maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
hi guys my exam got over on 6th may. received score today. prep4usmle rocks  - u guys really helped me out during prep. so here's my 2 cents worth:
reposting my experience from b4-->
" so now for my experience:
well the most striking thing is that its very fatiguing.. way beyond anything i had experienced in my life.. almost like a mental marathon. u have to scare at the screen for ages. i took 5-15 mins breaks btwn the blocks initially 5, and 15 on the last 2 (approx). skipped the tutorial so that helped - so its better to be familiar with the testing interface - same as qbank 4 me (the prometric software and not fred)
Now well the exam went fine, cant really predict coz lot of application was involved. the questions are around 35% straight forward, and the rest are multiple jumping pattern, for eg, they give a clinical scenario and ask for the drug of choice etc.
the toughest questions are from molec bio and cell bio - some i had never heard of b4
I did 1200 qs in qbank - 82%. stopped doing my strong areas after 900 or so as time was short. completed the areas i was weak in like histo, cell bio, behavioral, immunology etc
read kaplan for physio, biochem, anat, behavioral and immuno. micro - MMRS. patho - goljan stars and brs. goljan better for systemic and brs for general path. pharmac - CNS, CVS and Autonomic from lippincotts, rest first aid. did first aid for pharmac, histo and embryo.
studied for 6 months, seriously for last 1 month [no tension before that as hadnt taken date and hadnt received orange card
QBank : 82% (did 1200qs -ran out of time)
NBME 1 13/1/2005 : Didnt give
NBME 2 27/1/2005 : Didnt give
Kaplan Simulated Exam : Didnt give
Rapid review Mosby-Goljan : Didnt give
NMS : Didnt give
USMLE CD: Didnt give
Blueprints Q&A free exam : Didnt give
USMLE : 255/99
feel free to ask any ques.
now onto cs n ck
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| KEROCHI
Forum Guru
Topics: 60
Posts: 971
|
Congrats! So did you just do qbank?
|
| maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
yup, around 1200 questions or so. thanks
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| jessicaR
Forum Junior
Topics: 1
Posts: 26
|
hi,
congratulations on such a great score ,do u think Q bank is the closest simulation of actual exam ?were questions on your exam lengthy?How many times you repeated your notes i have my exam in amonth what do u suggest me doing during last 15 days
thanks and goodluck
jessica
|
| pourya
Forum Junior
Topics: 7
Posts: 54
|
Congradulations.......
What was your plan for last month?
|
| Kluver_Bucy
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 11
|
Maverick, which questions are more like the Step 1 questions? Robbins Review or Qbank Pathology. I'm running out of time. Also, did you use any other question source. Lastly, do you have any hints for Pharmacology and Anatomy. Those are my weakest areas and i'm afraid I will flunk the exam if I don't improve. Thanks so muhc
|
| Kluver_Bucy
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 11
|
congratudlations on your score. that is terrific!!
|
| karusmle
Forum Guru
Topics: 296
Posts: 1,001
|
hi maverick ,
congradulations on getting that great score , well what book did u follow for cell biology , i m losing my score in biochemisrty because of this cell biology , plz help me out .
|
| rubyedward
Forum Elite
Topics: 12
Posts: 197
|
congratulations. its such an awesome score!!! good luck for ck and cs!!!
|
| phuluong2k
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 714
Posts: 2,008
|
very good score , congratulation
|
| maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
hi sorry for the late reply. well qbank was quite different. in qbank the option choices are pretty easy to guess even if one doesnt know the answer. in the exam, none of the chioces are absurd, so guessing is difficult.
however, i found histo and beh science easier on the exam.
well for the last month - i did qbank, around 1200q. had taken 1 months subscription but couldnt get through it as i realised that revising what i already knew was more important. initially was getting around 76-78% which gradually increased to 80s as my revision was going on. so basically in the end, i completed my 2nd revision at the cost of qbank, doing only those subjects where my performance was coming low - like b.science (a must from qbank - prepares u very well for the exam ques), immunology, genetics etc. left stuff like physio, pathophy coz was getting >90% so didnt think it was worth the time doing more ques on these.
basically, try to finish all ques on those topics in which u r weak. i also revised b. science from qbank. believe me its very high yield. I was getting only around 60% in b.science in qbank.
also, do ur theory at least 3 times.
to sum it up, last month i basically spent on my 2nd revision and qbank
jessica - last 15 days, revise ur stuff. dont do anything new unless u have missed out on something important
also - do glomerulopathies from webpath - the microscopy slides - for just kidney. invariably, 1 or 2 will be there. rest, only if u have time
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| snake0613
Forum Elite
Topics: 95
Posts: 190
|
congrars.
copuld you plese ell how to get the kanplan notes,from ebay?how many books about that ?do you sold out your kanplan notes .i need it
thanks
|
| maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
thanks guys.
kluver bucy -
i was in the same dilemma about robbins review vs qbank patho. ultimately i did qbank around 300 patho ques. was getting around 85% so stopped doing any more coz was very short of time. robbins i did only first chaper. robbins has pure patho with no pathophy. it will also take more time coz more no of questions. so if u have less time, do qbank i guess. its pretty decent. also has pathophys + patho
pharmac - know first aid cold. very very high yield. i also used lippincotts for other high yield stuff like autonomic drugs, psychiatric drugs and CVS drugs. do pharmacokinetics + dynamics from katzung review or lippincotts - loads of ques with graphs. first aid is not enough for it
anatomy - did just kaplan. very adequate. u wont get anything outside it
karusmle-
well for cell biology i did just kaplan. do u also mean molec. biology? actually i did both from kaplan and they were pretty adequate.
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
hi snake, no idea about ebay. I got it from a senior who didnt need them anymore. neah, not selling them. maybe only after step 2. they r still handy for reference 
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
hi and guys, try to do goljan audio near the end. i had basically made notes, the first time i listened to him, so that revision becones faster. around 30% ques can be answered by his audio alone.
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| s_braga
Forum Junior
Topics: 6
Posts: 53
|
Hi, congratulations! In the qbank questions where you were failing, did you do them twice or only once? I'm asking b/c my plan is do qbank again but only for questions I am checking wrong.
|
| maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
failing means????
well i did only my wrong beh science questions twice coz was weak in it. didnt have time for anything else. ya sounds like a good idea if u have time
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| karyosome
Forum Senior
Topics: 19
Posts: 88
|
hi macerick
i'm doing the 2002 kaplan Qbank that a friend gave me. do u think its okay or should i subscribe afreash from the net. also for cell bio,hist and mol.bio the questions in qbank r very few. r those enough.
for patho, i'll be doing kaplan notes, kaplan Qbank Qbook and FA. i may also do Goljan rapid review. is this much enough or do i need somethin else. i'm not very good in patho. plz advice
|
| maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
hi karyosome
well it depends if money is an issue. the advantage of online qbank is u can tailor ur question subject-wise etc, plus receive feedback which u cant from the cd. I had the qbank as well but i went for the online one.
well i think for cell bio, histo, mol bio they r enough if u have covered ur primary source well. but if u tend to learn from questions, they might not be adequate. see, i read kaplan and felt cell bio and histo was adequate. gentics and mol bio were not. u can try high yield in addition to kaplan but only if u have time coz genetics and mol bio questions tend to be very picky anyway - look like research questions.
well i didnt do kaplan for patho. very bad reviews. did goljan stars and brs. plus goljan audio which is a must. i also wasnt good in patho. so i would say dump kaplan patho, and move to goljan. but that is my opinion!!
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| Lim
Forum Elite
Topics: 62
Posts: 210
|
congrats.... awesome score,maverick!
i have q. you said goljan STARS..you mean the thickest one of Goljan serieses?(i mean over 510 pagesm,last edition was 1998 or 1999 one?)
thanks ahead.
___________________
The secret is never give up
|
| maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
oh sorry, i meant stars review (around 300 pages). last edition around 1998, but that doesnt matter. nothing new was asked. my kaplan was also 2002 edition.
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| Lim
Forum Elite
Topics: 62
Posts: 210
|
hm.. i see.
as far as i know, 1998 edition is the thickest one,which is over 500 pages
the one you said, rapid stars review is around 300 pages.
the thing is, i have both of them. someone said thin was not good. that makes me hesitate to choose the book i'll dig in.
thanks,maverick
Edited by Lim on 06/13/05 - 07:37 PM
___________________
The secret is never give up
|
| maverick
Surgery Resident
Topics: 146
Posts: 553
|
well i think the stars pathology review (not rapid review)- the 300 page book is awesome. it might be not as good as the 500 page one but then 500 pages becomes 2 much to revise. the 300 page one is much better than brs for systemic path. i am using it for step 2 as well. however, for general path, brs + goljan audio is enough. no need to waste time studying beyond these 2 for general path.
___________________
" There comes a time when for every addition of knowldege you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore,not to have useless facts elbowing out the uselful ones." - Arthur Conan Doyle
|
| jigi
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 9
|
Congratulations, Maverick! Nice job. I hope I will have the same exciting moment as you had. I just started to prepare from my step 1. I am trying to find some good book for my study. Since many people highly recommended Kaplan notes. I am thinking to buy it also. However, I am wondering if this book equals to Kaplan USMLE step 1 home study program coz I did not find out a book name Kaplan notes on its website. I want to get start from this, do you think it is good or not?
___________________
jigi
|
| usmle_sub
Forum Junior
Topics: 10
Posts: 27
|
hi maverick ,
congradulations on getting that great score
is fred adaptive test?
|
|
| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
