milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
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Hi friends!!!
I gave my step 1 on 25 april
arrived at the centre 45 minutes early
i could begin my exam 1/2 an hour early as there were vacant places
The exam was enjoyable . I was happy that i was not required to recall unusual random factoids , only common ones ..which we could answer based on usmleworld and first aid.
questions called for more of application of the facts- In form of graphs and diagrams which are not from any source that i studied. but they are doable if we apply basic information.
Breaks:
i took 5 minutes break after 1,2,3 block
then 12 minutes after fourth , 10 minutes after fifth , 12-13 minutes after sixth
ate one small parotha in every break after fourth block
I had made a habit to sit for studying continuously for 12-13 hrs in the last week of exam with minumum requisite breaks,, helped a lot ..i was not tired after the exam ..
that made me happy because i could sleep only 2.5 hrs the night before , and was worried that i would be sleepy for the day
I slept very well like 9 or even 10 hrs during the last week
Was surprisingly not tensed last 3-4 days or during exam
even took a day off 3 days before exam
but since my sleep cycle is disturbed almost for a year now , i could not sleep the last day
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Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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the exam:
I had a well distributed exam .. nothing exaggerated
Try to go thru the following material during your last days as it is forgettable.
behavioral was mostly ethics- kaplan and first aid and uworld and kaplan qbank based
anat was mostly neuroanat- could be answered based on anatomy diagrams in kaplan.
along with first aid
pharmac - the general pharma chapters from kaplan, and with first aid pharma . No wierd questions there . that was the subject i dreaded the most
biochem- do cycles from kaplan - the diagrams , rest from first aid
cell bio-first aid and kaplan .. questions like never seen before , interesting experiments , but were answered based on application of what is given in kaplan /first aid
genetics-first aid was enough
pathology-Goljan and usmleworld helped most
physio was mostly combined with pathology , so can answer based on goljan and first aid .
micro-first aid , first aid , first aid!!!
immunology - first aid + hiv chapter and lab diagnostic tests(since i think this is the only part not covered in first aid)
AND THE QUEEN OF ALL WAS USMLEWORLD QBANK
this is just what i found the questions were reflective of in my exam
very high yield ..
first aid must do in the week befor the exam
usmleworld is gold standard..questions felt like blocks of uworld!!!
Edited by milee99 on 05/08/08 - 03:24 AM
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Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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My preparation :
I graduated in March 2007 IMG from India . An above average student.
got married in April .. and decided to take usmle.
came to USA in July , and began preparing after that... i think in mid-August or September
no definite preparation period .. My preparation had a lot of breaks and disturbances .. for almost 3 months i was doing pathology,physiology,biochem and behaviorral books ..then i began mmrs for micro .. and then got fed up that first read was taking so long ..
next 2 months:
so began first aid and kaplan qbank
stopped for a week in between because i got depressed with the scores ,
so i took nbme-1
scored 560/232
then completed first aid and kaplan qbank .averaged 67%
next 1-1.5 months: did micro, immuno,anatomy,goljan- goljanwent fast after the qbank!!!
did nbme-4:560/232
next 25 days:
usmleworld and began revising kaplan
could read only biochem book and behavioral sciences fully and few chapters of pharma , so switched to first aid .. did pharma from there
I had 1 week and 1000 q of usmleworld and all of first aid except pharma in the last week!!!
I was doing uworld for 6 days , and began first aid from the night of the second last day .took nbme -3 ...4 days before the exam , got 580/236 . was not too great, but felt happy. took that day off.. was feeling exhausted
last day i had a choice between 200 leftover q's in uworld or first aid
I chose first aid
and i am glad i did ..
both uworld and first aid were the highest yield on my exam
i could have postponed the exam to do those 200 q's ,but i somehow felt that i should take the exam
on the questions leaving those 200 q's i got 70%
was scoring well on uworld from the beginning
And the exam went well .. atleast a subjective feeling
rest we'll know after the scores come in
my prep is the worst prep plan i feel
you should make a short study plan and stick to it
by exam i had read physiology 6-7 months ago.. couldn't remember much ..even the things i had on the tip of my tongue were a blur ..
but physio was my strong subject in med school.. and i loved it .. so it somehow did not affect my performance i believe..
I could not revise biochem and behavioral from first aid ..
and also neuroanat.
if i had done those , i could have avoided atleast 6-7 silly mistakes i made
like i would remember the answer to the question in the first block while i was doing the second block . but its of no use at that time .
Edited by milee99 on 04/29/08 - 02:31 PM
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Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| new_n_lost
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Best of Luck for the score
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FORUM RULES-- Those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand. I get enough exercise just by pushing my luck --P4U World.." The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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thank you prep4usmle !!! God sends us angels .. and i had so many for me in this forum ..
shwe , antidepressant ,angel,SOS,yarab,javmd,step99- thanks a lot for walking with me
genbot- thanks for being a guide
paheli,mydream- for much needed hope
mytime- for the sunshine!!!
tia-thanks for the cheer and encouragement - i will always remember - never give up your goal until you click the last answer on the exam
kalyann-- God you were such an accelerating force during the most crucial time !!!
callosum and 5-flurouracil- thanks a lot
acintya , doc499- do i need to say anything?? I won't because thanks is a very small word for you.
Thanks to my parents for being so patient.
thanks to my husband for all the unconditional support .
Thanks to my in-laws for being so understanding.
Thanks to my friends who prompted me to take the exam .. after postponing it several times , dropping in to add some fun to my life for a while, and helping me out .
Edited by milee99 on 04/29/08 - 03:06 PM
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Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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God help me to get my dream score and match for 2009
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Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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thanks nnl!!!
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Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| Kalyann
Forum Elite
Topics: 4
Posts: 530
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u helped urself by studying consistently without giving up thru such a long prep period. u need to be something to do that.....
why do u unneccesarili burden god with ur wishes
already i made 2-3 for u
dont over post ur prayers
dont worry mileee
99 pakkkaaaaaa... ask anybody here....
enjoy ur leisure time or make plans to be in the race for 2009
dont u worry i wil also write exam asap and beat u in the race.
Also include ur IMG history and ur whereabouts in ur prep plan.
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Just hit the Bull's Eye with a 99.
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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i edited my post to add the wherabouts
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Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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yeah kalyan , you'd better be there for the step 2ck with us
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Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| lakshya_0_7
Forum Elite
Topics: 24
Posts: 312
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very well written.....all the best for ur scores
one q, is the exam tougher than NBME tests?
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| JavMD
Forum Junior
Topics: 5
Posts: 77
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Milee99
Without a doubt you will get a 99. I can bet on it.
You have been a motivational/inspiring force through my journey.
Hope to meet you soon on the step 2 forum.
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| doc499
Forum Senior
Topics: 8
Posts: 179
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Milee good luck for ur scores but i know that its a 99 ..
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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Thanks lakshya, java and doc..
lakshya, my exam was a mix of tough and easy q's
some were like nbme , some like uworld , some even easier than nbme/uworld/kaplan qbank
based on the experiences in this forum , i went with a mindset that there are going to be some q's i won't know a thing about. that helped me be calm during the exam
.. but i marked those , kept 10 minutes in the end for them .. they would be like6-7 for me in each block .. then i would use the best guess for them
___________________
Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| Ali 200736
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
Posts: 50
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hey best of luck for ur results milee99..u sure will do well..so what wud u suggest that if we have dun first aid cover to cover n know uworld really well exam wudnt be a problem?
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| dr_elrifai85
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 38
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wish u great score
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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Thanks ALi and elirifai
Ali, i had read kaplan and goljan
its just that first aid and uworld are high yield .. i mean revising them in the few days of our exam helps step up the score. if you need a high score , they are not enough as the sole study material.
i used kaplan and goljan for my concepts
___________________
Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| ShweHope99.9998
Forum Fanatic
Topics: 12
Posts: 2,570
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Congratulation milee u did it .
Go celebrate , have fun then start for next game 
You're welcome , we all r in the same path so to support each other is a bless . Any time sis , need any just pm or shout out in my journal .
Thnx for exm experinces too , will come back if have qs , now just so busy few days ago & will b in this month so , cannot congrat u right away .
GL in ur dream score , we will pray & u also do
Later ...
GL 
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| genbot
Forum Guru
Topics: 13
Posts: 578
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People here's where you'll find the next 99!
So hold on all, we got only two weeks to go!
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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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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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thanks shwe ..
Genbot , i am hoping that your prediction comes true like it did for SOS
frankly i am happy with any 95+
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Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| study499
Forum Elite
Topics: 3
Posts: 420
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Well done Milee99
I cld relate to yr story dear as I've been telling people "I hv USMLE exam" for past 1 & 1/2 yr although not been studying 4 it 4 all this time and been answering them ''No hv not taken it yet''. So after having a gap of months and realizing that my parents can not be patient anymore decided to do my very best to be ready 4 my dream score in 4 weeks..I'm very behind, still havev't done any Q bank ...a high score 95+ and Match09 is my dream..To be more challenged still hv CS(10 days 4 it) and CK(8 weeks) to take I think I'm going crazy or dreaming too much..what do u think dear?? Sorry to asking u here..even though i enjoy studying but now i hit d point and feel like its my responsibility to do this asap and also i owe it to myself to work so hard to get my score...I hv made a schedule in my journal and appreciate if u can have a comment on it...Thank u so much...
I can see yr 99 clearly , don't u worry..wish u all d success and happiness
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| milee99
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 873
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hey study ,
start some qbank as soon as possible
i made a mistake by delaying it
They help you stay focused and pick up what you need for the exam..
don't bother about the scores .. use nbme for that
___________________
Do not pray for easy lives,Pray to be stronger men; Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your tasks; Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
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| doctor123
Forum Senior
Topics: 12
Posts: 250
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best of luck for ur score
Nice & sincere feedback for us.
Dr. 123
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ALLAH; guide me to the Path of Success.
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| dowjunk
Forum Elite
Topics: 14
Posts: 292
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Hope you make it BIG, thanks a million, milee!!!
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Grad of 2007. Work in progress.......
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| study499
Forum Elite
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Posts: 420
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Thank u so so much Milee for yr time and advises here and in my journal...
will start uw today...
good luck
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