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sa333
Forum Newbie Topics: 8 Posts: 32 |
Hi everyone, I just wanted to share my exam experience that I had on May 17th. First of all I would recommend that you get a good night's sleep and get plenty of food to keep your blood glucose up because it is really energy consuming. There were some questions that were doable but I just felt my brain wasnt working so I took a break right after that block to eat something. So for resources; I suggest you repeat usmle world 2 or 3 times because some questions were really similar and many of the tested concepts appeared on usmle world. I felt the exam was also similar to the nbme that i took. I took nbme 4 only but other nbmes are probably similar too because I felt the same about the nbme s after taking step 1. You can focus on the concepts that were tested on any one nbme, I think. Learn concepts that are being tested in usmle world, nbme and the free sample questions at usmle.org. Also, an important advice I would like to give is: there maybe many questions that are related to what you studies but may seem very confusing so I suggest you read carefully again and look for important clues and you need time to do this so practice by solving questions in timed mode. For books, I read blueprints and rapid review pathology but I wouldnt want to confuse you b/c many ppl read kaplan , I didnt so I cant compare. Blueprints pediatrics especially was really easy to read and comprehensive but lengthy. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer.
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goroisho
| Forum Newbie Topics: 2 Posts: 4
thanks alot
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emilyhb
| Forum Newbie Topics: 3 Posts: 6
Hey Hello thanks for sharing, if you dont mind can you tell me what was your tactic when reviewing questions since every one mentions do usmleworld 3 times, but did you jot stuff down, just read throught wrong mcqs  Just asking Thank you so much Emilia
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sa333
| Forum Newbie Topics: 8 Posts: 32
Hi Emilia, I took notes, if my books did not contain that information. I also repeated the incorrect questions. Even if you don't have time to take notes, just repeating questions and reading the explanations is, I think, very useful and the explanations tend to stick in your memory. By the way, many ppl had bad reviews for First Aid but I did study from it and after taking the exam I don't think it was a bad resource. Please let me know if you have other questions
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emilyhb
| Forum Newbie Topics: 3 Posts: 6
Hello, Thank you soo much for your reply, yeah trying to jot down wrong ones even though it seems tedious, but just reading it doesnt make it stick for me. Did you do kaplan q-bank at all, I just started it kind of different from world thanks again Emilia
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sa333
| Forum Newbie Topics: 8 Posts: 32
Hi Emilia You are welcome I solved the free sample questions of kaplan. I don't know enough to comment but the 44 questions that I did were not as similar to the real exam as usmle world was. Also questions were similar in format to nbmes in that they give you case for example for gout but the patient may have underlying osteoarthritis and it may be confusing to figure out whether the cause of the symptoms is gout or osteoarthritis. This was just an example, I hope it made sense. What I mean is that in the history there may be some distractors and for example physical exam findings can be positive for two conditions at once but one of those conditions maybe unrelated to the patients current symptoms so you may see such tricky questions on the exam but don't worry just think clearly about it. So the only nbme I solved was similar to the exam in this regard as as in tested topics. So in short I think if you have limited time doing usmle world would be very useful Please let me know me know if you have any more questions
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emilyhb
| Forum Newbie Topics: 3 Posts: 6
Hello! Thanks so much again for clarifying that, I am going over all the ones I go wrong on usmleworld, and am concurrently trying to a block of kaplan q-bank questions, but getting kind of frustrated with the kaplan ones, so not sure this is such a great idea. But you as you said, world is closer to the real thing, so going to try to really know the usmleworld ones.
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niloofar.j
| Forum Newbie Topics: 1 Posts: 19
Hello, i find your discussion very intresting about the exam. but i have a different question i am the IMG and i have about 6 month to do the exam. i am reading the other posts and i am so confused about what is the best aproach for the exam? and i really need advise from the students that gone for the exam once. so could you please help me about that? my plan was to read lecture note of kaplan and for review read first aid and then uw and qbank and nbme. so help me please.
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sa333
| Forum Newbie Topics: 8 Posts: 32
Hi niloofar.j, Firstly, i think it is really nice that you have 6 months because it is a good amount of time and hopefully, it will be enough to do very well in this test. I think your plan sounds correct; once you are done reading the kaplan books you can skim first aid to memorize specific concepts or just look at what they have included to get a sense of what is likely to be on the exam. I think when you see the same concepts in two different books (for example, kaplan and first aid) you recognize the information and are more comfortable with it. But leave enough time, about at least 2 if not 3 months to do usmle world and repeat those questions as many times as possible. nbmes are also very good, I think. However, kaplan q bank, based on the free sample questions, was not that similar to the exam and I thought it was needlessly tough. I think the real exam is tough in a different way, in that it did not ask for many obscure details but with time being limited and questions being long, the real danger was not being able to answer questions you may have already known or not recognizing what you may have already known because the presentation of conditions was rather atypical or coexisted with other disorders. NBME was very close to the real exam in this regard. Perhaps repeating uw rather than doing kaplan would be a better idea. Please let me know if you have any more questions.
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niloofar.j
| Forum Newbie Topics: 1 Posts: 19
i think i do lecture note,first aid and mtb and uw .thnaks alot for your help. i may ask questions later.
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sa333
| Forum Newbie Topics: 8 Posts: 32
Hi Niloofar, I would be happy to answer any questions you may have in the fututre. I know I told you that studying from 2 different sources helps you become more comfortable with the information but kaplan lecture notes, mtb and first aid may be too much and overwhelming so you may want to do lecture notes and choose between mtb or first aid, and as you are going through the questions and you find that certain topics were not covered in your books then you can consult other books for that specific info. Too many resources can be confusing and tiring ,is what I am trying to say. All the best in your studies
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niloofar.j
| Forum Newbie Topics: 1 Posts: 19
Thanks alot for your help and support.
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Misrati
| Forum Junior  Topics: 43 Posts: 610
dear sa333 Congratz for competing the real one I dont like studyin books, actually I only came across two books of kaplan notes nd now now just done with uw im reviewing it along w/mtb what u think? wishing you the score of your dreams
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sa333
| Forum Newbie Topics: 8 Posts: 32
Hi Misrati Thank you so much Well I would encourage you to read at least a concise review of internal medicine because the exam tests concepts but I never read Mtb so I don't know if it is enough but in any case you can read mtb and test yourself with questions to see if you have covered the necessary info and depending on that you may read a short internal medicine book Have a nice day
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isolveurprobs
| Forum Newbie Topics: 0 Posts: 4
hi, thanks so much for the greatly helpful prep experience.. i have been prepping for 2 months sincerely now, have finished reading KAP LN once, and watched IM GYNE PSY video and now onto Ped videos, they show pics which make u grasp the concepts really well. My dilemma is i just don't know where to start reviewing from, meaning, which subject and source? I have a FA too which i have read only little until now, Going thru kap notes again seems so lengthy. I am sure we have to keep in mind the typical presentations of the diseases also their exact management with criteria and cut-offs. I wanna know, how did u guys review for the 2nd time? Did u just breeze thru the notes? Also, i hv kap qbank, frm which i do 1 or 2 blocks everyday. Will take UW only after completing Kap Qbank. Any guidance / suggestions are welcomed, fellas. thanks so much.
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sa333
| Forum Newbie Topics: 8 Posts: 32
Hi isolveurprobs, I did read first aid for reviewing, some people dont like it but I think it gives you a good sense of what is high yield and it has details too so you can even use it to understand concepts. In the meantime as you are solving questions you can figure out your weaknesses and go back to kaplan lecture notes for those specific weak areas or you can consult first aid. Hope this is useful
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isolveurprobs
| Forum Newbie Topics: 0 Posts: 4
Thanks @sa333. Much appreciated. I have FA, will get on to it once i'm done with a fast 2nd read of Kap LN. Thanks, God bless.
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lazymle
| Forum Newbie Topics: 6 Posts: 100
@sa333 Hey friend..good experience..i gave my exam on may 19th.. We shud get our results nxt wednesday..lets hope 4 the best..Cheers!!
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sa333
| Forum Newbie Topics: 8 Posts: 32
Hi lazymle thank you very much I am very excited about next week All the best
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