Ancylostoma
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So the score is a 243/99.
I was initially a little disappointed, had I not been sick taking it and/or not have to take it again due to a crash I would of probably have done better. That said I dont want to be a greedy ____ and am somewhat satisfied. I want to thank all the people that made studying a little more fun and theie are a million but here goes some ..... palani, babydoc, mrmaverick, nnl, mytime , unique, luckyall, feyza, sany , mytime now, bangledoc, Dan Vitor, me007 I probably have forgot a couple of names but I didnt do it intentionally. Just remember if I did that it was probably a defense mechanism.
Its late night and I just got home from a flight so I will post my exam experience and prep tomorrow. 
prep experience has now been added below
Edited by Ancylostoma on 04/17/07 - 07:02 PM
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| MRMAVERICK
Forum Guru
Topics: 44
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hey my friend
i knew ur scores
it was quite obvious
congrats
and i have the honour of being the 1st to say congrats
best of luck for future  
i ll be havng my oasis updated soon 
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| Luckyall
Forum Guru
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Congratssssssssssssssssss! I told ya anything above 230s ! I wish i can be a good predictor for myself as well ! 
Sooo very happy for ya !
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| me007
Forum Guru
Topics: 72
Posts: 799
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WOW!
Congratulations!
You deserve it!
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| Ancylostoma
Forum Guru
Topics: 42
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Mr Maverick, I'm awaiting your scores as well even though i'm sure of the outcome. Good luck
Me007 when are you taking the step? I hope your prep is going well, good luck
Luckyall -hope your working hard...Good luck on your prep
Thanks guys and gals
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| drbin
Forum Guru
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congrats ....u deserve it after all u had gone thru.....goodluck with S2
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action speaks better than words
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| sany
Forum Senior
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I had no doubt!! You did it .
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sany
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| inkspot
Forum Guru
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hey congratulations! dude u did a great job! All the best for step2 and i m eagirly waiting for ur exam expierence and study methodology!
looking forward
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| aim99
Forum Newbie
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Congratulations!! All the best for Step-II.
Awaiting your Step-I prep experience - sources, how many readings, how long did u prepare for, Qs source, etc etc.
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The intellect works with the greatest intensity when it works continuously; the more you do, the more you can do - Oswald Chambers.
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| GoodGirl
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Nice, really well done despite what you went through!
Good luck in the future ! And yes, you could tell as more about your preparation, sources and what would you do different if you could,please.
Enjoy it !!!!
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Prioritize & simplify
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| new_n_lost
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LOL Nothing Less was Expected from u mate.
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FORUM RULES-- Those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand. I get enough exercise just by pushing my luck --P4U World.." The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."
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| girl^interrupted
Forum Elite
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Loads of congrats. You went through so much, you deserved the best
Not to mention your excellent concepts.
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| babydoc4usmle
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I knew it!!! still - such a great news!!! congratulations!!!
and don't complain!!! be grateful! bright future is ahead of you
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| kykie
Forum Senior
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Wow! Big congrats.Also waiting to hear wiht ur tips.How did u cope with the molecular biology and other tricky parts?wishin u all the best for the rest of ur exams
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| forumdoctor
Forum Senior
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hey ancylostoma, congrates !!!!!! u really rocked, n GL .........
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| epica
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Congratull
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| unique1
InGodITrust
Topics: 20
Posts: 1,478
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Congrats!!!!!!! Wish you even better on your next steps.
Awaiting your prep details .
Edited by unique1 on 04/17/07 - 10:16 PM
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| mytime
Go Marching in!
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 Yahooooooooooo! DAWG!!!!!! More like 
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| mytime
Go Marching in!
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CONGRATULATIONS>>>>>>>>>>
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| Feyza
Forum Guru
Topics: 49
Posts: 1,436
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YAY YAY YAY !!!!! For the last couple of days I was signing in like C'MON ! HOPE ANCY'S SCORE IS HERE ! finallyyyyyy YAYYY!!! I was pretty sure about 99 but its soooo relaxing to see it with my very own eyes congrats claps bravos hurrayyyysss
hope to meet u in step 2 forum if I can pass 
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O my Lord! Open my chest for me ( grant me self-confidence ) and ease my task for me.Ta-Ha 25-26.
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| Ancylostoma
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Posts: 637
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Study Experience:
When I finished my last semester I had just started to begin a relationship with my girlfriend so i didnt study too much that semester. I then decided to take about 6 months off for preparation for the exam. When I got home I realized that it probably was the last place that I wanted to study. Their were som many familiar faces plus everything that I had done in the past to keep me studying I could no longer do because i was sharing the house. Normally, I get rid of the cable, turn off the internets and fill the house up with food that i like eating. When I live at home its just the opposite, internet and cable plus vegetarian food( I eat meat). Did I mention that my dad needs the temperature around 80 f and i'm used to 68 and loves to come in my room and bug me about how I should help around by going to our store, or cultural clubs. If they havent taken the test, they dont know what it was about. Hardwork(at this time it looked like I didnt know it either).
I then discoverd ebay and began making money for about 3 months . I couldn't and wouldn't concentrate on my studies so I didnt bother studing more then 30 mins a day(3-4hr/week) . Thats an average because is was more like not stuyding for 4 days and on the fifth put in 3 hours. After I got done with ebay my girlfriend came to town for about 1.5 monthsto do falcon because i live in dallas. while she was in class for about 8 hours a day , I was in her room watching tv 5 hours, showering and getting ready for about and hour and finally about an 2 hour of studying done. When she got back sometimes we would study and a lot of times we would watch more tv and order in food. After she left it was mid novermber and i was getting totally worried about my procrastination. Around this time I decided that I would start studying hard and studied 8-12hrs for a week. Then took another week off to play nintendo wee with my brother in law and nephew.
Finally I got really worried, at the beginning of december I took NBME 1 and got a 480. I was depressed and then even more worried that I would not get my score of a 99. Three days later after concentrating and taking a full min on each question, I scored a 530 on NBME TWO. I felt a little better but these test gave me the lick in the pants that I needed. I studied hard and initially set my date for the test to december 28. So I have roughly 4 weeks to get the 99. I pushed real hard for about 12hr-14hr. A week before my test, i thought about whether I should postpone my test. I decided that day that I would regret it if I didnt get my 99 so I postponed my test.
So I extended my window and called my school to get them to sign the form. My school said they did and later sent me a bill a couple days later and said that I needed to pey the bill first. My money was tied up and I was worried and so i tried to convice them to sending it early. I couldnt pay it till beginning of jan and could study because I was so tense about my form getting there ontime.
Finally at the beginning of january I decided to add some books to the kaplan 7 book series and fa, I added the high yeild gross anatomy, embryo and histo. I added kaplans med essentials, particualarly because it filled in the wholes in the physio section and studied till march 2(test date) for about 12- 14 hr but some day maybe less or more. finally two weeks before the test i rushed through the body systems in kaplan med essentials, and fa and goljan and took the test. My test crashed out and I had a three weeks before I could take the test again. the week after my first test I wasnt able to study much, but once again the last two weeks i did the body systems. The problem this time I never was able to look at cvs and resp again. I thought that this might have effected my score but I ran out of time. I then fell sick the week of my test and because I didnt want to change anything new took my with a terrible headache and just some advil. In the middle of the thirdblock I realized that there was now way that I could continue untill I did something about this sinus infection?(viral) and headache. I took a sudafed and the rest of my test went better. I felt nad about my test because I felt that being sick I wasnt able to think out thing that I normally do when i was practicing.
Prep materials:
Kaplan 7 book series 2002 (I advise you not to use these if you can download or buy the latest)-I used every book. 2 times
Kaplan Med Essentials (If you use it for anything it fills in wholes in kaplans physio, but also general pharm and others, not really important for path, biochem sections list the rate limiting enzymes and modifyers in charts which I liked.)
FA( mainly for the pharm, but also some of the high yield anatomy, embryo facts, some physio but found the embryo and path less usefull. 3 times (not path but almost everything else)
Goljan systemic notes (started notes too late just did the systemic notes) this plus kaplans pathology were my staples for path ( 1.5 times, never finished second time)
Hy anatomy, embryo, histo,- I dont know how useful they were actually in filling in wholes of kaplan however I would still read them once or twice. 1.5 times(some sections were not done twice)
Q banks :
Iv q bank (tried doing a little but stopped, too easy and not worth doing unless you have a lot of time)
Kaplan q book 73 % 1 time
Kaplan Q bank 83% 1 time
Usmle world q bank 74% 1 time
2.44*uw % +70 = 250 (this is what I was expecting, i'm not satisfied but hungry because I feel robbed by circumstance)
Errors I made in preparation:
1. taking too much time away from school, I sure that I lost info during the months I was making money on Ebay. While the money was nice It wasnt important
2 . this maybe the biggest problem, I came home. Here i had two many distractions and had to adapt to a completely different environment that I maintain at school. I would advise that if you are comfortable and used to studying a certain way then do so. My way was isoloation from everything but i wasnt able to do that and got distracted. Plus my dad was unforgiving, I usually keep my place cold so that I stay vigilant and dont fall asleep. My father like the temp near 80 f and that made me sleepy all the time.In the end its my fault for letting myself get distracted but it is also my fault that I came home.
3. not starting goljan early enough, goljan +kaplan is a perfect combo for path. i just didnt start goljan early enough.
4. using old books for pharmacology 2002 books are old and pharm is one of our fast changing subjects
5. Not starting the high yield books ealry enough
6. Overconfidence and procrastination - major problems throughout
7. Taking flonase when I shouldn't. My mind was cluttered at the end because I was sick but I continued to take flonase because I was worried about my allergies more then the virus. I should have stopped the flonase at the first signs of illness.
Guys if I forgot something please ask away, please dont send the questions as pm I dont want a million questions in my inbox. I will try to answer all questions posed but please realize that i'm working on starting rotations and possibly transfering to a better institution. That means it may take a couple of days for an answer.
Finally I want to thank everyone for their support and wish you all a better score then mine.
Edited by Ancylostoma on 04/18/07 - 10:54 AM
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| Feyza
Forum Guru
Topics: 49
Posts: 1,436
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GOSH ! its like RU KIDDING US wut the heck is better then yours
first I wanna thank you a lot for encouraging me to start FA last month and second Ill ask very briefly : no time to add anything to pharm except FA+ kaplan 2002 ...no time ever to read Goljan except the HYpages 36 or 100 idk which yet... shall I suck in the exam without them ?? I dont ever wanna delay it but if u say YEAA ITS A MUST ! then Ill consider it 
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O my Lord! Open my chest for me ( grant me self-confidence ) and ease my task for me.Ta-Ha 25-26.
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| Ancylostoma
Forum Guru
Topics: 42
Posts: 637
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I didnt use the goljan high yields...I just didnt have the time to read them. That said if you do have the time quickly go over it once so you get a grasp on the sort of scenarios your getting. Dont have the time then just trust your training and your q banks. I didnt get a star on pharm but it was very close and I used kaplan 2002 + FA for the pharm. Occasionally i used med essentials for the name of an important medicine that wasnt in both but if you have not dealt with med essentials then do not worry about it.
Whats your q bank scores ?
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| inkspot
Forum Guru
Topics: 35
Posts: 647
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hi Ancylostoma,
thanks for the detailed info!
I have a few questions!
I m currently studying Katzung Review for Boards (Pharma) and its quite bulkier than kaplan pharma. I am just curious to know what kind of questions do they test in usmle for pharma? Are they doable? and how many did you get in your exam?
2) I have MedEssential, but i dont plan to read it i will stick to FA. Can you please tell me from your reads, what are the most imp things that I should look at or cut / paste on my FA from Med Essentials? That will save lots of my time and i can leave the rest of Med Essential in the shelve.
3) Is Kaplan Histology not enough, I have seen HY but it has too many irrelevant stuff like pharma, patho and physio - that i already have covered from other books. I wish to save time and avoid duplication of material here?
4) Where did you study Molecular Biology from? Is Kaplan enough or do you need to do HY?
5) what sources did you use for MRIs? Is is easy to identify ligaments in them?
6) you said u used Kaplan + Goljan ! is Goljan alone not enough? Whats good in Kaplan Patho that i SHOULD definetly see. I was hoping not to use Kaplan at all.
Thanks!
Edited by inkspot on 04/18/07 - 01:24 PM
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| aim99
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 156
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thanks ancylostoma for such a detailed experience. GL for step-II.
just one quick Qs: how did u do the Kaplan Q Bank and UW qs - did u do them subjectwise/randomly?
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The intellect works with the greatest intensity when it works continuously; the more you do, the more you can do - Oswald Chambers.
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