berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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what have you done so far? Strong areas? Weak areas? Questions you've done? scores? materials you've used? how many revisions?
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PGY-1 Ohio State University Plastic Surgery
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| squirrels
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 48
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okay here goes.....
i did everything from Kaplan Webprep,
So i went thru the entire thing once, with the "teachers",
then i started reading........
i did everything again from the Kaplan notes....
but i got HY embryo, and neuro cuz i didnt like the kaplan notes...
and thats all that i ve done.
i am doing pharma from the Road map book. I still am not done.
and re reading micro from ridiculously simple cuz i read that when i was in school and i think i have a better chance of remembering stuff if i do it from there.
Either its stress or something else, when i grab my kaplan notes, i feel a strong aversion towards them and i feel like it was a bad idea for me to have spent the past few months doing them. Cuz i still dont know anything. Yet when i read thru the HY notes, i feel like i get a lot out of them.
I feel like reading a couple of different books, but i m afraid thats thats the wrong thing to do.
Bad areas: Pharma, biochem maybe
Good areas: i m about the same in everything, i think..... i wouldn t call that my good areas but still........
i dont know where to go from here.
and how i should schedule myself and my test date.
thats all.
thanx for ur help
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| squirrels
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 48
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i forgot to mention my scores/questions
i ve done one fourth of Q bank, subject wise, just to reinforce what i have learnt. Some of Q book. just randomly.
And i ve taken a lot of tests on the NMS cd and the Lippencott board simulator cd.........and i get between 35-55% on those depending on how much pharma there is in that block.
Oh but i do much better on the Integrated Vignettes Q bank questions....i think about 75% or so. They seem much easier.
i think thats kinda it.
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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so you've read thru the kaplan notes twice. Good. Stick with what you have. There's no need to incorporate new books at this point. I'm using kaplan as well, and I know for sure that the kaplan biochem is amazing. Its clear concise and complete. The molecular part is just awesome.... Its true that the pharm kaplan could be better but lets just work with what we got so far. You're taking the exam the same date as I am. march30.....
this is my plan and It sounds like you're going to basically have to do the same thing....
you have to go thru one solid read of the material again starting with your worse subjects and do a bang load of subject wise questions after you finish the subject. Give yourself like 2 days to read thru carefully the subject, do the corressponding qbook questions and than do the corresponding Qbank questions. After these 200-300Qs if your scoring in the high 60s-low70s I say move on. If not, start on the BSS questions. But you have to do this read carefully and finish in 2 days. Do this for all your subjects starting with biochem, pharm, first. I know for sure that BSS has like 500 pharm questions that you can easily do in one day to raise your score. Do whatever you need to memorize, say it out loud, write it out as many times as it takes to get it memorized. If you miss a question go back to your notes and quickly read for the write answer. I also tend to circle topics in my lecture notes that were asked as questions. If I miss a question on clonidine causing agranulocytosis I star it in kaplan. If I come across the same question and I miss it again, I star it again and put you "you missed this question 2wice now". It really helps me when I review the material over again.
Do this subject wise review for all 7 subjects.
When you are done, its should be about march 20 or so. Do nmbe, and another full length simulated test kaplan, nms..whatever. If you like your performance, take the test. If not push it back a couple weeks. Do not take this test if you a scoring low on practice tests! Everyone always says the practice tests are not the same time of questions on the real exam but you never hear of anyone scoring really low on these practice materials and gettting a 99. Utlimately, your going to have to repeat this process untill your score is to your liking or your so fed up with it, you just have to take the test.
Hope this helps, this is what I am doing right now also, should of done this plan from the beginning but too late now, better late than never.
I screwed up Behavorial science yesterday. I got a 50% on Qbank. Spent the whole day doing BSS behavorial questions, I think I did 400 behavoiral questions yesterday... my last Behavoiral Qbank score was 78%. I'm moving on to biochem today...starting now...after some lunch...its 11am and I just woke up!
Best of luck to you squirels, welcome to diary land, there's some great people here and amazing support. post your victories and your downfalls, but stick to it and you'll get there!
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PGY-1 Ohio State University Plastic Surgery
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| pinkangel
Forum Elite
Topics: 8
Posts: 272
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Squirrels,
Stress sucks. Simply put. About the Kaplan pharm - I hated it because it was so disorienting. The video lectures put me to sleep - even a strong brew of Starbucks couldn't hold up against the monotonous tone of Anthony Trevor's voice.
What I did for pharm was First Aid - make sure you review ALL the drugs in that section. It is sooo much easier on the eyes and brain, my retention rate for that subject went up once I used that as my main source. Kaplan pharm was used as a back up to fill in any gaps that FA had - which is not that many. Because I'm sort of anal, I also used Lippincott's pharm - the thick red book - to fill me in on the classes of drugs that Kaplan couldn't explain to me. This was mainly the autonomics and the cardiac drugs. You aren't the first one complaining about Kaplan pharm. It is one of the most useless texts out of the entire set. I loved Kaplan for biochem - don't bother with the Lippincott's for this subject. If you know Kaplan for this one, you're set. Physio was also great for tackling this one. Path was a combination of Kaplan, BRS, and Goljan for me.
I felt almost suicidal (and homicidal) during my days of studying for this damn exam. 8) :shock: :? If you're not convinced, read my diary for excerpts describing my days of living hell. You're not alone. Keep venting and studying. You're on the right track. :wink:
All the best,
pinkangel
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| niti
Forum Guru
Topics: 36
Posts: 499
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Hi squirrels,
Nice to see u here.Exam Date..March/30...wow D I think, its not a good idea to change the study materials now....just go through your old study materials/notes again & again..& keep doing qs..& yes there r so many things u can't avoid in daily life..one of them is ... family responsibilities ! But, u can have control on your stress level...keep up writing..& working hard..u will be fine..
With Best wishes..
niti
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hi squirrels
welcome to the dairy land.
i would advice you to do as many revisions as possible and do many questions.
see u tomorrow
happy studying!!!!
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| squirrels
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 48
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hey u guys thanks so much for ur advice.......for taking the time out to write out such detail. thats just real nice of all u guys. i shall take all of this advice and see where i can get with it. then i ll get back to u guys.
thanks alot.
p.s. can some one also tell me how i m supposed to fit first aid in i.e. what role does it ultimately play in the entire prep... i have read most of it and put in notes where i felt it to be deficient.
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| wombat
Forum Guru
Topics: 22
Posts: 304
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FA got a lot of positive comments, so I use it as well. I read the whole book through after my second round of kaplan notes. (A lot of things I didn't really understand then). Then during my third round of kaplan notes, I read each subject in FA after I finish that kaplan notes. Now with my fourth read, I read the corresponding subject in FA first, then kaplan notes. It's nothing scientific, just a way for me to make sure at least I read FA.
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| squirrels
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 48
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someone put me out of my misery!
i m doing okay as far as studying goes.....but i m afraid i m just not going to be ready by the 30th and i am so dreading extending my suffering!
I m having a tough time incorporating first aid into my schedule, but at the same time i just cant let it go cuz everyone i know personally with a good score knew first aid inside out and everyone with a just passing score just barely looked at first aid.
So doing one subject per 2 days the Qbank Q s included, is just not working out if i am trying to include first aid too.
And the theme for smallville song constantly plays in my head "somebody save me" :lol:
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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Incorporating FA is really tough. I have a really difficult time of adding it into my schedule too. I know personally that its not FA that really matters, I mean don't get me wrong, that little book has a ton of info in it. I have 3 friends that passed and all they used was FA with Qbank. But 2 of them barely passed and the other one did okay. Another friend of mine hardly used it at all, said he only read it once thru a week before his test. He knew kaplan in and out and got a 90.
FA isn't everything my friend.
keep up the good work.
berk
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PGY-1 Ohio State University Plastic Surgery
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| pray4md
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 124
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i agree with berkeleyboy.... i just want to add that first aid is a review book, not necessarily a book to use to study the material. so definately use it towards the end of your studies as a high yield review. thats just what im going to do.
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| Moctopod
Forum Elite
Topics: 14
Posts: 422
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Hi Squirrels
Haven't heard from you for a couple of days. I hope everything's ok.
Yeah, I agree with Pray, use FA for a review of topics. A lot of people also find it useful to transcribe important information from Kaplan and other sources into it, so that you don't have to look through lots of different texts during the final week.
Hope it helps,
Moc
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| squirrels
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 48
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i am around.
i m just not doing so well with my revision. i have that paralysing stress, the one that doesnt allow u to do anything but worry.
i think i ought to delay my exam cuz i suck. i m real upset about it!
thats all 
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| squirrels
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 48
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well i postponed my exam to the 7th of april and that lessened my stress and suffering to a huge extent.
i ll be giving 2-3 days to each subject from the kaplan notes plus the Q bank questions. Its working out better than the first aid plan.
I m doing 2 chapters of patho every morning though so that by the time i m done with the other subjects most of my patho will be complete too. I find it too long and detailed a subject to tackle in one go.
thats about it for now. i did as much physio as i could now i m going to try and go look at some Kaplan Qs.
oh hey, are the end-of-chapter questions important? i dont like them and havent done em, and they seem way different from Q bank.....
thats all for now.
thank god i m not whining today 
good luck to u all
thanks for the much needed support.
s.
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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the end of chapter questions are not really suppossed to simulate exam questions but they're like workbook questions that help reinforce material you just read. The explanations are good too. Do them squirrels.
nice plan with the path you got there. I was doing the same thing for a while.
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PGY-1 Ohio State University Plastic Surgery
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hi
postponing the exam is good idea if you are not confident enu.
happy studying!!!
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| squirrels
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 48
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hey u guys
i m almost done with physio and the Qs. I m doing pretty well as far as most things are concern but on the Qs that involve calculation.....well i suck!!!!!!! The ones with compliance or renal clearance or cardiac output are simple enough.......but the ones that involve resisitance in parallel series etc are just so complex!
does anyone else have a problem with them or am i the only retard? :shock:
S.
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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under a time contraint. If I had enough time I could prolly get them all right but I just end up skipping the ones I know are going to take forever to figure out.
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PGY-1 Ohio State University Plastic Surgery
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| pray4md
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 124
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squirrels, youre not alone. personally, im not into memorizing anything, im all about concepts. so for me, i have trouble remembering the equations! haha, so its one of those things i have to cram. but i mean, they also make the questions difficult sometimes too. i think u just gotta work out a couple of htem and youll be good.
peace out squirrels...after this exam berk told me that we're gonna come over your place for a wild time!
p4md
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| squirrels
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 48
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hmmm. my studying is going no better/no worse than it was a couple of days ago. the only difference now is, that i dont really care. I ll do what i can, what else can i do, anyway?
i mean really, if i stepped out of my body and saw my self, ie some stupid girl bugging out, and developing pshychosomatic symptoms because of some stupid exam, i d laugh! so i decided to laugh without the whole out of body experience. epiphany, huh? wish i d had it when i gave my first final in med school!
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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I'm just kidding squirrels!! keep up the good work. I pm you! check your inbox
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PGY-1 Ohio State University Plastic Surgery
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| squirrels
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 48
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.......is slow and not so steady. I dont read as much as i should but doing the Q s is fun so i do alot of those. my score went from being in the low 50s last week to being 60+% this week, so that makes me think i m doing ok.
i am planning to take the NMBE on the 30, and if i am nto happy with my result i shall further delay my exam. :?
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| Moctopod
Forum Elite
Topics: 14
Posts: 422
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Hi Squirrel
That's a good improvement in one week. How has the revision been coming along since then?
Keep at it,
Moc
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