Skip to main content

Suneet Patel---Step 1 Score 251. V.imp





Exam date : 20th Feb 2019
Result date : 13th Mar 2019
Score : 251 
Prep time : 9 months (dedicated 6 months) after final year of med school.
I’ll try to be as concise & to-the-point as possible.
Resources used : Kaplan videos except patho (once) + lecture notes (once; except Biochem + Physio + Anatomy twice )
Pathoma (2-3 times)
FA (3 times)
UW (once) 
Ethics – 30 cases video by DirtyUSMLE on youtube. Kaplan is good. 100 cases by Conrad Fisher (didn’t help much though).
Biostats – Felt Kaplan + FA is good enough. Do ‘UW biostats review’ if you have time.
Prep :
Started with Kaplan videos and lecture notes, and Pathoma. Kept doing that for couple of months. Annotated from videos into lecture notes. Bought FA, and UW subscription late (a mistake !!). 
Used to read subject-wise. Starting with Kaplan/ Pathoma, then moving on to FA, and lastly UW in timed mode. Used to solve UW at the end, only to boost my confidence, and also since by then most topics/concepts would have been covered in Kap/FA/Pathoma; so less number of new concepts to learn from UW. Annotated important/new stuff from UW into notebook or FA. Marked imp. concepts and tough questions to review later. 
I was very slow with UW in the beginning, managing to review only 20 questions a day. But gradually picked up pace, to about one block per day. Also, used my own Anki flashcards irregularly.
Started taking NBMEs and UWSAs in the last 2 months of prep.
UWSA1 – 266 (1.5 months before exam) 
NBME 17 – 248 (online. 1 month out)
NBME 19 – 252 (online. 16 days out)
NBME 18 – 252 (online. 9 days out)
UWSA2 – 262 (4 days out)
Day before the exam: 
Was a bit stressed out. Kept studying until 10 in the night. Couldn’t sleep well. Probably slept for 1.5 – 2 hrs.
Exam day: 
Kept calm during the exam. Used all breaks. Initially 5 min. breaks, then 10 min. at the end, and one 15 min. Ate something in every break (light food like protein bar/ sandwich/ chocolates/ banana/ limewater).
Advice:
1) Solve UW online only. Buy it as soon as you start your prep !! Do it in timed mode. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter whether you do it subject-wise or system-wise. Do what you’re comfortable with. I did subject-wise.
2) Start reading FA from the beginning, along with Kap/Pathoma, and annotate in it. But, do NOT annotate everything into FA; only stuff that is very high-yield. And you will get a hang of what’s high-yield by doing UW blocks. 
3) Revision is the key. Review UW twice. FA at least thrice. 
4) Stick to limited resources, and review them well.
5) If your basic concepts are weak, use Kaplan to build them. If they’re strong, still do Kaplan once quickly. 
6) Listen to heart sounds on youtube, etc. I got 4 questions on heart sounds.
7) Take 2-3 NBMEs online if possible. Review NBMEs and UWSAs once. Don’t schedule your exam until you get your target score in NBMEs.
7) Use flashcards for volatile topics if possible. 
8.) Having an equally dedicated study partner definitely helps keep things on track. But, don’t worry if you don’t have one. 
9) I know it’s tempting to review as much as possible a day before the exam, but DON’T. Relaxing and getting a good night’s sleep is much more important. So, get in the habit of sleeping early a week before the exam, so that you get at least 6 - 8 hrs. of good sleep.
All the best! May the scores be with you! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Step 2 CK Experience (280)--vvimp

• Background: Hello everyone. This is Hasan Alarouri, a Jordanian graduate of Jordan University of Science and Technology (2017). I started my dedicated preparation for Step 2 CK during my internship, and the total duration was around 15 months. Owing to how helpful this group had been during my preparation, and the rarity of experiences similar to mine (Step 2 CK prior to Step 1), I thought I’ll have to share my experience with you. • USMLE Scores: Step 1: not done yet Step 2 CK: 280 Step 2 CS: Passed • Self assessment scores: Free120: 96% (5 mistakes); 5 months prior to exam NBME 4: 6 mistakes (offline); 4 months prior to exam NBME 7: 13 mistakes (offline); 3 months prior to exam NBME 6: 5 mistakes (offline); 2.5 months prior to exam NBME 8: 279 (online; 8 mistakes); 2 months prior to exam UWSA1: 286 (10 mistakes); 1 month prior to exam UWSA2: 274 (15 mistakes); 2 weeks prior to exam • Preparation duration and hours studied each day: The total duration was 15. This was supposed ...
2 comments
Read more

My Voyage For Residency From PATIALA To PHILADELPHIA

MOTIVATION AND INTRODUCTION : The Unfortunate event of Medulloblastoma in my younger sister leading to permanent blindness despite successful surgery and chemo-radiation sparked in me a desire to become physician. Coming from a small city Dera Ghazi Khan, I entered in KEMU (former KEMC) in November 2004 and graduated in March 2010. Road to USA had never been easy. I was motivated by my parents and elder brother Adnan Khalique to reach the highest as I am the first one ever in my family who was going to become a physician and dreamed of training abroad as physician. But for me burning the boats was not an option so it had to be in this way in the form of many twists and turns till first step of success(Residency). I was looking for shortcut to settle early and was inclined toward going to Australia and that’s the reason I didn’t do any electives. After graduation I contacted my seniors in USA and Australia. I did Istikhaara for the first time in my life with a belief that Allah will...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Step 2 CK experience- 260

I’m writing this because I read about 30 or more experiences and it helped me make strategy. And I want to add mine to pass on this act of kindness. CK Score – 260, exam in mid march. Prep time – 4.5 months with 2 weeks gap so 4m effectively. I’m a recent grad. Step 1 score – 262, gave in mid sept last year. Resources - uw for ck (gold standard), did online 2.5 times. Cms all forms except family med. Nbme 4,6,7,8. Uptodate for reference. Uw step 3 for psych only. Kaplan patient safety notes. FA for step 1. Process – got step 1 score in mid October, celebrated for few days. Started ck prep in late October. Tried mtb 2 for cvs for a week, didn’t like it so started straightaway with online uw. My step 1 prep helped a lot in CK prep. Never did mtb again. Did uw first round till mid January. I also annotated new points to all uworld notes (whoever did the hard work of compiling it I send my best wishes and blessings to you, thanks a million). Revised the notes after 1st round....
Post a Comment
Read more