Step1 Revision: The Beginning

I have officially started my step 1 revision...Only a few months late! Currently, I am following the Doctors in Training 12 week study plan, which consists of: 125questions per week from the QBank (I'm actually doing 25-30questions/day, which equals 175-210 questions per week), and reading 50 pages per week of First Aid for Step 1. I purchased a pathology review book from Goljan, but I'm not finding it very helpful; its quite thorough and presented in an outline form, but it isn't very high yield in that it presents all of the details rather than the most important points. One of my professors has been giving us "partnerships" to go with pathology, which has been helpful. A partnership is making a direct connection between two ideas.
For example:
   Crypt Abscesses --> Ulcerative Colitis
   Osmotic Diarrhea --> Lactose Intolerance
   Dermatitis Herpetiformis --> IgA Deposits in Dermal Papillae --> Celiac Sprue
   Plummer Vinson Syndrome --> Cheilosis, Glossitis, Iron Deficiency anemia, Upper Esophageal Webs
   Ludwig Angina --> Pancytopenia.
   Chagas --> Achalasia.
   Intra-Unterine Fetal Heart Blocks --> Anti-Ro Antibodies. (Sjogren's).

The partnerships are quite helpful. The difficulty with the Step1 Exam is the two-step questions. For example, the question presents a case and gives you a few clues that should allow you to determine the cause of the illness presented in the case. From there, you have to take your knowledge about that inferred disease and answer a question related to that particular disease, which can range from which tests would be abnormal, what are complications, what is the embryological origin of the main anatomic structure involved, what genetic abnormalities are associated, etc. As the years have gone by, the Step1 has become increasingly more difficult. The aim of the national boards of medical licensing is to have a 90% pass rate; when the students become smarter and more capable of excelling at the exam, the national boards make the exam more difficult to keep a 90% pass rate nationwide. My opinion is, if we've made it through 2 years of rigorous medical education, heaped on over $100,000 in debt, and do well enough to have a solid background and be able to excel in the clinical clerkships, there is no reason to fail 10% just to keep a silly quota of a 90% pass rate. But that's the way things are; when I feel like I will never be able to know everything and do as well as I deserve, I find consolation knowing that the Step1 will be harder for those medical students coming in 10 years from now! ;)