I will be entering my 1st year of medical school in India this summer.
I was born and raised in the US, but I am of Indian descent. From what
I understand, I have a hard path in front of me in terms of being a
USIMG and being accept to different fields in residency, but I am
willing to accept the challenge and try my best to flourish.

The time frame for my school is 4 1/2 years in India and a 1 year
internship in the United States. From what I understand, my USMLE
score will be the most important and second will be US Letters of
Recommendation. I have read that since I am an USIMG, I will have to
score 10-15 points higher than my American trained counterparts to
secure a residency spot over them in any field I chose. Please correct
any statements above if they are incorrect.

I have a couple questions for you that will allow me to achieve my goal:

1) What should I do in the 1 month vacation periods each year when I
will be back in the States to enhance my CV when I apply for
residency? I have read about observerships, but I am not sure exactly
what they are and how to obtain them.

2) How should I prepare for the USMLE, since the curriculum studying
abroad is a little bit different than in American Medical Schools, and
when is the best time for me to take Step 1 and Step 2? I have already
obtained "First Aid for the USMLE" and plan to annotate it as my years
in medical school progress. In addition, I am planning to review the
"High Yield" books for each individual medical subjects each summer
after I complete them.

3) What are some particular websites that can help a person in my
situation? I frequent the forums at studentdoctor.net and
valuemd.com, but other than that I  don't have much information to
rely on.

4) How should I efficiently study for such dense medical subjects and
score as high as possible on my exams? Are there any websites that
provide a playbook of how to tackle this type of material?

I have found this link from GA that talks about what to do when actually
applying for residency, but it doesn't answer my questions above.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=444910

Thank you so much and I am looking forward to your response.