VKT
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 27
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ANAIR: It seems like you have less than 2 months for the exam. You should definitely keep on reviews if you are not confident enough. Building concepts are as important as mcqs. At that point if I were you I would forget about BSS books. But definitely go for magic 3: namely NBME, Kaplan qbank, First Aid. These are the keys. I frankly do not think that BSS would add you a lot especially in a small time period. Because it is a big material and normally requires 5-10 days to be completed and understood in a good fashion. I did it in 3 days. Again I do not think it is as helpful as the others. It is not worth doing it. But choice is yours. You could still do it like me in a very compressed time period. But at the end you will agree with me. Best of luck.
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VKT
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| step1taker
Forum Senior
Topics: 2
Posts: 105
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congratulations VKT! I have a q: How MUCH is that NBME? and how do I apply to avail of that?
:roll:
Thanks so much and God bless on your medical career!Thanks for sharing ur experience w/us.
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| VKT
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 27
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Step1taker: As far as I could remember, it was 90$ for 400 step1 questions. You should be able to find the most updated information and registration details on www.nbme.org . Best of luck.
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VKT
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| ANAIR2004
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 23
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hi vkt,
thank you so much for ur quick reply.it cleared my many queries.i will stick to qbank and first aid .also nbme.i think i should concentrate more on my review now since i dont have much time
thankyou
anju
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| Beyazgül
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 11
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Hi vkt.
congratulations & best wishes for step 2.
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| rida
Forum Guru
Topics: 109
Posts: 721
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Hi vkt, congrats on the great score. Wish you all the luck for step 2. I wanted to actually ask you, my exam is in late june, and i haven't evenfinished reading everything yet for hte first time. I was told to read everything before taking kaplan video course, and thats what i am doing, but my studying hasn't been very consistent due to different situations that pop up every now and then. But my questions is, do you think i have enuf time to prepare well for the exam????
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| VKT
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 27
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rida: I personally finished first reading approximately 2 months before the real exam. But keep in mind that I was part time. Coming back to your question; it really depends on your status right now which you did not mention clearly. It also depends on your background and your goal in step1. But if you are aiming for a top score, and you have only 1-2 subjects left which you haven't yet read, go for it. If it is more than 2-3 subjects, you should be working harder. Still doable. Again, you know your status and aims better than me. Sorry as I do not know anything to suggest on Kaplan video courses. But definitely consider magic 3, namely First Aid, nbme, and qbank. Let me know about further questions.
Beyazgul: thanks (tesekkurler)
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VKT
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| rida
Forum Guru
Topics: 109
Posts: 721
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Thanx I appreciate it!!!
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| ELM
Forum Guru
Topics: 28
Posts: 936
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Thanks VKT so much, best of luck for the future!
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ELM
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| ELM
Forum Guru
Topics: 28
Posts: 936
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Thanks VKT so much, best of luck for your future!
I just wanna ask this, may sound stupid but you could answer this if you want.
How did you do your final reviews from your mind? I mean you just tried to recall everything or did you had list of topics that you thought you might forget or did you use Qs, how did you exactly do? I would like to do very well final review but i don't know how? Should i start making my own HY list or note? What should i do? My test is in mid July and i am almost done with my 1st round review except Genetic and Embryo ect. Would you please tell me how should i prepare for very good final review like you did from your mind in last week? Becuase i think it will summarize everything and builds solidness.
Thank you sooooo much for your support!
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ELM
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| Santosh
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 12
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Congratulations!!!great score!!!
I want to take my exam in first week of june. I am done with my first reading.I am doing my studies from kaplan lecture notes.But some how i am not satisfied with my first reading.I cant recall the things.Its dfficult for me to accept this.And i am very much worried about the real exam.Nowdays i am doing questions and revising the same material.
I am at home only.Not working anywhere.Do you think i can make it up till june first week?
I am a bit nervous.Pleae advise me how to do things in better manner.Thank you.
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| VKT
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 27
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ELM: Before explaining my strategy, I acknowledge every person has a different style of studying, and people using different strategies could score much higher than me.
It may sound crazy to others but I was so solid that I made 3 reviews in 3 weeks before the exam. 1 review/week. I was able to go through all books I listed in a week. Average 1 subject/day. For example Biochem+Molecular Biology review/day. I was so solid that I did not need to open books except rare circumstances until exam.
Keep in mind that, this strategy has also weakness. For example, by reviewing from mind, if you missed an important area in the first readings, you will never catch it while you are reviewing from the mind. Whereas if you review by opening books everytime, you can catch these too.
Most of the people prefer to review only summary or high-yield material which is also pretty reasonable. You should decide which one is best for you. Best will work if you created a good base knowledge during your first readings.
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VKT
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| VKT
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 27
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Santosh: If you have a chance to delay the exam 1 month, you would ace the step1. Bur It is still doable especially if you show a high-level of performance this month. Keep reviewing, and stick to magic 3: NBME+Kaplan qbank+First Aid. I hope you have a good background which could ease things for you. Best of luck.
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VKT
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| SAURAV
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 1
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Hi VKT,
it was really great to know about your recall activity , one subject per day with book closed. i have tried to do that with similar sized books (jawetz, katzung) but failed on many facts.
were u actually able to recall ALL the facts from these books ....my question is how selective should one be. u say First Aid is very important. but if one is able to recall almost everything from the bigger books like yourself then why do u need it ??
moreover BSS and NMS should not appear detailed if the bigger books you did are in immediate recall !
so shoud one actually try to get perfect with the bigger books or should the level of detail in First Aid be enough.
Thanks for sharing your strategies.
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| Santosh
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 12
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Thanks for your advise.
Shall i postpone my exam?
will it e helpful?
some people advised me you shd not postpone it...as you might become lazy studying.And will always feel like postponing it.
And how should i review the material? I am doing it again as i think i am forgetting the ideas.Its taking more time.
How should i manage this?please advise.
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| VKT
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 27
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Saurav: As I mentioned on previous posts in this topic, While reading for the first time, I have underlined sentences by pencil, which I thought to be important. I reviewed all books from mind, but only underlined parts. It is still too much information though. Again, here is the weakness of the method, some subjects which I felt unimportant, should be in fact important and I could miss them during the real exam. But you should always make sacrifices if you would like to be a master in a short period. I still think that I am good at picking important areas.
Coming to First Aid, The truth which you probably did not know about this book is, even after finishing all the big books (the ones in my list), there are still things in First Aid which you have never seen in big books. For example, differences between Southern-Western Blot , or Serratia has red pigmentation, CT scans of epidural-subdral hematoma, Nonmaleficience Beneficience in Behavioral Science, Antidotes in toxicology in Pharm section (which is absent in Lippincott) for example EDTA for Lead. I can give tens of examples like these. First Aid complements your deficiencies, or the parts which you may underestimate in big books.
NMS and BSS, for these I did not have much time and I do not think that they could increase your potential as First Aid, qbank, or nbme. NMS and BSS are not time effective. If you have at least 6-month period I would suggest them.
At the end, if your aim is to pass the exam and you have a reasonable background, you can go for First Aid alone. If you aim higher scores, you need to stick big books as first-line study materials.
I hope these solve your questions. Best of luck.
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VKT
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| VKT
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 27
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Santosh; You should give that decision. You know your studying style and capabilities better than anyone on the world. Only thing I could do is give some insights about the exam. Consider your aims first, what do you need to get from this exam? Another suggestion is make practice tests and see your level. If you are doing well, there is not too much to be afraid of.
As I told you before, it is still doable in one month. Best of luck
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VKT
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| Santosh
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 12
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Thanks VKT !!!
Have you gone through kaplan books?
if yes please give me your opinion about them as a single material of study for step one exam.
Thank you for your opinion.
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| VKT
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 27
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Santosh: As I mentioned in my first post, only Kaplan book I used was, Kaplan Lecture Notes Physiology 2002. It was covering almost all the stuff except neurophysiology. (I did not read anything for that) But I was very happy with it. Easy to read, goes fast, has illustrated explanations.
Unfortunately I have no other experience with Kaplan books. I heard about some other friends reading solely Kaplan material and having good scores.
More important than brand, is sticking only one book for each subject, and reviewing from same one again and again, as everybody suggests.
Best of luck
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VKT
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| Bela
Forum Guru
Topics: 76
Posts: 412
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Naguzal shay yashaman, right?  Sorry for the spelling.
Congrats! Really impressive. I know another turkish girl who also got almost same score as u
Thnx for all the advice. Will follow it!
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La vita e bella!
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