drworm
Forum Senior
Topics: 11
Posts: 138
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I’ve been on this forum off and on since last year. I am an IMG who graduated almost 7 years back. I took my Step 1 last year and failed. After the initial shock and denial phase I took a look at my situation and realized that in spite of putting in effort and time I had been thoroughly unprepared. I had no idea about the forums, or any of the online help and materials. Since I was out of touch with friends and colleagues I also did not have a clue about how to prepare. I had been using BRS and HY books, did the Q book and a few other misc sources for questions. I almost gave up hope and was not sure that I would take it again.
But my husband’s support and encouragement put me back on my feet again. I started to prepare again this summer. I studied entirely from Kaplan lecture notes. I did the Q book, registered for Q bank and spent ave 8 hrs a day since May preparing for the test. I did not study on weekends. After my thorough read the first time I started doing q bank about 50 questions every day random. Mornings I would revise subjectwise. Afternoons I would do questions. I would read a few pages of FA every single day. I knew I had to almost memorize that book.
I did same questions over and over again. Like USMLE CD I repeated twice, Kaplan simulated twice, NBME 1 got a 460 three weeks before exam, NBME 2 got 510 three days before exam. Took Step 1 on August 18. Was totally psyched out on the day of exam. After all one failure does not do any wonders for your ego. Did not tell anyone except my husband that I was taking the exam. I hated the exam. Thought it was harder than Kaplan tests or qbank or USMLE CD. No I did not get any common questions from the CD. And had to guess for many questions. Heavily tested on Anatomy and Mol Bio and phys. Path, Pharm were okay. They obsessed with PTH, Calcium, met states. Many questions with CT scans, brain sections. Over and over again. Beh sc questions were strange, was not sure of answers most of the time. Had to keep guessing. Even thought of leaving the test center without completing my exam. Yes, it was that bad. Could not bear to fail again, but came out feeling drained and disappointed. I had worked really hard, studied long, did reasonably well on Kaplan tests, yet somehow did horribly on the test.
Waited with bated breath for the next few weeks. Checked Oasis on Thursday (Sept 15) and it gave me the red print saying that I had passed. I could not believe it. Then the result came on Friday. I passed with 200/ 82. I know it is not a good score but with what I went through I am relieved that I passed.
I cannot express how grateful I am to so many people on the forum who helped with advice, shared their experience, guided and made suggestions. Thank you all so much!
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| sturge_weber
Forum Guru
Topics: 77
Posts: 1,042
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Dr. Worm, congrats on ur score, and all the best for step 2
i had some questions
how much were u scoring on the q bank and did u do them subject wise or random, is it good to do it subject wise
thanks in advance
sturge
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| vallia
Forum Guru
Topics: 98
Posts: 889
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Congratulation Dr Worm, you worked hard , you are a winner and an inspiration to the newbies like myself.
keep up the good work! you did it!
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| kingsofke
Forum Guru
Topics: 24
Posts: 715
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I am really impressed by your sheer determintaion. My Cardial Congratulations.
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| drworm
Forum Senior
Topics: 11
Posts: 138
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Thanks guys, all of you!
sturge_weber my qbank scores were variable. I started with around 65% and ended up scoring between 75 and 80%. That made me feel like I was doing good. I guess I was just getting used to the kind of questions on qbank which was not the right indicator. I did random blocks because I was trying to simulate exam conditions. I finished qbank completely and went back on the ones I scored incorrect. Still got a lot of them wrong but that brought up the cumulative score.
Feel free to ask me anything. I'd be happy to help if I can in any way.
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| reet
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 152
Posts: 1,411
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drworm CONGRATULATIONS!!! nice post of ur experience.
wht was ur assesment 1 or 3 month for q bank?how many reads are good enough before qbank?
thanks
Edited by reet on 09/20/05 - 10:23 PM
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| LisaM
Forum Guru
Topics: 16
Posts: 321
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drworm, Congratulations!
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lisa
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| KEROCHI
Forum Guru
Topics: 60
Posts: 971
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Congratulations drworm! All the best of luck on your next step!
Q? How did you do your NBME, standard or ? pace?
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| AAzad
Forum Guru
Topics: 57
Posts: 460
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Congradulations ,
and thank you for sharing your experiences with us.
good job
and
Good luck.
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AAzad
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| sasim
Forum Elite
Topics: 7
Posts: 126
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Congratulations Drworm. Can u tell me was First Aid helpful in doing the exam? Is it OK to revise First Aid only in last two weeks and putting Kaplan aside? Did u use the Kaplan notes only or the notes and DVD lectures?
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| drworm
Forum Senior
Topics: 11
Posts: 138
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Hi guys and thanks for everything.
Reet I took the 3 month qbank and started doing random blocks right after my first read. The scores were low in the begining but you get to read the answers and learn that way too. But I would keep revising everyday because I have problems retaining stuff.
Kerochi NBME was standard 4 hrs. GL with your exam buddy.
sasim FA is like the bible. I had an older version but ended up buying the new FA because I thought they had these really nice things like the rapid review which my old one did not have. I think the last two weeks all I did was FA, HY and questions. I did not do DVD or videos. I just had the lecture notes.
Hope this helps. GL everyone! And if anyone needs a set of Kaplan lecture notes in real good condition, I am selling mine.
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| frogger
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 5
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congratulation on your score. like yourself i failed step 1 once and i'm currently studying for the second time. i had a similar experience to you had on your second step 1. when i took mine i felt the topics were not indicative of the q's i had been seeing on qbank, in brs, or on the usmle cd diagnostic. when i took my test i felt a huge amt. of the q's i was completely unprepared for. do you have any advice?
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| sasim
Forum Elite
Topics: 7
Posts: 126
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Thanks Drworm,thanks for your sincere help
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| drworm
Forum Senior
Topics: 11
Posts: 138
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frogger the first time I did not do NBME or qbank so cannot tell if they were representive of my exam. BUt second time I was sure the questions were tougher than qbank or any other source. But when you analyze the questions you see that most of them were basic fundamental knowledge. Like blood supply or nerve supply or a clinical scenario with head injury or some cr nerve damage and asking you to point out in a section of brain diagram/ picture. I had tons of phys graphs with repitition of acid base balance, Ca, PTH, aldosterone, questions. Basically having the fundamentals straight should get you through. What the biggst diff I thought was my qbank questions required more application than direct memorization which was not so true for the test. I don't know what else to advise but to keep revising and reading up on the HY topics through and through.
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| eira
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 12
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Congratulations drworn...
You are a inspiration for me,I just began study and fell I can not do it.I am study by myself which is difficult to have a good discipline.Keep going warrier..
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| venkatesh
Forum Junior
Topics: 12
Posts: 36
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Congrats, i wish u good luck for remaining exams.
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| EvyBrasil
Forum Junior
Topics: 11
Posts: 57
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Hi! Congrats!!!!
I am going to try again, a second time!!
And your experience helped me a lot!!
I hope I pass in my 2 time!!!
Now I am memorizing each word of FA and adding some notes from BRS and HY to my FA.
Reading first Aid again I can see that it is all in there!!
How long did you prepare for your second time? How long did you take to read Kaplan notes? that by the way, I am intersted to buy. My e-mail is evelyneg@ig.com.br.
Thanks!!
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| drworm
Forum Senior
Topics: 11
Posts: 138
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Thanks! I studied from May till mid-August for the second prep about 8 hours a day on an average.
By the way just remembered that they had a lot of weight and stuff in percentiles which I was not exactly sure and had doubts about. So make sure you know what they mean when they say something like the child's weight was in the 50th percentile. hope that can help someone.
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| reet
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 152
Posts: 1,411
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drworm.
Can you please advice about extra efforts on second time.. wht extra efforts you put second time that was your deficiencies on first attempt? wht did you add more in ur second attempt?
thanks,,your advice will be appreciated.
GOOD LUCK FOR THE FUTURE
Edited by reet on 09/27/05 - 03:23 PM
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| drworm
Forum Senior
Topics: 11
Posts: 138
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for one I studied full time. the last time I was working fulltime which gave me less time to prepare. also I did not know about this forum so had no clue about where I stood as far as prep. Did not do Kaplan, did not do NBME. Just read and read HY and BRS. That's it. This time I could at least evaluate myself better.
GL to you too.
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