LisaM
Forum Guru
Topics: 16
Posts: 321
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Duration of Preparation: 6 months
This forum helped tremendously in planning and making a schedule for exam, keeping track of progress and also in getting motivation to keep working. I read many "exam experiences" posted in the forum before planning my own study routine.
I used Kaplan materials, Kaplan Q book and UW. CMDT for reference.
My order of choice for first reading:
I did this very quickly with focus on speed rather than depth jsut to familiarize myself with the concepts and topics tested. I read Psychiatry first while waiting for Step one results because most of the material was already familiar from preparing for step one. It helped build my confidence. Then I completed Surgery and OBG, and then IM and Peds. This took me about two months.
Second reading- choice and plan:
I started my subscription for UW and worked on the questions subject wise starting with IM. Since I started second revision of IM right after my first read, I was quite comfortable. I tried to complete 50 pages at a time and then did questions on the same topic. This way, I was really learning from two sources instead of testing myself. I took extensive notes on the answers I got wrong. I also learnt the wrong answer that appealed most to me. For example, if the question described a case of kawasaki diseasee, and I chose Measels, I would write in my notes 1. Kawasaki disease (MA measels). I would compare and contrast the two and make notes. I loved reading these just before my exam as it was mostly stuff that was new to me.
Third reading: 20 day plan
Medicine- 6 days
Day 1- Cardiology
Day 2- Infectious Diseases
Day 3- Pulmonology, GI
Day 4- Hematology, Rheumatology, Emergency Medicine
Day 5- Endocrine, Renal
Day 6- Neurology, Preventive Medicine
Surgery- 3 days
OB- 2 days, Gyn- 1 day
Psychiatry- 3 days
Peds- 5 days
I tried to combine IM and Peds, but it did not work well for me. I did questions from Kaplan Q book at this time. I wanted to do a 4th reading by the same schedule, but I was not able to, because of personal reasons.
I think mastering the different question answering techniques helps a lot. I learnt to use most of what I had read from the Kaplan Q book and from this forum- Reading the first line and last line of the question, glancing at the answers and going back to read the entire question, scanning through the lab values, reading only 3 or 4 lines if I had to re- read the question- they all helped me.
Learning a bunch of numbers is a real struggle for me, but there is no time to look up all the lab values, so it is useful to actually know them. Early on, I decided that I was NOT going to learn some levels- like ferritin, prolactin etc. Those were sometimes given in the question itself or I was willing to look up lab values for them if needed. I wrote down what I had decided to learn rounded to approximate numbers and related values and looked this up every time I worked on questions. In the last two weeks before exam, I spent few minutes going over this daily. Seeing the numbers written in my own handwriting was helpful to me.
I was sick with respiratory infection when I went for the exam and braced myself for extreme fatigue, but miraculously, I did not feel very tired during the exam. May also be partly because I took Tylenol after 3rd and 6th blocks even though I did not need it then. I had enough time to complete each block and also review all marked questions- I marked 4 to 6 per block. I got my result in 3 weeks. I am thankful to God for His great Mercy and for support from my friends and family. I will be glad to answer any questions.
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lisa
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| chemamr
Moderator and PGY2
Topics: 703
Posts: 4,442
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Congratulations  Lisa. Well done!
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| babli
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 425
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Congratulations!you & sarika got the exact same scores today.
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| 3535
Forum Guru
Topics: 19
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 congrats,its time to enjoy!
Can you please tell me how long you took for your 2nd read in which u were doing UW for the first time. it'll be very beneficial to me.thanx.
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| infliximab
Forum Guru
Topics: 22
Posts: 320
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CONGRATULATIONS, ENJOY UR SCORE, U DESERVE IT!
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| karusmle
Forum Guru
Topics: 292
Posts: 986
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congradulations lisaM , well , how many months did u susbcribe usmleworld and did u do ur kaplan Q BANK AND Q BOOK???in which reading did u do ur kaplan Q bank and Q book?
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| p53
Forum Guru
Topics: 51
Posts: 804
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Congratulations, LisaM!
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| acemle
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
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congrats LisaM!
time to celebrate now
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| kingsofke
Forum Guru
Topics: 24
Posts: 715
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 I am so happy for you. I know how big an achievement this is considering all the other things you just had to do. I am sure with your strong determintaion you can pull off anything you set your mind on. All the best to you for the cse and residency. And thank you so much for being there for me.
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| achilles
Forum Guru
Topics: 87
Posts: 1,208
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congratulations lisaM...i had been reading your posts and they were an inspiration to me...your determination was really inspiring and just like kingsofke said...this is a big achievement...its all about defying the odds and you have set a very good example. thanks also for your exam experience and telling us how you prepared for this exam.
good luck to you for your remaining exams and the match.
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| amygdalaa
Forum Guru
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Lisa
Congratulations for a job well done! Enjoy your score!
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| LisaM
Forum Guru
Topics: 16
Posts: 321
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Thank you everyone for kind words.
Karusmle, I subscribed to USMLE world for 2 months (mid october to middle of December) and did Kaplan Q book questions during my third reading. It took me over 3 hours to complete each block of UW- one hour to mark answers and two to read explanations and take notes. I also completed Kaplan Q book for step 3 but did not do Kaplan Q bank. Since I am an old grad (1996) I was very anxious when I started pareparation for CK and bought quite a few books. I had First Aid, Crush Step 2, Blue Prints in Medicine and Pediatrics, BRS for OBG, BRS for surgical specialities and CMDT. I had also bought NMS and Mock Exam which have approximately 750 practice questions each. I have gone through entire books of Blue Prints IM and BRS OBG and really liked them. For IM, I realized that Kaplan was more comprehensive and exam oriented than BP and decided to stick with Kaplan. Though I enjoyed reading BRS OBG (which is also by Dr. Sakala) I felt that the Kaplan text reads like a compact version of the same and is much easier to revise. I ended up revising only Dermatology from FA and hardly used Crush step two or BP for peds. I did refer to CMDT and took notes in my kaplan text some relevant extra points for select topics that I had trouble with- for example heat syncope is a result of cutaneous vasodilatation and cerebral hypoperfusion. Heat stroke patients cant sweat. etc. Same with Surgery too. I did only one block of questions from NMS and had a dilemma- I could have either done entire NMS and Mock exam questions or revised my UW notes which were close to 500 pages. I decided to revise UW notes since I have read that many people have scored 99 by just using kaplan materials and UW. When you think about it, UW is the undisputed # 1 source of questions for CK and tests almost all concepts for the exam. If one is thorough with the concepts that should probably suffice. Ofcourse, this is only my opinion, and it is a good idea to find out more and try things for yourself before deciding on what materials to use and how and when to use them.
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lisa
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| sobia naeem
Forum Elite
Topics: 30
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great score lisaM ..best of luck for csa and residency
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| LisaM
Forum Guru
Topics: 16
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Thank you, Sobia. All the best to you too.
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lisa
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| SilatK
Forum Guru
Topics: 42
Posts: 580
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Great score and nice schedule. I have following the same. Hope it works too. Thank you for posting the info
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| Transcriptio
Forum Senior
Topics: 39
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LisaM,
Way to go!! excellent score!!
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| Dragonfly
Forum Elite
Topics: 21
Posts: 322
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excellent score Lisa, congrads.
I have a Q. and i hope you can help me:
i am in my final year at my med school and from what i have heard and i can see, our school isn`t exposing us much to the clinical case encounters. basically what i have is from books i read. i took step 1 two months ago and scored 245/99 and i am planning to take step 2CK in 7 months. do you think there is a chance for me to get a 90+ score on step 2 considering my lack of real clinical experience and just simply by reading the Kaplans and UW ?
also i have a non-USMLE Q.s : do you think that CMDT is a good book for a regular med school course? i am asking this b/c i read Current surgery,pediatrics,GYN and to be honest found them very bad. it felt like i was reading 10s of pages and i didn`t learn anything new. just a bunch of research statistics. nothing practical and clinical. is it the same with CMDT?
thank you for your great help and Good luck for your future
Edited by Dragonfly on 08/02/06 - 08:53 PM
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| ram3
Forum Guru
Topics: 47
Posts: 510
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dear dragon fly your posts are all the same can you write something different for a change
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| vanshita
Forum Guru
Topics: 22
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congratulation lisa
thanks for sharing with us
GOOD LUCK for match
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| kity
Certified.............
Topics: 31
Posts: 1,066
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CONGRATULATIONS!!! GOOD LUCK FOR RESIDENCY!!!
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| MRMAVERICK
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 719
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congrats LISAM
well done
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| snake0613
Forum Elite
Topics: 88
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congtrats, lisam
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| Rx
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 28
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Hey LisaM! Brilliant job buddie! You have done a wonderful thing for all those who wana start right from the scartch and feel very blind with no guidance. May God Bless you always for your great help to infinite people.GL
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