Post by hypermedic on Apr 29, 2014 23:08:52 GMT -5
All right fellas. I took my exam today. i really waited long time to reach this day 
it was a total burnout just b4 the exam.
Before I start, my STATs were like this:
All done ONline
I won’t go into details regarding my study plan, since I prefer to explain it in depth once enshalla I get my results back enshalla, For better validity
Exam Night ( the big night ):
Plenty of fellas here in the forum say they just relax that day. I dunno. I felt that I have to go quickly over the whole FA in the last two days. I was literally gonna **** my pants from nasty stress. The amount of info I was refreshing in such short time was insane. i kept reading till 2 a.m then I went totally exhausted and slept in seconds. I guess the exhaustion overcome the anxiety and I didn’t have time to think about the exam while lying in bed, I was knocked down pretty fast.
Ppl always say, I want a sleeping pill and stuff like this. For me I did it physiologically. I woke up 6 a.m the day b4 exam (slept 4 hours), and continued to review FA till 2 a.m exam night. So when u go to bed u will sleep in seconds no matter how anxious u r.
For me, the day b4 exam is crucial to brush up and refresh all the topics of FA. So I don’t recommend what others say about going to movie, relax, see gf, ….etc. all this sounded unrealistic to me.
The Exam Day:
I went to the exam center at 8:30 as the exam was scheduled at 9 but I didn’t start until 10:20 coz they had to scan/fingerprint/take photos…..etc of many applicants.
The staff is friendly and they give ya quick review about what you should do and cheek-in and out procedure. I asked them if I can stand and stretch my body between blocks and they said it is ok. It won’t be counted as an irregular behavior or anything. Happy-2
Well, the whole process of check-in and out takes 1-2 minutes max as u just scan your finger and checked by metal detectors so I advise ya to just go out instead of sitting in chair, even for 3 minutes coz it won’t exhaust your break time and it will help ya stretch your legs.
Lockers are big and they accommodate anything but they don’t respond to light. Argyll-Rob. Pupil :eek:
Break time:
I divided my time like this
Tutorial 4 minutes but I skipped the questions
1-2 3 min
2-3 10 min
3-4 10 min
4-5 13 min
5-6 13 min
6-7 7 min
The break time is more than enough to relax and eat comfortably.
I brought
1.power horse (E-drink), really useful, I still have insomnia till now (24h past exam and I can’t sleep!!!! )
2.orange juice
3. 3 cheese sandwiches
4. bottle of water, but I found they have water machines everywhere
One thing i might recommend is to bring the FA with ya.
Although I didn’t do this and I wanted to relax, but It has only one benefit, If u encountered a concept that u forgot during a block, it is better to revise it coz I got many repeat questions in the exam.
To be clear, I don’t recommend at ALL revising anything during the breaks, but only if u really had something that u clearly forgot, just look at it so in case it is a repeat later on u don’t feel any regret.
Enough with general settings, Let’s Roll in to the Exam.
The design :
The exam is just as if you are solving a block in UW qbank. I was really surprised. It is no way near the Kaplan qbank or NBME design. Same icons, colors, but much bigger font. I think they are using the same software that UW use.
The Timing:
Blocks were generally fair, I finished 5 blocks with 1-2 minutes to revise few marked questions, although I never changed any answer.
Only two blocks I finished with -30 seconds and I kinda missed two questions for this reason. I had to choose an answer randomly with 25% chance that it might be the right one.
The thing is I had time left for the last question but it was 1.5 min and the last one was a calculation biostatistics question in one block and the other was a behavioral and both questions required at least 2 minutes to solve. So I missed two questions I knew their answer but couldn’t do it due to lack of 30 seconds ;(
My advice is never to think that leaving 7 minutes for the last 7 questions in any block is safe. Expect a nasty big surprise question that might be very easy but require more than a minute to solve.
The concept coverage :
Overall, I would safely say that 85-90% of exam concepts and questions have been safely covered by both UW and FA. This percentage could even get higher 95-98% with supplementation of Kaplan Qbank. Although Kaplan qbank isn’t very high yield but it adds good base knowledge.
FA+UW is a golden combo
The Difficulty:
Regarding the questions difficulty I would categorize them this way:
1. The one-hit q: ME GUSTA! 20% prevalence
these questions are very short and direct. e.g: which is anti-apoptotic >>>bcl2 the question stem is half a line or max two lines.
2. Big fat easy fella q: 15
these are very long stem questions, that u even have to scroll with mouse to get to the answer choices. They consume time and a trick I learned after the second block is whenever you encounter such a q, just read the last line and then search for buzz words or red flags in the long stem and u will get the answer in less than 10 sec.
3. ]Troll questions: U mad bro? 10%
u get a nasty long stem about patient condition with labs and images and at the end, the question is just the molecular basis of something else. So If u just skipped to the last line first, u could have caught the troll and saved precious seconds for other questions. For example I got a very long question about man went to forest, dehydrated , biochemical changes in him…etc and at the end I was asked about the muscle used to make a cup-shape of his hand (thumb) to drink from river, and I knida sucked, coz I didn’t know whether opposition /flexion /adduction is more appropriate !!!
4. The medium rare q: 20%
they are covered by UW but it requires some time to get the answer.
5. The two hit q: 10%
I hate this type, coz I end up with two answers very close and I end up taking an educated guess. What annoys me is that they are about 10%
6.Copy-paste q: 5%
these questions are either exact copy of UW qbank or UWSA. I had 6 copy-paste questions from UWSA and considerable amount from UW qbank. And I am not talking about same concept, I am talking about exact question.
7. Dafuq did I just read! q: 5%
these questions usually biostat qs, molecular bio or anat. Here, there is no reasoning or educated guess, u really don’t know what the hell is going on, and I take a magician guess rather than an educated guess. If u look at the bright side, they save some seconds for other easier questions
8. Challenging q: 5%
they are really hard, but after consuming considerable time u can get to the answer. They require +2 min to go through your hippocampus and try to analyze and over-think the choices. They were like 10 questions only for the whole exam and they really consumed some time that I missed easy last question at the end of one block coz I ran out of time. So my advice is to take an educated guess.
9. Image-answer q: 1-2 %
the answers are not words, they are just images. Either slides of spinal cord, bacteria, or parasites. I am talking about answers not question stem I encountered a similar question like this in UWSA2 and it was very close to it.
The Distribution:
NOW, distribution of the exam: (bear in mind my score isn’t out yet, so my recommendation regarding source of study is just based on whether concepts I encountered are covered by the source I provide or not)
Behave/biostat:
u need Kaplan for this FA not enough
There were plenty of behavioral and biostats. But calculations were limited to simple three questions only regarding biostats. But plenty about means, distribution, studies….etc
Embryo :
FA enough
was least covered. Only two questions, one very easy the other dafuq type.
Micro: maaany, but all from FA
Biochem/immune/pharma>> moderate amount
FA enough
Regarding the organ systems: it is hard to say that something is tested more than the other as most of the questions are complex and multi-system. But I can safely say that I felt the exam is haem-onc oriented. But of course the whole systems were tested fairly.
The phenomena:
1. The repeat phenomenon:
You get tested the same question over three times, I even had two successive questions testing the same thing in the same block .
2. Easy weird phenomenon:
here, u get like 20 successive questions very easy, that u start to think if there is a trick or it is just normal
3. Freak-out phenomenon:
this happens when u suddenly realize that u missed a very easy question in a previous block when u encounter a similar concept. I got an easy question asking about autosomal dominant disease and when I saw a similar question in the second block, I realized it did it wrong the first time and I was so depressed I missed such a question that I had to stop for few seconds to cool down and not get distracted.
4. Mental block phenomena:
it usually happens at the last two blocks were u feel u started to answer a little bit slower, but thank God I spaced 10 minutes for the breaks in order to refresh. Still I got lag in one block where I missed the last question :toosad:
Finally, the media questions,
I got only one audio murmur, and it was AS and u could get the answer directly from the question stem
Slides were plenty, but all covered from FA gallery and UW gallery.
x-rays and CTs also sufficiently covered by FA and Qbanks. Even new ones like thymoma e.g on CT could be detected from question stem scenario about myasthenia gravis.
Ok folks, that’s it for now. Hopefully, when results come out and they r satisfactory enshalla :sorry: , I will write down details about the study sources and schedule. Plz don’t forget me in your prayers. :sorry:
i would love to add a thing here, knowing the states names and their locations might save ya a question or two questions,
i had two states mentioned, one was new mexico, and i really didn't know where it is , but thank God i assumed it might be a western state and thank God it was right coccidioidomycosis. in this question the answer was entirely dependent on your knowledge of the geographical location
i got another question about Wisconsin, but thank God the answer could easily be figured out from question stem......
so i think it won't harm ya to know the location of all the states so u can answer the fungi questions easily
one thing, a question popped into my mind, if a man came to the physician for infertlity issues and he has azospermia, but he is an athelete abusing testosterone and he had mumps when he was 14, i chose that the primary cause of infertility is mumps , right?
Good luck for ya all. Hopefully u find this post useful.
I can’t deny that I have gained enormous experience form this awesome forum. It is the payback time ;D
score analysis:
Now the study plan:
Many fellas here once they get they score, they write down experiences as if they were saints with no mistakes and u feel miserable comparing your study plan to theirs, although in fact they r no different than you.
Studying for step 1 consumed exactly one year of my life LOL . I made some mistakes in my plan that if I avoided I could have save at least 3 months ;(
I won’t say step1 is DOABLE coz this word has been abused by every freakin fella out there writing their experience. but honestly step1 requires hard work. It is a a long journey.
I started early with step 2 for one month and finished few chapters in pediatrics and internal medicine but I felt lost, so I said b4 I start my journey in USMLE, I will try my luck with step1 coz ppl call it the beast and so, I changed my mind, asked God for guidance and by the next month I bought step1 materials and started step1
I started studying by the end of my internship year, but wasted twp months on and off studying ;D , then again by march I started to study again, but haphazardly and very slowly, when suddenly I heard news from my friends that they r done with their USMLE steps, and I felt insane sensation of guilt for being lousy and irresponsible.
I forced myself by booking the exam, and by far, this was the worst thing I have ever done.
My advice, never book and exam unless you at least try solving few blocks from any online qbank after your first read in order to assess your readiness. By the time I started solving ( 2months away from the scheduled appointment) I knew that I have screwed myself, why? Coz I was getting 35-40 % LOL that was Kaplan qbank. So I pushed the exam date and then extended another three months. But still I wasn’t ready.
It was nasty feeling, telling your family that you will be done in a month or two and then suddenly you tell them sorry not yet. I postponed over 6 times till I reached the end of the extended eligibility period where I felt unready at all. I was under enormous pressure and embarrassment.
There were only two choices, either I go for it, or drop the exam. I can’t forget that day till now, i told my parents, I won’t be able to make and I have to drop the exam and lose the money, they were shocked but thank God understanding that it was my dream to score decently in USMLE. I was depressed for over a week but then regained the spirit and started serious preparation.
I thought I will be done in three months, but then I postponed again three times till I took the exam in September
One advice here, u will never go for the exam thinking you r gonna rock it. So just solve questions till you feel some satisfaction and once you reach your desirable score range on assessment exams book and take a leap of faith my NBME just b4 exam was 219, and I freaked out, but I couldn’t take it anymore, I was in total burnout. So, I took the exam and thank God I got 233
- Don’t waste more than 3 months on your first read of the materials, no matter what is your source. Why? Simply, by the end of this period u won’t remember a thing from the early studied materials.
- There are few subjects that I felt videos were pretty important, don’t skip videos. They are of great help. Especially for pharma(general), bio and physio.
- don’t book your exam unless you try solving, so u don’t lose your money if you r not ready. But still you have to study hard coz I know this feeling when u r not booked for exam and u study slowly, so beware of this.
- solve online, solve online, solve online, solve online ;D I will explain this later in the experience under the qbank section.
- solve as early as possible in order to change your method of study if you scored bad. And try an offline assessment or online if you can afford it, in order to know where you stand
-beware of false experiences, some fellas here in the forum or other forum, tend to lie a lot and they exaggerate, so u will feel u r tiny and useless. Don’t listen to them. I still remember an experience where someone said that he studied nasty big textbooks and it was depressing for me, but then I realized this is bull*****t, so be careful from As*****. They are a lot out there ;p
I don’t feel comfortable studying with someone, so I didn’t have actual study partner, but in the same way it is dangerous if u study alone.
You must know friends who study with similar circumstances in order to assess your readiness and progression of your own timeline.
Beware of lazy study partners, if u ended up with them, u will never finish studying. I was stuck with three of them and neither one of them till the moment of writing this experience finished his step1 , so as I said: study partners are double-edged weapon. Either they drag ya down or up
well, don’t be idiot and think that there is a golden source for studying ( except for FA LOL ), there are hundreds of books out there, just choose what suits ya and go for it. The only judge here is your performance during solving the qbanks later on.
There is no such thing called standard source. Ppl always said go for lecture notes and Goljan and I tried but couldn’t tolerate it. Specially Goljan rapid review book. I hate this book a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot . it is over 650 pages. I tried the first 30 pages and then I knew I will never retain a thing from it. So I hid it in my closet so as never to see it again. I just felt sorry for the 60 bucks I paid for it in amazon ;(
even the lecture notes, I saw the micro and anatomy books and I felt horrible. I opened the same closet and inserted both books with Goljan ;D
I have wasted over a month just searching for the perfect combo of books to study from. I have bought over 30 books till I settled on only few of them where I felt satisfied. I didn’t care for what ppl say anymore.
Here is the set of books I used:
1. Selective Kaplan Lecture notes:
I only studied from KLN : physiology, biochemistry, behavioral sciences, one chapter of neurology.
2. BRS series:
studied only pathology, Physiology again
3. FA expanded edition (organ system and basic ):
studied only biochemistry, micro and immune.
4. First Aid:
the big boss, this was mainly my source. It is the biggest good thing that happened to step1 Golden Standard.
5. Kaplan qbank explanations and UW qbank explanations
. I will explain this in the qbank section.
So as u can see. Your are the only one who determines the set of books that is specifically tailored to your needs and satisfaction. It is simply really, during medical school, we all study from same standard books and yet there is enormous variation in the grades of students, so it is not the books that gonna guarantee your success, it is how u use the info you have no matter what source are you studying from.
:
if there is a good thing I have ever done during my studying then it is that I didn’t listen so most of ppl do when they study subject by subject. I studied system by system.
for example, when I study cardiology I study its corresponding chapter, from anatomy, physio, patho, pharma…etc this will give better prespective and wider integration of knowledge.
of course there are few subjects that u have to sudy alone like: bio, behavioral, micro, immune, embryo
it is true fellas. FA is the best thing ever happened out there for step 1 if you go to your exam without looking at it. Then you probably have done with worst mistake in your life ever.
I have read FA nine times from cover to cover, with exception of few chapters that I have to read 10 to 11 times coz they were volatile.
try to digest every single word in FA. Understand every sentence. FA is like zillion questions squeezed into a readable format. FA in itself without any addition from any source contributes to about 65-70% of the exam material. U can reach 90-95% with addition of Kaplan qbank and UW qbank explanations. The remaining 5% is just from variable sources out there.
The dilemma, is FA enough? Yes, but under the condition of understanding what is written. For some chapters u just can’t understand what is written unless u have a good base background knowledge that won’t be built up unless u already have read that in another book like Kaplan or BRS, with exception to micro, immune, embryo, and most of organ systems (e.g cadio, GI…etc) they can by directly studied from FA
think of FA as if u r going to a written exam rather than MCQ exam, if your knowledge of FA is as strong as u r going for it as written exam then enshalla you should do good in the real exam. The more time u spend on FA the better bearing in mind that you solve a lot in order to consolidate the info.
My first read of FA exhausted one month. I read it over 9 times till I reached the burnout point. Everytime you read it u will get different way of linking the info in it, till you can remember every piece of information and even its location LOL ;D
beware of this phenomenon. It is not good to spend much time on step1. At certain level of time, u will suddenly drop out, your performance will decline and you might even compromise your whole score, as u reach appoint where u wanna just be done no matter what.
it isn’t a linear relationship, simply starling law applies here. The more you study the better you score, but within limits ;p
you can stretch yourself till the maximal brain sarcomere length ;p but then ur brain will till ya : screw you, I am outta here. You are on your own. I am not joking this is real. So try to consolidate your study and don’t waste much time in the beginning of your study.
Don’t think that you r a hero and I have a goal and bullsh*** all newbies say at the start. If u didn’t finish on time, you will burnout and u won’t score well.
What is the ideal timeline? Dunno really, but for sure not less than 8 months, if it is your first step, or if you are a graduate. That’s my opinion.
1. Behavioral Sciences:
FA isn’t enough at all. U must study Kaplan. This is a must. About the 100 cases of Conrad fischer, u might look at them, but I didn’t ;p
although I did all this, I ended up scoring very low in the exam in this particular subject???
there are plenty of behave/biostat in the exam, the biostat questions are relatively easy, but behave. Questions are mostly ( b***h please yao ming face )
2. Biochemistry / genetics :
FA is good for recapping. I will say it is enough in case you can understand what is written. For me I couldn’t understand plenty of the molecular stuff and specially the genetics, so I had to study it three time from Kaplan lecture notes, I even gave it a shot from the expanded FA, then I threw them at the same closet that I mentioned earlier;p and made the standard FA my only source ;p I had to listen to the whole boring video for bio in order to understand it
in the exam the bio questions are straight forward and easy. Moderate amount in exam.
3. Embryology:
FA is more than Enough. I had only two questions in the real exam.
4. Microbiology:
FA is more than enough. Although I wasted sometime studying if from the expanded FA, but I regret it later. FA is just enough. But eat it from FA coz there are zillion questions on it in the real exam, but all from FA
5. Immunology:
FA is more than enough. Didn’t see many questions in the exam.
6. Pathology:
If I heard anyone talking about Goljan Rapid review, I am gonna hit him with the biggest hammer out there ;p I hate this book a lot.
i wasn’t gonna study pathology at all, but coz of peer pressure I had to seek a small book and BRS pathology was the best thing ever happened. It is amazing book and I totally recommend it. I just studied it once and it was enough.
7.pharmacology:
You must see the videos for it, only the general and autonomic part. It will make great difference in your performance. You must study only from Kaplan the first two chapters ( general and autonomic ). FA is more than enough for the remaining.
8. Anatomy:
FA was my only source. Except for neurology, I just read few pages only from Kaplan ( maximum 25 pages) and that’s it. Also the table for upper and lower muscles. That’s it
9.for the remaining organ systems, FA is the only thing I have studied.
USMLE World (UW):
UW cumulative : 78% - 86th percentile
this is by far the most reliable thing out there. Golden standard. When I say FA is enough in any subject, then I mean FA+UW
I totally recommend doing any other qbank whether online or offline before you start solving this UW qbank in order to max your performance.
it is the same format as the exam, u will feel in the exam as if you are solving an ordinary UW block.
I got many repeat questions from UW even exact copies not only similar concepts.
the best way to solve it is RANDOM, TIMED, MIXED but u can’t do it this way unless you already have solved any qbank b4 it or you will bang your head to the wall.
Here is my performance graph:
So it is normal to have a fluctuant performance, but the second time you solve it you should be scoring not less than 80 % to be safe.
Taking notes from UW was pain in the ****, so thank God I figured a way to printscreen the whole qbank and then print out in papers the explanations I wanted to study ;p
Here is a sample, I had to blur it for copyright issures ;p
I studied the explanations four times in order to master them.
Kaplan Qbank:
It is a good one, but has low yield info, but still it is important to get ready to solve the UW. I totally recommend solving it b4 UW qbank. I did 70% of it and It helped me a lot. I did only 20% online then I ran out of time so I had to printscreen the whole qbank and print the explanations and study them. It helps a lot.
I did them all ONLINE. Never do an offline assessement. It is useless. If u wanna do the first six NBMEs offline then ok. Coz they r obsolete now and u can do them early in study to assess yourself. I didn’t have time to do them
I did
NBME 11 (self-paced) (6 weeks) : 221
UWSA1 (2 weeks): 236
UWSA2 (1 week) : 258
NBME 12 (4 days): 219 !! I think I was tired/stressed that day
people say UWSA usually overshoot, but in my case, UWSA1 was the most predictive. One thing, NBMEs are usually harder than the real exam, the exam difficulty is much similar to UWSA or as if you are solving UW qbank the second time.
Alright fellas, that’s it. If you feel you have any questions that I didn’t cover plz reply to the thread and enshalla I will try to answer them all. Hope you gain something from this experience. I really said everything I ‘ve always wished to hear b4 I started my study for step1. Your prayers for me for my upcoming steps/match is appreciated ;p
Good luck everyone. U can enshalla do it.
studying the explanations in a text format is really helpful and will help consolidate the qbank after you solve it, for further revisions.
here is a photo of my printed out explanations of choice
i forgot to add few details.....
* regarding solving UW, bear in mind the following facts,
* although u solve the block in one hour, but studying the explanations exhausts at least three hours.
i was naive
when i started my schedule, and thought that half an hour is sufficient to revise the answers, and this missed up my schedule later on coz i jumped from half an hour to 3-4 hours per block just revising.....
duration: i prefer subscribing for two months. just solve one block daily and u will finish in 46 days leaving 14 days for revision of wrong answers, via doing 2-3 blocks per day. You can subscribe for 3 months in case you want to do a full second time.
* here is a good trick, u can subscribe for one month and do two blocks per day, but it is risky....then after u finish you subscribe again as a new subscription not as an extension, u will get to solve it as a brand new to assess yourself, but u will be i guess 40 dollars more in comparison to buying two continuous months.
for me i didn't need this coz i printed the whole qbank :happy: i just can't release the method coz it is copyrighted material :notsure: and they deserve credit for their awesome qbank
* Read all the explanations, even the wrong answers, many info is really found in the wrong choices and u even get a broader spectrum.
* Don't panic if your performance was fluctuating, it is ok. Your overall performance should rise very slowly over time, but u still might encounter a drop in score here and there
* think of it as a learning tool, not assessment tool, what u might count on is the second time solving, u should get at least 80% correct in the second time.
* A trick to solve all the wrong answers at once, let's say u have 400 wrong questions, if u created a block and answered and then u had wrong answers, they will be added automatically, so in order to solve this :
400/46 = almost nine blocks, create them all at once then pause them all. and start solving. by the end u will get only the wrong answers of the second time
* they have an application for UW on mobile both iOS and Android, it becomes handy when u want to revise some explanations when you r outside
Regarding FA:
why is it that important? it is almost 650 pages, while KLN exceeds 2500 pages? which do u think is managable? which can be memorized well?
by the time u add info from the qbanks to FA u reach a nasty big amount of info....
let's think loud here, which is better? to go for the exam with 650+ pages that i can memorize and understand 90-100% (meaning i can retain 650 to 580 pages in memory ) OR to study 2500+ pages that u won't retain at least 50% in your memory. Not only that but also, the amount of low yield info is enormous,
so for example for a subject like micro, just imagine the spam(low yield) info that ur brain will retain?
:eek: that's why my advice for the First read from any source to be quick and just to grasp the basics...that's it
Regarding the Timing
Let's assume we have 100 pages to study,
if person A studies 10 hours per day and he can afford 3 pages per hour then he will finish in almost 3.5 days
while if person B studies 5 hours / 2 pages per hour, he will finish in 10 days....
that's why there is pretty big variations in timelines among exam experiences u find in forums....so don't get surprised when some say 6 months is enough while others say 12 :cool:
one last piece of advice: when u study for step1 go serious from the start. i am talking about sticking your b**t on the chair for at least 10 hours daily to finish. Minimize distractions as much as u can.
Good Luck fellas
Yes. I used FA 2011 and it was my primary source. By the time I took the exam, FA 2012 was out but my friends told me that the only difference was that they integrated the image gallery into the branches directly which I think Is better. But of course I continued with FA 2011 coz I already added many info to it.
As I said before, don’t waste much time on your first read. Maximum 3 months. Even if u don’t remember a thing.
This first read is only to have an idea and brush up the old info you already studied in medical school. They might have become rusty, that’s why u do the first read.
Regarding the schedule, for the last 6-7 months, I was only solving, studying explanations and going over FA, over and over again.
For the early start, I totally recommend, studying branch by branch, e.g GI, go study it from physio, then from pharma, then from patho….etc
Let me make it simple, read any subject from FA, if u feel that u totally understand each word and sentence in it, then no need for further expansion till u solve some questions and assess our performance.
But if u already have time, then it won’t harm to do a quick first read for all subjects and then stick to FA+UW+Kaplan qbank.
Hope this answers all your questions.
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LOL! Me too. I really want to know the answer too. I studied from Kaplan lecture notes coz many of my friends scored bad in this subject. But still I got the star from the bottom
The biostatistics questions are pretty easy once u study well. I think it is all about the behavioral questions. It is always that u end up with two answers very close, and I think we usually go for the wrong one LOL .
I even solved the UW special edition for biostat and behavioral. It is a separate qbank for UW. And still didn’t improve my performance???
Anyway, my advice is
Watch the Kaplan videos for behavioral and biostats first. Then study it from Kaplan. After that, FA and solve the UW/Kaplan qbank and study the explanations well. If u can get hands-on the other qbanks section for behavioral then u did yourself a good favor.
I think it isn’t about the knowledge rather than the practice. So my advice is to dig and search for usmle related qbanks just in this branch and try to solve as much as u can. Good luck mate.
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This is really a tough question. It all depends on you. Let’s think out loud. If you are totally satisfied with a score in the 220s range, then go ahead and take the exam.
If you think you could withstand the burden of another few weeks or a month without burning out, then I would still recommend that. It all depends on your power.
What’s the point of postponing if it will lead to burnout and lose the momentum of today energy? In the same way, what’s the point of rushing the exam if I have the power to stay focused for another week or month and score better? As you see, you are the only one who can determine this according to your circumstances and your individual skills .
what I normally do is to pray to God for guidance, make an educated choice and go for it and never look back or hesitate, so as not to regret what I chose ;D
Good luck mate.
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I would love to add another addition here.
Regarding the Media questions,
First of all, I think according to my experience, the UW gallery along with the FA gallery are more than enough for any image you might encounter in the exam. If you solved some other qbanks then you can add the photos you encounter too to your gallery. That’s it. No need to exaggerate or do extensive digging at all.
I remember when I asked other USMLErs who took the exam what to do, they all say go for google, rapid review Goljan, pathoma, webpath….etc then I was like….
LOL! That was my reaction. The only thing I used google for was the brain section for location of basal ganglia and ventricles. That’s it. Other than this I sticked to the qbanks and FA gallery.
This is the gallery from my PC
And this is a sample one ( had to blur for copyright issues ;p )
there are two versions of FA
normal edition: Golden Standard the one i am recommending and used
www.amazon.com/First-Aid-USMLE-Step-2013/dp/0071802320/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1350253012&sr=8-6&keywords=first+aid+organ+systems+2012
the extended edition: it is two books, almost half to one-third of kaplan lecture notes size. it is good, but after i studied from it, and compared it to medessentials, if u r going for books other than KLN then i totally recommend medessentials....it is awesome
www.amazon.com/First-Aid-Basic-Sciences-Systems/dp/0071743952/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350253012&sr=8-1&keywords=first+aid+organ+systems+2012
www.amazon.com/Sciences-General-Principles-Second-Edition/dp/007174388X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1350253012&sr=8-2&keywords=first+aid+organ+systems+2012
www.amazon.com/medEssentials-USMLE-Step-Kaplan-Medessenitals/dp/1607144824/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350253077&sr=8-1&keywords=medessentials+for+the+usmle+step+1
here is my recommendation:
if you aren't able to study the whole KLN coz it is insanely big,
go for kaplan medessentials or FA extended edition, but i recommend the medessentials
still all the previous books are just for first read, but for the real thing and revision / memorization go only for the First Aid......
it was a total burnout just b4 the exam.Before I start, my STATs were like this:
All done ONline
UW cumulative : 78% - 86th percentile
NBME 11 (self-paced) (6 weeks) : 221
UWSA1 (2 weeks): 236
UWSA2 (1 week) : 258
NBME 12 (4 days): 219 !! I think I was tired/stressed that day
NBME 11 (self-paced) (6 weeks) : 221
UWSA1 (2 weeks): 236
UWSA2 (1 week) : 258
NBME 12 (4 days): 219 !! I think I was tired/stressed that day
I won’t go into details regarding my study plan, since I prefer to explain it in depth once enshalla I get my results back enshalla, For better validity
Exam Night ( the big night ):
Plenty of fellas here in the forum say they just relax that day. I dunno. I felt that I have to go quickly over the whole FA in the last two days. I was literally gonna **** my pants from nasty stress. The amount of info I was refreshing in such short time was insane. i kept reading till 2 a.m then I went totally exhausted and slept in seconds. I guess the exhaustion overcome the anxiety and I didn’t have time to think about the exam while lying in bed, I was knocked down pretty fast.
Ppl always say, I want a sleeping pill and stuff like this. For me I did it physiologically. I woke up 6 a.m the day b4 exam (slept 4 hours), and continued to review FA till 2 a.m exam night. So when u go to bed u will sleep in seconds no matter how anxious u r.
For me, the day b4 exam is crucial to brush up and refresh all the topics of FA. So I don’t recommend what others say about going to movie, relax, see gf, ….etc. all this sounded unrealistic to me.
The Exam Day:
I went to the exam center at 8:30 as the exam was scheduled at 9 but I didn’t start until 10:20 coz they had to scan/fingerprint/take photos…..etc of many applicants.
The staff is friendly and they give ya quick review about what you should do and cheek-in and out procedure. I asked them if I can stand and stretch my body between blocks and they said it is ok. It won’t be counted as an irregular behavior or anything. Happy-2
Well, the whole process of check-in and out takes 1-2 minutes max as u just scan your finger and checked by metal detectors so I advise ya to just go out instead of sitting in chair, even for 3 minutes coz it won’t exhaust your break time and it will help ya stretch your legs.
Lockers are big and they accommodate anything but they don’t respond to light. Argyll-Rob. Pupil :eek:
Break time:
I divided my time like this
Tutorial 4 minutes but I skipped the questions
1-2 3 min
2-3 10 min
3-4 10 min
4-5 13 min
5-6 13 min
6-7 7 min
The break time is more than enough to relax and eat comfortably.
I brought
1.power horse (E-drink), really useful, I still have insomnia till now (24h past exam and I can’t sleep!!!! )
2.orange juice
3. 3 cheese sandwiches
4. bottle of water, but I found they have water machines everywhere
One thing i might recommend is to bring the FA with ya.
Although I didn’t do this and I wanted to relax, but It has only one benefit, If u encountered a concept that u forgot during a block, it is better to revise it coz I got many repeat questions in the exam.
To be clear, I don’t recommend at ALL revising anything during the breaks, but only if u really had something that u clearly forgot, just look at it so in case it is a repeat later on u don’t feel any regret.
Enough with general settings, Let’s Roll in to the Exam.
The design :
The exam is just as if you are solving a block in UW qbank. I was really surprised. It is no way near the Kaplan qbank or NBME design. Same icons, colors, but much bigger font. I think they are using the same software that UW use.
The Timing:
Blocks were generally fair, I finished 5 blocks with 1-2 minutes to revise few marked questions, although I never changed any answer.
Only two blocks I finished with -30 seconds and I kinda missed two questions for this reason. I had to choose an answer randomly with 25% chance that it might be the right one.
The thing is I had time left for the last question but it was 1.5 min and the last one was a calculation biostatistics question in one block and the other was a behavioral and both questions required at least 2 minutes to solve. So I missed two questions I knew their answer but couldn’t do it due to lack of 30 seconds ;(
My advice is never to think that leaving 7 minutes for the last 7 questions in any block is safe. Expect a nasty big surprise question that might be very easy but require more than a minute to solve.
The concept coverage :
Overall, I would safely say that 85-90% of exam concepts and questions have been safely covered by both UW and FA. This percentage could even get higher 95-98% with supplementation of Kaplan Qbank. Although Kaplan qbank isn’t very high yield but it adds good base knowledge.
FA+UW is a golden combo
The Difficulty:
Regarding the questions difficulty I would categorize them this way:
1. The one-hit q: ME GUSTA! 20% prevalence
these questions are very short and direct. e.g: which is anti-apoptotic >>>bcl2 the question stem is half a line or max two lines.
2. Big fat easy fella q: 15
these are very long stem questions, that u even have to scroll with mouse to get to the answer choices. They consume time and a trick I learned after the second block is whenever you encounter such a q, just read the last line and then search for buzz words or red flags in the long stem and u will get the answer in less than 10 sec.
3. ]Troll questions: U mad bro? 10%
u get a nasty long stem about patient condition with labs and images and at the end, the question is just the molecular basis of something else. So If u just skipped to the last line first, u could have caught the troll and saved precious seconds for other questions. For example I got a very long question about man went to forest, dehydrated , biochemical changes in him…etc and at the end I was asked about the muscle used to make a cup-shape of his hand (thumb) to drink from river, and I knida sucked, coz I didn’t know whether opposition /flexion /adduction is more appropriate !!!
4. The medium rare q: 20%
they are covered by UW but it requires some time to get the answer.
5. The two hit q: 10%
I hate this type, coz I end up with two answers very close and I end up taking an educated guess. What annoys me is that they are about 10%
6.Copy-paste q: 5%
these questions are either exact copy of UW qbank or UWSA. I had 6 copy-paste questions from UWSA and considerable amount from UW qbank. And I am not talking about same concept, I am talking about exact question.
7. Dafuq did I just read! q: 5%
these questions usually biostat qs, molecular bio or anat. Here, there is no reasoning or educated guess, u really don’t know what the hell is going on, and I take a magician guess rather than an educated guess. If u look at the bright side, they save some seconds for other easier questions
8. Challenging q: 5%
they are really hard, but after consuming considerable time u can get to the answer. They require +2 min to go through your hippocampus and try to analyze and over-think the choices. They were like 10 questions only for the whole exam and they really consumed some time that I missed easy last question at the end of one block coz I ran out of time. So my advice is to take an educated guess.
9. Image-answer q: 1-2 %
the answers are not words, they are just images. Either slides of spinal cord, bacteria, or parasites. I am talking about answers not question stem
I encountered a similar question like this in UWSA2 and it was very close to it.The Distribution:
NOW, distribution of the exam: (bear in mind my score isn’t out yet, so my recommendation regarding source of study is just based on whether concepts I encountered are covered by the source I provide or not)
Behave/biostat:
u need Kaplan for this FA not enough
There were plenty of behavioral and biostats. But calculations were limited to simple three questions only regarding biostats. But plenty about means, distribution, studies….etc
Embryo :
FA enough
was least covered. Only two questions, one very easy the other dafuq type.
Micro: maaany, but all from FA
Biochem/immune/pharma>> moderate amount
FA enough
Regarding the organ systems: it is hard to say that something is tested more than the other as most of the questions are complex and multi-system. But I can safely say that I felt the exam is haem-onc oriented. But of course the whole systems were tested fairly.
The phenomena:
1. The repeat phenomenon:
You get tested the same question over three times, I even had two successive questions testing the same thing in the same block .
2. Easy weird phenomenon:
here, u get like 20 successive questions very easy, that u start to think if there is a trick or it is just normal
3. Freak-out phenomenon:
this happens when u suddenly realize that u missed a very easy question in a previous block when u encounter a similar concept. I got an easy question asking about autosomal dominant disease and when I saw a similar question in the second block, I realized it did it wrong the first time and I was so depressed I missed such a question that I had to stop for few seconds to cool down and not get distracted.
4. Mental block phenomena:
it usually happens at the last two blocks were u feel u started to answer a little bit slower, but thank God I spaced 10 minutes for the breaks in order to refresh. Still I got lag in one block where I missed the last question :toosad:
Finally, the media questions,
I got only one audio murmur, and it was AS and u could get the answer directly from the question stem
Slides were plenty, but all covered from FA gallery and UW gallery.
x-rays and CTs also sufficiently covered by FA and Qbanks. Even new ones like thymoma e.g on CT could be detected from question stem scenario about myasthenia gravis.
Ok folks, that’s it for now. Hopefully, when results come out and they r satisfactory enshalla :sorry: , I will write down details about the study sources and schedule. Plz don’t forget me in your prayers. :sorry:
i would love to add a thing here, knowing the states names and their locations might save ya a question or two questions,
i had two states mentioned, one was new mexico, and i really didn't know where it is , but thank God i assumed it might be a western state and thank God it was right coccidioidomycosis. in this question the answer was entirely dependent on your knowledge of the geographical location
i got another question about Wisconsin, but thank God the answer could easily be figured out from question stem......
so i think it won't harm ya to know the location of all the states so u can answer the fungi questions easily
one thing, a question popped into my mind, if a man came to the physician for infertlity issues and he has azospermia, but he is an athelete abusing testosterone and he had mumps when he was 14, i chose that the primary cause of infertility is mumps , right?
Good luck for ya all. Hopefully u find this post useful.
Step 1 study experience
I can’t deny that I have gained enormous experience form this awesome forum. It is the payback time ;D
score analysis:
Now the study plan:
Introduction:
Many fellas here once they get they score, they write down experiences as if they were saints with no mistakes and u feel miserable comparing your study plan to theirs, although in fact they r no different than you.
Studying for step 1 consumed exactly one year of my life LOL . I made some mistakes in my plan that if I avoided I could have save at least 3 months ;(
I won’t say step1 is DOABLE coz this word has been abused by every freakin fella out there writing their experience.
but honestly step1 requires hard work. It is a a long journey.I started early with step 2 for one month and finished few chapters in pediatrics and internal medicine but I felt lost, so I said b4 I start my journey in USMLE, I will try my luck with step1 coz ppl call it the beast and so, I changed my mind, asked God for guidance and by the next month I bought step1 materials and started step1
I started studying by the end of my internship year, but wasted twp months on and off studying ;D , then again by march I started to study again, but haphazardly and very slowly, when suddenly I heard news from my friends that they r done with their USMLE steps, and I felt insane sensation of guilt for being lousy and irresponsible.
I forced myself by booking the exam, and by far, this was the worst thing I have ever done.
My advice, never book and exam unless you at least try solving few blocks from any online qbank after your first read in order to assess your readiness. By the time I started solving ( 2months away from the scheduled appointment) I knew that I have screwed myself, why? Coz I was getting 35-40 % LOL that was Kaplan qbank. So I pushed the exam date and then extended another three months. But still I wasn’t ready.
It was nasty feeling, telling your family that you will be done in a month or two and then suddenly you tell them sorry not yet. I postponed over 6 times till I reached the end of the extended eligibility period where I felt unready at all. I was under enormous pressure and embarrassment.
There were only two choices, either I go for it, or drop the exam. I can’t forget that day till now, i told my parents, I won’t be able to make and I have to drop the exam and lose the money, they were shocked but thank God understanding that it was my dream to score decently in USMLE. I was depressed for over a week but then regained the spirit and started serious preparation.
I thought I will be done in three months, but then I postponed again three times till I took the exam in September
One advice here, u will never go for the exam thinking you r gonna rock it. So just solve questions till you feel some satisfaction and once you reach your desirable score range on assessment exams book and take a leap of faith
my NBME just b4 exam was 219, and I freaked out, but I couldn’t take it anymore, I was in total burnout. So, I took the exam and thank God I got 233 The Mistakes:
- Don’t waste more than 3 months on your first read of the materials, no matter what is your source. Why? Simply, by the end of this period u won’t remember a thing from the early studied materials.
- There are few subjects that I felt videos were pretty important, don’t skip videos. They are of great help. Especially for pharma(general), bio and physio.
- don’t book your exam unless you try solving, so u don’t lose your money if you r not ready. But still you have to study hard coz I know this feeling when u r not booked for exam and u study slowly, so beware of this.
- solve online, solve online, solve online, solve online ;D I will explain this later in the experience under the qbank section.
- solve as early as possible in order to change your method of study if you scored bad. And try an offline assessment or online if you can afford it, in order to know where you stand
-beware of false experiences, some fellas here in the forum or other forum, tend to lie a lot and they exaggerate, so u will feel u r tiny and useless. Don’t listen to them. I still remember an experience where someone said that he studied nasty big textbooks and it was depressing for me, but then I realized this is bull*****t, so be careful from As*****. They are a lot out there ;p
Study partners/group Vs flying solo:
I don’t feel comfortable studying with someone, so I didn’t have actual study partner, but in the same way it is dangerous if u study alone.
You must know friends who study with similar circumstances in order to assess your readiness and progression of your own timeline.
Beware of lazy study partners, if u ended up with them, u will never finish studying. I was stuck with three of them and neither one of them till the moment of writing this experience finished his step1 , so as I said: study partners are double-edged weapon. Either they drag ya down or up
Study Materials:
well, don’t be idiot and think that there is a golden source for studying ( except for FA
LOL ), there are hundreds of books out there, just choose what suits ya and go for it. The only judge here is your performance during solving the qbanks later on.There is no such thing called standard source. Ppl always said go for lecture notes and Goljan and I tried but couldn’t tolerate it. Specially Goljan rapid review book. I hate this book a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot . it is over 650 pages. I tried the first 30 pages and then I knew I will never retain a thing from it. So I hid it in my closet so as never to see it again. I just felt sorry for the 60 bucks I paid for it in amazon ;(
even the lecture notes, I saw the micro and anatomy books and I felt horrible. I opened the same closet and inserted both books with Goljan ;D
I have wasted over a month just searching for the perfect combo of books to study from. I have bought over 30 books till I settled on only few of them where I felt satisfied. I didn’t care for what ppl say anymore.
Here is the set of books I used:
1. Selective Kaplan Lecture notes:
I only studied from KLN : physiology, biochemistry, behavioral sciences, one chapter of neurology.
2. BRS series:
studied only pathology, Physiology again
3. FA expanded edition (organ system and basic ):
studied only biochemistry, micro and immune.
4. First Aid:
the big boss, this was mainly my source. It is the biggest good thing that happened to step1
Golden Standard.5. Kaplan qbank explanations and UW qbank explanations
. I will explain this in the qbank section.
So as u can see. Your are the only one who determines the set of books that is specifically tailored to your needs and satisfaction. It is simply really, during medical school, we all study from same standard books and yet there is enormous variation in the grades of students, so it is not the books that gonna guarantee your success, it is how u use the info you have no matter what source are you studying from.
Subject-wise Vs system-wise
:
if there is a good thing I have ever done during my studying then it is that I didn’t listen so most of ppl do when they study subject by subject. I studied system by system.
for example, when I study cardiology I study its corresponding chapter, from anatomy, physio, patho, pharma…etc this will give better prespective and wider integration of knowledge.
of course there are few subjects that u have to sudy alone like: bio, behavioral, micro, immune, embryo
FA myth:
it is true fellas. FA is the best thing ever happened out there for step 1
if you go to your exam without looking at it. Then you probably have done with worst mistake in your life ever.I have read FA nine times from cover to cover, with exception of few chapters that I have to read 10 to 11 times coz they were volatile.
try to digest every single word in FA. Understand every sentence. FA is like zillion questions squeezed into a readable format. FA in itself without any addition from any source contributes to about 65-70% of the exam material. U can reach 90-95% with addition of Kaplan qbank and UW qbank explanations. The remaining 5% is just from variable sources out there.
The dilemma, is FA enough? Yes, but under the condition of understanding what is written. For some chapters u just can’t understand what is written unless u have a good base background knowledge that won’t be built up unless u already have read that in another book like Kaplan or BRS, with exception to micro, immune, embryo, and most of organ systems (e.g cadio, GI…etc) they can by directly studied from FA
think of FA as if u r going to a written exam rather than MCQ exam, if your knowledge of FA is as strong as u r going for it as written exam then enshalla you should do good in the real exam. The more time u spend on FA the better bearing in mind that you solve a lot in order to consolidate the info.
My first read of FA exhausted one month. I read it over 9 times till I reached the burnout point. Everytime you read it u will get different way of linking the info in it, till you can remember every piece of information and even its location LOL ;D
The burnout:
beware of this phenomenon. It is not good to spend much time on step1. At certain level of time, u will suddenly drop out, your performance will decline and you might even compromise your whole score, as u reach appoint where u wanna just be done no matter what.
it isn’t a linear relationship, simply starling law applies here. The more you study the better you score, but within limits ;p
you can stretch yourself till the maximal brain sarcomere length ;p but then ur brain will till ya : screw you, I am outta here. You are on your own. I am not joking this is real. So try to consolidate your study and don’t waste much time in the beginning of your study.
Don’t think that you r a hero and I have a goal and bullsh*** all newbies say at the start. If u didn’t finish on time, you will burnout and u won’t score well.
What is the ideal timeline? Dunno really, but for sure not less than 8 months, if it is your first step, or if you are a graduate. That’s my opinion.
Subjects’ Analysis:
1. Behavioral Sciences:
FA isn’t enough at all. U must study Kaplan. This is a must. About the 100 cases of Conrad fischer, u might look at them, but I didn’t ;p
although I did all this, I ended up scoring very low in the exam in this particular subject???
there are plenty of behave/biostat in the exam, the biostat questions are relatively easy, but behave. Questions are mostly ( b***h please yao ming face )
2. Biochemistry / genetics :
FA is good for recapping. I will say it is enough in case you can understand what is written. For me I couldn’t understand plenty of the molecular stuff and specially the genetics, so I had to study it three time from Kaplan lecture notes, I even gave it a shot from the expanded FA, then I threw them at the same closet that I mentioned earlier;p and made the standard FA my only source ;p I had to listen to the whole boring video for bio in order to understand it
in the exam the bio questions are straight forward and easy. Moderate amount in exam.
3. Embryology:
FA is more than Enough. I had only two questions in the real exam.
4. Microbiology:
FA is more than enough. Although I wasted sometime studying if from the expanded FA, but I regret it later. FA is just enough. But eat it from FA coz there are zillion questions on it in the real exam, but all from FA
5. Immunology:
FA is more than enough. Didn’t see many questions in the exam.
6. Pathology:
If I heard anyone talking about Goljan Rapid review, I am gonna hit him with the biggest hammer out there ;p I hate this book a lot.
i wasn’t gonna study pathology at all, but coz of peer pressure I had to seek a small book and BRS pathology was the best thing ever happened. It is amazing book and I totally recommend it. I just studied it once and it was enough.
7.pharmacology:
You must see the videos for it, only the general and autonomic part. It will make great difference in your performance. You must study only from Kaplan the first two chapters ( general and autonomic ). FA is more than enough for the remaining.
8. Anatomy:
FA was my only source. Except for neurology, I just read few pages only from Kaplan ( maximum 25 pages) and that’s it. Also the table for upper and lower muscles. That’s it
9.for the remaining organ systems, FA is the only thing I have studied.
Qbanks
USMLE World (UW):
UW cumulative : 78% - 86th percentile
this is by far the most reliable thing out there. Golden standard. When I say FA is enough in any subject, then I mean FA+UW
I totally recommend doing any other qbank whether online or offline before you start solving this UW qbank in order to max your performance.
it is the same format as the exam, u will feel in the exam as if you are solving an ordinary UW block.
I got many repeat questions from UW even exact copies not only similar concepts.
the best way to solve it is RANDOM, TIMED, MIXED but u can’t do it this way unless you already have solved any qbank b4 it or you will bang your head to the wall.
Here is my performance graph:
So it is normal to have a fluctuant performance, but the second time you solve it you should be scoring not less than 80 % to be safe.
Taking notes from UW was pain in the ****, so thank God I figured a way to printscreen the whole qbank and then print out in papers the explanations I wanted to study ;p
Here is a sample, I had to blur it for copyright issures ;p
I studied the explanations four times in order to master them.
Kaplan Qbank:
It is a good one, but has low yield info, but still it is important to get ready to solve the UW. I totally recommend solving it b4 UW qbank. I did 70% of it and It helped me a lot. I did only 20% online then I ran out of time so I had to printscreen the whole qbank and print the explanations and study them. It helps a lot.
The assessments:
I did them all ONLINE. Never do an offline assessement. It is useless. If u wanna do the first six NBMEs offline then ok. Coz they r obsolete now and u can do them early in study to assess yourself. I didn’t have time to do them
I did
NBME 11 (self-paced) (6 weeks) : 221
UWSA1 (2 weeks): 236
UWSA2 (1 week) : 258
NBME 12 (4 days): 219 !! I think I was tired/stressed that day
people say UWSA usually overshoot, but in my case, UWSA1 was the most predictive. One thing, NBMEs are usually harder than the real exam, the exam difficulty is much similar to UWSA or as if you are solving UW qbank the second time.
Alright fellas, that’s it. If you feel you have any questions that I didn’t cover plz reply to the thread and enshalla I will try to answer them all. Hope you gain something from this experience. I really said everything I ‘ve always wished to hear b4 I started my study for step1. Your prayers for me for my upcoming steps/match is appreciated ;p
Good luck everyone. U can enshalla do it.
studying the explanations in a text format is really helpful and will help consolidate the qbank after you solve it, for further revisions.
here is a photo of my printed out explanations of choice
i forgot to add few details.....
* regarding solving UW, bear in mind the following facts,
* although u solve the block in one hour, but studying the explanations exhausts at least three hours.
i was naive
when i started my schedule, and thought that half an hour is sufficient to revise the answers, and this missed up my schedule later on coz i jumped from half an hour to 3-4 hours per block just revising.....duration: i prefer subscribing for two months. just solve one block daily and u will finish in 46 days leaving 14 days for revision of wrong answers, via doing 2-3 blocks per day. You can subscribe for 3 months in case you want to do a full second time.
* here is a good trick, u can subscribe for one month and do two blocks per day, but it is risky....then after u finish you subscribe again as a new subscription not as an extension, u will get to solve it as a brand new to assess yourself, but u will be i guess 40 dollars more in comparison to buying two continuous months.
for me i didn't need this coz i printed the whole qbank :happy: i just can't release the method coz it is copyrighted material :notsure: and they deserve credit for their awesome qbank
* Read all the explanations, even the wrong answers, many info is really found in the wrong choices and u even get a broader spectrum.
* Don't panic if your performance was fluctuating, it is ok. Your overall performance should rise very slowly over time, but u still might encounter a drop in score here and there
* think of it as a learning tool, not assessment tool, what u might count on is the second time solving, u should get at least 80% correct in the second time.
* A trick to solve all the wrong answers at once, let's say u have 400 wrong questions, if u created a block and answered and then u had wrong answers, they will be added automatically, so in order to solve this :
400/46 = almost nine blocks, create them all at once then pause them all. and start solving. by the end u will get only the wrong answers of the second time
* they have an application for UW on mobile both iOS and Android, it becomes handy when u want to revise some explanations when you r outside
Regarding FA:
why is it that important? it is almost 650 pages, while KLN exceeds 2500 pages? which do u think is managable? which can be memorized well?
by the time u add info from the qbanks to FA u reach a nasty big amount of info....
let's think loud here, which is better? to go for the exam with 650+ pages that i can memorize and understand 90-100% (meaning i can retain 650 to 580 pages in memory ) OR to study 2500+ pages that u won't retain at least 50% in your memory. Not only that but also, the amount of low yield info is enormous,
so for example for a subject like micro, just imagine the spam(low yield) info that ur brain will retain?
:eek: that's why my advice for the First read from any source to be quick and just to grasp the basics...that's itRegarding the Timing
Let's assume we have 100 pages to study,
if person A studies 10 hours per day and he can afford 3 pages per hour then he will finish in almost 3.5 days
while if person B studies 5 hours / 2 pages per hour, he will finish in 10 days....
that's why there is pretty big variations in timelines among exam experiences u find in forums....so don't get surprised when some say 6 months is enough while others say 12 :cool:
one last piece of advice: when u study for step1 go serious from the start. i am talking about sticking your b**t on the chair for at least 10 hours daily to finish. Minimize distractions as much as u can.
Good Luck fellas
Yes. I used FA 2011 and it was my primary source. By the time I took the exam, FA 2012 was out but my friends told me that the only difference was that they integrated the image gallery into the branches directly which I think Is better. But of course I continued with FA 2011 coz I already added many info to it.
As I said before, don’t waste much time on your first read. Maximum 3 months. Even if u don’t remember a thing.
This first read is only to have an idea and brush up the old info you already studied in medical school. They might have become rusty, that’s why u do the first read.
Regarding the schedule, for the last 6-7 months, I was only solving, studying explanations and going over FA, over and over again.
For the early start, I totally recommend, studying branch by branch, e.g GI, go study it from physio, then from pharma, then from patho….etc
Let me make it simple, read any subject from FA, if u feel that u totally understand each word and sentence in it, then no need for further expansion till u solve some questions and assess our performance.
But if u already have time, then it won’t harm to do a quick first read for all subjects and then stick to FA+UW+Kaplan qbank.
Hope this answers all your questions.
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LOL! Me too. I really want to know the answer too. I studied from Kaplan lecture notes coz many of my friends scored bad in this subject. But still I got the star from the bottom
The biostatistics questions are pretty easy once u study well. I think it is all about the behavioral questions. It is always that u end up with two answers very close, and I think we usually go for the wrong one LOL .
I even solved the UW special edition for biostat and behavioral. It is a separate qbank for UW. And still didn’t improve my performance???
Anyway, my advice is
Watch the Kaplan videos for behavioral and biostats first. Then study it from Kaplan. After that, FA and solve the UW/Kaplan qbank and study the explanations well. If u can get hands-on the other qbanks section for behavioral then u did yourself a good favor.
I think it isn’t about the knowledge rather than the practice. So my advice is to dig and search for usmle related qbanks just in this branch and try to solve as much as u can. Good luck mate.
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This is really a tough question. It all depends on you. Let’s think out loud. If you are totally satisfied with a score in the 220s range, then go ahead and take the exam.
If you think you could withstand the burden of another few weeks or a month without burning out, then I would still recommend that. It all depends on your power.
What’s the point of postponing if it will lead to burnout and lose the momentum of today energy? In the same way, what’s the point of rushing the exam if I have the power to stay focused for another week or month and score better? As you see, you are the only one who can determine this according to your circumstances and your individual skills .
what I normally do is to pray to God for guidance, make an educated choice and go for it and never look back or hesitate, so as not to regret what I chose ;D
Good luck mate.
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I would love to add another addition here.
Regarding the Media questions,
First of all, I think according to my experience, the UW gallery along with the FA gallery are more than enough for any image you might encounter in the exam. If you solved some other qbanks then you can add the photos you encounter too to your gallery. That’s it. No need to exaggerate or do extensive digging at all.
I remember when I asked other USMLErs who took the exam what to do, they all say go for google, rapid review Goljan, pathoma, webpath….etc then I was like….
LOL! That was my reaction. The only thing I used google for was the brain section for location of basal ganglia and ventricles. That’s it. Other than this I sticked to the qbanks and FA gallery.
This is the gallery from my PC
And this is a sample one ( had to blur for copyright issues ;p )
there are two versions of FA
normal edition: Golden Standard the one i am recommending and used
www.amazon.com/First-Aid-USMLE-Step-2013/dp/0071802320/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1350253012&sr=8-6&keywords=first+aid+organ+systems+2012
the extended edition: it is two books, almost half to one-third of kaplan lecture notes size. it is good, but after i studied from it, and compared it to medessentials, if u r going for books other than KLN then i totally recommend medessentials....it is awesome
www.amazon.com/First-Aid-Basic-Sciences-Systems/dp/0071743952/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350253012&sr=8-1&keywords=first+aid+organ+systems+2012
www.amazon.com/Sciences-General-Principles-Second-Edition/dp/007174388X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1350253012&sr=8-2&keywords=first+aid+organ+systems+2012
www.amazon.com/medEssentials-USMLE-Step-Kaplan-Medessenitals/dp/1607144824/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350253077&sr=8-1&keywords=medessentials+for+the+usmle+step+1
here is my recommendation:
if you aren't able to study the whole KLN coz it is insanely big,
go for kaplan medessentials or FA extended edition, but i recommend the medessentials
still all the previous books are just for first read, but for the real thing and revision / memorization go only for the First Aid......
