# Psychiatry, Start to Finish, in 5 Days

> The whole psychiatry system for Step 1 in 5 days: 1.5 days of active reading on the First Aid Guide with every video on the page, 1 day of the Neil Randy psychiatry playlist instead of Mehlman, half a day of FA Foundation Anki, then UWorld with the RPSR method.

URL: https://drmarishasudani.com/psych-5-days
Canonical: https://drmarishasudani.com/psych-5-days

## Questions this guide answers

- **How do I study psychiatry for Step 1 in 5 days?** Day 1 to the middle of Day 2: active reading of First Aid pp. 570–594 on the First Aid Guide, and in psych you watch every video on those pages. Middle of Day 2 to the middle of Day 3: the Neil Randy psychiatry playlist, which replaces Mehlman for psych. Second half of Day 3: the FA Foundation Anki psych cards. Days 4–5: UWorld psychiatry in 20-question tutor blocks with the RPSR method, aiming for 65% or above.

## Page text

USMLE Vault · Step 1 · Psychiatry
Psychiatry, Start to Finish, in 5 Days
25 First Aid pages · 149 page MCQs · Neil Randy, not Mehlman · 5 days . 2 changes from every other system. Here they are.
By Dr. Marish Asudani · Published 22 October 2026
How do I study psychiatry for Step 1 in 5 days?
1.5 days of active reading of First Aid pp. 570–594 on the First Aid Guide , watching every video on those pages. Then 1 day of the Neil Randy psychiatry playlist, which replaces Mehlman for psych . Then half a day of FA Foundation Anki . Then UWorld psychiatry for the last 2 days, in 20-question tutor blocks with the RPSR method, aiming for 65% or above.
Read this first. This plan is only for you if you have roughly 10–12 hours a day for studying, and you're either an intern or a graduate. Working, with 5–8 hours a day? Keep the same order and stretch the days: Step 1 while working →
Psych is the system people either rush in 2 days or drag out for 2 weeks. Neither works. Psych is doable in 5 days , and it's one of the few systems where I change the method.
2 things are different from every other system:
In active reading, you watch all the videos on each First Aid Guide page. In other systems the videos are there when a page won't click. In psych, you watch every one.
Active application is Neil Randy, not Mehlman. Everyone watches Neil Randy for biostats. His psychiatry playlist is what brings the real difference.
Everything else is the method I use for every system: how to study any system .
Students who did this
Real students, in their own words, on the exact tools in this guide. Tap to play.
Haritha · Passed Step 1 An honest review of Vault Mentorship
Karthik · Passed Step 1 An honest review of Vault Mentorship
Try a free 3-day trial → usmlevault.com · no card needed
▶ How to Do the Psych System 15 minutes. Watch it once, before Day 1. It's the same video the Vault schedule gives you on day 1 of psych.
Start here · before page 1
Psychiatry: micro and pharm first
Psychiatry has no organisms, so there is no Micro list. Its pharm is 4 drug groups , all from Osmosis: SSRIs, SNRIs and atypical antidepressants, antipsychotics, lithium and TCAs. If you did pharmacology up front, they are done; if not, do them before Day 1. These are the full guides.
Microbiology
SystemWise Micro → No organism list for psych. The Vault schedule still has you check this chart before every clinical system
Microbiology by system → The 9 micro lists, and the systems they belong to
Pharmacology
Psych pharm: the 4 drug groups → All 4 from Osmosis, with the FWRT method
Pharmacology in 48 hours → The FWRT method and the whole drug map, system by system
The NBME Booster pharmacology deck → Every NBME pharmacology question as flashcards, for your final week
Open Psychiatry 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
Psychiatry is the 9th system, right after MSK and derm (MSK → psychiatry is a fixed order). Genetics and ANS come next, then neuro, and cardio comes last. 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 You are here 5 days Open →
Before it: Genetics and ANS, right before neuro · genetics
10 Neurology 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 →
Psychiatry in 5 days, hour by hour
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. Didn't front-load pharm? Do the 4 psych drug groups the day before Day 1.
Day 1 · Active reading, with every video First Aid Guide , page by page, MCQs on every page
9–9:15 AM Watch How to Do the Psych System , the University walkthrough.
9:15 AM–1 PM pp. 570–575 · conditioning, ego defenses, grief, milestones, child abuse, childhood disorders, amnesias, dissociative disorders, delirium
2–6 PM pp. 576–582 · psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, ECT, suicide risk, anxiety disorders, OCD, trauma, personality disorders
7–10 PM pp. 583–586 · malingering, somatic symptom disorders, eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, sleep, substance use, stages of change
Day 2 · Reading, then Neil Randy
9 AM–1 PM pp. 587–594 · psychiatric emergencies, intoxication and withdrawal, alcohol, psychotherapy, the psych drugs. Watch Dirty Medicine · Drugs of Abuse with pp. 588–589.
2–6 PM Get the Neil Randy PDF from the University , then the Neil Randy behavioral health playlist from the top, in order.
7–10 PM Neil Randy, continued. Pause before he answers and answer it yourself.
Day 3 · Neil Randy, then Anki
9 AM–1 PM Finish the playlist, then the Neil Randy addiction playlist . Any gap → that First Aid Guide page, the same day.
2–6 PM FA Foundation Anki · Psychiatry , all 145 cards. Answer before you flip.
7–9 PM Open the First Aid page of every card you hesitated on. Read the line and a couple above and below.
Day 4 · UWorld psychiatry Unused · psychiatric/behavioral 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 Block 5 (Qs 81–100): solve in tutor mode, log the score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
Day 5 · UWorld psychiatry + the finish check
9–9:30 AM Clear today's due FA Foundation Anki cards first.
9:30 AM–1 PM Blocks 6–7 (Qs 101–140): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
2–6 PM Blocks 8–9 (Qs 141–180): solve both in tutor mode, log each score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
7–10 PM Block 10 (Qs 181–200): solve in tutor mode, log the score, then review every bookmark in First Aid.
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 →
Before Day 1: psych pharm
💊
4 drug groups, all from Osmosis. SSRIs, SNRIs and atypical antidepressants · antipsychotics · lithium · TCAs. If you did pharmacology up front, these are already done: they're inside the neuro-psych pharm block of the pharm foundation on the Vault schedule . If you didn't, watch these 4 before Day 1 with the FWRT method: F ind the resource (already done, all Osmosis) → W atch each video twice → R ead the High-Yield Pharmacology PDF and highlight what didn't survive → T est in First Aid Guide → Psychiatry → Pharmacology.
Open Psych Pharm → · All of pharm in 48 hours →
▶ How to Complete Pharmacology The FWRT method on video.
Day 1 → first half of Day 2
Active reading: First Aid pp. 570–594, with every video
Same 4 moves on every page as any system, plus 1: in psych, you watch all the videos on the page .
Open Psychiatry in the First Aid Guide First Aid pp. 570–594, page by page: Focus On, ELI5 and the MCQs on every page. Opens straight into psychiatry.
Open Psychiatry →
1
Read Focus On. Now you know what matters on this page.
2
Watch every video on the page. The First Aid Guide puts the best video for the topic on the pages that need one. Psych is a subject of stories and patients, and the videos give you the patient before the definition.
3
Run the Concept Walkthrough and the ELI5s, then read the actual First Aid page. Explain each heading out loud.
4
Solve the Test Yourself MCQs. Any miss → back to that heading before you turn the page.
First Aid p. 582 (Personality disorders) in the First Aid Guide: Focus On, the ELI5s, the video guide, Concept walkthrough, Key takeaways, How is this tested? and Test yourself.
Day 1 · pp. 570–586 (17 pages)
Pages Topic
570–572 Conditioning, ego defenses, grief, developmental milestones
573–575 Child abuse, childhood and early-onset disorders, orientation, amnesias, dissociative disorders, delirium
576–579 Psychosis, schizophrenia spectrum, mania, bipolar, major depression, peripartum mood, ECT, suicide risk
580–582 Panic, phobias, GAD, OCD, trauma and stress disorders, personality disorders
583–586 Malingering, factitious and somatic symptom disorders, eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, sleep disorders, substance use, stages of change
Day 2, first half · pp. 587–594 (8 pages)
Pages Topic
587–589 Psychiatric emergencies, drug intoxication and withdrawal
590–594 Alcohol use disorder, psychotherapy, stimulants, antipsychotics, lithium, buspirone, SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, MAOIs, atypical antidepressants
▶ Dirty Medicine · Drugs of Abuse 43 minutes. Watch it with pp. 588–589, intoxication and withdrawal.
Day 2, second half → Day 3, first half
Active application: Neil Randy, not Mehlman
In every other system, this step is Mehlman. In psych, it's the Neil Randy psychiatry playlist. Everyone knows Neil Randy for biostats. Almost nobody works through his psychiatry, and that is exactly why it's an edge.
1
Get the Neil Randy PDF first. It breaks his whole video library down system by system, so you run only the psych videos that matter. It's free in the PDFs on the University section of usmlevault.com.
2
Watch the psych playlist in order, in 1 day. Pause before he gives the answer and answer it yourself.
3
Any gap → the First Aid Guide page for that topic, the same day.
PDF The Neil Randy PDF His library, system by system. Free in the University section of usmlevault.com.
▶ Neil Randy · USMLE Step 1: Behavioral Health The psychiatry playlist. Your active application step.
▶ Neil Randy · USMLE: Addiction The substance-use half. Same day.
More on the 7 free sheets, Neil Randy included: The free sheets, and when each one enters your prep →
Day 3, second half
Active recall: FA Foundation Anki, Psychiatry
The FA Foundation Anki psych deck is 145 cards (as of October 2026) , First Aid page by page, with the page number on every card . Answer before you flip. Hesitate → open that page , read the line and a couple above and below, then go back to the card.
A FA Foundation Anki card (renal shown), flipped: First Aid p. 597 on the card, and “Study this in First Aid” under the answer. The psychiatry deck works the same way.
Why: this is the first pass of psych First Aid without the page in front of you . How to run the decks → · Open FA Foundation Anki in the Vault →
Run the FA Foundation Anki · Psychiatry deck 145 cards (as of October 2026), First Aid page by page, with the page number on every card. Opens straight into the deck.
Open the deck →
Days 4–5
UWorld psychiatry: the RPSR method
Unused · All subjects · Psychiatric/Behavioral only · Tutor , untimed · 20 questions . 2 blocks, then review every bookmark (wrong, or right by guessing) back in its First Aid line, 5–6 minutes a question at most. Then the next 2 blocks. Never random mode while you're learning a system.
▶ How to Solve UWorld Written version: The RPSR Method .
Target: 65% or above . Last 2 blocks under 60%? Go back to the Neil Randy videos for those topics, then the First Aid pages behind them.
…

## Source

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

Updated: 2026-10-22