# Every Resource You Will Ever Need

> Twelve jobs, one resource each, for USMLE Step 1 — with the rule for when each one enters your prep. Kaplan, Boards & Beyond and Bootcamp are deliberately excluded.

URL: https://vault-guides.vercel.app/stack.html
Canonical: https://vault-guides.vercel.app/stack.html

## Summary

A single-page aggregation of the complete USMLE Step 1 resource stack, organised by the job each resource does rather than by resource name. One filter decides inclusion: if it does not move your UWorld score, it is not a Step 1 resource. Each entry states what it is, when it enters the prep, and how to use it, and links to the full method guide for that resource. The stack is twelve items, all free or already included, and all usable from a phone.

## Key facts

- Content: First Aid, with every extra point written into the page rather than a second set of notes
- Understanding First Aid: the First Aid Guide, 646 pages decoded with 2,534 page-mapped MCQs; Renal is free
- Microbiology: Sketchy, ~85 organisms over 6 days at ~20 a day, video then PDF, with that day's MCQs the same night
- Pharmacology: the High-Yield Pharmacology PDF, drugs stratified by system with the best resource named per drug; 48-72 hours for the subject
- Pathology: Pathoma during each system, annotated into First Aid, with Robbins read afterwards
- Questions: UWorld after 3-4 days of prep per system, tutor mode, 20-question blocks, using Read-Presolve-Solve-Review; leave a system when the last two blocks hold above 65%
- Rescue: Mehlman videos only when a system's UWorld drops under 65%; the HY Arrows document stays open throughout and is used to break an NBME plateau
- Biostats and revision: the Neil Randy PDF, his full library broken down system by system, worth 5-10%
- Retention: Foundation Anki (~2,400 cards, a full First Aid pass in 5-6 days) and NBME Booster (4,174 cards from retired forms)
- Measurement: NBME forms offline, 10 blocks of 20 questions at 30 minutes; a form plus a Free 120 makes 14 blocks, a real exam day; ready means above 67-68% on NBMEs 31, 32 and 33 consecutively and progressively
- Final fortnight: no new content — notes, the revision book, screenshots, existing Anki, and the antimicrobials video on its second watch
- Free PDFs (Sketchy Micro, HY Pharmacology, Neil Randy, Mehlman HY Arrows) live in the University section at https://usmlevault.com/university

## Covers

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## Source

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

Updated: 2026-08-28