03-26-2009, 12:39 PM
Excuse my language, that's what step-1 is! Wrote it yesterday- absolute nightmare! I'm an old grad, studied for nearly six months, gave up my well-paid permanent job, and now this! Sorely disappointed, guys. I was irregular in here, but if it helps here is my experience. My advice to all you folks:
1)I started with an aim of achieving 240 plus, so wanted a 'full-proof' preparation plan, worked really hard for the last three-four months (full time). My advice, do not aim for full-proof plan, because there is none! No matter what you study and however much you study, they will come up with something you've never even heard of!
2)Do not delay the exam. Study for 3-4 months and go ahead.Don't be an idiot like me to make it absolutely sound. You can not.
3)Study materials- read whatever suits you. They will not test your memory- for sure. Whatever gives you fundamental concepts-stick to it. I did with Kaplan, High-yield,Robbins Pathology,Lippincott Pharma and Biochem,Katzung review,Jawetz review,Goljan, kaplan videos. Ran through FA few days before exam-was quite good.
4)MCQs, did both Kaplan and UW, will help you to certain extent, nothing more than that.
5)My cumulative scores: UW 74%, Kaplan 72%, NBME-4 six weeks before 570, NBME 6 three weeks before 610, NBME 5 ten days before 540. All NBMEs online.
6)Stamina- work on it. They will push you to your very physical and mental limits. Be prepared for that. Start jogging couple of miles a day, practice Yoga or whatever.
7)The actual exam- horrible! Absolute nightmare! Very few pharma, tough. Lipid lowering agent never heard of, mode of action of folate antagonists, but they were asking specifically which substrate- like 5 methyl tetrahydrofolate for example. All questions 5-6 lines, few 1-2 liners, many with scroll bars. Biochem very twisted and very convoluted questions- difficult to find out what they are asking. LOTS of, TONS of, PLENTY of molecular biology- worked hard on this one. Didn't help. At times it sounded like alien language! Doctor patient questions with very close choices. One or two anatomy with slides, which were neither axial, nor coronal or sagittal sections- very cunningly taken from some odd angle. Pointed to a structure, wanted me to name the part that will atrophy after the pointed structure is ablated.
Physio all graphs, few Patho, poor slides.
8)You can not prepare for this exam, so don't postpone it. I'll give you an example. Do you think you know all about the commonly tested topics? You are wrong! I had a question on carpal tunnel syndrome, they asked me about the ergonomics of the workstation! WTF?!!!
Good luck to all you guys. I started with a 'sound plan' to get 240- didn't work for me. Hope it does for you. I gave up everything for this exam, don't know if I just didn't get lucky. Now I'll count my blessings if I cross 220 :-(
(PS- I have step-2 CS coming up in 25 days time. After messing up this step-1, last thing I want is a fail in the CS. So, ask if you have anything, but please bear with me if I'm not prompt in replying.)
1)I started with an aim of achieving 240 plus, so wanted a 'full-proof' preparation plan, worked really hard for the last three-four months (full time). My advice, do not aim for full-proof plan, because there is none! No matter what you study and however much you study, they will come up with something you've never even heard of!
2)Do not delay the exam. Study for 3-4 months and go ahead.Don't be an idiot like me to make it absolutely sound. You can not.
3)Study materials- read whatever suits you. They will not test your memory- for sure. Whatever gives you fundamental concepts-stick to it. I did with Kaplan, High-yield,Robbins Pathology,Lippincott Pharma and Biochem,Katzung review,Jawetz review,Goljan, kaplan videos. Ran through FA few days before exam-was quite good.
4)MCQs, did both Kaplan and UW, will help you to certain extent, nothing more than that.
5)My cumulative scores: UW 74%, Kaplan 72%, NBME-4 six weeks before 570, NBME 6 three weeks before 610, NBME 5 ten days before 540. All NBMEs online.
6)Stamina- work on it. They will push you to your very physical and mental limits. Be prepared for that. Start jogging couple of miles a day, practice Yoga or whatever.
7)The actual exam- horrible! Absolute nightmare! Very few pharma, tough. Lipid lowering agent never heard of, mode of action of folate antagonists, but they were asking specifically which substrate- like 5 methyl tetrahydrofolate for example. All questions 5-6 lines, few 1-2 liners, many with scroll bars. Biochem very twisted and very convoluted questions- difficult to find out what they are asking. LOTS of, TONS of, PLENTY of molecular biology- worked hard on this one. Didn't help. At times it sounded like alien language! Doctor patient questions with very close choices. One or two anatomy with slides, which were neither axial, nor coronal or sagittal sections- very cunningly taken from some odd angle. Pointed to a structure, wanted me to name the part that will atrophy after the pointed structure is ablated.
Physio all graphs, few Patho, poor slides.
8)You can not prepare for this exam, so don't postpone it. I'll give you an example. Do you think you know all about the commonly tested topics? You are wrong! I had a question on carpal tunnel syndrome, they asked me about the ergonomics of the workstation! WTF?!!!
Good luck to all you guys. I started with a 'sound plan' to get 240- didn't work for me. Hope it does for you. I gave up everything for this exam, don't know if I just didn't get lucky. Now I'll count my blessings if I cross 220 :-(
(PS- I have step-2 CS coming up in 25 days time. After messing up this step-1, last thing I want is a fail in the CS. So, ask if you have anything, but please bear with me if I'm not prompt in replying.)