hawk85
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 7
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hello guys ,
i am a new member here,i've read lots of experiences about step1
now i am thinking of reading
all kaplan books 2004 except brs+goljan audio for patho
kaplan dvd 2002
do them all 2 times while solving
q book ,qbank ,usmle world
at last FA with/out medessentials
all that in 5 ms(enogh!!!!!!!!!!!)
please guys i am aiming 99 ,is that enough to study 
by the way i am an average student not strong nor very weak at any single subject ,just average knowledge with average scores at med school(iam in may last year
thanks in advance,really thank u guys u r a great help(whether u answered this or not )bye
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| eishaan
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 1
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hey.. m new to this forum.. and will be an IMG (hopefully soon)..newaz, m in 3rd f med skul and intend to take the steps soon after graduation... and i think this thread is just way too good! hats off to askdoc for one of the most organised posts ive seen as of yet!!! ciao....
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| askdoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 1
Posts: 69
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Hello everybody, I'm back. It is heartening to see that this post which I have written almost 2 years ago is still helping people improve their scores in the USMLE. I am really encouraged by both the response and the result of my posts that, well, I've decided to continue helping people do well in the examination. I have started my own blog at blogs.askdoc-usmle.com. I've also provided link and trackbacks to prep4USMLE.com so that folks can receive additional help.
Now for those who have been helped in any way by my posts or other posts, I would like to ask you to also try to help out others by pointing them here at prep4usmle or to my blog. Together, I believe we can help more people achieve their dreams and aspirations.
I am currently writing a series titled "How to create a study plan for the USMLE" It's on Part 3 of what will probably be an 8 or ten part series. I'll also tackle common myths about the USMLE, study resources and study methods. Feel free to ask questions in my blogsite.
Meanwhile I am going to post one article which I originally started to write about a year ago to be posted here, but wasn't able to finish until now. It can also be found in my blog. Anyway, hope to see you there.
___________________
Step1 99/256, Step 2 99/258, Old IMG, 1989 grad. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's heaven for. http://blogs.askdoc-usmle.com
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| askdoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 1
Posts: 69
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The USMLE is the type of exam that tests not only your knowledge and mastery of medicine but also your ability to recall those facts. What you cannot recall, usually in the space of a minute or less, you do not know as far as the USMLE is concerned.  
There are actually 4 types of recall:
- Immediate Recall. These are concepts you can recall with a snap of a finger. In order to do well in the exam, this is the type of recall you need for most of the concepts tested in USMLE.
- Aided Recall. These are concepts you can recall with some cues. That's why mnemonics are a favorite. That is also why q's are increasingly 2 to 3 steps since the choices for a typical q can aid recall. This type of recall is generally slower than immediate recall, hence a time killer in a timed exam like USMLE. However, there are ways to make this type of recall effective for you, that explains the usefulness of outline notes vs. study notes.
- Familiar Recall. These are concepts you are familiar with but a little faded. It requires a lot of prompting and cues to remember. A lot of times when you learn new concepts, but forget it after sometime, it is in the form of familiar recall.
- Learnable Recall. These are concepts that you have learned a long long time ago that you've literally forgotten. However, it will be easier for you to relearn them than those who did not know about them in the first place. In order to do well in the exam, you need to put as many information in Immediate recall as much as possible.
Now about 1/3 of Step 1 is pure recall. Another 3rd requires some analysis but if you can recall it you can answer it. And about 1/3 requires extensive analysis and since you have about a minute to answer the questions, the faster you can recall the information, the more time you have for analysis. Fast recall is also very important in the first 2 types of questions, since it will give you much more time for the more difficult part of the examination that requires more extensive analysis.
Generally Aided recall is not as good as Immediate recall. Although Mnemonics can help, having important frequently tested concepts stored in your Knowledge Bank (KB) as mnemonics can be disastrous. Time in the USMLE is a precious commodity and aided recall may just be slow enough to harm your score. However, there is a way to use aided recall to your advantage. With the sheer volume of medical knowledge base, it is impossible to put everything in immediate recall. But if you can use information stored in immediate recall as the trigger for recalling information in aided recall, it can improve your performance tremendously. 
This is the basis for writing outline notes for lectures and textbooks. The outline notes are the information you need to put in immediate recall, with all the other information from the lecture or textbooks in aided recall to be triggered by the information you have mastered in your outline notes. This is the basis for the popularity of the FIRST AID and BRS series. However, outline notes contain only the bare minimum of information you need to know. Without the additional information from the texts and lectures, there is no additional information to be recalled when you need it for the exam. Hence, the importance of Study Notes like Kaplan for your review. But a basic problem of Kaplan Notes are that they are also trying to serve as outline notes and therefore the perennial complaint that Kaplan Notes are not enough for Step 1.
Therefore, it is good study methodology to write outline notes from your readings. If you chose to use First Aid or BRS, remember they are just outline notes and you may need to read up on additional topics in order to do well in the exam.
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Step1 99/256, Step 2 99/258, Old IMG, 1989 grad. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's heaven for. http://blogs.askdoc-usmle.com
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| paheli
It'sAllAboutGoodKarma
Topics: 150
Posts: 1,972
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Wow, it's so nice to see you here, askdoc. Thanks for everything! What's the update on you, please? Are you in Residency yet? Or did you match this year? Congrats on the awesome follow up CK score!
___________________
Prepare as if you're the worst, Perform as if you're the best! As you dream, so you manifest. So, DREAM BIG!! When you face hardship, remember, God never gives you more than you can handle. Success is the best revenge!
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| praying4a99
MS-III
Topics: 95
Posts: 2,416
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Welcome back
It has been a long time. What happened with your match? What is your latest news?
Your thread in Step 2 forum is still waiting for you to complete it
I'll add your blog to my blog reader.
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2008 Study Plan Discussion ..... My Personal Blog
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| doctor123
Forum Senior
Topics: 11
Posts: 123
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Hi askdoc
well, i am 10 yr old grad, struggling with first read ofcourse with full time job.
Done with BRS physio , now doing RR Goljan patho, but i cant read / memorise more than 10 pages per day while others read atleast 40 pages per day in their first read.
What to do inc. Reading speed esp during first read
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| askdoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 1
Posts: 69
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Hi everybody. Sorry it took me sometime to be back. I'll try to visit once a week. If you have any question that is urgent, feel free to go to my blog as I'm there 3x a week.
doctor123: The problem may be you are trying to learn and master the subject at the same time. Try to separate the learning phase from mastery phase. Learning phase requires understanding and usually takes longer while mastery is usually just repetition. You cannot master what you do not know, you have to learn them first and learning can't be hurried. That's why you don't schedule your examination until you've finished your learning phase as this phase can be long whereas the time required for the mastery phase is more predictable. This is tackled in more detail in my blog on "How to create a study plan for the USMLE".
hi paheli, praying4a99. as I told mytime a year ago, I have proven that an old grad can get a 99 but not that he can get interviews. Had 5 interviews, 3 waiting list which never became an interview. Ranked 2 (didn't want to spend anytime in the other 3 ) and did not match. Well actually also my fault because wasn't really that serious for the 2008 match due to personal and professional reasons, but was prevailed to try it just to get the experience.
Actually I didn't do a lot of things which I should've done if I'm really serious about getting a slot. First, I only applied to H1B categorical IM program and avoided what I thought were lower quality programs. Second, didn't do USCE due to some obligations, which turns out to be important. As some of you may already know, my decision to go train in the US is a professional one rather than an economic one. I own and run my own clinic and laboratory with 20 employees including 6 physicians. So cannot just drop everything and do 3 months of USCE in the US. (Resident annual salary is actually a pay cut for me) Actually, this issue came up a lot of times during interview w/ the interviewers wondering why I wanted to go to the US. They seem to think that the main reason should be economic??
USCE I think is more important for me because the number 2 question I'm asked (No. 1 is how I got a double 99) is that being 10 to 15 years older than everybody else, will I be able to go through internship and number 3 is can I work under physicians less experienced and knowledgeable than I am. I think an externship will probably count more than whatever verbal assurance I gave them.
Third, I did not follow up on the waiting lists, when everybody told me I should've if I am really serious. Fourth, I didn't call up every program in NY on January and February to get an interview. Actually, a friend who already finished her residency told me this. Usually on January and February, a lot of candidates drop their interview because either they have prematched or they already have too many interviews and would drop some. During my January interviews in NY, less than half the candidates show up for interviews, could've gotten a lot of interviews by calling programs up and asking to replace those candidates who have cancelled.
Last but not least, did not call up my former classmates, majority of whom are now prof or asst. prof in IM in a lot of Hospitals in the US. As one of my classmates told me(this was last week of Feb already), being an old graduate my application usually gets screened out in the initial screening done by the PC and therefore to get interviews should have tapped them. Found out from co-applicants during interviews that a lot of them got interviews this way.
Till next time.
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Step1 99/256, Step 2 99/258, Old IMG, 1989 grad. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's heaven for. http://blogs.askdoc-usmle.com
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| GOGETA
I PASS step 1
Topics: 228
Posts: 2,296
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Do not forget the people on step 2 ck
___________________
As a general rule, the better it felt when you said it, the more trouble it's going to get you into.
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| doctor123
Forum Senior
Topics: 11
Posts: 123
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thanks Ask dod
Yes you are right , itry to do both at sametime
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| drjmch
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 2
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Askdoc, thanks a lot man, now I know what my problem was.
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| askdoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 1
Posts: 69
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doctor123 and drjmch: You're welcome and glad to help.
Gogeta and praying4a99: Glad you reminded me about Step 2 CK, almost forgot about that. My problem is how to fit in the time to finish that. Might have to reschedule my blogging to 2x a week so I can devote some time to writing it. Will report what I decide.
For those visiting my blogs, if you want to be updated everytime a new post is written, you can subscribe to my rss feed by clicking on the rss feed button. I think praying4a99 knows how to do that better than me. If you have the time, pls. register too. Thanks a lot.
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Step1 99/256, Step 2 99/258, Old IMG, 1989 grad. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's heaven for. http://blogs.askdoc-usmle.com
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| askdoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 1
Posts: 69
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Hi everyone. Although it is with a heavy heart, I have decided to temporarily stop writing in my blog or anywhere for that matter at least for the next few weeks or maybe even permanently. A few days ago, I found out that someone from Egypt has been copy-pasting all the contents of my blog to his blog. He edits it to remove all reference to me as well as any links that will identify me as the author. In other words, he has passed off my works as his. What is so funny is that he copy pasted even my emoticons and did not even bother to change the title, just the author. Other people have copy-pasted my work to their forums or blogs, but they have taken the time to at least ask for my permission or attribute it to askdoc. I have no objection to people distributing my work or copy-pasting them, but I believe it is unethical and profound disrespect to strip my work of any attribution to me and claim authorship of my hard work.
The blog is at usmle.egmedicine.com. The domain is registered under the ff. name
Fouad Fakhreldeen, Dr Mohamed fouad.fakhr@gmail.com
almahalla
almahalla alkobra, algharbia 31911
Egypt
0107232377
It is registered with godaddy.com and hosted with dreamhost.com. I have engaged the help of a copyright attorney (he is my brother's classmate) and will be writing to both godaddy.com and dreamhost.com on copyright infrigement under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
Everything I wrote is free. It was so easy for him to just either ask me permission or attribute authorship to me by writing a small byline, "by askdoc". Instead not only did he edited out all links, he even assumed authorship. I have stopped writing the ten part "How to create a Study plan for the USMLE" at Part 6. If he thinks he can do it, he can finish part 7 to 10 himself.
For the past month, I've also been busy rewriting my outline Notes for Step 1 and Step 2 with the intent of publishing it in my blog. I had thought that it would help a lot of people to know what they should master and know for the USMLE. But I guess that too is up in the air. I shudder to think what this guy would do next. Maybe strip out the authors of original research work and put in his own name. Maybe he'll even get a Nobel Prize. (sarcasm intended) I don't know, maybe he's the type of person who sells people CD that he claim will get you a 99. Or one of those guys sneaking into forums selling DVD's of Kaplan Lectures or even Kaplan Lecture notes. It sure calls into question his moral and ethical fiber and qualification to be in the medical profession.
___________________
Step1 99/256, Step 2 99/258, Old IMG, 1989 grad. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's heaven for. http://blogs.askdoc-usmle.com
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| paheli
It'sAllAboutGoodKarma
Topics: 150
Posts: 1,972
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Dear askdoc,
I feel very sad to read your post. I guess we come across all types of people in this world, and some are bound to be among those that we wish to avoid.
Nevertheless, you fully have my support. I realize the value of what you do, since I have been a benefactor.
I wish you well, Sir, and I do hope to see you back at writing when the time is right for you.
Paheli.
___________________
Prepare as if you're the worst, Perform as if you're the best! As you dream, so you manifest. So, DREAM BIG!! When you face hardship, remember, God never gives you more than you can handle. Success is the best revenge!
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| praying4a99
MS-III
Topics: 95
Posts: 2,416
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Personally I don’t think such thing should stop you from writing. If he is a jerk, why should you stop writing? Considering he is in Egypt, I think there is nothing you can do to him. On the other hand there are other ways to protect your work. There is free software out there that shields your work and prevents it from being copied (you might have seen it if you have visited digidoc's blog).
This kind of stuff happens all the time. One time I wrote a small post on my blog regarding the residency match results, a couple of days later I found it copy/pasted on a much more well know blog, of course with out any referral nor any courtesy. Your writings, being unique and outstanding, yet written anonymously and without protection, are ideal targets.
What I do to save my self from such headaches is to license my work under a creative commons license (free for everyone to use, and you choose what restriction you want.)
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2008 Study Plan Discussion ..... My Personal Blog
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| praying4a99
MS-III
Topics: 95
Posts: 2,416
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I already combined all your post in one MS Word file and attached it in the previous page. I hope that is OK with you.
___________________
2008 Study Plan Discussion ..... My Personal Blog
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| askdoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 1
Posts: 69
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paheli, praying4a99: thanks for your support. You're right, should not let a jerk stop me from writing and helping people. I'll just probably take a week or 2 time off and resume writing. Have applied for a Creative Commons license for the website. Known about this sometime back but didn't thought of doing it earlier. Anyway thanks praying4a99. Also hacked Wordpress to disable right-clicking, copy-pasting and text selection. Learned how to do that when I studied javascript, Perl and PHP programming a couple of years back. Just didn't want to hack Wordpress initially, but now left with no choice.
praying4a99: I knew about that a few months back and was glad that you took the time to edit the typos and collate them. So no problem and thanks. 
Will take a vacation. My GF said I should take a break and I think it's a good idea. See you in a week or two.
___________________
Step1 99/256, Step 2 99/258, Old IMG, 1989 grad. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's heaven for. http://blogs.askdoc-usmle.com
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| praying4a99
MS-III
Topics: 95
Posts: 2,416
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Enjoy!
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2008 Study Plan Discussion ..... My Personal Blog
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| sunchaser
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 1
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hi guys ,
i am new to this forum, I have started preparation for step 1 ,
but i have kaplan 2002 set, will it be ok or i have to buy new one?
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| miki75
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 27
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Hi everyone,
I am another newbee in the blog who first of all would like to thank to askdoc. Thank you askdoc for making my exam real thing. Thank you for the time and efforts you are giving in order to provide us this priceless help. I visited your blog as well and I am reading your sequence "How to create a Study Plan for USMLE", that is because my plan is not working at the moment, but I will have to face Step 1 in Aug-Sep. Great work. Thank you again. Keep your spirit and soul untouchable from those jerks which are trying to copy you. You are above them, please do not go down. Let that Egyptian to have some fresh water in a bottle, thinking that the rain is comming. No personal offence to Egypt or Egyptions.
Secondly, if I may give you an advise, please do not waste your time with protection, security, etc. Yes, with protection you will stop like 90% of the attempts, but there is still another 10%. There will be always a way to hack somebody's work inspite of all protections.
Example: ABBYY FineReader 8.0 Professional has an option called ABBYY Screenshot Reader, which is doing exactly what it says - it reads what is on the screen as a picture, converting it into text. I have experience with computers since 1991, at that time it was MS-DOS all arround, as you know. Also I have some experiense with BASIC, C, C++, Visual C++. Shortly, I don't see a way to protect the text which is already on the screen.
Another example: There is a history about hacking the Pentagon, NASA, you name it...
Your help to all of us has enourmous value. Thank you.
Wishing you a happy vacation and God Bless You.
PS: in the last 7 hours I am reading your posts, no water, no food, no moving, nothing.
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| praying4a99
MS-III
Topics: 95
Posts: 2,416
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Poor miki
Do not starve your self. Continue your first read. Go through FA. Do Q book. If you are getting bored, you can go back and forth between them. Read and solve, little by little, until they are done. In spare time, or during breaks, read a couple of pages of these helpful threads and articles. To be honest, most what you need to know about the exam is mentioned in the first chapters of FA and Q book. If your time is even tighter, throw your questions at us and you'll get prompt answers. If you are worried about your second read and don't know how to plan it, I suggest you take NBME 1 right after your first read, so you can assist your self and adjust your schedule according to your strengths and weaknesses.
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2008 Study Plan Discussion ..... My Personal Blog
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| miki75
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 27
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Thank you praying4a99.
I stuck with the preparing for the Step 1 until I found what is bothering me. It is my nature to look for solution until I find it, no matter physical needs, they can wait. This was very hard, but I am happy now. I post a thread regarding this and everybody interested is wellcome. I would appreciate any opinion. I was reading so slow that my brain was getting bored and refused to continue. Wow!!! What now? What is this? ... Found it . It is the internal speech, which is repeating every word I read, named subvocalisation, this is slowing me and making my brain to refuse to work. Now I will continue with FA and in the same time try to increase my speed reading (30-45 minutes a day practise could make a big difference, at least for me).
Thank you for your help praying4a99, now I can listen to your advices.
Good Luck everyone.
PS: The thread is here, in Support forum: www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/71133/
Edited by miki75 on 05/03/08 - 09:18 PM
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| NYC_IMG
Forum Junior
Topics: 7
Posts: 56
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This thread is still a good inspiration to all of us regardless of the goofy comments sometimes.
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Old IMG graduated in 1992.
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| goout
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 3
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"It is the MOST EXHAUSTIVE and powerful analysis I have EVER SEEN"
Highly agree!! Man, you are more than energetic, you are restless!!!!
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