My Prep for the Day!!! - najah

[ArchivalUser]

Hi guys. I am planning to take the exam in last week of may/1st week of June depending on my NBME.
From what I understand, the key is to have clear basic concepts and then keep revising your notes from fa and uw.

I think it would help us all to have a healthy group of colleagues.
Please share your daily preparation experience.
Lets motivate and help each other.
Also we can discuss difficult concepts and questions and give each other advice on how better to prepare for the exam.

[ArchivalUser]

So I have come up with a plan to study for the USMLE and get done with this exam once and for all.

Rather Aggressive Daily Schedule
06-07: Other [get prepped for the day]
07-10: 3 hour study block
10-01: 3 hour study block
01-04: 3 hour study block
04-07: 3 hour study block
07-08: Other [exercise, plan, this forum, emails ...]
08-11: 3 hour study block
11-06: Sleep

Materials
7 Kaplan lecture notes [on air to remain focused, review post air]
- Anatomy
- Physiology
- Biochemistry/Genetics
- Immunology/Microbiology
- Pathology
- Pharmacology
- Behavior
Goljan [doing this now when I have a good understanding of all subjects. Not doing pathoma becasue its a new source to me]
FA [Toronoto notes?]

Supplements [PRN]
Physiology by linda costanza
Biochem slides
Anatomy slides, HY, Anatomy Sections
Micro handouts
WebPath, Cardio Sounds
Behavior HY, UW and Lange

Read 1: [7 weeks, clear basic concepts] Feb-Mar
7 Kaplan text books with chapter questions including 140 &102 ethics cases.
- HY Kaplan review per subject with videos.
- Q book per subject
- Q bank per subject
Goljan [quick read through]
NBME 7 [online]
schedule Exam for may or june.

Read 2: [4 weeks] Apr
UW [subject wise, timed] starting with weakest topics first.
Study partner [for afternoons and evenings] to Review notes and NBME offlines: [please give suggestions]
NBME online [please give suggestions]

Read 3: [3 weeks] May
UW [Random, timed] starting with weakest topics first
Review notes with DIT 2009
NBME online [please give suggestions]

Read 4: [7-10 days] May-June
Review notes
NBME online

If NBME poor, then repeat review and NBME
If NBME good [whats a good score?], give USMLE Step 1.

Hope to give Exam in Late May - Early June.

Background/Disclaimer:
I am in the EST zone.
I have been erratically studying over the years and have already started semifresh.
I feel I need a set schedule with minimal distractions to get my work done.
To this effect I have started recording my self when I study so I can force my self to finish the task I have started.
Also I have a added the following extension which has really helped me a lot:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detai...nfo-dialog
And to stick to my schedule, I need to be accountable to my self and constantly reflect on my progress, thus this thread.

I would very much appreciate any advice how to better prepare but this is what i have come up with so far.

[ArchivalUser]

So its been a week since my last serious study, so im going to review my immuno notes now.

[ArchivalUser]

Yesterday i finished reviewing the first 5 chapters of immuno. by the time i got to ch 6 my notes were kind of crazy and i was loosing touch with how everything is related. So i cracked open goljan. [btw the pdf version is missing some pages in ch 13. IV Histocytosis X]. well it had been so long so it all looked foreign. I didnt understand how the book was even set up. So i went to the older green goljan verson which was a bit simpler but still i didnt know what he was talking about and how it was all related. so i thought his audios would help. [Hematology begins around 31:38 in the last neoplasia audio.] well it helped but he quickly got into the calculations of reticulocytes etc and got lost and overwhelmed. [i have to know how to calculate blood counts etc??!! how am i going to remember all that] so i just backed away from my desk and lay down, took a few deep breaths, stretched and then asked 'so whats your problem right now? i defined the problem and then i asked 'well what can you do to fix it?' this strategy seemed to help. SO i read the goljan old and new side by side and finally figured out that usually the first few sections of any goljan chapter are general pathology. and later he gets into the classified diseases. ok. so now we are getting somewhere. So finally i started sorting my FA/UW notes into the right category as set by goljan. in the end i had a good system going. i have a medical integration document where i relate all the diseases. and a medical encyclopedia where i have all the diseases in alphabetical order. so when i review i start with the medical integration and if smth is underlined i go to the medical encyclopedia and read that and come right back to medical integration. It seems to be working so far. I finally called it a night at 1:45am. Overall I'd say that i like my 3 hour study block idea. it seem to give me perspective through out the day and divides my day into 5. also i noticed that i was kinda less active in the afternoon around 3:40 then in the evening around 8:40ish i got my second wind and went full on to work. i've got to figure out a way to work around this. right well, now im going to start kaplan ch 6 with supplemental goljan prn.
Note: "dont touch NBME 7,11, 12" [learned that from a recent post from cardio69] i guess those will be my NBME online tests.

[ArchivalUser]

yesterday, i was complete rubbish. i got up on time but i didnt mentally prepare for the task ahead of me the night before. note to self, make sure you prepare for the next morning the night before.

got the goljan 4th ed just now from here: https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3yBUlQNJ...t=download . special thanks to who ever the uploader is. it has the parts i was missing in the 3ed ed.

right. so on to immuno 6, hopefully done within the hour, eek. thats right set small goals.

[ArchivalUser]

love your post najah,you are sweet, GL with your preparation

[ArchivalUser]

Wow nice