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Step 1 experience...256

5K views 25 replies 9 participants last post by  sndhrdd4 
#1 ·
Hello guys..I've been following this forum for a while and I thought I'll post my experience which may be of help to someone
Preparation time:6 months
Path:goljan audio and high yield goljan book
Physiology,pharmac,biochem,immunology ,neuroanatomy,behavioral science-Kaplan lectures n notes
Microbiology and anatomy -FA
Question bank used-U World.
1st time simultaneously along with the 1st read of Kaplan ...
Revision
Entire FA once-6 days
U world 2nd time:14 days
Nbme7(1 month out)..should have taken last-242
Read FA weak areas-3 days
U world SA 1-258
Again read weak areas-3days
Nbme 11-252
Started u world incorrect n marked ones-took 5 days
Took nbme 12-252(3days after u world)
Nbme 15-254(5days out)
U world SA2--265 (3 days out)
Read FA for d rest 2 and a half days
Exam !!!!
The final test was lengthier than any nbme but concepts were familiar..time management was a real issue in the exam..well I don't exactly remember relatives weightages of each subject..but didn't feel really good after d test..felt I performed like in 235-245..may b dats how everyone feels after the test..lower than they really did...so ppl don't worry after d test until d score comes...good luck everyone!!!
 
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#5 ·
My exam was on11th dec .. I think all the blocks combined there were like 10 for which I had no clue....but in every block I marked around 6-7 questions which were like uncertain but probably u can make an educated guess ...after d test I could remember 4 silly mistakes which should have been avoided
 
#7 ·
AWESOME score sndhrdd4! Congrats!!

Thank you for coming back and helping others with questions. I wanted to know how did you deal with the lab values? Where the normal lab values given in the question stem? Also, what calculations did you do on the exam?

Last question, how did you deal with long stem qs? and did you leave calculation questions to come back to them at the end or did you do them as you went along?
 
#8 ·
AWESOME score sndhrdd4! Congrats!!

Thank you for coming back and helping others with questions. I wanted to know how did you deal with the lab values? Where the normal lab values given in the question stem? Also, what calculations did you do on the exam?

Last question, how did you deal with long stem qs? and did you leave calculation questions to come back to them at the end or did you do them as you went along?
Lab values were given in the lab values drop down just like in u world and nbmes...long questions I went reading frm first like I used to do always..but these days everyone who has taken d exam recently n myself have felt the exam really lenghty..,,so with very long questions u can read last two lines when u feel so..,coming to calculations the simple ones I used deal then n there if I felt I was getting stuck I used to select off some ans n come back at the end...js to make sure it wasn't left unanswered in case I ran out of time which I really did in 1 block
 
#10 ·
thank you for your reply. so did you use the lab values or did you memorize them. I have been working on memorizing them to save time since pulling them up will take time.

Also, besides neuro anatomy, do you think we should learn the arm/pelvic muscles?
No I didn't memorize any, I used to use d drop down....apart from neuroanatomy rest all I read only first aid
 
#11 ·
One more thing, I have a dilemma at hand, I have been using 2012 FA and it is full of annotations and I saw that the FA 2014 has new drugs added to it. What do you say should be done? Which FA did you use? I don't know if I want to switch to a new one after annotating the old one all this time. I am planning to take the exam in few months.

I'm sorry I'm the only one asking you question... lol.. I have become your fan and appreciate your guidance. :)
 
#12 ·
Well for this I don't have a sure answer..as I have used fa 2013 and I haven't seen the earlier or 2014 editions ...but if u have months ahead den u can spare time for just d new drugs in d new FA if it doesn't take much time....as I did FA only in d last month..or if u have a sp who has FA 2014 it may help u with d extra points in it
 
#14 ·
Musculoskeletal anatomy

Congrats !! A solid score you got there Happy-2 keep it goin in step 2

I do have a question .. concerning the Anatomy part of musculoskeletal system .. that concerned with nerves and its course through the muscles .. sites of injury .. muscles of upper limb / lower limb / gluteal region etc .. ligaments and so forth .. Can you advise me what to do regarding that ; i know people say they are a bit low yield but i get screwed in any bank question regarding that !

I would appreciate your help !
 
#16 · (Edited)
Congrats !! A solid score you got there Happy-2 keep it goin in step 2

I do have a question .. concerning the Anatomy part of musculoskeletal system .. that concerned with nerves and its course through the muscles .. sites of injury .. muscles of upper limb / lower limb / gluteal region etc .. ligaments and so forth .. Can you advise me what to do regarding that ; i know people say they are a bit low yield but i get screwed in any bank question regarding that !

I would appreciate your help !
Actually the information and the diagram of the limbs with lesions given with the nerves in FA will serve dat along with u world ....provided u revise until u feel confident abt dat...coz I too had the same prob in d beginning...was in a dilemma whether to read Kaplan...but trust me 2 revisions of FA n u world made a really big difference
 
#22 ·
congrates for the score....my exam in 2 weeks just did uworld and took nbme offline 3 of them and got 240 above.....planning to take 15 online...
but in confusion whether doing uworld just once would b enough....havent done q bank either.....though i m pretty comfortable with first aid???
 
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