manolok
Forum Elite
Topics: 72
Posts: 233
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This morning my oasis updated.. and finally I got to see red all over the screen!!!!!! Thanks all of you guys for supporting me throughout this journey. I'll give you all my tips and my experience later on.. for those repeaters out there... I'm living proof that you can beat the steps! stay tuned for my experience, I will let you know how to tackle it the 3rd or 4th time around!
and don't let anyone bring you down! stay positive be positive
peace!
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| anjalika1
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 7
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congrates for passing...hi can u just clarify me...on 29th ecfmg updated my score report,....and eligibility period is oct -dec...and IWA is allowing me re- apply for the exam..does this..mean oasis trick in working and..it mean that i am fail...pl can u just..reply me ...if u have any knowledge..about this trick..pl do reply any one..if u know..plplplplplpl
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| Luckyall
Forum Guru
Topics: 11
Posts: 593
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Wow ! i was wondering how you've been doing ! Big time congrats ! Do let us know how and where you find that energy to keep going !
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| robin082006
Forum Hero
Topics: 471
Posts: 5,125
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congrats manolok,
Good luck for ypour score.
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The Key to Succeed is Patience.
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| manolok
Forum Elite
Topics: 72
Posts: 233
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Thanks for you responses guys. First of all, to anja if what you posted is correct, i dont want to bearer of bad news but you may have to sit for the exam again. I've walked that path before and i know its not a pleasant one. the oasis trick is not a 100% full-proof but if your score is updated and it does let you apply that means.. you most likely have to take the exam again. But hang tight and wait for your results to come in a couple of days. Do not give up hope, cliche as it is there is definitely light at the end of this tunnel.
I havent been posting lately, because honestly, wanted to wait till passed before I can finally share with you guys. Here are my tips for the step 1 repeater or eager first timer.
1. Dont listen to negative advice about failures and attempts. There are residency programs out there that will love to have you. I know several people that have matched with multiple attempts under their belt.
2. What i read. if you are first timer.. read Kaplan.. 2x and use USMLE WORLD. I've used Kaplan before and didnt help me at all! UW is the closest thing to the real exam from the interface to the concepts. Do half in tutor mode and the other half in exam mode to test your speed. I say this so that you will understand the concepts fully, because they are very high yield.. My average, about 51%/68% completed. Did Form 3 and bombed with a 350 2 months before the exam, but generally these exams are pretty on the money give or take 8-10 points so save them towards the end.
3. Keep a pocket size notebook, for high yield facts based on UW. I toted this thing along everywhere I went. with flags and highlights all over the place. I mustve read this little notebook about 5x. I outlined Behavorial, Biochem, Molecular, Pharm on this thing, and referenced it.
4. I did Pass Program videos and notes. Good for Physio and Biochem, need to supplement though and be weary of minute mistakes.
5. I also did Score 95! the questions are quick to go through you can do blocks of 25 in 20 minutes and i think they stole questions from Q-bank.
6. Testing day was nerve racking for me, but the environment was very conducive, i was the only one in my room and the DC center was awesome! people were friendly.
7. I had time left over in each block which was very different from my previous attempts. everything seem familar and none of those weird obstuse experimental questions. While I was taking my exam i couldnt help to think that maybe NBME felt sorry for me so they gave me doable exam. Some of the questions were very straightforward and i didnt even read the bulk of the stem nor the labs. I went straight for the last line in each stem. I was so shocked that there were only a a total of like 2-3 molecular questions. I felt as though previous exams were inundated with molecualr questions.
8. Annotate Fa from different sources. this is at first very time consuming but in the end i had notes from Kaplan, UW, q-bank transcribed onto different sections in FA. So, it was very helpful for the last minute review.
9. Dedicate your last 3 days to just FA. Dont think of picking up another source. this will be suicide for you, especially the first timers as I have fallen in this trap and faced the consequences. when a question pops up and you cant easily recall the answer, limiting your sources to one or two will aid in this immensely
10. just stay positive, be around positive people, listen to positive music watch positive films. This will help you alot.
11. dont spend too much time on this forum paying attention to nonsense posts. In the beginning of your review, read the 99'ers exam experience and what they used.. disregard there pretest scores it will only depress you. Just take what you think is helpful from them. 2 weeks from the date of your exam, look at posters who have taken the exam. You can get a gage of what kind of material they are testing. I did that and it was a big tip off for me on what to focuse on. Someone posted to read up on the coagulation cascade and immuno/inflamm drugs and low and behold, my exam was filled with that!! thats the only time you should be reading posts on here or also if you keep a daily diary/prep journal. The failure posts are tough to read. Im a party to that because i think i posted a couple myself. In the long run, we all bounce back and try again. Everybody has his or her time. I always told myself that.. and guess what it is my time! and soon it will be yours.. good luck guys... you can catch me in the step 2 ck room...or just leave a message if you have any advice
12..almost forgot... read Goljan's HY and his lec notes.. put on your ipod.. and plug it into your aux when you are in your car.
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| jole
Forum Elite
Topics: 12
Posts: 279
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WOW!!!Congrats!!!thanks so much for the advice.All the best in Step 2.am sure you'll ace it inshallah.
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Never underestimate the power of prayer.
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| unique1
InGodITrust
Topics: 19
Posts: 1,405
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Congratulations!!!!!and thanks for the advice.
Best of luck for the next steps 
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I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
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| step12006
Forum Senior
Topics: 4
Posts: 183
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Thanks .Nice honest post .What cumulative score do we need in UW to be on safe side ?
I am pretty confused .Can you shed some light on it ? thanks
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| Anitha
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 13
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Hi Dr Romme
Congratulations!!!!!!!!its really a great news,
thanks for posting such wonderful tips,its really inspiring.
Congrats once again,best of luck for step 2 and residency ,
regards
Anitha
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| GoodGirl
For you,for me,for us.
Topics: 100
Posts: 1,352
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Thanks for enlighting us with your life/ preparation story . You are truly an inspiration for all those who failed , but also for first time takers. There is always a hope !!!
Well done and I wish you a nice score , you worked hard for it !
Congratulations !!!!
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Prioritize & simplify.
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| manolok
Forum Elite
Topics: 72
Posts: 233
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Thanks everyone again. Sorry anitha, was meaning to email you back but been very busy. I will send you and email soon. to step 1 2006, that question has been on my mind throughout my whole prep so i contacted UW they told me between 55-65%, which i think is a very high estimate. I would say if you can score a 45-55 % you are in the passing range, 55-65 you are looking at low 200-mid 200's= 80's and 90's. the most important thing is to use UW as a learning tool dont use it to assess, use the forms the NBME offer to asses your knowledge. your last 10 blocks, if you must are your most important ones. I was scoring 60's in my last few blocks. And when it came to the exam, UW questions were infinitely harder, and made the exam feel so much more doable. All the rumours that you shouldnt take it when the american medical students take it may have some truth. My last exam was taken on Jun 30. peak season for the american students to take it. And i came out of there with only a 180/74. My exam felt almost impossible. Every hard concept imaginable was on that exam from having to compute Hardy Weinberg to Ph Pk logs.
In comparison to my most recent exam there was nothing like that all, it was a dream exam. With mostly patho, micro and doable pharm. Only read FA for Pharm and supplement the first 2 chapters with Kaplan. Leave Biochem, Micro and Pharm from FA till very last few days. Use your lttle notebook too.
Only sit for the exam if you can break a 400 on form 1 and 2/first try and at least get a 380 on form 3. I repeated form 1 and form 2 2x and was deluded with my scores.
Thanks all of you, your screen names dont seem familiar at all because i think that most of the people i started with already in the step 3 room. But nevertheless, good luck, and never loose sight of what has to be done. I'm not saying its gonna be easy, but if someone tells you to give it up you know their intentions are not good and want to lessen the competetion. so block these toxic people out of your life. ask away if you have more questions...
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| ing
Forum Guru
Topics: 45
Posts: 435
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Congratulations! When did you give your exam? I had mine on Nov 21. After the exam, I found 4 out of 5 questions that I remenbered I answered wrong. I'm very depressed. I check the oasis everyday. Hope I will get red screen too.
Anyway, wish you the best!
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Never give up!!
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| zenith
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thanks for sharing your wonderful experience and a big congrats!
good luck for step-II. sometimes, people might not realize how, by sharing their experience, they can really lift another person's spirit and brighten their day and my friend, u have done just that. good luck with everything. really appreciate your optimistic attitude.
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| dreamer
Forum Elite
Topics: 52
Posts: 152
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i totally agree with manolok. i just took my exam yesterday. there are at least 3-4 same qs from uw.i almost think uw is a must.it not only makes you think a lot, apply your knowlege and it also have very nice explainations.it is harder than real exam,more tricky.if you take it , you might feel real one is not that hard.. as for kaplan qbank, i still think it is a good learning tool.before i take qbank, fa dosent make too much sense for me. but whenever i made a mistake in qbank, i go to fa and almost always can get answers over there in a way ,then i start to feel that i know fa more .but yes, it will be better if you take qbank first ,then uw ,coz uw is harder ..and dont worry about those details in qbank.try to understand the common things mechanism is important. but i was quite disapointed that my exam is not very connected to fa like most pp said here...... it is a cool book though
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you may say i am a dreamer,but i am not the only one...........
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| mytime
Kick my butt!
Topics: 39
Posts: 3,173
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Hey Manlok,
Am i proud of u or what? U wrote a beautiful eulogy for ur step 1 exp...afterall it's done now. . I agree with most stuff u said but most of all that it's MYTIME now so u see the pun was intended! and thanks for wishing best for us all. Now get down to the next step soon. Will catch u there in some months hopefully. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!
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| manolok
Forum Elite
Topics: 72
Posts: 233
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awww thanks guys.. you guys are amazing.. only way to be stay positive and spread the positive love! and i dont work for UW, its what worked for me that's it.
To ing... just be patient.. and DONT OBSESS!!!!! I did that before and its very counter-productive. I remember going as far as listing down all the questions I remembered and i was for sure that I passed because i think it totaled to about 100.. but the thing is.. those were simple recall questions.. which are not enough to pass. practice the jump style questions or secondary or tertiary questions. Learn from my mistakes
further.. dont spend too much time on webprep.. look at heme and nephro and cns.. and thats it! CNS will help you in both CNS patho and neuroanatomy.
FA for embryo, gross and neuro.. PROVIDED you know the concepts behind it. Memorize with understanding!
By now i hope all of you got your little notebooks and started jotting notes down...
UW emulates the forms that NBME give thats why its good! good luck
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| skb
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Awesome buddy!!! I have been doing the UW Qs, just did a block (50 Qs) and got a very low score, was very depressed, so thought I would browse the prep4usmle to check for some UWers. Found your post and I feel better now. Thanks for all the advice and experiences you have shared with us. I've taken Step1 before too, and I find these UW Qs very similar to the real exam.
Good luck on Step2 CK & CS.
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| manolok
Forum Elite
Topics: 72
Posts: 233
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thanks guys! i know all of you can do it! skb, good luck man, your next line... break and 80 will ya for me!
put my application in for the match! wish me luck
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| vanshita
Forum Guru
Topics: 25
Posts: 841
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congratulation
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| d0kt0r
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 1
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Thanks manolok for your great advices and sharing your experience with us. I'm one of many in the same boat. Hopefully this time I'm gonna PASS it for sure.
Good luck with your future boards and the MATCH!
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d 0 k t 0 r 
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| rock
Forum Elite
Topics: 23
Posts: 305
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hi manolok...i marked this webpage as one of my favorites...it is one of the best posts i have read and very inspirational...thanks for such an honest post...it will be really helpful to me...i was in and out of preparing for step 1 as i was a little busy with the canada match but since i have finished everything for the match i now intend to sit seriously to prepare for step 1 which i plan to take sometime around june. but i read that you advise not to take it around that time...earlier than that is too early for me and later will not be productive as i will be applying for the 2007 match. pls tell me if this thing about not taking it in june is really serious business.
also right now i have kaplan videos and notes(2004)...will they be ok...and plan to do the qbank and UW ...everything atleast 2x...and the notes 3x...and will listen to goljan audios...pls let me know if i should be doing anything more.
and does anyone know where i can buy the new high yeild goljan series(audio+notes)
thanks again manolok and good luck for your match.
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| tg250
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 29
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that was awesome manolok! your persistence is a big encouragement...congrats!!!
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