clueless
Forum Junior
Topics: 7
Posts: 21
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hey all..
must say i am a little late in posting this ..i took my exam on july 13,my score was updated on aug 2nd and i received my report 2 wks later...am i am more than satisfied with my score.so grateful to god,my family ,my frends and this forum for helpin me cross my first hurdle towards residency.
PREAPARATION: i really cannot advise anyone to follow my method cos i was extremely disorganised..and even when i went to take teh exam i was not that high in confidence, i forced myself to take the exam cos i had to leave to the us soon after for my MPH.
so i can only tell you what i studied..i started in sept 05,was aiming for april 06 ..but it took longer.i did the kaplan lectures (once) ,goljan patho lec (once) and first aid 20o4 (once) ,tho i had plans of doing everthing atleast twice. as for qns ,even thta did not go as planned,
i cd only do half of q book (scored btwn 65-70%) a couple in q bank (scored in 60s) and usmle cd twice (first time i scored in 3os and 1 month before exam i scored an average of 44) , kaplan simulated (65%)
PRE EXAM: i had thot my adreanline wd get kicking and i wd be in teh best o my preoartion pahse..but unfortunately i had other personal concerns that took most of my attention and energy, i didnt get decent sleep fro a wk before my exam...when i needed it teh most, even te exam nite i did not sleep a wink!!!!
EXAM EXPERIENCE: tho i did not preparae as per my initial plans , i musterd all my confidence to face teh exam ,answer thru all teh 7 blocks...without dwelling on the qns i ws unsure of.teh first block seemed a kind of rush as i wasnt mentally prepared , the second was slightly better,3rd seemed a bit tough, 4 th ws easy ,5th,eth so so..and 7th slighly more difficult.
iw as marking a whole lot of qns ,i dint seem totally confident about a whole lot of ansewrs, i went thru each block in 30-40 minutes ,and spent teh rets of time going over marked qns.
i took a break of 5-7 min btwn each block, except fro lunch break of 20 min after 4th block....tho i thot i cd study durin the breaks, i went against it..and only collecetd my cool instead.i suggest you to eat, drink water,pray ,..do wahtever to get your energy up for teh nxt block..because rem this is not a 100 meter dash, its an 8 hr marathon.u ned to keep ur energy up at all times , do not let fatigue slow dwn ur thinnking.
QUESTIONS: I had several patient-doctor relationship qns ..which you canot preprare entirely for,and they seemed quite tricky, i suggets ppl to practise as many as they can get their hands on (cant tel u any sources cos i myself dint do many)
i had a significant amt of neuroanat qns..which i messed up only because i didnt read teh materaial twice.
if a few qns feel vague and weird do not get apprehensive , a few did figure in mine and inspite of it i passed,so dont take tehm 2 hard.
there were quite a few pictures with qns ,but most of te time u cd reach teh answer without having to decipher teh picture.
POST EXAM APPREHENSION: trust me,if my confidence was low before the exam it hit an all time low AFTER the exam..as each day passed i was becoming more sure that i wd fail (only marginally) and was praying taht the result comes soon (so i will be able to decide whether i had 2 pack my step 1 books)..left it 2 god and decided iw d face what ever came my wasy.
OASIS TRICK: surprise !!i passed....i was so thrilled that i did not care what my score wd lok like..was just happy to know i dint have to face teh beast again ..and dint have to tow all my step 1 books to teh us!!!
SCORE REPORT: 93/230..... COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and as expected i had fared relatively badly in beh sciences and neuroanat.rest all was good performance.
so that my step 1 saga...ppl mite recollect a time when i placed a post when my studies were going real bad, and malinda and otehrs encouraged me...my confidence levels waverd thru out these past 10 months.....
i am a perfect example of totally disorganised ,terribly slow reader, and bad when it come to eaxm jitters....
so all o my kind,i have this piece of advise 4 u..if i can do it so can you,just ahve faith in urself ..and pray 2 god...u will get thru it.
this forum has been tremendously helpful to me, i will be visting step 2 forum frm now, so good luc, also i wd advise you to use this forum to gain confidence and not lose it (which mite happen when you stumble across a few posts)
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| khorshid
Forum Guru
Topics: 32
Posts: 592
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Good Luck with step 2, and congrats!
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| drpkaur
Forum Guru
Topics: 196
Posts: 810
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well done clueless,,gr8 job....GL for future endeavours.
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| laura81
Forum Elite
Topics: 32
Posts: 176
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congrats!!! Great score!!!You sound exactly like me,and i bet many others....i will have my exam in Nov and im just about to finish the first reading...and i have the feeling i dont remember anything i read so far...do you think i still have time so i can score in the 90's?
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| clueless
Forum Junior
Topics: 7
Posts: 21
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thx u guys..trust me .i stil havent digested in the result!!!cos my expectations were far below!!
laura...yes i think u have ample time....if u are about 2 wind up 1st reading and takin it in nov, i think u are in good shape...its absolutely normal to feel u dont rem anything..i felt that way all teh time..do things which refuse to stay in ur memory repeatedly(first aid pneumonics are excellent!), do not get disheartened if u score lower on practise qns..teh imp thing is to make it an opportunity to learn...my scores wd range widely from 60%-80%..so i did not know hw to judge myself.personally i believe solving patho qns in goljan notes helped me a lot(patho was my strongest area which figures majorly in teh exam)
also if i were 2 do sumthing differently,it wd be 2 practise a lot o qns....
gd luc to all o u...
ps-excuse the typing errors)
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| robin082006
Forum Hero
Topics: 471
Posts: 5,123
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Congratulations
Good luck.
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The Key to Succeed is Patience.
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| mitty
Forum Guru
Topics: 52
Posts: 376
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congratulations clueless
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He will make it happen.
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 119
Posts: 2,174
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well clueless you obviously have a clue!!!
congratulations. see you at step 2 forum
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It has been a looooong hard journey but I am inches away from my destination...
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| mytime
Go Marching in!
Topics: 40
Posts: 3,165
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Good luck clueless..............u did excellent!U'r not so dis organised thread here was extremely motivating.Thank you.
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| clueless
Forum Junior
Topics: 7
Posts: 21
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thx again all o you...
tolito-..i am still "clueless" as to hw i scored in 90 s.....ha ha
surprising to hear I am a source o motivation for others, cos that was something i always turned to others for (esp ppl in this forum)
but i kno hw others experiences can affect your morale..so this post is only my small contribution...glad to be o any help 2 anyone.
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| raves
Forum Elite
Topics: 23
Posts: 248
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congrats clueless,great score.good luck for step 2.
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"Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots?"
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