04-20-2010, 08:08 AM
Got 99/245 after failing consecutively in Step 1 and 2.
I am greatly thankful to my family, my friend and this forum for keeping me motivated all the time and made me rise from my own ash.
I was not the active member of the forum but I used to read the success and failure stories from the forum. And whenever I felt that I cannot study anymore I just went to forum see how people are studying like crazy. That was enough for me to get motivated again.
My story began 3 years ago when I started preparation for step 1 exam. I was one of the weakest student in my med school so my background knowledge was really poor. I prepared for 5 months. My preparation was fine not the best but because of some unavoidable reason I failed the exam by one mark.
I stopped my preparation for around 1year and again started my Step 2 preparation. With work I could get little time to prepare. But I took exam after 6mths of on off study. Again I failed by 2 marks. Good thing I made good notes form UW that time. I again completely stopped studies for one year and joined some course and was working. I felt lot of times that I am worthless but my passion to prove myself never left me.
I started preparation for Step 1 again. This time I started with more enthusiasm and with a believe that I already know the subject. I started with Goljan RR and his audio. That was the best part of my studies because he made me think all the time while I was reading his book or listening his audio. I then read Kaplan 2 times and First aid 4 times. I knew that I have to master Goljan and First aid and UW. So I did it. I complied all the info to First aid. I mastered all the subject in which I was weak namely Patho, Neuro, Biochem, Micro. I prepared for 1 year in which effective time was 5 months. Last two months I sat like crazy. I left my work and forget everyone in my life.
New thing to me was NBME which I never took in my previous exams. That helped me great time before deciding about the exam date . Basically I postponed my exam by 1 month because of scoring less in NBME.
So moral of the story never loose hope. Have confidence that you can do it too and learn from your own mistakes. Good luck with 99 to all who failed previously and to those who are not confident enough till now and please please don't waste time like i did
I will try to answer the questions as much as I get time.
I am greatly thankful to my family, my friend and this forum for keeping me motivated all the time and made me rise from my own ash.
I was not the active member of the forum but I used to read the success and failure stories from the forum. And whenever I felt that I cannot study anymore I just went to forum see how people are studying like crazy. That was enough for me to get motivated again.
My story began 3 years ago when I started preparation for step 1 exam. I was one of the weakest student in my med school so my background knowledge was really poor. I prepared for 5 months. My preparation was fine not the best but because of some unavoidable reason I failed the exam by one mark.
I stopped my preparation for around 1year and again started my Step 2 preparation. With work I could get little time to prepare. But I took exam after 6mths of on off study. Again I failed by 2 marks. Good thing I made good notes form UW that time. I again completely stopped studies for one year and joined some course and was working. I felt lot of times that I am worthless but my passion to prove myself never left me.
I started preparation for Step 1 again. This time I started with more enthusiasm and with a believe that I already know the subject. I started with Goljan RR and his audio. That was the best part of my studies because he made me think all the time while I was reading his book or listening his audio. I then read Kaplan 2 times and First aid 4 times. I knew that I have to master Goljan and First aid and UW. So I did it. I complied all the info to First aid. I mastered all the subject in which I was weak namely Patho, Neuro, Biochem, Micro. I prepared for 1 year in which effective time was 5 months. Last two months I sat like crazy. I left my work and forget everyone in my life.
New thing to me was NBME which I never took in my previous exams. That helped me great time before deciding about the exam date . Basically I postponed my exam by 1 month because of scoring less in NBME.
So moral of the story never loose hope. Have confidence that you can do it too and learn from your own mistakes. Good luck with 99 to all who failed previously and to those who are not confident enough till now and please please don't waste time like i did
I will try to answer the questions as much as I get time.
