Just passed me exam ( my mark is not the main topic here) so I have some advices for you all about my experience ..
** Do NOT pay for your exam and set the eligibility period unless you took at least one nbme and the nbme exam shows a mark that close or within 30 marks from your target score, you can get your papers ready and put them on the side till the time for registration comes and don’t have to wait for a month or two from your university for a paper or so, you can get a spot at the prometric exam the same month or the months after the month that you want but at least you wont have go to exam bec you cant postpone it any longer bec the eligibility period expired.
** read MULTIPLE expereiences about pple whertain things they ALL share certain things in common about sources or how they manage their time.
** just because you did FA 2 or 3 times and uw once or twice doesn’t mean you’re ready and go schedule your exam, what decides that you are ready is your nbme scores, go schedule your exam when your nbme shows around your target score.
** your schedule should be as the following..
- Kaplan ( physiology, pharma, biochem, anatomy) for two months not more!
- Then first pass of FA will about two to three months, in the first pass you study ten pages a day, you start the day with watching videos of the topic ( whether is B&B or DIT or express) then you read the topic till you finish the 10 pages that day.
- Then you study FA again ( second pass), study a chapter and when you finish it solve UW questions about that chapter, then move to the next chapter, study it from FA then solve its questions on UW till you finish both FA and uw, and this can take from three to four months
- After that, take your first nbme, then you start uw again but rando mode.
- Keep solving uw and do FA passes till your score gets higher.
- Read 100 cases of Dr.fischer twice, once during in the last 6 months then another in the last month.
- The last three to months are dedicated period where you will need to focus on the main three sources ( FA, UW, pathoma) you need to solve 2 blocks of uw daily, and read FA atleast twice in that period, read pages from pathoma about one hour everyday.
- In the last week, revise the chapters and the topics that you feel weak at, read uw notes, read the review at the back of FA, the first 3-4 chapters of pathoma are very important.
- Your studying hours should be about 4-8 hours before the dedicated period, then in the dedicated period about 6-10 hours and take one or half a day off a week
- If the stress is too much, then take a couple of days break, but be careful of too many breaks it can break your pace
** when you solve uw or any nbme, read the last sentence of the question first then quickly see the options to know what to look at the stem of the question then read the rest of the question to see what do they want, they will give classical signs of the disease, each disease has special signs that defines it from the other options, and when you read the answer, know why that answer was right why the rest where wrong, but spend too much time on a question, 10 minutes is enough for reading an answer stem and taking notes,
** don’t take too many flash cards on uw bec if the subscription ends about one month or week before the exam you wont be able to see the cards, so try to write the comments on FA or separate sheet as much as possible.
** do NOT do nbme exams late!! You take your first nbme after doing one whole pass of uw, then take another nbme about a month after that, and the closer you are to the exam do more nbmes, the last 2 months do one every week till last week of the exam, do your last nbme about 7 days before it, if the score is not within your target range then postpone it immediately and pay 50 dollars, its better than postponing it 5 days before the exam and paying about 500 dollars..
** do as much nbmes as you can, and if possible do all of them.
** you should UW till one week before the exam, at the last week just revise the important topics and the things that you tend to forget.
** FA, UW and pathoma are the most important thing, your last 4-3 months should be around these three sources, Kaplan is good for first two months but don’t spend too much time on it bec it can drain you, don’t spend more than 2 months on it !!
** anatomy in the exam can be studied from FA and UW, if you have time maybe you can read one source for anatomy but mainly you should focus of UW and FA.
** you need to have one day off a week or at least half a day off, mental health is important, support from family and friends is important, if you have a family member that is toxic to you then limit your interactions with them, your room can safe space for you if the family can be too much and know how to do blocks in your mind to keep away the stress and any negative comments.
** do NOT write anything from any source ( whether its B&B or Kaplan or pathoma or anything) unless its from UW, reading a topic in FA then reading the UW comments on the same page will help make links, and I would recommend writing UW comments with different color than what you underline like green or purple.
If you can, go to the practice exam to help you see how the environment is, workers there are really helpful and do their jobs with compassion.
** trust in God and have time for prayer and meditation, he indeed will keep you together.
Good luck and see you in step 2!
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