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260 - drgowda
#1
hi all. i am not new to this forum .score 260/99. step 1 244/99.few practical things i would like to say is
1)use logic more than common sense while answering.
2)the test is not difficult but question writers always try to confuse you ,make u go wrong.so better to know concepts verywell rather than memorize things. this is especially true regarding step2
3)i would repeat that use logic more than common sense while answering.i mean to say the test is all about finding the best possible answer not the correct answer.so even if the given case scenario is not possible in the real sense its better to use logic rather than commonsense while answering these kind of questions.please dont be carried away by so called"buzzwords" that you may find in these q. many q will be of this kind.
4)many vignettes consist of multiple conditions (again to confuse u) . along with the presenting symptoms for the multiple conditions the signs, lab values, ecg findings that are characteristic of these conditions may be given!!(so dont go by" buzz words"). be prepared for these kind of q. i would suggest again to use logic and find out the best possible solution.
5)i feel that time is the only limiting variable among different test takers. so when you practice q from different sources give more importance to our speed of answering rather than "% "or "correlations". the are useless .
6) the step2 tests your basic clinical knowledge .so dont get tensed when you see some strange,"hard" things like elecron micrograph picture,ecg of some rare condition. they will be shown just to make the q as confusing as possible. so think about basic principles while answering these type of q.
7) regarding test prep , my personal choice would be kaplan notes (even the medicine notes) and usmle world q bank.I am happy that there is not much mention of fa for step2.(as it was for step 1, for which there was an heated discussion between me and ani , docepsy !)
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#2
First LOT of congratulations
Can you explain few thing for me please
1."logic more than common sense while answering" with one example I don;t understand what you mean by this?
2. How much your step 1 help you in step 2 (I mean if you would had step 2 before then step 1 whould you have had same score? What you think.
3. You said Kaplan is best even in IM do you think the pathophysiology and Pharma (which I hear from here) is being asked so much will Kapal (IM) cover that as well?
I will be really greatful
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#3
wooowwww!!!!
thast the greatest score by far that i haev seen here on the forum or heard about!!!
a huge congrats and thank u for sharing ur experience and advise with us!!!
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#4
thankyou saeedahmad. regarding your q
1)this is very important regarding step2. what i meant when said"use logic more than commonsense was", try to answer by logically eliminating the choices FROM THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE VIGNETTE EVEN IF IT IS NOT POSSIBLE IN A REAL PATIENT/CLINICAL CONDITION. to be more precise dont try to use your "clinical knowledge" that you know about REAL PT,CLINICAL CONDITIONS while answering these q .chances are high that you will forced to select a wrong answer ! also be aware of about the buzzwords or characteristic features that you will find in these q.they may have no relation to the q being asked! they will be simply included there to confuse u to the maximum possible extent.
2)i personally feel that it is "technical mistake" to take step2 before step 1. taking step 1 before step2 helps you in two ways.first it would easy to answer any step 1 q that may appear in step2( i started my step 2 prep only 4 days after giving step 1. so i was able to remember most of step1 material. so please dont give much gap between the preparation for individual steps).second thing is as u all know things like biostatistics ,psychiatry are common to both steps ,taking step1 before step2 helps a lot regarding these topics. i WOULD DEFINITELY SAY THAT I WOULD NOT HAVE GOT SUCH A SCORE IF I TOOK STEP2 BEFORE MY STEP1.THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION.
3)when i started my step2 prep , i too didnt take kaplan medicine seriously. but the thing is it has really got all inportant things needed for step 2. few things that i studied apart from kaplan medicine are: blue prints in cardiology(do the q given at the end of the book. they are superb), blue prints neurology(not of much help), acid base and electrolytes from CMDT.but still i maintain that kaplan medicine is good and if you have it read it between the lines . its compact yet precise. good luck.....

jimmy: thankyou
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#5
thanks a lot drgowda for ur great advise!!!
u from bangalore?
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#6
drgowda u have got a dream score in step2 too.way to go!!!
hearty congrats to u
and thanks for the advice
can u tell me if UW is needed for 1 or 2 months as i was planning to start it soon
thanks
bj
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#7
jimmy: thanks a lot. no i am not from.

bj: thank u. about usmle world i have a serious suggestion bj. take it for 1 month. dont worry about how many q u get right, do it in test mode AT HALF THE TIME . i mean GIVE MORE IMPORTANCE TO UR SPEED. the q length actually correlates with the real exam(BUT NOT THE Q TYPE, SO DONT WORRY ABOUT % CORRELATIONS). but the most important thing is to make a note of the explanations in ur review book.they r really great and thats where usmle world is great. revise them along with your notes . dont waste ur money for 2 months. but read the explanations again and again from your notes. i would suggest you to start it after a minimum of 2 readings. but again give importance to SPEED AND EXPLANATIONS.dont bother about % correlations .
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#8
first of all congrats man..
just wanna ask u about USMLEworld...
is cd available in India... or the only way is via net ?
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#9
thanks drgowda i will def pay more atttention to the explanations as also my other friends have told me about that.actually i have finished one reading while i did the tapes.will finish my second reading on mar 5th.both i have tried to do quick yet a detailed reading.am also finishing the q book by mar 10 so i thought i will start UW on 10 and then q bank.really donno how much i remember at this point
do u suggest that i start UW after another reading or start soon after this reading?
thanks once again for ur valuable suggestion
GL for all ur future exams
bj
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#10
drgowda,
u are by far the greatest person i saw here!!!!
im now a great fan of urs!thanks for the advise and suggestions that u gave!!!!
i am doing both ck and cs simultaneously[ie i read peads,then i took a break now as my cs on april 4,then again il go back to ck.]
hope i get half ur scores!!!
thanks a gain and good luck with whatever u want to do!
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