About me: I'm an IMG from Chennai, India in my third year of med school.
Started my preparation towards the end of March -2015, Began with Kaplan lecture notes and videos (mostly watched at 2x) and Pathoma for pathology,
I got through these by mid july (after kaplan was my first read of FA-15) , when i started seeing questions from USMLE Rx, I would say this bank does what it says makes u good at diagnosis and its overall easy nothing else, moved on to doing a bit of kaplan q bank never covered all of it.
My preparation was on and off until Mid September when i stepped it up.
This is when i started doing Uworld my first pass, did random timed and eded with a 69% in the end. It was the end of October and took my first NBMEs,
NBME-13 (50 days from exam day) - 230
Started doing uworld for the 2nd time! In my opinion the best study material out there, do not use it for mere assessment! I learn't a lot from it , supplemented with DIT for FA during this time period and took my
NBME-16 - 245 (19 days from exam day)
Took the NBME-17 -247 (11 days from exam day)
First Aid along with UWORLD were my main materials!
DIT really helped me understand and consolidate First aid.
BRS series i used for some chaps in physio, really liked it and i guess for those reading without videos BRS can really help!
REAL DEAL : 23/12/15
It was harder than any nbme out there and was more difficult than Uworld was what i felt, some stuff i hadn't come across anywhere before on the exam! Not a lot directly from First Aid in my test, but this is variable. Overall uworld is what i feel close to the real deal!
Usual mix of all kinds of questions, Anatomy was a bit hard 2! Kaplan really doesn't help much , High yield Anat is a better book overall.
Strengths and weakness again vary with each person.
It wasn't a great feeling stepping out of the exam as all say,
Got my score report , I scored a 240.
Behavioral and biostats were my weak ones in my score report, well i tried all i can for these subs! even read through Khans ethics which i guess is a must read! Ethics questions on the test were the hardest i've seen.
5-7 dip from my last nbmes, though exam was harder than anything in my opinion! It's not a great score, but in the end glad i made it!
Thinking back, here's where i think i missed out during my prep,
Initially did a lot of passive reading, which just wont do for this test!
Reality just struck me while doing uworld first time, for me what worked was Qbanks , understanding and breaking down questions which i suggest earlier you start the better! Recall based questions were not a lot on my exam and experimental questions quite a lot which i do not know how to prepare for
. I didn't take any UWSA's though tend to overpredict they are tougher than any nbmes's out there and even nbmes aren;t very accurate these days!
Overall, it is an intimidating, tough exam which puts your understanding, endurance! and decision making skills to the ULTIMATE test!
Would take the score what i got in the end i guess ,
This forums really helped me, seeing a lot of experiences did prepare me.
Keep calm on your exam day and get a good night sleep! (both a bit hard haha)
Above all believe in yourself and your preparation!
Good luck.
Started my preparation towards the end of March -2015, Began with Kaplan lecture notes and videos (mostly watched at 2x) and Pathoma for pathology,
I got through these by mid july (after kaplan was my first read of FA-15) , when i started seeing questions from USMLE Rx, I would say this bank does what it says makes u good at diagnosis and its overall easy nothing else, moved on to doing a bit of kaplan q bank never covered all of it.
My preparation was on and off until Mid September when i stepped it up.
This is when i started doing Uworld my first pass, did random timed and eded with a 69% in the end. It was the end of October and took my first NBMEs,
NBME-13 (50 days from exam day) - 230
Started doing uworld for the 2nd time! In my opinion the best study material out there, do not use it for mere assessment! I learn't a lot from it , supplemented with DIT for FA during this time period and took my
NBME-16 - 245 (19 days from exam day)
Took the NBME-17 -247 (11 days from exam day)
First Aid along with UWORLD were my main materials!
DIT really helped me understand and consolidate First aid.
BRS series i used for some chaps in physio, really liked it and i guess for those reading without videos BRS can really help!
REAL DEAL : 23/12/15
It was harder than any nbme out there and was more difficult than Uworld was what i felt, some stuff i hadn't come across anywhere before on the exam! Not a lot directly from First Aid in my test, but this is variable. Overall uworld is what i feel close to the real deal!
Usual mix of all kinds of questions, Anatomy was a bit hard 2! Kaplan really doesn't help much , High yield Anat is a better book overall.
Strengths and weakness again vary with each person.
It wasn't a great feeling stepping out of the exam as all say,
Got my score report , I scored a 240.
Behavioral and biostats were my weak ones in my score report, well i tried all i can for these subs! even read through Khans ethics which i guess is a must read! Ethics questions on the test were the hardest i've seen.
5-7 dip from my last nbmes, though exam was harder than anything in my opinion! It's not a great score, but in the end glad i made it!
Thinking back, here's where i think i missed out during my prep,
Initially did a lot of passive reading, which just wont do for this test!
Reality just struck me while doing uworld first time, for me what worked was Qbanks , understanding and breaking down questions which i suggest earlier you start the better! Recall based questions were not a lot on my exam and experimental questions quite a lot which i do not know how to prepare for
. I didn't take any UWSA's though tend to overpredict they are tougher than any nbmes's out there and even nbmes aren;t very accurate these days!Overall, it is an intimidating, tough exam which puts your understanding, endurance! and decision making skills to the ULTIMATE test!
Would take the score what i got in the end i guess ,
This forums really helped me, seeing a lot of experiences did prepare me.
Keep calm on your exam day and get a good night sleep! (both a bit hard haha
)Above all believe in yourself and your preparation!
Good luck.
