wizard
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 14
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Sorry for the delay in emailing you- I had my exam on the 20th of December- had a lot of things going on, as we were moving to Geogia on the 23rd, and my baby was sick with diarrhoea and Asthma.
The exam was long-after 4 hours, I was ready to quit. Do practice sitting for 8 hours with breaks, doing sample questions. I went through the Tutorial for 1-2 minutes, but had enough time to do the questions, and take break-with an extra 10 minutes left to my break. The last block was a bit time pressing.
I was very surprised to se the questions being so basic- I felt 80% of my exam was based on Microbiology- sample questions- were what steps would you take for this Gram negative, lactose fermenter, Bacitracin postive, Catalase negative,etc. Do study that page that has the chart on Bacteria in the First Aid in the Microbiology section. While searching the forum sites, I was scared by the complexity of some of the questions they discussed, but didn't get anything close to as complex on the real exam. Only two questions were asked on Hox genes. The forum discussed alot on this, so on the day of the exam I looked it up on Wikipedia, and the questions were- the first asked what genes are analyzed using Drosophila fly. The second was, if there is a mutation on limbs,etc what gene would you look at (Homeobox genes..).
The Behavioral science questins were pretty basic- asking "what would you call a situation where..." about Repression, Narcissm, who would have the right in a case where husband is in coma and someone has to choose treatment modality,etc...No questions to be scared of.
They also asked two questions about the method of gene transfer in chaperoning- it was there in the Kaplan book. I also got a few questions from Physiology based on nerve conductin and myelination, fast fibers- how many ATP in Anaerobic respiration..
Pathology- had a few pictures-some of them were not very clear and looked alot alike. They asked about Megacolon, Intususseption, Diverticula (which of the pictures is this,etc). Ionization of ions in acidic and basic solution with ph were also asked.Sural nerve and muscle in the leg were also asked.
By the time I started the exam and through I was pretty much a blank with what I had read in the morning- try to do revision till the day befpre- and just stay calm for the actual exam. Take some food and drinks for the exam breaks. I slept for 10 minutes during one of the breaks. They didn't let me take a calculator or even a normal watch in. You have to sign out and in for each break, and they give you a key for the bathroom if you give them your passport/ID. Two of the breaks, I just sat at the computer terminal and took a few deep breaths and just relaxed.
Good luck with your exams, and let me know if you have any questions.
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| drplacebo
Forum Senior
Topics: 6
Posts: 138
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Wow,
This is 1 of the most encouraging & soothening exam exp. to the ailing souls.
Least frightening........
U have reassured the fact that it is very much DOABLE.
Thanx a lot & Hope U be blessed with a great score.
Waiting to hear more from U !!
Resources, Suggestions, Things U felt U shud have done....!!
GoodLuck for Ur future.
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nothing in this world thats worth having,comes easy!!!- "SCRUBS"
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| Luckyall
Forum Guru
Topics: 11
Posts: 593
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Excellent write-up ! I love to see positive & self confident people, you'll do great in the future by having this attitude !
Just for the records, what set of Qs did ya practice on ? And what more would you do? Would ya review some of explanations of Qs you've done or jumping on new Qs bank?
Once again excellent write up !
Best of luck !
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| sukhs
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 194
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nice
thaanks a lot 4 the positive explntn
good luck 4 ur score.
1 thing plz..
i heard dat there r a lot of molecular biology and genetics questions nowadays..
is it tru?
wat was the tuffest part u felt..
plz reply
thanks in advance
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Everyone works equally hard.....God alone decides the reward...
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| MRMAVERICK
Forum Guru
Topics: 42
Posts: 759
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best of luck 4 scores
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245/264/CS awaiting result/2006 Grad/Need VISA
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| wizard
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 14
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Thanx for the good wishes- not sure how I did, my just glad I at least appeared. Just settling down in a new state, hence the slow replies..I was hoping to write down a few of the kinds of questions they gave me, after the exam, but just felt so wasted after the exam.
Genetics questions were based on the Punnet square diagrams where they shade a parent, and a few of the children and ask whether the condition is Mitochondiral inheritance, Autosomal recessive,Mitochondrial-maternal inheritance,etc. The main thing is to know the main differences- if it's Aut dominant, many of the children can have it, etc. Don't bother memorizing what diseases go with each condition. Molecular biology for me was mainly based on the questions about chaperoning, steroid hormones with nuclear attachment,etc..
I did 90% of the Kaplan Q-book. I had 2-3 more Pathology tests left, but just didn't feel like doing them in the last few days. I marked the answers for the previous tests in the book I did, and just looked over them before the exam.
If I had more time, I would've definitely gone through the First Aid more- I only got time to touch the Microbiology, Pharmacology, and Beh. Science sections of the 2006 edition. I agree that the subjects based division of the older First Aids may have helped me in my last minute studying.
For me the toughest part was the deciphering of the Pathology pictures-not sure whether it was intended to be like that-but a few look too similar. I had already pushed back the date of my exam from the 1st of December to the 20th, and I was moving out of state on the 23rd, so I was in a "do or die" situation-I had to write the exam then.
I am not too happy with how I did on the exam, but feel it was quite a marathon of an exam- really takes alot of out of you. I am chilling out now, and really trying to get the experience out of my system before I start anything else. I had hoped to use alot of stuff from forums in the end -like the Kaplan medessentials, Goljan,etc, but only got time to look through the Kaplan books again(which I feel were very detailed and quite enough for a decent score on the exam), coupled with short notes I made on the books. I didn't want to go through 1000+pages on the day before the exam, so tried to jot down short notes and charts I felt would help on the exam. I don't think mnemonics helped me much-only the ones I really used long before the exam (and some from First Aid).
One other thing that may have helped me was in the last few months I started teaching Anatomy and Physiology to students- I'm happy to say I got two very similar questions to my classes' final exam questions. They even asked me a question on the arrangement of the carpal bones...
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| wizard
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 14
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Also- I was encouraged by many to join the Kaplan coaching course, but I am not much of a lecture person. I sat for a sample few days, and thought I could do more reading the notes by my self, so took that approach..
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| wizard
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 14
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My exam center was in downtwon Chicago-was pretty good-no scary stories loke I've read elsewhere on the forum. My exam was supposed to start at 9am. I reached there around 7:30am. Every few minutes after 7:45am, they asked me if I was ready to enter. I delayed till 8:15am. The locked bathrooms (you have to give them your passport or ID for the key to the bathroom) and the signing in and signing out were the only time consuminbg tasks. I was also prepared for a cold room, but in the morning half the room was good, and even started getting stuffy and a bit warm in the afternoon. You aren't allowed to take your sweater off in the room.
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| wizard
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 14
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I'm an IMG, but have family here in the US
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