dral
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So I wanted to give my experience to hopefully help others. I will share how I prepared as well.
I took my exam on 4/11/08. One difference with me compared to some of you is that I just finished my first two years of medical school 3.5 weeks before my exam. I am on my 4th day of rotations now (5/1/08) so we only had a limited time to take the exam. I took almost the maximum amount of time between when my finals ended and when my first rotation began. My first day I gathered all my materials and most importantly made a schedule (detailed). I started with some light reading of BRS physiology. Most of my days consisted of 50 question (random untimed USMLE world), then a chapter of Rapid Review, then a section of FA, then 50 question bank of rapid review q bank, then another 50 question USMLE world quiz (reviewed the USMLE world questions for the day). I got through about 50% of Kaplan Q bank earlier (from November 07 to Janurary 08). I stopped this to study for my classes though, which ended mid March). During week one I read all of BRS physiology (Such a big help...my quiz scores jumped up from low to mid 50% to mid 60 to 70%).
By week two of studying for boards I was soooo sick of it. I pretty much ditched most of my schedule and worked on what I wanted when I wanted, but I kept up the intensity. By a few days before the exam, I finished USMLE world (all 50 random timed) and got maybe 2/3 of the way through my wrong answers as 25 question quizzes untimed. My % correct after getting through all questions and before I went over my incorrect was 66%. I finished Rapid Review, listened to maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of Goljan lectures, and finished FA.
So on to my test day. I got about 6 or 7 hours of sleep the night before. Started the exam at 7:15 and there was construction going on in the parking lot for the first two blocks! I took a 3 to 5 minute break between each block and a 15 minute lunch break after block 4. Block two killed me. I didn't know if I got any right. All of them were really long blocks of text with answers that didn't seem very precise. My 6th block was fairly difficult too. I felt these two blocks were more difficult than UW. Three blocks were comparable to UW, and 2 blocks seemed easier than UW. I seemed to get a run of 10 questions there were easily answerable, with maybe 1 that I was pretty sure, but not totally...then I'd hit maybe 3 in a row that were difficult, then 5 that were easy, then 5 hard ones....that type of sequence seemed to happen a lot to me (except in that horrible 2nd block).
I didn't have much pharm or biochem...and they were very fair questions. I had pretty fair anatomy. My hardest questions were pathophys and histopath where they would give a long presentation of symptoms and then ask a question with answers that didn't seem very precise. I also had 2 or so questions that were just totally off the wall and I had to just blindly guess. There were some questions that seemed like I was being tricked on purpose. I had one or two questions that seemed unanswerable based on the answer choices. Odd.
Anyway, I left the exam feeling,,,,I don't know...just not good. Emotionally blunted is the best description. I didn't think I did well and I thought I could have very well failed. I talked to a friend that took it that day and he hand a very similar experience so that made me feel better.
I still felt bad. Waiting for scores was a lot of times where I could forget about it, but then suddenly throughout the day the test would pop into my head and I would have a small panic attack. lol. But it wasn't that bad. My scores came on Wednesday April 30th via email between 8 and 9 am US eastern time. I think it was the most nervous time of my life. Imagine being stressed out for 5 hours but compress that into 30 seconds. heheh.
So, I ended up with a 249/99. I could believe it when I saw it. I thought maybe it was a sample page or something, but my report was only 2 pages and the 2nd page is the page telling you how you did by subject. That was my score! I felt instant relief of months of built up stress.
That's my experience. I've posted my study sources and score correlations in the score thread. Incidentally, based on the site that predicts your score based on your MCAT score...it was the exact number predicted. I did 14 points better than predicted by my NBME paid test 2 taken 9 days before my exam.
Ok, I hope this helps people. The best help I had after my exam was coming here and seeing how well scores correlate with NBME and UW and also the people who posted in the score thread who said they felt awful after the exam but still got good scores. To emphasize...You will probably feel pretty awful after the exam but that doesn't mean you didn't get an excellent score. Just try your hardest to return to normal life and get ready to celebrate when you get your good score back!
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| P4a99
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Exam and preparation experiences of US students are sure different than those of International Medical Students and Graduates.
Congratulations on your score. 
Edited by praying4a99 on 05/01/08 - 07:48 PM
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| P4a99
Forum Fanatic
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Here are dral's meterials:
" Step 1 score 4/11: 249/99
Q-bankscore/% complete: Don't remember. Did it a few months ago/~50
NBME 1/ time b4 exam: Didn't do
NBME 2/ time b4 exam: 560/9 days
USMLE CD/ time b4 exam: Didn't do
Kaplan diagnostic: Didn't do
Kaplan full length: Didn't do
USMLE World question bank: 66%/100% complete
My main sources:
Med school classes
BRS physiology
First Aid
USMLE world (did all questions in the 3.5 weeks before the exam, and got through 2/3 of my wrong questions again)
Goljan rapid review
Goljan lectures (finished between 1/3 and 1/2)."
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2008 Step 1 Study Plan Discussion ..... I am a moderator not a source for download links. Please do not ask me for any.
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| angel^Doctor
Forum Guru
Topics: 33
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congratulation dral on your great score
yes AMS preparation is different from IMSs and IMGs
It's really nice to see AMS around .
good luck dral in you next step !
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| Boy_wonder
Forum Newbie
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Fair play.
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| ra7man
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congratulation, nice score
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| doctor123
Forum Senior
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Congrats on getting 99
Is it necessary to go thru goljan lecture notes
I am halfway thru Mr goljan's Rapid Review
Dr. 123
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| dral
Forum Newbie
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I'm not sure how necessary Goljan's notes are. I had them but didn't have enough time to read through them. I think Rapid Review is the most important of his materials. The book as the magical ability to explain difficult concepts perfectly with minimal reading requirement. In my opinion, these bigger concepts help a lot in knowing how to work through material on the exam. His audio lectures are REALLY good. I wasn't going to listen to them, but midway through my studies, I had to travel a long distance. I listened to a few of his lectures while I traveled and realized "I need to listen to more of these..they're great!"
Overall I know I needed less prep for Microbiology, Immunology, Pharm, and Path since I just finished exams for those classes. From what I see a lot on this forum, Kaplan lectures and notes seem to do a pretty good job of covering these subjects. With Goljan also helping with review of Pathology.
I think maybe when you finish Rapid Review, try to take the comprehensive quiz at the end of the book. If you feel comfortable with it, then his notes may not be as necessary. However, if you have time to go through the notes, I'm sure they're very helpful just like his other sources.
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