maria
Forum Newbie
Topics: 6
Posts: 8
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Hi people,
i am really disappointed at my step 1 score which is 78. i studied damn hard for this exam and did kaplan review course too. after the exam, i felt that my strategy for prep was wrong and because i knew tough Qs but i failed to remember simple derivatives of arches and straight Qs.... the reason being that during the last days i was revising from my kaplan notes; 3 big vol. i had revied the course from these books 4 times and i was so confident that i thought that i will be able to recollect from them. well i failed to do that !! i lost 4-5 points just by not answering Qs which i could have answered very easily if i would have revied from first aid in the last days....also i was so saturated by the lengthy revision that i couldnt revise gross anatomy, embryo. my sister always said that anatomy was enough in first aid but i never listened and thought that i'll get better score by reviewing better. BUT i didn't !!
Ps. advise me how to go about step 2 because i want really good score in it. i can study like hell, i can teach others, but when it comes to my exams , i am a very poor exam taker. HELP . tell me which books i can straictly cling on to get a score in 90's. i have the kaplan notes, but i am not doing the course this time.
do reply. thank you in advance.
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| Anno Domini
Moderator
Topics: 293
Posts: 727
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I would like to help you but I don't know how.The main reason is in you.You must forget about the stress because it will make your exam much more difficult.Maybe you can go for some sport once a week or more often , depending on how much time you have.It will help you a lot.Step 2 will be easier because you have experience from step 1.So don't panic and you will do step 2 excelent.
Good luck
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| maria
Forum Newbie
Topics: 6
Posts: 8
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Hi ,
thanks for the reply. but it was very short and didn't highlight my problem of doing extensive study. if you have taken the steps ps. write more about the course and areas to be focussed at.
THANKS!!!
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| Logician Guru
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Maria, it's very simple. Learn from the mistakes you made in Step 1 and don't repeat them in Step 2. Means,
Reserve your last 15 days ONLY for First Aid OR Crush Boards.
Don't underestimate any subject. Unimportant subjects need less attention than important ones but defintely they dont need to be neglected by an means.
Divide your schedule well. Dont try to digest all at one time. In the begining 4-6 hours and in last 1 month 10 hours study might be a good idea. Play sports, watch movie and enjoy life at the same time.
I have recently passed Step 1 with 86 score by following the same tips. Studying now for step 1 using the same technique. I hope it will work for you too.
Best Luck
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| step 2 tips
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sorry to hear your concerns about the first step, but forget about them that test is over, now you must concentrate and jam the second step.
i took step 2 yesterday and would say it was about the same difficulty as the first step. For me Kaplan Qbank was the most similar, so pay the money even though its for $150. NMS step 2 is also worthy of consideration. The books i used are boards and wards, and crush usmle step 2 by brochert. These are the 2 most important books you need. If you know these books you will score well above 220. For individual subjects. i used clinical cases blueprints for peds and neurolgy. ob/gyn clinical case book i forgot the publisher think it's a&l, highly recommend it. first aid for medicine, read it but it's very specific don't need too much details...surgery used blueprints not very good...and last but not least memorize pathology review book by schneider and schwartz, there's a lot of pathology on the exam. there was about 2-4 ?'s on preventive med. but mostly medicine and management. hope this helps
cris cornell
harvard class of 2004
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