USMLE Experience

Hi guys,

First at all, I want to thanks God Which with my effort and support of my family help me and carry me along this path. Do your best, and God will do the rest! 

I've been around a long time ago, i feel that i owe to this forum a lot, because it Encourage me in every step along my path. I feel so Happy because beside the successful of my USMLE step 1, I got more great news during the same week of my report.

I'm an IMG from Caribbean, which start studying last year, but I stopped and start all over again this year around march. 

I did Kaplan Books all of them, last year, so this year I started with FA and Kaplan Step 1 Qbank, them after finish kaplan Qbank, i jump into 1 NBME 5 to asses where i was... Got 350 = 188 which is not the score i was looking Obviously is just a passing rate, after that i went into Usmle World and Keep reading FA, and after finish it for about 1 month and half i took another NBME scored 370 = 191. At least was increase but not that great.

After doing this, i looked over my weakness area and review Kaplan Books of those weakness, for example, Physiology, Behaivoral and Neuro. After that, i went again into a New Qbank, which this time was USMLE RX... i did it for 2 month because this Qbank has 3200 Question, it is a great Qbank for people who still dont know particular points of FA or for people who are looking to grab the best of FA... i love it... hence is not that accurate as the other Qbank, but the only thing it is Predictable are NBME's... Nothing else... dont be fooled... Btw, i also think that Your "guts" can tell you when you are ready but sometimes you can misinterpreted the sign. 

After i finish it, i took others NBME to assess where i was and keep readiing FA all the way...

Qbank Kaplan = 55 % = They predict 219
UW = 71% = They predict around 230+, this was bias bc last year i took UW, so it was not that predicted, that's why i dont recomend people to do any qbank Twice if you are looking to predict your score, if you are looking to see how much did ya retain,, then yes.
USmleRX 67 % = they predict 219


NBME 5 = 350 ( 6 month before exam ) 190
NBME 6 = 360 ( 4 month before exam ) 192
NBME 12 = 390 ( 2 month before exam ) 198
NBME 11 = 420 ( 1 month before exam ) 205
FREE 150 2 weeks = 74% = 226 

USMLE RX simulations i gave 3
First 4 Blocks = 219 
Second 4 blocks= 223
Third ( 7 blocks ) = 245

Those scored cheer me up... But...

I noticed i was getting around 55-65 wrongs question on NBME's, so i tried to get LESS and LESS as always looking over my weakness and After the first NBME i started a notebook where i was writting down the things they were asking me over and over again that really was smashing me down.

I did NBME 7 Offline, i got 45 wrongs, so i think that one i would get something around 210 = 450 but still hard to tell, i didnt give it online because i was confident ENOUGH to go for the exam, and if any NBME shows up with low score i will lose that.

Well, after a lot of study and up and down, my NBME was not showing a great score, but yet i was tired of studying so i decide to give the exam..

2 weeks after NBME 11 and Free 150 i didnt take anything else online and gave the exam... so 2 weeks before...

Reading FA all over again and my notebook... it was epic, i read FA in 2 weeks 3 times... and my notebook WISELY ... dont waste your time with new material,, you wont learn and you will not need it... at this point you know everything you know... So you just need to consolidate those material...

3 Days, i decide to go for Highly Topics, So i study Pharm,
2 Day, List of forgetables which is here in the forum..
1 Day, Review my Notebook, nothing more... close the book by 1 pm, i ate something and went out to the mall...Arrive home around 9 pm so i prepared my bag pack and went to sleep...

DAY OF THE EXAM

It was so nice, the exam center was clean, people so nice, and they help me with every question i got...

1 Block, The hardest, i dont know if this was because it was the first, i almost cry... I pray God after this block, went into the bathroom and try to calm down myself and give the best to the second...

2. Was easy easy,,, i got it so fast that almost start changing question, but i was so confidence, that 12 minute left on this one... so review my doubts and jump into another break...

3. Was Average, I got it good, after i finish i got 5 minute left, review my doubts and ended on time... 

BREAK eat something and drink some Redbull...

4. This was hard, but still i gave my best... and get out of there... to EAT

5. Easy easy easy.. as the second ... finish it... and jump right away to the sixth block...

6 block was HARD, but i decide to jump into this block right away, because i got 15 minute left of my break ... 

7. it was average, i found it pretty cool and almost finish it with 12 minute left again, but i review it but didnt want to end it early because it was the LAST...

My experience on the blocks...

You will find some question HARD, you will not get any idea of what the heck they are asking you,, Just breath.. and move on... and you will find this at least 2-4 question per block... so if you calculate it will be around 15 question in the whole EXAM ( 7 blocks )...

So my advise, Take the break as you need it, but keep in mind as my center in Miami, i took at least 4 minutes in going out and in during the breaks because you gotta sign a paper whenever you go out and IN and they have to check you, the pockets and everything...

Question: Some of those were experimental around 10-15 on my exam...

I got question of immuno, pretty straigh forward as we are use to... Some was a pte with X pathology and they describe it pretty nice so you get to know what they are asking... DONT doubt, dont Hesitate ... YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF.

*Micro: i got like 20-30 question
*Immuno 10-15
*Pharm shockely i was expecting around 20-30 but i just got like 7 question... this is my higher subject but they dont ask me that much...
*Neuro Around 5 Question that i remember...
*Hemato They asked me everything, they took FA and ask me everything lol... it was funny because some question were like "WTH" and others were too easy...and yet got it with and * in the HIGHEST performance...
*Behaivoral = 15 - 20 question for formulas, dont know how the heck i get it, but still i did like all the study , in total like 30 question... 

Interesting they almost rape me with this subject... they ASKED ME EVERYTHING ...all the freaking formulas, all the study, etc etc etc... so you better understand Everything from FA... they will ask you,, IT was just me but it happen 

*biochem, like 15 question as some of my friend told me.. they will always ask you the same and the same... so I try to GRAB everything above page 90 - 117 on FA ... because Qbank Kaplan and UW and UsmleRX always ask you the same over those pages...

* General Med / Integrations like 40 question

* CArdio / Renal / Endocrino / Pulmonology / They asked me a lot of Physiology concept, it was easy but still you gotta understand the basic to answer it...

My notebook helped me a lot.. because i wrote down on my notebook stuff like Glomerular Changes in Nephritic / Nephrotic. Pulmonology Curve, All Micro Graphic, All Characteristic to dif Staph / Strep / / Neisseria / Salmonella / etc etc ... 

Also, All the formulas, so i was reviewing it all over again... alsothe most common change to the hepatic injury, neuro stuff, hemato stuff, i was writtingg down everything most common asked on the Question Bank i took...

Finally,

My score is 211 = 88, it is not that 99, but i study hard to get above 210, i was looking for at least 90, but IM SO happy for this score... now i have to start over to the CK and try to get 230+ so i can get into the program i want... 

Btw, people say that when you get out of the exam, you feel like you just failed or a weird feeling that it cant be explained... YES is true... but during the days were going by, i was like reviewing question on my mind and realize i got a lot of those question right, so i was feeling more and more confidence, but yet hard to tell where my score will be lay... so as a good believer, keep praying... 

There are a lot of people from this forum that help me... and cheer me all the way along the path that i want to thanks, i may forget somes, but yet i will name some...

BEBIX, Artoque, Guru, Heights, Sabio, Thank you guys... 

THANKS GOD for this... finally step 1 is behind...
See you around in the path guys...

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