# USMLE Vault — Free Step 1 Guides

> Free, method-first guides for IMGs preparing for USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK and Step 3, written by Dr. Marish Asudani. Every guide is a concrete protocol with dated schedules, named resources and score thresholds — not general advice.

The canonical home for USMLE Vault content is https://usmlevault.com. Guides here that duplicate a blog article carry a canonical link to it.

## Start here

- [The Seven Sheets](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/sheets.html): Seven free Step 1 downloads — Sketchy Micro, HY Pharm, First Aid Guide, Neil Randy, Mehlman Arrows, Foundation Anki, NBME Booster — each with its trigger.
- [What Is the First Aid Guide](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/fa-guide.html): A page-by-page decode of all 646 First Aid pages: high-yield flags, ELI5 explanations, page-specific MCQs, walkthroughs and synced Anki.
- [Inside a First Aid Guide Page](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/inside-a-page.html): A walkthrough of one First Aid Guide page (FA p.596, Potter sequence) showing the Concept Walkthrough, the "How is this tested?" block and search.
- [The 16-Week Step 1 Plan](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/timeline.html): 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.
- [How to Actually Complete First Aid](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/first-aid-method.html): The four-reading method for First Aid: understand, apply, correct, retain — 4–5 days per system, whole book in about 8 weeks.
- [The Exact NBME Order](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/nbme-order.html): Which NBME form to take when, from 26 through 33, what each one tells you, and the score thresholds that signal readiness.
- [The resource stack.](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/resources.html): Fifteen resources across Step 1, Step 2 CK and Step 3 — five per exam — with the rule that makes each one work and where it fits in the sequence.
- [4 Resources I Would Never Use Again](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/avoid.html): Why Boards & Beyond, Kaplan, USMLE Rx and Pixorize are cut from a 2026 Step 1 plan, and what replaces each one.
- [All three Steps in under 12 months.](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/all-steps-12-months.html): A dated plan for Step 1 in 16 weeks, Step 2 CK in 6 months and Step 3 in 45 days — 11.2 months total, phase by phase.
- [MBBS to Match](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/journey.html): A dated timeline: MBBS April 2024, Step 1 in 14 weeks from a 50% first block, Step 2 CK 254, Step 3 213, matched IM Florida March 2025.
- [First Year to Final Year](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/med-school.html): MBBS mapped against Step 1 year by year — what to study each year, in what order, and the annotation habit that makes it compound.
- [The Full-Length Step 1 Assessments](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/assessment.html): Two 14-block, 280-question full-day Step 1 simulations, how they differ from NBME forms, and how to use the report.

## All guides

- [First Aid 2025 → 2026: Every Change, System by System](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/2025-vs-2026.html): Page-by-page audit of the 367 differences between First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2025 and 2026 editions, sorted by system.
- [How to Use My Anki Decks the Right Way](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/anki-decks.html): How to run the Foundation Anki and NBME Booster decks for Step 1 — card counts, daily targets, and when to use each.
- [Biochemistry — The Complete Playbook](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/biochem.html): How to split Step 1 biochemistry into 7 pieces and place each one immediately before the organ system that depends on it.
- [The Part Nobody Plans For](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/community.html): How accountability, a weekly leaderboard, and one study partner in your exact week keep Step 1 prep from leaking out through skipped days.
- [You Need 4 Resources. Not 40.](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/core-4.html): The four Step 1 resources that matter — First Aid, UWorld, Sketchy micro and pharm, Mehlman — and how USMLE Vault ties them together.
- [The last two weeks. Five resources, nothing new.](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/final-14-days.html): The five revision resources for the final 14 days before Step 1: Randy Neil HY PDF, Mehlman Arrows, NBME Booster, antimicrobials, biostats.
- [How to Study for Step 1 in Final Year MBBS (Indian Edition)](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/final-year-mbbs.html): Run Step 1 alongside final year MBBS: 11 systems at ~10 days each, three phases per system, foundations placed just before the system that uses them.
- [When Is a System Actually Finished?](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/finish-a-system.html): A five-point checklist that defines a finished Step 1 system by evidence — all questions attempted, misses traced to First Aid, last two blocks above 65%.
- [Motivation Fails. Systems Win.](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/habits.html): The four accountability moves for Step 1 prep: a written target score, a fixed exam date, checked-off daily tasks, and a study community.
- [How to Use Mehlman Medical](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/mehlman.html): 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%.
- [Taking Your First NBME](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/nbme-first-time.html): 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 NBME MCQ Protocol](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/nbme-mcq-protocol.html): 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 NBME Review Protocol](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/nbme-review-protocol.html): 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 NBMEs](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/nbme-stuck-scores.html): 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://vault-guides.vercel.app/nutrition.html): 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://vault-guides.vercel.app/pharmacology-48-hours.html): The FWRT method for finishing high-yield Step 1 pharmacology in 48–72 hours, with a system-by-system resource map and MCQ testing loop.
- [Complete Sketchy Micro in 6 Days. Actually Remember It.](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/sketchy-micro.html): 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.
- [Step 2 CK](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/step2.html): The six resources used to score 254 on Step 2 CK in under 20 weeks, plus free PDFs on screening, risk factors, vaccines and USPSTF recommendations.
- [The RPSR Method — How to Solve UWorld](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/uworld-rpsr.html): The RPSR method for UWorld: 3–4 days of First Aid prep per system, 20-question untimed tutor blocks, and First Aid-based bookmark review.
- [What Is USMLE Vault — Your One Resource](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/what-is-vault.html): 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://vault-guides.vercel.app/year-1.html): First-year method: physiology, anatomy and biochem system-wise with your textbook and First Aid open together, annotating every extra point into First Aid.
- [How to Study for USMLE in Second Year](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/year-2.html): Second-year order: Sketchy Micro first, then pathology system-wise with Pathoma and Robbins, then pharmacology — turning dedicated into revision.
- [Giving Step 1 in Third Year](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/year-3.html): A 24-week third-year Step 1 plan: 2 weeks foundation, 16 weeks across eleven systems, 6 weeks of NBMEs, with the 65% and 67–68% thresholds.
- [How to Actually Use YouTube for Step 1](https://vault-guides.vercel.app/youtube.html): 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): First Aid Guide covering all 646 pages with page-by-page MCQs, Anki decks, full-length assessments and a day-by-day schedule engine. Free for the first 3 days; the Renal system is permanently free.
- [Schedule builder](https://usmlevault.com/schedule): four questions produce a day-by-day plan built backwards from your exam date.
- [Anki decks](https://usmlevault.com/anki): Foundation Anki (~2,400 cards, First Aid page by page) and NBME Booster (4,174 cards from forms 20–33).
- [Free assessment](https://usmlevault.com/assessment): a full 14-block, 280-question exam-day simulation.

Updated: 2026-08-26