manolok
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My test is on the 30th of this month, roughly one more week to go. After one read of Kaplan I did UW just to get a better idea of what I should be concentrating on. I did it in tutor mode and made notes of EVERY question. I have over 1000 something concepts. I ended up with a pathetic score of only 46 but after reading Kaplan again, watching some videos and re-reading my personal notes my scores jumped about 15 sometimes 20% more:-)
really disturbed though at reading some posts from various websites that said UW is not representative of the exam nor Kaplan. Needless to say this freaked me out, I'm wondering if my tools for prep were all for not. So with that said. Do I just stick to my UW notes? Or do I Read FA, Crush, Secrets, B+W for the last minute review? Have read most of these books and just a matter of ingraining the HY facts in my thick skull.
I didnt take the NBME nor do I plan to. Made the mistake on Step 1 by taking that exam way to close to my exam date and made me loose confidence if I didnt get a decent score or if I was borderline. I have answered some NBME questions here on this website and for the most part these questions seem pretty straightforward and definitely easier than UW. The new UW/step 1-bank really helped me out on Step 1, and it was like just doing a couple blocks of UW. I was under the assumption that UW was the gold standard for step 2 as well. So just wondering why some recent exam takers feel it's not. Perhaps, they didnt master the UW concepts thoroughly and just sour graping. I dont know but it might be too late now, so I may just go in there with the knowledge that I have and go in for battle. I'm mentally preparing myself for a gut-wrenching exam. Long vague questions with a multitude of choices but I dont want to freak myself out and go in there overanalyzing the questions and choosing wrong answers.
So am I on the right track? What to do in your last week? More questions? please put your two cents in.
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| arlete
Intern in 2009!!!!!
Topics: 30
Posts: 2,208
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Manolok:
I would use First Aid and usmleworld notes. They were enough for me to feel like I knew what I was doing during the test.
I don't know what happened in this forum, or with the tests lately. There was a time everybody seemed to be getting 99, I was happy but a little intimidated by so many genius or veeeery dedicated people, even thought maybe people were lying, but I don't think they were. Now, all of a sudden, people are having terrible experiences, questions are craaaazy and with no common sense at all, and people are getting scared and pessimist.
Not long ago, most of the people I heard saying the test was difficult, maybe they did not pass, etc, ended up with 95+ and I really hope the guys complaining about the test now will reinforce this theory.
But I am going the other way, my test was fair and had so many important questions and concepts! I could see myself facing those situations during any given day at the hospital. I got tired but did not feel exasperated or outraged, and I felt anybody could pass it studying the right resources (Kaplan lecture notes, First Aid, usmleworld). So now I am asking myself if maybe I am naive or too optimist. But I am going to have to wait a few weeks for the answer.
Botton line is: do your best, you have no control over getting a very difficult test or a reasonable one - apparently, so prepare yourself for the worst. Try to enjoy the ride, though. I did. I learned a lot through it all, I am certain I am a better doctor now.
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When men make the rules, God decides the exceptions.
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| manolok
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Very positive response to my neurotic post. Thanks. Thats the attitude I'm going to have game day. I'm sure you will do very well. And I do hope the pessimists or the one's lamenting about the "impossible" exam, step up after receiving there 90's and say that it was doable.
So, I'm reviewing notes. How long did it take you to get through FA before your exam? Like I said, Ive read most of it. Maybe I should go over it again.
Basically my weak areas are my fears. I'm trying to get comfortable with topics that I'm uncomortable with; different types of abortion, milestones, mixed acid base d/o's and EKG's.. other than that, I thnk the rest should be doable.
Did you memorize normal lab values before the exam?
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| DaddyO
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I really don't know what is wrong with some people...manolok you really amaze me. So, people are taking their valuable time to give feedback on this post and because it is not EXACTLY what you want to hear and because it isn't 100% positive feedback saying that the exam is easy and very doable and if you did UW, Kaplan, etc. then you will pass, if it is not information that makes you feel good and doesn't give you worries about the exam then you call them "pessimists" and you actually said that "perhaps they didn't master the exam material well enough and are just sour grapes"!!!
You went on to say that people that are being as honest as they can are "lamenting" about the exam and you hope they step up and post their 90 plus score.
Amazing! This is the best example of someone being very reactive because they hear something that they don't want to hear. Of course I want to hear about 100 people saying that the exam was doable and that there aren't many zebras and if you study the exam then you will do fine. But if I don't hear that I'm not going to call people pessimists just cause they are being honest or saying that they might just be sour grapes because they didn't work hard enough.
I mean that is the only reason that the exam is hard right? Because someone didn't work hard enough???
Unbelievable!
The fact is when I read arlete's post a few weeks ago I immediately thought to myself...wow, she had a good exam experience, there is hope, she thought that there weren't many zebras, wow, this is good news..I was happy to hear positive news but I didn't think that maybe it was easy for her cause she worked harder...I knew that she was lucky enough to get an exam that was fair.
But the truth stands...the exam that I took was just as some others have explained...there were more zebras on mine then there were horses. I got a 66% on UW the first time through which is about a 96% and I got about 78% the second time through...and now I'm going my third time through and am closer to an 80% and I failed the exam. With those scores do you think I didn't prepare enough and I'm just sour graping. I was out of UW questions so I actually started to do Kaplan Q bank but had to stop because I could answer most questions by just reading the last sentence alone, I only got 2 questions wrong out of the first 100 questions I answered on Kaplan Qbank so I knew it was not representative of the actual exam.
And the fact is: my exam was much tougher than the UW and I wish there was another Q bank I could use that was better correlated with the real exam. Most of my questions were more than 30 lines long and I had questions with 20 answer choices A through V and over half of my questions had lab values with some around 18 lab values. Just try one time to find a questions on UW that has 30 plus lines in the text before you get to the lab values and see how long it takes you to read it. The fact is we only have 1 min 15 sec per question and that is not enough time when most of your questions are over 30 lines.
Go to the past posts where I described my exam in more detail. I can tell you that I have almost a photographic memory and I memorized about 150 questions and I spent about 6 hours on the floor going through my kaplan and FA and all my review books and I couldn't even find the topics in my major review sourced for about 100 of the 150 questions I remembered. I know what you probably think and its the same thing that residency directors think when they have an applicant that fails the exam, they think..."come on if they can't pass this exam then they can't be ready to start residency because this exam has to be fair because it is designed by a third party and many people work on the questions and it has to be fair and other people pass so if they can't pass then they just didn't study enough or just aren't as bright as the others that passed it...what other explanation is there?"
They would never make an unfair exam would they...well yes they would because they did and I have no idea what their reasoning is when they make an exam that is so far removed from what they should be asking. I have no idea what motivates them to design an exam that obviously can in no way be a representation of what the student knows.
There's nothing worse than studying for 3 months for everyday 8-12 hours a day and take an 8 hour exam and come out and know that the exam didn't come close to testing you on all of the knowledge that is in your head. Why would they ask me questions that 99% of IM attendings across the country wouldn't be able to pass? Why would they repeatedly ask the same question 5 times in 5 different ways when it is not something that any medical doctor should ever know especially when there are so many interesting diseases and illnesses and pathology and treatment patterns that they can ask me about. It is baffling.
So, please please my friend, when someone takes their valuable time to recount their painful experience DO NOT patronize them and say that they are "pessimists" and they are just sour grapes because they had a bad experience. Just because someone is being honest with you and is telling you exactly what happened with their exam don't discount them just because it is not information that is pleasing to the ear.
By the way, if you feel that the only things you need to work on are different types of abortion and EKG's and some other minor topics then I think you are ready my friend. Inevitable and Threatened abortion are really the only two that are hard to mix up. Best of luck to you.
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| arlete
Intern in 2009!!!!!
Topics: 30
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DaddyO:
Please, don't take it personally, nobody wants to offend you. Everybody is in the same boat and hoping for the best.
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| DaddyO
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I wanted to make sure that manolok understood that it wasn't the fact that someone has sour grapes because they didn't study or work hard, and that when I left my post and most likely when others left theirs that we aren't being "pessimistic". Manolok wants to be in denial that it is possible that there are very difficult exams out there that makes your months of studying seem futile. And it is really really easy to just go into denial and employ the most ancient defense mechanism when you hear something that doesn't make you all warm and fuzzy. It is one thing to be into denial and then it is another to patronize and insult people that have taken their time to help others by calling them pessimistic and having sour grapes cause they didn't work hard.
The fact is not that I'm taking it personal but essentially that I'm sticking up for the integrity of the individuals that were kind enough to leave their experiences. People aren't exaggerating even a little; most likely they are being extremely honest. And I won't let manolok insult my colleagues.
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| manolok
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DaddyO,
I think you are taking this WAY too personally. My intention was not to patronize anyone. The reason for my post was to vent and to seek positive advice. And I got that from arlete. If you want to displace your frustration on the step 2 ck on me, be my guest. I empathize with you and I too have had my share of failures with Step 1. But I never once took out on someone posting about their frustration on their exam prep. Albeit reactive, it is was it is. You know nothing about me nor how long I've been studying for this exam, so why comment like that to my post?
I do wish you the best of luck and I wish I could offer you advice. Though I do have to point out.. that you are the only only one reacting to my post in such a negative way. I dont think this is about my insensitivity towards others, I think its more about how you deal with your failures. I say that because I've walked that walk before many a time.
Perhaps an attitude change should be on the top of your list before you open another book.
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| pearljam59
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My test is July 30th as well. I may be the ultimate guinny pig of this forum as I have only been preparing with UW! I have gone through it once with all the ?s and then again with all the incorrect ?s I am officially spending my last week with you guessed it...UW! However today I am working through the USMLE CD trying to master all the ?s. But starting tomorrow, I will be dissecting parts of UW for the remaining few days I have. That will include marked ?s of all the 'high yield' ?s and specifici topics...like biostats.
Its UW or bust with me, if I dont fair well on the exam I think it will be easy to pinpoint what I didn't study!
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| mytime
Kick my butt!
Topics: 39
Posts: 3,174
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MANLOK I remember u from the last time, just wanted to wish u ALL THE VERY BEST. U are ready if u feel ready no one else can tell u that. CONFIDENCE matters coz it'll help u think positively so look thru the bits and pieces of ur notes. Stuff u remember came last year. And maybe FA for topics that still deter u. AM sure u'll do great. Stay calm and don't let what happened cloud ur judgment. God Bless!
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| manolok
Forum Elite
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Mytime, thanks alot for the kind words. What the other poster failed to realize is that negative posts do really affect a test taker. That was my whole point. Alot is riding on the exam, and I almost hit the panic button to reschedule my exam. But that was mistake with Step 1. The time has come and I'm going to stick with that date. I'm sure there will be alot I dont know, but at this point I'm not going to stress about that. where are you now in your exam prep? are you done?
After this exam, I have to prepare for my externship/observership in aug. Just hope that I can put this exam past me and I can concentrate on that.
PearlJam, wow you really are taking a risk but a good calculated one. I did supplement with Kaplan and other review books, but at the end of the day, I'm going back to my UW notes.
Good luck, where are you taking your exam?
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| eida
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Hi Pearljam
Have CK in 4 wks and i am curious to know how ur exam goes as the only extra thing i'm doing besides what u have done is read FA and Kaplan medicine.
That is,UW seems to be my main arsenal.
Good luck and plz post ur experience when u r done.
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| DaddyO
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You really do amaze me...I never ever insulted you at all; I was responding to you rationalizing why the fact that a lot of people that have recently taken the exam are having a difficult time with how vague and how long the exam is. And no no one else has responded but that is because you posted in the support forum and the forum where people have been talking about how vague and long the exam is and how many zebras it has is actually in the the "Exam Experiences" section.
But lets get back to how you responded. How on earth can you possibly defend yourself and then you go on to insult me further. You said some harsh things. And initially I did not take it personal but rather I was sticking up for the integrity in these posts. You said some rude things that discounted what people were saying.
You said, people were "pessimists" when they recounted exactly what their experience was. This means that you think people were being more negative about the exam than they had which is a leap to take on your part when you know nothing about them. How is someone supposed to feel when they recount their exam and someone says they are a pessimist just when they are being honest?
And then you actually went on to say that "perhaps they didn't study hard enough or master the exam well enough" and that they are probably just "sour graping"!!! When you say this you disrespect the person that take their time to post...do you honestly think that it is kind and an upstanding thing to just say "well if they had a hard exam and they are talking about how difficult it is then they probably just didn't work hard enough and are just being sour about it"
I know it might help you cope better with the fact that a lot of people are saying that the exam is more difficult than UW and is really vague by simply saying "perhaps they didn't master the concepts well enough" and are just "sour".
Do you really think that people have nothing better to do than to just complain about the exam. For me, all I have done is to try and explain with as much detail as possible how my exam was and how difficult it was and how much more difficult it was than UW.
And you come back with statements that rationalize that the reason it was difficult for the people that are helping out others by sharing their experience is because they didn't work hard enough and master the concepts. And I'm sticking up for the people that shared their experience and you respond not by apologizing but defending yourself and you don't apologize for saying that people are "pessimists and are just sour cause they didn't master the material" And you go onto actually insult me personally!!! This time you did insult me personally!
When I responded to your post I never insulted you or put you down or told you that you needed an "attitude change" like you just recently told me!
You actually told me that I needed to "change my attitude before I opened another book to study"! Are you serious? You are actually telling me that I need to change my attitude and that I should change a part of my personality before I open "another book" to study???!!! So now you are giving advice on what people need to do before they study!?
And you say that I am "displacing my frustration on the step 2 ck on you"!!! And you go on further to say that you never took out your frustrations on the exam on anyone. Do you actually think that I am taking frustration out on you and it didn't have anything to do with what you SAID!!! My goodness...the level of your comprehension is astounding to me. The hubris you have to think that the reason that I responded to you had nothing to do with what you said and everything to do with my "frustration" about the exam. Let me get something straight here future psychiatrist, this is only the second time I have ever given feedback about my exam and the only reason I gave more feedback is because I read many posts about people just recently having the same exam experience that I did. And me responding had nothing to do with frustration about the Step 2 and about my "failures" as you put it, and by the way where in the world did you get "failures" You are saying that I have more than one failure which is just weird. The reason I responded to you had NOTHING to do with my frustration about my single failure with the Step 2 last year but had EVERYTHING to do with your insults when you said that people that said that the exam was tough were "pessimists, sour grapes, and perhaps didn't master the material". You might like to think that it was because I was frustrated with the exam but it was because of the insulting things that you said to discount the people that were brave enough to share with us. And by the way, like I said, this is the first time I have posted since I received my score report in the mail...if I was frustrated don't you think I would have been posting and getting my frustration out long before this? That was in January. I responded to some posts to help them and give them feedback and let them know that there are quite a few people out there that had a very similar exam.
And to respond to you, I never commented on anything that had anything to do with you that would represent that I knew you and knew how long you had been studying cause I don't know any of those things. If you saw it that way you took things the wrong way which I could easily see you doing, since you thought because I was responding to your post was because I was frustrated and not because of the insults that you made against others.
And very nice of you to end your response with another rude comment while you simultaneously wish me good luck on the exam and then say you wish you could give me advice and then say that my response to you is not about how manolok, you, were insensitive to other but because it is how I am dealing with my failures!!!
I mean did you really say that! The audacity of someone to say that the reason I'm sticking up for the people who were brave enough to post their experiences and then were subsequently insulted by someone saying that they were "pessimistic for being honest and probably didn't master concepts and are just sour graping" is because this his how I deal with my failures.
Yes, manolok, I deal with my failures in life by sticking up for people who are called pessimists and called people who are just sour grapes and who perhaps didn't master their material. That is how I deal with my failures.
And I love your classy closing line when you say I should have "an attitude change before I open another book".
Is this really the person you are, to insult someone like me and tell them that they need to change their personality before they study for the boards again. Is this really how you rationalize the fact that you called many people on this board "pessimists" cause they were being honest and accused them of "perhaps just being sour because they didn't master the material well enough"
You really aren't going to apologize for those comments and instead of apologizing you do the opposite and insult me and tell me what I need to do before I study again and that is change my personality. And instead of apologizing for making those comments about many posters on here you tell me that this is how I "deal with my failures" So, now you know how I deal with my failures in life and because I failed one exam you quickly say that I have "failures"
Lovely...just lovely.
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| manolok
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Once again DaddyO WAY TOO much time on your hands. I suggest that you cease your smear campaign against me and focus your time and energy in cracking upon those step 2 books again. No one cares about your melodrama or your misinterpretation of my post. Must I remind you you are STILL the only one complaining about my post. In fact a couple of members replied in defense. What does that say? Perhaps you did misunderstood what I posted and took it out of context.
I'm trying to be patient with you because I don't know if you are a native speaker of English. I use to teach English as second language before I went to medical school so I understand where you are coming from if this is the case. This is probably the reason why you misunderstood totally what I wrote in my post. The bottom line is this, NO one wants to read negative exam experiences from recent test takers, especially if it's close to their exam date. It can indirectly or directly affect someone's performance on exam day. And as you know, confidence on exam day is about 25-30% towards your success. So maybe I and plenty of other people here are looking for that "warm and fuzzy" encouraging post, to help us get through the 5th block. After reading your exam experience, i absolutely got NOTHING positive from it, except a panic attack and a bad case of diarrhea.
I don't know you nor do i think I ever want to get to know you. But one thing's for certain if you cant handle simple challenges in life, how the hell are you ever supposed to handle the critcisims of attendings, fellow residents or most importantly a patient's well being. So what you failed an exam, MOVE ON. Regroup and plan a different mode of attack instead of creating a mountain out of a mole hill from a post on a USMLE forum.
Well hopefully, this will the be the last email exchange. I really do have serious business to attend to, like getting a high score on this exam. I suggest you do the same. I'm using your negativism as an impetus to pass and pass high on this "impossibly possible" exam. Good luck and good day.
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| DaddyO
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So, now the possible reason that I "misunderstood" your post might be because I'm not a "native speaker of English" and then you can understand why I am responding the way I am to what you said.
Could you please tell me how I "misunderstood" and "took out of context" you saying, and I will quote you exactly, "Perhaps, they didnt master the UW concepts thoroughly and just sour graping" And then you went on to call the ones who were giving honest feedback about their exam "pessimists" and said they were "lamenting about" their exam.
Please tell me how I misunderstood that?! Please tell me how I took your exact words out of context. Those are your exact words and I quoted them over and over in my response so you and anyone reading would know that I didn't take them out of context. Not one time did I ever take your words out of context, but I like your attempt at rationalizing what you said by saying I did take it out of context when it is pretty obvious what you said. And I really love your patronizing comment of saying that you "really understand" me responding to your post if I'm not a "native speaker of English". So, the only way you can see me saying what I'm saying is if I'm not a native speaker of English?! You honestly think there is nothing wrong with saying that people are "pessimists" when they are simply honest about their exam experience and because their exam is long and vague you try to explain it by saying the reason it was vague and long is because "perhaps the they didn't master the UW concepts thoroughly and are just sour graping" and are "lamenting". You honestly think that this is okay and there is nothing wrong with saying that the reason a lot of people found the exam long, vague, and with a lot of zebras is because they "didn't master the concepts". You don't think this is undermining their integrity? If someone tells me that the exam was long, vague, and a lot of zebras I am going to respect them and say that the exam that they took was indeed long, vague, and had a lot of zebras. I am not, however, like you, going to say that the possibility is because they are "lamenting" and they are just "sour grapes" and because they "didn't master the concepts". Why would you do that anyway? And then you went onto insult me when I never insulted you, I just addressed your exact quotes. And to insult me you tell me that you think I need to study harder and that I have trouble working out my failures, and also advise me to change my personality.
And even more, simply because I addressed your exact quotes of you thinking that people are lamenting and are sour grapes and maybe didn't master the concepts you actually said "But one thing's for certain if you cant handle simple challenges in life, how the hell are you ever supposed to handle the critcisims of attendings, fellow residents or most importantly a patient's well being". And those are your exact words...now what does that have to do with you saying that those that had a difficult exam with vague questions are lamenting, sour grapes, and didn't master the material. Why would you get into how you well you think I handle the challenges in life and then go even further to give possible challenges that I might face and how hard it might be fore me???!!! Very very interesting.
The fact is you insulted people that were simply honest by saying that they were "lamenting" and were "sour grapes" and questioned whether they had really "mastered the material". And you never addressed these things that you said you just insulted me in return when I never ever insulted you; I only questioned why you would insult the posters that were honest. And then you actually said that the reason you think I misunderstood your post was because I wasn't a native speaker of English. Well, I am a native speaker of English and I taught college English at the University level before I went to medical school. I also taught English as a Second Language for years before I went to medical school. But I did laugh when you informed me that you taught ESL and questioned whether English was my first language because even in the sentence that you wrote to inform me of your ESL experience there was a grammatical error as well as spelling errors and other grammatical errors in your message. This was just funny to me not because I am insulting your English but because you were questioning whether English was my first language and used this as an excuse for me finding something wrong with your post as opposed to you actually admitting that it might not be respectful to say that others who were sharing their exam experiences were "lamenting" were "sour grapes" and were also "pessimists" who "perhaps didn't master the material".
And when you tell me "what does it say that a couple of members replied in your defense"? Well if you think that arlete telling me to not take it personal is a "couple of people" and they are coming to your defense then I guess you can think that one person is a couple but because one person, arlete, tells me not to take it personal doesn't mean that she agrees with you that it is indeed respectful to others to say that those who were sharing their exam experiences were "lamenting" were "sour grapes" and were also "pessimists" who "perhaps didn't master the material". And you also mention that I am the only one that is complaining about your post, but I can tell you that I have had members that have sent me personal messages and have said things that tell me they obviously don't like what you said and that if you want to think that people are "lamenting" are "sour grapes" and are "pessimists who perhaps didn't master the material" then you can think that if it makes you happy and helps you to accept that there might be some very difficult exams out there and if you think that the reason people are saying the exam is long, vague, and has zebras is because they are "lamenting and sour grapes and are pessimists" then you are going to be in for a surprise if you get the exam that some of us have had.
You said that no one want to read about negative experiences from recent test takers but I am certain the people that had an exam just like mine and then realized that they weren't the only one with an exam of that type were happy to read my post. They told me they were relieved to hear that someone else had such a challenging exam. So, you have to really understand that because you look at the post as being negative that it doesn't mean that the premise of the post was to be negative and "pessimistic" as you put it. If someone is recounting how difficult their exam was and it comes out that the exam was difficult then that is not positive for the future test taker that might get an exam with as many zebras but it DOES NOT mean that the poster who shared their experience is being negative. Please give this some thought and understand that challenging tests and sharing how challenging they were doesn't mean that it is a negative post if it helps someone in their preparation. Don't just summarize the person as "pessimistic" and "negative" because their exam was hard. Furthermore, when you say that what I failed to realize was that "negative posts really do affect a test taker". You know manolok, don't you understand that you can choose not to read a post. You know, you aren't forced to read every post. It's kind of like if you don't like there being nudity on cable then don't turn the t.v. on the cable channel. Because you came across my post and view my post as negative then it is your choice...I know it might comfort you to put some blame on my shoulders but it is not my fault if you are affected by my post. My post was honest, not negative. Am I not supposed to respond to someone that is a little upset because they had a long, vague exam with a lot of zebras and haven't heard of many people having an exam like theirs??? I posted my post to comfort someone that had a difficult exam because my exam was also vague and with many zebras. Does that make my post negative? No, it makes it informative and helpful for the past test taker and if because I am honest and share exactly how difficult the USMLE has made my exam that does not make my post negative it makes it truthful and real and comforting to the person I was responding to. If you are the type that will let their personal performance get affected by something that you find negative when others find it helpful then I believe you should simply choose to not read every post...you know just don't turn it on the channel that has nudity if you don't like nudity.
And I agree with you when you said "no one want to read about negative experiences on exam day" and that is why this is only the second time I have ever posted anything related to my exam; I didn't want to scare anyone but the REASON I posted my true exam experience is because a nice member on here, young_doc, had just posted how vague and long his exam was and how many zebras he had, so I responded to his post to let him know that there are other people that have had a similar exam. I posted my experience to give someone comfort, the exact opposite reason that you accused me of, not to be negative or to lament or to be sour grapes and definitely not because I hadn't mastered the material so I was lamenting. In fact, there have been many members on here that have had a similar exam. I took my exam in December and since right after my exam, as I told you before, I haven't posted anything about my exam because I didn't want to scare anyone. But I do have a commitment to the truth and my experience did happen and there is a difference between not wanting to hear about negative experiences and not wanting to hear about difficult tests and how the format was. I didn't describe how my morning was or if I got sick or about any negative experiences, I described how my exam was to help out others and to give comfort to those that had a similar exam so they don't think they were the only ones. So, you might not want to hear about anything negative but that doesn't mean I'm going to hold back the truth about the difficulty level of my test and the format and as you said you got "absolutely NOTHING positive from it". If me being honest about my experience didn't give you anything positive, it is not my fault because I am being honest. If I hadn't taken the CK and I read a post like mine I would feel that it wasn't a positive experience but that I did get good feedback. You see, all feedback is not going to be warm and fuzzy, as you said manolok in your patronizing way when you lectured me "one thing's for certain if you cant handle simple challenges in life, how the hell are you ever supposed to handle the critcisims of attendings, fellow residents or most importantly a patient's well being".
You would be wise to take your own advice here and if you read something that doesn't make you warm and fuzzy like you said you want to feel from a post then simply employ your "life's challenges" advice that you had the audacity and hubris to bestow upon me. When you are simply challenged by a post that depicts an honest opinion about how difficult a student's test was then just look at it as a challenge and move on; don't insult the person and tell them that you got "absolutely NOTHING from their post" Don't immediately say that they were "lamenting, sour graping" and are "pessimists perhaps because they didn't master the material" and that is why the exam was long, vague, and quite a few zebras.
Finally, here are some of your quotes recently pertaining to what you think I should do when it comes to my studying.
"So what you failed an exam, MOVE ON. Regroup and plan a different mode of attack"
"I really do have serious business to attend to, like getting a high score on this exam. I suggest you do the same."
"I suggest that you cease your smear campaign against me and focus your time and energy in cracking upon those step 2 books again."
"Perhaps an attitude change should be on the top of your list before you open another book."
Thanks for your advice and for practicing tough love; although I would prefer for my mother or someone to do that. But what makes you think that I'm still studying for Step 2 now. I have already taken the exam and I matched into residency but decided to defer my residency for next July in order to give me some other opportunities I am pursuing before I start my internship. Thanks though for your comments...they are very consistent with your other criticisms.
Good luck on your exam..and wish me luck cause I'm going to take Step 3 soon as well.
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| manolok
Forum Elite
Topics: 71
Posts: 231
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What a LIAR!!!
LOL, you make me laugh everytime I read your posts. Now I think you totally lost your credibility! Liar. Who the hell matches into a residency program and decides to defer for another year, especially knowing the current competetive climate of residency matching. Furthermore, you could not have matched coz you failed your step 2 CK exam and are preparing to take it in the next couple of weeks. Even if you did interview in the fall or late spring, programs would have either dropped you from their rank list or ranked you really low when they came to find out about your failure which they wouldve received by late Jan or early Feb. Moreover, there is nothing in your brief history of posts that documents your application process, your communication with programs nor your proposed acceptance to a program match day. How cheap of you to confabulate a ludicrous story. Do you take me for an idiot? So does that mean, after I take my exam, I'm going to come back here and post.. "OMG I got a 99 on step 2 ck and 10 pre-matches. Get real man.
I decided to do a little sleuthing so I checked some of your previous posts. It seems that I'm not the only one you tried to freak out or rattle. In fact you invested so much time trying to justify your posting of your exam experience and apologizing to others. Bottom line here is that you have some serious problems facing the truth.
I was going to write a detailed explanation of what I meant. But I'm not going to waste my time. Your the only one pursuing this. And I highly doubt that anyone is privating you to complain about me.
So to sum it up your a liar...
1. You lied about matching
2. You lied about preparing to take step 3, because last time I checked you need to be ECFMG certified to take Step 3, am I right?
3. You possibly lied about people emailing you about me
Now, I really feel bad for you.
Oh by the way, I knew your going to comment about my grammatical errors. Of course it's not going to be in perfect grammar. I dedicate only 4 mins to writing responses to you. I don't have time to proof read my replies like YOU do.
I find you very questionable. In fact, I dont think you really got those scores in UW and with such a high score on step 1 then to bomb Step 2 like that. You need help and I dont think Step 2 or training is your only problem.
Good luck on your uh huh...."deferred training program"... LOL
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| coolmavs
Forum Elite
Topics: 21
Posts: 327
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Hey guys, please.....after reading the first few posts...I dont even have the patience to read any more...man these are looooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng posts!
Guys, please cut this out and yes, everybody is entitled to their opinions!
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Yeh Zeher bhi, yoon piya hai.....Jaise sharaab ho!!!!
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| coolmavs
Forum Elite
Topics: 21
Posts: 327
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So fas as Manolok's original query is concerned, I mirror his opinion as far as the fact that till some time back, UW was considered the gold standard! So it is also ver y surprising to me that a lot of recent exam takers are finding the need to do QBank as well! I have only 1 advice that, I am planning to stick myself, not to try and doubt your own abilities or preparation! That is why I am thankful to arlete for the great encouraging post and detailed exam experience!
God Bless you Arlete! You are a great driving force for students like manolok and mysef!
___________________
Yeh Zeher bhi, yoon piya hai.....Jaise sharaab ho!!!!
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| coolmavs
Forum Elite
Topics: 21
Posts: 327
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And pearljam, I guess, I will be the next in queue as I also plan to do only UW for my exam which is in a couple of weeks! SO please please please do post your detailed exam experience for people like moi, asap after your exam!
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Yeh Zeher bhi, yoon piya hai.....Jaise sharaab ho!!!!
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| spam man
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 9
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Wow!! That was some LONG posts to read. Anyway I am also in my last few days of studying and hearing about hard exams is never easy. I hope I am lucky enough to get a fair test - just wanted to wish manolok good luck.
Hey manolok what are you doing your last couple of days?
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| manolok
Forum Elite
Topics: 71
Posts: 231
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good look to you as well spam man. Im listening to Kaplan Highlights videos, I'm debating on whether I should go over UW wrong answers or stick to enculcating my notes into my head. I'm tempted to pick up Deja or B and W. I think I'm going to look at the rapid review in the last pages of FA. Other than that, I'm trying not to stress out esp with dealing with that neurotic poster. How about you?
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| manolok
Forum Elite
Topics: 71
Posts: 231
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I do aplogize for the long posts, and my intention is not to get everyone on my side.
I just think that you should be weary of people that post extremely negative exam experiences and what their motives are. I wouldn't trust DaddyO if my life depended on it. I've caught him in several lies of which are the following: that he has matched into a residency program and he is studying for step 3 and not step 2-ck. On that same breath, his most recent posts are wether or not he should postpone his STEP 2-CK exam because of his lower back pain. The nerve. And to attack me the way he did because I called him negative.
Bottom line is this, I always like to think the best of people. But sometimes there are rotten eggs out there that just want to bring the rest down in order to make themselves feel better for their failures. Why not give others a chance to do well instead of breaking their confidence. Everyone know's it's a hard/unpredictable exam, but its doable. Implying that UW, Kaplan, FA are not the gold standard will certainly freak people out. What should one do at this point, read CMDT a couple days before...not! That was my point.
Good luck to all.
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| doc_clotaire
Forum Guru
Topics: 159
Posts: 1,241
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OK Guys , I am gonna try to be honest here .
I don ' t think it 's the apropriate place in this " SUPPORT FORUM " to have those unnecessary discussion .
Manolok : I do understand your feeling in your last week of exam because when one is about to go in that battle , you only wanna hear positive experience and have a good confidence in yourself but that should not come from what people said or the difficulty of the exam but rather in your preparation and your own positive spirit .
This is your last week , you should be in you " MENTAL PREPARATION " period , no time to waste man . You ' ve working hard for this . Focus , Focus man
About the following words :
So just wondering why some recent exam takers feel it's not. Perhaps, they didnt master the UW concepts thoroughly and just sour graping "
That 's not necessaraly truth because most 99ers think that the exam is tough but they still end up passing with flying colors, it 's because of the way they score each exam " harder exam are easier to score " and you will find out very soon that the real exam is UNIQUE , no Q-Bankl can really simulate it .
You see , that 's wasn ' t too nice . Remember when you write something here , a lot of members are reading it , that may unintentionally affect some of them . So next time my friend , please be more carefull . I wish you have a very DOABLE EXAM and hopefully you got the score that you deserve .Good Luck buddy
DaddyO : Like I told you before , you will not be the # 1 fan of most people in this forum , it 's because they wanna hear ONLY positive feedback about the exam . Remember , I didn ' t trust you either until I see it with my own eyes , even though I passed but I don ' t think I am neither better than those who failed my exam or they were not well prepared .I just think that I am blessed and CK can be a very challenging exam ( if you are unlucky enough  )
My advice to you is : Do not even bother sharing your honest experience to them , just believe in yourself no matter what people say and may God bless you in whaterever you are doing
Morale of the story : I sincerly don ' t think that when prep4usmle was creating this forum , it was for that purpose ... We must help each other as IMGs in the good and the bad time
May God bless you all !
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The elevator to succes is broke ,you must take the stairs
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| DaddyO
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 27
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In response to manolok:
You continue your insults when I have not insulted you one time. You still haven't responded at all to the things you said about the people who posted their exam experience when you said they had a tough time with the exam because they "perhaps, didn't master the material" and are "lamenting, are sour grapes, and are pessimist". You haven't responded yet to whey you said those exact comments but you do pick out one or two small sentences that I wrote about my future endeavors. Interesting how you pick out what you want to hear and you respond to the things that can help you criticize me and you pick out things you think you can use to insult me. I am going to respond to your accusations ONCE and one time only because they have no merit whatsoever and have no credibility. I am not going to even lower myself to respond to you anymore because you never have apologized to the people you said were lamenting and sour grapes and perhaps didn't master the material and that is why their exam was difficult. The only thing you have done is insulted me time after time I assume because you have not logical reason for saying bad things about people that post their honest experiences.
I find it interesting that you did some research or "sleuthing" as you called it, on all of my posts to help you with your insults and you did an investigation to see the chronology of my posts. Anyone that says they are doing some "sleuthing" on another person just doesn't sound good.
You accused me of lying over 10 times and all of the are accusations but here are the ones I am going to respond to:
1) You said I lied about matching. Why would I lie about that, do I have nothing else better to do. And your justification of me lying is because I have never posted a chronology about my interview process and experience and therefore you don't think that I interviewed at all of the programs that I did just because I didn't tell people in my posts that I did. So, if I don't write something in the prep4usmle forums then it doesn't happen in real life? And then you said that I wouldn't defer my internship one hear cause how in the "hell" does that with how competitive the programs are. Well, me, I did it. And when I went on my interviews this last winter a number of the programs had spots already taken from people that had deferred from last year or people that had other things going on. You also said that no one would do it cause of competition, well I am doing primary care and it isn't that competitive and I have a lot more going on in my life than simply medicine so for maybe someone that ONLY has their career then maybe they wouldn't defer for fear of losing the only thing in their life but I am assured the spot next year. For the record, medicine is not the only thing I am doing with my life career wise; right off the top of my head I have at least 3 or 4 other major things that I put my time and investments into that I could qualify as a career. Do you assume that I don't have depth and that medicine is the beginning and the end for everyone???
Furthermore, it is really sad that every time you refer to me failing the exam you say, "your failure" or "when the program learns about your failure" or you say "your failures". Man you are just insulting. The fact is, when I failed the exam I pulled my name out of the match and I scrambled and matched with a program during the scramble withing 5 minutes of the scramble. And they are saving me a spot next year because I decided to defer, if I wanted to start this year then I would have retaken the exam around February but since I have many other things that I am focusing on at the current moment they assured me that they would reserve me a spot and I just have to have the CK taken and passed by next July 1. If a program really likes you and if you have worked there in the past then they will do whatever it takes to snatch you up, that is one thing that I've learned.
And do you really think I would come back to the forum and post that I got a 99 if I didn't especially when I was humble enough to post that I failed the exam. Do you think that someone that is not going to lie about failing the exam is going to lie about other non-important things. Unbelievable.
So, no I didn't lie about matching, I did match in the scramble and I have a position reserved.
2) You said I spent so much time trying to justify my exam experience and apologizing to others...what??? I only posted my exam experience one time and that was last December and then I haven't posted in 7 months until this last month because I felt compassion for someone that had a difficult exam. Is that a lot of time...I haven't posted my exam experience everywhere! I haven't posted since last December in which I only posted in one forum and I waited 7 months and this month I have only posted in 2 forums...once to extend compassion to "young_doc" who had an exam very similar to mine and I posed one time in response to you. Is that spending a lot of time trying to justify and apologizing!!! Are you living on the planet Earth.
3) You said I lied about preparing to take step 3...what in the world is wrong with you...do you think you know everything about everyone. You said that I had to be ECFMG certified to take Step 3, but isn't the ECFMG for foreign medical grads? And when I get my passing score back from the CK I'm going to be prepared to take Step 3. What is wrong with you...do you think you know how I spend my time. And you said that I'm preparing to take the CK in the next couple of weeks, why would I do that when I have already taken it. Do you think you know everything.
4) You said that I lied about people emailing me about you and your post...well why would I lie about that...you lied about a couple of people when only one person had responded but you not mention that, you just accuse me of something else and insult me. Look at the post "July 19, hard" in the CK experiences forum and see the people that have responded to my post. I am honest when I tell you that MULTIPLE people have emailed me about your post, MULTIPLE.
And the only reason that I commented on your grammatical errors is because you told me that you used to teach English as a second language and you were assuming and insulting me by asking me if English was my second language because with what I said you would understand if it was not my first language. So you were insulting me by assuming that I didn't speak english as well as you all while at the same time your sentences were riddled with major grammatical errors that you find in someone who doesn't speak english as their first language. I would not have ever mentioned anything about your grammar errors if you hadn't insulted me by assuming english was my first language. You act as if I just commented on your errors out of the blue cause I am critical...I was responding to your insult. And I have never proofread my posts...you do a lot of assuming and a lot of accusing. How many times have you called me a liar.
This is the end. I am not going to even read your future response to me if you choose to do so. But know that you have insulted me more times than I can count when I never insulted you. The only thing I did was question why you called the people that shared their tough exam experience "pessimists, who were sour grapes and lamenting" because "perhaps they didn't master the material".
You have insulted me numerous times.
You have accused me of so many things as if you know me and know who I am and your only proof is because of things that I haven't posted telling people about every day of my life and you trying to follow the chronology of posts.
You have called me a liar numerous times, so many I'm just not going to respond.
I expect an apology from you in my message box because I still have hope for you. I have hope that you will realize the error of your ways and will raise your awareness to the excessive amount of hubris that you have. I have hope that you will see that I only questioned the things you said about people sharing their experiences while you insulted me numerous times, accused me numerous times of crazy, outlandish things, and you called me a liar so many times.
Does it make you feel big and better than someone to continually say that they have had "failures" and to advise them on how badly they need to study and to accuse them of many things and to call them a liar over and over. Does it make you feel better to do some "sleuthing" as you called and to tell someone that they didn't match somewhere and that no program would reserve them a spot and that they haven't taken the exam and that they aren't studying for step 3.
I do forgive you though for your insults and your terrible behavior because I believe deep down that you can't possibly be filled with this much hubris and hate.
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| DaddyO
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 27
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Thanks to Doc Clotaire! I really appreciate your wise advice. And you are right...I should keep my honest experiences to myself. This is the first time I have posted and responded with such long comments because when someone like "manolok" calls me a liar, and accuses me of things that aren't true, and tells me that no program would accept me at a certain point because of "my failures", and insults me over and over and over when I simply questioned why he/she thought that people like you and I were "lamenting, were sour grapes, were pessimists, and perhaps didn't master the material" when we just shared our exam experience with others. Just because our exam was hard doesn't mean we are "sour grapes, lamenting, and are pessimists, and that we didn't master the material" And it doesn't give manolok the right to insult me, accuse me of crazy things, and call me a liar over and over.
I just have that fight or flight response when greeted with such hatred that I chose to fight. But now I know that I should have chosen flight. And that is what I'm going to do now. I am going to practice my flight response. Thanks for your feedback doc clotaire.
And as you said, may God bless you all.
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| doc-o8
Forum Elite
Topics: 28
Posts: 367
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hi manolok. i guess u should focuss on studies. best of luck with ur exam.
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