tolito
Forum Fanatic
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thanks serenity. i sometimes worry that i probably sound unstable. today happy and excited, tomorrow, unhappy and 'suicidal'!!!
my best subject so far is behav sciences. i thought i was done with the worst between neuro and biochem but this is ridiculous - microbiol is riduculously boring. i am reading mrs micro and i expected to laugh (like i did with mrs neuro). man, these mrs micro guys are as serious as their bugs. i have read a total of 20 pages and slept a total of 4hrs in between.
ok i start again. hope to read up to 100 pages before going to bed tonight.
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| USMLEGladiator
2009 & still in race
Topics: 132
Posts: 495
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tolito,
how u people r able to read 100 kaplan pages in a day?Do u just skip thru pages or read seriously ?R u able to memorise at such "high" speed of reading;-) Or I'm too slow in reading?
Even in my second reading of kaplan notes,i can barely read 30-40 pages/day.
any suggestions.
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Chance favors only the prepared mind. - Louis Pasteur. Jo hona hai, hona hi hai.
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
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usmlegladiator, first, i read everything fast. i need to slow down with text. but what is the disadvantage, i do not get the full detail the first time. i get the general layout. so i need to read same stuff like 3 to 4 times in order to make sure i have not left out any detail. yes i do try to memorise some stuff along the way but i forget promptly. so i need to make lots of notes while reading cos this slows me down. so you are probably more efficient if you read once but slowly. the only problem i can see with reading slowly and trying to memorise at same time is you may end up not having enough time to read thro all the material you have. so maybe you want to step up your pace and read over slowly the second time. but guess what, you are probably used to this style so do what is comfortable for you.
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| fruit
Forum Senior
Topics: 1
Posts: 89
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Hi tolito..Hope that u r banging biochem. Well, its a kinda confusing and volatile stuff. I would suggest to read biochem and biostatistics one more time before the xam and ofcourse making notes out of biochem 'll really help u.It helped me a lot. Have fun!GL
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| female doc ny
Forum Senior
Topics: 15
Posts: 169
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keep on moving tolito and micro is quite good in kaplan to tell u the truth also the charts they had at the end of micro is good to review the day before of the exam well i pray for u
good luck
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 119
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fruit, i gave up on bioch after a while but i am still going back to thrash it!!!!
female doc, kaplan always scares me!!! i need some more explanations than are in kaplan. i tried micro there but gave up. will go over kaplan once i am done with mrs.
yesterday was fun and demanding at same time. i just got an observership at a clinic near me. nice people. first we had our usual morning seminar then i shadowed a doctor at his clinic. i willl be doing that every wednesday.
clinic was done at 4pm then i had a little nap and went off for softball at the university. yours truly never handled a bat before!!! well i did pitch well but i fell wihile running back from second base!!!!!!! anyway, i enjoyed the experience. oh one more funny thing, i held on to the bat while running!!! didnt know iwas meant to drop it. well my team was severely 'thrashed'. 20 - 5!!!!
today, micro again.. got to do 100 pages to make up for lost days. i only made it to 70 the other day. so really i ought to do 130 to make up but, 100 is bad enough.
mrs is easy reading but i still say it is boooooooooring.
today's moto
HE WILL DO IT
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| 26malik
Forum Guru
Topics: 39
Posts: 429
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Gosh I missed that game......
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There is always hope
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| 26malik
Forum Guru
Topics: 39
Posts: 429
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Good luck for micro. the problem is that you sudy 100 pages and you think you know what you just read and than you try to solve questions and score is 44%. i think we need to look at it in broader sense. look for generelizations and than find exceptions. and along the ready made charts in MRS, make some of our own. as aliya pointed out to me.
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There is always hope
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 119
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yes that is the way to handle such a convoluted subject like micro. thanks for the tip malik.
so today has by far been the most rewarding day. i actually did 100 pages and made notes so i know i did not just skim through the pages. it was easier reading down cos i was reading more familiar bact like mycoB rather than the rickettsia family and co i never liked.
so i ahve made a lot of charts too. like tests and org, disease and causative org, stains and org, special cultures and org that cannot be cultured, dis and incubation period, lymph node enlrgt and causative org, photophobia adn org that cause it, culture medium and org. so i make the lists as i go along. if i just stare at these pages a couple hours before my exam, i will surely remember ?
tomorrow i take up where i left off. viruses. dear Lord, help me finish the rest of mrs tomorrow. 100 pages. so i can use the whole of saturday for clinical vignettes adn qbank and revision. i am having friends coming over for a cook out so i need to ahve all of this under my belt before they arrive otherwise, i will be seriously behind.
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| sachida
Forum Guru
Topics: 57
Posts: 532
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Tolito, not that I want to drag you to different book but have you looked at microbiology made rediculously simple..
I am not sure how much time you have but boy that book is GOOD..I really was poor in the subject but reading this book was a breeze..even the worst parts of virology were readable..I
am still no good at parasites and protozoans but others I have done good consistently.Just a suggestion if you are struggling with the subject..
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| sachida
Forum Guru
Topics: 57
Posts: 532
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wait it seems mrs is what you are reading..
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| Serenity
Forum Senior
Topics: 4
Posts: 77
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Hi tolito,
i had to stop by and let you know that your support and encouragement of others at this forum is truly wonderful.
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| dipti
Forum Elite
Topics: 32
Posts: 237
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hey tolito,
wow,you read hundred pages a day!with work!you are really great.thanks for stopping by my diary.i have exam in may but i still cant catch that speed .i am a slow snail!everytime i plan and i dont complete it.and also i dint do well at NBME so i was so ashamed of myself that i stop writing diary i dont derserve between you guys until i do something storng.
good luck buddy,your diary is motivating me to go ahead.
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| rouadefoc
Forum Senior
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Posts: 109
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Keep on going tolito
Good luck, you are doing more than great.
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When God is protecting who can stand against?May God be with all of us.
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 119
Posts: 2,174
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hi guys,
thanks for dropping by and for your encouraging words. rouadefoc, i appreciated you. sacchida, MRS is really easy to understand. i just love it. thanks for your suggestions .
dipti, i was blessed yesterday with good concentration and understanding. the other thing on my side was the fact that the last bit was about orgs i was familiar with and then antimicrobial therapy which i had read in pharm. then yesterday was my day off work!!! usually when i go to work i average 8hrs a day studying ( 2-3hrs before going to work and 6-8hrs when i return). never mind your speed, the most important thing is to understand what you read. i am under pressure to at least complete all the subjects first read so i need to speed up. my time table shows i cannot afford to slacken up at all. NBME at this time isnt representative of what you will know in another couple of weeks, going by the experience of most guys eg zerocool so dont be discouraged. just face those areas you are weak at and go over your stuff and FA many times. that is what those who have done the exams say to do. and FYI i hardly ever complete what i scheduled to do. now what woudl have happened if i did not have a schedule? i wouold probably be feeling good about all i have read not knowing that i am not studying enough!!! that is the essence of making schedules. dipti dont be discouraged. please write in your diary so we can all know how you are doing and we can encourage you. someone may have a sugggestion on how to improve your score just from reading your experience. ok enough preaching on my part!!!
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| tolito
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today, i am starting late cos i slept very late yesterday. i stopped reading at 2am, visited friends on the forum and went to cook. my hubby had gone to work. so he arrived 5am, had breakfast with him and went to bed at 6am. so i am up at 11am. i did not rigidly follow my routine yesterday for 2 reasons, first i was actually ENJOYING reading micro. so i did not want to break the concentration. second, my hubby loves me welcoming him home from work. he goes out 3 nights so i try to do that on at least one night. today is friday, i have scheduled my work for mon so i dont have to appear at the lab. good thing my boss is away today too
guess what, i took a peek at kaplan micro, my demon is now just a bogie man!! non existent... ha ha. i wondered why on earth i could not understand it the first time. anyway, there is stuff in the book i did not come across in mrs. if i did come across them, i must have missed them. that is the beauty of kaplan. very concentrated with stuff. i am no longer intimidated with it.
today, i hope i can do the last pages of mrs so i can review tomorrow befor my cookout.
today's moto
I AM THE HEAD AND NOT THE TAIL
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| general malaise
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hi tolito, sounds like you are doing great with micro. keep up the good work.
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
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thanks general malaise. i have not done much today just 30 pages so far. hubby wants to go movies. i will see if i can negotiate a late movie. that will give me another 2 and half hrs to study and maybe 50 pages.
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It has been a looooong hard journey but I am inches away from my destination...
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| tolito
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never got to 50 pages just 40!!! teh viruses were a real plague. just struggled to finish them. could not handle the protozoa so i skipped to prions. HAAA from pan to fire. so i stop. it took long cos i was making notes along the way. i have added a few more lists, most common cause of diseases, diseases and vectors, dis and reservoir.
its 1:30 am so i know i cannot wake up early tomorrow. i have the balance of 30pages to do tomorrow, i have qbank to do, kaplan notes to go over, i have a biiiig pile of laundry to do, i need to clean the house, i need to go grocery shopping, i need to go to the bank, i need to do my hair,,, all tomorrow before 2pm. hmmmmmmm.
anyway today's gone and i thank God for it.
bon nuit!
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| sachida
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Keep it up tolito..I have no laundry and hubby to take care of and still I am behind schedule..
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 119
Posts: 2,174
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thanks sachida. woke up 9:30. have washed hair, first load in washer, tidied kitchen up a bit and i will try and read 20 pages in between machine loads. then i head out in 2hrs' time. hopefully i will be back before my friends arrive.
woof what a day this will be.
today's moto
I CANNOT AFFORD TO FAIL
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| 4mymd
Forum Junior
Topics: 1
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tolito, way to go huh? keep on going buddy! By the way... You may want to check out my journal, got a surprise there for you
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| USMLEGladiator
2009 & still in race
Topics: 132
Posts: 495
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How is ur typical daily timetable like.?How many hrs/day of quality studies?How many kaplan pages/day?
How much daily time for Qs & how many Qs/day?How many hrs sleep?
U might have piled up ur own notes by now.Do u revise ur notes alongside?
I'm asking these Qs, because for myself all these things r difficult to fit in 24hrs days!
My step1in June.
thanks & Good luck to all of us.
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Chance favors only the prepared mind. - Louis Pasteur. Jo hona hai, hona hi hai.
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 119
Posts: 2,174
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that was a cool surprise from 4mymd! a goljan pix. thanks.
usmle gladiator, typically i spend 8hrs/day studying, weekends i can do 12 or even more. no of kaplan pages, depends on how ' saturated' my brain is and how ' interesting' the stuff is but i try to study at least 50 pages a day. if i have read teh stuff in another text before kaplan then i can read up to 100pages or even more a day. but so far, i have done that only with behav and physio. i have not done second reading for the others. no of questions per day depends on what percentage of the study material i have read. i try to do them when i have read like 50% first read. i initiially aimed for 50 qbank per day but i ahve not met that target yet. i am hoping to be able to do that by next week. so i can use it as revision for the stuff i have learnt lest i fortget them all.
my schedule is pretty tight and i am really pushing myelf for june second or third week. then step 2 cs in july and step2 ck in sep. i need to match in 2007. if i do not feel ready for the exam as is objectively indicated by NBME in june, then i will defer it till july.
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
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so it is now 4:30 am. i got up at 4 could not sleep anyl onger. guess what woke me up......... MICROSPORIA. these bugs wont let me have a decent sleep.
went to bed at 12 midnight. was exhausted. my friends left at around 8. we had such fun cooking together. oh very rich food. some chinese salad, african 'red' rice, and some really wickedly delicious chocolate cake desert. yummy. i was tired when they left but could not sleep so i got off the bed at 9 and spent the rest of night watching the NBA playoffs with hubby. sure glad the heats beat the bulls; close call though. now that is going to be a big distraction, the NBA . the compromise is to watch ONLY heats, suns and spurs.; those are my favourite teams.
so now i study for another 3 hrs and hopefully can sneak in an hour's sleep before church lest i go there and snooze on the pastor!!!
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