genbot
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Hello friends!
Will come up with my exam exp soon.
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Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
| | 04/04/08 - 01:14 PM
0 of 3 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #2 |
BASIC DETAILS (will expand).
Preped for about 50 days.
Having done Step2 first helped somewhat (feel the 2nd step is always easier once u have the experience in hand, whether 1 or 2).
Started with assessin my level of readiness before startin with my prep.
Took NBME3. Scored 580 (=236).
With that ascertained decided on a short prep with another NBME assessment after Ist read in mind.
Also started with UW shortly after beginning my first read.
Used mainly Kaplan as core material.
Cell bio, neuro and anatomy from HY.
After first (approx. 25 days) read took another NBME. Scored 770 (=263).
Was almost finished with UW by then.
With 300 Qs left, started revising wrong Qs. Also did FA in the meanwhile and started with my second read.
After FA, finished with the left over Qs in UW. Scores had improved.
Finally finished with a score of 86% on UW (timed, unused Qs).
Felt good bout my prep.
Completed second read 4 days from exam.
Had planned FA for last 4 days, plus as many Qs as I could do.
Once i restarted with FA felt i knew most stuff, so was just wasting time. Abandoned FA halfway. Finished with Qbook during this time. Also did chapter summaries of almost all books from Kaplan in those last 4 days (dont know how useful that was!).
Exam day went fine (my exam day exp can be found in my prep journal). Was comfortable with most Qs expect some ethics stuff.
Score report showed a star in all except hemat-onc,dont know why. Felt i knew the stuff well. Maybe i made some silly mistakes.
Expect a more detailed exp soon.
Questions would be welcome.
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Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| ShweHope99.9998
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 12
Posts: 2,570
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thnx GB , we all waiting for this detail experinces .
Good to c u around especially in subj wise support qs forum like the ATP calculation.
Are that kind of calculation Qs in real exm, then how many , it's time consuming so , is taht good to skip ??but still score v. high 
In HW equation .. also take times with the p2+ etc u kn, I wish I will not get much calculate one so time frame will b cool 
Thanx
GL 
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| sidiyaa
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 39
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congratulations really good score.
I'm jordanian .plz you??
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| ShweHope99.9998
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 12
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So u did UW side by side with 1st read.. is after each subj done or no correlation of UW & kap LN read in subj, topics or sysytem wise ??
Any notes down as complete note fr UW or just write on the kap fr uw extra on kap LN ??
Same q goes to FA, Is FA read side by side with kap 2nd read with after redaing kap or just no correlation FA & kap [ 2nd read ] just go indeperndently ??
All UW qs done in mix , times unuse or just how amny in which section save for last how many qs as timed , unused??
Any simulated 7 block unused timed fr assorted subjs, sysytem , in mixed for one day or more than one for practicing while learning after all 7 block done in 1 day each ??
Thnx ,
GL
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| dr_elrifai85
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 38
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congratulation
well done
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
| | 04/05/08 - 12:48 PM
2 of 2 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #7 |
Thanks sidiyaa, dr_elrifai85!
I'm from India.
Shwe thanks again!
Comin to ur questions...I dont know how representative my prep is that of a perfect one...reason; ideally i would've wanted it to be 3 to 4 months and probably then it would've been more organized. For someone starting out new i'd recommend this prep duration.
Because i was short on time and felt i did not have the patience to sit one place and study for a long time, i chose a short duration for my prep. It wasnt an easy decision.It had its risks but i was willing to trust my instincts and was relying heavily on the ability of the NBMEs to assess my level of prep.
Keeping these limitations in mind my prep was bound to be inherently a little chaotic.
Although i'd prefer startin with UW after having finished with the first read but instead i chose to begin about 10 days into my first read. The idea was to finish most of UW along with my first read so that when i took my NBME i'd have gone through most prep material. And then during my second read i'd improve on my weaknesses while not totally ignoring my strengths and also revise UW as much as possible. Plus i also wanted to do questions from other Qbanks. Basically i wanted to do as many questions as possible and importantly keep doin them as close to the exam day as possible. I felt that was very important. This perception i derived amazingly from my step2 experience. Although i did pretty well on the exam, i felt i could've done better if i'd kept doin Qs as close to the exam day as possible. During my step2 prep i stopped doin Qs about 1 month from the exam! That was basically crazy. I wasnt goin to repeat that again, and i didnt. I thought the approach paid off well; i got a better score (percentile not 3 digit score!) with a shorter prep time.
UWorld: I did all questions in timed, random, mixed mode.
This is what i'd recommend to most people, especially if u'r finished with atleast one read or maybe two; depending on what ur prep duration is and how good ur basics are when u start out.
I feel doin questions subject wise gives u a false sense of security. it tends to overestimate ur level of prep and u also miss out on getting constant practice on having to change ur thought patterns quicky, as the real exam demands.
Although i've heard people say that UW should be used mainly as a learning tool, i disagree.
I feel if u revise wrong Qs and ones u mark as high yield and pay attention to most explanations while doin Qs the first time, this should more than suffice the need for using UW as a learning tool. May be i'm wrong but from what I've seen i dont see people deriving any special advantage by doin it subject wise.
I think Kaplan is good basic learning material and when supplemented properly with UW almost assures u a good score.
Also important is assessment of ur strengths and weaknessess. This not only focusses ur prep but also helps to cut down on its duration. Both UW and NBME can be used for this purpose.
And no i didnt do 7 blocks at a time on UW. I feel that would be more helpful with step 2ck which has very drawn out question stems and where fatigue towards the end of the test can be a big factor in determining ur final score.
I also did about a 1000 qs from kaplan Qbank when i finished with UW. They were good and helped me stay in sync with the actual exam. And as i mentioned before i also managed to finish kaplan Qbook during the last 4 days. Again they provided good practice and kept me grounded with the actual exam. Overall i felt the real exam had much more clinical material than either UW or Qbank. UW patterns were definitely closer to the actual exam than Qbank. No doubt bout that.
FA i did only once. But i'd recommend atleast 2 reads to most people, especially if u feel u've forgotten some basic facts close to the exam. Its short, precise and very high yield.
Again i did FA pretty random. Read it once i had finished with the first read. Did not ally it to my Kaplan notes reading. But probably goin through it while reading similar topics from Kaplan might be more helpful. It helps u a lot with figuring out extreme high yield stuff. Knowledge which u can utilise well when u go thru Kaplan notes (and probably UW).
This is it for now...but there's lots more stuff comin...so keep checkin.
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Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
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Link to my exam day experience.
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/64132/8/
(hope the moderators dont delete this one!)
___________________
Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
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Shwe no u dont get a lot of questions where u need to do tons of calculations excepting some biostat and population genetics Qs.
Nothing like the question u referred to. Atleast i had none of those.
___________________
Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| bianca99
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 79
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Hii genbot
Read your exam exp and your journal
Very inspiring
When is your CS?
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
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Thanks bianca99.
My CS is in mid May.
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Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| bianca99
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 79
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Good luck!!
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
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Got my visa today.
Need to start prepin for CS soon.
Another exam!
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Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| tomescan
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 2
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Hi Genbot, I was wondering how you prepared for step 2. Just wondering what materials you used, time it took to prepare etc. Thought it best to ask you here, seeing as this is where you have been most active recently?
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
| | 04/10/08 - 02:08 PM
1 of 1 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #15 |
hi tomescan!
I used mainly Kaplan for Step2 and Uworld as usual.
I was pretty good at medicine to start with. It was never really a bother with me because of my previous residency. I hardly studied medicine. And whatever portions i did was mainly from CMDT. Obviously this isn't the best approach for most. But having been witness to an awesome score by my fiancee (275/99) i think Kaplan usually suffices but if u help out some topics (esp cardio, neuro, endo) from a more comprehensive book, say CMDT, it can really help with ur scores. Its important to focus hard on getting a good feel for all the important clinical scenarios and their usual variations. Doing a lot of questions certainly helps with that but its also important that u keep questioning ur concepts at every possible oppurtunity. Learning for step2ck should be as active as possible.
Its important to learn to derive conclusions from what seems like incomplete data. Thats how most step2 Qs are. Apparently very vague. But if u got ur concepts right u get most of them correct, although it may not feel so when u r actually doing them.
For the other subjects i think Kaplan is sufficient except probably for Psychiatry, which i feel needs supplementation. In psychiatry u should work hard on being able to differentiate various disease processes based on minor differences, otherwise these questions can kill you. Bout the weird ethics stuff they have on this exam i really dont know wat to suggest. Most material doesnt cover the topics tested.
I studied for about 2 1/2 to 3 months. But studied seriously only the last one month.
Uworld i think is a great help with this exam, but my suggestion is to do as many questions as possible whatever the source.
Anytime u need to assess urself there's always the NBMEs ( I got 800 on all three! Was therefore a lil disappointed with my score. Probably became a lil complacent because of these scores, which is a dangerous dangerous thing to do).
I stopped doing questions bout one month from the exam, which is basically a recipe for disaster, but somehow i got lucky and was saved. Wat i'd suggest though is that try n schedule ur UW in such a way that u finish with it very close to the exam. Also make a habit of doing Qs in timed, random mode. Managing time on this exam can be a big issue. Learn to start practicing this as early as possible. Fatigue towards the end of the exam can also drop ur scores, so its best to go prepared.
Do ask if u have anymore questions.
(Btw i thought this was a Step1 exp forum!. Hope they dont kick me outta here now! )
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Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| lakshya_0_7
Forum Elite
Topics: 24
Posts: 312
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congrats...
can you plz post your visa experience too?
if not here then in "IMGs" section....whats the time period of your visa?
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
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Thanks.
Sure will post that some time soon.
I got a 10 yr multiple entry one.
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Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| tomescan
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 2
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Cheers genbot. Posted the question here because I knew you would be still around this part of the forums
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| drahmad1983
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 1
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hi doc
congrats for ur score. i want to know what NBME is and how to apply for it as i am disturbed and i want to assess my level
ur help will be appreciated
thank u
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
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drahmad1983
NBME form is a kind of online mock test which is used by people taking the USMLE as a self assessment tool.
For step1 there are 6 forms (i.e 6 different tests).
Each costs about $45.
You dont need to do all. One form is enough to give u a decent idea of where u stand. But test takers generall do most at different times during their prep to assess themselves.
Each form has 200 questions divided into 4 blocks of 50 each. Each block in the timed mode lasts one hour, while in the self paced mode upto 4 hours are allowed.
How long have u been preppin? Whats the worry?
___________________
Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
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To apply u need to login to nbme.org. There u can buy the forms and then start whenever u wish to afterwards.
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Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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| mr.lonely
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 29
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CONGRATS genbot. i wanna ask that behavoral science just sucks! whoch books u read while preparing?
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| keepgoing
Forum Guru
Topics: 62
Posts: 1,673
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Awesome score congratulationsss!
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| mukho
Forum Elite
Topics: 6
Posts: 517
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really awesome scores...ur fiance's too...great jodi...congrats
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
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Thanks mr. lonely, keepgoing, mukho.
mr. lonely,
yup behav. science is sure a pain in the neck. I used kaplan for it.
But my previous step2 prep for psychiatry also helped out.
There's a lot of overlap between the two.
___________________
Step1 267/99. Step2 269/99. CS pass. ECFMG certified. Match 2009. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME (The one they call the strong nuclear force!)
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