[indian]

Hi guys, this is a great website and I've been reading several threads around.
Now, I want a personalized counseling if you can help

I am 12 years since graduation. Having been working in obs/gyn in my country in Latin America.

I suddenly decided to hit the road to USA!

Tell me, what books should I be reading? Is Kaplan notes enough? Should I start step1 or step2 first? What score I need to get obs and gyn residency? Is it really that I have no chance of matching at my age?

Will appreciate all your advices

 

[haloperidol8]

yes u can

hello and welcome to this forum.
yes u can ,i highly advice u with step2 cos u have a clinical background,being 12 years away from med school ,makes step1 harder ...
what u nead for step2 is kaplan books ONLY ,plus dvds,do UW twice and write ur own notes,before going to the exam center take NBME2 to assess ur self and get some confidence and if NBME score match with ur gols and u cant get better with ur weak area ,go for it ,nothing is impossible .
about ob/gyn chances in us ,not sure about this ,dont have enough info on it.

GOOD luck
haloperidol8

 

[indian]

hello and welcome to this forum.
yes u can ,i highly advice u with step2 cos u have a clinical background,being 12 years away from med school ,makes step1 harder ...
what u nead for step2 is kaplan books ONLY ,plus dvds,do UW twice and write ur own notes,before going to the exam center take NBME2 to assess ur self and get some confidence and if NBME score match with ur gols and u cant get better with ur weak area ,go for it ,nothing is impossible .
about ob/gyn chances in us ,not sure about this ,dont have enough info on it.

GOOD luck
haloperidol8

thank you for the advice, really appreciate it but why do you think that doing step 2 first is better, I mean at the end I have to do step1 so why I should not do it first?

 

[haloperidol8]

step 1 subjects are immuno ,physio,pharma,anatomy ,biochemistry .we learned these subjects in the first 2 years in med school,so it is gonna take u alot time to read and master them after 12 years..
BUT in step2 is more clinical oriented and ur practice will help u alot in step2 ,trust me
50% of step 1 info are covered in step2 books.........

any more QS i am ready

best of luck
haloperdol8

 

[rasheed]

Yes you can do step 1 first or Step 2 first.
what haloperidol is probably thinking about is that since you have good clinical experience then it would be easier for you to do the CK and this will give you a boost to jump start your USMLE journey.
As far as the obs and gyn issue I recommend you read this thread
http://www.usmle-forums.com/residency-match-forum/587-can-i-start-fellowship-without-residency.html

 

[rasheed]

I also started a new thread and poll about which step to take first here
http://www.usmle-forums.com/general-topics-forum/1223-step-take-first.html

let's see what will be the responses of our members.

 

[khanar]

50% of step 1 info are covered in step2 books.........

I say the reverse, 50% of step 2 info is covered in the pathology book of step 1

 

[indian]

I think you are right haloperidol
I will kick start with CK
Thank you all for the nice help

One last question to haloperidol
Where can I get Kaplan lecture notes and DVDs?

 

[haloperidol8]

i originally bought them (as acopie )not original from my country (middle east)
u can buy them from amazon.com or barnes and noble depend where do u live.....

Amazon link to Kaplan lecture notes step 1 books
Amazon link to Kaplan lecture notes step 2 CK books
good luck

 

[indian]

Thank you haloperidol for the nice advice as am in similar situation to anoosh
I have one question for you please
Why you did not include First Aid in the material needed?

 

[haloperidol8]

FA is useless in step2 ,u dont need it .,i did not read it,neither one of my friends did....
check this thread
http://www.usmle-forums.com/usmle-step-2-ck-forum/815-kaplan-first-aid-enough-c-k.html
in contrast in step1 fA is the bibble or Quran ,u have to revise it 2 times along UW notes 2-3 weeks before the exam.

ur very welcome and best of luck
haloperidol8

 

[DrSeddik]

Do even think about it!!

I did CK first, I was thinking the same way as old grads, because at school I was not good at all with basic science, and my scores got substancialy higher during the clinical rounds, I thought if I didn't get a high score in CK it will settle the USMLE thing because I won't get higher score in step1.

But unfortunately it doesn't work that way in the USMLE. First of all the information in step1 is very much linked to clinical practice, so you will not find it that difficult to cope with it. And the most important thing is that you get a lot of questions in CK that you can't answer if you didn't go through step1. Though those who took step1 first may not notice them, I was struck by those questions during the exam and they kinda freaked me out a bit, my first response was "what is he talking about?", and I thought they are just too sophisticated. I was impressed so much by them that I still remembered them during reviewing step1, and everytime I went through a peice of info for answering those questions I went (aaaah, so that's what they were talking about ). I think the reason people think that CK is easier than step1 (I strongly disagree) is because they studied step1 before CK.

So old IMG or not, I advise to take step1 first. It's an honest advice, Don't say nobody warned you . I think even if you get a high score starting with CK, you would have done better if you started with step1.