musiclover
Forum Junior
Topics: 13
Posts: 35
|
Hi all
First up thanks to the person who posted that crazy message about the single and double stranded RNA and DNA viruses, and to the person who came up with those great neumonics about CYP450 going up and down - without being too specific - I thought of you today and kissed you as you scored me at least three marks cold.
This forum is great: please use it.
Sat my exam today so will post my tips today, but obviously don't have a score yet - will comment later on that.
Firstly, studying for the exam is a lot worse than doing it - so take heart! The best guide to content and difficulty is the practice CD (very similar in style and content) and also Kaplan Qbank (which is similar in difficulty or harder perhaps).
I studied for 5 months on the weekends and for a few hours in the evenings when I could (I work full time and have a lot of stuff on at the moment). Then I took a week off and crammed for 10 days.
First Aid took me longer to get thru than I expected and it took me about 6 days to read it. Then I re-read. This was extremely valuable and many things came to me from the book.
People are right when they say this exam tests the concepts. you will see what this means - but take heart! They help you out sometimes.
So, what to do?
Learn your equations. Physiology: GFR, lung function, cardvio. Sens and spec: Easy marks.
Pathophysiology. Practice thinking about scenarios "if someone is acidotic, what happens to the bicarb, to the ph etc". Presented in case scenarios.
Pharm very high yield esp antibiotics, the SYMPATHETIC nervous system, drugs affecting the autonomic nervous system.
Genetic knockout diseases: immunodeficiency, glycogen storage, metabolic etc all in FA. learn symptoms, presenting features, age of onset, enzyme or deficiency, test.
Pathology: lots of pictures and descriptions of path findings. Get comfy with gram stains, etc kidney and brain gross and micro very high yield.
Lots of endocrine: learn the material in a case-based way: addisons, conns etc etc
The q'ns all blur together, and they do ask the same thing more than once.
None of this is new but should re-assure it is, as so many have said, do-able.
Finally, tips for the day.
Time-wise I was ok, just, so keep an eye on your time. The whole "break screen" thing is surprisingly confusing so make sure you have a watch of your own. I used one of my scratch pads to keep track of blocks, breaks and timing as the computer is very confusing and your break time just seems to disappear. The kaplan suggestion is very good: 2 blocks, then 5 min, then a block, then 5 min, then lunch (30 mins). Then did one block, ran to loo, one block, 10 minute break, and then last block.
The room I did then exam in was shocking: hot and no air conditioning. Like more people, I was really annoyed that it was so hot and we are not allowed water in there. It's hard enough to concentrate if the temp is ok. But MANY PEOPLE HAVE HAD THIS EXPERIENCE. So please learn from it: wear layers, take earplugs (really useful) and expect the unexpected.
Best of luck - see you in the states in a few years (I hope!)
From an aussie wanna-be oncologist!
|
| sanyo
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 2
|
Thanks for your feedback my friend!! Earplugs sound (no pun intended) like a great idea :P. I hope that everything goes your way! 8)
|
| mehrdad
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 10
|
hi musiclover what was that mnemonics. is possible i have it? thanks :lol:
|
|
| |
| | | |
