[izausmle]

My step 1 experience: 243

Total time : 7 months
Materials used:
ANATOMY: Kaplan long notes for neuro anatomy(did 3 times) +Google image (for CT scan MRI images and specimens)
for rest I made my own notes (BD chaurasiya ) +FA
( I got a star in anatomy .. I had tons n tons of qs on anatomy and after exam I thought I did worst in it).

HISTOLOGY AND CELL BIOLOGY: I tried to read a lots of books but dint find anything else as good as the first 7 chapters of BOARD REVIEW SERIES HISTOLOGY BOOK. For image I just preferred using Google image.

EMBRYOLOGY: I just gave a single read to HIGH YIELD EMBRYOLOGY and an-noted important points in my FA chapter wise.

PHYSIOLOGY: KAPLAN PHYSIOLOGY book did wonders to me…I was heavily tested n physio but I had done Kaplan long notes word to word so it dint go that bad… I also did respiratory physiology from BRS and an-noted it in my FA.

BIOCHEMISTRY: I had made notes from lippincoat while I was doing my house job last year.. did molecular biology portion from Kaplan long note word to word.

GENETICS: Kaplan long notes

PATHOLOGY: I tried reading goljan 3rd edition… couldn’t retain much info in my brain.. but did make some useful notes and annotion in my FA.. renal pathology is simply superb in goljan!!! For images I would google every disease and take screen shots.

BEHAVIORIAL SCIENCES AND BIOSTATICS: this subject troubled me the most… I did Kaplan notes with FA word to word for a zillion times and still it wouldn’t make any sense at all.. my poorest performance in the real exam was in this subject

MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY : I did Kaplan long notes and I wouldn’t stop myself to google image of a single bug.. I made my own notes for malaria..( that was the best thing I did for myself!!! .. I realized that on my exam) . Immunology I did Kaplan and I think they did justice to that subject very well)

PHARMACOLOGY: Kaplan long notes for ANS and cardiac, renal pharmacology…. Did katzung single read and made notes for anesthetic drugs and CNS pharma… for antimicrobials and rest of the drugs FA was more than sufficient.

Apart from these.. I love google and Wikipedia and any topic I had trouble with I would just find it in google and dissect it in and out and annote in my FA.

Like everyone else I love FA and I did total 4 readings of the 2014 edition.

QBANKS
UWORLD qbank(2014) I solved offline (1 time , twice for biochem, genetics ): I just annoted the new facts I came across in my FA.
KAPTEST(2010) : I did qs on anatomy, physiology , genetics , molecular biology( those were my weaker areas)
USMLE FORUM : although I was a silent observer I used to try going thru every new discussion….

Apart from these I tried using webpath, usmlerx but they couldn’t hold my interest for too long…

NBMES:
nbme 3 offline 4 months before exam: approx 225
nbme 1 offline 2.5 months before exam: approx : 232
nbme 7offline 2 months before exam: approx 235
nbme 13 online 1 month before exam : 245
nbme 16 online 5 days before exam: 239
real deal : 243

EXAM DAY experience: luckily I was able to sleep for some 7 hrs before my exam.. so I woke up fresh… packed my bag with a box of chocolates, another box with pasta, one bottle of orange juice and another one with warm water . I checked for my permit and my passport.. dressed up comfortably in sneakers and sweat shirts (removed my chains, watch) and went to the pometric.. reached thr at 7 30 am… the exam started at around 8 45 am. I took a painkiller and pantoprazole before exam so I dnt get a headache or acidity attack in middle .

1ST BLOCK: I was lucky that I dint have a tough 1st block…. So I caught the grip well .. n marked 4 qs in 1st block with 10min remaining…..then I took a break…. Used the washroom, sipped on little orange juice and went back for my 2nd block: this blocked was a beast.. marked 17 qs n couldn’t revise any of them .. I took another small break ate few chocolates.. 3rd block was ok although I got no time to revise .. flagged around 12 qs…..took another break .. and it went on… with me flagging on average 12 qs each block n absolutely no time to revise.
Too many weird images… got 1 heart sound.. and 1ecg… 10 12 ct/mri .. 8/10 histo images .. few bugs
most qs were 5 7 line long.. few wr upto 12 line long!!!!!

The most important part was NOT TO LOSE THE GRIP!!! .. The exam is weird… looks like a absolute nightmare as u tick those crazy options .. But u got to hold ur heart in place.. Keep urself calm and tick the option which makes the most sense…. The exam had no resemblance to uworld nbme or anythn I ever knew!!!!u are not gonna feel good at the end of the exam.. its tough..but if u have good concepts of the topics and a courageous heart ur score card will reflect it very well… good luck!!!!

 

[zaeema ansari]

Congratulations.
Can you tell about the biostats?

 

[doc10487]

Awesome! Congras

hey!
this is really inspiring. I have been pretty frustrated lately but this really put things in perspective.
kindly check ur inbox too
Congras

 

[58748]

Congratulations.

how many hours did you study daily?

so, in the end what did you use for pathology?

 

[izausmle]

for anat

so.. i have my inbox filled to write about anatomy: i got a star in both gross anat and histology....
for anatomy u need to have your notes on (these topics are grossly lacking on kaplan long note/ fa/uworld others are fine)
musculoskeletal system:
#each muscle of both upper and lower limb and its nerve supply and action(take your text book and note it down neatly).
#Relation of ulnar radial and median nerves with the important landmarks...
#injury to these nerves and the consequences.
# arteries of both limbs and the relation with the landmarks.
# injury to these vessels and its consequences.(ortho emegencies).
# various nerve plexus. ( make urself familiar with the image, learn about injuries and anesthetic procedures)
#cutaneous nerve supply
# each n every detail and every kind of image of the rotator cuff and the knee joint
# branches of coronary arteries, vessel distribution of gut shld be done throughly... DISSECT EM IN AND OUT!!!.

PELVIS: urinary and fecal incontinence, nerve supply vessel distribution and lymphatic drainage of each and every organ of the pelvis(VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT!!)
well, thats the topic i think are important.... u can go thru the books and decide nurself what extra stuff u would like to learn more..

 

[izausmle]

pathology

i used to study .. 6days a week for 8 hr for the initial 5months... last 2 month was a rollercoaster ride... it was like 12 to 14 hrs every day.

pathology: i did Goljan rapid review once.. and highlighted the important stuffs thr....
for general pathology... i did rapid review thoroughly.. and did the highlighted parts twice. (oncology is a different game tho.. its very high yield and for each n every other tumor supressor gene and proto oncogene.... i had my own notes from kaplan, wiki, FA n everywhr else i had searched and found anything that looked important)

for systemic..
cardiovascular i did Goljan once and the highlighted parts two times with FA uworld and google image screenshots.
RESPI.. i did once and annoted in FA.... lots n lots of CT/xrays to be done there... few topics mentioned on FA i went thru wiki and annoted few details.

GIT/HEPATO : i did goljan once... few annotions in FA but uworld does justice to this chapter.. n ofcourse u need to do lots of histo/ct scan images!

genitourinary: FA and google image was sufficient.

musculoskeletal, CNS: one read goljan +FA +google images...

and the toughest of all : RENAl>>> goljan 3 reads with FA following each time.. webpath + google image (i still dont seem to be able to figure out the slides :indifferent: )

 

[izausmle]

biostats

Biostatistic still leaves me very confused.. i left no stones unturned but had my lowest score on it..... i did kaplan ln+ katest+uworld+uworld subjective assesment... i wanted to do the 700qs in BRS but i ran out of time!!!..that would be one thing i would love to do had i some extra time...
behav. science.... LET IT GO WITH UR INSTINCTS!! nomatter how hard u try the real exam is weird enough to give u chills .... and u r gonna tick the option on basis of ur instincts..... do read 100 cases of medical ethics tho... but be mentally prepared to not get fits when u see those crazy scenarios popping one after other in ur exams!!!

 

[DrNewB]

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations!! You did very well!! Not just in terms of scores but also the way you prepared for it.

Thanks a lot for the review about the exam. Awesome post!

 

[karma choezom]

Usmle step 1 preparation

My step 1 experience: 243

Total time : 7 months
Materials used:
ANATOMY: Kaplan long notes for neuro anatomy(did 3 times) +Google image (for CT scan MRI images and specimens)
for rest I made my own notes (BD chaurasiya ) +FA
( I got a star in anatomy .. I had tons n tons of qs on anatomy and after exam I thought I did worst in it).

HISTOLOGY AND CELL BIOLOGY: I tried to read a lots of books but dint find anything else as good as the first 7 chapters of BOARD REVIEW SERIES HISTOLOGY BOOK. For image I just preferred using Google image.

EMBRYOLOGY: I just gave a single read to HIGH YIELD EMBRYOLOGY and an-noted important points in my FA chapter wise.

PHYSIOLOGY: KAPLAN PHYSIOLOGY book did wonders to me…I was heavily tested n physio but I had done Kaplan long notes word to word so it dint go that bad… I also did respiratory physiology from BRS and an-noted it in my FA.

BIOCHEMISTRY: I had made notes from lippincoat while I was doing my house job last year.. did molecular biology portion from Kaplan long note word to word.

GENETICS: Kaplan long notes

PATHOLOGY: I tried reading goljan 3rd edition… couldn't retain much info in my brain.. but did make some useful notes and annotion in my FA.. renal pathology is simply superb in goljan!!! For images I would google every disease and take screen shots.

BEHAVIORIAL SCIENCES AND BIOSTATICS: this subject troubled me the most… I did Kaplan notes with FA word to word for a zillion times and still it wouldn't make any sense at all.. my poorest performance in the real exam was in this subject

MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY : I did Kaplan long notes and I wouldn't stop myself to google image of a single bug.. I made my own notes for malaria..( that was the best thing I did for myself!!! .. I realized that on my exam) . Immunology I did Kaplan and I think they did justice to that subject very well)

PHARMACOLOGY: Kaplan long notes for ANS and cardiac, renal pharmacology…. Did katzung single read and made notes for anesthetic drugs and CNS pharma… for antimicrobials and rest of the drugs FA was more than sufficient.

Apart from these.. I love google and Wikipedia and any topic I had trouble with I would just find it in google and dissect it in and out and annote in my FA.

Like everyone else I love FA and I did total 4 readings of the 2014 edition.

QBANKS
UWORLD qbank(2014) I solved offline (1 time , twice for biochem, genetics ): I just annoted the new facts I came across in my FA.
KAPTEST(2010) : I did qs on anatomy, physiology , genetics , molecular biology( those were my weaker areas)
USMLE FORUM : although I was a silent observer I used to try going thru every new discussion….

Apart from these I tried using webpath, usmlerx but they couldn't hold my interest for too long…

NBMES:
nbme 3 offline 4 months before exam: approx 225
nbme 1 offline 2.5 months before exam: approx : 232
nbme 7offline 2 months before exam: approx 235
nbme 13 online 1 month before exam : 245
nbme 16 online 5 days before exam: 239
real deal : 243

EXAM DAY experience: luckily I was able to sleep for some 7 hrs before my exam.. so I woke up fresh… packed my bag with a box of chocolates, another box with pasta, one bottle of orange juice and another one with warm water . I checked for my permit and my passport.. dressed up comfortably in sneakers and sweat shirts (removed my chains, watch) and went to the pometric.. reached thr at 7 30 am… the exam started at around 8 45 am. I took a painkiller and pantoprazole before exam so I dnt get a headache or acidity attack in middle .

1ST BLOCK: I was lucky that I dint have a tough 1st block…. So I caught the grip well .. n marked 4 qs in 1st block with 10min remaining…..then I took a break…. Used the washroom, sipped on little orange juice and went back for my 2nd block: this blocked was a beast.. marked 17 qs n couldn't revise any of them .. I took another small break ate few chocolates.. 3rd block was ok although I got no time to revise .. flagged around 12 qs…..took another break .. and it went on… with me flagging on average 12 qs each block n absolutely no time to revise.
Too many weird images… got 1 heart sound.. and 1ecg… 10 12 ct/mri .. 8/10 histo images .. few bugs
most qs were 5 7 line long.. few wr upto 12 line long!!!!!

The most important part was NOT TO LOSE THE GRIP!!! .. The exam is weird… looks like a absolute nightmare as u tick those crazy options .. But u got to hold ur heart in place.. Keep urself calm and tick the option which makes the most sense…. The exam had no resemblance to uworld nbme or anythn I ever knew!!!!u are not gonna feel good at the end of the exam.. its tough..but if u have good concepts of the topics and a courageous heart ur score card will reflect it very well… good luck!!!!

I just wanna ask. Is Kaplan lecture videos are highly recommended, although I have Kaplan lecture note of 2013 and videos 2010, should I buy the new edi or just stick with it.but I will give my step 1 on april2016 . Does older edi n videos make huge difference cause I thought of saving my money for Q bank as Kaplan lecture are expensive.plz help me!!!

 

[ezguy]

what is brs 700 questions ?

Biostatistic still leaves me very confused.. i left no stones unturned but had my lowest score on it..... i did kaplan ln+ katest+uworld+uworld subjective assesment... i wanted to do the 700qs in BRS but i ran out of time!!!..that would be one thing i would love to do had i some extra time...
behav. science.... LET IT GO WITH UR INSTINCTS!! nomatter how hard u try the real exam is weird enough to give u chills .... and u r gonna tick the option on basis of ur instincts..... do read 100 cases of medical ethics tho... but be mentally prepared to not get fits when u see those crazy scenarios popping one after other in ur exams!!!