medicus_81
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Hey guys, this is going to be my first post in the step 1 forum although I have been following if for quite a while. My exam was yesterday. I felt and still feel horrible...
I studied for approx. 3 months, but had a lot of distractions, including a move (big time stress). I watched some of the Kaplan videos(everything except neuroscience, Beh. science). But I would say that not all of them are worth it- pathology and Microbiology/Immunology are def. amongst the ones that were waste of time. The rest was ok. I could not manage to listen to all Goljan lectures, but they were very helpful. I used FA as primary book and put all my notes into it- from the videos, from the qbanks, everything! I thought this is the only way they would be organized. Went though FA 3 times.
Q banks- UW for 3 months, and Kaplan Qbank for 1 month. I finished them both and managed to reapeat approx. 1000 questions that I have marked on my first run. What I did not like about Kaplan is that you couldn't mark questions when doing the test and you had to go back and review the whle thing to flag them. And even after you flagged them they are in a separate list so you have to go back and choose them from the list and count each time up to 50 to create a test only with marked questions. UW is much smarter, so I repeated most of the questions from there.
UW: 65%, up to 75% on the second time
Kaplan Qbank: 65%
no NBME, scored 38/40/42 on the USMLE CD 1 week before the test.
Had step 2 ck in April, scored 99/247. having some of the step 2 knowledge really helped me in preparation, but not the exam...
The exam:
Time was more than enough for me, but it was not the time factor that made me feel so wothless during the exam. I don't know...subjectively much harder than both q banks. Not so clinical like I expected(hoped), loads of neuroanatomy(my weakest area)- I had 3 brain cross-sections, 1 brain vessel angiography and at least 8 spinal cord cross-sections(I am serious). In every block I had pictures - histology(1 q -microscopic pictures of the entire male genital tract, 2 blood smears; spinal tumor, sagital cross section of the vertebral column., 1 bowel tumor,2 Xrays of shoulder both questioning on which structers are being hurt at the respective pathology. A lot of graphs- mainly pharm, but also physiology. So in every block I had several questions with some picture/graph/CT(Xray) to interpret.
Anatomy: mostly neuroanatomy, shoulder anatomy, one q about lower leg.2 q's about embryology.
Physiology: reaaaally weird. Not clinically oriented at all. A lot of theoretical questions- we put blabla cell in a bath with xy and then changed the bath with wz-what happens? I had several questions like that, made me puke.
Biochemistry- some standard questions about enzymes, but majority was gene-techniques, recombinant mouses, made me puke even more.
Genetics: just a few questions, one with calculations, 2 with family trees
Beh. science: some weird questions about ethics, some even more weird about statistics.
Pharm: A lot of graphs, comparing drugs and recognizing drug from graph by its effect on receptor.
Microbio:some very standard questions, bugs, some weird about HIV genes(yeaa remember those- env, gag,pol?) , the viral part was hard, bacteriology not so much
Immunology- some very hard and some easy questions, 2 on imminodef. syndromes, 3 graphs... with immunoglob. response, vaccines.
Patholgy- did not get as much as I expected and was mixed within system questions.
Overall, I would say HARD! only 30 % straight questions, majority looked and sounded like chinese to me. I was amazed. I did step 2 4 months ago and also walked out feeling miserable, but back then I felt that at leat 50 % were doable and actually got a great score...Now I chose sooo many answers just out of the gut, intuition... I just hope I am going to pass now...but how am I going to explain a low score in step 1 and a 99 in step 2. I don't know guys- I feel very down right now, asking myself if I really did things right. But I tried sooo hard, despite stress with move and other personal problems- I studied every day, at the end 12 h each day...
Wish me luck because I am going to need a miracle!
Aug 22: guys, I am sorry, but I had to delete some details from the exam because I was advised to do so
Edited by medicus_81 on 08/22/07 - 03:18 PM
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| GOGETA
I'm Dr. GOGETA
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1-Dude unless you were in weed or drunk you pass the exam.
2- In Goljan voice= Step1 is blabla step2ck is medicine, end of discussion.
3- I heard that actually they look more your step2 ck than your step1 unless you are going to princeton.
4- You will at least score 90
so cheer up, and be happy you are going to residency
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| GOGETA
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O yea congrats os taking/passing the test.
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| GOGETA
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and read this:
You've taken the exam and, at least for now, it's behind you. You should be happy that it is over and try to get your mind off of it for the next several weeks until the results are ready. Until then, it doesn't make any sense to worry about it as worrying will not do anything to change it.
Think about it, let's take both options:
1. Person A takes the exam and worries obsessively about it for several weeks straight, then gets the results where the score = n.
2. Person B takes the exam and is care-free for the next several weeks, then gets the results where the score = n.
Person A and B both received the same exact score of n, regardless of how much they worried about it. As you can see, n is not effected by anything done after the exam. So my question is "which person would you rather be?"
A good friend of mine taught me a long time ago and I've been much better off ever since. It basically means that you should not needlessly worry about the things that you have no control over because it won't change the outcome. If anything, concentrate your efforts on the things which you can make a difference with.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
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| dr ruman
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yeah,cheer up ,u b with flying colours,i will be desperately waiting 4 ur result,let us know ur excellent marks again,so we could get relief too.
i appreciate and acknowledge ur hard work and thanks for descriing the way u got question,it would help us alot 4 prep.if i would have taken exam,i wont remember even single question,
 y em sooooooooo dumbo ,i donoo,
well wish u bestaaa best
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| medicus_81
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thanks for the encouraging words, guys... I haven't lost hope yet and I am happy to be done! I just wish never to go through this misery ever again. Today for the first time in months I did not set the alarm clock and stayed in bed until 11 and read a book- not a text book but a normal one!!!this felt really good...I will def. keep you posted about the score. Now I will try to chill for several days and will try to tune up my PS for the match and look around for programs...
Thanks once again!
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| Ujk
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Good Luck!
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| angel^Doctor
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it's sooooo normal what ur feeling.. i'm almost sure u'll be suprised by the score
best of wished..
waiting to hear really goood news soon
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| GOGETA
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for some reason everytime I see PS I think of play station 2, that I have not use for a wile
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| ShweHope99.9998
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GOGETA wrote:for some reason everytime I see PS I think of play station 2, that I have not use for a wile
Now the PS 3 is on sale now for Canadian 550$ around .
Go get it .
Medicus... since pharm is all graph , diagram.. is that like in Lippin pharm ??
Thanks, congrad for st 1, 2 done .
Pl give how to study in short peroid to go for exm .
Thank you ,
GL
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| medicus_81
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ShweHope, I don't know if the graphs were like in Lippin pharm...I did not use the book. All I used as reference were the Kaplan videos, FA and Goljan rapid review.
I don't know if I am the right person to say what is the best preparation in a short time...For step 2 I aslo studied 3 months but felt def. more secure and studying for step 2 was much more fun for me because it made sense to me and I could see the relevance of the material in real life. Step 1 was a torture- I have studied this stuff several years ago and to go soo deep into theory again was like a punishment. But my deadline was Sep...I wanted to finish before september so that I can apply for the match with all results...When I look back I don't know if I would do anything differently in my preparation- I couldn't afford to study with big books, so I concentrated on what I had. I went through both q banks- this was helpful and FA with all my notes in it is a good source for review short before exam.We'll see if it worked...God, I hate this waiting!
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| mytime
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U are scaring me MEDICUS say something nice and say it soon.MAny of us have our test rt. around the corner and accidently read ur post!  GOOD LUCK to u though am sure u felt the same way after CK. MAybe I sud go check that exp. of urs. 
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| mytime
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 Thot that I sud brigten ur post a bit!!!!!!!!!!
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| mytime
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OK GUYS HERE U GO READ THE FIRST FEW LINES FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :boxing ur ears!:
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/comments.php?id=5...
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| keepgoing
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congrats medicus_81--atleast u r not from them who shows off..well thanks for sharing!!!goodluck for future!!
Edited by keepgoing on 08/13/07 - 11:10 AM
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| medicus_81
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mytime, I don't mean to scare anybody...I was just sharing my experience and I was being honest, no show here. I saw that you already put up my step 2 experience. Well, if you have read it, then you might have noticed that my subjective feelings after step 2 were that half of the exam was easier than both q banks, kind of orientation materials level... I am sorry but right now I can't say the same thing about step 1...I don't mean to discourage or scare anybody, please don't forget that everything is subjective- the exam through my eyes. Unfortunately right now I am not the best person to cheer you up...I tried to be as specific as I can in terms of what questions I got asked so people know what to expect, did not mean to make people scared and angry.Sorry
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| medicus_81
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and again thank you everyone for the encouragement. I know it's a normal thing to feel after the exam, just can't help to feel that it's worse than the previous one....
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| jaide
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u'd be surprised at the no: of miracles we r granted...best of luk!!! and keep ur hopes up..all will b well!!!!!
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God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference
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| mytime
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I din't mean to tick u off I did wish u wel! Just playfully boxed ur ears! Lighten up, pal!
JAIDE u back?!
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| medicus_81
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all right, my time! thank you for playfully boxin' my ears.  Will remember to box around yours when you are finished No hard feelings, pal...I am not that easy to upset!
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| hedieh
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Congrates Medicus_ 81, You got rid of it deffinitely. And I am agree with Gogeta that your score will be at least 90.
Thanks for sharing your experience, very well described. Hope to see your happy post about your score soon!
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| GOGETA
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Dude I bet you got at least a 220
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| medicus_81
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GOGETA wrote:
Dude I bet you got at least a 220
I am a chick!!!
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| edie
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Or a dudette
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| edie
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Nice showing on your CK, I am also in the Gogeta choir that sings that you got a great step 1 score
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