bodha
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 9
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hello friends
I have been an avid follower of this forum for a long time .Iam a 36 year old IMG ,graduated in 1996 ,since then has been knocking around the world working ,for the past 6 years had been busy with my practice (hospital based and pvt) .I make good income ,but 2 yrs ago I was bitten by the bug of doing the USMLEs ,as most of my good friends are there in the usa ,in fellowships etc .I must have been crazy to impose such a decision on my self .Has been told about this forum for support and had followed almost all the threads ,which were very encouraging.I tried step1 first ,but flunked ,then started step2 in june of 2005 ,It was very hard studying after a day of busy practice and hospital ,but managed 2-3 hrs on most days,I bought the entire Kaplan series ,with a lots of other material ,but the best was definitely Kaplan notes ,supplemented with the USMLE world ,I did this atleast 2 times ,allover without missing a Q.This helped a lot, shore up theortical knowledge,u see in practice its a lot different from what u see in MCQs or text books.
I also had a lot of family obligations which were thrown in as distractors during the course of my exam ,and my relationship with my fiance was sucking up a lot of time too and even got married in between ,but I made the 2-3 hrs consistently ,eventually found the courage to do the exam in sept 06 ,I know this is mighty slow as compared to many of u on this forum ,but thats the best I could do ,and I did not have any partner to study with either .I only took 2 days off from my work and patients.
The exam itself is a big DEJA VU ,as my luck would have it ,it was really hard ,There was fiar amount of Questioning on all areas ,mostly IM &O&G ,thanks to USMLE WORLD the concepts were familiar ,but the Qs were very twisted up ,and it was a close call with a lot of them.I took a rain check with 1-2 Qs involving calculations of Biostats .I thought Ok Iam going to fail again.It was emabarrasing to really talk with a lot of my old friends as they all wanted to know how my Exams are going.Somtimes i would think I dont need to go thru this as I already have an established job etc ,but had to achieve something.
The important thing with this exam is getting ur concepts and getting familiar with as many topics as u can ,just in case u have a bad day at the exam.Probabaly if ur fresh out of med school studying would have been easier as well the exam would have been a breeze .
But I made it ,got my scores last friday and managed 86% 214 .I know its not a fantastic score that I should be tripping out on ,BUt Iam only trying to encourage all the OLD IMGs ,dont give up.
I Only studied Kaplan notes and USMLE world at least 2 times and kaptest once ,the intersting thing with kaptest is if u do usmle world before u subscibe to it ,u will get very high scores on the tests which can kind of boost ur morale.
Thank u prep4usmle forums .
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| doc68
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 56
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congradulations !! I admire your spirit .
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| doctor75
Forum Senior
Topics: 14
Posts: 58
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congrats
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| morpheus
Forum Newbie
Topics: 7
Posts: 32
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same age, graduated in 1995, had my practice in my country (general surgery). i felt overconfident while doing residency and took step 1 and failed 179/73. after this i felt like quiting the idea, but deep down in me i thought i could pass this exam, and faced the beast again three years later and pass. now i am preparing for step 2 ( no much motivation: i have bought every book and feel like they are not functioning for me. perhaps it is me). reading your post made me realize that i am not the only one chasing stupid dreams as my colleagues back in my country would say. but then what is life if you don't have a dream.
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| JH
Forum Senior
Topics: 19
Posts: 76
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You did a great job! I Salute you.
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| mjl1717
Forum Hero
Topics: 955
Posts: 5,451
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Congrats! And thanks for the encouragement!
___________________
Smell the coffee! "Is That an Osler move??"
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| bodha
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 9
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hi everyone ,
thanks a lot ,I need some more luck for the step1 ,just started step 1 prep too.Morpheus dont give up man ,u can do wonders once u find the courage ,and dont worry about the residency match etc ,cos recently a good friend of mine who is 42 years of age matched at Emory university IM program ,he too has a story which runs parallel to mine and he only had scores of 79 and 78 .
I know its hard when ur in practice atleast we got nothing to loose except some nights sleeps and maybe the butt of a few jokes but its ur life man ,do what pleases u the most.I find the studying part was really hard but it was fun going thru some of the same old forgotten concepts .At least take step2 and Please Do the Q banks ie Usmle World and if u have time kaplan and read the answers well.If ur a General surgeon ur not supposed to be afraid of nothing.So go right ahead and set ur dates and starting sweating.
God bless u all
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| morpheus
Forum Newbie
Topics: 7
Posts: 32
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bodha or should i say brotha, i am enjying the journey so much i do not know what i am going to do when it is over (ECFMG certified). the thing is i switch books after a week.
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| Ayhamalsaab
Forum Junior
Topics: 6
Posts: 28
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hay guys
Bodha and Morpheus
Good luck for you both
and congratulation for you bodha
i am as you both old graduated guy (1999) and i got almost about for years in practicing in my homeland and i am trying now to take Step 2 ck but what i am tired of studing in English becuase i have been studing in my native Language in my country (Arabic language) now i am trying guys and realy my English was improved but it still not as who has studied in English but nothing imposible
you topices guys really encouraged me
i am going to give my Exam at next march and i hope that i can get competitive score since i am old graduated.
anyhow i am looking forward to hear from you (alsaab7@yahoo.com)
by the way Dr.morpheus said that he failed the Exam for 179/73.would you please explain to me what this 2 numbers mean since i am new to this Usmle; i know it is kind of stupid but realy i have no idea about any thing and i don't have any body to ask him
i am trying by my self depending on this brilliant forum
again good luck for everybody and specially for you Bodha and Morpheus
with my respect
Ayham
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| mjl1717
Forum Hero
Topics: 955
Posts: 5,451
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You'll do great bodha or brotha! Many dont know it but Emory is a fairly prestigous instiution.
The doc who in invented cardiac angioplasty chose to do it at Emory and he had the option of going to almost any medical institution in the U.S. His name was Andreas Grunfield, unfortunately he passed in a plane crash.
Goes to show you that ANYTHING is possible!
Edited by mjl1717 on 10/24/06 - 05:17 PM
___________________
Smell the coffee! "Is That an Osler move??"
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| veterana
Forum Junior
Topics: 9
Posts: 31
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bodha, thanks for sharing your experience, I graduated in 1981!!! much older than you. I passed step 1 in July (202, 82)and getting ready for step 2 in 10 days. I never practiced UW because I work full time and do not have access to internet most of my free time. My scores using Kaplan Q book and K Qbanks are arounfd 70%, Kapaln simulated is 74%
Do you think I need to practice UW questions? How similar are those questions to the real exam? What would be de big difference with Kaplan material?
I'll appreciate your thougths,
congratualtions and keep going!
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| pametto
Forum Newbie
Topics: 6
Posts: 10
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Dear Veterana,
You are in good shape now. The only thing right now to let you make feel sufficient or not is to do NBME. by the way,can you kindly share a little bit about how did you parepare step 2. I graduated in 1985, but my q book score is only 60% around for step 2.
thanks,
Jasy
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 119
Posts: 2,164
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good job pals. it is encouraging to read about oldies doing good. i graduated in '89 and it was not a piece of cake studying for the exams. i have cs ahead of me and i continue to pray for good success in ck.
i have put in applications and i must tell you all that there are many places that dont care about your years since graduation. and even your scores too.
wish us all the best as we chase our dreams.
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It has been a looooong hard journey but I am inches away from my destination...
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| veterana
Forum Junior
Topics: 9
Posts: 31
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Tolito, good luck in CK. I will take it next Monday.
Can you give me info on potential places where to apply under our 'particular' conditions?
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| tolito
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 119
Posts: 2,164
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when you start to do the match, you will realise that the conditions differ by specialty and by hospital. most do not indicate in their requirements anything about years since grad. but best to write them emails and ask. that way you will save some money. i am matching for ortho and gen surg and i find that things are different even in the same hospital. i have applied to 24 hosp so far for ortho and i will apply for a further 15 in gen surg. dont worry pals, our positions are waiting for us and noone can fill it
( on a lighter mood, i found a guy on the pages of one of the programs; he was a 5th year resident and year of grad was 1985!!)
___________________
It has been a looooong hard journey but I am inches away from my destination...
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| veterana
Forum Junior
Topics: 9
Posts: 31
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i made it!! Graduated in 1985, and got a score of 91 (225)in my step 2 (Nov 6) . The biggest challenges for me during the exam were to keep my mind concentrated for so long time and read in English fast enough to understand the case and elaborate the answer quickly. I am not saying that I know all the answers, but I know that if I had more time I could have done much better. Any way, I'll take CS in January and step 3 in May (if my body and mind resist, since I work full time, only study on weekends and at this point I am sick with all this stuff!
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| veterana
Forum Junior
Topics: 9
Posts: 31
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sorry for my typing error: I graduated in 1981
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| ing
Forum Guru
Topics: 45
Posts: 435
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Congratulations veterana!
Glad to see so many old graduates like here. Best to all of you.
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Never give up!!
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| 10+from_medgrad
Forum Junior
Topics: 6
Posts: 25
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Glad to see many old grads. why don't we form a separate forum. It seems we don't belong here. we work full time, have family, kids, have very little time to study. Forgot almost everything we learnt in the medical school. Our problems are so different from others
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| Merie
Forum Senior
Topics: 2
Posts: 12
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good idea folks and the oldies and the newbies!
Cheers the Oldies!
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| winmg
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 1
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I am sure ur opinion is fantastic!
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