sanz
Forum Elite
Topics: 14
Posts: 154
|
Hey MLF,
Just wanted to know where I can do the Kaplan simulated test? Is that the one where you go to a Kaplan center and take the 3 hour test, advertised in Kaplan website? I'm thinking of doing it, to see where I stand. Are the questions there different from qBank?
Good luck with your exams! And thanx for your informative dairy.
sanz
|
| MLF
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 386
|
hi sanz,
Actually the one in the center is different than the simulated. The simulated is onine, that you can do at home, and its 7 blocks. I didnt take the center one which is 3 hours, but i was told that teh center one is basically qbank questions repeated, whereas this one was differentt from qbank. When i signed up wiht qbank, it was one of the options in my account when i would log into kaplan. I guess if you sign up, you should also have it. I am not sure how representative it is of hte true test, but i think its good for practice. Good luck!
___________________
"Support bacteria, its the only culture some people got."
|
| merijung
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 12
|
Hi MLF,
Thanks for the helpful reply.Can you tell me your total prep time ?You are doing very well .Best of Luck for coming exams.
Regards
meri
|
| MLF
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 386
|
GLad i could help merijung, I actually have been studying since august, and i would study everyday for like four to five hours and just do questions basically on weekends. But now, its cram time and reviewing everything in the last few days before my exam, which i plan to take on nov 18th. I am just doing FA, with all my notes on it, and then will read path BRS and review goljan one more time. Have faith in God, and anything is possible. Good luck!!!
___________________
"Support bacteria, its the only culture some people got."
|
| pinkangel
Forum Elite
Topics: 8
Posts: 272
|
Keep it up MLF! Sounds like you're on track and ready to ace this exam. :icon_thumb: You'll be in my prayers this Sunday at church.
All the best,
pinkangel
|
| MLF
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 386
|
Thanx pinkangel, wish you all the best as well.
___________________
"Support bacteria, its the only culture some people got."
|
| MLF
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 386
|
Well guys, tomorrow is the big day, I am just brushing up on FA pharm, and then will prob look thru goljan notes.I dont know people say rest on the last day before the exam, but I just can't, i feel like I should be looking at something, and since pharm is very short term memory for me, i left it to be brushed up last out of everthing. I did get the chance to go thru phys BRS esp cell phys, cardio, renal, and resp, because i think the graphs and resp and cardio are very important. Never got the chance to go thru nbme form 2, which i am kinda upset about, but did one block of usmle CD 1, now, so will also do 2 and 3 cuz my friends suggest that its better to do that than nbme because you can look thru answers and they have a high chance of repeating it. Neways, pray for me everyone, and I wish you all the best, will be back tomorrow to tell you how everything went.
___________________
"Support bacteria, its the only culture some people got."
|
| sanz
Forum Elite
Topics: 14
Posts: 154
|
Good Luck and all the best! You can do it!
|
|
|
GOODLUCK MLF!!!!!
YOU CAN DO THE BEST!!!!!
|
| lmbebo
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 338
|
good luck!
|
| niti
Forum Guru
Topics: 36
Posts: 499
|
Hi MLF,
GOOD LUCK FOR THE EXAM !..JUST RELAX AND HAVE A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP ..YOU WILL COME OUT IN FLYING COLORS..
you r in my prayers...
niti
|
| Moctopod
Forum Elite
Topics: 14
Posts: 422
|
Good luck, MLF, my friend.
I'm rooting for you all the way tomorrow. Can't wait for you to join us again when it's all over.
Byeeee
Moc
|
| marwa
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
Posts: 30
|
wish u all the best !!!
|
| kmp
Forum Elite
Topics: 38
Posts: 311
|
GOOD LUCK MLF.
|
| MLF
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 386
|
Hey guys, first just like to thank you all very much for your well wishes, i just got back a little while ago and am mentally and physically exhausted, so I promise that I will return and give you a detail experience. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!
___________________
"Support bacteria, its the only culture some people got."
|
| pinkangel
Forum Elite
Topics: 8
Posts: 272
|
Best of luck MLF! You will be in my prayers tomorrow. With your hard work, I know you will come out with flying colors! Get some rest now and kill that exam tomorrow morning! 
All the best,
pinkangel
|
| MLF
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 386
|
Well, I am well rested and back to talk about the exam. For people who dont know me, this was my second attempt, but the difference this time was I felt much better prepared and even tho only got about 5 hour sleep the nite before which is not usually enuf for me, it was sufficient to keep me going. My exam started around 8:15am or so. I skipped the tutorial so that got added to my break time. My first block began with some hard questions which kinda turned me off and i started to get a little upset, but then I said to myself, its only the first block, i got 6 more to go. And it did seem that after the first, the rest seemed a little easier.
My exam was made up of ALL the subjects, i did'nt feel like any one sujbect was dominant over the other, but i did have a lot of molecular bio, by which I mean liike DNA techniques, not too much info just whats sufficienct in FA, and then some other molecular bio questions that kinda seem to me like solving a puzzle, so usually I would mark them and move on and then i would always have 15 or 10 min lefts before each block and would go back and ponder on those which helped me a lot cuz these are the questions you gotta think a little about. Had a lot of pharm, same graph stuff, but mostly the graphs pharm drugs they ask about are usually just cardio drugs, so the key to those are knowing those cold and what each does so you can interrupt the graph very easily. Biochem was fairly simple, path was ok i would say, last time path was my worst so during this preparation, I spend a lot of time on path, and the one thing that saddens me was that I didn't get to go back to review my goljan notes, but again, I gotta have faith in God who always helps me through. I had a decent amount of anatomy questions with CT's, xrays, histo pics, neuro stuff also with cranial nerves stuff. The path slides were kind of confusing. Micro was straight forwards not too bad and immuno didn't seem too bad either this time, but those vaccine questions always kinda confuse me so make sure you know those. Behavioral was ok also, not too many scary calculations, and few doc/patient relationship questions. One hardy weignberg question which was farely simple.
Now guys one weird thing and a good thing I should say is that my exam seemed WORD FOR WORD out of FIRST AID. THat is not a lie,I would say almost every answer on this exam could have been answered by knowing the FA really well. The key to FA is tho that those are topics basically given to you, you gotta go and read up on them somewhere else, make notes on your FA and near the end review your notes and YOU ARE SET. I could hear all the pneumonics in my head from FA cuz i had litereally read that book like 8 times just helping me with so many questions, and in every subject too, anatomy, bahviorals, path, pharm, i mean you name it.. Personally my advice is, biochem is excellent in FA but you gotta understand it, same with pharm, and anatomy/embryo/and histo. Oh and I had one embryo question again straight from FA so nothing you would need to read a big embryo book about. I would suggest you guys starting out your preparations with kaplan, goljan and high yileds and BRS's but take important notes in FA. Ill give you an example, the FA talks about ToRCHeS, the bugs that infect the fetus, but it doesn't tell you what exactly toxo does to the fetus, or rubella's effect or CMV's effect, so you gotta go look this up because they know what they are talking about, they get input from students who took the exam, so i literally my exam was written out of there. In my first block i had to guess on two questions which are small detail in FA, and I had taken FA with me and it was in my locker so during break time i went and checked and thanks to God, they were good guesses, so guys dont just know your first aid, UNDERSTAND your fa, and I guranatee you you have nothing to lose. After writing down your notes in there, then you should spend the rest of the time doing questions, even if they are harder than the step, easier than the step, they help you understand concepts and how to think, and thats what you need practice in before walking into this 350 question exam. So the more questions the better, i dont really remember any repeats from the USMLE CD on mine but maybe like one repeat from kaplan behavioral. I think thats pretty much it.
As far as how i feel after my exam, i seriously can't say, its hard to tell for me rite, i mean i dont even feel done cuz i have been studying like this whole year, i was studying for this second one for about four months and 4 to 5 hours everyday except weekends and then more during the end. I am just gonna pray and hope that I pass with a good decent score but I have left it in His hands. InshAllah He will come through. Alrite guys, I hope I was able to help you with my experience as much as you all have helped me, because this forum is great. If you guys have any specific questions, feel free to ask........I wish you all the very BEST!!! 
___________________
"Support bacteria, its the only culture some people got."
|
|
|
all the best MLF for ur results!!!
thank you sharing ur experience with us.
|
| drh8
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 3
|
Hi, MLF,
thanx for sharing your experience with us. i am sure u would pass w/ a great sore!
good luck!
|
| lmbebo
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 338
|
hope things turn out even better than you want them to.
thanks for the information.
-lmbebo
|
| sanz
Forum Elite
Topics: 14
Posts: 154
|
Hey MLF,
Thanx for sharing. Keep the faith and I'm sure you'll be fine!
|
| MLF
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 386
|
Thank you so much guys, I really appreciate it, and I wish you all the very best.
___________________
"Support bacteria, its the only culture some people got."
|
| Moctopod
Forum Elite
Topics: 14
Posts: 422
|
Dear MLF
Thank you for all your inspiration and for sharing your exam experiences with us. It's been great following your successes and tribulations during the Step 1 experience. Good luck for the results and Step 2 - onwards and upwards, my friend!
Yours,
Moc
|
| MLF
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 386
|
Thank you very much Moctopod, I am glad I could help, this exam becomes a lot easier when we have other people who can help us out during this process and thats why I love this forum. I wish you all the best and success as well. Good lcuk!
MLF
___________________
"Support bacteria, its the only culture some people got."
|
| niti
Forum Guru
Topics: 36
Posts: 499
|
Hi MLF,
Thanks for sharing your exp. with us.It is really helpful.I really appreciate your writing in such a good manner.I wish you all the best for your result.Which source is best for X-Rays and CTs in your opinion?
THANKS..
niti
|
|
| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
