[indian]

I've been told that CS is easy and in this website there's a poll in which CS has got no attention.
But let me warn you guys.
It's not easy at all.
You have to take it really seriously
You have to know the differential diagnosis and you should really close the SP encounter with serious recommendations and adive.
You have to be a real actor and you have to learn the compassionate American approach.
Read FA once, twice, and three times.
Practice cases with study partner at least for 2 weeks.

Don't ever take it lightly

I failed the exam

 

[im2student]

I've been told that CS is easy and in this website there's a poll in which CS has got no attention.
But let me warn you guys.
It's not easy at all.
You have to take it really seriously
You have to know the differential diagnosis and you should really close the SP encounter with serious recommendations and adive.
You have to be a real actor and you have to learn the compassionate American approach.
Read FA once, twice, and three times.
Practice cases with study partner at least for 2 weeks.

Don't ever take it lightly

I failed the exam

the reason that i failed is lagging behind my study partners, i practiced with 2 other guys who took the exam 2 mths before me

i m alone when i took it and of course, i m out of practice for a long time

u can feel that u don't get any reaction from the SPs

of course, i failed it, heehee

i prepared 3 full weeks for the second time,
and screwed up the first case, heehee
the SP look into my eyes and said
"you are too close to me, back off, and i don't understand what you said !"

i was thinking to go home right after that case

but something held me that day, maybe my mom's voice "don't give up !"
i did my best to the rest of the cases and thank God, i passed

COUNSELLING is important
but
ICE can kill you too

believe it or not, the CS passing rate for IMGs are ~50-60% recently

FA, kaplan, UW they all are good, but will not be enough if you don't have a good study partner who has the same exam pressure like you do

for me, CS is the most hardest exam

best of luck to everybody !

 

[khanar]

Re: im2student

Hey im2student,
You really scared me
Can you tell me what was the reason of your failed first attempt
Was it the integrated clinical encounter or was it the English proficiency as per your evaluation report
I do understand that we IMG have difficulties but I want to know which part is really deserve the focus
thanks in advance

 

[ahassan]

hi all I got my cs result today and i failed! i can't believe it! i thought i did well, i was wrong.

you are right it is a hard exam. i failed in one component, the data gathering. the part where the sp's mark the check boxes. GOD what am i to do now? i have step one in feb. i'm feeling real low now

 

[indian]

hi all I got my cs result today and i failed! i can't believe it! i thought i did well, i was wrong.

you are right it is a hard exam. i failed in one component, the data gathering. the part where the sp's mark the check boxes. GOD what am i to do now? i have step one in feb. i'm feeling real low now

Find a study partner who's currently prepping for the exam. Practice together. The one who's doing the SP should check the points after the encounter exactly as the exam SP are doing.
This is the only way where you can improve your chances of passing the exam.
Am doing this right now.

 

[im2student]

Hey im2student,
You really scared me
Can you tell me what was the reason of your failed first attempt
Was it the integrated clinical encounter or was it the English proficiency as per your evaluation report
I do understand that we IMG have difficulties but I want to know which part is really deserve the focus
thanks in advance

my apology
i got the result in april, failed in CIS, did a lot of research

at the local kaplan center, i got contact with 8 or more people who failed CS, guess what, everybody except one failed with CIS

however, after august 12, everybody (that i heard of) failed with ICE, hassan is the third one, i believe that they increase the passing score on ICE

just my 2 cents,
- don't skip physical examination
- write an impeccable patient note

- be nice, caring, emotional, empathetic doctor
- never argue with the patient

the worse thing is ... the second time is a lot harder than the first time
because you know the areas that you did fail and it is a bad, very bad experience

i know some ppl who failed the exam twice or even thrice, they will not let you pass automatically because you are a repeater (which is very common in driving tests)

the worst thing is ... USMLE-CS is not a driving test

God help us
----

hi all I got my cs result today and i failed! i can't believe it! i thought i did well, i was wrong.

you are right it is a hard exam. i failed in one component, the data gathering. the part where the sp's mark the check boxes. GOD what am i to do now? i have step one in feb. i'm feeling real low now

just focus on step 1, you can fight CS later, i know that it is hard because 6 months ago, i was in your position

but
you can do it

don't give up

Find a study partner who's currently prepping for the exam. Practice together. The one who's doing the SP should check the points after the encounter exactly as the exam SP are doing.
This is the only way where you can improve your chances of passing the exam.
Am doing this right now.

bravo, very good

 

[ahassan]

thank you all.

in retrospect i did all the procedures, smile, handshake, drape, wash hands, did physical (cvs n respo n GI) in almost all cases. some say i shud've written the Dx in detail eg.MI due to HTN or something. Mostly I think I didn't make it in the sp checklist phase.

I don't know. Feel like I set myself up for failure. I'm US citizen/IMG so had no problem in other two components.

Should concentrate on Step one but feel bummmed out. was really hoping to pass this. 2009 was hell. hope 2010 will feel like heaven.

Pray for me.