BABELAAS
Topics: 6
Posts: 21
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Well its over
Did really well
Let me tell you about my exam experience
I am an old graduate from way back 1991
The most tested part was medicine obviously; about % 50 at least
I studied from NMS 700 pages but its a good book together with Usmleworld you master this subject very well. This is such a wide subject İt took me years to finish but rewarding
Obs& Gynae studied from Blueprints which is a very good book. It was heavily tested and during the exam and I was confident about it. I was actually looking for questions I felt so good about it. This book together with Usmleworld is more than enough. Nothing more. I failed that subject when I was in Med School btw.
Peads again from Blueprints. During the exam I thought that I did badly. But the score was otherwise. Must be the crossover from medicine.
Surgery , Most Common In , not a bad book but was not really that helpful. Usmleworld was a good help. Like perforation-AXR, diverticulitis- Ba enema contraindicated...... Small differences but the whole world. Trauma was widely tested over and over again.
Psychiatry my worst subject no advice at all. It seems High Yield and Usmleworld was of no help to me.
In all studied for 5 months. Had a break for 6 weeks in between due to family problems.
Review books 1. Aid and and Crush the boards. If you ask me both of them are not worth the time or the money.
Did only USMLE WORLD it is worth every penny. Scored % 71 in general. Only did in tutor mode. Made notes and redid every question the last week. Not as much to learn but to prepare for comp test. Overall cant put my finger to it. No direct questions asked but very similar. Was the most help but I dont know how to explain it.
If you asked me immediately after the test I would say I am f............ Went home and looked up and I wasnt doing too bad. During the test at the 6. block I had a burn out and panicked. Most of the answers I gave were on automatism. The advantage of doing comp test over and over again. You dont know the right answer but you know it can be only that. If you know what I mean.
I took my rest evenly and sacrified 5 min of test time to counter that problem. In my opinion no one cant go full speed at the exam; we all break down at some point. Damage control is the answer
Just did Usmleworld. Nothing else
99/263
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| FarEastGrapplerMD
Forum Newbie
Topics: 8
Posts: 29
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congrats on an EXCELLENT score. im having trouble with Ob on UsmleWorld. maybe i'll supplement with BluePrints as well
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| BABELAAS
Topics: 6
Posts: 21
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to Grappler
Dont get fooled its a heavy subject. The first read takes a week. But its rewarding . Do it.
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| shyma
Forum Senior
Topics: 1
Posts: 65
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congrats !!! well done 
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MAY ALLAH SHOWER HIS BLESSINGS UPON US
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| drsynapse
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 10
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hi
when did you give step 2 ck
thanks
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| BABELAAS
Topics: 6
Posts: 21
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29 dec 2005
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| som
Forum Guru
Topics: 59
Posts: 308
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Congratulations !!!
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| PT+MD
Forum Senior
Topics: 0
Posts: 36
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Congrat!!!
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| karyosome
Forum Senior
Topics: 19
Posts: 88
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hi
i'm doing the kaplan notes and videos... when shoud i start with usmle world???
how much time does it take to finish all of it along wilth all explainations?
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| karyosome
Forum Senior
Topics: 19
Posts: 88
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hi... CONGRATULATIONS FOR A GR8 SCORE...
i'm doing the kaplan notes and videos... when shoud i start with usmle world???
how much time does it take to finish all of it along wilth all explainations?
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| 3535
Forum Guru
Topics: 19
Posts: 297
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Congratulations.The world is at ur feet.
I have same q as above .Can u please tell how much time to give to UW in a 5 months prep.
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"It takes one hour to cut a tree ,but a thousand hours to sharpen the axe."
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| BABELAAS
Topics: 6
Posts: 21
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there are about 2000 + questions on usmleworl
depending on your knowledge it should take about 2 months
1 month option would be too short in my opinion
do it in last 2 months
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| hunk
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 5
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hey there...
congrats for the great score!!!!
any idea if kaplans alone would be enuf for the exam?i am reading pretest too and plan to do UW also...exams in april/may....dont have blueprints here...
ty:-)
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| amygdalaa
Forum Guru
Topics: 24
Posts: 399
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Hi Congrats on a great score! Since you said you were an old grad, could I ask you whether you were in the medical filed or out of touch. i too am an old grad. But I have not been in the clinical field for the last almost 8 years. I just want to have an idea, how hard it is to read med after many years. I plan to give step 2 in apr and I am yet to start serious prep. Maybe Iwill postpone to may.
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"If at any point you feel you cant..... then you MUST"
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| SilatK
Forum Guru
Topics: 42
Posts: 581
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Most people do UW since it is very close to Step 2.
amygdala just do a schedule and stick to it. you will do fine. You might need CMDT as a reference too. Good luck.
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| LisaM
Forum Guru
Topics: 16
Posts: 321
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Great score Babelass! Congratulations!
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lisa
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| achilles
Forum Guru
Topics: 87
Posts: 1,208
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hi babelaas , thats an awesome score...congratulations to you.
i am an old grad too...i finished in 1998...and i am not a post grad either...will it be a disadvantage for someone who has been out of medical school for such a long time to get into residency ... do they give residencies to such people or will i have lots of problems...is there anything else i can do to improve my chances other than getting good scores ? i know about the LOR's but i am in canada right now and getting externship here seems a little difficult...
i am going to be taking the step 2 ck in may 1st week ...i wish to apply for the 2007 match...thanks for posting your experience as it will be really helpful for someone like me...good luck to you
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" it's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up"
" i have miles to go before i sleep "
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| BABELAAS
Topics: 6
Posts: 21
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To Achilles in particular
First of all guys dont despair. If I can do it everyone can. I am old IMG from way back 1991. And I am Orthopaedic Surgeon on top of that. We are the mechanics of medicine. I remember the jokes of that my biceps dameter is greater than that of my brain. We are not the cleverest of people. We just set plasters and do some carpentry work.
That said I found studying for step 2 CK a lot easier and fun than that for step 1. I did enjoy studying. And while studying I remembered med school how much I forgot. But you dont forget. If you earned your degree without taking the easy road you will not forget. Sure medicine has changed a lot sure there are new test and treatment option. But the principle has stayed the same. If you have a solid foundation you can build on it.
I studied Medicine from NMS 700 pages. Read it 3 times. My first read I wanted to cry cause so many new things and so much forgotten. I set my goal to learn it, not to pass the exam. That was the best present that I can give to myself. And I started to read and read. After my 1. read I realized that I didnt forget that much and most of it came back to me like a flash. I was relieved. and went staright to he 2.nd read. By then I knew I can do it.
Next came Obs& Gynae. Blueprints. Again I wanted to cry but it is such a good book at the end of the first read I felt confident again. After I finished the book went for the 2.nd read just for good measure. I thought I mastered it.
Then came peadiatrics also from Blueprints . But the sacrifise of studying for my 5.year exam and not watching soccer world cup 1990 paid of. But we had such a terrible paeds departement that I had to study like a pig. 1 read was enough.
After that I picked Psychiatry from High Yield. Not a bad book. I knew that I was not good at it. Iread it over and over again. To this day I still cant master that subject. Guess orthopedic surgeons are blunt senseless people. Well on the one hand bones dont have feelings. Psychiatry was my worst score. I barely just passed it. So no advice there guys.
Neurology studied from Blueprints. I was off at first but its such an easy read.
Thereafter I decided to to subscibe to USMLEWORLD . I did in tutor mode and random subject. My score was in the low 60's. There I panicked a bit cause I studied as I would for my med school exam. Did a bit of soul searching and wondered what does ECFMG want me to know. Bought the FA looked at it. Went over my wrong answers and asked myself why............ By then I did 50 % of questions.
Went back to the drawing board revised my plan.
Read the whole stuff again paying attention to usmleworld type questions.
I was not doing too in Surgery. I did 6 years in surgery, including Urology, Plastics, Trauma, ICU, Peads surgery. I was disappointed. I also have ATLS. There I realized this is 1. world medicine. A CT scan is available within 5 min. I bought Most Common in Surgery. It is not an easy read. Quite a lot info in such a pocket size book.
Went back to USMLEWORLD and now I was doing 75-80 %. I finished Usmleworld with 71 %.
The last 2 weeks I just did Usmleworld. Every question and answer. That was very hard task. But it payed of. Doing questions were just like driving a car. On automatism. You dont realize how much you learn with doing questions.
Then came Prometric day. I knew all the questions but the answers were tough. It came down to 2 options about 25 % of the time. Never spend more than 55 min on a block. I took 10 min breaks. I sacrified 5 min of time on each block.
Had sort of a black-out in the 6. block. I couldnt concentrate properly. But knew this can be the only answer to that question. I think there it paid of doing Usmleworld over and over again.
I felt horrible after the test. I didnt knew how I did. And I couldnt even remember what they asked. I mean I know they asked about Pneumonia but so many question. Not to say that I would fail. But I thought I put so much into it that I expected to do better or at least be more confident.
As a general observation the once feeling misserable after the exam get top scores. The once who say they did good barely make it. Why is that?
Thats my story. 5 month of prep. IMG from 1991. It can be done. Trust me. What works for me may not work for you.
BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT. DONT GIVE UP.
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| amygdalaa
Forum Guru
Topics: 24
Posts: 399
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BABELAAS and SilatK
Thanks for your feedback. I am going to make a plan and stick to it. Goodluck to you.
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"If at any point you feel you cant..... then you MUST"
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| achilles
Forum Guru
Topics: 87
Posts: 1,208
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thanks babelass for the wonderful post and the encouragement...but are LOR's from one's home country good enough to try and get into residency in the US...getting LOR's from here in canada seems a little difficult...
i am going to take the step 2 ck in may and reading such good posts really does help in preparing well...thanks to all here
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" it's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up"
" i have miles to go before i sleep "
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| anu_usmle
Forum Senior
Topics: 17
Posts: 65
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can anyone please tell me what is USMLE World??? Is that questions bank for Step 2?? Please suggest.
thanks
anu
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| achilles
Forum Guru
Topics: 87
Posts: 1,208
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hi anu , usmleworld is an online question bank and it is v. v. good for preparing for the step 2 ck ....they have step 2 cs and step 3 courses too...you can go to their website and check it out...www.usmleworld.com ...good luck.
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" it's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up"
" i have miles to go before i sleep "
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| achilles
Forum Guru
Topics: 87
Posts: 1,208
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hey babelaas...how's it going ? well the mechanics of medicines are the smartest of them all and all the good students actually went into orthopaedics...so yu were been quite modest on that front ...good to read posts like yours...helps to prepare well.good luck.
and about the biceps been bigger than the brain...well maybe literally speaking ...the amount of physical exercise you guys do maybe that helps...i remember i once assisted in a surgery...it was # of the femur and i was supposed to pull the patients leg and keep it pulled ...for half an hour or so !!! maybe it was more...it sure felt like ages...and at the end of it my hands were shaking...well if i had to do it everyday then maybe i'd have bigger biceps too...
good luck to all
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" it's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up"
" i have miles to go before i sleep "
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| anu_usmle
Forum Senior
Topics: 17
Posts: 65
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Achilles
Thanks for your response.I appreciate.
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| USMLEGladiator
Forum Guru
Topics: 121
Posts: 411
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Babelas, how u managed so many things in 4-5 months.
pls tell how u divided time b/w different subjects?Did u study kaplan notes?
I'm too old grad 2001 & u r a very very big inspiration.have u applied for rersidency?
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scores are just up to how high we aim and of course the amount of effort and time we put into it
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