It’s 264
🤓🤓Graduated from university of kalamoon/ SYRIA
🇸🇾2014Current status; 4th year IM resident
Step 2 score ; 262
Experience:
Kaplan lectures, first aid, uworld, pathoma, anatomy shelf notes, brs physiology ( nothing new )
I concentrated mainly on concepts from videos and doing uworld more than reading books so I don’t get bored
Briefly about study timeline; I started on june 2017 by doing kaplan physiology videos and book, then i did biochemistry videos ( turco) without book, i did just these two from june till October! ( too many on and off with studying upto 3 hours a day )
From October till February I studied the other subjects with uworld, from February till may i did the second round, this was the only period with dedicated study. Last month online uworld, and online assessment exams, and basic part of first aid
About resources; i get too bored with reading books, so my plan was understanding concepts from video lectures as much as i can and then doing uworld for that subject
Physiology;
kaplan classroom 2014
And brs physiology, uworld
These resources are more than enough
If you don’t understand some topics you can do that topic from costanzo physiology ( same author)
Kaplan classroom videos( dr.wilson) are very helpful and simplistic.
Physiology in the exam; up and down arrows that depends on knowing concepts well
Least subject with “out of no where” questions
Anatomy;
kaplan classroom videos are average, but for neuroscience part it’s very good, I read briefly high yield anatomy and neuro anatomy but in my opinion it’s not “cost effective” exept images .
You can do some parts from anatomy if you feel you’re weak
But kaplan neuro is good and no need for high yield ( too many details and low yield stuff)
First aid anatomy too bad, but the embryo part is good
Uworld anatomy is good ( they focus on topics that frequently asked in exam)
Anatomy in exam; it’s the most subject that you may found some question outside the usual resources but it’s not hard ( I’m talking about 3-4 questions maximum), other are not hard
Always focus on imaging specially in neuro, do all images from highyield anatomy without reading text and you will be fine.
Always concentrate on clinical aspects of anatomy like which nerve might be damage when you do specific procedures
Biochemistry;
Kaplan classroom 2014 ( dr. Turco )
No need to talk about the amazing turco
This is a five stars source and a must, you can’t memorize firstaid like a robot, you MUST know concepts in biochemistry, after that you can do firstaid
I did turco two tims without reading kaplan book, and i did becker ( dr. Raymond) he is very good and explains concepts very clearly with many integration, many people asked about turco vs raymond, in my opinion they both very very good but I felt that raymond is a little bit better in molecular part and torcu better in metabolism part
You can do any of them and you will be safe.
Uworld biochemistry is very very good
About exam; you must know concepts very good not just memorize things, cause many questions in biochemistry and molecular biology are very easy but asked in a twisted wierd evil manner
All metabolism parts are ultra high yield
As already known you would have a couple of out of no where questions ( 2-4 maximum ) don’t panic! Most questions are straight forward and easier than uworld
Microbiology and immunology;
I didn’t do kaplan, it’s too boring
So I decided to do just first aid, but before that i did DIT videos and then first aid, But they aren’t worthy cause they are just reading first aid to you
Micro is just memorizing so you can do it just from first aid and with uworld it’s more than enough
In exam; most questions are straight forward depending on memorizing
A couple of weird questions from immunology but it’s not worth it to do something other than first aid
Pathology;
I felt that more than half of the questions are patho or pathophys !
As you all know pathoma is a must and super high yield
The images are great and mostly enough
I read the first 10 chapters from goljan, it’s an amazing book and ties different subjects with each other, but it’s huge and believe me pathoma and uworld is enough, maybe by doing goljan you will answer one or two wierd questions.
Biostatistics/behavioral science, psychiatry;
2008 kaplan videos are very very good
This subject is the same from STEP 2 so I just did videos and uworld and it was more than enough.
2-3 hard ethical questions in exam,
Very little calculating question in biostatistics, overall it was an easy part
I didn’t have problem with psych questions cause it’s easier than step 2, know the criteria of psychiatric disease and the timeline for each one, personality disorders, defense mechanism
Uworld is more than enough for psychiatry
Pharmacology;
Kaplan classroom 2015 ( dr. Harris) are excellent and he will tell you about the high yield stuff
With first aid and uworld you will answer most questions
Nearly half of the questions were about mechanisms
Most questions are straight forward memorizing
Some experimental questions in a twisted way.
Overall the exam is not hard as people say, it’s so easier than step 2
Maybe the subjects are wierd but exam questions are shorter, more straight forward, and simpler than step 2
About 50% overlap between step 1 and 2
As i did step 2 first, pathology and bio, psych, pharm were more easier
20% of questions are very easy
50% are straight forward
25% are a little bit hard that can be answered with knowing concepts with some memorizing
“In my exam” less than 5% were so hard
(Upto three questions in each block were challenging )
So don’t panic and stick to the old plan ( first aid, videos, pathoma, and uworld)
And you will answer 90% of the questions
Uworld and assessment exam:
All assessment exams done in the last month exept nbme 12
Uworld online ( 93% correct )
uwsa 1 ; 268
uwsa 2: 260
Nbme 12: 20 wrong ( two months before exam
Nbme 13: 15 wrong
Nbme 16 online: 255
Nbme 17 online: 261
Nbem 18 online: 261
Nbme 19 online: 257
My exam was a mixture of uwsa 2 with nbme 17-18
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