wildwind00
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Well so this it , one morning and I am finally writing my step 1 experience.
Guess it's time to give something back.
But first i want to put a word for all those out there , struggling every single day and hoping to
make a difference , trust me just keep moving , keep working and stay away from everything else
Life as such :
I am an old grad (graduated 2002) and doing research. Thought about giving exams for all these years but only ended up entangled in work or home stuff. Loads of S**T happened , lost some dear ones, and someone close became seriously ill and had really really bad time at work ( which still seems unending 
Preparation for Exam :
Started studying seriously from Feb this year , started with 3-4 hrs everyday after work on week days and 6-7hrs on weekend ( i had to work sundays as well ), Overall it was like
60 hrs - work in lab ( 6 days ) and 20 - 30 hrs study / week . In the end guess i was becoming a coffee junkie ... lol
Did kapaln notes - old ones 2003 -2004 , Goljan and FA , and Robbins Q book
usmle world - 66 % / 71 percentile (Mixed and timed) did 80 % questions , could revise only half of that
NBME 1 590 / 238 ( 4 weeks before exam)
NBME 2 530 / 226 ( 2 weeks before)
USMLE sample - 40 /44/43
As I was working in lab thru and thru I found it hard getting in groove. In the end took 6 days off Revised GOljan - in 28 hrs ( 2.5 days) , First Aid in 38 hrs ( 3 days), Next day wrote the exam , lol
As for Exam :
Really crazy , harder than usmle world , harder than NBME , it fact nothing like it
I had patho , patho and patho , most questions were > 25 lines in 3 blocks, In other 4 blocks they were bit usmle world like, the exam really focused on mechanism , there were lost of histo slides , ct , MRI ..emphasis on mechanism of disease esp immunological perspective. ( Block 2 in particular , I had patients with multiple disease like one dude with Hepatitis C + UC + poly arteritis and they would ask haematology question on that)
lot of patient doctor relationship and 4-5 biostats ( which im not very strong at)
My personal feeling :
FA is good in tying things together but you need to know the concepts and for that you need standard books or atleast kaplan, Goljan is good but the emphasis now is on molecules which goljan does not talk about much.
Anyway now its done , initially I was bit sad , felt I was dropping down as NBME 2 was lower than NBME 1 , but guess I had to move on ....
so keep working !
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| karned2
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totally agree, did mine yesterday, exam was hard. My last block was really hard, every question was long and i had to really think to get to an answer which could be right or wrong. Overall, yes much harder than UW qbank. I really hope i will pass.
Good luck to u too wildwind
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99/CKNov/CS result Dec 3rd, PhD from US university, 2 publications/5 abstracts/4 USLOR/need J1 visa
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| wildwind00
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thanks dude
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| dr_puma
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very informative post thanks bol 4 result
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| wildwind00
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got my score today sept 17 2008 .. 9AM it's 98/235 , my heart was pounding .. rt now can only think of my wife , family and friends. gonna call them , more details later ... but thanks to everyone who read my post and wished me ..
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| match2010
Forum Senior
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hi wildwind ....
congrats .....awesome score !! goood luck for ur step 2 ....
will be waiting for your detailed prep !!!
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| vaibhavbora
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congrats
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VB
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| karned2
Forum Junior
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congrats, i think we did the exam almost the same day, i got my score 241/99. Like i sadi b4 the exam was tough, not like USMLE CD or NBME.
I dont know how i got my grade.
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99/CKNov/CS result Dec 3rd, PhD from US university, 2 publications/5 abstracts/4 USLOR/need J1 visa
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| wildwind00
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Thanks match,vaibhav and karned (gr8 score buddy!)
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| wildwind00
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Well im still pinching myself .. guess it will take time to sink in...
I will like to put my exam experience in 2 parts
1) What is needed for higher score and what I did
You need to know basics , kaplan books ( latest edition preferable) are a good source or any top rated book ( listed on back of First Aid) should do, I did kaplan 2001- 2003 read them twice and made notes in FIrst Aid for things I felt were important ( esp Micro and Pharma) thinking that it's the last time I am reading kaplan last time ( during my second read) . Inbetween I did USMLE world Q bank ( always mixed and timed mode) and was spending 4-5 hrs / block reading and understanding. I did around 1000 questions that way. Also read Goljan path 2 times. However I found usmle world most helpful, guys the explanations there are great you need to know them even if u got a question right read the explanation!
As I working around 60 hrs in lab / week , I thought my best chance was to know something well rather then trying to spread to many books , in last 60 days I did Goljan and FA twice ( studying around 4-6 hrs/day after work) and kept doing usmle world my scores were around 60 then moved to 70-75 in end aggg was 66-67. I did around 1700 questions on usmle world and looked for explanation of 1000 of them
In last 5-6 days it was only Goljan text and First Aid with notes . Also NBME's are a must
The Exam
I bascially took 5 minutes break after every block , took 15 minutes break for lunch after 4th block and washed my face with soap water in every break
2) Approach to Exam and Life as whole
I feel this is part is more important as more than scores it's one's outlook which matters. In words of Rocky Baloba :" It's not how hard you can hit anything for nothing hits as hard as life and then what is important to take that hit and keep on moving"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY
so keep moving it's very easy in your prep to feel lost , dejected , fight with people you love or feel like a looser , in the end you have to give yourself a chance and look at life as a chance to improve and do your best. 3 days beofre my exam I got dejected but then I looked at this amazin video from Al Pacino
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO4tIrjBDkk
I had tears in my eye as I watched it over and over again and in end all that was left was the thought to move on ... and do what I can do....
I will be here to ans any questions
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| antidepressant
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congratulations! great score!
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Striving for excellence!!!!!!!!
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| Karime
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Thanks a lot COngrats. I have a couple of qs....I asked before Gray and karned, but I don't want to bother so much 
Average time you reached 1700 qs?
I mean, 1 month before exam, 2 months....?
What about media questions?....
GL
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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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| healtheworld
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Wow great work congratulation ....
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| wildwind00
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Thanks antidep and healtheworld ,Karime, as I said I was working in lab thru and thru , so everything was slow . I think it was 4-5 months for usmle world. I used to do questions on weekends 50-150
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| match2010
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hi wildwind
thnks for the detailed prep......which goljan are you talking about ? the rapid review or the 500 pages notes ?? And that video of al pacino is reallly inspiring !! thnx a lot
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| wildwind00
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500 pages ? lol my notes had only 300 - 350 pages and thats what I did , however I did see rapid review which looks as good ( perhaps better organized )
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| wildwind00
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Hey Karmie about Media question, sorry missed that one
I had one it was aortic stenosis ( they actually defined it pretty well ...radition into neck etc. so media was not the improtant ) they asked me mc complication of AS
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| usmlekiller
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hey did u use goljan rr 1st edition book which is about 340pgs?
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FUTURE 99ER
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| wildwind00
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probably
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