USMLE Forums banner

USMLE Candidates from Greece!

8K views 28 replies 14 participants last post by  koolio852 
#1 ·
Hey everybody!! Are there any greek usmle candidates in this forum??? Please contact me, to let me know that I'm not alone!!!! haha:)):)):)):))
 
#8 ·
I'm a 2nd year student, so USMLE are still far....I plan to sit the exam after the 3rd year, but I've decided to start studying medical books in English, in order to become familiar with the language and the medical terms..... How is it in Prague?? Are you satisfied with the university there??:)
 
#9 ·
Good luck in everything then! If you need any books I have many on pdf form let me know...
Well, to be honest about my uni here, it gives you a strong background of basic sciences but the clinicals, which i started this year (4th), are disappointing. You don't get to see or examine patients in many rotations, its still mostly lectures!

Thankfully though the lessons are all in english. I'm thinking of taking Step 1 at the end of my 5th year but havent decided yet if I should take it this year instead! :rolleyes:

How is it in Patra? :)
 
#10 ·
Well, here in Patras, the University is fine. Being a 2nd year student, I only have basic medical sciences lessons, so I can't tell you about the clinical skills provided by the school. All the lessons are in Greek of course, so I must spend extra time studying in English. Most of the students want to go abroad for their internship, but USA is a litle bit frightening for them :)):)):)) So, I am one of the few who have this intention. Thanks for offering books, but I already have some. When did you started your preparation?? Are there many people there, who want to sit these exams??
 
#11 ·
I can't actually say that I started studying specifically for the USMLEs yet, but the curriculum we did so far in basic sciences is what will be included in the USMLEs anyhow, so I would need to revise that, with the appropriate books for the Usmles.
There is a course organized by the university for the first time this year, for those interested in taking the USMLEs. They gathered some of our university's professors and they ll be giving lectures ,according to Kaplan material, once a week from the end of Feb - May.
I signed up for that, hopefully it will force me to study ! :) And after the end of our rotations, in June, I 'll probably stay here for the summer to study until September when I ll be taking the exam. There are many ppl from here interested in the USMLEs from what I 've heard so far.

That's my plan so far, but I'm still thinking of leaving it for next year as many ppl suggest internal medicine helps quite a lot, and we 'll do it next year.

I think a good solution for you is to get the books, like BRS Physio, and while studying Physiology for the uni, read from that as well, so you 'll only need to revise later on, and not spend time getting used to english terminology etc :)
 
#12 ·
Lessons especially for the USMLE's??? That's great!!!:) Unfortunately, here in Greece, there aren't any specific schools or programmes for these exams. So , I have to work on my own. I have most of the books of the BRS series, including Physiology. The advantage the greek medstudents have, is that the majority of the medical terms have greek roots! :) So it is not so difficult for us to learn them. WHat about Anatomy? We use Snell's Clinical Anatomy by Regions and by Systems....What about you?
 
#13 ·
The course was organized by students actually. They just got the Kaplan books and asked professors from our university, if they can give some lectures according to that material. Maybe u can give it a try and get to see if u can organize something similar. It s helpful cause it makes u study actually.
Well as for anatomy our school suggested a huge book by Moore, so I 'll be studying mostly from the notes I made, and from High-yield Neuroanatomy, I heard it's helpful.
There are polls in the forum about which book is most helpful for each subject in the Usmle, u can check them out to get an idea.
 
#14 ·
hey there!

lexi you're certainly not alone :)

I'm also Greek and I'm a 2nd year Med student in Athens. Realizing that there are other people in a similar position as I am -almost clueless and very concerned about the USMLES- is very comforting!

Keep in touch with you guys :D
 
#15 ·
hey rppb
i'm in the second year in the aristotle university of thessaloniki and i'm trying to get ready for the usmle step 1.It's really comforting knowing that someone from your country is on the same road.
I haven't started reading for usmle step 1 yet.I'm struggling to find out which books to use for the basic sciences.
Which books do you use?Have you started reading any material?
I'm excited since i know that i'm not alone.We make it work...
 
#16 ·
hey swimgo
well, I have already bought Constanzo's Physiology and FA but haven't bought any qbanks, yet. I must say I haven't done a lot of serious studying from these books just yet, because in Athens we've only now started Anatomy and Physiology... So I guess I'll use the textbooks provided by the university in order to obtain all the necessary knowledge and at some point I'll start using my USMLE books, as well, in order to focus more on the high-yield principles. Good luck to you, too!:)
 
#18 ·
Hello all :) Kalispera!

I'm currently a 3rd year medical student in Athens, Greece.
I plan on taking the Step 1 exam on September/October of 2013, when I will have finished my 4th year. My 'Amazon Armada' of review books arrived just today...Good luck to all step takers! :)
 
#20 ·
A Little Motivation

Hey guys, since this forum has been really helpful to me, I wanted to write a couple of things about my USMLE experience to fellow candidates from Greece and anywhere else...
;)

I noticed some of you guys are medical students planning to do some steps studying on the side and that's great, but keep in mind that to maximize your match chances you need as good a score as you can get. Maybe it's a good idea to study from English textbooks to get used to them. Go through Kaplan Notes or whatever "main" studying material you have first and then do the review books and qbanks whenever you have some free time which usually is after you have graduated. Also, while still in med school, you should keep an eye for and actively pursue elective/clerkship opportunities (during summertime) that would also increase your chances to match and, if you give it your best shot could provide you with a good recommendation letter from a US physician:cool:. Matching into residencies has been getting increasingly difficult every year so you need to approach this the right way. You should also keep in mind that in the most competitive specialties in the US, like derm, plastics, neurosurgery, ortho, "ORL", radiology etc only a very small, if not miniscule percentage of the matched candidates are non-US IMGs:confused:. That is not to dishearten anyone but just pointing out the facts:eek:. You can look at the 2013 statistics yourself at the NRMP homepage and decide whether pursuing a specific US residency works for you. However, no matter how hard it may seem at first (trust me it certainly does) you can go through it with the right plan and attitude ;).

Now regarding the USMLE exams themselves here's a couple of things I wanted to point out, needless to say those are just my personal view on things:

- Make sure you start the application process early since it can be confusing and even frustrating at times. Also greek universities like their paperwork slow if you know what I mean...;)

- A common mistake ppl do, mainly hearing this from guys who took the exam quite a while ago is taking Step 2 CK first and then Step 1:confused: on the basis that your clinical knowledge is "fresh" right out of med school. Guys, Step2 is VERY dependent on the things you learn from Step 1 like patholphysiology, pathology etc and your med school knowledge will probably be lacking in those fields. Check some questions yourself and see what I mean there. There is a huge overlap between them so I would definently recommend step 1 first.

- I am not going to say much about the studying method, books, time needed etc. There is a whole lot of really awesome information on this forum that you can read up and decide what works best for you :). The polls here will be especially helpful. I will say this however:
DO A WHOLE BUNCH OF QUESTIONS :D
and don't focus overly on the books, they do not cover all of the material you will encounter on the exam and you will probably forget most of them anyway:)). Studying for the steps is quite different from the studying you do in med school...

- Another thing is: stick together! . Find some people that are also interested in USMLE and help each other out. Even if they re going for the same residency as you (you may reconsider your residency choice anyway) help each other and you will both gain something. Remember that there's (tens of) thousands of people that will be going for the same spots so dont fall into that trap. Help each other out and encourage each other and it is gonna work in your favour in the long run!

- Remember USMLE scores are not everything to an application. The goal is to get a residency spot, not to get a specific score on the exam. Therefore you shouldn't spend years studying just to geat an X,Y score. Just do your best and go along with it. Even if your score is not that good you can strenghten your application by getting US clinical experience, research, etc.
Many "superstar" applicants tend to do a year or 2 of unpaid research in the US after school to boost their chances.

- Like all things good, the whole process of getting a US residency spot comes with a cost. The cost is time, effort, and also financial. The training you can get in the US is standarized, comprehensive and probably the best you can get in the world as a doctor, provided that you work hard. Also studying for the steps allows you be in contact with real medicine (and get much better) insted of spending time and money to learn a new language from scratch/ make connections in some other country just because they dont test your medical knowledge there.

- Play it smart and don't sweat too much over it, USMLE studying and applying for the match is like a marathon, not a sprint race:cool:. Reallistically it will probably take you a couple of years of effort before you get there.

Anyway, those were my 2 cents, you can PM me anytime for more information. Sorry for the long post but I think I owe a contribution to this awesome forums posting a few things I wish I'd heard before starting prep for USMLE :D.
 
#21 ·
Step 1 in Athens

Hi I'm a Greek-American student studying abroad in Hungary. I'm planning on taking my step 1 in Athens. I was just wondering if anyone has taken their step in Athens. I'm just a bit concerned about the quality of the test taking area. To out it politely, I'm fully aware of how hard it can be to accomplish something in Athens due to delays, or any number of other problems that can be present. I just want to make sure I won't have any extra headaches the day of he exam :)

Thanks for the advice!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top