sunny811
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| | 07/17/08 - 10:08 AM
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It gives me great pleasure to be here writing my prep experience . I have been reading prep experiences of people ever since my medical school days and they helped and motivated me a lot to take finally the big leap my self.
Let me tell you guys I was a average student of a very average medical school in pakistan
. I always wondered if I was good enough to face such a monster in USMLE. I always seeked guidance and motivational stories of people who had achieved big things . I always had doubts if l could achieve the same .
Coming to my step 1 prep , i started studying for step 1 in september 2007 .For the first few months it was difficuilt as it was ramadan and I had to adjust to timings . But I believe It was in late october when I finally started studying 6-8 hours a day. I was lucky in that I had a supportive family and an excellent study partner in my class fellow . It took me 3 months to finish my first read . Here is the material that I used during my study
Gross anatomy :- During the first read I did kaplan but thaught it was insufficient so switched to high yield Gross anatomy but now I think Kaplan is enough as far as gross anatomy goes on step1 .
Embryology :- only as much as it is given in kaplan + first aid
Neuro anatomy :- Kaplan is more than enough
Biochemisty + molecular biology :- Kaplan is sufficient for biochemistry , for molecular I did a few chapters from high yield but I don’t think they are necessary .
Physiology :- People find this subject really hard but believe me its not that hard as it seems. I blame kaplan for putting some really tough question at the end of cardiovascular and repiratory chapters . Maybe its because the head of kaplan conrad fischer is a cardiologist that he wants everybody to know cardiology really well but on the exam physiology is not that hard.
Pharmacology: Kaplan is awesome
Pathology : I Did Goljan RR 2nd edition . I strongly recommend this book . It’s the knowledge that book gives you is priceless. I m advocating the 2nd edition , it looks thick but it is full of pictures that take a lot of pages and the text goes really well with the audios.
Micro + immuno : Kaplan is more than enough though I think First aid cover these topics very well too
Behaviour sciences : This subject was my night mare as also testified by a borderline score on my scoresheet. Guys prepare this subject well it deserves the same amount of time as any other subject otherwise it is going to screw your score big time . I did kaplan and medical ethics book by conrad fischer . Still some of the questions on my exam I had no clue about.
It took me 3 and a half month for 1st read than I finished second read in 45 days and started doing USMLE WORLD q bank . It took me a month to finish Uworld and I did First aid along that month .
Then finally I did a 3rd read in 15 days and started revising the wrong answers in Uworld . Took an NBME one month before the exam to see where I stand . Then I fine tuned my prep to just first aid and revising U world again and again.
Total prep time : 8 months … 6-8 hours a day
My scores were
On Usmle world I averaged between 68-70 %
NBME form 1 590/238
NBME form 3 620/242
Usmle world sim test : 650/244
Usmle CD : 43, 44, 43
Final sore: 240 / 99
I found most important part of the preparation to be USMLE WORLD qbank , First Aid and Goljan’s Rapid review book . USMLE step 1 is not a test of knowledge it is a test of application of knowledge. I know many people with a lot more prep and knowledge then me scoring a lot less just because they didn’t understand what USMLE was about . Re – reading kaplan again and again and postponing exam doesn't seem to help cause you get exhausted and after all we are all humans .
Best of luck to all the people preparing for the exam just a word though I am not a very religious person but prayers work especially if its your mother who is praying for u …they worked for me
Thanks
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| DoctorAliMD
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Congraduations, you have done a wonderful job. Keep doing good.
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| usmlekiller
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great job!!!! congrats!!!!
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| dowjunk
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Yeah he's my man! Thanx buddy....u shared ur things in as cool style........
rockon!
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Grad of 2007. Work in progress.......
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| desdinova
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Congratulations!  Well done.
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| dr.mayyam
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hi sunny 811
im from pakistan too...an average student of 4th year mbbs...im just wondering whether to take the exam after graduation or what?...did u take it after graduation?...
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| sunny811
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i graduated in september 2007 .. I think you have to be a really bright student if you want to take it right after your fourth year in pakistan cause there is no gap between 4th and final year .
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| aliusman
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| doctor123
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Congratulations Sunny811 on your acomplishment .
DR.123
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ALLAH; guide me to the Path of Success.
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| smarty
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hi sunny811
a great big congrats on your achievement. i am graduate of the same time as yours. hopefully will try to grasp all the help from your experience. thanks alot. and all the best for step 2!!
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| sunny811
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thanks every body ...
best of luck for your prep guys and if you have any query i will be more than happy to help
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| gauri14
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congrats sunny811!!
all i want to say is that reading ur experience really helped my morale!!i am starting with kaplan...would u tell me if i should get the Q review or the Q bank??
second,should i get the new edition of goljan or stick with the second edition??
thanx..
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| gauri14
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sorry,forgot to add earlier...is goljan high yield notes same as the goljan RR book??
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| sunny811
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@gauri
i didnt do kaplan Q bank so i can not comment on that .. Goljan high yield notes are mostly the stuff goljan collected over the years from students taking the steps ... they are different but worth going through towards the end of your prep ... about his Rapid review book, 2nd edition is the latest one as far as i know..
good luck
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| abummeis
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well done sunny.
i've a few Qs that i hope u could help me with them.
1-Do u think its possible for me to do the exam after the 3rd year of medicine school , if u know that i don't have any experience about hospital & the clinical things ,sense we(in our college) don't do practical things until the 4th year?
2-Im confuse about the scores ?i mean, sometimes the wrote 245\99%
Othertimes wrote 240 \ 99% or 246\99% ? what is the exact score of this exam ? & how many MCQs the step1 does contain?
3- what is NBME(1,2,3….etc)? is this a board of Qs like USMLE world?
with all my respect.
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| abummeis
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well done sunny.
i've a few Qs that i hope u could help me with them.
1-Do u think its possible for me to do the exam after the 3rd year of medicine school , if u know that i don't have any experience about hospital & the clinical things ,sense we(in our college) don't do practical things until the 4th year?
2-Im confuse about the scores ?i mean, sometimes the wrote 245\99%
Othertimes wrote 240 \ 99% or 246\99% ? what is the exact score of this exam ? & how many MCQs the step1 does contain?
3- what is NBME(1,2,3….etc)? is this a board of Qs like USMLE world?
with all my respect.
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| sunny811
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@abummeis online,
Regarding your 1st question only you can tell if you are ready to take the exam after 3rd year no body else can .. all i can say from personal experience is that its very difficuilt for foreign graduates to take step1 before graduation but it certainly isnt impossible . All the AMG's do it but not many FMG's are taking steps before graduation but there are examples of FMGs who have done that .
regarding scores there are 2 scores that u receive one is 3 digit and the other is 2 digit .. i think you can find more info on this issue by browsing this site ..
NBME is the national board of medical examiners that provide self assessment tests ... it is not the same as U world .. but people say NBME is the best predictor of scores
hope it helped
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| abummeis
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thank U Sunny. it was really helpfull.
wish u luck ...
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| gauri14
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thanx a lot sunny811!!!
all the best to u too!!
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| gauri14
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hmm..i wanted to ask u one more thin..could u tell me if i need to go through the path from kaplan too if i am following goljan??
thanx for ur help...
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