Feyza
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Heyy ppl !! Congrats and braavoooo to all friends scoring above 90!! Its a real challenge !!
What I want you to advise me about plzzz is , my step 1 is in June and I was planning to read only Kaplan books and Kaplan Q bank...will reading only and only these without First Aids etc... make me score like over 85??
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| rohan_usmle
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wel....kaplan is very good, reading the book may not help you much..i know some people they read kaplan 5 times and their test score on Q bank are very low because they didn't understand the concept by reading (of course they wasted tons amount of time by reading) soring 85-99% of course possible kaplan + first aid (goljan for pathology) with your sincere studing of medicine. Good luck
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| Feyza
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ok rohan thanx  but now u gotta tell me wut the concept is 
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| Jackofknives
Ipwnpoker.com
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IMO mastering a concept means that you have mastered the content involved in the concept and most importantly able to associate the content with other concepts.
Lets take an example in gross anatomy. Say you have mastered brachial plexus (a concept) and you know the pathways, muscle innervations, dermatome (content), you should therefore be able to associate real life cases with your knowledge (association).
So for example you are given a case with an epicondylus medialis fracture. First you observe the immediate symptoms on your patient and then associate them with your knowledge. Say he has clawhand, poor abduction strength of digits, negative DIP, PIP extension and MP flexion etc. Since you know the pathway of OE nerves, you know that N. ulnaris run between epicondylus medialis and olecranon where the nerve is exposed, so this nerve could be damaged and results complications. You also should know the muscle this nerve innervates and its dermatome, thereby you can associate to which muscles will affected and then deduct to which locomotion will be compromised and the portion of the affected dermatome as well. From all of these you can try to make some tests on the patient and see whether the results cope with your hypothesis and then make the appropriate treatment.
You see understanding means applying knowledge and associate every factor and put them into one coherent thought. Of course it is very hard to master everything, therefore you could try to master the high yield material first, which you may find in FA book.
It all depends on what phase you are on, if you are in the reviewing phase where you have mastered most concepts where you just have to refresh your memory a little, books that list concepts in points like a shopping list is enough. If you are in the learning phase, then those books won’t help you because you won’t be able to know the concepts in as much detail to associate them with your existing knowledge.
Hope it helps.
Edited by Jackofknives on 02/04/07 - 09:52 AM
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| Feyza
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Thanx for your time Jack I guess I gotta take this stuff more seriously Anatomy is my nightmare ...hope I can handle through aaaalll this 
take care docs
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| shwe
Forum Elite
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Thanks Jackofknives.
Very clear.
Could you open up new session re; concepts, correlation in each subjects forum to teach us some HY in the ways you said now in Ulner nerve injury.
Wish you were our teachers, not too late. pl help us.
In that case do we need to add any other books to kap notes, lectures.
If yes, which one eg? for each subjects.
Need to add BRS &/ or HY too or not in all subjects.
GL,
Shwe
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| Jackofknives
Ipwnpoker.com
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I'm only a premed, started learning gross/neuro anatomy 1½ weeks ago.. I doubt I can teach you fellow docs a lot of stuff... heh thx for the praise though, flattering.
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| Feyza
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 ur a premed ?!??!?!?! ookk prepaid congrats for your over-90-future-score Jack ! now I feel terrible !! ok ıll do my best !!
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| shwe
Forum Elite
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Dear Jackof knives,
You can still post daily concepts you learn , likes the one you post before at here or at my Journal. I am now studying Anatomy, not to neuro yet. Long way to go.Could you elabrate more detail , you just post in the way of movement normal, or if injured, dermatone, blood, nerve supply, function etc . as you said.
Which books[ you use]or your class notes, or hand out or teacher/s made you get to learn, see the big picture, very clearto& learn like that way ?????
Thanks.
Will seriously like to know which med school you're at now, to recommand it to my relatives.Can post here or PM me.
Thanks again.
You keep it up, do not let it slide down. Am sure 99 is waiting for you.
When we were in your situation, few good yrs back in school, we did study crazy like you with good concepts, correlation. That stands out even more than Msc in Medicine, Ped or MRCP.
So the degrees are sometimes just the title. To be a good Dr as clinician, surgeon[ in your case], all the clinical physicians should have good start, foundation like you get/have right now.Keep on growing.
GL
Sincerely,
Shwe
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| askdoc
Forum Senior
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To JackofKnives: Well put. It seems very hard to explain to people that they need to be that good in order to score 99 in USMLE. Can't wait to see how you fare next year when you take step 1. I've got a feeling I'll be greeting a fellow 99'er. High 99'er in fact.
Askdoc.
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| Jackofknives
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You guys are way too kind. I’m just an average person who happens to work hard that’s all.
My learning style, especially for anatomy is very dependant on the school facilities and that is how it should be imho. I learned a little bit about memory, its structure and how to increase its effectiveness in a psychology course that seems to be helpful.
For anatomy I have to expose myself to as many kinds of different sensory input as possible to increase the effectiveness of my memory storage and also to increase the diversity of the retrieval cues. We have a gross anatomical study hall at school with all the specimens and I spend approximately 30 - 35 hours per week there, together with dissection lab course I’m exposed to visual stimulation all the time. I’m also in a 2 men study group where I get the auditory input. I get procedural input from drawing, associative input from mnemonics and clinical correlations. Episodic input seems to be pretty effective as well and I get it from working out, eg when I do an exercise I’m thinking about the muscle groups I’m activating, the biomechanics and the innervations. I also do research in functional anatomy … basically you have to incorporate everything, make your life revolve around your study.
Also, anatomy is a 3D system and human tend to only think in 2D so reading books per se won’t give you the bigger picture, consequently spending time in the lab and looking at preparations is very worthwhile even though you have to sacrifice reading time, especially if you want to be a surgeon.
I go to a med school in Denmark, university of Copenhagen if you’ve heard of it. I think whatever university you choose won’t make you or break you, since most renowned schools already meet the standard. They should provide guidance and facilities and that’s all, you still have to do the work yourself. If I was sure about what the specialty/specialties I’d like to get into I would rank the schools according to which research areas they are strong at since you probably want to do some research in the respective field while studying.
I’m using 2 Danish textbooks pretty much designed for the grosss anatomy course at my school. My other textbooks are Langman’s embryo and Neuroscience (dunno the full name, haven’t bought it yet). Review books are HY gross, neuro and embryo and the FA book since I’m preparing for the USMLE as well. Again it’s hard to say which books people general need in order to exile because it is very individual as to which phase you are in. You guys prolly only need HY since you already know the stuff, if you don’t then do a some questions and see where you stand and whether you need to reread the textbooks or not.
Sorry guys, but it’s not realistic for me to write what I have learned everyday since it will takes hours, anything specific you want to know?
Edited by Jackofknives on 02/10/07 - 12:05 AM
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| Feyza
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Hey back Jack ! I appreciate your way of studying...doin great and very lucky that u are aware of this USMLE stuff in your college yrs...cuz im an old graduate and have 3 month to my exam and im soo far away from fresh knowledge that ur now accumulating in your brain in just the proper was to fit the USMLE u will be a great doc
I really wished u could tell me how on earth I can handle anatomy that well in this limited time ?? I only read Kaplan notes once (but deeply ) ..heheee sure if u can have an answer to this Q! seems impossible uh ?
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| Jackofknives
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Have you done some exam questions? They are very clinical orientated, how well did it go?
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| Feyza
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heyy back jack u mean Q bank?? nope not yet...ill buy them 1 months prior to my exam... if u mean some other thing by exam Qs...lemme know
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| me007
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1 month might be not enough.
Studying in school and studying alone are very different.
and difference is in discussion. questions are important, they make us to think and might be to pay more attention on what is in the textbook. Sometimes i can't realise how important that or this until somebody point on it few times. And questions can do this.
you can use it as a study tool, not only to check your scores.
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| askdoc
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Agree with me007. You need to do Q's as study tools. It's more effective that way. If Qbank too expensive and you only want to do it for 1 month, use other cheaper QBank. UW or even QBooks. Robbin's Review of Pathology is very good qBook for Patho.
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| Feyza
Forum Guru
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007...askdoc...
thanx both for the advice...its not a financial problem...its a "limited time" problem..I gotta write this in the my biggest mistake forum  its that I applied b4 I finished readin everything once...so do you still think I gotta start them b4 I finish them all once?? I was planning : read once...do the second reading in a month with 2200 Qbank + 1800 UW q which makes like 200 q/day...then revise everything in the Qs like a wind the last 10 days ...
switch or stick ?????
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| Feyza
Forum Guru
Topics: 48
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btw...any sources u know that has topic-spesific Qs all gathered ...like Im readin Paths now,,,cell injury Qs then the inflammation Qs..and like that...I can only use the ones at the end of the chapters for now...
thanx in advance
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| unique1
InGodITrust
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Robbins review of Pathology has topic specific qs.
Like there are qs on Cell injury, then Inflammation and so on.
Score95.com also has topic specific qs. I am not sure if you have enough time for this one.
Good luck.
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| Feyza
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Topics: 48
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anyone experienced score95 ?? worth buyin or stick to Kaplan Q bank??
thanx unique
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| me007
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i did it and was not happy with their explanations - short and not complete.
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| Jackofknives
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I'd suggest you to buy Qbook and do the questions during your review, otherwise you won't grasp what the examinees demand and you could end up focusing on some thing completed irrelevant. Also, it seems that you are very short of time, imho it is best to finish all review 2 – 3 weeks before you are about to take the exam and use the remaining time to do questions and simulate “live” experience – 8 hours marathon every 2nd or 3rd day.
You could postpone your exam, it’s better to take the test 2 months later and get a 99 than to rush through and end up with a mediocre score which will seriously limit your options.
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There are many things in this world that can’t be changed no matter how hard you try. That’s why you must not hesitate when the time comes where you have to give it all you’ve got.
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| Feyza
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Topics: 48
Posts: 1,430
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Im soooooooo freaked out to do that ! I mean simulated exams bc I have a very easily down-going mood about this exam so I dont wanna demoralise myself :/ instead of spending 8 hrs to demoralise myself learn 8 hrs more and get 5 more Qs in the exam I know Im a coward I started the Q bank and ur rite !! it really made me to understand the concept better and focus and concentrate...I dont find myself flyin to bahamas in the middle of the page no more and yes ill postpone the exam if i dont feel ready enough...
thanx all
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