fovea centralis
Forum Junior
Topics: 8
Posts: 20
|
MY EXAM EXPERIENCE
Hi .i have been a big big admirer of this forum and have been using it generously since 6 months.now I think I should also contribute as much as possible for me.i took my step 2 exam 2 days back.it was a wonder ful experience as my step 1 exam.the prometric staff was quite cooperative.i was very much anxious and tense just before reaching the exam center .but when I entered the prometric center ,I thought that now it’s the time to make best possible use of my study and ill never come again here so I had to put aside the rest of the world from mind and now I have only one focus and that will be my computer screen which would be showing the questions and whatever work I have done ,will make use of that.i set my mind that ill remain only in the present for next 9 hours ,NOT IN THE PAST AND NOT IN THE FUTURE.i said all this coz I get many distractions during doing the NBME exam,and ecfmg cd,and uw online.so many times I got out of time during doing these exams.ok first ill tell the exam as a whole and then subject wise.firstly ill say thanks to ALLAH that I completed all the blocks about 6-7 min before time and I managed to see all the marked questions .the exam was very much comprehensive ,looked like as if they had asked each and every line of Kaplan..i got tested very very heavily on peads almost same percentage of questions from peads as from int.med.there were many places as if I was taking step 1 exam.coz I got around 40-50,questions which I answered only on the basis of my previous step 1 knowledge.somehow I tried to answer.also many times I felt as if many of questions on my exam have been out.there were so many questions which were almost 90% similar to uw questions.and there were three questions which were about 98% similar .only a difference of age of 2-3 years.i must say with confidence that the one of the single best source of practicing questions is from uw.everybody who wants to reduce the suffering of surprise during exam shud do whole uw ,with careful reading of all the explanations.better to do it twice.it doesn’t matter whether u do uw in random mode or in subject wise fashion.one good method of managing break time (which is quite difficult during step 2) is that at the start of ur exam set ur wrist watch at 00.00.then after that don’t see the hours ,only see the min .it will only show the time of break which have been used or remaining. I had almost same proprtion of IM and peds questions .then obs.gyn .many many questions on psychiatry and only 20-25 questions on surgery.biostat were about 8-10 questions.
IM. Heavily tested topics were valvular heart diseases,hypertension(know the DD of sec .HTN well )infective endocarditis,carotid artery stenosis,GERD,colonic ca,rheumatoid arthritis, endo(whole )hyper- ,hypothyroidism,Addison,pheochromocytoma,cuhing,ca metabolism,prolectinoma,copd, asthma,primary and secondary pulmonary hypertension.acute and CRF,acid base disorders were very much difficult and I was not sure on even a single answer on this topic.ARDS,nero not that much but questions on headache,muscular dystrophies,aphasia.and almost all the neuro qs were about the pathology of disease instead of treatment and diagnostic tests.
PEADS…….almost questions from every system and many many questions from peads.
Starting from milestones(5 qs)autism,normal neonatal variations,erythema toxicum,nevus sebaceous,Mongolian spot,neonatal sepsis ,RDS,alkali poisoning, acetaminophen psoning,PDA,VSD,ASD,rheumatic fever,CCF,rashes(many qs),meneingitis,sinusitis,Kawasaki,HSP,TTP,IgA deficiency.
ONE IMP THING I want to say is that almost all the questions which I got on immuno were asking the mechanism and tests of immunodeficiency disorders,and hypersensitivity reaction.so plz at least read these two topics well from step 1 notes.juvenile rheumatoid arthritis,
PSYCHIATRY……..many many questions.very few on treatment.mainly asking the neurotransmitters,and diagnosis.i got very much confused on many questions regarding diagnosis of major depression,adjustment disorder.few questions on biostat,not very difficult.ohh yes the SE of all the antisychotic and antidepressants are very very imp.know the alternatives if some bode se from one drug.how to and when to switch from one drug to another..
OBS.GYN………..many many questions from reproductive endocrinology,,,mainly asking the diagnostic tests of choice and clinical features of PCO,and other diseases,like adrenal hyperplasia.ovarian cysts,neoplasms,management of difficult labour,cervical carcinoma,OCPS,fetal stress testing interpretition,breast abcess,mastitis.
SURGERY…………..mainly qs from orthpeadics and 6-8 questions from trauma,esp imp is when to do int fixation and when to do external fixation of fractures.
Im a big fan of Kaplan and now of uw also.i don’t know about the new KAPLAN q bank but the previous one is not helpful as much.it may give u some imp points but its better to revise the uw again intead of doing Kaplan q bank.but q book is helpful.
I studied for 5 months and used only Kaplan and uw online,read few chapters of crush the boards but bored by that book.did few blocks of Kaplan q bank which I had from one of my friend,but left it after doing less than 200 question.one more book which I will love to mention is the internal medicine question BOOK BY CONRAD FISCHER .i got this book only 12 days before my exam by some of my friend….i did few questions just to check the book,and then I was compelled to do that book by the beauty ,surprise and challenge of the qs.it has 500 questions but I could only do 300 questions coz of shortage of time.if u get this book ,,,try to do it …it will help u a lot ,a lot in improving ur question solving skill and adding a lot to ur knowledge.and understanding the IM Kaplan notes.
NBME FORM 2 ----------670(3 weeks before exam)
NBME FORM 1 -----------700(1 WEEK before exam)
ECFMG CD-------84%
Kaplan simulated ---74%
Lets see what happen to my score..i request to pray for me….and plz let me know if u have any question regarding step 2ck
|
| anne06
Forum Elite
Topics: 11
Posts: 103
|
nice 2 read ur exam experience and lookn at ur nbme score i am sure u will do well..gud luck
|
| anne06
Forum Elite
Topics: 11
Posts: 103
|
well i haven't given step one yet..cud u pls tell me wat stuf 2 read from there and whether readn it from firstaid only will be sufficient?and is it a gud idea 2 read nms book with those 5 tests?
|
| study_ing
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 180
Posts: 2,511
|
thanx fovea...m sure ull do a great job...for ppl looking for hy topics of step 1relevant to step 2, here's a link i found useful
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/comments.php?id=3...
___________________
If you yourself are at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world.
|
| study_ing
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 180
Posts: 2,511
|
one more q plz..
is a one month subscription enough for usmle world or did u take the 2 months one??
___________________
If you yourself are at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world.
|
| fovea centralis
Forum Junior
Topics: 8
Posts: 20
|
the link posted by study_king is really good.its better to revise all these things before going for step 2 ck exam.i just took one month subscription,,but i did all the qs in only 15 days,didnt got very high as a whole 67%(timed ,random mode)then i revised uw only to read the explanation again thoroughly and noted daown all the important points and also made a separate note book.its not right but somehow i copied the important qs from online and all the pictorial qs including ECGs. MRIs,XRs.and saw them again and again.but the ecg which i got on my exam was probably of WPW syndrome.and two CXR .make a notebook with the title NOT IN KAPLAN or any book source which u use for study.so that u may write all the points which are not in ur notes or written very vaguely in the notes of books.in my opinion FA is not good to revise for step 1 material,coz it doesnt give u insight of the knowledge which is essential to answer qs on real exam.
|
| hussain_lashari
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 6
|
hi fovea
can u tell me where can i get that qbook by conard fischer
thx n good luck
|
| study_ing
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 180
Posts: 2,511
|
thanx fovea ..15 days for usmle world with 67 vow!! and i wish i was study-KING but am merley studying 
___________________
If you yourself are at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world.
|
| prader-willi
Forum Elite
Topics: 28
Posts: 364
|
thanx fovea for the detailed experience....appreciate it!!!
___________________
hang on in there......u will survive....
|
|
| |
| | | | | | | | | |
