My USMLE Experience

[[email protected]$]

I have been a silent observer since the past year and this forum has helped and guided me quite accurately.
So, this is my USMLE journey,

YOG: 2011
Step 1: 250
Step 2 CK: 256
CS: pass, 1st attempt
Step 3: 251

I gave all the steps in about a year and half. I took about 6 months to prepare for my 1st step, about 5 months for CK and 2 weeks for CS. For step 3, I had only a month and a half for prep as I was in the middle of interviews.

Through my experience, follow whatever schedule and books you are comfortable with. It is important to get your basics and the concepts behind everything clear (especially for Step1), as that is what is going to help you in the exam. UWorld was an excellent guide along with first aid (for step 1), MTB 2 and 3 (for CK and step 3). Depending on your own style, practice uworld the number of times you feel comfortable with the type of thinking that they want you to do. I had done it once and then just went through the questions I had marked. Making notes from uworld in the book that you use for a final read is what I found very efficient. It saved me time to go back and search for a concept in the uworld qbank.

Lastly, set a goal time for your prep for each step. This is very important as there is no limit and time when you would be completely ready for the exam. So once you have a Uworld score of above 70%, that is a good guide that you can achieve a decent score.
I hope this will help someone on this forum and give them the confidence to push themselves to achieve their goal, as it did for me.

[seemaCMC]

Originally Posted by [email protected]$

I have been a silent observer since the past year and this forum has helped and guided me quite accurately.
So, this is my USMLE journey,

YOG: 2011
Step 1: 250
Step 2 CK: 256
CS: pass, 1st attempt
Step 3: 251

I gave all the steps in about a year and half. I took about 6 months to prepare for my 1st step, about 5 months for CK and 2 weeks for CS. For step 3, I had only a month and a half for prep as I was in the middle of interviews.

Through my experience, follow whatever schedule and books you are comfortable with. It is important to get your basics and the concepts behind everything clear (especially for Step1), as that is what is going to help you in the exam. UWorld was an excellent guide along with first aid (for step 1), MTB 2 and 3 (for CK and step 3). Depending on your own style, practice uworld the number of times you feel comfortable with the type of thinking that they want you to do. I had done it once and then just went through the questions I had marked. Making notes from uworld in the book that you use for a final read is what I found very efficient. It saved me time to go back and search for a concept in the uworld qbank.

Lastly, set a goal time for your prep for each step. This is very important as there is no limit and time when you would be completely ready for the exam. So once you have a Uworld score of above 70%, that is a good guide that you can achieve a decent score.
I hope this will help someone on this forum and give them the confidence to push themselves to achieve their goal, as it did for me.

Great!!! What a smooth journey! Love it! I wish I would be...

[futuredoc2018]

Hey there. Congracts on succeeding the USMLE. I also feel that i can do as you did, but I am just in my 2nd year of medical school, and an IMG.
Can i read Robbins Basic Pathology for the usmle and my medical year?
which books do you think are best for both USMLE and in medical school?
Does my performance in my medical school relate with my score in USMLE?

[[email protected]$]

Originally Posted by futuredoc2018

Hey there. Congrats on succeeding the USMLE. I also feel that i can do as you did, but I am just in my 2nd year of medical school, and an IMG.
Can i read Robbins Basic Pathology for the usmle and my medical year?
which books do you think are best for both USMLE and in medical school?
Does my performance in my medical school relate with my score in USMLE?

Thank you!
Robbins is a good book for pathology in medical school, it will help you in building detailed concepts. For the USMLE step1, I would recommend Golijan for pathology (if possible, try reading it along in your 2nd year) and Kaplan + First Aid for the rest. Having said that, it all depends on when you plan on giving the steps... Some people are comfortable to use Uworld and First Aid alone and others feel Kaplan is a must too.
At the end of the day, your goal is to get your concepts clear. Your performance in medical school really is not a good predictor for your USMLE Scores. Being an IMG atleast my country's evaluation system was very theoretical, subjective and not at all similar to the USMLE's. I feel that even while preparing primarily for USMLE one can manage a fair score in your med school evaluations. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other queries.

[edwardelric108]

Congratulations!!!
Um...I m a 2nd year MBBS student.....can u plz guide me as to how to prepare for step 1. I want to give step 1 when I am in 3rd MBBS

[edwardelric108]

Also I heard this thing that startting 2015 the number of IMG will be reduced as the UG students from US itself are increasing so they will give their own citizens preference our IMG. How much of this is true?

[Jumpstep]

Congratulations! It's just like a dream... I want to start my journey and am double minded whether to take Step 1 first or Step 2. Let me give you some facts and you might be able to help me better:

1- I am an IMG and in the system that I studied, I am more confident with the clinical as compared to Basic Sciences part

2- I want to take the Canadian exams too. So if I take Step 2 first, I will be actually studying once and taking a couple of exams together.

3- A career consultant advised me to take Step 1 first because it will solidify my knowledge of Basic Sciences which will help me in Step 2 AND also because this will reduce my fear for the Step 2 and the Canadian exams and give me some experience.

Please help!

Thanks a lot

Originally Posted by [email protected]$

I have been a silent observer since the past year and this forum has helped and guided me quite accurately.
So, this is my USMLE journey,

YOG: 2011
Step 1: 250
Step 2 CK: 256
CS: pass, 1st attempt
Step 3: 251

I gave all the steps in about a year and half. I took about 6 months to prepare for my 1st step, about 5 months for CK and 2 weeks for CS. For step 3, I had only a month and a half for prep as I was in the middle of interviews.

Through my experience, follow whatever schedule and books you are comfortable with. It is important to get your basics and the concepts behind everything clear (especially for Step1), as that is what is going to help you in the exam. UWorld was an excellent guide along with first aid (for step 1), MTB 2 and 3 (for CK and step 3). Depending on your own style, practice uworld the number of times you feel comfortable with the type of thinking that they want you to do. I had done it once and then just went through the questions I had marked. Making notes from uworld in the book that you use for a final read is what I found very efficient. It saved me time to go back and search for a concept in the uworld qbank.

Lastly, set a goal time for your prep for each step. This is very important as there is no limit and time when you would be completely ready for the exam. So once you have a Uworld score of above 70%, that is a good guide that you can achieve a decent score.
I hope this will help someone on this forum and give them the confidence to push themselves to achieve their goal, as it did for me.

[[email protected]$]

Originally Posted by edwardelric108

Congratulations!!!
Um...I m a 2nd year MBBS student.....can u plz guide me as to how to prepare for step 1. I want to give step 1 when I am in 3rd MBBS

I think the best way to go about the prep is to have a quick read of Kaplan notes once. With that you'll have a fairly good idea regarding the extent of the subject matter. The only subject where you can skip kaplan is pathology, read Golijan. If possible listen to his audio lectures. The are awesome, they will tell you what to lay stress on and what is high yield. Another important aspect is Behavioral Science, this is something to be understood and it is done well in Kaplan. The first read should take you about 2-3 months if you are doing that along with medical school (with 4-5 hours every day).

After that I would advice that you start First Aid for Step1.. What worked for me was practicing questions from Uworld pertaining to one subject at a time. So, I started off wit reading a subject and then completed it and then started Uworld. So by the time I was practicing the questions for one subject, I was reading up another subject at the same time. That gives you a fair idea of how well your preparation is going. Some people like to solve Uworld with all subject questions at once. You can try that as well. Whatever works for you. This process should take you another 2-3 months, depending on how much time you can take out in the day.

Read First Aid 2-3 times, make notes in First Aid itself from Uworld so that you have all your information from one source. Practice the questions again from Uworld, especially the one's you had as incorrect and the marked/ flagged questions. All in all I think you should be ready in 8-9 months prep in your 2nd year of MBBS. The rest is really how you study, everyone has their own style. Stick to what you are comfortable with and chart a basic timeline for every aspect of prep. Remember they are testing you on your understanding of basic concepts.

Hope this helps!

[[email protected]$]

Originally Posted by edwardelric108

Also I heard this thing that startting 2015 the number of IMG will be reduced as the UG students from US itself are increasing so they will give their own citizens preference our IMG. How much of this is true?

There is no official report regarding this. I would advice you to check the nrmp match statistics for this year. The number of IMG match has gone up this year and in the last 3-4 years the trend has been of that of a rise.

However, there are some talk regarding the fact that they did increases their med school seats and that maybe that impact would happen in the coming years. So, whether such an increment would result in a major impact on IMG match is hard to say.

[[email protected]$]

Originally Posted by Jumpstep

Congratulations! It's just like a dream... I want to start my journey and am double minded whether to take Step 1 first or Step 2. Let me give you some facts and you might be able to help me better:

1- I am an IMG and in the system that I studied, I am more confident with the clinical as compared to Basic Sciences part

2- I want to take the Canadian exams too. So if I take Step 2 first, I will be actually studying once and taking a couple of exams together.

3- A career consultant advised me to take Step 1 first because it will solidify my knowledge of Basic Sciences which will help me in Step 2 AND also because this will reduce my fear for the Step 2 and the Canadian exams and give me some experience.

Please help!

Thanks a lot

My advice to you regarding your dilemma would be to prioritize when do you want to give the Canadian exams. I don't have any knowledge regarding the Canadian exam format.
It is true that basic sciences do help you to some extent in your CK prep, but to say that it will pose a big problem to give Step2 without having given Step1 is not true. If your knowledge regarding the step1 subjects is fairly okay, then it is not hard to prepare for Step2. You can always consult Step1 books if you are stuck somewhere.

However, if you think that you have completely lost touch with the basic subjects then I would advice to atleast have a quick overview of the same in case you can't afford to give step1 first.
In the end, what really matters is what is your main focus. If it's USMLE, things you need to consider are that Step1 score is the most important out of all your steps for an IMG. But, if you want to target both set of exams then there is no harm to go ahead with Step2. Hope this helps!

[usmle1]

Originally Posted by [email protected]$

I have been a silent observer since the past year and this forum has helped and guided me quite accurately.
So, this is my USMLE journey,

YOG: 2011
Step 1: 250
Step 2 CK: 256
CS: pass, 1st attempt
Step 3: 251

I gave all the steps in about a year and half. I took about 6 months to prepare for my 1st step, about 5 months for CK and 2 weeks for CS. For step 3, I had only a month and a half for prep as I was in the middle of interviews.

Through my experience, follow whatever schedule and books you are comfortable with. It is important to get your basics and the concepts behind everything clear (especially for Step1), as that is what is going to help you in the exam. UWorld was an excellent guide along with first aid (for step 1), MTB 2 and 3 (for CK and step 3). Depending on your own style, practice uworld the number of times you feel comfortable with the type of thinking that they want you to do. I had done it once and then just went through the questions I had marked. Making notes from uworld in the book that you use for a final read is what I found very efficient. It saved me time to go back and search for a concept in the uworld qbank.

Lastly, set a goal time for your prep for each step. This is very important as there is no limit and time when you would be completely ready for the exam. So once you have a Uworld score of above 70%, that is a good guide that you can achieve a decent score.
I hope this will help someone on this forum and give them the confidence to push themselves to achieve their goal, as it did for me.

congratulations on getting such nice scores in all your exams , can u tell me about CS material that you used for your exam ? and in what sequence did you take all these exams ?

[[email protected]$]

Originally Posted by usmle1

congratulations on getting such nice scores in all your exams , can u tell me about CS material that you used for your exam ? and in what sequence did you take all these exams ?

I used First Aid for Step2 CS. I read and practiced all the cases twice along with typing the notes. Read all the short cases with multiple differential diagnosis. Try form your own diagnosis (atleast 3-5 options) before reading what is given in the book. That proved to be helpful in my case. It is very important to have a good estimate of the time needed for every component of the exam (which includes from knocking the exam door, greeting the patient, taking history & examination and counseling). Read the introductory part of the book as well, it explains how to manage your time.

I didn't use any specific videos for the physical examination, but looked up videos on youtube for any part I was in doubt of.

I took Step 1 first followed by Step 2 CK and then lastly, CS.

[eiffeltower]

Originally Posted by [email protected]$

I have been a silent observer since the past year and this forum has helped and guided me quite accurately.
So, this is my USMLE journey,

YOG: 2011
Step 1: 250
Step 2 CK: 256
CS: pass, 1st attempt
Step 3: 251

I gave all the steps in about a year and half. I took about 6 months to prepare for my 1st step, about 5 months for CK and 2 weeks for CS. For step 3, I had only a month and a half for prep as I was in the middle of interviews.

Through my experience, follow whatever schedule and books you are comfortable with. It is important to get your basics and the concepts behind everything clear (especially for Step1), as that is what is going to help you in the exam. UWorld was an excellent guide along with first aid (for step 1), MTB 2 and 3 (for CK and step 3). Depending on your own style, practice uworld the number of times you feel comfortable with the type of thinking that they want you to do. I had done it once and then just went through the questions I had marked. Making notes from uworld in the book that you use for a final read is what I found very efficient. It saved me time to go back and search for a concept in the uworld qbank.

Lastly, set a goal time for your prep for each step. This is very important as there is no limit and time when you would be completely ready for the exam. So once you have a Uworld score of above 70%, that is a good guide that you can achieve a decent score.
I hope this will help someone on this forum and give them the confidence to push themselves to achieve their goal, as it did for me.

Hi, Congratulations first. I have a question for you. You scored awesome in all steps, then what about USCE.? In which specialty you joined and where?

[#boost]

Congrats man! well, u dint mention when u took steps. Were u doin any job while u took steps?

[Y36Y]

Congrats !!
I hope mine goes well too

[subhyashri]

congratulations!!!

[sadiaseed]

Congratulate about your experience. From your USMLE experience i think we can learn more about it. Basically i am 3rd year of MBBS. I need you to give me some tips about preparation on this session. Do you help me ?

[arinzedr]

Congrats man...I jst finished med school and doing my housemanship, I would tk step 1 next year..please can I knw the books you used, study plan and how to use question bank

[Step-step]

Congratulations. How many interviews did you get? Did you end up matching? And which residency did you apply to eg. FM, IM, surgery... Etc.
Thanks.

[LMDCstudent]

I want to ask here something..can any body tell me...I AM A 3RD YEAR MBBS STUDENT IN PAKISTAN..I WANT TO PRACTICE IN AMERICA..MY FATHER'S BROTHER(MY UNCLE) IS A DOCTOR IN AMERICA ..VERY WELL KNOWN AND PRACTICING FROM ABOUT 20 YEARS...WHAT I WANT TO ASK IS THAT CAN I TAKE ANY BENEFIT OF HIM??LIKE CAN HE SPONSER ME OR CALL ME THERE FOR WORKING IN HIS HOSPITAL SO THAT I COULD GET PLACE IN AMERICA EARLY THAN THAT OF MY FRIENDS??OR I JUST HAVE TO FOLLOW THE ENTIRE PATH AS MY FRIENDS WHO DO NOT HAVE ANY RELATIVE IN AMERICA???PLZ TELL THE RIGHT SOLUTION