dr ruman
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Topics: 29
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| | 12/18/07 - 10:48 AM
2 of 5 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #1 |
hye this post is in reply to questions by folks joining step 1:so i thought to reply all of them in a single post,so here it is,"this post dedicated to people whose exam experience posts and support forum posts help me to be able at this time to help others too"
yaeh" kaplan must wid uw "and if can get or download kaplan q bank,good too.so this is esential part and enough for studies,but do not forget to read first aid in 2nd or 3rd rtead ,as it will tell u wat to read concisely and memorize and pin to ur memory really hard,
i always say first get concepts from kaplan and after 2nd read i was able to understand and memorize all imp stuff,so give real nice time to 2nd read of kaplan with adding notes to ur first aid or just marking kaplan notes by looking into first aid,and see wats really important and need to read real good,start uw at same time i started at end of 2nd read ,coz u good grab the concept and twisty questions in uw,uw will help u too cope with all kind of question plus it would supplement ir notes,so u wont need any othe single kind of notes like high yield etc,hmm goljan is must spcially for general patthology u will get heel lot help in solvong questions,goljan uses key words in his notes which help u real good to recognize particular questions.u can read goljan system pathology notes too if u have time,ofcourse it will help u alot ,but dont get confuse ,while reading ur kaplan notes of pathilogy ,either add goljan to kaplan notes or add kaplan notes to goljan,i after reading kaplan added its points to goljan notes,but remeber goljan sometime too much details ,so during revision,its upto u how to summarize,and goljan repeats stuff alot,but it helps u neways as u need revision,so KEY IS REVISION AND BE PRECISE,SO read as 3rd time u dont have all notes and books scattered around
in summary
PATHOLOGY:either add goljan points to kaplan or kaplan important points to giljan ,but again first read kaplan 2 times real god so u could understand wat u rteally need to add in notes,no short cuT BEWARE
PHYSIOLOGY; read ur kaplan 2 times and 3rd read ,concisely do FIRST AID topics real good,after reading ur goljan in path,it would supllement ur physio too,but again for physio be precise sometime kaplan way too much detail,if u cud get medessential then add first aid and medessential,but if dont have ,dont worry KAPLAN NOTES its graphs and keep on looking first aid to see what u really need to memorize
BIOCHEMISTRY,oh kaplan real good my formula first 2 reads kaplan,then grab FIRST AID ,its just a must,i know i know u deadly want to read kaplan and its details but trust me ,diseases well covered and reapeated in ur path ,so u just need to MEMORIZE FIRST AID,u may add points from kaplan but end of day u will see ,everything else covered in pathophysiology,so biochemical pathways and details good enough in first aid while diseases well covered in path and genetics part
GENETICS;FORMULA FORMULA,read kaplan 2 times add its points to FIRST AID,its suffficient enough,kaplan last chapters of biocehem conataining genetics way tooooooooooo detailed,must read ANSWERS AND QUESTIONS at end and just do them again and agian and ur first aid,u are a genetics specialist
MICROBIOLOGY AND VIROLOGY AND PAHRMACOLOGY,;for GENERAL PHARMACOLOGY and AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM,kaplan read MUST MUST add notes to FIRST AIDS,PRACTICE KAPLAN QUESTIONS,for SYSTEMIC PHARMA no kaplan at all ,just 1 reading and go straightly to ur FIRST AID AND chew and digest it well,ur PHARMACOLOGIST
BIG BOLD NOTES,KAPLAN QUESTION AND ANSWERS AT END OF EACH CHAPTER IN EACH SUBJECT MUST A MUST,THEY TAKE U REAL POINT,so do them in each revision ,i rathe add imp explanationa nd point to my first aid
MICRO AND VIROLGY; i didnt do KAPLAN AT ALL AND I SURVIVED REAL GOOD,so trust ur guts and FIRST AID morethan enough,but hold on kaplan Tables and QUIEATOION specially of virolgy and end of bacterilogy biiiiiiiig MUST ,i even got all question frm there,ur GOLJAN notes always supplementing and revising points is u miss somewhrere,so leave details of kaplan micro notes
BIOSTATISTICS AND BEHAVORIAL ;2 read kaplan must,u really need to get familiar to terms ,dont forget answer questions,em telling u SECRET OF CENTURY,they will save u and make u hero not all details,details to pin the memory and qnwer question to turn it into golden mega memory and usmle survivor and hero
ANATOMY HISTOLOGY EMBRYOLOGY;hmm FIRST AID enough,but dont forget to do kaplan CHAPTER SUMMARIES at end of all histo and embryo chapter ,filter frm there and add to ur FIRST AID,HAY HAY histolgy question in kaplan notes,i got almost all question frm there,which not given in first aid,UPPER LOWE LIMB ABDOMEN,again answeer qusetions,CT scan,radiographs in KAPLAN must,make u 99% with FIRST AID.dont forget to look at electron micrographs in histo section,no details of emryo and histo just just chapter summaries and first aid,plus kaplan only electron micrographs,ct ,radiographs,u allllllllllllllllllllllllll done
i would emphasize just on NEUROANATOMY from kaplan,do all,and ofcourse ur 3rd read partner FIRST AID to memorize all mega things,dont forget kaplan revison of neuro with first aid
hay u r doing UW ,i know,aftr 2nd read start doing it ,it will help u to deal with tricks,but usmle questions are comparable to NBME,not that tricky as in UW,so UW will polish ur knowledge and skils,keep on marking questions whisch u do wrong,or done by guessing,or whose explanation interesting and useful,adavantage of doing UW aftr 2nd read of kaplan and 1 read of FIRST AID and after doing goljan notes ,that u will not have to add all details from uw,u will find almost 90% in ur kaplan,goljan and first aid,rest of mini micro super detail u can add,so it will save add 90%of ur time,and at end make notes and solve marked questions,u will be surprsingly left with very few things left in UW u really need to add to notes,and ur score wont be disappointing,as most of us take uw score as our final destiny and ride it our nerves,so it wont hurt u that much after 2 readings and notes,and ur ego be satisfied too(plz dont mind em really trying to take burden of shoulders as i felt same wy,after 50%score of uw ,which made me feel low)
NBME 3 to4 weeks before,not all essentially but atleast 1 online to assess ur performance,online will give u graphical and good analaysis,rest nbme u can download and sole
usmle simulated exam or cd ,must do it twice,add points of wat u did wrong and u wont have to revise it again,same with nbme forms,add notes of question u did wrong,save ur time of revisisng
last month KEY REVISON,UR NOTES/kaplan/goljan,UR MARKED QUESTINS,UR NBME,UR USMLE SIMULATED,NO NEW STUFF
,just do FIRST AID at start of final revison,grab ur 80 TO 85% first then comes the rest of15 to 20% and ur weak points revision u assess from nbme,
SLIDES CT RADIOGRAPHS MRI,ur golgan slides and kaplan more mopre than enough
well if u r not satisfing soul,doWEB PATH,along with ur 2nd read,but dont leave it for rd read or so,do in 2nd read or dont do,rather revise ur golan and kaplan
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm ,this all from my experience,and all effort summary, iknow everybody different and read differently too,so its not books or notes,ur choice of books,but make concept ,then revision and trusting ur skills and notes ,not shuffling and rolling 1 to other books,i said KAPLAN AND GOLJAN AND FIRST AIA,as mostly recommended 1 and my own experience
i wish i could do some of things that i mentioned here,and things i learnt in real hard way,cud read from here b4 my exam ,i know sounding silly,then my post tiltle would b how to get 260/99%
but em sure u can do it,thsis post also summary of exam experineces of nice bussies posting there marvellous experience and really learnt all this from them ,so its summary of all buddies here,and its basically summary of their and my effort in my wordings,ireally want to thanks people who helped me by their experience and nice suggestions and i wish and i hope ,this post would also help newcomers and fullfilling their dream to get real nice scores,BEST LUCK ALL
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| sam27
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thanks drruman apprecaited for a detail prep
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| basophilia
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dr ruman, excellent explanation how to get 99
thank you , for share to us
basophilia
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| dr ruman
Forum Elite
Topics: 29
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hay guys ,as i mentoioned before this just my opinion,so its reply to ur question in pm,u may disagree but i found it really helpful,any suggestion to improve it most welcome
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| seem.bh
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thanks dr ruman..wel said ...
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| study_study
Forum Junior
Topics: 18
Posts: 62
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Hi dr ruman
If you odntind asking me......how did you do on the step 1?
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| study_study
Forum Junior
Topics: 18
Posts: 62
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Sorry.......that was suppose to be.......
If you don't mind me asking......how did you do on the step 1? And is FA really enough for micro and pharm?
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| dr ruman
Forum Elite
Topics: 29
Posts: 412
|
hye
i didnt get ur question exactly,hmmmm well i prepared almost same way as i mentioned and got 226/95 ,and even i learnt these things at end ,when i tried lots of thngs and formula,and and u can get even more,the real thing is ur own way of studying and satisfaction,our opinion here reflect our experience
yup thats true for micro,i even didnt have single look of kaplan ,as i read chapter 1,i simply decided not kaplan,so i stick to first aid and same pharma,but as i mentioned in posts,first chapterr of kaplan with autonomic nervou system and their graphs and practice question R MUST,and same with querstion and explanation at end of chapters of pharm and mioco,and if u doing UW ,u can skip other detailed stuff of kaplan ,,again all upto u
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Living each day as a preparation for the next is an exciting way to live. Looking forward to something is much more fun than looking back at something—so lets do it together
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| study_study
Forum Junior
Topics: 18
Posts: 62
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Hey dr ruman
Thanks sooooo much for yur help. It means a lot. I think I will try it yur way and stick to FA for pharm and micro and also do questions out of Kaplan. Then I'll take an NBME and see where I stand. If I feel like Im scoring low on pharm and micro then I will go back and read other texts.
Thanks again.
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| DRchromatin
Forum Senior
Topics: 23
Posts: 87
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I plan on doing Micro and Pharm from First Aid also. I have also bought Pharm Cards and Micro Cards and I do about 5-10 cards a day from each to keep it fresh in my memory.
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| rajbin
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Topics: 0
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Is doing pretest helpful at all????
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| dr ruman
Forum Elite
Topics: 29
Posts: 412
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yeah dr chroatin itsalways nice to polish ur skills and knowledge by other sources,butat end of all reads and revision,make sure u could revise them close to exams or atleast add their helping points in ur notes,so at end of day u dont have too much things to loook and get confused
yeah pretest really nice specially if u have time,my post here doesnt mean to restrict u to goljan and kaplan and first aid,if u learn anythinmg from other books its great,as brs physiology is good,and high yield anatomy and genetics good,but point of stress is dat at end of day its difficult to memorize all and revise all,so better read and add to 1 single book,strict urself to 1 source and can add other things from other books,
so pretest really good if uy have time specially biochem,genetics,pathophysio
but i noticed after doing goljan it covers pretest,and some genetics question explanations way tooo detail,i will suggest if u enough time ,do them they are good,but if limited time,then do as mentioned before
best luck
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| bhanusupriya
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excellent info dr ruman
i just started step 1 prep after CS,CK.and i found this post very useful to me.
good luck in your remaining steps
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| usmlesavvy
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Valuable advise nicely put!Thanks dr ruman
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| dr ruman
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Topics: 29
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thx folks
i really appreciate the way u encourage me and wishes for my next steps,and yeah my best wishes for u guys
any question or confusion more than welcome,em here ,my motto to give some handy tips to people in forum in return to wat i got from people here
best luck always need ur best wishes in return
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Living each day as a preparation for the next is an exciting way to live. Looking forward to something is much more fun than looking back at something—so lets do it together
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| bhanusupriya
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hi dr ruman,could u please clarify my doubt....
is there any difference between goljan 2002 edition and present edition?
thanks in advance...
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| mytime
Kick my butt!
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BS, Goljan that u need is the latest edition from 2007. I thot I already said so. Btw, wru? Been sending u msgs.
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| bhanusupriya
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hey,thank you buddy mytime
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| dr ruman
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yeah
goljan new notes ,better than old ofcourse as he corrected some mistakes ,and dont forget to do his slides,even at end of my pep i didnt hav time to revise his notes of special path,but i did slides which is good and quick review of imp points ,buzz words and slide at same times
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Living each day as a preparation for the next is an exciting way to live. Looking forward to something is much more fun than looking back at something—so lets do it together
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| bhanusupriya
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thank you dr ruman.i'm going for the recent book....
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| dr ruman
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hye there are confusion that em happy were mentioned to me,
i want to add here
hye,thanks
goljan notes: depend ur selection criteria,but i didnt listen his audioes,people say its good,if u have time,u can listen them,but what i mean by goljan and what i studied was a photocopy download review notes,so whatever u r using of goljan,be concise i mean not big detailed books but just review notes and offcourse i downloaded his slides too from web,very good to look at near rev,all i mean is pathology by goljan ,divided in 2 ,pathophysio notes or general pathology and other system wise or special ,u can get his book edition
IMMUNOLOGY: first aid plus goljan notes of immunology (which u will find in his general path section) more than enough,but if u dont want to skip some question which can take u to 90 plus ,do the question and explanation end of kaplan chapters,i did same,no more deatils of kaplan required,yeah they are time consuming and useless if u have gripped concept after kaplan read and able to do kaplan question and explanation
PHARMA: autonomis from kaplan ,doesnt mean all detail,but practice question regarding agonist and antagonist of epi,norepi,alpha beta blocker graphs question,offcourse not all text detail,its more than enough in first aid,i emphasize kaplan practice question of autonomic i mean graphs as they are very commonly asked and u b able to do any tricky graph after doing kaplan graphs ,for example they can show epinephrine graph of heart rate and rythm and then show another and ask what drug is added etc
hmmm micro,just do at very end pages kaplan ,of micro question and answer, if u want to do tablesto have quick look then at end of whole micro session of kaplan are given ,but doing first aid and revising it again and again its the key to micro,not those tables
,anatomy and neuro,ct , xray ,electron graph are very few, in histo electron micrograph mean pics of organelles,pics of musle structures showing I,A,H,Z band,and pic showing cell adhesion,desmosome,hemidesmosome thats it,they are not in hundereds
CT: again look and flip pages of ATP,UPPER AND LOWER LIMB AND NEUROANATOMY,VERY FEW AGAIN ALL IMPORTANT and look them again and again,want more go webpath in google search,but if done consicely from kaplan good enough,they are scattered in chapters not given in single page,even u will find them in answer and question sec f upper lower limb ,atp and neuroanatomy
well hope i explained,best luck
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Living each day as a preparation for the next is an exciting way to live. Looking forward to something is much more fun than looking back at something—so lets do it together
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| dr ruman
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one more thing
if u have short time and feel some subject of kaplan like immune,micro,genetics,and behav and biostat not worthy of revision ,and u have done uw q bank wid explanation real good,dont worry ,it takes care well,ofcoure combine first aid too,grab 80% first then comes ur rest 19.99%,making it 99.99%
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Living each day as a preparation for the next is an exciting way to live. Looking forward to something is much more fun than looking back at something—so lets do it together
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| nerve09
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wel said dr ruman
thank u
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| precious
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Thank you for your good advice.
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| dr ruman
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thx precious,best luck all step 1 buddies
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