06-23-2007, 02:53 AM
Just givng my two cents worth. I believe we can use the skills we learned as physicians in any aspect of our life including preparing for an exam. If a treatment strategy is not working (in this case 3 times already), the problem lies either in the treatment or in the diagnosis.
I took the exam on april 24,2006 and as per OASIS trick last May 17, I have passed it. Just tweedling my fingers waiting for the postman. I went into this exam with the following statistic.
NBME form 1: 740 (3 weeks before exam) (1 hour timed per block)
Kaplan QBank: 84% (all random, timed blocks no repeat. Answered 1250 questions in groups of 2 to 4 blocks/day over 9 days.)
USMLE CD : 46, 44, 48 (2 months before exam)
I reviewed for 7 months ( 4 months seriously) for this exam. I am an IMG. A very, very old IMG. so that you'll have an IDEA, when I was studying
1. DOC for Typhoid Fever was Chloramphenicol.
2. when I first encountered the word 'p53' all I could think of was that he was senior member of this forum.
3. There was no treatment for AIDS.
4. 50% of our graduating class who went to the US after graduation are now practicing physicians in the US and most have already finished their J1 Waivers and some are already citizens.
I've used this framework for analyzing my weak points throughout my review.
We can divide our whole preparation into 3 parts,
1. Knowledge Acquisition(KA) - This is where you put information into your Knowledge Bank(KB) Most new graduates are extremely fine here (Except if you're one of those who barely made it. Crammed for every test and promptly forgot everything afterwards. Most Old graduates and some IMG graduates usually have problems here. If your deficiency is primarily here (like me both old and IMG), I'm sorry, I don't think there can be any successful prescription but to hit the books.
2. Knowledge Recall or Review(KR) - This is how well you extract information from your KB. Most new graduates have some problem only here. FA and the QBank makes a fantastic tool for improving Recall. So people with problems here usually give fantastic ratings to FA and Qbank.
3. Test Preparedness (TestPrep) - If you are not familiar with CBT, MCQ or clinical slant to questions, this is where your problem is. Problems with sitting for 8 hour exam is also classified here. Difficulty in answereing 2 to 3 step thinking questions also fall here. This is where QBanks are the most effective.
If the problem is primarily in KA, answering 100 thousand Q's will not help, IF your KB is full and you have problems only with KR and TP, hitting the books will be a waste of time. QBank, FA, HY and Flashcards should be the way to go.
How do I know where my primary problem is?
Well a quick way to know is to use an evaluation examination, preferably one that's very near like to the actual exam. (The Kaplan CD examination comes to mind)
If you find while answering the questions that either the choices, the question itself or the pictures makes you think out loud "What the Heck is this?" You have a KA problem.
If most of the time it is, "I know this, but I can't recall how you differentiate between drug A and drug B (or symptoms, presentation, treatment, mechanisms,etc.)" You're having a KR problem.
If you thought you had the answer, then find out it's wrong, but after reading the explanation, you are surprised that you had misunderstood the question, It's a TP problem. Running out of time answering questions is also a TP problem.
As the medical adage goes, from the Diagnosis all things flow. After you've correctly diagnosed your problem, then the treatment is routine.
I'll discuss the solution to each identified problems in my next post and particular strategies you can use to improve your TestPrep ability.
I took the exam on april 24,2006 and as per OASIS trick last May 17, I have passed it. Just tweedling my fingers waiting for the postman. I went into this exam with the following statistic.
NBME form 1: 740 (3 weeks before exam) (1 hour timed per block)
Kaplan QBank: 84% (all random, timed blocks no repeat. Answered 1250 questions in groups of 2 to 4 blocks/day over 9 days.)
USMLE CD : 46, 44, 48 (2 months before exam)
I reviewed for 7 months ( 4 months seriously) for this exam. I am an IMG. A very, very old IMG. so that you'll have an IDEA, when I was studying
1. DOC for Typhoid Fever was Chloramphenicol.
2. when I first encountered the word 'p53' all I could think of was that he was senior member of this forum.
3. There was no treatment for AIDS.
4. 50% of our graduating class who went to the US after graduation are now practicing physicians in the US and most have already finished their J1 Waivers and some are already citizens.
I've used this framework for analyzing my weak points throughout my review.
We can divide our whole preparation into 3 parts,
1. Knowledge Acquisition(KA) - This is where you put information into your Knowledge Bank(KB) Most new graduates are extremely fine here (Except if you're one of those who barely made it. Crammed for every test and promptly forgot everything afterwards. Most Old graduates and some IMG graduates usually have problems here. If your deficiency is primarily here (like me both old and IMG), I'm sorry, I don't think there can be any successful prescription but to hit the books.
2. Knowledge Recall or Review(KR) - This is how well you extract information from your KB. Most new graduates have some problem only here. FA and the QBank makes a fantastic tool for improving Recall. So people with problems here usually give fantastic ratings to FA and Qbank.
3. Test Preparedness (TestPrep) - If you are not familiar with CBT, MCQ or clinical slant to questions, this is where your problem is. Problems with sitting for 8 hour exam is also classified here. Difficulty in answereing 2 to 3 step thinking questions also fall here. This is where QBanks are the most effective.
If the problem is primarily in KA, answering 100 thousand Q's will not help, IF your KB is full and you have problems only with KR and TP, hitting the books will be a waste of time. QBank, FA, HY and Flashcards should be the way to go.
How do I know where my primary problem is?
Well a quick way to know is to use an evaluation examination, preferably one that's very near like to the actual exam. (The Kaplan CD examination comes to mind)
If you find while answering the questions that either the choices, the question itself or the pictures makes you think out loud "What the Heck is this?" You have a KA problem.
If most of the time it is, "I know this, but I can't recall how you differentiate between drug A and drug B (or symptoms, presentation, treatment, mechanisms,etc.)" You're having a KR problem.
If you thought you had the answer, then find out it's wrong, but after reading the explanation, you are surprised that you had misunderstood the question, It's a TP problem. Running out of time answering questions is also a TP problem.
As the medical adage goes, from the Diagnosis all things flow. After you've correctly diagnosed your problem, then the treatment is routine.
I'll discuss the solution to each identified problems in my next post and particular strategies you can use to improve your TestPrep ability.