medgibbons
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hi this is my first post - im a fifth year med student from ireland and just sat part 1 yesterday  i must admit you guys freaked me out completely when i logged on last week to try and get some last minute advice - you certainly study a lot more than we do for this exam - i did 4 weeks solid work but thats it. i used only first aid and kaplan q book and kaplan online. i have to say i think kaplan grossly underprepares you for the actual day - the questions - in every subject were far more difficult to answer than kaplan and indeed the USMLE cd. i felt my exam was ridiculously weighted towards cell and molecular biology and genetics and biochem with almost no physiology, anatomy or micro - the subjects i actually enjoy - my advice to those about to sit the exam is not to panic and to realise that no matter how hard you work or how little you know - nothing can prepare you for a lot of the questions so there is no point freaking out about them you just have to hope that the knowledge you have accumulated over the years will help you work out a logical answr. i have no idea how well or how awful i did but this is for people freaking out like i was last week so i hope it helps to calm some nerves
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| Coprolalia
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I heard there was a dreaded Biochem and Microbiology out there. Nice (but not really for you) to know that there really is one out there. Seems to me last year someone said the EXACT same thing about their exam.
Just to say that its not really fair how this exam is. I mean come on. This is a OVERALL exam, it shouldn't weigh more on biochem and micro. There should be so many questions to each disipline. Just my 2 cents, I still have to take it, so wtf do I know
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| octospider
Forum Junior
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Medgibonns, What I would be intrested to know is how well you did with just 4 wks of solid work. Also once you get your score, would you be kind enough to post your strategy with us all on prep4usmle.
Thanks
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"If you refuse to settle for anything but the very best in life, you very often get it."
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| medgibbons
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well guys and girls i gotta tell you i am one happy woman today - just did the oasis trick and have proved (thankfully) that it is possible to pass the usmle step 1 after exactly 4weeks study!!! octospider suggested i post up my method so here it is!
firstly i used only 1 book in total - first aid for usmle 2005 - this book i learnt pretty much off by heart. i supplemented this book with kaplan online for i month as well as the kaplan q bank book. when i cam across anything new to me on the online bank of quesitoni wrote it into first aid. the only subject in which i used a separate book was behavioural science which is a subect not strictly tought in irish medical schools - for this i used brs which was excellent. my days were about 10 hours of study per day on average with approx half a day studying and half the day online at q bank which i found broke the monotony of it all! and thats basically it folks i did the online q bank twice through did all the q book and learnt first aid off by heart i used no imaging books or histology books and im glad because there were virtually no pictures in my exam. i should say though that i was aiming for a pass as it is not as important for me to get the top marks so my eventaul result could be very poor well have to wait and see - last but not least i honestly feel that if you put the work in over the years then when you walk into that exam you can use your head to get through many of the questions so be consistent with your study and there wont be a need to freak out. ill let you know when i get the full results best of luck to everyone who has yet to go through it
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| medkaren
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Hey
i am in Medgibbons class..did roughly about the same amount of work as her...sat the exam on the same day and also just found out today that i passed......It is possible to have a life and pass!!!!!!
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| octospider
Forum Junior
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Thanks girls. I also am from Ireland and would love to know what your eventual score was.
Thanks
P.S. Which school?
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| alka
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medgibbons
While I appreciate the good nature of your post and your intent of trying to get people to relax, you post scares the shyte out of me. You are basically telling everyone that no amount of preparation can improve one's score because the exam is so difficult. That's not what I want to hear man.
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| medgibbons
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no thats not what i meant alka sorry - what i should have said was that t is important during the exam to realise that you cant know everything that some of the questions in fact many of them are experimental and are very very hard and that no matter how much you do quite honestly you will never study the stuff that came up because its so darn obscure - so focus on the high yield like we did and it will pay off- obviously if you do months and months of work you will do better than we did but im not sure how much thats all im saying - sorry for freaking you out!! just found out today i got 237 (96) so im really happy with that and that was after only four weeks so my point is it can be done in a short time
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| medgibbons
Forum Newbie
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hey octospider were both in UCD just finished fourth year - how about yourself?
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| octospider
Forum Junior
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Hey medgibbons,
Congratulations on your great score! Not bad for 4 wk prep. Wow, I am impressed.
So you felt UCD med school prepared you enough for the exam? But you have to admit one always notices the subjects one doesn't like during the exam though. Right? Anyhow, I go to UCC. Writting exam next year sometime.
So if you could give me one piece of advice for preparing for this exam being an Irish med student what would it be? You see I am thinking of writting it before 4th year so I won't have the clinical data base that you did going into the exam. And oh one more question: are you in the 6 yr program/5 yr program? Cause I am in the 5 yr program. If you are in the 6 yr program then I would be writting it twds the end of my 3rd yr i.e. end of your 4th yr.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Edited by octospider on 08/15/05 - 06:09 PM
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| SilatK
Forum Guru
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Posts: 585
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great score!!!!
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| KEROCHI
Forum Guru
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well medgibbons & medkaren,
You're the only two people I know who passed it w/in 4 weeks of review.. Congratulations!!
I am freaking out more now upon knowing that. It makes me feel i'm the dumbest reviewee in this forum because i have been studying for half a year now & still getting low scores in qbank.I don't have anything against you guys but gee Im really freakin' out!!!!
Maybe got to memorize all the freakin' details in FA!!
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| medgibbons
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
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hey octospider if you have just finished third year then your at pretty much the same stage we are - we just finished our first six months in the hospitals were on the six year course so we dont have that much clinical stuff behind us but yeah i think ucd did a good job although i know cork is every bit as good! my one piece of advice 1 guess would be to have a very good understanding of the foundations of each of the subjects and then use first aid as if it is your very own personal bible
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| octospider
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
Posts: 22
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Thanks medgibbons. Will do !
I like your optimism.
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| medkaren
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To be completely honest..in my exam there was really no clinical anything. The cast bulk of my exam i felt was biochem and cell biology of which I had done the least study. i think that if you keep up with work in College it stands to you on the day. You begin to remember stuff you didn't even realise you ever knew..well i guess thats what happened me anyway. i think one of the main things to remember is that you need to relax as well as study and if you are having a shit day studying then TAKE A BREAK..it really does the worls of good. Just so you all know my average on Kaplan was 70%...... u dont need mad high scores on Kaplan to pass
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