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Abeer Step 1 Journey

10K views 39 replies 19 participants last post by  shahzeenmurad 
#1 ·
:) Hello Everyone,
First, little bit of intro about myself, I'm Abeer, 2012 Grad , IMG, I'm a huge GolFish fan ( Goljan + Fischer) and I have Cyclopia :indifferent: ( now you should know what anomaly exists in brain most commonly with cyclopia), :-D
Nbme 12: last week august: 221
Nbme 7: 2nd week of October: 245
Uwsa 2 : 1st week of November: 253
Uwsa 1: 2nd week of November : 247
Exam on 1st December ( World HIV/AIDS day :p) score: 242
Prep time for step 1, From 1st Feb 2013- 30th Nov 2013,Exactly 10 months !!, why? Because I am doing Mph, and working as a research assistant 5 days a week since Jan 2013 and I do all household chores myself that used to take up most of my time. And my stupid Mph has exams every month ! :/ , plus I suffered from PVC'S and other cardiac arrthmias in October, and took beta-blockers for that ( PLEASE EAT WELL DURING YOUR PREP !!) and if i an get 242 in these circumstances,then anyone can get above 240 in step 1 easily !!
Things I used:
All Kaplan books + videos, that took me 3.5 months.
Then I did goljan with audio lectures, ( this is the best thing I did to myself, I know there are people who say that audios are old, and goljan is too big blah blah), but I just know one thing, this exam is one of the most important exams of our life, and we img's give 5-10 months to it, then why not giving this book just one week , I know no one can memorize goljan in a week, but the kinda concepts you get from audios and his book is totally worth it.
I gave 2nd read to all kap-goljan books, and then gave 3rd read too, because I was feeling that I do not remember anything, ( I should have given 3rd read to goljan only, because no one remembers Kaplan anyways), and ya, I did kaplan qbank too while doing 2nd read. Did it as a learning tool.
Now after 3rd read I was supposed to give a full read to FA before starting UWorld, and here is the biggest blunder done by me,I used to feel really sleepy and less motivated while reading FA at that time, so I didn't finish it completely and started doing UW, and ended up with 64% cumulative in UW. L this cumulative was a major factor in my low confidence.
Another big mistake I did is that I totally relied on one of my senior for step 1 prep, I used to ask him everything regarding step 1, because he took his step 1 too while doing mph and had 99 in 2009, and is a resident now. I shouldn't have done that, because that guy stopped guiding me all of a sudden, and I ended up with panic attacks and was totally lost.stupid me
Then I met some great people in this forum, plus one of my class fellow whom I approached, he had less than 220 in step 1, all these people helped me finish my step 1 journey, and THEN I CAME TO KNOW THA MAIN THING TO THIS EXAM IS FIRST AID, UWORLD, AND UWORLD NOTES. That's it !! ofcourse I wont advise anyone to start his prep directly from FA, Kaplan is necessary for the basics, but in the last 3 months the only thing you should do is FA, uw marked/wrong questions and your UW notes.
THINGS I DID RIGHT:
I did Conrad fischer's 100 cases ethics, read those 102 questions again and again 2 days before my exam.
I gave 8 complete reads to my FA and UW notes. Don't give your step 1 till u find ur FA dirty, yellow and stinking :p ( kidding)
I made UW notes, ( 3 notebooks and total of 310 pages), I took 3 months of UW subscription, another best thing I did to myself, and I read my notebooks till the last hour before my exam, Please never try to take any short cut in uw notes, just make your own, copy those long explanations not just the educational summary, UW is the best thing for step 1,
Barbara Fadem Behavioral, this is the best book, I didn't read a single page, just got it from a library 2 months before my exams and solved all questions in this book. Do look at those behavioral questions in it. You'll love it.
I revised all Kaplan qbank genetic questions in the last month, as I was weak in genetics and Nov exam takers had tough genetics in exam, though I didn't get any kap QB like question in exam, but I was aware of all kinds of genetics concepts they could ask, atleast it made me a little confident.
Things I DID WRONG:
I started looking at this forum's post very late.
I totally relied on that senior.
I strted doing UW without giving a complete single read to FA, and that's the reason I had low cumulative in UW 64%, as most of my wrong questions were in FA.
I freaked out a lot of times during my prep, and was depressed most of the time and did't eat much during those 10 months, that's why I look like a totally diff person now :p
I didn't do many NBME'S ( this is not my mistake actually, I wanted to do more nbmes but had no money, so couldn't afford)
Advise:
Exam was about all the topix we read in FA, nothing from outside, yes there were weird genetics questions and biostat wanst that simple for me but for most people biostat comes very easy.rest of the questions were simple. That's why I was sure to get above my last nbme, but maybe I did wrong by changing so many answers in the end of each block, should'nt have done that, or maybe my hardwork wasn't that of 250 type, donno where I went worng but I gave my best shot. My exam was not like nbme's, it was looking like another uw block. And there will be so many questions that you'll find very easy.
Annotate your FA as much as you can, but don't write any UW thing in it, make separate notebook for that. And do one thing, give page numbers to UW notebook, and write that page number on the same topic in FA, so you don't have to dig in everytime you're reading that topic.
Do as many online nbme's as you can, I couldn't do them because of money problems, but if you don't have financial prob then please do them, especially nbme 12, 13, 15, 7 and 11. I had so many repeat questions from nbmes. And maybe there were more which I did not know. and yes, NEVER DO OFFLINE NBME.
Don't waste your time in the books like road map, BRS ( except behavioral), Blue print, even if you are only doing questions in them don't do it, stick to Kaplan qb, uw and usmlerx .
Do not forget to cover these topix, Pelvic anatomy, some important leg muscles, ( arteries and veins), some important investigations for THE COMPLICATIONS OF SOME DISEASES, micro pictures, gross pix of cranial nerves when they come out of brainstem, scabies, body louse, their treatment.
And yes, people said to me that it's useless to find the answers of wrong nbme questions, don't listen to such folks, you may get nbme questions in exam ,so find the answers of wrong questions, it will take some time, but you'll be proud of yourself when you'll come across any of such question in exam.
PLEASE DO TAKE ATLEAST 10 hours of sleep before exam,and take a break after every block, and do take some painkiller ( i got severe occipital headache during my exam), Keep washing ur face with cold water after ever hour and eat something, this will make u feel very relax.
I want all of you to read the following motivational lines which my friend SmashingDude worte to me 1 month before my exam:

Well, the exam is about decision-making. The whole of medicine is actually. Its these decisions that get you to top. You will have to choose many a times between difficult situations, some times when knowledge is OF NO USE! A graduate from Harvard, and a graduate from third-world country, both run out of knowledge sometimes. Its the decision that drives them. Its their confidence. The Harvard grad may have the best knowledge, but if he is not confident, will fail miserably.
Just keep revising UW notes, and some things of FA that you forget. Dont revise everything of FA. Its useless. Only work on the topics that the assessment specified you were weak in. For example, the types of strokes is easy to forget. Or the molecular pathologies of Oncogenes/TSG's. Or the evolution of stroke/MI in terms of days. Etc. You see, the things that are easy to forget. Not the main facts, that are already solid enough.

Also, I advise you to do all behavioral questions 2 days before the exam. Do them over and over again, and dont make mistakes in stat questions. The stat questions on exam are PIECE OF CAKE! Trust me. So easy. UW are just so freaking tough, but the exam ones are way easier. Free marks actually. So, get them!

Aright, thats all I can advise. Be strong, build up your confidence, and trust yourself. You can only reach your dreams if you trust yourself. I trust in you. Your family does too. You will do fine, trust me! Better than you ever hoped for.
 
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#3 ·
hmm, ya, everyone say do them online, coz they asses, and offline ones are with not sure answers..
but u know when i was doing my exam, i was thinking that we shud start doing nbmes as learning tool too :p
but actually just do them online, one or two nbme a month and leave nbme 15 for last. i know that's a lot of money, i even asked them for discount :p but they refused .. :)
but if i look back, if i had known that i wud get so many nbme questions then i might have borrowed money from someone and wud have done these important ones online.. :toosad:
 
#5 ·
haha, my eyes were so hell inside by the time i took step1, i really thought i have cyclopia.. :D:D tell me the name of anomaly i have asked?? :p
thank you so much for such kind words.
 
#15 ·
Hey congrats!!!its a very good score.Mashallah.Best wishes for the future:).you are really great source of guidance.thanks.
 
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#16 ·
abeer; [FONT=Arial said:
Exam was about all the topix we read in FA, nothing from outside, yes there were weird genetics questions and biostat wanst that simple for me but for most people biostat comes very easy.rest of the questions were simple. That's why I was sure to get above my last nbme, but maybe I did wrong by changing so many answers in the end of each block, should'nt have done that, or maybe my hardwork wasn't that of 250 type, donno where I went worng but I gave my best shot. My exam was not like nbme's, it was looking like another uw block. And there will be so many questions that you'll find very easy.[/FONT]
Annotate your FA as much as you can, but don't write any UW thing in it, make separate notebook for that. And do one thing, give page numbers to UW notebook, and write that page number on the same topic in FA, so you don't have to dig in everytime you're reading that topic..[/COLOR] [/COLOR]
Awesome job Abeeeer..... Very happy for you...
 
#20 ·
Congrats Mann!!! Way to go bro, way to go!

I am proud of u! U r a trend setter, and so many people are going to, from ur experience. Moreover, u r going to get blessings from people u never know. That's just beautiful!!!
 
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#23 ·
Hi Abeer ,, how r u ,, Congrats for your score ,, plz can you send me the link for the ethics book of Conrad F. bcuz i found 2 books online ??
one of them is ethics and the other one is 100 cases Kaplan ,,
so which one i m supposed to read ???
Thank you very much:)
 
#26 ·
Dear Abeer
First congrats on your good score, I have a quick question though, how is time managed like I mean 322 questions in 7 Hours? have you felt any time constraint at all during your step 1 exam? IF so how did you dealt with.

THanks
hi :)

No I didn't really have any time problem, I managed to finish every block 10 minutes earlier, and ended each block 5 minutes early. time is not a prob when u practice UWorld in timed mode and do nbmes. and in exam, if your stress level is low then it goes smoothly, i took break after every hour, ate and drank, and washed my face after every hour, and it went smoothly.. Happy-2
 
#28 ·
hi abeer
congrats on your score buddy.

btw i would like to ask what did you do for behavioural science and biostat. would be grateful :)
hi :)
for behavioral, like dose best response ones and doc-patient relationship questions: berbara fadem, UWorld, nbmes and conrad fischer's book and kaplan QB,
for biostat: i learnt the basics in my mph, that is like a boost in biostat, but for step 1, i did UW, fadem, and UW biostat questions ( the seperate 25$ ones)
 
#30 ·
thanx neuron..

and ur question is pretty funny actually :D:D i dont think so anyone has answer to it, this is such an exam in which whatever answer we put looks right to us.. i still have no idea how i did, how many right/ wrong.. they gave me 242 and i accepted it like a good student :p:p:p
 
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#34 ·
thank you ;) :cool:

i advised about page number's to everyone coz i suffered at my time, had to dig in my uw notes everytime.. it was so frustrating... i cudn't do numbering as i already wrote 310 pages, but u shud do it from the start.. to avoid any kinda time wastage.
goodluck !! :)
 
#35 ·
Woww..it must have been tough studying with all that going on...but you managed it! Congratulations gal!! :)

And thanks for sharing your experience & motivating us!Happy-2

Good luck for the steps!
Thank you so much ;)

yess i really need goodluck for other steps as i haven't start reading for CK YET !! :scared::scared::scared::scared::scared:
 
#38 ·
i just have a question. for conrad fischer 100 cases ethic, which book did u use? there are two books by conrad fischer ethic on amazon, one is released in september 2006 and the other one is released in sept 2012? which one is the one?
hi, sorry :) i didnt notice which one i was using,.. but u should get the 2012 one, it will be better than the old version ofourse.. goodluck :)
 
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