starbrite520
Forum Guru
Topics: 131
Posts: 427
| | 11/08/07 - 06:03 PM
2 of 2 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #1 |
well alas, it is my time to write my exam experience.
well. it was this tuesday october 7th.
i didnt listen to the common advice of not studying the night before, and studied til 10 pm at that point i was just so nervous, and all i kept finding was bitsa nd pieces i was not familiar with.
i learnt at that point that, you can try and cram asmuch as you want last minute, but what you naturally know, and have spent time learning, is what will stick.
i went to slep at 11pm, i am a very bad sleeper, stay up for hours, and no surprsie there, got maximum 6 hours of sleep.
i planned to arrive at 8, to start my test early. i left my home at 7 am, and got there at 930. it was only a 30 min drive!! but the traffic was terrible.
so i got there, and it was a very very small office. about 2 rooms, one for the reception/snack relax area, one room for the testing.
well the test was exactly like usmle world in terms of its appearance. which was a relief.
now i will be honest, and i know everyone always says theres was the hardest, and bla blah. but to me, omg i was shocked.
atleast 50% of my test had something about lymphocyes/immunology or some pregnant woman! i am not joking, i actually put a tick on my white board each time either was mentioned, and it came up to 125 times!!!!!!!
i felt the test was very hard. like it was like Usmle World, except the weirdo questoins. where, even when you get the explanation and answer, you are still like "whaaaaaaaat?" and just assume okay nod and grin thats one in the boat i dont know out of the 50.
i studied first aid extensively and goljan. especially reproduction and immunology. now all the questions that were based on this, for some reason were so weirdly written. like they would have clues of both possible diseases, and the answer choice wouldn fit. they were all many step questions, most of the time the opening few sentences were just backround. and the question itself was a simple direct question, that either you knew it or didn't.
of course maybe i just dont know my material, and to someone who knows it better, it was a lot easier.
BIOSTATS-there were about 10 biostats, which sucked cuz i was not up to par on those at all.
BEHAVIORAL- about 8 questions. and half were a no brainer, the others were kind of weird. like it discussed a women who had stds after drinking at a party. and it asked what type of program she should be on, like aa, or get therapy.
i don't know but in my opinion, i dont htink the person needs to go on therapy after a little bit of drinking
Embryo-none at all
Anatomy-about 10. very detailed ones, about the upper and lower limb
unhappy triad, hernias,
Physio-only in graphs
Micro-not manyy 3-4 integrated with pharm mainly.
Patho- almost the rest
Pharm-extensive pharm, basically about side effects, and pretty straight to the point. either you know it, or you dont.
about 6 biochem questions, about lysosome deficiencies, and many on how insulin is used in the receptors with tyrosine kinase.
MY overall opinion. apart from the scary immuno/repro... it was all DUH. as in.. not easy by any means. but what was covered was what we all discuss.
as in all kaplan videos stress lysosome deficiencies, I pick dz, pku, albino, hernias, and all of them were asked.
i think we get too caught up with what is good, high yield, etc. but sometimes the answers are there. kaplan will tell us, goljan will tell us. but we still think to root around, and make a bigger set of sources for ourselves
trust me.. i tried to get so many resources, thinking, how could it possibly be a bad thing.. well i realize now. if i had just memorized and undrstood first aid, and goljan, my studying time would have been cut in half. and i would have time to REPEAT the whole process, and heighten my score.
dont get me wrong i love kaplan, but i think the videos are too lengthly. i think its quality not quantity. i would rather, struggle for 7 days on biochem first aid, but know it inside out, and its high yield, rather than 7 days on kaplan, and have a huge database to still review again and again.
sorry i am positve many people will disagree with me, and i realize that. its all about your mentality as well as you study skills. i am very psychological, if the book looks big, i will stress, if the topic was confusing the first time around, i will always stress... either way, i will always slow down,, and spend double the time , assuming its so hard, thats why.
i studied for about 6 months. i used many many sources. all of kaplan audios/ clinical micro made simple, lange flash cards for micro/pharm, goljan audios/notes, FIRST AID, and a little bit of pass program. my usmle percentile was 85, i did not do qbank, nor did i do nmbe.
i thought the test was too long personally. i am a very fast test taker, either i know it or i dont. ive never been anle to sit there and mull over answers. i normally could finish 50 UW ina bout 25 mins, so the test for me was done by 2:30. and i had a break in between of half an hour.
i am positive i failed. i am not trying to be grumpy or negative, but i can assure it. alot of things didnt make sense to me. and i realize that it is ofcoures my fault, because of my timing.
i studied extensively kaplan at the beginning, then first aid in between, then pass program, etc etc.
i realized that i should have stuck to one source, and thats it.
my heartfelt advice to all of you...
-please use your wits, and work on the topics you know are commonly heard of. it possibly can't waste your time, it heightens your chance of knowing it esp if its on the exam, esp for cliniclals.
-stick to minimal resources. use the ones that are high yield so you know you can be comfortable using them
-i also suggest rough outlines of your work. i did this for goljan and it really helped. i would read a paragraph many times, and then at the end, just write a few words on the side, to sum it up.
at the enf , a day or two before, i read only those few words, and it was enough to cover the concept.
anyways i am totally absolutely rambling.
i hope i helped
my advice to new comers, or those who seek advice on what resources, and stuff.-LISTEN.. and if you don't like the advice. question why. every single person i talked to who, had passed the exam told me usmle world, first aid, is enough. and i didnt listen, and i realize now that it is enough.
when someone gives you advice, ask them why, question it, try to get to the bottom of what you do not agree with. a little bit of confusion and questin asking can save you ALOT OF TIME , where you will try and find your own answer.
i hope i helped
much thanks and blessings to all who hoped for me, helped me, encouraged me. you helped me quite a bit, in such stressful times, and i will never forget your help
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| new_n_lost
Politically InCorrect
Topics: 650
Posts: 6,058
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Gl my friend on ur score. And yes i do agree with u on a lot of things and trust me when i gave my exm i found that minimum of 5 questions from Ganong lines and i got depressed and realised that sticking to only Kaplan wasnt a good idea. But here is the dilemma going thru different materials though takes its toll but we have to learn to consolidate the material and get the HY out of it, take times but its worth it. But for Pathophysio Goljan is the best material ever available to us.
Best of luck for ur score.
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| bioguy
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 748
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nice post starbrite! and good luck with your score.
do you think those weird questions might be experimental???
and actually your suggestion on focusing on few resources but thoroughly is what i had in mind!!!! thanks again.
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| hedieh
Forum Guru
Topics: 47
Posts: 439
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Best wishes for you, hope you'll get a good score.
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| paheli
It'sAllAboutGoodKarma
Topics: 170
Posts: 2,217
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hey, star! nice post, helpful as always. i can imagine how you must feel, relieved perhaps.
thanks for the advice about too many sources, i shall try and follow. when do you go back to school?
i would like to suggest something to you, if you don't mind. do not keep repeating to yourself that you have not made it. you have taken the test now, and there's nothing you can do about it anymore. but, positivity can go a long way. you're such a positive and jolly person. keep that up.
i wish you a well-deserved and enjoyable break. go have fun. keep coming back to encourage us. and keep us posted!
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| sam27
Forum Senior
Topics: 3
Posts: 123
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Hi strabrite ,thank u so much for a detaield well explained experience.and pls dont be negative about ur score ,u will do great in your score have faith thats very imp.
everybody comes after the exam feeling terrible so have faith
good luck with ur score
God bless
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| vwilldoit
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 189
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Hey starbrite, congratulations !! wish you a great score and thanks for all your input.
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| starbrite520
Forum Guru
Topics: 131
Posts: 427
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aww thank you everyone
i love this site, i come on it so often, i barely know any of yo, let alone your real names, but you are all such great and friendly people.
everyone i know personally school wise is so competitive with school, and it is great having so many friendly answers on this
thank you so much for the luck, i appreciate it you have no idea how much.
bioguy... about the experimental questions, ofcoures there wer some, but i doubt there could have been so many.
oh AND. DO USMLE WORLD. i got 4 direct questions from it! word for word. not only that, it has the same format. it definitley takes some pressure off in that case. qbank is too easy and the questions are all one step.
usmle world, even if you are asking specifically for one subject/organ, they somehow still end up sort of being 2 step.
a worthy worthy investment i would say.
something i did, and continue to do, is take UW questions, and look up the question in my first aid/goljan. if its not in there, i add it in with the xplanation.
all this does is ensure i have USMle world worthy material in my notes, and when i do my final read, i ensure i am able to get a good score on usmle world, and broaden my knowledge.
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| oldMD
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StarBrite,
Thank you for the detailed reflection on the exam. I believe you will have a flying score based on your performance summary! Time to have a break!
One question, since you have done KLN Notes, DVD and MedEss, do you think I can take the MedEssentials out of picture. MedEss looks like such a good book and hardly to ditch it! FA and UW is the key to consolidate at the end. But for me, as a old MD away from the field for a decade, I can't get away without going through the lectures (DVDs)...what do you think? Thanks,
Edited by oldMD on 11/09/07 - 12:12 AM
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| angel^Doctor
Forum Elite
Topics: 31
Posts: 440
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good luck starbrite !
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| mikky
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 301
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good luck
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| P4a99
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 35
Posts: 2,216
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Sure your thoughts are helpful and thanks for posting them. Im sorry to hear that you had a hard time with the exam. Hopefully youll pass and move on with your life.
GL, please let us know what happens.
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| ShweHope99.9998
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 12
Posts: 2,507
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StarB , wish u GL & good score in ur result.
Everyone feel bad after the exm, so pl still do wish pray for the best , we all will do.
As u have study hard , widely , I am looking forward to hear the very good news from you .
By the way pass program is dvd teaching right , any benefit from that ??
Now enjoy the freedom of no st 1 exm , celebrate , have fun before cold winter hit in here , go see fall color then re energize , so what ever out come is you will be ready for it.
We all are here if u need to vent or share the joy of success .
What do u meant Golj .. audio, RR text , all his HY, his RR 350 Qs or jsut few selective one ??
Be strong mate, u done reading alot, helped/ helping still others alot so GOD will not let you down .
Thanks for the deatil exm experinces .
For now have fun , stay back relax while waiting for exm, unless you'll like to study after few days for next step .
Good Luck
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| dr ruman
Forum Elite
Topics: 29
Posts: 412
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hay ,best luck guy ,don worry ,u just made it,wish u alllll best,i always appreciate posts ,always helpgul so God will not leave u alone,trust Him ,u did best
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| kiterunner
Forum Junior
Topics: 14
Posts: 65
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Starbrite
I took mine on 8th and I also felt like the difficulty level was almost like Uworld or higher.
Can`t believe though that you finished it so quickly!!!! When I practiced uworld or NBME, I usually had at least 7/8 mins left in each block, sometimes even 10/12. But in the real thing I could finish only 2 blocks before time .... for rest of the blocks I felt like it`s designed in such a way that if you really put efforts after every q you won`t be able to save time.
I have no clue how I did. Might have missed a lot easy ones just because this test is SO exhausting! They should allow us to go w/ I/V drips.
Best of luck to you pal. U`ll be in my prayers.
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| cleopatra
Forum Senior
Topics: 3
Posts: 119
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Hey STAR! congratulations for being done! and good luck for your score may God bless you with a perfect score,thanks also for your advice
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| amritt786
Forum Senior
Topics: 26
Posts: 199
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good luck
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