Skip to main content

Doing USMLE in MBBS


Uptil now I explained how one can do steps after MBBS or after house job. Doing this thing in MBBS is more challenging but at the same time more advantageous. It has lot of benefits like:
1- You save 2 years
.
2- You don't have to do house job.
 
3- You can get good electives as most good programs require step 1 before they give you electives.
In out days not much people used to do steps as undergrad as there was less guidance and prof. exams used to be more subjective than today . Today exam is more objective and they can be passed by reading step books.
I will explain year wise how one can prepare for steps in MBBS so that each year students may be benefited.

First and Second year and USMLE:
One can read all three subjects from Kaplan books and start preparing for steps right away. Only anatomy needs to be read from BD. along with Kaplan as Kaplan is deficient in anatomy. By end of 2 years, one must have read these 3 books of Kaplan 3 times at least that is sufficient to make him familiar to the language of step books . Your target should be more to pass Profs and less on to get familiar with Kaplan.
Third year and USMLE:
People who still have not started USMLE can still be familiar with it in third year.
 
1-Pharmacology can be easily passed by only reading Kaplan pharma. One should finish pharma 3 times by the time of prof which is more than enough for 1st read of pharma in steps.
 
2- There is no Kaplan for general patho. So read it from Robins
.
3- Forensic is not tested in USMLE
4- Microbiology / Immunology can be easily prepared from Kaplan. It's more than sufficient.
Fourth year and USMLE: This is the year when you should officially start preparing step 1. When I say officially I mean you should be more focused and more systematic.
1- Pathology is main subject in this year. It can be easily passed by reading Kaplan and Goljan. No need to go through Robins. You should read at least twice which makes you well prepared for prof 
2- If one can also read pathology u world in 4th year , it will be highly beneficial taking only 1 more week than can be given in summer vacation
 
3- Bio-statistics part of community med can be prepared from Kaplan behavioral science book. 
After fourth year prof, you should give 2-3 more reads to all step subjects as explained in my step 1 general scheme. One should take step 1 in early part of final year or summer vacation of final year. This way you can apply for electives after step 1 result and that elective you can do immediately after final year.
Step 2Ck and Final year:
Preparing step 2 Ck in final year is relatively easy than step 1 as all final year subjects are covered by Ck books.

1- Medicine is main subject, should be read from Kaplan, U world and MTb. You can pass medicine prof after reading these books. 
2- For passing surgery, one should read Kaplan as well as some other book especially for general surgery.
 
3- Pediatrics can be passed from Kaplan Peds and U world with MTb.
 
4- Gyn/ Obs can be passed easily through Kaplan, U world and MTb.
 
5- Psychiatry can be passed from Kaplan and U world / MTB.
By the time of prof, one should have finished these subjects 2-3 times which will be equal to 1 read of step 2.
Take prof and then start second and third reads after that in same way as explained in Ck general plan. Plan Step 2 in March.
One can then go to electives applied in summer of final year. While doing electives, one can do Cs and step 3. This way he can apply in September of same year he graduated without doing house job.
Although what I explained seems a lot theoretical but I have seen people doing this. If you have to save 2 years you will have to put extra efforts. Those saved years can be utilized in doing some good research instead of house job and that will help you not only in residency but in fellowship too.
Believe in Allah because if you believe you receive!
Article by: Waqas Nawaz MD

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

MRCS PART A – EXPERIENCE

DURATION OF STUDY – 3.5-4 months (with work )  Pattern of study  Paper 1 ( Basic sciences )  Anatomy – Emrcs with NASA khan notes ( best part about these notes are he copied all the colourful pics from Snell’s anatomy along with emrcs theory ) . Make small pics for imagination of anatomical relationship .... A big chunk of questions are from anatomy , this needs to be done in a crystal clearway .. Physiology – raftry with emrcs  Pathology – raftry few topics and emrcs Pharma and micro – emrcs  I read raftry for physio complete twice , patho and micro once only  Biostatistics – emrcs  For basic sciences reading emrcs with its theory is more than enough with few references from text books to make the concepts clear  Fawzia sheets for paper one is very very very important , somehow in every session of this examination RCS is putting almost 50-60% paper from these sheets ... Don’t leave them .... Read them at least three times .... Pape...

COMPLETE HISTOLOGY POINTS (FROM FINAL GUIDE SERIES)

-You need to do all the Histology past-paper questions (2009-2016) and these points only along with the diagrams from your practical copy and you are done. . -These points are extremely important to cover the 6-7 mcqs from the histology portion that you normally skip . - CHAPTERS FROM LAIQ HUSSAIN INCLUDED : CHAPTER = 12,16,18,19,20,21,22,23. (MOST IMPORTANT 18,19,20,21). Do read or memorize these important points assembled chapter wise. (ENOUGH FOR ATTEMTPING THE PROFF UHS EXAM). CHAPTER 12 : .Old type of cortex is known as ‘’allocortex’’ .New cortex is called ‘’neocortex’’ .In the internal pyramidal layer of primary motor area giant pyramidal cells, called Betz cells are found. . There are six layers of cerebral cortex : 1) Molecular layer 2) External Granular layer 3) External pyramidal layer 4) Internal Granular area 5) Internal Pyrimidal layer 6) Multiform layer .The cerebellum consists of two hemispheres and a central vermis. .Cerebellar ...

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...