mbessio
Forum Newbie
Topics: 5
Posts: 31
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hi everyone ,salamo alikom,
i hope that everyone or at least someone would benefit from my experience, as i benefited from those experiences i read here.
it might be a little detailed so bear with me 
by the way i took step 2 last year after 3 months of studying and not very well preparation and ended up with 192/79 !!!!!! so i'm on both extremes .so may be it would be beneficial to tell you what i did right and may be more beneficial to mention what i did wrong ,so you wouldnt repeat the same mistakes.
first i wanna thank SPEAKS SOFTLY and TILINGO, 2 ppl i didnt know and they took the time to reply to my panicking msg on the support forums few days before the exam.they gave me a bit of confidence that i needed ,thank you guys.
ok here we go..
i started reading like around october last year!!!!! i know ,i know that's a very long time time,but i didnt do actual studying till march this year. i took the exam august 2nd which makes it 5 months of prep ,and actually u can say it's more like 3 months !!!! how come??? coz i'm very very very lazy, my IQ aint that bad,i guess like all of you guys out there ,but i dont have the patience of sitting and studying for long hours. besides i'm ocd so i wasted so many months just trying to figure put the sources to study from
here's what i eventually ended up doing i beleive that everyone is different. my shoe wouldnt fit someone else's feet, so just take what can suit you and toss the rest in the garbage if you want to...or just toss everythiing in the garbage if you feel like it..i wouldnt get mad...lol)
1. pathology- BRS(didn't do goljan,i'm sure it's amazing as everyone say over here,but i just didnt do it and i didnt listen to any of his lecture notes,not even the high yield). i read it 2 times ,i'm taling about BRS, and even that i eventually realized ,no matter how many times i read it i dont remember nothing at the end(this is the case with many subjects)
so i ended up with that pathology in FIRST AID .i added some extras ,like the renal pathology.
2.physiology-i read it once from kaplan ,understood the principles very very well , and then again i remained with the precious 1st aid.but kapln in physiology was like my text book to go back to whenever i forgot something.
3. micro-1st aid
4.immuno-kaplan reading once to understand and then studying from 1st aid.
5. behavioral and biostatistics -kaplan,didnt have the time to look at it from 1st aid ,coz i wasted (actually looking at it no it wasn't a waste ,but at that time i just wanted to kill myself)so much time learining each chapter while watching kaplan videos so i studied from kaplan ,and as i said it was too late to study from 1st aid.
ps: the reason for this crazy thing that i didnt do in any other subject except biochem. was that i read before i started preparation that as a foreign medical grad. the weakest subjects are bio and behavioral so ,i spent most of rime on those 2 subjects. ohhhhh did i forget to tell you that i'm from egypt
6. biochem- video and lecture notes kaplan,but i made 1st aid as my source which i added what i considered imp. on to it ,so i ended up only studying from 1st aid ,but after the additions.
7.anatomy,embryo,histo - 1st aid
8. neuro- high yield neuro ,read it once ,kinda made me understand what was impossible for me to understand before,and again like a broken record ,i went back to 1st aid as my source of studying.
i started USMLE WORLD 2 months before that test day,solved 50 everyday with every subject that i read ,which was a problem afterwards,coz when i started to do 50 random i found out that i already finished all the anatomy and biochemistry questions ,which made all the tests taht i took in the last month before my actual test unbalanced. and i was starting to forget biochem. does this make sense!!!!!
anyway i nearly finished all the bank ,100 qs left i didnt have time at the end to finish them. wasted sooooooooo much time taking detailed notes of those questions i felt tricky, planning on reading those notes that day before the test. ofcoarse this was mere dreaming as i never took another look at those notes again,which was a waste. so many questions on the test were a copy from the UW.
so my advice concerning the UW solve all the questions once and then go back to read all those that u marked as many times as u can.
guys ...FIRST AID + UW,, more than enough ,if u just can remember what u learn from those 2 sources i'm sure you'll ace it.just try to understand the concepts and make one book to study from( i know this is cliche ) but i ran out of creative quotes at 1 in the morinig and it's teh truth ,just understand how everything works and then study from anywhere ,just make it simple ,my simple guide was the first aid ,supplemented by kaplan, in some areas as mentioned earlier .and the UW
in step 2 i was studying all over the place. kaplan then secrets then back to kaplan,some parts from kaplan and some parts from secrets some parts from 1st aid( dont forget i was seeking perfection , trying to learn everything, i ended up remembering zippo,nothing at all. and usually i dont trust one source ,when i doubt somethin i look it up and wast zillion light years in that process).
i did KAPLAN Q bank in step 2 , i dont need to mention why i did UW in step one 
u still asking why ????? it was nothing like the test,AT ALL. that's why i put my faith in UW and all the good reviews i read about it and i tried ,invested the money to do it online,and it was more than great. i can't judge KAPLAN Q bank for step 1 ,but i HATE it for step 2 and UW for step is great ,alot of tiny mini details that you won't be asked in the actual thing ,but just reading them in the perfectly made explanations for every question was nice .
very important the nbmes .i took them and i got good scores on them but that didnt calm me down it freaked me out,coz i didnt know if it's really a good predictor, or is it misleading????
nbme form 3... 3 weeks before the test, 620/244
form 4....2 weeks before,620/244
form 5...1 week before,580/236
again i repeat i used to study 3 -4 hours everyday while working, and then i took a month off from work where i used to study 8-10 hours which burnt me . the last week i couldnt open a thing ,it was the worst week of my life as i felt all the effort is gonna go down the drain coz of this last week. try not to burn yourself and save your energy,as the last week is important ,just to go thru everything and plzzzzzzzzzzz dont try to quiz yourself while reading in that last week, for me that was devastating.
i started UW with average of 58% , ended up with cumulative of 68% ,but the tests towards the end were in the 70s. i was reading here that if you r in the 60 then u r in very good shape. and so in the last week when i couldnt read a word and i was just wasting time fooling around,(but not having fun,just stressing myself without studying nor relaxing and having some fun)
i solved a test and i got 48% !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which wasnt the case in even the first test i took when my studyings were still at the beginning .
so kids dont try that at home 
even when u r just reading in this last week ,again plzzzzzzzzzz plzz dont try to quiz yourself ,just read and read ,that's it.
final notice,, plzzz dont listen to everything you read in the forums(including me, if u feel like it),and especially those frustrating,suprahuman and paranormal studying schedules and studying hours. i felt when i read those kinda postings that there's no way in hell or heaven i would get a score near those guys,but here i am talking to you about my experience like a wise ass . if i did it and many many others did it you all can. with NORMAL STUDYING HOURS, SLEEP AND HAVING SOME FUN.
if you reached that far in reading that means you r very patient , coz if i were you, reading that kinda long post i would have cut my wrist by now 
and sorry if you feel deceived by me saying at the beginning "alittle detailed ",,lol. i guess it's more than a little detailed,but i got carried on 
however if you r still interested fellow usmle sufferrers, i'll post the actual exam experience in the next post inshallah.
and if you have any questions i'll be happy to answer any,inshallah.
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| maoudoody
Forum Guru
Topics: 44
Posts: 801
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man ...u r egyptian....congratulations!!!!!1
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| martine
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 47
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well done...congratulations!! Thats an amazing score..!
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| omda2010
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 12
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congratulation my friend amazing score by the way i am egyptian too and my exam is tomorrow.pray for me.do you have any final advice for me?
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| samreena
Forum Junior
Topics: 14
Posts: 75
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Hey ,
just came acroos ur exam experiance,congrats on ur wonderfull score.
my exam is in the last week of october,and i seriously need help.
am done with 2 readings of kaplan,did goljan once(left few general path chapters).now doing FA almost done with it.
did UW,took notes like 3 note books,i review them whenever am free.
i didn't get a good cumulative score on UW,it was just 50 %,but i didn't repeat any questions,neither incorrect ones.cuz i was making notes of it.
my question is,shud i do kaplan Q bank and usmle Rx?
and i feel like ,i have forgotton stuff from kaplan LN,so shud i go back and re-read everything again?or just do questions?i can't afford to buy NBME's ,i have them downloaded.shud i do all 6 of em?
am weak in microbiology..is FA enough for it..and even for immuno?
plz help me as am not able to organise my time in these last 2 months.
i need a good score,atleast above 90.
ur help will be gr8ly appreciated.
thnks .
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| match2010
Forum Senior
Topics: 4
Posts: 481
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awesome score !! congrats ....
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Rather the pain of discipline than the pain of regret.
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| gauri14
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 62
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hii..congrats for the gr8 score..would u tell me wen"S the best time to register for the exam...i just started studying!
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| mbessio
Forum Newbie
Topics: 5
Posts: 31
| | 08/29/08 - 10:29 AM
0 of 1 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #8 |
for omda2010, i dont know about you but i couldnt relax the last day and i tried reading as much as i can.
try to flip through the pages of whatever book you studied from, just to remember how the pages look like .
very very high yield-i came across it in UW,nbmes,and the actual exam, the cytokines(chemokines)try to revise those and know them as your name.
inshallah you'll do fine. in the exam try to go through all the questions in every block and mark those u feel they need alot of thinking so u'd come back to them at the end of the block,dont waste too much time on each question ,coz the time runs out fast.
twakkal 3ala Allah ,and take a break whenevr u need one in the exam , dont stress urself .you'll find some questions around 10-15 in each block that u'll say what the hell!!!!!!!! dont sweat it.choose the answer u feel it suits it more than the others and come back to it later when u have time.
for samreena ,
you have more than enough time to get whatever score you want
i repeat plzzzzzzzzzzz plzzzzzz dont burn yourself out. you already went through kaplan twice,it's normal to feel you forgot some details,,even all the details...lol
just focus on 1st aid ,1st aid and 1st aid, make kaplan as your reference bookto read only the stuff that u feel you forgot ,not everything.
immuno,micro,pharma more than enough in first aid(as long as u know the immuno principles from kaplan).
i was very weak in micro and i readd it like 4 times from 1st aid,i kept forgetting it. it was very frustrating. i have no solution for micro except reading it as many times as u can (from FA) ,and questions.
i dont know about q bank,but i guess u have 2 months ,that's alot of time.go ahead and solve it .it's very good that u took those notes and more important that you r reading them  i didnt have that chance.
try to go back and understand why u got the UW questions wrong ?
dunno about the offline nbme, i guess u can take them off line,i tried to do that ,but i found the ones with answers ,their answers were wrong,so i took them online,. at least try to take one online ,it's worth the money, form 3 or 4. trust me it's worth it
again ,FIRST AID more than enough , I DIDNT DO GOLJAN, plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz don't burn yourself out. relax and study in a mellow way in this period of time, u r in a better position than i was
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| SpeaksSoftly
Forum Senior
Topics: 16
Posts: 190
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Mashallah brother, congrats!!!! I knew when I read your NBME scores you were going to be just fine. I have to say that your review was very humorous and filled me with hope that I may do okay when I take my test. I am expecially to read that you didn't do those 16 hours study marathons that I seem completely incapable of doing. I will study hard and then take a day or two off when my brain gets too muddled, good to see this technique can work.
I am proud of you brother, Inshallah you will conquer every challenge.
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| omda2010
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 12
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shokran brother for you advice and i will do my best to stay calm in the exam enshalla i will do fine .thanks again. have a successfull life.
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| samreena
Forum Junior
Topics: 14
Posts: 75
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thnks so much mbessio,am feeling so good after reading ur reply
i will try to read FA atleast 3 to 4 times and do NBME's ,i have 4 downloaded ones,will do form 5 and 6 online.
thnks again..and Good luck
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| 5fluorouracil
Forum Senior
Topics: 3
Posts: 284
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congrats on a great score and thanks for the detailed experience...
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Yes we can.... and yes we will!!!!!
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| mbessio
Forum Newbie
Topics: 5
Posts: 31
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thanks everyone for the nice words and feelings.
and for SpeaksSoftly thanks again ,u have no idea how your words helped me to calm down,just to know that someone out there,someone u don't even know or will never get to know cares enough to calm you down ,this is priceless guys.
the best of luck to everyone , from my heart
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| gauri14
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 62
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hi mbessio...i guess u forgot to reply to me!!
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| mbessio
Forum Newbie
Topics: 5
Posts: 31
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hi GAURI14 i didnt forget about you
what i used to do is to register right away so i would push myself to study(coz as i mentioned earlier i'm freaking lazy) if i dont register and pay i wouldnt study ...lol
so if u want register now but choose the month that u feel u'd be ablt to take the test as the first month in the eligibility period ,so if there's a need for a delay,u'll have three months of the eligibility period to play with and change the test date for free
for eg if u think u can take the test in december ,choose the period as december,january and february.
i think 3-4 months are enough with serious prep. 5-6 with relaxed prep.
your choice buddy,and good luck
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| match2010
Forum Senior
Topics: 4
Posts: 481
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hi mebessio
thank you for sharing your exam experiences with us ....can you please tell how may times did you read FA ?
___________________
Rather the pain of discipline than the pain of regret.
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| mbessio
Forum Newbie
Topics: 5
Posts: 31
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here's the deal match2010, i read some parts more times than others ,like micro coz i kept forgetting it , i read micro like 4 times.
to make it easy and simple i read it 3 times . this book is great stick to it match2010..and i hate to repeat myself( i think i repeated myself like 7987987 times already) it's very very important to understand the physio and immuno and then it doesnt matter how many times u read anything
coz they mainly test if u understand or not ,the rest were easy mere regurgitation questions ,like pharma and bio ,etc...
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| Karime
Forum Guru
Topics: 16
Posts: 1,200
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Thanks so much!.....just wondering.....did you need to memorize some formulas?.....physio?-----genetics?.....thanks!
Great score!
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Eterea ……..“Hoc in loco mors succurrere vivis gaudet”……("In this place death comes joyfully to the aid of the living" )
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| mbessio
Forum Newbie
Topics: 5
Posts: 31
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yes the biostatistics formulas for sure,and the renal physio formulas ,i was asked in those but they were very simple no hardcore calculations. simple
know those formulas in the first aid. important
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| dr_puma
Forum Guru
Topics: 35
Posts: 503
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superb score ,wow man!
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do whatever u want,but do it wholeheartedly...never hold back.
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