Skip to main content

Step 1--- Score : 262


Hey guys, got my score 2 days back. This group has been of great help to me in preparing for step 1. So I thought I would post my experience.
Exam date:November 22,2017
Result date December 13, 2017
Score : 262
Study materials :
1.kaplan lecture notes 2017 edition,
2.kaplan videos 2015 for pathology, micro and immunology , biostatistics and behavioral sciences, anatomy 2010 for Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Physiology and pathology.
3. First aid 2017 edition
4. Uworld
Study duration :7 months 
Study time 8 - 10 hrs per day
Study pattern :
1.I started with Kaplan lectures and videos. I took me 3 months to finish them. I spent a lot of time trying to memorize them. Looking back i think i should have spent less time on Kaplan and started Uworld and Fa. Kaplan is very low yield. But for those who have forgotten their basic sciences like me, it is a good source to refresh your memory. 
2. I began my first read of First Aid. It was very slow. I was only doing 20 pages per day. I annotated it with information from kaplan during this time. I also Googled some things which were not in kaplan.
I made sure i was thorough in my read.
3. Then I subscribed to Uworld for 2 months and started doing it in timed random mode. I started annotating new information from Uworld onto first aid. I also used to study the corresponding topic in FA for each question. I also made notes of never heard before information separately in a notebook. It was pretty slow to begin with. I could do only one block per day. Later as materials started to get repeated i picked up speed and did 2 blocks per day. Completed Uworld in 40 days. Had 85% in Uworld after first pass.
Took nbme 15 online-255(one month before exam) 
4. Since I didn't have much time left for the exam, I did the marked and wrong questions alone. Then I did a second revision of fa. This took me 20days.
Then i took both uwsa back to back to stimulate the exam conditions. 
Uwsa 1&2(10 days before exam) -273&271
I was aiming for 260 +, so i was satisfied with the scores.
Then i took other nbmes on alternate days before the exam and also did my third revision of fa along with Uworld notes and tables.
-Nbme12 offline 16 mistakes(8days before) 
-Nbme13 offline 12 mistakes(6days before) 
-Nbme17 offline 6 mistakes (4 days before) 
-Nbme18 online 2 days before exam - 267
Day before the exam, I dint read much. I was very nervous. Roamed around the house to make me tired. Slept at 10 and woke up 5.30am (I had been sleeping at 10pm for the past one week to help mr get acclimatized to the early sleeping time)
On the day of exam, I made sure i had all the necessary documents and went to prometric center. Everything that happened there was like blur to me. Checked my ear phones and skipped the tutorial. Many questions were similar to the ones from NBMES. I took 10mins break after the first two blocks and 30 minute break after the next 2 blocks and another 10 minutes after next 2 blocks. I had 10 minutes at the end of each block which I used to review the marked questions (there were 7 to 8 per block)
-Looking back i think i should done the other nbmes offline too and used them as a learning tool.
-Also start your Uworld after you are done once with the fa. This will help you utilize Uworld much better. And never do offline Uworld.
-I was initially afraid as i dint do pathoma or gojlan for pathology. But the newer kaplan pathology is very much updated and Barone with his quirky mnemonics helped me grasp the concepts. 
-Revise fa as much as possible. >80%of thr material on the exam is from fa.
Hope that this post will be helpful to others in this group.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RESIDENCY INTERVIEW EVALUATION FORM

I have attached a sample evaluation form that is used to evaluate applicants during an interview. You can score a theoretical maximum of 120 points. Let’s discuss it in detail: 1) USMLE Scores (2 to 10 points): After you get the interview, your scores do matter but not to the same extent as interview skills! You can score 10 points provided you have great scores which correspond to >=245 on step 1 and >=253 on CK. Step 3 is not mentioned on the form and its importance varies depending on the specialty that you are applying and the program. For e.g. Psychiatry places a great weightage on step 3 while IM is not that rigid about step 3. 2) Medical Knowledge (other than USMLE scores) (0 to 10 points): When you are asked any clinical question, this is where your clinical experience will help you. A person who has strong clinical experience will nail this section vs. a person who does not have clinical experience will not be able to create an impression in this section. 3) Me...
Post a Comment
Read more

MY Step 2 CK Experience 284 Medhat Farwati

Dear (future) Doctors, I am Medhat Farwati, a Syrian graduate from Aleppo University, Faculty of Medicine. Hereby I share with you my experience with Step 2 CK. 1. Score: 284 2. Self-assessments: UWSA 1: 273 (2 months out) UWSA 2: 276 ( 1 week out) NBME 7: 277 (1 week out) NBME 8: 280 (3 days out) 3. Preparation time: After I was done with Step 1, I moved to the US as a postdoctoral research fellow. As such, I realized it is going to be challenging to navigate my research du ties, US rotations, Step 2 CS exam, and Step 2 CK preparation. Collectively, the actual preparation time for CK was 12 months with an average studying time ranging from 4 hours a day for the first 10 months to 8 hours a day for the last 2 months prior to my exam. 4. Materials used: UW Step 2 CK (x3) UW Step 3 (x2) Kaplan Q bank (x1) Internal Medicine Essentials Q bank De Virgilio (surgery textbook) Up to date and Medscape Google, YouTube, and Siri 😊 UW Step 2: Your baseline. Most people preparing for CK rega...
1 comment
Read more

Step 1-238

Hello guys, I want to share my experience as a gratitude for all the people that shared their step 1 journey before .For me all the stories posted in this group gave me strength to continue and became my guidelines in a process from I didn’t know anything about.  Started with Kaplan lecture notes except for pathology. Then I watched all Kaplan 2014 videos except for pathology. Then I did Pathoma and gave my first FA read along with DIT videos, it made it easier to digest the book. Then I solved Usmle Rx and jumped straight to Uworld , first pass timed random mode score 62 % and after that I made it second time 85%. I felt confident with the knowledge I had but not with my test taking skills because I made online nbme 15 with a score of 213 and a lot of silly mistakes so I decided to do Kaplan qbank timed random mode( score 77%). I felt is very strong in anatomy and physiology concepts. After that I started to make more nbmes and I realize that my weakness was test taking skill...
1 comment
Read more