simon73
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Continuing with Biochemistry, hoping to finish it by tomorrow.
Started doing UW questions on Molecular biology/biochemistry!! My God the questions in molecular biology are Greek!! may be, it is only me but they are super tough to understand, let alone answer.
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| veteran
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Hi Simon, I too felt that molecular biology was very hard. They cover concepts that we did not cover in med school, atleast not in the detail that is expected in the exam. As your alumni, I can relate 101% I also felt that way about pharmacology esp the second messenger systems, CYP etc. When you are looking at something so new, it is easy to get carried away in trying to understand- but I took a short cut, esp with molecular biology-
I did as many questions in molecular biology and did selected topics on high yeild for molecular biology in depth. So that way, I had a good shot of getting most concepts without dedicating much time to an important albeit minor part of USMLE- from which you will likely get 10 questions at most. So, not worth spending several days on it. Likewise, histo and embryo may take days if you invest in just them. We have to keep the pace balanced with depth and remember, solving questions, you learn a lot, and that alone may be enough in topics like molecular biology.
You mentioned some difficulty with ethics topics. Ethics is almost like maths. It is not what your gut feeling is, but what formula to apply for particular situations that will help you find the right answer for ethics dilemmas. I will post a bioethics link which I found when preparing for step 2, which I think will be useful in understanding the concepts for step one too as study material for Ethics was same for all 3 steps really.
I looked over your plan and reposted a gist with my input-
I plan to take my NBME I on one of the days: July 4-6, so this gives me 10 weeks.
I plan to use the first 8 weeks to cover all the topics and the last 2 weeks to revise before i take NBME I.
For all practical purposes my NBME I score will be a decider on how i proceed further. I will have 8 weeks after NBME I for my exam.
At the end of 6 weeks, i will take NBME II (August 15). This will give me 2 weeks to do my final review before the exam!!
Ok, your tentative plan seems well thought through. However, I was wondering how you plan to revise before and after the NBME form one. Never lose track of the final exam. All your efforts should be geared for this one and NBME is just a confidence building practice instead of the ultimate aim.
May I suggest that you to try to make a plan in the next two to three days for all the days leading upto August 29th. This will have to be modified and re-paced depending on your progress and NBME scores, but it is never too late to make a plan upto exam day. Making a well thought of plan takes time and having one ahead of time will allow you to modify it with ease.
I hope I have not taken too many liberties in giving you advice there!  Feel free to disregard what is not practical for you, ofcourse. 
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| veteran
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http://depts.washingtom.edu/bioethx/topics/index....
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| veteran
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Try to google the link or find it on the "how to prepare for the CCS" in step 3 exam experiences posted by cocacola.
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| simon73
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Thank you veteran, i found the correct link for ethics, i will look over it and give you my thoughts.
Thank you for taking time to assess my study plan. I present goal during second read is to finish the second read as planned and also complete UW and Q bank before NBME 1. I will plan on revising the questions, i had answered wrong during the last two weeks prior to NBME. I will also try and make a plan for the weeks ahead of my actual USMLE exam. As you had mentioned earlier, i plan to do more questions after my NBME 1, ie. in July and August and read associated text and weak areas alone, rather than reading everything all over again.
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| simon73
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How low can you go? All the way to the floor!!! That is where i am... very disappointed with my performance in UW questions in Molecular biology/biochemistry. What a sucker? I need to really concentrate on this weak area.
One positive thing is that i am learning a lot about molecular biology doing these questions.
God help me get on my knees!
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| simon73
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After a gloomy/moody weekend, I am starting the new week with a positive attitude. Started with Genetics yesterday. Will try and finish it today, hopefully. Will be behind the schedule by a day, will try and make it up along the course.
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| simon73
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Thank you veteran for your suggestions. I have not compiled a plan upto the exam date. I will do so soon and will post it here.
Hoping to finish Genetics today and start CVS systemwise reading tomorrow. Had to reschedule GI systemwise originally planned for this thursday and friday to a later date, at the end of the week 8, as my plan got delayed.
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| simon73
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Started with the system-wise review yesterday. Started with the Cardiovascular system. Hoping to cover First Aid, Kaplan Pharm, Physio, Patho and Anat on CVS in the next few days.
All the best to everyone's prep.
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| veteran
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Hi Simon, I know you work full time. Here are some suggestions to make a practical plan and avoid getting behind. Doing questions usually takes standard amount of time. By now, you must have an idea of how much time you are able to dedicate to your topic revisions. If you study for say, 4 hours, split the amount you have to study into two and see if you can get half of it done in 2 hours. When you study, break for 5 minutes every hour and try to do better than your goal. If at the end of two hours, you are still not even half way through, know that you wont be able to complete your goal for the day. Save the rest of your revision topic for another day. Say for example you are revising system wise, make sure you cover the 3 Ps first. I always did pharm first, as it was my toughest. Then I did patho and physio in that order. If I did not manage to get to anatomy, first aid, etc, I kept it in a sort of "balance account" and got to it closer to the exam, when speed and confidence have built up and pressure of exam makes things fly by.
This "balance account" topics may also be good starting points for your next revision.
It will keep you from keeping your original schedule without falling back much and most importantly, cover high yield topics for exam in depth.
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| simon73
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Thank you veteran for your suggestions. I started with CVS yesterday reviewing first aid CVS systemwise chapter first, as it covers the 3 Ps and Anat of CVS to get the big picture, then i started CVS Pharmac, after which i will move to CVS Physio and Patho. Surely, i will assess the time it takes to cover a system and start a 'balance account' as well for later.
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| veteran
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| simon73
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Strolling along with CVS still. Have a good weekend studying everyone.
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