anothergoljanfan
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 83
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Hi all,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Been a silent visitor. All I want to give back is by writing back, not too long a thesis. But a heartily contribution to all those new usmler’s especially those in <?xml:namespace prefix = st2 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />India. Know it’s going to help a single usmle soul. Mark my words,it’s not just doable but also damm scoring.
All the things you need is
(1) <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas:contacts" />kaplan notes. (which you can get from your friends) kaplan notes are important but no need to go to the centre. It’s not the score which make me say so but one’s own confidence to do steps without the need to spend 70,000. (which may be a irrational expenditure!!!! Save that money for applications which is going to cost you a few lac of rupees . GET FROM YOUR FRIEND!
(2) mp3 files of webprep(which you can get from your friends) or preferably DVD files(which you can get from your friends or from the net. If you buy online from internet, you pay around 140 $ i.e. approx.6500Rs. .You can copy from your friend’s collection at the price of blank DVDs.Approx 480Rs @ 20Rs each So its’s not even worth buying from the net. )
(3) goljan lecture notes and audio
(4) goljan 88 pages highyield notes (for last day quick revision)
(5) Prep4usmle forum and exam experiences. Read even those which are even one year old. It helps a lot . The posts solves your any damm query.
(6) N.B.M.E is a must. I mean if you do one of three forms of CBSSA its ok. Because I feel it’s little bit costly but when you get the result its worth . Overall it’s a MUST.
(7) Compass simulated CD which you can copy from your friend’s CD. The more you practise simulate exam, the better you score. One test to be taken 2 months before your exam. It should be afixed a date and to be done with full form as you did for your final M.B.B.S. The other simulation should be taken 1.5 month before and then N.B.M.E 1 month ahead of your step 1 date. i.e.
compass simulated test1(2months to go)àcompass simulated test 2(1.5months to go)à N.BM.E (1 month to go).Remember kaplan simulated is a easy one which has just mere repetition of questions at the back of kaplan notes
(8) Other materials like webpath, qbank, clinical vignette qbank,q book…….bla bla…bla…bla are also a Must. If you manage the q bank CDs from your friends, then you don’t need to buy the costly 180$ online one. B ‘cos what I personally feel is that the new Q bank available online may contain a few new questions but about 80% of questions are shere repetition..so if you manage to get the q bank CD, don’t fool your self by buying the online Qbank. You may use that money to buy extra NBME forms 2 and 3 of CBSSA . which will give you more confidence.
(9) Personally feeling First Aid didn't help cos everything is given in ABC and too much basic which is just a repetition of kaplan notes. So i prefered reading kaplan notes thoroughly rather reading FA.May be it's not needed. The only thing which is helpful is the "Test taking STrategy" and the photos.
Till now my thesis look like I am a great money saver guy but practically thinking if you can score the sky without spending much, why spend much.(buy your honey a bouqet, she would be happy)
Preparation: Typical Indian graduate start for usmle during their internship. So depending on the time you can spend during your internship, your time for preparation may vary. But good preparation needs full 6 months.My real preparation started in march 06 and gave exam on 15th sept.
1st reading takes 2-2.5 months. Then every reading takes 1 month. The last 2 reading before your exam should start 50 days before exam. With 20-21 days for each reading and some days for simulated exams(atleast 3 exams should be done) your 50 days are the true hardship are done and you are well prepared for your exam.
Exam day: The other posts on the forum are the excellent guide of how to go during the exam. Please let’s respect the NBME and not discuss the questions.They are similar to NBME forms CBSSA.
My score are Usmle step 1 : 99/245
NBME FORM 1 : 640 (246 is the correlation)
Compass simulated test 1 (70%) & test 2(72% )
Kaplan simulated 72%
USMLE CD 38/44/42
Feel free to ask any questions
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| farjoudi
Forum Junior
Topics: 8
Posts: 40
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Congratulations!
Dear my friend
Please inform me about the book which you study for the usmle
Some Kaplan lecture notesaren’t enough and they are brief .
Do you thing Kaplan lecture note cover more than 90 present of usmle question
About dr goljan I have mp3 40 hours +systemic and general note and 36 pages high yield
I don’t heard about 88 pages note of dr goljan.how can I get it,can I download it from internet. Whats your resorce for patology slide and disease..i hope you get same score in usmle step2
Thank you so much
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| sailingship
Forum Elite
Topics: 31
Posts: 173
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IF YOU HAVE TIME READ HIS NOTES BUT IT WOULD BE A BETTER IDEA TO LISTEN TO HIS LECTURES AGAIN.
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| drk1980
Forum Guru
Topics: 147
Posts: 1,038
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Congrats! thanks for the post. How long before the exam did you attempt the kaplan sim? And what did you do after to make up for the 72%? thanks.
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| anothergoljanfan
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 83
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To farjoudi
Thanks for your regards.
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas:contacts" />Hope your preparation is fine.[/size>
1. kaplan pathology
2. goljan pathology
3. kaplan pharmacology ]
4. kaplan biochemistry. User friendly and to the point needed for the boards
5. kaplan's microbiology for fungus morphology, bacterial and viral genetics.
6. jawetz for bacterial and viral morphology.(lots many recommend micro made ridiculously simple, so do look out for that book, which I think must be nice as the name suggest. Jawetz is little bit too much.)
7. kaplan's immunology
8. kaplan's neuroanatomy is more than enough. May be to help us in neurology.
9. high yield embryology (lippincott williams wilkins).Infact what I infered is that the embryology in kaplan is a copy from LWW which is broken accordingly in respective sections
10. kaplan's gross anatomy and histology
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Initially during your 1st reading you may feel Some Kaplan lecture notes aren't enough and they are brief . Infact the same problem happens with everybody. But with your 2nd reading you will gain little confidence and as you do more and more questions you will gain confidence on the book. <?xml:namespace prefix = st2 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Infact kaplans are manufactured to cover more than 90% the information covered on the step 1. The rest of 4-5% is covered from the solutions to the questions you practise. Atleast 10,000 to 12,000 question should be done to be done for you boards.
From where do you get 10-12 thousand questions? Approximately the following numbers
2,100 --- Q Bank
3,400 --- BSS
1,500 ---- kaplan's clinical IV
Total 10,950 questions
My pathology source for slides was webpath which I got from my friend. It has excellent slides. Infact the neuroanotomy brain section slides are more or less same as those you see at the exam.
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| anothergoljanfan
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 83
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To
drk1980
I attempted compass simulated test 1 about 2 months before the exam, then test2 compass simulated 1.5 months before. I was told by my friend that the compass simulated tests are little tough than kaplan simulated and the kaplan simulated has lots of repetition from the questions at the end of each chapter in the kaplan notes. which i foun to be true.
TO improve your score from say 65 to 70/72% , all you need is just a repetition of kaplan's notes reading. The more you read notes, more it penetrates and more you recall during your simulations.
What i did was to read kaplan's for some 8 to 10 hours from 9.00 a.m to 9.00 p.m then 3-4 hours of questions . about 100 -150 question with explanations at night.. and made this a habit . no matter which day was it. No weekend fun , no Sundays. Just maintain your schedule till you are done. Took a break every 15 to 20 day to go out to a nice restaurant..
the essence is (kaplan & kaplans) + goljan
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| cyra
Moderator
Topics: 29
Posts: 844
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awesome score!...congratulations!
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| goljan_fan
Forum Senior
Topics: 30
Posts: 96
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Congrats.May god bless u for another 99. have u done Goljan Patho Review Or Big Goljan Patho 500 pp.How much time u spent on Patho. during revisions ?Can u pls post ur/typical time/subject schedule for step.1.
Esp. what was ur time schedule for final reading for step1?How u divided time for diff. subjects & which material u studied?
thanks & best wishes for step2.
Edited by goljan_fan on 12/30/05 - 07:28 PM
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GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP OTHERS.
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| farjoudi
Forum Junior
Topics: 8
Posts: 40
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dear my freind thanks for comprihensive answer
can you kindly ask you some question
whats you refrence for statices and epidemiology and beehavior sceince
if you read kaplan lecture note ,can you answer
the patient-physician relationship
and which lecture note of goljan did you read
i have 36 pages and also sytemic and genral note of goljan near 500 pages and
but i think its for 2 years ago
what kind of neeurosceince slide you have in your exam
thank you so much
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| anothergoljanfan
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 83
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to [url=http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/memberlist.php?agoljan_fan[/url]
thanks for your complements.
I did only goljan lecture notes of 500 pages. I think it is more useful than review from the audio point of view. The goljan 40 hr audio goes hand in hand with the goljan lecture notes(500 pg) and not with the review notes. I even had goljan review notes but did not use them because they are more like a paragraph description and less userfriendly and many of the important points being missed out. When comparision made between the two. The lecture notes(500pg) is given more point wise hence easy to revise. Infact all of goljan is excellent stuff but If a beginner asks about which goljan notes I would surely and firmly advice 500 pg lecture notes. Many of my friends initially were on review notes who had to switch on to the 500 pg lecture notes and found their decision correct. How can you do review when you havn't done original view(I mean the big goljan500 pg lecture notes)
Revision:
The last two revisions I started 50 days before my date. 23 days for each revision. One day for goljan high yields notes( I did not do FA at all)and three days were divided in between the revision for simulated exams , NBME form 1.
Thus in total I gave seven months of study for step 1. I read entire kaplan's for 5 times.
First reading took 2.5 months. Then with each reading the time consumed gradually decreased. Till my last reading took 23 days.
The review of my last revision is
5 day pathology
3 day micro
3 day pharmac
2 day Behav Sc
3 day physio
3 day biochem
4 day anatomy (may be more time given cos it is more lengthy and I did not have the heart to read it superficially and go to the boards)
Hope I was able to give you true guidance about the preparations. Best of luck for your exams
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| anothergoljanfan
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 83
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To farjoudi<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Sorry, I did not write my reference for stats and epi and BS though I did use in my first reading <?xml:namespace prefix = st2 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas:contacts" />Barbera Fadem. But it was confined to my first reading only cos I knew kaplan's are enough for all subjects. Once a few concepts uncleared from kaplan's are cleared from barbera, you donot need that book, so better not to buy them , but use from your school library.
Physician-patient funda will be cleared from the kaplan's and the questions you solve from the Q bank. Infact the basic theme of physician-patient relationship at the exam is same as that in the q bank. So in total the two will suffice.
The neuroscience slides are like ….they give you a clinical sceniario, from which you have to figure out at what level in the brain stem is the lesion and which cranial nerve is gone. After you make out the cranial nerve, you have to identify it from the gross specimen. Or they give you a sceniaro with say huntington’s disease and show you a cross section showing globus, putamen, thalamus, and ask you the site involved. Thus neuro anatomy more a pathological disease given and you need to identify the anatomy involved. The slides are very well given in the webpath including the CT, MRI given in the Radio section in the Webpath.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Hope this will help you a little bit
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| goljan_fan
Forum Senior
Topics: 30
Posts: 96
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thank u very much.
anotherQ: How many pages per day u studied Big Goljan Patho & in how many av hrs?
Were u able to revise it in ur last reading?Any good technik in revising Big Goljan Patho quickely?
Is it available in Delhi book stores & did u study 1998 ed?
best wishes & a very prosperous & very happy new year.
Edited by goljan_fan on 12/31/05 - 10:14 AM
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GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP OTHERS.
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| sam27
Forum Senior
Topics: 3
Posts: 118
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Hai another goljan fan,
Heartly congrats for such a great score . thank u for valuable advise. i wanted to know r u interested in selling your kaplan lecture notes iam looking for latest kaplan lecture notes for usmle step 1 2005-20006 edition pls respond. also r u interested in selling goljan book . pls reply
thank u god bless
sam27
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| tdmed
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 11
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congratulations!
When did you take the exam and receive the score? I took it on Dec. 3rd, still waiting. Probably because of the holiday.
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| anothergoljanfan
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 83
| | 12/31/05 - 10:37 AM
1 of 1 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #15 |
to agoljan_fan
Initially during my first reading , it took 1- 2 day per chapter from goljan to complete. But as i said as the number of reading increased, It took on an avg 3 hr to complete entire chapter. But big chapters like hemat, took 6 hr. So it takes 5 days to complete entire goljan at the last revision along with high yield notes. There is no firm technique , i believe you should listen to goljan audio atleast twice during your preparation. So before my last revision i had to take a day off just to listen to his audios because his voice tells you the answers during your actual exam.
So you should listen more of those audios topic which you feel you are weak at.
Actually, i got kaplan notes 2004 from a friend of mine who had been to banglore. but i have heard about the xerox copies being sold at delhi, bombay ,ahmedabad. The exact place i donot know.
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| anothergoljanfan
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 83
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to sam27,
Neah, i dont belive in selling books, had you been a friend living at my place, i would have given you my books without any penny.
you can buy these books from umle.step.com.
To tdmed,
Well what's been posted earlier in this forum is always true. It takes 3weeks to be updated on oasis. But not sure during the month of Dec, May be delayed due to Christmas. But dont worry, your result will correlate with your NBME form if you took any. All the best for your result. Keep faith in God.
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| yasvini
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 10
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Hi everybody
Great work anothergoljanfan. Wish you more successful USMLEs.
I've just started exploring the USMLE prep and would like to know what ,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
means? And any of you have any idea where i can get these prep notes and lectures cheap. Don't know anybody who's got them. Please help me out.
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| anothergoljanfan
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 83
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to yasvini:
i can post you the address if you are in india. write to me. my address is allanzajacob@yahoo.com. The add has english name just to conceal identity. But i promise i can guide you
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| sturge_weber
Forum Guru
Topics: 77
Posts: 1,042
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congrats anothergoljanfan, and all the best for step 2
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| anothergoljanfan
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 83
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thank you sturge_weber for you complements. same complements to you
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