drplacebo
Forum Senior
Topics: 6
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Exam date: 28th Feb.
Oasis updated on 21st March,
Score 236/99
I would like to thank first & foremost of all 'askdoc' whose advice I found immensely helpful.
It can be accessed at http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/34492/1
Just touched the magic figure I guess !!
Study: 3 months almost full-time.
Just an average IMG nor a very fresh grad with below average academic performance in MedSchool.
Many resources.Kaplan to Goljan to HY series, KME & FA, etc.
never really stuck to any particular source; but Goljan is fantastic.
Did lots of Q's throughout.
Kap Q-Book : started from 60% but finally averaged 80-82%
Kap Q-Bank : unable to complete
UW : ~60%
KapSim -71% [1 week prior]
USMLE CD: 43/33/39 Did in a drowsy mood, 2wks prior
NBME-1 : 610/242/98 5days before
Definitely NBME is a better predictor. Actually set to improvise over that but messed up my D-Day, else it would have been even accurate.
Had lots of second thoughts till I took NBME.Path all the way was too miserable, but definitely enjoyable.
Anyway ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
About my prep its a complex story altogether......After graduation was frustrated & was almost upto a career change but finally stayed back to pursue MLE.
I had my eligibility period from Sept-Nov....But was unable to prepare for that slot....& not until i had extended my slot till feb did I put on my running shoes & start preparing. So Dec to Feb is my prep time & gave my exam on da last day of my extended slot ie.28th Feb....
Time being a limiting factor had to slog hard & most imp. play smart.....Did all the research for da Best possible material & Advice from da Forums.....& having a bit fickle mindedness; needed to set a huge target right from da beginning.......ALWAYS PLAN FOR A LITTLE MORE THAN UR CAPABILITY TO KEEP THE GAME INTERESTING......as askdoc's signature says "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's heaven for."
I wud again repeat what others have said " Rather than what u read what matters is how best u read it."
Did a lot of Q's from the start.......Performance was nothing short of miserable.
After first reading it was a meagre 29-30 scoring in Q-Book.But haven't lost hope nor took my eyes of the Big Goal.
It wud be a exaggeration if I said dat the path was easy.....But verry verrrrrry excruciating.....
As I said I was'nt sure of taking the exam till reassured by the NBME score.....wavering to reschedule an exam or to take it. I had the feeling of unpreparedness even while I was in da last week but with my friends support realised that its pretty normal.
Due to some other factors lost my cool on the Exam day & few factors at Prometric....had gross disturbances in middle of da last block. But inspite of dat did'nt slide down much with HIS GRACE....got da pair of 9's dangling by my neck.
One great piece of advice by by friend I found Terrifically useful was during da Last month NO MATTER WAT, KEEP REASSURING URSELF DAT U SHALL GET A 99 ATLEAST 50 TIMES. I found it silly but thought I wud give it a try coz there's nothing to lose by that.
Apparently it seems to have worked GUYS
I personally feel that for any person of reasonable IQ level & dedication, it is pretty doable even in 3 months. If I had even better understanding and better advice right from the start, I guess it can be condensed further. But I studied real madly like my thats the only purpose for then in my life.......
So it was no surprise to get a decent score.......[but 99 is a topping over the cake for sure]
As a matter of fact most of the people taking the exam deserve nothing short of a 99, but if you are willing to pay the necessary price for it.....Forgoing some of ur Quality time for family, personal gratifications, other things in life.
What matters is how much are u willing to pay? I don't mean to say that you got to become a recluse,sacrificing everything but ought to give ur BEST shot; since this score is gonna haunt u for a lifetime{unless u have the determination to improvise over it after 7yrs}
That is where u have to set clearly ur priorities in life & work towards it.
Thanx to the admin & mods of this forum for such a wonderful job of getting info & inspiration accessible to people.
Edited by drplacebo on 04/06/07 - 02:20 AM
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| deniro
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
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congratulations!!
I need this encourgement while I am depressed by my slow studying. Frustrated from forgetting thing i studied before. Feel like don't retain any bit of infomation.
I want to go through evey book i have, HY, Kaplan, FA...it's just short of time everyday. I rush every chapter, eventually.
But your post gives me a light. I know I need dedication like this.
Also, the other post by askdoc is wonderful.
Thank you!
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| mytime
Go Marching in!
Topics: 40
Posts: 3,182
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U so rock I loved reading what u wrote, in fact I feel the same way about ASKDOC, and the strategies, hope some magic works here too! Good luck for the future..there's no stopping u now!
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| SILVER
DoWhatYouGotToDo!
Topics: 22
Posts: 872
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CONGRATS!!! i'm aiming for 4 months of studying. your post is sooooooo encouraging!! i know i can do it now!
keep it up drpl!!!
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| Feyza
Forum Guru
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gosh !! this was really amazing thanx a lot and congrats !
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| forumdoctor
Forum Senior
Topics: 14
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boy! u seriously rocked! ur post is really encouraging for all average students here, it will be awesome if u put ur study methods, as 4 months is short for somebody like me..........., congrats , and GL.
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| DarlynVMD
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 4
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Dr. Placebo,
I want to congratulate you for your hard work. But, with all the respect in the world, I have to point out that a 238 IS NOT a 99! The last 3 digit score before a 99 is a 243, after that, a 244 is 99. I hope it was just a typo on your part.
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| Luckyall
Forum Guru
Topics: 11
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Congratulations ! 
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| Ancylostoma
Forum Guru
Topics: 42
Posts: 637
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Actually DarlynVMD , the 99 this year is a little easier to attain in term of the three digits score. Just look at the recent history of the scores. Good luck !
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| me007
Forum Guru
Topics: 72
Posts: 799
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Congratulations!
Great score!
Good luck on your next steps!
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| npas
Forum Senior
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Thanx a lot DrPlacebo..very encouraging indeed..all the best for ur future
npas
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| aim99
Forum Newbie
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that was an awesome score - and the most humble experience that I've ever read from a 99er.
GL for step-II.
how many times did u read everything over and were u doing Qs along with your 1st read itself or after that? did u watch the DVD's?
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| drmohamed811
Forum Senior
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congratulationa dr placebo for your pretty super score, i want to ask you what exactly goljan book did you use as there are a lot of goljan books so which one did you use
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| aim99
Forum Newbie
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thanks for the pm and taking the time to answer my Qs - really appreciate it.
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| DarlynVMD
Forum Newbie
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Ancylostoma,
I would like to know where you're getting your information from. The NBME authors will never "make it easier" to obtain a 99 via the 3 digit scale. Your information is erroneous. I challenge you to show me your information. My wife's father is personal friends with 2 of the members of the NBME and trust me, if your information were to be true, I would've found out ages ago. In fact, the exam is becoming harder and harder, they just raised the passing score to 185, and have incorporated audios (heart murmurs, lung ascultations, etc) along with real patient encounter video clips. Trust me, NBME will never make the exam easier, especially to obtain a 99. The cut off for a 99 is 244 on the 3 digit scale.
But again, I challenge your information.
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| kamyabi
Forum Junior
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Congratulations drplacebo !!!! Wish you good luck for the next steps.
DarlynVMD , go to exam score thread and see three digit scores of 99ers. You will find out yourself that this year people are scoring 99 with lesser three digit score.
IMHO , it is because the exam is getting tougher not easier. Getting a 99 never was ,is or will be easier irrespective of three digit score.
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| jaide
say wat!~
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 ..congrats.... and i must say u give hope to a lot of very confued and nervous docs...
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| drplacebo
Forum Senior
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Posts: 138
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Thanx a lot guys for the beautiful smileys & Best wishes.
The pattern from Jan has been changed a lot where the Question difficulty level has been considerably enhanced, where 236 correct answers wud ensure a 99 as evident by the recent score pattern....& its certainly not a typo
Certainly agree that NBME will not lower the standard to make it easy to obtain a 99, but 236 is the no. of Q's which I got it right & that corresponded to the relative score of 99 as per difficulty level. But we have to remember that the Exam is too standardised to obviate factors like sheer luck or relative performance of all test takers on 1 particular DAY, as such.
I personally know of my friend who scored a 95/236 one more who secured a 96/236 and here I am with the same 236 but a 99. Heard that there are people who couple of years ago have got around 252/97.
It is purely reflective of Ur proportion of difficult Q's on the exam. Getting more of them correct wud fetch U a better 2 digit score with an slight less 3 digit score.
Attached Files:
Score 1.jpg (29 KB, 129 downloads)
Edited by drplacebo on 04/06/07 - 03:08 PM
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| DarlynVMD
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Kamyabi,
That's great what you say. Dr. Placebo, based on his preparation for the exam, I believe that he put in hard work and whatever his score is, then it should reflect his hard, committed work. However, I don't easily get sold by other people when they post scores up (this is not to say i doubt placebo's score). And, if it makes you any happier, I just got off the phone with **** over at NBME and she has confirmed that there is no way that a 236 is a 99 on the 2 digit score. She confirmed that the cut-off is still a 244. Now, however that ended up being a 99, two thumbs up to you. But, still, everyone should inform themselves and not go by what every other student on this forum posts as their score. Remember, most students will lie about their scores, sounds childish, but I'm sure that whislt in your medical school days, you had students that would constantly lie about their marks just to be thought of as being smarter than the class, etc.
Again, Placebo, I'm not here to knock your score, if you really got a 99 on a 236, then that's great for you and that just made you a stronger applicant for residency. But this is more for the other students who believe every word that is posted by others on this very forum and other forums as well. The authors of the USMLE will never decrease the 3 digit score cut-off for a 99. It's not that they don't want you to do poorly on this exam. But remember, this is the most important score that is used by residency program directors to filter out and even consider given interview for applicants interested in their programs. Having said that, the Step 1 exam is going to continue to get more challenging, but as a result of this, the cut-off will never be changed to a lower on. As a matter of fact, statistically speaking, last year was testees were reported as receiving the highest scores, over 70% of testees scored well over 90 with tons of 99's.
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| drplacebo
Forum Senior
Topics: 6
Posts: 138
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I wud like to further add my exam day experience:
I had almost 8-9hrs of uninterrupted restful sleep the night before & reached Prometric about 1 hr early, started on time but on entering the centre was accompanied by a friendly proctor to my system & before I cud settle down had my first Q popped on screen even without getting my pattern or ritual right which I was almost superstitious about.
It had certainly impacted my performance thru out the day- felt the hurriedness all during my exam where I was needlessly anxious racing against time Wherein I even mismanaged my break-time, leaving about 12-13 minutes in the end unused, which was definitely unplanned.
[Of course, I had planned every moment of my exam in my head down to the music I wanna hear & the snack i wanna nibble during break-time.]
So when we are investing a lot of money & time & when the score matter a lot, ASCERTAIN UR RIGHT TO GET THINGS RIGHT, BEFORE U START UR EXAM.
Coming to the Q's I have no idea as to how was my exam progressing...heard ppl say few blocks were easy a couple of them hard. But I found all are uniformily disastrous going above my head. Maybe i can say only one block was just bearable.
I felt absolutely lost with Q's testing my knee jerk reflexes, with barely sufficient time to ponder. Always running short of time just barely finishing them with virtally no time left to review marked ones.
It was the collective knowledge gathered cumulatively that was tested rather than from a book or Q-bank. i found no correlation between the stuff i sweated all the time & most of the Q I was facing. I could'nt stop admiring the way Q's were framed from the most basics; amidst my state of frustration & restlessness. I was almost thinking about getting the whole thing off my shoulders ASAP. I was so messy that I missed the most basic of biochem which is the only trace I remember.
The a/c stated grunting in the middle of my last block to mess up things further.
Such an experience made me to shy off from posting my exam experience the same day. though aiming for a 99 I was almost certain I missed the second 9, staying assured that whatever might happen it wud not be a gross deviation from my NBME prediction.
But score was a delight.
I wud emphasise a lot on getting things right on the Exam day, being in the Apt frame of mind conducive for Quick recall under the pressure of time ticking. Plan well for Ur DAY 'coz ur gonna remember that for the rest of Ur life.
GudLuck.
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| drmike11
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Great score! Best of luck for all future endeavors.
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| drplacebo
Forum Senior
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I understand Ur point Darlyn, though I do not doubt the authenticity of the score thread,I have to admit that even I was skeptical when I saw it for the first time. 
But there are several instances from seperate occasions & I have seen one more of my friend scoring a 230/95 which usually corresponds to 92-93 http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/51122
& one more colleague of mine getting a 94/225 which would usually be a 90.
We are afterall doctors who share our common belief in practice of EVIDENCE based medicine & not go by random claims.
So instead of a subjective discussion, here is what I have to offer as an objective evidence for now....pics of the report I received from ECFMG.
Though not expressing doubt on my score,I feel the need to give my share to clarify the issue.
Since the score is of the point of discussion, I took measures to hide my identity.........rather poorly ......lol
Attached Files:
Score 2.jpg (35 KB, 134 downloads)
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nothing in this world thats worth having,comes easy!!!- "SCRUBS"
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| Palaniappan
Forum Senior
Topics: 30
Posts: 148
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Hey..drplacebo......It was you atlast...Didn't open this post for a long time....
Hearty congratulations:-)..U DESERVE IT...I am glad that you did it to the maximum-Hope our discussion helped you
Good luck on your step2.
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| Ujk
Forum Guru
Topics: 41
Posts: 445
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Congratulations. You did it in 3 months. I was looking for a 3 month prep schedule. Best of Luck for step 2
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| keepgoing
Forum Fanatic
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congratulationssss!
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