jaydoc
Forum Senior
Topics: 17
Posts: 100
| | 07/28/07 - 06:46 AM
2 of 11 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #1 |
this is the copy of my post that i made two days after my june 1 exam, in another forum.
much water has passed under the bridge since then, but i don't think that changes much of what's here.
one issue to be pointed out is, i think i will gladden the heart of all kaplan Qbank enthusiasts, and those appalled by their scores on UW...! for i was such a moron tht i heard of UW only when i started prepping for CK....! i only knew Kaplan Q Bank till then. its funny, but that's how it is. now that i got my score which is a modest 247 / 99,  , i wont say i regret it very much.... however i feel i could have had a better 3 digit score if i had gone with UW, and it seems to be the overwhelming choice of everyone on these forums.
BACKGROUND - old graduate, 5 years from graduation. finished a residency in pediatrics in india.
PREP TIME - was in prep mode abt 5 hours a day for one month, and then 10 hours a day for one month.
- i have a good grounding in basic sciences, and since i was just out of reading for final year residency exams, pediatrics and all its allied micro, patho, pharmac, and neuroanatomy were fresh in memory
- would suggest an ideal prep time of three, four months devoted to full time reading for all freshers
BOOKS USED- read the whole of my experience to get a proper idea of what i'm saying abt the books and prep needed.
FOUNDATION was kaplan Lecture notes for all the seven subjects. 2005 edition that i grabbed off the web.
must say that i found them concise, high-yield and clear to the point, and easy to read quickly. concepts are emphasized in a big way. and that's what heavily tested on the MLE. my suggestion is to use the chapter-end questions in every book, some 2 days after you have done that chapter, so you can revise the salient points and test your memory of each one. believe me when i say that though Kaplan may not be all that's ever needed, its pretty close to being that. and for a 99 in MLE you need to know what's on kaplan pretty well, for i haven't come across any source that gives one a good orientation to MLE's style, in a very short period other than kaplan.
Anatomy - went through High-Yield quite hurriedly, and had a look at some chapter-end questions in Snell.
Embryology - FA part, first 10 or so chapters of HY.
Cell and Molecular biology - went through HY. but believe me, it was in two hours flat. for having read genetics in kaplan, it went like a breeze. read it only if you haven't read Kaplan, or else its just a waste of time.
- was initially reading up questions in Guyton's Preview, later realized kaplan was more than sufficient.
Biochemistry - went through all the chapters in lippincott upto fat metabolism. used kaplan primarily.
Genetics - kaplan, and questions in Pretest Biochem. Guys, read genetics. more than reading bioche, this is what helps you.
- Until the last minute i was sure that there is no good book for , but when i went through the test it was clear i had made a mistake. more as you read on.for the moment suffice it to say, that i was so confused about which book is best that i sort of combined kaplan and, tripathi. god forbid me saying aloud the name of an Indian author in these forums, but then this thread is MY experiences, isn't it....!!!
Microbiology - one of the subjects where i initially went for a resource other than Kaplan, later came to realize that the resource i used and kaplan gave me almost the same amount of info. i read the whole of levinson (Lange) 's micro and immuno review. but then, whatever he gives, kaplan gives it in an even simpler, less time consuming fashion, so go for it if only like me, you find reading through two books for a given topic helps you remember it better.
Immunology - ditto.
Behavourial - was happy reading HY initially, but due to lack of practice questions in taht book, went to kaplan and found it much better in comparision.
href="http://www.rxpgonline.com/forum97.html">Anatomy - around 10 questions in the whole test, all of them with related MRIs, pictures and so on. easy if you know the clinicall oreinted relevant Anatomy . none of it was core Anatomy .
Embryology - only one question. nothing more in the ENTIRE TEST.
Histo - ZERO
Cell and molecular biology - overall about 10 questions.
Physio - i had given so much time to reading it, going through all the calculation questions. but there was nothing of that sort on the test. it was all clinically oriented physio, mostly CVS and RS. nothing was really , it was all medicine. don't waste too much time on your physio prep....!
BIochem - again, every question had a clinical slant. many concerned infant and child IEMs, and inherited diseases and their biochemical basis, and none of them really tested our core biochemical memory...!
Genetics - about 20 questions from it. and there were four or five questions that weren't anything ;like all those practice questions that we do in our prep. at least i didn't. many sort of experimental questions. one thing about these "experimental situation" questions. don't get really afraid of these questions. none of them are really experimental. they all test facts we know very well but in a different way, that's all. very doable.
Pharmac - with my sloppy prep i was expecting to be caught out on this. but the questions asked were all connected to well-known ADR's or Drug-Drug interactions. that's all they tested on core pharamc. many questions were from ANS and CVS, and from NSAIDs. but then GEnerl pharmac had a lot of graphs with many X and y axes that are not given in any of the practice tests. they were pretty tough. but, to my relief, they were only about 5 - 6 questions in the entire test.
Micro - tested next only to Pathology in frequency. i had a lot of clinical scenario based immunology questions. and similar clinical scenario based questions from micro too. parasitology had only about 3 questions.
Path - this was the real test. every block had 30 questions directly or indirectly concerning path. most had only text, but a fair share had slides on it. actually recognizing the slide or specimen is not at all difficult, and also not needed at all in most of the questions. so don't sweat too much on it.
Behavourial - all was based on patient- physician interaction scenarios, and very few were there that tested psychiatric problems. the kaplan qbank ones are really more difficult than what's asked on the test.
Stats - there were some obsure questions, that was not on any resource i had used. but all the other 10 or so questions were easy, and were what is on the practice materails and other resources.
Overall, the exam is quite clinical these days in content, and aim of testing. there was one question on meiniere's disease that was just PURE ENT . there was one ECG where i ws asked to say what infarct it was. there were some question purely from PEDIATRICS. these are just a few. about 20 % of the questions were more clinical than basic.
So all the best for your prep guys and gals.
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| anuba
Forum Elite
Topics: 6
Posts: 448
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Thanks. CONGRATULATIONS!!
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| glycogen
Forum Senior
Topics: 5
Posts: 134
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wow jay doc congrats...i'm also following most of the books u did(including tripathi for pharma which is really a good book!!!)but its really taking me a long time that u took...congratulations n thanks the advice.
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| hedieh
Forum Guru
Topics: 47
Posts: 435
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Thanks a lot jaydoc, you had a well prep and a descent score. And thank you for sharing us your exam experience, I realy liked to know the percentage of each topic in the real exam. I wish you good luck in step 2, and the residency position that you like in USA!
I have a question, how did you read all of these books in two months? How did you manage that? It is about 4.5 months that I started my prep and I only have read half of my first reading! 
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| yoga
usmlelogy professor
Topics: 73
Posts: 649
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 congrat
tell us what r u ur plans??u finish ur residency??!!so what r u aiming 4?just curious
hedieh dont u think 4.5 mo half reading is way too much i am sorry i dont want 2 b harsh with & i dont know ur circumestances wether u have full job, student, have kids...but part of usmle keys 2 success is 2 b in right pace (i might not b the right person 2 say that i am also considered slow) but u know what f they can do it we can do it
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| hedieh
Forum Guru
Topics: 47
Posts: 435
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you are right yoga! i should manage my time better. 
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| Grandmaster
Forum Newbie
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thanks
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| vanshita
Forum Guru
Topics: 31
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Congratulation
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| Ujk
Forum Guru
Topics: 41
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Congratulations
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| unique1
InGodITrust
Topics: 21
Posts: 1,525
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Congrats jdoc. Wish you GL with the next step.
yoga wrote:
i dont know ur circumestances wether u have full job, student, have kids...but part of usmle keys 2 success is 2 b in right pace (i might not b the right person 2 say that i am also considered slow) but u know what f they can do it we can do it
Yoga , this is a good reminder not only to Hedieh but to all the procrastinators ,biggest one of them being me  . I always use my other responsibilities as an excuse but the fact is , I am not managing my time as I should. Need to work on it BIGTIME.
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| P4a99
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yoga wrote:
hedieh dont u think 4.5 mo half reading is way too much i am sorry i dont want 2 b harsh with & i dont know ur circumestances wether u have full job, student, have kids...but part of usmle keys 2 success is 2 b in right pace (i might not b the right person 2 say that i am also considered slow) but u know what f they can do it we can do it
dude both of us have barely started ... so we still dont know how long this is going to take ... (i hope it doesnt take long)
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Congratulations Paheli! --- Congratulations Feyza! ..... Good Luck drnaik-faraym-Gogeta-Bioguy-arlete
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| P4a99
Moderator
Topics: 50
Posts: 2,500
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jaydoc ... congratulations on your score ... please (as some one else asked too) can you please let us know how you managed to read all of those books in such a short time? Did you only read the books once then you went to FA? or what?
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Congratulations Paheli! --- Congratulations Feyza! ..... Good Luck drnaik-faraym-Gogeta-Bioguy-arlete
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| edie
I can, and I will.
Topics: 26
Posts: 1,201
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He mentioned that he read parts of each book, not cover to cover. Thanks, JD. GL to you
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| vwilldoit
Forum Senior
Topics: 16
Posts: 175
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congratulations.. good luck for future steps....
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just do it .....
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| yoga
usmlelogy professor
Topics: 73
Posts: 649
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praying4a99 wrote:
dude both of us have barely started ... so we still dont know how long this is going to take ... (i hope it doesnt take long)
think about it
isnt the xam idea is management within time restriction!?ha??=> refer 2 what dr. daugherty said regarding this
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