Direno
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 10
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Hey dear colleagues,
I just wanted to share my recent experience in terms of step 1. I just got the score 5 minutes ago and wanted to tell u how I got there.
I studied for about 3-4 months in total. During that time I took off only a few days, basically studied every day. But there were days I wasn't efficient at all, most of days were satisfying and a few great. I guess u will always have that feeling that u haven't learned as much as u should have been supposed to learn at the end of the day.
Anyways, here are my sources I did use for preparation:
for pathology:
-Goljan rapid review, a must
-FA 2008 read it once completely, but used to go over certain chapters on and on
-BRS Anatomy (too much I guess I wasted a lot of time for anatomy, not necessary at all, but I wanted to learn anatomy well cuz it is 4 years now that I have studied Anatomy extensively)
-BRS Physio, good book
-BRS Behav science
-Lippincotts review biochemistry
-High Yield Cell biology, histology and embryology
-Lippincotts review pharmacology (make sure u have a pharm book that is up to date!!)
-and Warren Levinson for Microbiology and Immunology (took me a while as well, but I am so happy that I finally understand microbiology)
-what else,am I missing anything...
I used UW, I dont remember the end score but I guess something in the mid 70's
also used kaplan qbank, average about mid 70's as well
I would definitely prefer UW over kaplan. But maybe it is good to be exposed to both sides of the world...
In the beginning of the study time I also used pretest series, but it is a waste of time in my opinion.
I didnt get through all of the questions in UW and Kaplan but maybe through about 80%. I would make sure to get through them completely if u have the time.
Actually I thought UW was so close to the real exam, I felt I was answering UW questions.
Also in my opinion it is almost necessary to have clinical experience either via med school, clerkships or electives because most of the questions in the exams were like "52 year old man comes into the clinic and....bla bla...".
So Patho was the most important thing to learn for this exam.
I would say make sure u do a lot of questions, especially during your last days so u can get aquainted with the length of the exam, it was pretty exhausting I thought.
But like most of my colleagues have been saying previously: It is so much doable, just make sure u know the pathology and pathophysiology of the disease.
I wish all of u good luck for your exam, please stay focused, it feels so good once u r done with that sh**!
One question though from my side: I know the score is 244/99. How good is it really, when it comes down to aplying for competitive residencies? I mean just in terms of your step 1 score... I know that the whole package counts in the end.
I would be glad if someone could give me some advice on that issue or I can just browse the rest of the forum on this topic
If u have any questions do not hesitate to ask, this community gave me so much, it is time to give back a little.
Greetings from Germany
Direno
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| will try my best
Forum Elite
Topics: 40
Posts: 282
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Congrats Direno that is a great score!
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| usmlekiller
Forum Elite
Topics: 10
Posts: 503
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gr8 job congrats
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| match2010
Forum Senior
Topics: 4
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gr8 score ..can you tell tht for how long did you do UW for and did you do it random timed mode or subjectwise????
how many hrs did you used to study in ur 3-4 months ....thnx and goood luck for ck.
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| Direno
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 10
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I managed to average 8-10 hrs study time per day. Also the first month probably 6 hrs, last two weeks more about 12 hrs. I did UW in timed modus from day one. I felt like this would make more sense since this is how the exam was going to like.
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| match2010
Forum Senior
Topics: 4
Posts: 221
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how long did you do UW for ??
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Target the moon then you will land among the stars.
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| ultradocmansu
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 50
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congrats diren! awesome performance!
plz share ur nbme scores if u took any
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| Direno
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 10
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I did not take any self-assement tests. I was going to, but in the end I didnt have enough time to do that. I did use UW for about 2 months but have to admit that I really solved most of the question within the last 2 weeks. But I would say u should start earlier with UW and maybe try to go over them twice (?). In my opininion I learned so much through UW, whish I could have started earlier but I was all about reading and understanding. I actually learned about a subjet (lets say gastroenterology in physio) and then tried to solve those question in UW.
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| MattX
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 6
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Hey Direno,
my I ask you what your background is? Are you still a student or are you a graduate?
I am scoring 40% in UW but I've done only 4 exams so far.
German also.
Thanks
Matt.
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| Direno
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 10
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Hey Matt,
I am still a student having my "hammerexamen" in october. In terms of UW I think 40% is fine in the beginning, but try to raise it as soon as possible,to 60% at least- it just gives u a better feeling when studying.
Good luck
Direno
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| s_d
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 6
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Hi Direno,how many CT and MRI QUESTIONS were there? How you were prepared for those?Did you took help of any website for solving those radiological problem?
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| Direno
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 10
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Hi s_d,
I am not even sure how many CT or MR scans I had in my exam, but they were not a lot of them, maybe 5? When it comes to preparing for interpretation of imaging studies, I would say pictures u get at UW are preparing u well enough for the actual exam. Just make sure u know them very well, structures u can see and so on. Also it helped me that I had radiology in med school before.
I think what could be done it that u use an anatomy book that has a lot of radiographic pictures. If u are good at understanding how imaging studies are looking like when being healthy then u will be fine. U can learn the pathology from UW or Kaplan qbank.
Hope it helps a little
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| antidepressant
Forum Guru
Topics: 32
Posts: 669
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congratulations!
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