simon73
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Thank you commit, study499, veteran and target.
Study499, i am taking off 3 weeks starting August 8th. God, i really hope that i will be ready. I am working with a lot of timelines and plans. One thing i am sure is that i will not take the exam, if i feel that i am not ready.
Review hemato and did a block, got 32 questions right, 5 questions i could have clearly answered right, i got it wrong. This time i was not in a rush, i didnt coroborate the facts together well to answer it. I need to work on this.
Happy studying everyone.
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| commit
Forum Newbie
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Hey, nice going, simon, have a good weekend!
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| drms
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Hi Simon 
U r doing well...keep going 
Best of luck
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| simon73
Forum Elite
Topics: 4
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Thank you commit and drms for your post.
Well, started with CNS this am, got several distractions including my sleepiness. Will need to catch up on schedule.
Off to study.
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| study499
Forum Guru
Topics: 5
Posts: 576
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hi simon,
i'm glad u have 3 weeks off...u can achieve a lot in those weeks...
i'm thinking of taking my test end of august too...but need to push myself harder...i am off everyday and still have so much to do...i honestly don't know how u can manage so much wt full-time job and family...that is why i really look up to you well done!!!
keep your hard work going...soon you will see the result.
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| usmlekiller
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gl simon
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| commit
Forum Newbie
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Congrats, simon. You are doing great and you are going to accomplish a lot in those three weeks. You have been very solid and steady up to now and your efforts will be nicely rewarded.
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| simon73
Forum Elite
Topics: 4
Posts: 484
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Thank you study499, usmlekiller and commit.
I had a reasonable weekend. My wife has been very helpful in taking care of the kids so that i could have some study time.
Still making silly mistakes - did a block in CNS and got 29/50 with 5 silly mistakes. Clearly those mistakes were due to not reading the question carefully. I need to master this technique.
Any input in handling the questions would be welcome.
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| commit
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 264
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Hi simon, I wish I could give you some advice on this problem. But I am having the same problem. It is really not that easy to avoid them totally. I would think 1-2 mistakes are acceptable. I haven't really gather all my silly mistakes to see where my problem is. But there is one pattern, I noticed. Many times, I ignore some key word in the questions (the final sentence) and make the question totally different. "was treated by what drugs", I think "should be treated with what drugs". "Initial problem is" I think "the main problem is". Sometime I also missed important info like the age of the patient, timing of the disease, etc. Sometimes, my brain just simply stopped working! If there is anything I learned, the final sentence of the stem is real important, worth reading twice and slowly.
Good luck and happy studying.
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| simon73
Forum Elite
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Posts: 484
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Thank you commit. I will try this strategy and see how it works. I have to minimize or totally eliminate such mistakes.
Reviewed and completed a block in General Principles, scored 32/50 with 3 silly mistakes.
Will review cell and molecular biology and do some questions. This is one of my worst weak areas!
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| simon73
Forum Elite
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Posts: 484
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I will start my countdown marathon clock today -
19 days for next NBME, 31 days for the presumptive exam date!
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| veteran
Forum Newbie
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Hi Simon, I am glad that your scores are improving in the kaplan q bank. This is the time you will recognize what are your true weak subjects, where you can improve with efforts, which are not worth spending more time on secondary to time Vs HY considerations, and what you need to put on that crucial "exam list" that you have to revise every day for 5 days before the real exam. You cannot afford a single "silly" mistake. That is like dropping money on the street. If the point is yours by the knowledge you have gained with your hard work, there is no reason to not claim it! Please do work on the question reading/ answering strategies. I wish I could suggest some ideas- but personally, it was not one of the areas I had to work on. I am a fast reader and finished each block with atleast 25 minutes to spare. So I went over every single question- not only my doubtful ones after each block. I feel pretty confident about saying that if ever I made a silly mistake in any of the exams, they may be 1 or 2 in the whole exam. You simply cannot afford to make 5 silly mistakes per block! That would be 35 questions in the whole exam- How much that does that count towards your two digit score? About 10% roughly, so instead of 90, you could end up with 81? Math is not one of my strong holds, but I would guesstimate it to be as high as that.
I think if you developed careful question reading skills and had time to go over all answers once, you can avoid the "silly" mistakes altogether. 19 days to know if you will take USMLE in 31 days! Fast approaching! Prepare!
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| antidepressant
Forum Guru
Topics: 37
Posts: 1,297
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Hi Simon, keep working your weak areas. keep doing questions, and reveiw also, i was reveiwing systemic patho, and it surprised me how much i forgot, and there were so many things in between the lines, so, try to reveiw without any stress, or pressure.
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted"- Randy Pausch.
"Brick walls are there for a reason, they let us prove how badly we want things"-RP
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Striving for excellence!!!!!!!!
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| usmlekiller
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keep at it simon.......ur almost there!!!!!!!
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| simon73
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Thank you veteran for your sincere advise. Thank you antidepressant fand usmlekiller for your encouraging words.
18 days for next NBME, 30 days for the presumptive exam date
Reviewed Cell and Molecular biology yesterday and did a block in Kaplan Q bank, Scored only 48%!!! I dont think I could have improved in this area. Questions were really abstract and I couldnt find them in Kaplan notes or other sources I have. As veteran said, I just need to accept this and do my best in knowing cell and molecular biology from the resources I have.
The three most weak areas from my NBME were: Behav. science, Genetics and CNS. I think i have improved in Behav. science and CNS, I need to work more on Genetics, as this is one area worth spending my time to get a good return.
Ok. Off to Endocrine.
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| simon73
Forum Elite
Topics: 4
Posts: 484
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Dear Friends, Could you please answer this question?
How important is Goljan 100-page high yield notes? I am running short on time so i want invest on this only if i believe it would be worth investing. I would appreciate all your input.
Thanks.
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| simon73
Forum Elite
Topics: 4
Posts: 484
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17 days for NBME, and 29 days for presumptive exam date
Had a good day yesterday. Reviewed and did a block in Endo, scored 68% with still 3 silly mistakes. Need to work on that.
I am still waiting for someone to comment on Goljan 100-page high yield notes.
Off to Reproductive sysem.
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| target
Forum Guru
Topics: 5
Posts: 842
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Hi simon thanks for dropping by my journal. I am so motivated looking at you. I dont have plan sfor reading the 100 page notes - i should RR goljan should have it covered pretty much. His audio followed by RR should suffice in my opinion.Good luck buddy!
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| veteran
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Simon, 48 in Cell and Mol is good, really! This is a dry area that we really cannot improve much on and as long as you have revised the material you are already familiar with and looked through the topics you came across in UW and Kaplan Q banks, you should be content.
Genetics is HY, interesting and very releveant to exam. So do focus on it.
Regarding Goljan 100 pages, I would say some found it helpful, some not. You will have to find it for yourself really. Depends on what you already know and what you think you can learn/ revise from the 100 pages. I thought first few pages were good- I think difference between first and definitive test and most common cancers are discussed. I dont remember much. Bottom line, I would suggest that you spend about 4 hours and look through every page carefully for yourself and decide how much yield it will be for you in exam prep remembering your revision time is limited. Likely most of the information is already known to you and will be revised elsewhere. If it is repetitious, then it is not worth the time, if it is new, then go for it!
68 is good, but 3 "silly mistakes" is not. You have improved in leaps and bounds! Wishing you more giant strides in the upcoming days!
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| commit
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 264
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Good going, simon, 68 is very close to the goal already. Keep working at it!
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