commit
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Yeah, keep it up, simon73. We can do it. The tipping point is waiting for us.
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| simon73
Forum Newbie
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Thanks commit. I had a rather slow day with studies yesterday, didnt cover much, still in General Principles - Physiology! Hope to finish it today.
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| study499
Forum Guru
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Hi Simon,
Regarding my NBME, not sure yet but hopefully one day soon...
a good day to you
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| veteran
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| | 05/28/08 - 01:00 PM
1 of 1 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #104 |
Hi Simon, sorry to hear about your situation. Hope your family distractions have sorted themselves out. I always felt I learned more from solving questions. When you have answered a question wrong, make sure you understand the basis of the question and the concept of the answer so that you will get similar questions right the second time around, and most importantly in the final exam.
I am sorry to be nosy and annoying, but I would like you to think about this fundamental issue about why you are getting questions wrong on a familiar topic. In the final exam, it doesnt matter how familiar your topic is, you either got the question right or wrong and it makes the life and death difference. You may need to chage your approach and develop some new question answering skills. There are several techniques dexcribed in the first few pages of kaplan Q book. When I prepared for step one, I had a study partner who was an excellent "guesser". I thought he had pure luck, but found out that he had aducated instincts which one can develop through study and effort.
Try to approach/ attack your questions with the following technique- First, when you read your question, you will be able to quickly figure out rightaway if it is something that you already know the answer to, and answer it right if you do. This would be the first category. If you dont know the answer, divide it into something you are going to think a little over (second category) or you are going to have to make an educated guess(third category). If you are going to think a little over, think through it right away and mark it. If you have to make an educated guess, mark it for later. By now, you must have developed enough speed to where you are able to finish each block with 20 minutes to spare. I used to work such that I completed 50% of the questions in the first 20 minutes and so on.
When you have completed your block, use the first 10 minutes to go over your "second category" questions. These are the ones that will boost your score as with little thinking you will get it right.
I marked my "third category" questions on the scratch sheet cards. There were about 2 or 3 of those in each block that I knew would be complete guesses or not worth my time- like "sonic hedgehog" or "number needed to treat". Stuff that was in such remote memory that I only had a gambling chance at getting them right. I tried not to spend much time on these.
I also went over the "first category" questions, ones I was absolutely positively sure of, all over again to make sure I did not make "silly mistakes".
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| veteran
Forum Newbie
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Hope I made sense there. Ofcourse, my technique may not be something that you could use, but I shared it with the hopes that you may be able to explore your own approach to questions and work on developing a stategy that works for you. 
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| simon73
Forum Newbie
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Thank you very much for your excellent suggestion veteran. Unfortunately, my biggest challenge is that i am a slow reader. I barely finish a block with a few minutes to spare. I will have to really work on answering with at least 10 minutes to spare - this is my goal. Since i barely had any time, i never used the strategies you had mentioned.
I had to stay in office for a few hours this evening for work, hence this is offsetting my schedule for the day. However, this is something i wanted to get over with, hence happy to have done it.
Back to studies. will visit the journal tomorrow.
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| veteran
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Simon, I can only imagine the obstacles in your prep. Ultimately, it all boils down to how many questions you will get right in the exam and you want to maximize this. Work on developing question answering strategies that you will use on exam day. You can do this by knowing as many strategies there are and trying them all out to see what your comfort level and personal preference is. I would strongly advise you to work on improving your reading speed. This is very important. I have always been a quick reader, so I really dont know what will work, but may be you can time yourself doing one question and work on improving it or you can take 20 questions and try to do that in 20 minutes.
Also it helps to work 7 blocks (or is it 8 in the step one? They all run intogether and I dont exactly remember) from either UW or Kaplan in one day, just to test your endurance and concenteration. I did this and it helped me immensely as I had never done such a long exam before. I paced myself and on the day of my exam, I had energy to spare after my step one. (step 3 is a different story as it is a 2 day exam!). After my step one, I could not rest, as I felt so elated and full of energy. Just some ideas you may want to consider trying! I ate the exact breakfast I had for real exam on my practice exam day, dedicated this time completely to it with no distractions in the library and did it in real exam time with breaks for snack/ rest room/ lunch scheduled just as I would for real exam.
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| dowjunk
Forum Elite
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veteran's advice is really cool! The Q techniques are an essential part for a gr8 score! Best of luck simon!
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Grad of 2007. Work in progress.......
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| simon73
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Thank you veteran for your suggestions. I will try some of the strategies starting today. I had yet another less productive day yesterday due to overstretching myself at work. Hopefully, i will make it up.
Thank you dowjunk. All the best to you too.
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| simon73
Forum Newbie
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Well, i tried veteran's strategy yesterday but didnt work, still ended up barely with a few minutes to spare. But will keep trying.
Finally completed general principles in Physio and Pharmac. Will do Autonomic system this weekend.
Happy reading everyone.
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| 5fluorouracil
Forum Senior
Topics: 3
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simon... good luck on your test prep..... every little bit counts so don't worry if you don't get done everything you had planned to do, hopefully you will get to it before exam time comes 
veteran..... thanks for the invaluable advice, will try this from now on as i am freaking out just a little bit about qbank scores that don't improve.... thanks!
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Yes we can.... and yes we will!!!!!
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| study499
Forum Guru
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Hi Simon,
You are doing good, my friend...
Keep trying...You will get there...
Have a good weekend
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| study499
Forum Guru
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Posts: 523
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Veteran,
Thank you so much for your inputs here. They are helping us as well.
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| smarty
Forum Senior
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Posts: 271
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all the best for the weekend simon . hope u do achieve ur goals!
___________________
"This one step of choosing a goal & sticking to it ,changes everything & Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
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| simon73
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Thank you 5 fluorouracil, study499 and smarty for your posts. Your kind words are a big source of encouragement on this prep.
I had a little relaxed weekend, which is the way i wanted, had to attend some personal chores to attend to. Read ANS Pharmac as planned. Will start CNS systemwise revision today with Pharmac first.
Will try veteran's advice in a block of questions tonight.
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| veteran
Forum Newbie
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Hi Simon, Wish you a very productive week! 
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| veteran
Forum Newbie
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Posts: 77
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Dowjunk, study499, 5Fluorouracil- All the best to you too!
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| simon73
Forum Newbie
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Posts: 438
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Well, had a rather slow start yesterday after the weekend, Didnt accomplish much, still in CNS Pharmac. Hoping to catch up soon.
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| study499
Forum Guru
Topics: 4
Posts: 523
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Hi Simon,
Thanks for yr wishes
I am doing CNS pharma right now, too...v. important & high yield...
good luck
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| veteran
Forum Newbie
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Most of the questions are centered around anaesthetic agents and psychotropic drugs. I liked to cover drugs chapter from Behavoiral sciences and also did Katzung and Trevor for CNS pharm. How many days do you have allotted? Are you doing Qs simeltaneously?
Keep working! 
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| simon73
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 438
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Thank you for post study499. Yes, it is high yield.
Thank you veteran. I should wrap it up today, though it seems highly volatile. I will try and reinforce my memory. Yes, doing questions simultaneously with not much improved scores!!
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| simran2008
Forum Junior
Topics: 1
Posts: 66
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hi simon73 i am a silent reader of ur posts dont worry a lot of people are sailing in the same boat u r bold enough to come out and discuss u will do good i bet just keep doing what u r my best wishes r withu always study hard have a nice day me also prep fr step one planning to give in july
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| simran2008
Forum Junior
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hi simon veteran hw r u studying taday i doing quertions nw and seeing the mistakes hw about u happy stuyd
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| simon73
Forum Newbie
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hi simran2008,
Thank you for your encouraging words. I had one of the least productive week in the past few months - my ill health with flu like illness compounded by low mood due to low scores. I have gotten better and starting the day with optimism and plans to do micro today. Did a block, didnt score as much as i would like to! UW micro q's require a lot of thought process and integration.
All the best with your prep and exams in July. I plan to do in August, if my NBME (plan to do in the first week of July) scores are encouraging.
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| dowjunk
Forum Elite
Topics: 14
Posts: 413
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Thx simon and best of luck!
___________________
Grad of 2007. Work in progress.......
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