priyagrove
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Hi guys!
Thanks to this forum & to all who helped!
I took my exam yesterday,I have one word for it VAGUE WELL I did kaplan lecture notes, Kaplan Q book & some of Q bank & learnt Usmleworld by heart but to my disappointment exam wasn't easy at all, I mean the questions were tooo long, Very twisted, & I felt I was short of time. I would recommend to those who are studying for it to concentrate more on basics instead of cramming whatever is offered, Now after getting result I will be in a better position to comment wether I did it right or not! But right now I'm having acute stress disorder + Post traumatic stress disorder& falshbacks of those dread ful moments where i had to answer questions about which i had no clue . Kaplan Q bank & USMLE world are not true representatives of the kind of questions asked in real exam, Questions were reallly tough & mainly constituted of INT mED & PEdiatrics. rest was equally distributed.... well I'm now just waiting for the result...
Happy new Year to everyone & good Luck to evryone
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"Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes." Oscar Wilde
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| sarika
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You have worked hard priya and you will get a great score. Enjoy the new year
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| robin082006
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Thanks for sharing,
Good luck for your result.
And Happy New Year to all.
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The Key to Succeed is Patience.
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| priyagrove
Forum Elite
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Sent: Dec 31, 06 - 10:37 hey priya Dont worry You will do fine ...and you will get a great score. This anxiety is felt by everyone..so cheer up n enjoy the new year!
I am struggling with the length of questions too....Can you tell me what was the average number of lines per question?....in NBME they give exceptionally short questions are they comparable? would you say nbme compares to the standard of questions in teh exam?
Thankyou
thanks sarika
the questions occupied the whole screen & 50% of the times i had to scrolll down to see the full questions, There were unnecessary labs in almost every question, & I had to read really fast, Its all a mind game don't let yourself loose the cool.. I tried maintaining it till the end & then ventilated it alll out after the exam by screaming loud !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Biostats was asked very little, derma was hardly asked despite the fact I prepared really well for derma, they showed me a picture & asked pathology of the dermatological disease I had no clue, the options were wierd like, cytokines or necrosis or virus or autoimmune antibodies... i felt like puking there only....
I am sorry I cudn't take NBME so cant comment on that, but my advice is to maintain the cool & try to sail smoothly, & keep that in mind whatever u read the question will be one step ahead of that. EXPECT THE WORST! & delaying the exam doesn't help I guess cos had I delayed the exam more I wud have studied kaplan once more & revised the questions again but to my guess IT WON't HELP cos that is not asked........ they test ur basic concepts which we developed in medical school,
I hope u do welll !!!!!!!!!!
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"Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes." Oscar Wilde
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| kykie
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hi!congrats on finishin the exam.I wish u a gr8 result.I agree with u, the questions and options can b quite vague,i felt the same way after my own exam.Just pray for the best.
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Believe in yourself
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| vanshita
Forum Guru
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GOOD LUCK with your score
you will get great score
HAPPY NEW YEAR
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| webjeee
Forum Guru
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normal reaction after exam
You will get a great result for sure.
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| rk1234
Forum Junior
Topics: 13
Posts: 47
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I totally agree with you Priya, I took my exam on Dec 27th and it was th same as yours. No Derma, hardly any Opthal, no HIV, all they asked me was hepatobiliary system. I had prepared well for Peads and OBGyn, but not many Qs on Peds, and hardly any on ObGyn. I was asked Rx of all the diseases from carpel tunnel syndrome to autism..?!!
I did UW Qs twice and NBME 2 forms and Q book and read kaplan notes 3 times. But I dont think I will clear the exam.
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| priyagrove
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rk1234 wrote:
I totally agree with you Priya, I took my exam on Dec 27th and it was th same as yours. No Derma, hardly any Opthal, no HIV, all they asked me was hepatobiliary system. I had prepared well for Peads and OBGyn, but not many Qs on Peds, and hardly any on ObGyn. I was asked Rx of all the diseases from carpel tunnel syndrome to autism..?!!
I did UW Qs twice and NBME 2 forms and Q book and read kaplan notes 3 times. But I dont think I will clear the exam.
I share the same feeling that I won't pass! Lets hope for the best! 
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| muzammil
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whats the optimum time required for ck preparation?
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| muzammil
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best of luck priya for ur ck result
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| priyagrove
Forum Elite
Topics: 34
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optimum time depends on the individual, Its the time when you can finish the following
Kaplan Lecture notes- atleast 2 reads
Kaplan Q book
Kaplan Q bank
USMLE world
Any good review book like Crush the boards/FA/USMLE easy..etc etc
I had only 2 months to take the xam, but on avg people take 4 months at least to prepare.
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| hopeforthebest
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Don't worry Priya..be optimistic..you ll definitely clear the exam with a great score..now that you are done with the exam,have fun 'n relax.
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| priyagrove
Forum Elite
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thanks HOPE for the best
I am HOPING FOR THE BEST
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| rk1234
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Priya, when do you expect the results..? Jan 17th or Jan 24th..?
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| priyagrove
Forum Elite
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I'm not sure!!!!!!! I heard from someone that ECFMG reports results later in january as its closed from jan 1 to jan 15th, I'm not sure how true is it!
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| meghaw
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best luck for ur scores
i strongly feel if a person has worked hard he is bound to be get good results
u will do well
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| DaddyO
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Priya...you are soooo right and it is so refreshing to read your post. I could not agree with you more. I want to say a couple of things:
I took the exam on Dec. 19th and the exam was EXTREMELY VAGUE!!!! The exam was very esoteric and so far removed from basic clinical sciences and so far removed from the types of questions that they should be asking. I know from what you have said Priya that you and I had the same exam, or very close to the same.
Furthermore, the CK questions were indeed twisted and many of them had more than one correct/perfect answer; and yes I really mean that there was more than one perfect answer. I could give examples but I don't know how prudent that would be but lets just say that after months of studying to see that you know the answer to the ? but there is also another perfect answer, well it is disheartening. And anyone skeptical who would say, "well, one answer had to be a better choice" NOOOO...trust me...I looked the questions up when i got home and I have almost a photgraphic memory and there were indeed multiple times when there was more than one perfect answer.
Also, as Priya said, with my test, the questions were UNBELIEVABLY LONG!!! And I don't mean USMLE World long...UW questions were a cake walk compared to the length of questions I had. I mean in each block I would estimate that only 5 questions or fewer were 5 lines or less. The other 41 questions were at least 15 lines long and I promise when I say that I had many questions that were 35 lines long. I actually got so sick of the length of questions and the number of lab values that they gave that I started counting the number of lines near the end of the exam and here were some examples: 1)one questions was over 40 lines long...just count one of your UW questions and see how long that is. 2) Numerous times I was given 15 lab values, no lie, and to those that say that most of the time the lab values aren't important, well that is true but you at least have to look at them and actually think about whether they are important or not, you can't just not look at 15 lab values, and this happened numerous times. 3) So often the answer choices were more than 5 choices, and sometimes they actually gave you 20 different answer choices...no lie...letters A through V !!!!!!!!
Can you imagine trying to answer questions of this leangth with only about 1 minute and 15 seconds per question???
Furthermore, I really mean it when i say that the questions were so far removed from what they should be asking which is basic clinical sciences. It was so bad that I memorized at least 125 questions that I spent 5 hours after the exam at home trying to find the answers to in my Kaplan lecture notes and in Crush and even in Harrison's and honestly out of 125 questions I found or confirmed the correct answer about 25 times. I am not lying when I say that at least 100 questions that I committed to memory I couldn't even find the topic or the answer in the main study sources that I was using. I couldn't find them anywhere. And if they aren't in my study materials then how can I possibly know them!!! If they aren't in Kaplan Lecture notes then there is a problem.
Basically, like Priya said, delaying the exam will not help. I studied 3 times as long for this exam as I did for step I. I swear to you that the exam I took, you are wasting your time if you spend more than 2 moths studying. I actually told myself that I do not see how anyone in the world that has gone through 4 years of medical school could be able to pass this exam. I genuinely feel that. 4 years of medical school at Stanford and 3 months of studying does not prepare you for this exam, which means the exam is not doable.
Lastly, the take home message here is that Usmle World is not a good enough source for this exam now, I finished it, twice with a cumulative score the first time of 61% and 68% the second time. UW is way too easy compared to CK now. Maybe before UW was a good indicator but trust me and believe me when I say that UW is NOTHING like the real exam. Basically UW questions are too short, not challenging enough, and not vague enough for the real CK. NBME and Kaplan Q bank are not even close to being good enough for this exam.
I don't mean to scare anyone but there is something wrong when you have done this well through your studying and feel confident in your exam abilities but after taking the exam are absolutely positive that you failed it. And that is the worst feeling.
Oh yeah, just remembered that there were NUMEROUS and I do mean a plentiful amount of misspelled words. At least 5 questions every block.
Summary: vague, extremely far removed from what Kaplan lecture notes teach you and what they should be testing, each question on average is twice as long as the avg. questions on UW, questions are twisted and I mean tongue tied twisted, and UW is not near as challenging enough for the exam that I took.
Forgot to mention that the oasis should have long ago updated and should have told me whether I passed or not and it is now Friday and I still don't know. My honest guess from some of the posts that I've read is that this latest exam is more difficult and they have to take extra time to modify the scores. There is just something wrong when they have to look at the data to see what questions they need to throw out...its like you pay near $1500 for the exam and study materials, study for months, put your sweat and tears into this thing, and they can't write 368 good questions. Just very sad.
Final thing I want to say is that I will NOT be upset at all if I fail this exam because honestly in my heart of hearts I genuinely feel that there is no 4th year medical student on the planet that should be able to pass the exam that I took. It is that simple. The exam was so unbelievable that I should not have passed it.
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| DaddyO
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Final thing that I feel I should say...anyone that says that if someone works hard he is bound to get good results DID NOT take the exam that Priya and I took...trust me. I have many friends and have talked to so many people and have read so many message boards that describe their experience and they compare UW to the CK they took. But the CK I took was nothing like UW and was on a complete different level. Trust me, the past test takers that have said UW is a good source and that if you study this much then you will do well was lucky enough to get an exam that has been circulating awhile and is comparable to UW.
My CK was a different beast.
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| rk1234
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I totally agree with you DaddyO. I took exam on Dec 27th and had the similar experience that yours. Especially your feelings that UW is not at all like the real exam is true. I would say even NBME forms have shorter Qs and does not represent the actual exam. On my real exam, I felt like I had labs for every single Qs with every single Q filling the entire screen. At the end, you are lost as there is too much info given that I had to read most of the Qs twice. I get the same feeling that I may not clear the exam. Pl. let us know ehn your oasis is updated, as I am desperately waiting for my result.
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| priyagrove
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I'm consoled after reading your post Daddy 0. Whatever you have written its so TRUE! My exam was exactly like what you have described! I agree I dont think I can pass this exam :-(.. I felt as if some one was playing an awfully bad joke with me! It was a night mare!
I hope our score is reported this wednesday!
Lets hope for the best!!!!
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| npas
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Priya and DaddyO..ur experiences r anything but consoling to the future test takers like me..I mean if they don't ask from UW/Kaplans/even Harrison what do we do!!! ...But then the scoring is relative..and everybody has read the same thing..Guys,sit back and relax..u will score well if u had covered what everybody else have.
All the very best
npas
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| Mahwish Mushtaq
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i totally agree with u priya, i took the exam on nov 15 got the result on dec 8 & guess what i did not pass the reason being that there were so many questions which i think i had never even read about them. I studied 8 months for the exam,did usmle world & kaplan q bank on which my scores were 66 & 68. i had given 6 reads to kaplan notes & watched the videos too,but in the end the result i got was a shock, now i don't know how to start all over again....
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| mazinger
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35-40 liners??? geez this beats anything I heard be4...
GL guys harder tests are easier to score higher...
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| priyagrove
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Mahwish Mushtaq wrote:
i totally agree with u priya, i took the exam on nov 15 got the result on dec 8 & guess what i did not pass the reason being that there were so many questions which i think i had never even read about them. I studied 8 months for the exam,did usmle world & kaplan q bank on which my scores were 66 & 68. i had given 6 reads to kaplan notes & watched the videos too,but in the end the result i got was a shock, now i don't know how to start all over again....
I'm so sorry mahwish! I can completely understand your state, I've imagined so many times that I can flunk that I can completely relate to you! Keep Faith, take a break & just don't think about it. after a well deserved break tell urself that YOu can do it this time. I know whatevr i say can't heal ur pain, but sumtimes a few things are just bound to happen! ACCEPT IT & FIGHT IT BACK!!!!
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