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Mariam Mohamed USMLE Experience STEP 1


Alhamdolellah ..
I was looking for this moment since one year and 4 months .
In the test day I started to cry from the 2nd block because it was tough for me and I was marking around 10-15 questions / block; but thanks God who gave me the strength to continue to the last minute .
I graduated in 2011 and getting back to basic subjects is what takes this long time.
The resources I used ordered in importance :
1- UWORLD ( one time and a half , system wise)
2- pathoma ( 4 times. The book along with the videos)
3- kaplan . Yes kaplan please don’t underestimate it. I watched 2010 videos in the beginning ( whole branches ) (you can skip it ) and 2015 in the middle and at the end for pharmacology, physiology biochemistry and neuroanatomy, they made a huge improvement in my performance.
3- First aid (2 times and 1/2). Express videos (once) and first aid flash facts (once) turn this book to make sense , the third one was this group , it’s really a treasure and nearly all alien things in fa are discussed here , just type the weird words in the search box and you will get many posts about it .Thanks a lot for those who create this group and all people who help others.
4- Youtube ❤️ I used to search for the tough topics or to look for logic mnemonics . There are a lot of great channels and amazing people who explain things in a simple and memorable way . These channels are :
*Anatomyzone https://m.youtube.com/results?q=anatomyzone&sm=3 , you will fall in love with anatomy , you will pray to get questions in brachial plexus , you will not get scared anymore when people talk about muscles and you will like his lovely British accent 😁.
* https://m.youtube.com/playlist…
I used to watch one video everyday from this playlist to be familiar with real cadaveric sections of nervous system .
* for histology this channel is the best and it helps me a lot . https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7882068A01C370F
* https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC1Z9kJphpoHPVk_2iRMh4FA
Many confusing topics in fa are explained clearly in this channel , thank you so much Meet Patel.
5- google ,for pathology and radiology images no specific website.
6- sketchy micro just for bacteriology .
Assessment tests:
UWSA 1 after studying kaplan for one time and before anything else ( 180 😅)
43 days to the exam NBME 13 = 209
33 days to the exam NBME 15 = 217
20 days to the exam NBME 18 = 230
8 days to the exam NBME 16 = 221 (I was sick and in real pain )
Same day I did UWSA 2 = 249 ( after returning from the hospital and I’ve been told what I have is just a psychological stress) .
3 days before the test I did the last two, NBME 17=250, NBME 19= 252
I didn’t have time to waste in just to be sure what’s the correct answer so I take them all online except nbme 13 was offline and awful.
The real improvement was in nbme18 after giving FA second read.
The secret in the good results in 17 and 19 is that I was so calm and confident of what I have because I learned from the previous tests that many questions are just made for fun and to show how cool they are 😒
Same thing is for nbme 19 . It’s just like others but wearing a halloween mask ! No new concepts, no more info to get from it and my mistakes were because of overthinking!
For me UWSA was more predictive and informative.
Another important thing to keep it while doing assessment test is make it alive for you , just imagine there is a real patient in front of you and seeking help, Believe me it really works.
In the end you can ignore all of the above but keep one last message : find a serious study partner. I would not make it without my great friend . To study with two brains is better than one, and with her I learned many new things , actually I learned how to think ! Thank you Rasha

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