askdoc
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 91
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to tg250: Glad you found it useful. I've received pm from some people in the forum that they've gotten above 90 using some of the methods I've outlined. You should adjust the methodologies however to suit your particular circumstances. First, I graduated 17 years ago, which means I have a lot more to study compared to newer graduates. Second, I'm INTARMED and was number 30 in a class of 144, therefore should be presumed to be able to absorb information much faster than average. So adjust schedule and study methods accordingly.
to Pnoydoc: Congrats. Waiting for the score is the bummer. My score report was released last December 13 but I have yet to receive my score until now. You know how the Philippines post offices are. Actually faxed ECFMG to re-send my score report, to my sister's place in San Francisco this time just to insure it arrives. Although by OASIS trick, I know I've passed, the tension of waiting for the score is a killer.
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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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| Pnoydoc
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 59
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Thank you all guys. And you are right, askdoc. until now, i have not received my score. That's what killing me. Hey guys, to all those who have taken their Step2 CS, what is the best book to read. i want to start now while waiting for the score.
Hey hec, hang in there. you will still get matched. kaya yan.
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| hecmd23
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 146
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pnoydoc,
yep, just hanging in here. 2 months to go, and magkakaalaman na.
about you question, FIRST AID was the best book for me, it has a very complete checklist of items you need toaccomplish in order to pass the CS (as you know, it's just pass or fail, so no need to get a high score - i don't even know how they score the CS)
memorize it by heart, well, not memorize but practice every case talaga. the thing is get a study partner (better if someone who will take the CS para win-win situation for both of you)
my gf and i took the CS together so we studied together, and everyday, we practiced 10 different cases (5 each, taking turns as doctors). I made paper cutouts and numerically numbered them according to the number of cases in the FA (27 i believe) and folded them into tiny pieces and placed em in a container and everytime one of us is the doctor, the "patient" picks a paper from the container.... indicating the case, so totally random. we had to make a table kung anong cases na nakuha, so that hindi same cases sa isang araw. I believe we did the whole 27 cases twice. all timed for 15 minutes
we even photocopied the blank patient note para we can practice writing the PN. Ayun, at the actual exam tuloy, i was so used to writing the PN that i never touched the computer for writing the PN.
we subsribed to UW also, there were 40 cases and another 40 sample patients ( i forgot the exact number, but it was close to that number) and we did the same thing - 10 different cases everyday. then we mixed the FA cases with UW cases on our last week of review. believe me, all we did was eat, sleep and talk CS cases when we were reviewing.
in both study materials, there are checklists. This is true, try to get 75% of the checklist. so what we did was, everytime we finish a case, we divided the items we got, from the total items in the checklist to get the percentage. at first, we were avareaging 70% and stuff, pero as we got the hang of it, during the 2nd week of review, we were missing only 1 or 2 items fromt he whole checklist...... which means, practice practice practice is the key.
so by the time we took the exam, my general feeling was i was just practicing with my girlfriend.
good luck, hope that helps!
___________________
"I'm still the best there is at what i do best" -James Howlett
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| hellapinoy
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Topics: 0
Posts: 2
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hi! i'm a ust grad 2003...and board passer 2004.....i just took my first step...the scores aren't that high but do you think may pag asa pa?
what did you guys use for step 2?.......pls...FA?
BTW my wife is UST med batch 2004...you might know her....
thanks....and GODbless and goodluck to all of us
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| hecmd23
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 146
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hellapinoy, i'm batch 2004 from UST, who's your wife? anyway, step 2 CK i used kaplan notes and usmleworld. very helpful, but i didn't get a 90 though, but answer all the questions everyday, para masanay ka to answer long questions in just under a minute and a half.... like what they said, you should learn to "see and diagnose 46 patients in 60 minutes."
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"I'm still the best there is at what i do best" -James Howlett
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| eezzy
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 1
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hellow. it is so nice to read lahat ng mga experiences ng mga pinoy sa USMLE. salamat sa site na to. I just joined in and ask ko lang if anyone out there is applying for the CA letter? tnx.. 
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| louisemd21
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
Posts: 21
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hello hec and hellapinoy..UST batch 2004 ako hec. section B ako kina mike gonzales. O diba name dropping. Feeling ko kilala kita. Hec, sandali may kilala ka ba na kate na section B?
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| hellapinoy
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 2
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hahahaha! lo...this is marte...to hecmd23 my wife is christine guevara....hahaha....small world. thanks alot...thank GOD i found this forum.....BTW where did you get the kaplan notes? i couldn't find one even on ebay....meron nga pero 2003...ano ba yung latest?
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| hecmd23
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 146
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louisemd, OMG, now that you mentioned that small detail (?!) i have a feeling na matunog name ko sa section nyo when the whole thing ended between kate and i, and i think a lot of your blockmates hated me, oh well. tapos na yun, time to face what lies ahead diba? this is really awkward, pero hehe, its really a small world, really really small.  hellapinoy, check your inbox
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"I'm still the best there is at what i do best" -James Howlett
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| louisemd21
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
Posts: 21
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naku hector to tell you the truth, barkada ko si kate. Nope no such thing as "hating" you. I merely asked that kasi yun lang ang alam kong connection kay kate na hector. marte! ano ba! grabe kamusta ka na? marte pwede naman ang 2003 na notes hindi masyado problema, i suggest talaga you go watch the videos. i'll check ebay or amazon and call you guys up. Hec!!!! Anyways, kate is doing OB sa perpetual. By the way marte, i heard the news. Congratulations!
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| hecmd23
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 146
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louise,
barkada pa pala kayo. yep, i heard she's doing OB sa perpetual, and i heard she got engaged so, good for her din, and i'm happy for her. anyway, enough about that, hehe.
hellapinoy, yep 2003 is ok, mine was 2002 and there's not much difference. yeah, i sugest you watch the videos coz they're helpful din, allow lang siguro a month for the videos, and a month for the kapaln notes, then another month for qbank/UW para masanay ka maganswer ng questions, coz they're very long, and minsan ang itatanong lang is which chromosome is involved sa disease, stuff like that. but hey, its not too late, and no score is too low until you actually ride the match. i have a blockmate, flunked step 1, pero she still continued the steps, never got an interview, she was about to go back home, when she received an invite - that one interview, she was offered a prematch. each of us has a different story to tell after we finish the whole usmle process. good luck!
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"I'm still the best there is at what i do best" -James Howlett
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| charlise
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 8
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i'm happy to have found this site. i think i know at least a couple of people who participates in this thread.
hecmd23, did you go to jrrmmc for internship?
toxic_doc, did you do your residency at om? if ever, naging clerk mo ako.
goodluck guys in all your endeavors.
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| toxic _doc
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 15
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Charlise, yes, I completed my residency in OMMC. Finished FM last 2003 and stayed another year for another position. 
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| Pnoydoc
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 59
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hello there guys! how are you all doing? back again to reading and it for Step2cs now. How's the matching so far? hec, any interviews or prematches? how about our other kababayans? how's the matching?
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| hecmd23
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 146
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charlise, yep went to jrmmc for internship.... co-intern kita?
pnoydoc, good luck with cs, nope, still no interviews, surgery is really tough, but hey, the scramble is just around the corner, that's why i'm getting ready for it, and im busy with step 3 and observership to keep me occupied para di ko masyado maisip yung match
___________________
"I'm still the best there is at what i do best" -James Howlett
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| Pnoydoc
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 59
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hey there hec! dont worry i will pray that all of us kababayans will be matched for residency. goodluck with your step 3 and the observership. regarding observership, are you getting paid for it? does your girlfriend able to get matched already?
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| charlise
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 8
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hec23md, yes we were co-interns. the very best of luck to you. i'll include you in my prayers.
toxic_doc, we plm grads actually have a yahoogroup. lemme know if you want to join and i'll invite you.
God bless to everyone participating in the 07 match.
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| tg250
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 29
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to ask doc, can you post your preparation for step 2. again context is old graduate, no residency training ...i am pretty sure you will be busy in the future...you can post it here or start a new thread....thanks! and more power to you!!!
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| toxic _doc
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 15
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charlise wrote:
hec23md, yes we were co-interns. the very best of luck to you. i'll include you in my prayers.
toxic_doc, we plm grads actually have a yahoogroup. lemme know if you want to join and i'll invite you.
God bless to everyone participating in the 07 match.
Sure. It would be great to join the plm yahoo group. Kindly let me know details. Ty
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| hecmd23
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 146
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charlise kanino group ka sa internship?
pnoydoc, nope, observership for me is purely volunteer work, trabahong clerk as usual, kaya naman tuwang tuwa sakin mga tao dun sa clinic, isipin mo ba naman, i'm doing the history and PE of almost 40 patients everyday, for free! well, i'm enjoying naman eh, and it helps kill time and take my mind off the match process, so ok lang. Nope, my gf doesn't have prematches, but she has a couple of interviews, so she has a better chance of matching than i do, pero i'll be participating in the scramble. good luck everyone!
___________________
"I'm still the best there is at what i do best" -James Howlett
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| nokia30
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 5
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that's good for hec. at least you have an experience. i dont think its an observership kasi they let you interview and PE the patient so its like externship din. sana i could find the same din when im there already.
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| toxic _doc
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 15
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hecmd23 wrote:
charlise kanino group ka sa internship?
pnoydoc, nope, observership for me is purely volunteer work, trabahong clerk as usual, kaya naman tuwang tuwa sakin mga tao dun sa clinic, isipin mo ba naman, i'm doing the history and PE of almost 40 patients everyday, for free! well, i'm enjoying naman eh, and it helps kill time and take my mind off the match process, so ok lang. Nope, my gf doesn't have prematches, but she has a couple of interviews, so she has a better chance of matching than i do, pero i'll be participating in the scramble. good luck everyone!
hecmd23, please enlighten me more on the "observership" or "externship". I am quitting my job for two years dito sa oregon as a surg tech and i will be relocating to california and it seems to be interesting to do the clerk stuff all over again for the meantime...how did you go about applying for this opportunity?...the reason for asking is ayokong umalis sa present job not until i can the necessary requirements like LOR's if needed...any tips? thanks....
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| hecmd23
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 146
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nokia30, yep its more of an externship kse i get to see patients, its just that i'm not allowed to give any comments about their disorder or lab results or prognosis, so pag tinanong ako, i always say - its better if Dr. _____ would be the one to discuss this with you..... hehe, pero i get away with it sometimes, pag di nakabuntot yung doctor sakin, i discuss the lab results sa patients minsan.
toxicdoc: ok this is how i got it. before i went here, while i was still preparing for my application last year, i emailed tons of hospitals asking if they offer observership or externships, and i mean tons of hospitals spread across the US of A. almost 3/4 of them never replied, but to those who replied, almost half lang offer observership and asked me to fill out an application to be sent -personally. most of them who offered these had their slots filled already. so when i got here in chicago, i went to some of the hospitals here, pero most of them filled na rin for the next months. Fortunately, my tita knows a doctor (connections really help a lot!) and she introduced me to the doctor (he's a filipino practicing in the US for almost 20 years now) and he squeezed me in the IM department. unfortunately, there were lots of observers in the hospital already, so he decided to put me in his private clinics. So since then I went to two of his clinics, 1 every MWF, the other every TTH pero since nagwinter na and i only take the bus, naawa sakin yung doctor and he asked me to go to the nearer clinic na lang everyday. During my first month, there are four of us observing (3 kami filipino, and 1 american) pero different days, ngayon, ako na lang natira, and sometimes pumupunta rin yung american na kasama ko. I got LORS from him na rin and from another doctor who has clinic hours rin in the other clinic (its a big clinic kasi).
for the deal i got - i don't get paid, its purely volunteer work for my part, and the only condition is i don't treat patients, but i can do whatever i want with them. There was a time that the freaking phlebotomist was absent for a week, so i was asked to do all the extractions - maybe the doctor was confident with me already- buti na lang, thanks to my jrrmmc training, never missed a venipuncture! so basically that's what i do, like nokia30 said, observership is just plain observe, externship is more of hands on expereince. good luck with you, i suggest you dig deep into your connections, coz it will help a lot to get an observership/externship.... good luck and hope this helps
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"I'm still the best there is at what i do best" -James Howlett
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| askdoc
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 91
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to tg250: will post it soon. Currently busy preparing for my step 2 CS in March. (Review plus travel arrangement). Don't want to be the first person to get a double 99 and then fail cs (just kidding) Think I will focus on difference between Step 1 and Step 2 CK both in preparation and what to emphasize. 60% of what applies to Step 1 still apply to Step 2 CK. KA, KR and TP still applies too. And doing a discussion on methodology like what I did in Step 1 will repeat too many things. However, there is enough difference in preparation of both that if you did it the same way, there is a danger that you will do better in one and worst in the other. Probably explains why hard to get double 99's. Will probably post it in Step 2 CK forum. Decision making is more important is Step 2 CK than step 1, that's why doing q's are much more important in Step 2 than in Step 1. They help hone your decision making skills. The same skill set you need to take with you into Step 3.
___________________
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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| hecmd23
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 146
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step 3 just around the corner (feb 8 and 9), wish me luck guys, hope to finally close this last chapter in this rollercoaster ride.
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"I'm still the best there is at what i do best" -James Howlett
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