Exam in 1.5 Months; Study Schedule!!

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by d_wiqed

@DocSikorski: Are you scheduling in June too? Yay! Looks like you'll be joining us june steptakers in flooding the step 2 forum by August! (We won't be sober in July...)

*Side-note: I took Tramadol 50 mg/tab yesterday... I was reading Beh. science psychopharmacology chapter, had a mild headache, and got really curious about this euphoria thing by opioids. LOL! Anyway, I slept for 20 hrs! Darn drug! I slept through my scheduled day 1 of DIT... However, I found out months ago that Tramadol 37.5 mg/tab is great for hang-overs. No headaches, no fatigue, and no oversleeping the next day! LOL!! It also has this "side-effect" that makes you all happy inside. Just wanted to share...

Have fun!!

I do not mess with the stuff that messes up your breathing center...
Especially before sleep...

Beer hangovers are the worst I think...

I am not sure if I should trust FA about "no withdrawl symptoms/no addiction" abou LSD though But that one sounds like the most fun of all

Ye, I'll have to study hard for step 2 to take it as soon as possible though... I want to apply next year.

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by sukar

Ye the dates are mostly booked up for the next few months.. Atleast in toronto it is...

did you book your exam yet?
june 1-6 is available in toronto then it jumps straight to the end of the month.

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by sukar

Ye the dates are mostly booked up for the next few months.. Atleast in toronto it is...

even in a little redneck city where I live everything is booked.

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by d_wiqed

*Side-note: I took Tramadol 50 mg/tab yesterday... I was reading Beh. science psychopharmacology chapter, had a mild headache, and got really curious about this euphoria thing by opioids. LOL! Anyway, I slept for 20 hrs! Darn drug! I slept through my scheduled day 1 of DIT... However, I found out months ago that Tramadol 37.5 mg/tab is great for hang-overs. No headaches, no fatigue, and no oversleeping the next day! LOL!! It also has this "side-effect" that makes you all happy inside. Just wanted to share...

That information might be helpful for tomorrow morning!

Almost done day 4 of DIT and then a few questions!

[sukar]

Originally Posted by d_wiqed

@DocSikorski: Are you scheduling in June too? Yay! Looks like you'll be joining us june steptakers in flooding the step 2 forum by August! (We won't be sober in July...)

*Side-note: I took Tramadol 50 mg/tab yesterday... I was reading Beh. science psychopharmacology chapter, had a mild headache, and got really curious about this euphoria thing by opioids. LOL! Anyway, I slept for 20 hrs! Darn drug! I slept through my scheduled day 1 of DIT... However, I found out months ago that Tramadol 37.5 mg/tab is great for hang-overs. No headaches, no fatigue, and no oversleeping the next day! LOL!! It also has this "side-effect" that makes you all happy inside. Just wanted to share...

Have fun!!

Haha!! I definitely won't be taking that the week before my exam

[tootsie]

Is step 1 like CS in the sense that all dates are mostly booked?

Bummer. I was planning on taking it once I scored satisfactorily on most NBME.

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by tootsie

Is step 1 like CS in the sense that all dates are mostly booked?

Bummer. I was planning on taking it once I scored satisfactorily on most NBME.

lol I booked my date after very unsatisfactory and disappointing NBME ... now its motivating me to go 10-12 hours everyday non-stop and getting work done!

Book your date soon if you're ready and you'll work towards it since you'll get closer to dooms-day and end up increasing your study time!


Update:-
-Watched 6 hours of DIT today (I'm officially delirious after all that).
-Did 15 questions.
-Behind by 1 block now ..I'll have to do that on Monday (catch up/review day).

Saturday and sunday = Days 5 and 6 of DIT + 2 blocks..hopefully!

[sleepy]

Hey Folks,
ive started DIT , and for me it takes a significant amount of time, to finish up the 3 lectures a day , takes almost the whole day .
Im supposed to sit for the exam on the 26th of June..
Ill try to keep an Update for my daily Dit progress here too will probably keep me on my toes and honest.
Need to add two blocks of questions Of UW to my daily routine.
GL every1

[aj23]

Originally Posted by sleepy

Hey Folks,
ive started DIT , and for me it takes a significant amount of time, to finish up the 3 lectures a day , takes almost the whole day .
Im supposed to sit for the exam on the 26th of June..
Ill try to keep an Update for my daily Dit progress here too will probably keep me on my toes and honest.
Need to add two blocks of questions Of UW to my daily routine.
GL every1

u doing uw 2nd round???

[moath]

hi Hope2Pass hi all

great plan and great doing



my exam in the last week in next month as you(Hope2Pass)

what about pathology I read it from BRS but found UWORLD difficult did you feel like that?and if I memorize first aid and uworld is it enough?

every 20 questions in UWORLD I spent about 4 hours read them and annotate important things does this normal or very slow?Till now i just finish 10% of uworld!

did you think first aid is enough for micro and biochem?

thaaaanks doc

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by sleepy

Hey Folks,
ive started DIT , and for me it takes a significant amount of time, to finish up the 3 lectures a day , takes almost the whole day .
Im supposed to sit for the exam on the 26th of June..
Ill try to keep an Update for my daily Dit progress here too will probably keep me on my toes and honest.
Need to add two blocks of questions Of UW to my daily routine.
GL every1

Hey Keep posting your DIT progress. Good luck! Take a day or two off in between your DIT if you feel like you should do some questions. That would help

Originally Posted by moath

hi Hope2Pass hi all
great plan and great doing
my exam in the last week in next month as you(Hope2Pass)
what about pathology I read it from BRS but found UWORLD difficult did you feel like that?and if I memorize first aid and uworld is it enough?
every 20 questions in UWORLD I spent about 4 hours read them and annotate important things does this normal or very slow?Till now i just finish 10% of uworld!
did you think first aid is enough for micro and biochem?
thaaaanks doc

I think FA is OK for micro and biochem but kaplan is probably better. For pathology I used pathoma so I dont know about BRS. You should go faster in UW. It should take you max 4 hours to review a block but I can understand how it will take longer since you are annotating as well. Don't get bogged down to annotate too much. Think about it - if you don't finish all the questions on time, then you won't even have time to go over it a 2nd time or to read everything you annotated. Only about a month and a half left! Good luck!

[DefeatTheBeast]

Finally made my final plan as well....taking nbme 12 on the 20, so just going over my weak areas from nbme 5 until next saturday

Then the plan is review the missed answers from nbme 12 on the same day after i take a little break

Start dit (again) on the 21...basically giving myself about 4 days per 3 days worth of dit, so any left over time can be spent reviewing or doing questions....with this plan i should be able to finish all of dit again by the 9th..

Will take nbme 7 on the tenth and then start my final revision of FA one more time (exam is on the 22nd)

Probably will take uswa 2 as i still have it around 5 days before the exam to give me a confidence boost...

Damn i think all of us are taking the exam near the middle or end of june..best of luck to all...lets get this **** done

[sleepy]

@Aj yes, second round of UW questions. First round was abt a month and a half ago
@DefeatTheBeast Best wishes for the Nbme, seems like a good plan.
DIT update
Plan on getting day 5 completed 2day.
Plus Two blocks Of UW split into sections of 23 questions.
23 questions, at the start and end of every 90min lecture ....
Busy day ahead.

[vna.rao22]

so I did NBME 12, and my weak areas are still weak! How do i improve Behavioural sciences? specially these physician patient relationships qs? is it jus me or does evrybody find them tough? I somehow dont get them at all! it was way below the borderline in NBME13, this time i happen to jus cross it! (phew) another weak area is Pharm! I have 12 days to go, my exam is on 28th. how do i go about?

M planning to do FA(i read it once) and listen to goljan lectures (and Uworld incorrect qs explanation, if possible). Will FA be enough for Molecular biology?

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by vna.rao22

so I did NBME 12, and my weak areas are still weak! How do i improve Behavioural sciences? specially these physician patient relationships qs? is it jus me or does evrybody find them tough? I somehow dont get them at all! it was way below the borderline in NBME13, this time i happen to jus cross it! (phew) another weak area is Pharm! I have 12 days to go, my exam is on 28th. how do i go about?

M planning to do FA(i read it once) and listen to goljan lectures (and Uworld incorrect qs explanation, if possible). Will FA be enough for Molecular biology?

Conrad Fischer 100 cases will help you with ethics.

[Hope2Pass]

How's everyone doing? Hope everyone had a productive weekend!

Update:
Week 1 of DIT is over. Finished 6 days, 4 blocks, Offline NBME 1.

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

Kaplan Qbank: 28% done, averaged 55% overall (finished 36%, overall went up by 2% = 57%, average in 4 blocks this week: 61%)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's the schedule:

Week 1 = May 7th to May 13th
-DIT Days 1 to 6 (Finished)
-7 Blocks (4 down, behind by 3)

Come on guys!
Post your progress/schedules and lets stick to it and get it done!
What's everyone been up to?

[sukar]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

How's everyone doing? Hope everyone had a productive weekend!

Update:
Week 1 of DIT is over. Finished 6 days, 4 blocks, Offline NBME 1.




Come on guys!
Post your progress/schedules and lets stick to it and get it done!
What's everyone been up to?

I did chapters 1-3 of neuro Kaplan LN/videos today. And did chapter 1 in HY. Now abt to annotate the first 3 chapters then do more of neuro.
I did Renal few days ago but didnt finish annotating yet.. Been too lazy to do so plus had some family issues the last few days.. Err!
I need to do some of the annotating later today.. And uworld questions..

I still have micro and immuno to do...
I was supposed to take an NBME tom but now thinking of moving it to next tuesday.. Should I wait to book the exam or book it for June (may be around 19th) and then continue studying? Any suggestions?

[Hope2Pass]

@Sukar - I think you should take the NBME and then continue studying and then take another NBME coz you will end up taking a lot of them anyways. And there are 7 forms (4,5,6,7,11,12,13). And if you plan on signing up for your Step 1 for June 19th then you you have about a month to do those 7 forms. So you should just do one every week starting now and see how it goes! (improvement is the best motivation!!)

Good luck

[sukar]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

@Sukar - I think you should take the NBME and then continue studying and then take another NBME coz you will end up taking a lot of them anyways. And there are 7 forms (4,5,6,7,11,12,13). And if you plan on signing up for your Step 1 for June 19th then you you have about a month to do those 7 forms. So you should just do one every week starting now and see how it goes! (improvement is the best motivation!!)

Good luck

Alright... May be I will try taking on on Wednesday.. I want to finish neuro atleast before I take the NBME.

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by sukar

Alright... May be I will try taking on on Wednesday.. I want to finish neuro atleast before I take the NBME.

Yeah that would be helpful. At least it will give you a heads up on where you stand and what areas you need to work on. Are you planing on doing DIT as well? I've found it very helpful so far but finding it really hard to do questions along with it!!

[sukar]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

Yeah that would be helpful. At least it will give you a heads up on where you stand and what areas you need to work on. Are you planing on doing DIT as well? I've found it very helpful so far but finding it really hard to do questions along with it!!

I can already predict my NBME is going to tell me to work on EVERYTHING. Lol!
Yep I am going to do DIT.

[islandcrazy]

Goodjob everyone.

Update for me:
- Finished Day 10 of DIT
- I do at least 45 questions from Qbank everyday
-Started the FA QandA book, want to finish 6 more chapters. Its a good refresher of USMLERx since my subscription is done

[DefeatTheBeast]

Originally Posted by sukar

I did chapters 1-3 of neuro Kaplan LN/videos today. And did chapter 1 in HY. Now abt to annotate the first 3 chapters then do more of neuro.
I did Renal few days ago but didnt finish annotating yet.. Been too lazy to do so plus had some family issues the last few days.. Err!
I need to do some of the annotating later today.. And uworld questions..

I still have micro and immuno to do...
I was supposed to take an NBME tom but now thinking of moving it to next tuesday.. Should I wait to book the exam or book it for June (may be around 19th) and then continue studying? Any suggestions?

Hey...is this the end of your eligibility period or do you have an extension? Cause i heard most seats if not all in june are gone....not 100 percent sure tho but i know i signed up i think 3 weeks back and even then the dates were only at the beginning or end of the month...so my advice is check out the slots asap...

[sukar]

Originally Posted by DefeatTheBeast

Hey...is this the end of your eligibility period or do you have an extension? Cause i heard most seats if not all in june are gone....not 100 percent sure tho but i know i signed up i think 3 weeks back and even then the dates were only at the beginning or end of the month...so my advice is check out the slots asap...

June is the end of my eligibility. I have been checking the dates.. There's abt 12-16 available..

[DefeatTheBeast]

Originally Posted by sukar

June is the end of my eligibility. I have been checking the dates.. There's abt 12-16 available..

Oh ok cool.... guess its don't believe everything you read lol

[sukar]

Originally Posted by DefeatTheBeast

Oh ok cool.... guess its don't believe everything you read lol

Well it depends on the location...
But it is true they were getting filled up pretty fast.. But for some reason there's still more left...

[aj23]

My Update.

Have almost finished Uworld (1st round)
Just have Few Q of Anatomy, embryology and histology to be done.
And hopefully i Should be done with the Major things. lol

I am planning on to do a Pre-DIT nbme on this Sunday.
I was thinking of doing NBME 12 (extended version)

what do you guys think? Is it good to do nbme 12 at this stage?
Thought nbme 12 would be good, because its kinda latest and might resemble the exam.

what do you guys think? Is it fine to do nbme 12 before DIT?

I hope i pass this nbme so that would increase my confidance level.

should be able to revise my uworld notes from thursday to saturday.
and take the exam on sunday!

[Dr. Mexito]

I'm afraid of doing a self-assessments test... I already have UWSA 1 and 2 (I bought them long time ago). I'm about to finishing UW second pass... but I'm afraid of doing any of the UWSA tests to see where I'm standing.
I did NBME #12 on february and got 330 (after working my ass off for almost 6 months... just got 330) That crushed my heart and confidence So I chose to do UW for the second time, so far... my score is 73% (first time was 60%)

I don't know what to do... I feel like if I do UWSA and get a bad score I will freeze...

I feel more secure now, but I'm afraid that I'm lying to myself thinking that I've improved when I haven't (plus, I think my average, for the 2nd time, is too low)

My exam is in July 31 (extension period)... I feel like having a "6th avenue heartache"

[Dr.NickRiviera]

i am amazed that you guys havent taken any self assessments yet and are talking about taking the exam in june.

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by aj23

My Update.

Have almost finished Uworld (1st round)
Just have Few Q of Anatomy, embryology and histology to be done.
And hopefully i Should be done with the Major things. lol

I am planning on to do a Pre-DIT nbme on this Sunday.
I was thinking of doing NBME 12 (extended version)

what do you guys think? Is it good to do nbme 12 at this stage?
Thought nbme 12 would be good, because its kinda latest and might resemble the exam.

what do you guys think? Is it fine to do nbme 12 before DIT?

I hope i pass this nbme so that would increase my confidance level.

should be able to revise my uworld notes from thursday to saturday.
and take the exam on sunday!

nbme 13 is the newest one, not 12

but yea, for sure do a pre-DIT nbme.

[aj23]

Originally Posted by Dr.NickRiviera

nbme 13 is the newest one, not 12

but yea, for sure do a pre-DIT nbme.

@Dr.Nick.
Thanks for your reply, i was thinking of possibly do nbme 13 almost to the end. So that it can give me am idea how its gonna be for the real exam.

i am planning to do the following ONLINE nbme : 7,11,12,13

as of my pre-dit will start with nbme 12

what do u think?? But i hope the score i would get will make be feel confidant in what am doing thats the only prayer

My other friends please do tell me about what you think?
nbme 12 or any other nbme?

[Hope2Pass]

@Dr.Mexito: Don't worry! If your exam is on July 31st, it might be a good idea to take an NBME now. Or a UWSA since you've been focusing on UW a lot lately! I have never taken a UWSA so I can't say how it is. If anything, I suggest you take offline NBME's 1,2,3,4 and then do 5,6 etc for practice. They are only there to show you your weaknesses...use it as a positive feedback not negative! I also got 330 in my NBME before starting DIT (did it online and offline ..so it correlated to 64%) ... I took an NBME yesterday (offline) and scored 74% ! That was a 10% increase in 1 week. That made me feel better because I know I'm heading in the right direction and eventually you will to! Or you might already be passing but you wouldn't know until you assess yourself. Good luck!

@aj23: Definitely do a pre-DIT NBME...When is your exam? I'm saving NBME's 11,12,13, and 7 for the last month before my exam ... take one every week leading up to the exam. Good luck!

[aj23]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

@Dr.Mexito: Don't worry! If your exam is on July 31st, it might be a good idea to take an NBME now. Or a UWSA since you've been focusing on UW a lot lately! I have never taken a UWSA so I can't say how it is. If anything, I suggest you take offline NBME's 1,2,3,4 and then do 5,6 etc for practice. They are only there to show you your weaknesses...use it as a positive feedback not negative! I also got 330 in my NBME before starting DIT (did it online and offline ..so it correlated to 64%) ... I took an NBME yesterday (offline) and scored 74% ! That was a 10% increase in 1 week. That made me feel better because I know I'm heading in the right direction and eventually you will to! Or you might already be passing but you wouldn't know until you assess yourself. Good luck!

@aj23: Definitely do a pre-DIT NBME...When is your exam? I'm saving NBME's 11,12,13, and 7 for the last month before my exam ... take one every week leading up to the exam. Good luck!

@hope2pass: I have booked my exam on 27th of June.
but POST- DIT will decide if i need to do it on tht date or extend my exam.

I took ur advice, as u said not to have a feeling that i still have time and take the prep lightly, so like how u said, i will give my best to be ready for the 27th june.

I wish if i could just see a 200+ for this nbme, then will feel confidant and move on..... hope i do well : sorry:

[Hope2Pass]

That's good! I hope you're ready by 27th as well so you can get it over with! Good luck on the NBME and hope you score well

[DocSikorski]

Got 63 in a Kbank block after weekend of sin

Finishing RR this week. Killing it.

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by aj23

@Dr.Nick.
Thanks for your reply, i was thinking of possibly do nbme 13 almost to the end. So that it can give me am idea how its gonna be for the real exam.

i am planning to do the following ONLINE nbme : 7,11,12,13

as of my pre-dit will start with nbme 12

what do u think?? But i hope the score i would get will make be feel confidant in what am doing thats the only prayer

My other friends please do tell me about what you think?
nbme 12 or any other nbme?

save 7 for last, that has the strongest rep for being most consistent with the exam
the other ones can be done in whatever order
form 13 is nothing out of the ordinary, a bit overhyped tbh.

[islandcrazy]

Very stressed out right now, feel like I'm not improving enough. DIT seems to be helping but not as much as I hoped.

[tootsie]

How much am I supposed to remember from a first read?

Is it enough to start DIT and then do a 2nd read of Kaplan (at least only the videos)?

I'm almost done with my first read, but I don't feel like I want to hop on a 2nd read right after....I would "literally" die... (in a Kardashian voice....)

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by tootsie

How much am I supposed to remember from a first read?

Is it enough to start DIT and then do a 2nd read of Kaplan (at least only the videos)?

I'm almost done with my first read, but I don't feel like I want to hop on a 2nd read right after....I would "literally" die... (in a Kardashian voice....)

save DIT for the end of your prep
dont rush the process

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by tootsie

How much am I supposed to remember from a first read?

Is it enough to start DIT and then do a 2nd read of Kaplan (at least only the videos)?

I'm almost done with my first read, but I don't feel like I want to hop on a 2nd read right after....I would "literally" die... (in a Kardashian voice....)

Planning on watching the videos for a 2nd time? Did you just finish your first read ... if anything start watching them asap at 1.5x ... if its 250 hours that should approximately take you (250/1.5) about 167 hours lol

May be even less time if you watch only the important videos and for some you can even watch at 2x the speed.

Start DIT after taking an NBME and about 1.5 months before your exam.

[Hope2Pass]

Disappointed. I fell behind in my schedule big time. I couldn't finish Day 7 from yesterday and now I'm behind on DIT and the question blocks! Gotta catch up on Friday but I got so much family stuff going on this week .. dinners etc I'll update again on Saturday ...hopefully all caught up!


How's everyone else doing with DIT etc? dwiqed? islandcrazy ? others?

[DocSikorski]

Slowly moving through RR, super slowly...
31% of Kbank left... - mean for the last 10 tests is 74%

[islandcrazy]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

Disappointed. I fell behind in my schedule big time. I couldn't finish Day 7 from yesterday and now I'm behind on DIT and the question blocks! Gotta catch up on Friday but I got so much family stuff going on this week .. dinners etc I'll update again on Saturday ...hopefully all caught up!


How's everyone else doing with DIT etc? dwiqed? islandcrazy ? others?

On day 12 of DIT, a little disappointed because while its helping me in pharm I don't think its what going to push my score ahead like I hoped. Might take the NBME the weekend after and spend time review Goljan and KLN for the next week.

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by islandcrazy

On day 12 of DIT, a little disappointed because while its helping me in pharm I don't think its what going to push my score ahead like I hoped. Might take the NBME the weekend after and spend time review Goljan and KLN for the next week.

that will bump your scores, not passive video watching

[islandcrazy]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

that will bump your scores, not passive video watching

I think your right, its just took me some time to see that.

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by islandcrazy

I think your right, its just took me some time to see that.

I spend last summer watching KLN videos, thouroghly, keeping myslef awake I made it through them after 3 months... tokk my first NBME feeling like - "i have to be ready, I was watching these famous teachers for 8-10 hrs every day" But NBME probably did not care about how much time I was watching to it and how many mr.Jones jokes you need to hear to change a light bulb...
After that I started studying on my own and thats where the real shiet began.

[Dr. Mexito]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

I spend last summer watching KLN videos, thouroghly, keeping myslef awake I made it through them after 3 months... tokk my first NBME feeling like - "i have to be ready, I was watching these famous teachers for 8-10 hrs every day" But NBME probably did not care about how much time I was watching to it and how many mr.Jones jokes you need to hear to change a light bulb...
After that I started studying on my own and thats where the real shiet began.

What are you using for Pharmacology???

[tootsie]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

I spend last summer watching KLN videos, thouroghly, keeping myslef awake I made it through them after 3 months... tokk my first NBME feeling like - "i have to be ready, I was watching these famous teachers for 8-10 hrs every day" But NBME probably did not care about how much time I was watching to it and how many mr.Jones jokes you need to hear to change a light bulb...
After that I started studying on my own and thats where the real shiet began.

So...what exactly did you do? Did you find that watching the videos passively was of no help? I feel that they are good, but I don't want to watch them again. I'm tired of doing this and want to start learning things instead of passively watching kaplan videos. Don't get me wrong, they are very good, but I think that if I start reading FA and asking myself "the why" for many things and searching for an answer, i'd be better off.

@hope2P....tell me about it...falling behind sucks. I've never had a schedule because my family doesn't understand the statement "i have to study" and I'm bothered any given day to take my gparents to Drs, to take care of my baby cousin, to go to picnic, to go to 4th of july BBQ....it's depressing....I'm gonna move to Hawaii!!! Far, far away from everyone!

[Dr. Mexito]

Originally Posted by tootsie

I'm gonna move to Hawaii!!! Far, far away from everyone!

That's exactly what I did... I came all the way to Taiwan (That's way far away from home). It's kind of depressing sometimes you know , but for sure... I get no one to bother me (Who knows, maybe I'll go to Greenland for CK )

[sleepy]

DIT Update
lost a day to family commitments and being a bit Lazy.
Starting day 7
Plan on taking 18th and 19th off to catch Up on banks and Review some material that i marked.

@ previous replies, Regarding passive learning.... it depends , for some people hearing stuff out seems to help a lot.
Subjects Like Anatomy, Physio, Behavioral Sciences, Immumo(to some extent) the passive learning is pretty much all u need, For Patho, Pharm , Biochem, Micro, u need to put some mental effort into them.

U can make that passive process active, after a topic is completed u can try to recall what u learnt, imagine explaining to patient, or even do questions from a bank on the related subject matter, Make a flow sheet, or simply just take sometime to re read the material on ur own after a video presentation(No reason why u shudnt be doin that especially if uve Annotated Your FA) .Those people are explaining stuff to a camera, no reason why u cant do the same to ur monitor screen. It take a little more effort, and helps a lot.

As far as family , social commitments go ,if u cant get away from them, ur just supposed to manage yourself efficiently.

[Hope2Pass]

I think I do better when watching videos rather than reading by myself.

I'm officially behind by one whole day one in terms of videos, so since tomorrow was supposed to be a review day, I will use it to catch up to the videos and do questions. I'm behind by 3 videos (1 day) and about 4-5 blocks

What do you guys think of NBME 1 and 2 ? I'm doing them just for practice and then doing NBME 4 and 6 offline as well.

This weekend is a long weekend in Canada and I have a lot of family stuff going on! Plus there was Mothers day last weekend that slowed things down a bit...I hope I can keep up with my schedule now! For this weekend, call me Hope2stayontrack haha

[DocSikorski]

Lord!

what format is this RR book?
reading 1 page takes me 1 hour!
its not A4, its A400!!!

[aj23]

Todays Update:

So far everything going good, did not waste much of my time this week!!

So done with Uworld!!!!

from now till saturday night will be preparing for my Pre-dit nbme that i will be taking on sunday.

At the moment, trying to read a bit of BRS Biostat as thats where i suck the most.. lol

and then probably hit the next topics which i feel i need to work on.

Hopefully will score well for this upcoming nbme!

[Dr. Mexito]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

Lord!

what format is this RR book?
reading 1 page takes me 1 hour!
its not A4, its A400!!!

Tell me about it... I really hope that in my 2nd read, it will be faster

[Dr. Mexito]

Originally Posted by aj23

Todays Update:

So done with Uworld!!!!

Man, how many blocks did you do per day??? That was really fast...Congrats

I'm finishing this Saturday (I hope).. and then I'm going through a deep, deep review...

Good luck on your pre-DIT NBME

[DefeatTheBeast]

Alright back to the books after a nice sleep

WIll start with one block of rx....and then go over musculosketeal chap again....so mundane

[DefeatTheBeast]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

I spend last summer watching KLN videos, thouroghly, keeping myslef awake I made it through them after 3 months... tokk my first NBME feeling like - "i have to be ready, I was watching these famous teachers for 8-10 hrs every day" But NBME probably did not care about how much time I was watching to it and how many mr.Jones jokes you need to hear to change a light bulb...
After that I started studying on my own and thats where the real shiet began.

Yea i know what you mean....i can study like that either with someone reading something off to me...but dit is different though, the quizzes help out a lot....i know i get more done with dit then i do reading fa on my own...its more structured for people like me who aimlessly look to the wall whilst reading first aid..

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by DefeatTheBeast

dit is different though, the quizzes help out a lot....i know i get more done with dit then i do reading fa on my own...its more structured for people like me who aimlessly look to the wall whilst reading first aid..

that's how i feel too without DIT.

I don't know what happened to me this week! I've been going extremely slow. In the last 8 hours, I only got through about 2.5 hours of DIT videos and did 20 questions! I have 1 more video left for Day 8 which I plan on finishing tonight.

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

What do you guys think of NBME 1 and 2 ? I'm doing them just for practice and then doing NBME 4 and 6 offline as well.

Still wondering about that, if anyone's done those..Please reply

[Dr.NickRiviera]

forms 1 and 2 are very simple, 1st level questions.
basically definitions and name the diagnosis and such
no critical thinking, moreso recall

not indicative of the step1 at all.

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by Dr.NickRiviera

forms 1 and 2 are very simple, 1st level questions.
basically definitions and name the diagnosis and such
no critical thinking, moreso recall

not indicative of the step1 at all.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I did NBME 1 and it barely had multi-step questions but it was a good confidence booster lol I know for a fact that DIT helped in a lot of the questions.

I think I might skip doing NBME 2 then coz that's a waste of 4 hours ...I'll prolly go straight to NBME 3,4,6 now. Although, I've heard that NBMe 3 is the hardest (and 6 is up there too) and they both underestimate your score?

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

Yeah, that's what I thought. I did NBME 1 and it barely had multi-step questions but it was a good confidence booster lol I know for a fact that DIT helped in a lot of the questions.

I think I might skip doing NBME 2 then coz that's a waste of 4 hours ...I'll prolly go straight to NBME 3,4,6 now. Although, I've heard that NBMe 3 is the hardest (and 6 is up there too) and they both underestimate your score?

I do not think any form underestimates, even 1 and 2.
Its all "retired" usmle questions, but people say that they do see some of the latest nbme's questions on the exam...

I think that oldest NBME's (they are can not be even found online anymore) do not represent the current focus of Step 1, but still are good estimators of what you have learned.

Interesting detail - lac operon is now added in FA'12 by a reason...

[5hstar]

hiiii hows your prep going???

[vna.rao22]

Did anybody try UWSAs? are they even close to the exam? I have my exam in another 9 days, thought i'd do NBME11, but m scared it'l screw up my confidence! Any suggestions?

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by vna.rao22

Did anybody try UWSAs? are they even close to the exam? I have my exam in another 9 days, thought i'd do NBME11, but m scared it'l screw up my confidence! Any suggestions?

do NBME asap, you should be fine

[vna.rao22]

ok. I already did 12,13, was wondering if i shd do more.

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by vna.rao22

ok. I already did 12,13, was wondering if i shd do more.

Do 7 or/and 11

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by vna.rao22

ok. I already did 12,13, was wondering if i shd do more.

As docsikorski said ... do both 7 AND 11 ... you never know which question might be repeated on the exam! Just do them both at a gap of 3 days each .. 11 n then 7 after 3 or 4 days. Good luck!

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

I do not think any form underestimates, even 1 and 2.
Its all "retired" usmle questions, but people say that they do see some of the latest nbme's questions on the exam...

I think that oldest NBME's (they are can not be even found online anymore) do not represent the current focus of Step 1, but still are good estimators of what you have learned.

Interesting detail - lac operon is now added in FA'12 by a reason...

I agree on that. But NBME 1 and 2 have questions asking straight facts where as nowadays its more about conceptual questions. But still, they are good practice and a lot of the 'concepts' or 'facts' asked in those questions are similar to the questions asked these days .. just different format of question. How's your prep coming along? Done with RR almost? Are you booking a date soon or already booked it yet?

I'm going slow with Kaplan Qbank .. only done 40% of it so far! But DIT is helping me learn a lot .. I plan on doing DIT one more time after finishing it once. But I need to pick up questions. I think I might take a break from DIT for 2 days (Saturday & Sunday .. may be even Monday) to do A LOT of questions in 2-3 days. I'll finish day 9 today and then I'll have 6 days left ...which I can finish by Sunday IF I take the next 3 days off to do questions. Do you think that's reasonable?

[DocSikorski]

2H2P

stay away of "ill do it later again" mentality... - Thats why a year have past and I am still getting ready...

Keep doing questions and reviewing them everyday, otherwise you will not move forward.

I am finishing Kbank with 72% overall, though I have 15% of questions unused so far.

I am like in the middle of RR book and in the middle of G-Audios now. A power weekend is ahead.

I had an awesome break last week - went on a road trip with my friends and it has gave me power to move strait ahead into my test date that I booked in the middle of June.

Good Luck and never stop!

[Dr. Mexito]

Just dropping by... I'm calling the day off (Time to kill some zombies in RE 5)

Have a good one guys...

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by Dr. Mexito

Just dropping by... I'm calling the day off (Time to kill some zombies in RV5)

Have a good one guys...

there is a Lincoln-log-sized list of games that is awaiting for me!
The main are:

Fallout Vegas,
Red Dead Redemption,
Skyrim

and more and more...

[tootsie]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

2H2P

stay away of "ill do it later again" mentality... - Thats why a year have past and I am still getting ready...

People should really pay attention to this that you just wrote. I've also lost 1 year, perhaps more because of that mentality. From now on, I'm gonna study as if I weren't going to revise again (even though I will).

[Hope2Pass]

@DocSikorski - Thanks for the advice. I know, I'm trying to stay away from saying "I'll do it later" ... I really need to get a move on the questions coz now I'm lacking behind by almost 200 questions Anyways, I think one solid weekend of questions is all its going to take to catch up to it!

My goals till next weekend are -
-Finish DIT
-Finish at least 10 more blocks (5 done so far)...that I started along with DIT.
-Finish offline NBMEs 1-4 (finished NBME 1 with 74%)
-Take online NBME (11 or 12) on Sunday or Monday next week.

I am planning on finishing up Kaplan Qbank by the first week of June 5th-ish. As long as I can do that, that will give me solid 20 more days to redo Qbank, look at some new questions, redo DIT with FA. That's all I'm going to do till my exam now - DIT/FA/Questions.

@Dr.Mexito & @DocSikorski: Red dead redemption is old but its a fun game. After my exam I can't wait to get my hands on MW3 & Battlefield ... I'm more of an online FPS games kinda guy

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

@Dr.Mexito & @DocSikorski: Red dead redemption is old but its a fun game. After my exam I can't wait to get my hands on MW3 & Battlefield ... I'm more of an online FPS games kinda guy

2 years ago it came out - 2 years ago I left my computer chair

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

2 years ago it came out - 2 years ago I left my computer chair

Surprising no one said DIABLO III ?!
I remember when that game was in the running along with quake series, doom, and perfect dark

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

Surprising no one said DIABLO III ?!
I remember when that game was in the running along with quake series, doom, and perfect dark

perfect dark, that was the sh!t man
but yea, mad diablo III hype goin on right now

i left the gaming world after highschool though, and prolly couldnt get back into it even if i tried. sh!ts way too intense now.

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

Surprising no one said DIABLO III ?!
I remember when that game was in the running along with quake series, doom, and perfect dark

Cuz its crap?

[Hope2Pass]

@Nick- it's still possible to get back into it.. its one of the best way to pass your time at home and improve your hand eye coordination

@Sikorski- that's possible but wouldn't bet on it till I play it for myself lol I do think its way too over hyped ... but then again, that happens with everything that comes out late ...for example the next dr.dre's album has been announced since god knows when ..and when it comes out, its either going to be epic or all that hype around it is going to make it sound epic

ok back to studying now lol

[Dr. Mexito]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

Surprising no one said DIABLO III ?!
I remember when that game was in the running along with quake series, doom, and perfect dark

Well... I have to be honest with you guys... I still play Diablo II, I bought DII expansion not long ago... and.... I've been waiting for DIII for a little more that 6 years (I guess I was too shy to talk about it but... since you brought the topic to discussion )

Guess how is getting DIII limited edition???

[d_wiqed]

Originally Posted by Dr. Mexito

Well... I have to be honest with you guys... I still play Diablo II, I bought DII expansion not long ago... and.... I've been waiting for DIII for a little more that 6 years (I guess I was too shy to talk about it but... since you brought the topic to discussion )

Guess how is getting DIII limited edition???

I bought Diablo II and its expansion pack last year too! I played it during highschool. I bought it again bec. I needed a stress release when I was studying for my local boards. I'm a big, big Diablo fan.

Hey, Dr. Mexito! We can go old school and play it online... LOL!! Maybe after step 1 coz my study partner right now has become a slave driver. Or maybe by then we'll play Diablo III...

[DocSikorski]

lol guys!

I bought D2 for my macbook for a business trip last year!
For as many times I played this game during my life - it was always barbarian!

[d_wiqed]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

lol guys!

I bought D2 for my macbook for a business trip last year!
For as many times I played this game during my life - it was always barbarian!

My first character was an assassin. Now, I'm a barbarian too.

Nothing beats hacking demons with a large, large axe!

After step 1, we should all get-together in the Realm of Tristram... LOL!!!

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by d_wiqed

My first character was an assassin. Now, I'm a barbarian too.

Nothing beats hacking demons with a large, large axe!

After step 1, we should all get-together in the Realm of Tristram... LOL!!!

I'll kick the crap out of First Aid book with a Horadric malus... Or just with a regular hammer from target

[d_wiqed]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

I'll kick the crap out of First Aid book with a Horadric malus... Or just with a regular hammer from target

"Hammer from target"... LOL!!! Made my day!

[Dr. Mexito]

Originally Posted by d_wiqed

My first character was an assassin. Now, I'm a barbarian too.

Nothing beats hacking demons with a large, large axe!

After step 1, we should all get-together in the Realm of Tristram... LOL!!!

I play with Druid and Necromancer... Most of the time with Necromancer (I like the magic stuff)

[DocSikorski]

Guys lets meet up after step 1 and get wasted.
Im freakin serious

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

Guys lets meet up after step 1 and get wasted.
Im freakin serious

Time isn't wasted when you're getting wasted !!!

When and where sikorsky lol!

[sleepy]

Since ive been hving a hard time keeping up with the banks,
DIT seems to Eat all of my Day , so i decided to pull out a stop watch , and time how long im effectively studying.
Whenever i leave my table, or stop reading, for , Food, News, Tv break, Phone etc i stop the time,
And Turns out im only managing 7-8 hours a day and and DIT takes all that time.

Ive gota stop burning time on facebook/youtube, chatting on the phone etc :S

Anyway
Plan For This week Starting Sunday
DIT days 8-12 till Friday
2blocks on UW each day
and Somehow i want to squeeze in listing to Goljan in-between( plan on Covering Goljan audios before this month ends)

[sukar]

Haha!
I like how everyones thinking of getting wasted or playing games.. And sleepy is thinking of DIT and qbanks

So I just extended my eligibility for the next 3 months.. I am going to take it in the beginning of July since end of June is all taken..

[d_wiqed]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

Guys lets meet up after step 1 and get wasted.
Im freakin serious

I'm game! I think I'll be able to join you guys only after step 2. Bec. that's when I'm going to the US -- around January.

The forum buddy nearest to me here is Dr. Mexito. We're in the same timezone! Hongkong is midway and sooo close to us we can get wasted there tomorrow. LOL!!

[aj23]

Update!

I dont think i will be able to do NBME 12 tomrow as scheduled.

I will need 1 more day to compil all the crap that i keep forgetting

so NBME 12 will be done on Monday.. NO CHANGE IN THAT

Just sharpening my weapon to face the monster on MONDAY

lol

[moath]

hi all

hope every one doing well

and best luck in the exam

need your advice guys

35 days for the exam to come

about path I read it 3 times from BRS

but when i started with uworldand I recognized that i weak in this subject

so what is your advice

to go 2 hours daily with goljan audio with notes

or focus on FA and UWORLD

or can you recommend to me high yield chapters in goljan

RR that i try to read them quickly?

or what....

looking forward to hearing from you

thaaaaanks

[DefeatTheBeast]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

Guys lets meet up after step 1 and get wasted.
Im freakin serious

Hell yea....i feel like getting wasted right now

well i think I'm done for the day, been doing questions all day long....tomorrow is the big day....nbme 12...gonna rest the rest of today (catch the lakers game, eff kobe) and get up tomorrow and take it....and then monday is when the dedicated final month of study begins, no more breaks, no more chilling, go hard or go home time.

[Dr. Mexito]

Done with UW 2nd pass ... I'm reviewing the Qs of this last block and after that... "UWSA I" is how the song goes...

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by Dr. Mexito

Done with UW 2nd pass ... I'm reviewing the Qs of this last block and after that... "UWSA I" is how the song goes...

whats your cumulative for the second pass?

[aj23]

Hi guys,

Can any 1 help me understand the ANTIEROR AND POST. CRUCIATE LIGAMENT attachments??

am having a tough time understanding it.

Tell me about the basics and also about the Unhappy tirad.
and there correlation with ant & post drawer sign.
thanks:indi fferent:

[Dr. Mexito]

Originally Posted by aj23

Hi guys,

Can any 1 help me understand the ANTIEROR AND POST. CRUCIATE LIGAMENT attachments??

am having a tough time understanding it.

Tell me about the basics and also about the Unhappy tirad.
and there correlation with ant & post drawer sign.
thanks:indi fferent:

First forget everything you've read... now, just remember where are they attached to the Tibia.

Ant. attachment = ACL
Post. attachment = PCL

Then, just think this... Imaging you took your dog to take a walk, then you stop and your dog start pulling you, but you are not letting him keep walking... You are the PCL that don't aloud anterior displacement of the femur, "and the other one is other one" no posterior displacement of femur is ACL work.

[Hope2Pass]

@sleepy- I agree, DIT takes up the whole day pretty much. I am planning to start Day 10 on Tuesday and finish DIT by Saturday. I don't know how many questions I'll get done in that time frame because that's going to be a big stretch of DIT everyday! Good luck with your plan.

@sukar- How come you extended your eligibility? Well, good luck coz July ain't too far either!! Did you end up taking an NBME ?

@aj23- Good luck on the NBME. Let us know how it goes. I'm planning on taking NBME 11 or 12 next weekend as well!

@moath- If you're weak in Path then you could try listening to Goljan but listen to like 5 hours everyday and then you'll be done in 8 days! No time to read RR now .. you only have 35 days left. You could try pathoma which is only 35 hours of videos and if you watch it at 1.4x, about 8 hours daily, you'll be done in 3 days!

@DefeatTheBeast- When is your exam man? Good luck on the NBME. Hope it goes well.

@Dr.Mexito- Good luck on the UWSA...Are you planning on taking a NBME soon too? When is your exam? And how did the UW second pass go?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

My Update:
-Taking a 2 day break from DIT and doing questions today and tomorrow.
-Hope to get 5-6 blocks done in these two days.
-Starting DIT day 10 on Tuesday and going 5 straight days to finish DIT with day 15 on Saturday.
-NBME 11 or 12 on Sunday...not going to review anything. Just going to take the NBME straight after DIT.
-Starting Monday after the NBME: I'll have 1 month to my exam; Plan is to start with DIT/FA/Questions review for 4-5 days and take [COLOR="DarkRed"]another NBME at the end of that week. And then start DIT all over but hopefully finish it in less than 15 days! (already have another work book printed lol)
-Plan on finishing Kaplan Qbank by June 10th; then start a 2nd pass for 20 days and do as many questions as possible.

[Dr. Mexito]

Originally Posted by DocSikorski

whats your cumulative for the second pass?

72%... but I have to say... I kind of did UW in two parts. First part was last year from nov to dec. And then second part was from during february. That's why I've always felt I did not know where I was standing until #12 (I did UW in the worst way someone can do it... Guess that now I'm paying for that...)

[Dr. Mexito]

Originally Posted by Hope2Pass

@Dr.Mexito- Good luck on the UWSA...Are you planning on taking a NBME soon too? When is your exam? And how did the UW second pass go?

Hello H2P (The abbreviation is so catchy )

Yeap, I'm taking a NBME (but at the end of Jun), my exam date is July/31

To resume my step 1 journey:

1st pass 60%
2nd pass 72%

#12 330
USWA 1 480/214 (minus 10 pts... )

I feel good because I've improved... I mean... at least I can say that if that would have been the real thing.... I would have pass step 1 . Now, this still is not the score I'm looking for, so this is how the song goes: Hammer weak areas. I only have the strange feeling... I do not like the way UWSA reports the score... is so vague... I do not know who to trust... #12 (two months' ago report), UW 2nd pass report, or UWSA 1 report... Howeve, they tend to repeat the same topics (with some variations... kind of scary... I feel like standing in the middle of nowhere): BS, physiology, renal and endocrino are the weak points (I'm pretty happy that pathology is one of my highest ones )

Positively speaking... 330/182 to 480/214(204) is some improve in to 45 days... I think is possible to jump another 20 pts to the end of Jun, and the another 20 pts in July

Any insight my friends.... you already know that I will be more than thankful with you guys

[DocSikorski]

Originally Posted by Dr. Mexito

72%... but I have to say... I kind of did UW in two parts. First part was last year from nov to dec. And then second part was from during february. That's why I've always felt I did not know where I was standing until #12 (I did UW in the worst way someone can do it... Guess that now I'm paying for that...)

Ye, I did it weirdly first time too... Noone was there to tell me that I should keep it to the end of my prep.
Anyway 72 is good.
I am finishing my read of the last explanations to kaplan qbank and just bought a month of UW subscription - going to do it 3rd time, just before my test (did a block of questions and got 80%... my goal is to move it closer to 100% of cummulative)