badseed
Forum Newbie
Topics: 11
Posts: 30
|
Hi all,
I am new to this site but have been searching the web for some inspiration and some experiences of others. I sat for the USMLE Step 1 mid April and have just tried the Oasis trick and it shows i have failed the exam. I am devestated. Yes, I waited until my score was reported. Now I am just waiting for the paper results to see what my score is and where I was weak.
I am so surprised by this. Stunned actually since I thought i was very prepared. I was scoring 75-85's on Q bank questions. I took two NBME exams and score 390 on first, then 370 on second. Those aren't good scores but I had 4 weeks more to prepare. I also did 3 extra blocks of NBME questions from the NBME cd and got 64/50, 72/50 and 62/50 on them. I thought I was ready. I am so confused now as too how to study. Study materials i used were:
Anatomy, Biochem, Physio, BS-Kaplan books and First aid
Path - Goljan
Micro and Pharm - First aid
Does anyone know if I should study Kaplan Path instead of Goljan Path?
Does anyone have other suggestions? I guess I'll have to wait and see where my weakness was. I plan to retake it in 2 months. I feel absolutley terrible. I guess there is no sure way of knowing you are ready to take the exam.
Any help would be appreciated.
|
| mavis
Forum Senior
Topics: 0
Posts: 84
|
Only write the exam, when u are getting 400 and above on NBME, pls post ur score when u get it, all the best next time, u were really close, next time u will score well over 80, all the best, good luck.
|
| mavis
Forum Senior
Topics: 0
Posts: 84
|
One question, was micro and pharm First Aid enough when u wrote step one, or did u see questions from outside that material such as kaplan, pls let me know, thanks. I'll try to help u as much as i can. Take care
|
| badseed
Forum Newbie
Topics: 11
Posts: 30
|
I felt like First Aid for both Micro and Pharm were very good and didn't think questions on Step one were outside of what was presented in those 2 study sources. I will of course have to wait till I receive my scores to see if I have interpreted this correctly and let you know. I had read through Kaplans pharm once and felt First Aids pharm was just as good/better since they categorized the drugs more effeciently and gave only high yeild points rather than going on and on like Kaplan tended to do. Although Kaplans chapter summary pages in pharm were good and I did look at those from time to time.
This time I think I will try and focus more on Goljan since I only went through his lecture notes 1.5 times and spent more time on First aide path. What I am so confused about was how well I was scoring on Q bank and i was so close with NBME. Oh well. It is horibble, discouraging and really makes me wonder if I am in the right field.
|
| samdoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 22
Posts: 90
|
hi, badseed,
dont be depressed, surely you can try harder a second time, and you will surely get through with flying colors.
Bythe way did you do Kaplan DVD lectures along with the lecture notes?
The lectures are very good, and you get to know alot of high yield topics , as you annotate along with them
|
| badseed
Forum Newbie
Topics: 11
Posts: 30
|
Hi Sam doc,
Yes, I had watched the dvd lectures and wrote down points along the side for all the subjects except Path in which I used Goljan written lectures. I have goljans audio but didn't listen to all of it since I found it took so much time. Do you think I should listen to it? I plan to re-write in 2 months.
I used Kaplan for anatomy but I actually find I wasn't as prepared using only that and FA. Do you know of any other anatomy review books that i should look at?
|
| samdoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 22
Posts: 90
|
hi, badseed,
yes , as far as i have heard goljan lectures are the best along with with his notes,
i am not sure which notes are better , his goljan 500 pages or his 100 pages.
Also, i have heard that Goljan pathology rapid review is very good as well, choose anyone of the notes along with his lectures
I am not really and expert w ith boook advice, am new around here ,
But i do know, a really good senior member of this forum - p53 who does know his/her books .
here are some of his/her threads, where he/she has suggested some good books you can choose from.
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/33410
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/33360
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/33508
Edited by samdoc on 05/04/06 - 08:49 PM
|
| mavis
Forum Senior
Topics: 0
Posts: 84
|
Bad seed ur in the right field, i think u failed by a point, which trust me when u pass the second time and its all said and done, and u are scoring in the 80's or 90's with ur next try, u will be thanking god that u failed by a couple of points, u are so close, don't lose hope,u are doing great so far, and Golgian i heard is the key, do both path FA and kaplan FA, and Golgian. Best of luck.
|
| badseed
Forum Newbie
Topics: 11
Posts: 30
|
Thanks for all your advice, help and encouragement. And samdoc thanks for the links, it has helped me think I need to supplement Kaplan with not just First aid but also another review book as well. I will definitely post my score and where my weakness was once i receive them.
Thanks again.
|
| p53
Forum Guru
Topics: 51
Posts: 804
|
he.
___________________
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein
|
| samdoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 22
Posts: 90
|
sorry about that p53, should have known you are a ' he'
good luck everyone
|
| OBO
Forum Senior
Topics: 10
Posts: 106
|
I want to ask one thing do u know your sources really thorough.I am asking this silly Qs because one important thing for clearing this exam is strong memorization. And u get this by revisisng one source againa nd again. Your sources are all perfect. One of my frend did what u used but she was very very thorough with each book.She got in 90s.Anyway gl . Work hard again and u will do graet.
GL
|
| badseed
Forum Newbie
Topics: 11
Posts: 30
|
Hi OBO,
I went through each Kaplan source about 3 times and Firt Aid about 4 times. Goljan not as many times as the others. I think this time I will do the same but spend more on Goljan and an extra anatomy source. I also only used Micro and parm from FA. Does anyone know if that is enough of a source? I will have to wait and see my results and see where I was weak. I'll probably get those on Monday or Tuesday.
|
| whisperer
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 7
|
Badseed,
I wouldn't worry about the test. Passing rates differ between populations of students and these are nothing to be worried about. The question is finding out your score and overcoming the areas you are not the most strong in.
The USMLE is not designed to be a bar you have to pass in terms of knowledge but rather scores one medical student against the rest of the country. It is essentially designed to highlight the most important areas while keeping the overall score down with rare and obscure syndromes that only a fraction of medical students know about.
As far as sources, I have been lucky enough to know two professors who write questions for the USMLE and they told me the following sources would more than suffice:
Gross Anatomy -- BRS Gross (Chung)
Biochemistry/Molecular --- BRS Biochemistry
Behavioral Science ---- BRS Behavioral science
Microbiology/Immunology --- LANGE's Medical Microbiology and Immunology (GET THIS BOOK)
Pathology --- Robins Review of Pathology/ BRS Pathology
Physiology --- BRS Physiology
Pharmacology --- Katzung and Trevor's Examination and Board REview
I would get First Aid because it provides the scaffolding for studying. Know everything in First Aid, use the rest to reference. QBANK is good but not perfect. Most of the questions are hastily written and they sacrificed quantity for quality. Board Simulator Series is over the edge...in other words if you are doing good on Board Simulator, the USMLE will be a piece of cake (it is very very hard).
Finally, for Gross, Embryo, Biostats, and Ethics...use First Aid. The USMLE is slowly moving more and more toward the BIG Ps (Physio, Path, Pharm) and less Gross and Embryo. I've known some people who said they didn't have one questions on embryo the whole test.
Good luck and Godspeed
|
| p53
Forum Guru
Topics: 51
Posts: 804
|
whisperer, your suggestions are controversial.
first of all, these 2 resources - BRS Gross Anatomy and BRS Biochemistry - definitely aren't the best out there - the first one is too detailed and not board oriented at all, and the second one isn't enough, especially, for molecular biology and genetics (I have had a lot of difficult genetic questions on my exam).
I also have got a lot of behavioral science and embryology questions - at the same time, physiology was tested very lightly - still, I think that costanzo's more detailed 'Physiology' is better than her too simplified 'BRS Physiology'.
Edited by p53 on 05/07/06 - 12:06 AM
___________________
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein
|
| maria_123
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 8
|
Hey Badseed...
Dont be discouraged by your step 1 score...just tell yourself that this exam was a learning experience, and let it push you to study harder and build on the material you already know. You were asking abt an additional anatomy source, and I would like to recommend the High yield series for all of Gross Anatomy, Neuroanatomy and Embryology. Since I haven't written the exam yet, I still cannot comment on how "good" or comprehensive these sources maybe...
Wish you all the luck!
|
| whisperer
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 7
|
I agree that the BRS Physiology review can't compare to the full book. As far as BRS Gross and BRS Biochem, that was mostly my preference. Lippincott also has a very detailed review with questions. As far as the behavioral questions and embryo, my class only got on average 2-3 questions with about 10 students having no questions on embryo at all. Gross was mostly in the teens to 20s. Two years ago the average of embryo was around 5-6 so it is slowly being replaced by path-oriented embryology rather than straight-by-the-book embryology out of say Langman's. The Physiology was considered to not a huge part but more importantly pathophysiology composed a reasonable portion. This was reflected in the assessments done at OSU and two other medical schools during the past three years. Of course is the USMLE different from area to area or even within the testing center? I do not know.
|
| badseed
Forum Newbie
Topics: 11
Posts: 30
|
Well I received my score today and got 180. I guess the good news is that I didn't pass with a sh***y score and now have a second chance to try to get a good one. My weakest areas were GI, Micro & Immuno, Respiratory and Endocrine. I'm not surprised by Micro & Immuno, GI or Endocrine since I felt I should have spent more time on it. I used FA for micro only. I have MMRS but I didn't like the way things were laid out. Does anyone know if Kaplan Micro is good or can suggest another book?
This time around I'm going to spend more time on Goljan using his lecture notes and audio. And thanks to Dr. Pak I have his slides as well. I'm also thinking of not using Qbank this time around since I was scoring 80's and it gave me a false sense of security. I'll use NBME instead to gauge how I'm doing. I plan to retake it in 2 months. I'll do a NBME exam half way through and then another 1 week before my scheduled date. If I'm not scoring well enough, I'll postpone it. Anyhow, thanks for everyones advice. The only new book I'm going to get is FA 2006 and Roadmap to anatomy although I was above boderline on anatomy. I still felt I didn't know it as well as I should. Wish me luck and good luck to all who are soon to take it!
|
|
| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
