first, and only cardio comes after it. Tap a system to open its guide.
1 Renal 6 days · the easy one, start here Open →
2 Respiratory 6 days · same method as renal Open →
Before it: Biochem nutrition, 1 day, right before GI · where it sits
3 GI 7 days Open →
4 Reproductive 7 days Open →
Before it: Biochem carb and lipid metabolism, 1 day, right before endo · where it sits
5 Endocrine 6 days Open →
6 Immunology 5 days Open →
Before it: Biochem cellular, molecular and amino acids, right before heme-onc · where it sits
7 Heme-onc 6 days Open →
8 MSK 6 days, no derm Open →
Before it: Dermatology, 3 days, after MSK · the derm block
9 Psychiatry 5 days Open →
Before it: Genetics and ANS, right before neuro · genetics
10 Neurology You are here 7 days Open →
11 Cardiovascular 7 days · always last Open →
Biochem is never a block of its own: each piece sits right before the system that needs it. The whole method, once: how to study any system →
1
Before neuro Do genetics, MSK, psych and ANS first
It is highly recommended to do MSK, psych, ANS and genetics before neurology. On the USMLE Vault schedule they run in this order, right before neuro:
Before MSK 6 days · its own page
Before Psychiatry 5 days · its own page
Before Genetics Biochem pp. 54–62, active reading, 1 day
Before ANS The autonomic drugs, 1 day
Genetics. The inherited neuro diseases are built on it: Huntington disease, Friedreich ataxia, fragile X, the trinucleotide repeats, the muscular dystrophies. Learn the inheritance first, and the neuro page only adds the brain. Where genetics sits →
ANS. The autonomic drugs are the pharmacology neurology depends on, and they set up the neurotransmitter logic every neuro drug question uses. Of everything in the plan, ANS right before neuro is the pairing worth protecting.
MSK and psych. MSK, psychiatry, ANS and neurology share pathways, pharmacology and anatomy. Done together they reinforce each other ; done months apart, you learn each one twice. MSK in 6 days → · Psych in 5 days →
▶ Ninja Nerd · Autonomic Nervous System For the ANS day. 31 minutes.
2
The plan Neuro in 7 days, hour by hour
Once the 4 systems before it are done, neuro runs in the same fixed order as cardio. Here is every day, block by block.
Clock times assume an 11-hour day: 9 AM–1 PM, 2–6 PM and 7–10 PM, with lunch and dinner in the gaps. Shift the clock to your day. Keep the order. Day 2 and Day 3 start at 8 AM: neuro has the most pages of any system.
Day 1 · Micro + pharm The longest Day 1 of any system
9–9:15 AM Watch How to do the CNS/Neurology system , the University walkthrough.
9:15 AM–1 PM Micro: the 11 bacteria and 11 viruses, WRWRT. Watch, recall, watch the gaps, read the Sketchy PDF.
2–5 PM Micro: the 5 parasites and 4 fungi. Then the First Aid Guide MCQs for all 31 organisms.
5–6 PM Pharm: anticonvulsants and anti-parkinsonism drugs (Osmosis). Each video twice.
7–10 PM Pharm: morphine and the opioids, then the general anaesthetics (Osmosis), twice. Read all 4 groups in the High-Yield Pharmacology PDF, highlight what didn't stick, then the neuro pharmacology MCQs.
Day 2 · Active reading First Aid Guide, page by page, MCQs on every page. 47 pages: the heaviest reading day of any system
8 AM–1 PM pp. 500–515 · neural development, nerve cells, neurotransmitters, meninges, sleep, hypothalamus, limbic system, cerebellum, basal ganglia, cortex, cerebral arteries, ventricles
2–6 PM pp. 516–530 · brainstem, cranial nerves, spinal tracts, reflexes, dermatomes, brain lesions, stroke, haemorrhage, aphasia, aneurysms
7–10 PM pp. 531–546 · seizures, headaches, movement disorders, dementia, hydrocephalus, MS, neurocutaneous disorders, tumours, herniation, UMN vs LMN, cord and cranial nerve lesions
Day 3 · Reading, then Mehlman Skip pp. 547–548 (ear) today
8 AM–1 PM pp. 549–569 · the eye, pupils, cranial nerve palsies, visual fields, then the neuro drugs and anaesthetics
2–6 PM Watch How to watch Mehlman Medical videos (10 minutes), then the Mehlman neuro playlist from the top, in order.
7–10 PM Mehlman, continued. Pause before he answers and answer it yourself.
Day 4 · Mehlman, then Anki
9 AM–1 PM Finish the Mehlman neuro playlist. Any gap → that First Aid Guide page, the same day.
2–6 PM FA Foundation Anki · CNS , 267 cards. Answer before you flip.
7–9 PM Finish the deck. Then open the First Aid page of every card you hesitated on.
Day 5 · UWorld neuro Unused · neurology only · tutor mode · 20 questions a block
9–9:30 AM Clear today's due FA Foundation Anki cards first.
9:30 AM–1 PM Blocks 1–2 (Qs 1–40): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
2–6 PM Blocks 3–4 (Qs 41–80): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
7–10 PM Blocks 5–6 (Qs 81–120): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
Day 6 · UWorld neuro
9–9:30 AM Clear today's due FA Foundation Anki cards first.
9:30 AM–1 PM Blocks 7–8 (Qs 121–160): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
2–6 PM Blocks 9–10 (Qs 161–200): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
7–10 PM Blocks 11–12 (Qs 201–240): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
Day 7 · UWorld neuro + Anki revision Blocks 19–20 go to the next morning
9–9:30 AM Clear today's due FA Foundation Anki cards first.
9:30 AM–1 PM Blocks 13–14 (Qs 241–280): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
2–6 PM Blocks 15–16 (Qs 281–320): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
7–10 PM Blocks 17–18 (Qs 321–360): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
Same pages, 5 angles. Micro and pharm, then active reading, then active application, then active recall, then UWorld. Every step hits the same 68 First Aid pages from a different direction. The method behind every system →
Want a day-by-day schedule that tells you exactly what to study next? The Vault builds it around your exam date.
Build my schedule →
3
Day 1 Micro and pharm of neuro, from the pills
Open the First Aid Guide → Neurology in the Vault ( what the First Aid Guide is ) and use the Micro and Pharm pills. Neuro has the longest micro list of any system, so start the micro early in the day .
Neurology in the First Aid Guide on usmlevault.com: its First Aid pages, MCQ count, the micro and pharm pills it has, and the How to do Neurology video.
Micro · 31 organisms · the WRWRT method. W atch the sketch at 1x with no notes → R ecall the whole story in your head, in order → W atch again only the gaps at 1.5–1.75x → R ead the Sketchy PDF for that organism → T est with the First Aid Guide MCQs for that organism.
Bacteria · 11 N. meningitidis S. pneumoniae H. influenzae type B Listeria Group B strep E. coli K1 M. tuberculosis T. pallidum (neurosyphilis) B. burgdorferi C. botulinum C. tetani Viruses · 11 HSV VZV CMV EBV HHV-6 Rabies Enteroviruses Mumps Measles (SSPE) West Nile JC virus (PML) Parasites · 5 Toxoplasma Naegleria fowleri Acanthamoeba T. brucei Taenia solium (neurocysticercosis) Fungi · 4 Cryptococcus Coccidioides Histoplasma Blastomyces
Open Neuro Micro → · The Sketchy Micro guide →
▶ How to do Sketchy Micro The efficient method, 15 minutes.
Pharm · the FWRT method. F ind the resource (already mapped for you, below) → W atch each video twice , back to back → R ead the High-Yield Pharmacology PDF after all of them, and highlight only what did not survive → T est in the First Aid Guide → Neuro → Pharmacology.
01 · Anticonvulsants (Osmosis)
02 · Anti-parkinsonism drugs (Osmosis)
03 · Morphine and the opioids (Osmosis)
04 · General anaesthetics (Osmosis, on the anaesthesia page)
"Doing the pharmacology section from videos is extremely important. It will take you half a day, 5 to 6 hours, to understand them."
Open Anaesthesia Pharm →
Open Neuro Pharm → · The full pharm map →
▶ How to complete pharmacology The high-yield pharm strategy, 15 minutes.
Never done Sketchy? Do the same list from First Aid and the First Aid Guide alone. The list does not change, only the source. Every system's micro and pharm →
Why micro and pharm first: when you reach meningitis, encephalitis and the brain abscesses, and the anticonvulsants on pp. 560–561, you meet them as old friends, not new facts.
4
Before Day 2 What the First Aid Guide is, and why you read it
First Aid was written to remind you, not to teach you. Every line assumes you already understand it. That is why IMGs spend 3 hours on 1 page, Google half of it, and still remember nothing a week later.
The First Aid Guide on usmlevault.com puts the teaching back into the page. Every neurology page (pp. 500–569) has the same 5 parts:
Focus On: what on this page is high-yield, and what to skip.
Concept Walkthrough: the page in the order you should think about it.
ELI5: each heading in plain English, with the trap the exam sets. What ELI5 is →
…

## Source

USMLE Vault — https://usmlevault.com
Author: Dr. Marish Asudani

Updated: 2026-10-22