Post by Admin on Apr 29, 2014 22:48:30 GMT -5
Here is what I did to get my score. 99/241
First and foremost rely on God to get you thru this coz its not easy.
My studying for the Usmle was so unorganized. I would study one month then stop for another. I had a part time job as well as a masters program I was enrolled in.. But if all the time was added up I would think probably 7 months at least.
I graduated from medical school in 2006.. but was very weak in the basic sciences (barely passed in med. school) so I had to basically start from scratch. The Kaplan videos helped me a lot in building a strong foundation esp in biochem and physiology. After listening to all the videos and studying Kaplan books, I started using first aid and added all the imp things to it from both Kaplan and USMLEworld.
Then for the last 3 months all I did was first aid and usmleworld and completely abandoned the Kaplan books.
Here are the books I used:
Biochem- Kaplan
Micro and immu-read Kaplan, mainly first aid
Pharma- quick read of Kaplan, mainly first aid
Patho- goljan rapid review and first aid
Histo,anatomy,neuroscience- Kaplan and first aid
Beh science- Kaplan and first aid plus the 100 cases in ethics (fischer book)
My strategy was first aid first aid and more first aid. I went into the exam able to recall every word in that book. I think if you reach that point, you will get a 99 but you have to be able to use all the concepts and apply them to answer the qs which is where UW comes in. I read the explanations in UW and added to first aid the concepts that recurred. But realize that UW is a tool to add to your knowledge and not to assess what you know. So dont panic if you are unable to answer most of UW qs.
I borrowed the first aid of my friend who scored 99 and made sure I knew the things he added to it. The Funny thing is that you will need first aid for step2 too.. in fact thats pretty much wut I studied..
My cumulative in UW was 68%
Finally the NBMEs. I have mixed feelings towards them. I did my first NBME (3) 10 days before my exam date and got (224). This made me panic and I ended up postponing my exam for 1 month. Looking back I think that was a good decision coz I needed the extra time to strengthen my pathology which I did by listening to goljan audio. The second NBME (4) I did was 2 weeks before my exam and I got 238. I wanted to do all forms but didn’t have the time. I also wanted to do the goljan 100 HYs but didn't have the time for that either. However I think its worth the time to learn the goljan HYs and I think doing them is better than listening to the goljan audios.
In the final wk I spent some time doing CTs and MRI. I think its worth spending time on coz I had a lot of neuro CT. I even had cross sections of the brainstem which I didn’t quite expect to see. I had only one media q on the exam and I found it pretty easy. For the patho pics, I only did first aid and could answer the qs but I think just so that you feel more confident do the goljan slides.
The exam itself was tough for me and very exhausting. There were many qs that were asked in a way that I never came across esp in immune. So dont expect that UW will prepare you for every q. in fact dont expect that anything will prepare you for every q. Just do what you can and then use your common sense to answer the tough qs.
Finally if have to want to get a high score in order to do so.. There will be many times were you want to just give up but wanting to do well will make you go on.
Let me know if you have any qs
Good luck and salam
First and foremost rely on God to get you thru this coz its not easy.
My studying for the Usmle was so unorganized. I would study one month then stop for another. I had a part time job as well as a masters program I was enrolled in.. But if all the time was added up I would think probably 7 months at least.
I graduated from medical school in 2006.. but was very weak in the basic sciences (barely passed in med. school) so I had to basically start from scratch. The Kaplan videos helped me a lot in building a strong foundation esp in biochem and physiology. After listening to all the videos and studying Kaplan books, I started using first aid and added all the imp things to it from both Kaplan and USMLEworld.
Then for the last 3 months all I did was first aid and usmleworld and completely abandoned the Kaplan books.
Here are the books I used:
Biochem- Kaplan
Micro and immu-read Kaplan, mainly first aid
Pharma- quick read of Kaplan, mainly first aid
Patho- goljan rapid review and first aid
Histo,anatomy,neuroscience- Kaplan and first aid
Beh science- Kaplan and first aid plus the 100 cases in ethics (fischer book)
My strategy was first aid first aid and more first aid. I went into the exam able to recall every word in that book. I think if you reach that point, you will get a 99 but you have to be able to use all the concepts and apply them to answer the qs which is where UW comes in. I read the explanations in UW and added to first aid the concepts that recurred. But realize that UW is a tool to add to your knowledge and not to assess what you know. So dont panic if you are unable to answer most of UW qs.
I borrowed the first aid of my friend who scored 99 and made sure I knew the things he added to it. The Funny thing is that you will need first aid for step2 too.. in fact thats pretty much wut I studied..
My cumulative in UW was 68%
Finally the NBMEs. I have mixed feelings towards them. I did my first NBME (3) 10 days before my exam date and got (224). This made me panic and I ended up postponing my exam for 1 month. Looking back I think that was a good decision coz I needed the extra time to strengthen my pathology which I did by listening to goljan audio. The second NBME (4) I did was 2 weeks before my exam and I got 238. I wanted to do all forms but didn’t have the time. I also wanted to do the goljan 100 HYs but didn't have the time for that either. However I think its worth the time to learn the goljan HYs and I think doing them is better than listening to the goljan audios.
In the final wk I spent some time doing CTs and MRI. I think its worth spending time on coz I had a lot of neuro CT. I even had cross sections of the brainstem which I didn’t quite expect to see. I had only one media q on the exam and I found it pretty easy. For the patho pics, I only did first aid and could answer the qs but I think just so that you feel more confident do the goljan slides.
The exam itself was tough for me and very exhausting. There were many qs that were asked in a way that I never came across esp in immune. So dont expect that UW will prepare you for every q. in fact dont expect that anything will prepare you for every q. Just do what you can and then use your common sense to answer the tough qs.
Finally if have to want to get a high score in order to do so.. There will be many times were you want to just give up but wanting to do well will make you go on.
Let me know if you have any qs
Good luck and salam