Dr. Tofurky:
I will try to make my experience as helpful to you as possible.
My journey was long with lot of struggles...but in the end I made it.. If u have questions just comment below and i will help u..
I am an average student who prepared for USMLE after my medical college graduation.
Study period: 7 months
Study Materials: Kaplan, UW, FA, Pathoma, Goljan... I never finished all resources.. I just read till i got all questions well..but did not memorize word to word as i didnt have time at the end & also it's so vast its impossible.
The study materials you use are very important and it can vary from person to person as their pre-existing knowledge may be different. I did those resources which I felt will be of most use based on previous prep.
Anatomy: I am terrible at anatomy. They were saying anatomy is asked a lot so I saw all the diagrams and CT MRIs from as many sources as I could. I used Netter for the images and google. Google is very vast and u can find lot of helpful things. In my prep whenever I was stumbling and couldnt go forward in a topic I would sop and open google and read it inside out so that I have a good grip over it.
Physiology: You ned to understand all the graphs and curves and arrows well in this and it is an integrated subject. I used a bit of BRS but didnt like much as it was pure memorization. So I did kaplan videos 2 times with lecture notes. It was more than enough to cover the Physiology of my exam.
Biochemistry: For me this was the beast... I hated Biochemistry. Fortunately the Kaplan LN is very nicely written and Kaplan+FA+UW will cover each and every question on exam.
Microbiology: Its total memorization subject.. do it well as its CASH MARKS if u do memorization. Know the viruses well as its asked indepth.
Pharmacology: Do this one only from FA and UW..its very straightforward and simple..u will get full marks if u do this much.
(Both Micro Pharmac = CASH MARKS if u read well)
Behavioural science: Its another of my hated subjects.. The 2 Bs..Biochem and Behaviour are both B*tches (pardon my language wink emoticon ) I did from UW, Kaplan, BRS still i was getting low score in NBME...dunno what i was missing... even in real exam my performance was not good. I cant help much..all i can say is read and understand..the memorization topics of Behaviour are not asked much. Do the Conrad Fischer 100 cases as it is good book and i had many direct repeats.
Pathology: Its the largest subject and most asked. Even basic science questions are all clinical only.. like they will give u full pateint History and u have to do D/D. In my exam there was lot of Respiratory and Reproductive Pahology.. but its straightforward.. Know the Breast lesions well.. i had those in 3 questions... also know the various Obstructive and Restrictive disease and know D/D. Pathoma and FA covered most things. I did Goljan but i was never able to finish. Sattar Sir gives great lectures. He has actually taught in Madrassa and he said his teaching style is from there. I really liked it and didnt like Goljan as its just memorization. Honestly, not even one question on my test was like that...means Pathoma is good enough
Test:
NBME 11: 241 (1 month beofre exam)
NBME 13: 237 (3 weeks before exam) (I felt bad and almost panicked after this frown emoticon But I kept faith and determination that i will do good no matter what)
NBME 15: 251 (2.5 weeks before exam)
NBME 16: 256 (2 days before exam)
I gave in above order and as u can see I have got gradually increasing score... NBME 13 was hardest for me and score is very predictive by NBMEs. I took all online and recommend same to u.
Mistakes and what I would change:
I would spend less time on Kaplan.. I would spend more time on Pathoma. I saw once but I wish I had seen 2 times...
I slept so less before exam...just 3 hours unsure emoticon frown emoticon
I thought i was screwed but i got good score so it OK i guess grin emoticon
Try to finish course on time so that u dont do like me...
In exam I had question on Achondroplasia gene..and I got it wrong.. I made stupid mistake.. I ticked FGF instead of FGFR it was last block and I was fatigued.. i think it was third last question..my mind was numb.. there were other options.. all looked same.. I just ticked FGF and after I finished exam in like 1 second I was like.. What the f*ck did I just do ! I was very sad for all of the 3 weeks after exam and thought its all over...I just remmbered my stupid mistakes over and over again.. If u r newcomer u will not know but people whose exam is near they know that FGFR3 is so damn classic for achondro and i got it wrong..
Anyways whats happened has happend...juts make sure u rest well.. I could have cracked 260 if i would not have made these 3-4 stupid mistakes.
General Comments:
The thing I hate about USMLE is so many resources are there.. I wish there was one book...why do we have t pay 200 $ for UW and so expensive books and then we have to copy from one book to another..well its not in our hand but hopefully some Quran/Bible/Torah/Geeta/
This is the method of a mediocre student like me who was always marginaly passing in college...if u r smarter maybe u will and can get better score.. but i am an average student and I had to face lot of hardship to reach here... I will be happy to help u if u have questions... very few ppl helped me..ppl even booed me that i will fail..but i kept faith and it paid off... smile emoticon
If u have questions...just post comment..and I will try to help.
Have faith in whomever u believe.. Allah/Jesus/Ram/Buddha... because he will guide u to ur success smile emoticon
If u want u can like the following page..There share tips and tricks to USMLE success.. There are many topics not covered elsewhere like in Kaplana, FA, Pathoma, UW which are shared on this page:
https://www.facebook.com/
hey there
ReplyDeletei am inspired by your usmle story
wish to get in contact with you for clearing my doubts
plzz help me out