1. STEP 1 EXPERIENCE IN EXTENSIVE DETAILS (248):
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1st of all I'm an old (6 years) & hoping to get IM residency esp. with no
USCE - Research.... my aim was to score 260+
My decision to start USMLE journey was on 1/7/2014
started my prep on 7/7/2014
exam taken in 6/4/2015
Total prep time 9 months exactly (divided into 5 phases)
Average 7-8 hours of studying daily
Phase 1 = 4 months.
*KAPLAN notes & videos in all subjects except pathology
*HY Neuroanatomy (plus kaplan in neuroanatomy)
*Microbiology made ridiculously simple (plus kaplan in Microbiology)
*BRS Physiology (plus kaplan in Physiology )
*Goljan Review book + short notes (read them & added extra info from
the sound notes into the book .. tried to listen to audio files but were so
time consuming & the short notes has all the data in the sound part also
I'm a fast reader & couldn't stand to listen to his slow monotonous voice )
*started first aid lightly to get used to it.
Phase 2 = 2 months.
*KAPLAN notes for the 2nd time in all subjects except pathology
*HY Neuroanatomy (plus kaplan in neuroanatomy) for the 2nd time
*Microbiology made ridiculously simple (plus kaplan in Microbiology)
for the 2nd time
*Goljan Review book for the 2nd time
*First aid for the 2nd time
*Solved all UW 2014 offline.. Subject wise
Reserved the exam in 3-4-5/2015 & paid the 1000 $ (now I'm stuck & no
way back)
NOW 6 Months has passed with intense studying.. Decided to asses with
NBME 11 Offline ... got 217
was in shock & was thinking about withdraw as I gave my best & studied
F.A. + UW & got this low score but I already paid my fees & that's what
made me continue in this path
Few days with depression but finally Allah helped me & came back with
more persistence to kick ass & do more than my best
2. Phase 3 = 1.5 months.
*First aid for the 3rd time
*Solved all kaplan QBank 2012 offline
*Solved most kaplan QBook (all except pathology & pathophysiology ...
didn't have time to finish)
*Solved most Rx QBank (about 85% .. didn't have time to finish)
*First aid for the 4th time.
Now most of the QBanks are solved & decided to reassess with NBME
12 Offline ... got 242 (1/3/2014).
so much better feeling & confident ... so reserved the exam in April's 1st
week
Phase 4 = 1 months.
*First aid for the 5th time
*Conrad fischer 100 cases of ethics
*Webpath website.. Most of it
*Solved all UW online.. Random timed.. 2 blocks daily.. Finished in 25
days with FA (cumulative performance 83%) .. marked & difficult
questions in last 5 days of my subscription that ended in 30/3
*planned to reassess with NBME .. but had no time
Phase 5 = last week.
*First aid for the 6th & last time
*my hand out notes of all 4 QBanks I solved (didn’t finish them .. ran out
of time)
Day & night before the exam:
one of the worst & stressful days of my life.. Developed multiple anxiety
attacks with tachycardia .. Spent a lot of time in the toilet coz for the 1st
time in my life had irritable bowel syndrome.
waked up 6 a.m. after 3 hours of sleep in the night before .. tried to wrap
up my notes haphazardly .. went to Cairo at noon & spent the night
studying also with anxiety .. traveling & bad sleep & cough medications
in the night before helped me to get into bed by 11.00 pm
Exam day:
woke up a 5.30 a.m. .. had a cup of coffee .. studied for 3 more hours with
stress .. continue to study in subway - till the last minute before the exam
.. stopped after they call my name for the exam
Started the exam after testing headphones then skipped tutorial (tried it at
home).
My strategy was 1 min per question .. If took longer wrap it up quickly &
shoot ur best answer & mark it for later review .. Don’t miss the easy
3. questions in expense of the WTF questions .. very difficult questions
doesn't need to be marked .. no better can be done if u don't know them
from the start
timeline:
Block 1 & 2 >> 10 minutes rest >> Block 3 & 4 >> 25 minutes rest with
launch & coffee & aldohr prayer >> Block 5 >> 10 minutes rest >> Block
6 >> 10 minutes rest >> Block 7
Exam in general is midway between easy & hard .. more toward hard side
.. most difficult questions for me was in behavioural sciences .. most was
1st time questions to hear about & i got the worst performance in my
exam in it although I practiced a lot ..
Didn’t feel bad during the exam ... but the bad memories came to me after
the exam & every question I remember i look up for it & found it wrong..
Like I said I was sure about 10-15 easy type questions that I got wrong
so here I started to feel like I'm going to fail or score very low at least.
For the 1st time in my life I cried with tears after an exam .. I felt that 9
months of hard studying was for nothing .. I put uw & fa in my
smartphone & was studying continuously without rest .. in home .. in
work .. during traveling .. I left my friends in our weekly hang out
meetings & missed a lot of fun with them .. my poor wife was left a lone
in home for quiet a time as well during my intense prep.
THAT'S WHAT USMLE WANT FROM YOU .. SO HARD TO HAVE
NORMAL LIFE WITH USMLE
was planning to start step 2 CK ASAP After step 1 ... But that plan was
held in my mind in case of failure/low score that may lead to stop
USMLE pathway
came into last stage of grief (acceptance) after 2 weeks of depression &
heart ache after realizing that I did my very best & nothing more can be
done
All top ranked review & study sources & q bank was studied .... So what
more can I do?
Prayed to Allah .. Waiting for 3.5 weeks was the most difficult part for
me
Got it today (al hamdu llelah) ... 248
Although my score was below my primary goal (260+) but after my
experience .. Thanks to Allah for his great blessings
4. STEP 2 CK EXPERIENCE IN EXTENSIVE DETAILS (261):
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I’m done with step 1 in April 2015 .. scored 248 Thanks to Allah
Result of step 1 was in 29/4/2015
That's of course had a positive impact on my CK
Start preparing for Step 2 CK in 1/5/2015
exam taken in 20/9/2015
Total prep time 4.5 months Approx. (divided into 5 phases)
Average 7-8 hours of studying daily
Prep Material:
*KAPLAN notes in all subjects (twice)& videos in OB/GYN only.
* MTB for Step 2 ck (IM) + MTB for Step 3 (The rest).
* UW 2012 offline + online
*TIKI TAKA Notes
*Comprehensive Cases By Conrad Fischer.
* KAPLAN QBOOK (NOT QBANK)
*MedQuest Internal Medicine Board Review Course 2013-2014
Phase 1 = 2 months. (5 & 6 /2015)
*KAPLAN notes in all subjects (twice) & videos in OB/GYN only.
* MTB for Step 2 ck (IM) + MTB for Step 3 (The rest). Used it as the
main source of studying.
5. * UW 2012 offline. Used it to get general idea about questions with little
Information added to MTBs
*TIKI TAKA Notes
Phase 2 = 1 months + 10 days (till 10/8/2015)
*KAPLAN notes for the 3rd time in all subjects.
* MTB for Step 2 ck (IM) + MTB for Step 3 (The rest) for the 2nd time.
*TIKI TAKA Notes
*MedQuest Internal Medicine Board Review Course 2013-2014
with the superstar Conrad Fischer
It used mainly for IM board review.. but it is also useful for CK as well
Phase 3 = 1 month. (till 10/9/2015)
* MTB for Step 2 ck (IM) + MTB for Step 3 (The rest) for the 3rd time.
*UW Online for 1 month / timed random / 2 blocks x 44 Qs daily =done
in 25 days
Marked every wrong - difficult - easy with a lot of concepts or good
tables = 450 questions
Finished the marked questions in the 5 days of my subscribtion.
Cumulative performance after this online round= 84 %
Most important .. I did in CK as step 1 .. used MTBs as the main review
book (First aid in step 1) .. and filled it with a lot of info from UW
*Comprehensive Cases By Conrad Fischer. finished most of it
6. * KAPLAN QBOOK (NOT QBANK) Used it to releave my eye from
laptop screen only .. and to fill gaps in my time of freedom .. do it if you
have free time and do uw twice 1st al least
Phase 4 = 10 days (till 20/9/2015 = exam date)
* MTB for Step 2 ck (IM) + MTB for Step 3 (The rest) for the 4th and
last time.
Exam day:
woke up at 6.00 a.m. .. had a cup of coffee ..
Started the exam after testing headphones then skipped tutorial (tried it at
home).
timeline:
Block 1 & 2 >> 10 minutes rest >> Block 3 & 4 >> 25 minutes rest with
launch & coffee & aldohr prayer >> Block 5 >> 7 minutes rest >> Block
6 >> 7 minutes rest >> Block 7 >> 7 minutes rest >> Block 8
Exam in general is midway between easy & hard .. most WTF Qs for me
was on hospital management & pain management .. didn't prepare well
for them really good .. so I answered them with guess and by exclusion
Biostat .. direct questions in most .. Step 1 helped in that a lot
No drug ads .. one review article with kinda good questions
7. I didn't take any NBME - UWSA ( why?)
well I busted my a$$ in this prepration by reading kaplan 3 times (not
wise idea by the way - once is enough) + MTB 4 times (that's good ..
especially if you integrate UW with it) + UW twice .. so if I was weak in
a certain what can I do more to improve in it .. that is my maximum.
this strategy can't be generalized however .. you have to suit your own
style.
In my last week of prep. a member posted a link for "Clinical Mastery
Series" .. though I didn't use it coz I was short in time .. also there is no
official key answers .. and most important no official detail explanations
for the answer which is most important thing when you answer any
QBANK ..
the same apply to NBME - UWSA .
ECG + CXR + Sounds >> Step 1 helped + UW online
One simple Request:
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Pray for me to get the visa for CS exam .. I've been refused once .. so
pray to get next time please.
Last Advises:
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- If u had to choose () which step to start with .. go with step 1 .. I
strongly recommend that .. it will make CK much easier .. and get you
high scores.
- Make you own style of studying .. we are different .. there is no ideal
study plan.
8. - Devote you whole time - health for USMLE & Scarify a lot if you want
high scores .. there is no easy way to get these scores
- Sharing is caring .. as people help you .. you have to help others back I
used to read a lot of experiences to get motivations and expand my
knowledge in preparation .. so once you get you result .. good or bad ..
share your experience
- A lot of questions here in this group is really hard .. don't judge yourself
with them .. sometimes I get some frustration when I try to solve some
questions here.
So that is the end of my experience .. I hope it helps you .. good luck in
your prep.
See you in CS group soon.
