cs experience - mysam

[ArchivalUser]

Well, today was my big day. I strongly adhere to usmle ruling. Pls dont ask for cases. So this is my advice to all who are going to do the exam. STUDY FA AND UW, PRACTISE, PRACTISE, PRACTICE. Nothing new, you have all the necessary info and please read the cs orientation material. And the challenging qns.

Like everyone else, I ran out of time in some cases, didnt do closure in some cases, missed doing imp physical exams(forgot all about em, once I left the room then I was what did I just do??? And I still had time), forgot to counsel when I had ample time. Had a few pateints asking me to repeat or rephrase qns. Couldnt finishing writing a few PN's. Some SP's made me feel comfotable I kinda lost myself and well ended up not finishing in time. It just happens. Important thing is to do as much as you can AND dont force to be a perfectionist, you will end up having a premature headache before youve finished your encounter. Had a few cases I just didnt know what to ask ;0 its just CS.... comes with some level of anxiety.
ADVICE, dont get comfortable with nice SP's you may forget yourself. And try to stand when you take your history makes you move faster. When I reflect, the cases I was comfortable with are the ones I sat and the 5 minute call brought me back to reality. How I wish the exam was in 20 minutes
The SP's and the cnter people are great, the group of doctors were also sport.
Wish you all the best. Alhamdullilah , Im going to have some fun, and worry about cs in 2months when the results are out. CK, BE WARNED , here I come.

Any qns regarding advice, will be accepted but nothing about the cases.
Thank you all in advance. And special thanks to 2 special ladies my study partner in dayton and Elbamartiza and to bro TH. And everyone who made this forum a place to discuss and learn from each other.

[ArchivalUser]

mysam,
I know that nobody is satisfied with their CS, I honestly hope u will be happy with your results.
May God bless u!!
I have some questions, can u please kindly answer them for me if u don't mind?
1.Are we allowed to write in the patient notes the PE findings if we ran out of time during the
exam and couldn't do them, eg. examination of heart and lungs in neuro cases?What did u
do?
2.Are we not allowed to use the term 'abdomen'?
3.Are we not allowed to use the term 'palpate'?

I have my test on May 20 and I am so scared, I think I have some anxiety disorder and it's
been really hard for me to manage time during practice.Can u give me some advice?

Thanks

[ArchivalUser]

salam,myasam your result mostly will be reported in 16 of june,thanks for your help in this forum,good luck in next exam,salam

[ArchivalUser]

relax , good luck to you, you will pass!!
one question: is there clock on the encounter wall? it is hard to control the time, any suggestion?

[ArchivalUser]

Good to hear from you....
All day i was thinking about your test.....you did probably very well, you were very good prepared ....go and have fun now!!!!......my day is comming too....

[ArchivalUser]

where was ur exam mysam?

[ArchivalUser]

good luck. u should pass. i took it a week before you and also had a similar feeling. when do the results come out. is it june 18 or 16.

[ArchivalUser]

Hi mysam,
I know that you will definitely pass the exam coz you helped us a lot and God will always be vt you. GL. Enjoy.

[ArchivalUser]

hii mysam...m sur u did well..wer did u giv ur exm?

[ArchivalUser]

Cookr,

to answer your qns.
1. I dont know the penalty of w/up an examination you didnt do ,I just did the exam. Havent got my results yet but the CS orientation says YOU shouldnt. WE should ask those who have passed .Though with my own experience with all the practising writing up PN'S you can unintentionally make that grave mistake.

2. use the term belly or stomach

3.I said examine and feel instead of palpate.


Sars,
Cs is a messed up exam, you just dont know what they really want. There are things which are straight forward and some just weird. As the response from the SP's are sometimes unresponsive. I was trembling in some of the encounters, felt intimidated. Ive already swallowed the bullet got to live with it. As I said before pls practise well everyone(timing), know your differentials and which systems to examine in tough cases. FA and UW are enough.


arabia, we did the exam together I beleive.

gdoc,
earliest the results will be out by june 18th - july 16th. Some people suggest could get the results on the 18th of june.

elbamaritza, dreamlot, gdoc, niceday,
Thank you all for the kind words, I pray that I will also pass. I was supposed to do my exam on june 6th. Started to study casually cs on 28th of march as I was also preparing for ck. But on 7th of may had a drastic surprise and had to change all my plans and managed to reschedule on the 15th. It was a tough call. I still had problems with my timing and writing up PN'S on time. Whatever outcome comes I will embrace it. God has His plans for all of us, and I will live upto my destiny.

Something else I would advice others is try to visit forums more frequently not a few days before or month before your exam. Whenever your free just look up whats cs all about its for your own preparation.. if you know what I mean. While I was preparing for my step 1(did my exam late april) I used to frequent this thread and it helped me alot. Got to know some tricks of the trade, early so didnt have any big surprises or any need to panic.