Hi Doctors:
My name is Zakaria Maat and I am from
Aleppo,Syria and here is my experience with the USMLE exams (both step1 and
step2)
Step 1 :
Real Score : 256
Exam preparation = 18 months( including 4-5
months of studying only for my university exams)
Study materials = Kaplan,Pathoma,First Aid,
Uworld
NBME 1=235 (4 months before exam)
NBME 2,NBME 3,NBME 4,NBME 11= all was +240
NBME 6= 226 ( slept only 3 hours the night before
this NBME)
NBME 13,NBME 15, NBME 16,NBME 17= all was +250 (
NBME 17 was 3 days before exam)
I started preparing for step 1 when I was a 5th
year student; I started with Kaplan along with their videos for all materials
except Pathology which I used Pathoma(with videos) and I found it a great
source and more than enough for pathology ,after finishing all of the previous
sources I repeated them once again and then started with First Aid along with
Uworld ,and then I began repeating First Aid and Uworld notes along with
solving the NBMEs (I did First Aid and Uworld notes 8 times) and after I
reached +250 in my last 4 NBMEs I went to the exam.
Mistakes:
I did kaplan and pathoma twice which was
unnecessary and caused me to spend more time(about 2 months).
Step 2 :
Real Score : 251
Exam preparation = 1 year( the first 4 months I
studied only 4-5 hours per day as I was doing my residency and between the 4th
and 8th months studied about 2 hours per day due to issues related to travel
and the last 4 months studied nearly 7-8 hours per day)
Study materials = Uworld (didn't study any other
thing: no Kaplan,no CMS ,no step 3 Uworld,no MTB)
NBME 6 = +250 (3 weeks before exam)
UWSA 1 = +260 (2 weeks before exam)
UWSA 2 = +240(1 week before exam)!!!!
My goal was to get +250 in the real exam so I was
thinking of delaying my exam after I saw my UWSA 2 score but I didn't have the
time nor the capacity to study more than that and also I was really so nervous
during taking UWSA 2 and even more nervous than I was in the real exam so that
for sure affects my performance, therefore I went to the exam the next week and
thanks god I did it !!
I started preparing for step 2 after 1 month of
receiving my step 1 score, I started immediately with Uwold ( and used First
Aid for step 1 and UTD as my resources)and after finishing it, I repeated it
about three times and took the assessments and went to the exam
Mistakes:
didn't do CMS or the other NBMEs or MTB or Uworld
for step 3 which in my opinion if you want to score greater than 260 you should
do them,but for me I couldn't do that due to many reasons.
Advices:
First : if you are about to begin preparing for
the USMLE exams start with Step 1 because step 1 will give you a strong base
for studying the step 2 but if you have already began with step 2 go ahead you
can reach what you want but it could be more challenging(I know lots of people
who took step 2 before step 1 and got +260).
Second: if your assessments or your NBMEs are not
good for you DON'T go to the exam, and delay your exam until you reach a good
score in your assessments(unless you don't have the time or you have many
reasons that force you not to delay your exam but if you have the time don't
take the exam).
Third: sleep as much as you can the night before
your exam.
Finally, remember that the USMLE exams are very
mentally and physically exhausting so you have to be patient if you want to
achieve your goal and don't forget your friends or to enjoy your life while
studying.
Good luck
-----
ALHAMDULLAH
I get my result today and it was 247, I would
like to thank every single person in this group for helping me through this 6
months journey, really I had new friends that’s help and support me Abbas Sader
Mhmd Jimmie Jr. Rania Ahmed Jehad Alhashem thank you guys…
Ck study material :
medstudy for many topics in internal medicine
MTB2 for internal medicine, one time reading
MTB3 for other topics, one time reading
100 cases in ethics
ELHUSSIENY videos in biostatics
UWORLD two times; first offline then I subscripe
for 2 months, I did average 4 blocks/day timed mode and I finished it in 21
days with note taking then I did the wrong answered questions only, rank was
85% before answering the wrong
UWSA1 two mo. before exam 253
UWSA2 one mo. Before exam 246
I studied about for 5 hrs/day for five days ,
weekend free for social activity and friends
last month I reach to 8hrs/day for 6 days in a
week, I did CMS ,NBME OFFLINE VERSION from embience group and thanks for who
put the online answer
STEP 1 NOT DONE
Week before exam; 2 days for note-based uworld,
then 3 days for uworld tables
Two days before exam enjoyed of time with my
friends and and night of exam was so cool ; I watched chelse and Man. City and
had crazy night with my best friend Mosab Mohammad may god bless you and your
family thank you
I slept for about 4 hours, had breakfast on 6;00
am and was in amideast on 7;00 am and I don’t take the event seriousely .
exam was doable,time run fast but I had 3 minutes
left in each block, uworld cover 60-70% of concept , biostatics and psychiatry
were terrible (I recommend any other source) , pain management and patient
safety were heavily tested(know about second and third line in management) , I
had many questions with two 100% correct answers , about 5 question pure step
1, about 5 WTF questions ,and yes you miss very easy questions during 9-hr exam
Good luck for all J J:) :)
---------
Jen Able
March 23 at 11:10am
Alhamdulillah I got a 250! I felt I didn't do
very well in exam though. I started studying 1 month after my step 1 so it was
still fresh in my mind. My step 1 score was 230. I started Kaplans but I wasn't
able to retain much and wasted a month on them. Then I bought uworld. My
initial plan was to study a chapter from MTB and then do it from uworld but I
wasn't enjoying MTB so I made uworld my main focus. I completed my first round
subject wise in 2.5 months with an avg of 66%. Doing it subject wise helped me
retain stuff. I was also making my own notes during this time. After this I
read my notes n started offline cms. I used cms to understand concept, I didn't
calculate my scores in them. After all this I did nbme 8 and scored 206! This
scared me. I read my notes again and did nbme 7 offline. I got almost 46
questions wrong. I started my second round of uworld in random timed mode. I
used to do 8-9 blocks daily without reading explanation just to build my
stamina. This took me around 7 or 8 days. Then I started reading the
explanations. Second round made things more clear. Halfway through the second
round I did nbme 6 online and got 232. I kept reading the explanations and my
notes after this. I couldn't complete reading the explanations and had around 6
blocks left to be read before my exam but I had read my notes so that was a
relief. 2 weeks before my exam I solved uwsa 1 and 2 on the same day. Uwsa1 was
242 and uwsa2 was 247. Exam was mostly conceptual with few straight forward
questions. Patient safety was tested so do read the file in this group. I used
to go through the questions that people asked on this group and at times the
crashes before sleeping at night. This helped me a lot! Another thing I did was
to stay calm on my exam day. I know it's easier said than done but in my step 1
exam I was freaking out, not taking breaks and stuff. This time I took 3-5 min
break after each block while sitting on my seat and a long break after every
second block in which I ate and drank.
I'll be more than happy to answer any questions
that u guys might have. And remember; if I can do it then so can you. Good luck
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