Thanks SGU!

[vtrain]

Just wanted to share some good news with you guys and offer some encouragement to those who are in the caribs and are unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My step 1 score: 239/97

To those still down there, keep at it, there is a purpose to all that studying. SGU, despite the administrative nightmares that exist, prepares you well for step 1 and the material covered for the most part is high yield. There were very few questions on the exam that I hadn't seen in my previous two years of basic sciences. To those in first year, get first aid and start learning it now - let it be your quide as to how to study and annotate that book like crazy. to the ppl in vinnies - start listening to goljan and start prepping your weaker subjects now! my achilles heel was pharm and im so glad i started really learning the material in vinnies.

Have a goal, stick to it and stay focused. Work hard and in the end, things do pay off. I no genius by any means, but I did bust my *** and avoided all the rumors, gossip and other social crap that is rampant at SGU and for that, I was rewarded with a good step 1 score and a brighter future.

PS - also, take time to enjoy the caribs. Trust me, even if it makes no sense now, you WILL miss it when your gone!

[Saora1]

My step 1 score: 239/97

Congrats on a great score!

May I inquire as to whether or not you took a review course? And if so, did you think it was worth it or, in retrospect, do you think you'd have been okay studying on your own?

PS - also, take time to enjoy the caribs. Trust me, even if it makes no sense now, you WILL miss it when your gone!lol, I hear that so many times. It makes me feel a little better that the whiners might someday appreciate their experience in Grenada and St. Vincent.

[Belgiandoc]

way to go V!!!

[tralfaz]

Congratulations on the great results. Your post makes me feel a little better about the upcoming pharm/pathophys exam. I hate it, but it is (hopefully) one step closer to the end. Best of luck with your rotations.

As to missing the islands...we'll cross that bridge when we get there:) .

[FutureStudent]

Does anyone know this school's USMLE Step 1 pass rate?

[medic]

Damn! Well done! :rock:

[anencephalic]

Strong work...

Have fun in clinicals!

[Negean]

I am pretty sure the pass rate is something like 98%.

[jaywalk81]

very well done vtrain! and once again, congrats!!

[stephew]

it is not 98%. its been in teh 90-93% range the last few years. US rate has been a cuple of points higher. look at www.sgu.edu
Be skeptical of any group reporting higher scores: likely they are willfully misleading (reportin repeat takers etc)

[cavalletti]

Thank you for sharing your results vtrain! Good to hear success stories. Congrats!

[drjohnwebb]

How are all these Carib schools saying they have a 90%+ pass rate, when all foreign schools combined only have around 65% pass rate. Are the "top five" schools just rocking the boards and everyone else failing?

Numbers don't add up.

[stephew]

yes they do. there are many many med schools out there and the drop off in terms of quality of student and teacher/school is pretty sharp. And remember, IMGs include non-US citizens/english speaking folks. They are not trained in teh USMLE geared system and although they may go to excellent schools, the usmle pass rate is low.

[GonnaBaMD7]

it is not 98%. its been in teh 90-93% range the last few years. US rate has been a cuple of points higher. look at www.sgu.edu (http://www.sgu.edu)
Be skeptical of any group reporting higher scores: likely they are willfully misleading (reportin repeat takers etc)

Maybe the 98% number is the percent that eventually pass the USMLE. I'm sure for those ~8-10% that don't pass it the first time that the vast majority of those will get things together and pass the second time they take it. "His Excellency" as the administration refers to our chancellor/owner at the white coat last year said that 98% of students that start at SGU earn their MD.

[stephew]

well earning the MD and passing the usmle are two different things. I think the "98%" usmle pass rate quotes is one of those pulled from the air.
Steph.

[vtrain]

thanks to all the kind words that were posted or pm'ed to me

A few of you have PMed me with questions of how I prepared. I really didn't start until we went to vinnies. If I could have done it all over again, I would have started the very first day. For every topic that was covered in FA and in class, I made my notes in the margins and clarified concepts in FA because alot of that stuff is in point form. I know this is tedious but when summer comes to study for step 1 you will be immensely glad you took the extra time to do it because you will pick up the concepts much, much faster. Starting in vinnies, I also listened to goljan audio, over and over and over and...well you get the idea. The concepts he talks about are gold. Put them on your mp3 and listen to it wherever you go. I did this on the bus, on car rides, and listened to a bit before bed. He has a way of clarifying path concepts that really stick in your brain come step 1 time. As for scheduling, we finished on the 12th of may and I started really studying on the 15th. I would get up 730-800am and go straight until 11pm and I would do this 6 days a week. I took my exam during the first week of august, which gave me about 12 weeks. honestly, this was overkill. 10- should be your absolute max. I scheduled 10 but got freaked out and bumped my exam. you will be tempted to do so, but don't unless you practice scores are dismal. the last two weeks were just a waste of time and i probably wouldve done just as good if i took it 10 weeks out. I did not take kaplan or falcon or any other test prep. you dont have to take a prep course to do well, as you can see by my example. I did however get the kaplan qbank and usmlerx which I thought were both excellent for initial prep. I also got some prep books (ahem - won't say which ones), goljan's rapid review and brs pathology. i really like rapid review as it followed the audio nicely. i would listen to an 1hr of goljan before bed each night and follow along in the book. as for scheduling, i took about 1 week ea for phys, micro, pharm, biochem; 2 weeks for path and .5 week for anat, embryo and ** and 6 days for neuro. the rest of the time i did questions, questions, questions! I cant state this enough. initially i did 50/day and worked my way up so towards the last week, i was doing 250 questions. i really believe you score is correlated to how many practice questions you do. by the end, I think i did about 6000 questions. however, none of the questions were anything like the real deal, but nonetheless, they are good to solidify your basic knowledge. doing questions will help mostly with improving you time and understanding the second,3rd and sometimes even 4th order questions that step 1 likes to ask. as well, i found some repeat questions to that on qbank. both usmlerx and kaplan are comparable. i felt however kaplan was a bit tougher. the interface on usmlerx was EXACTLY the same as the real thing which was very comforting. by the end, I averaged 67% on qbank. I usually studied in the morning/afternoon and finished the evening with questions and going over the answers in detail. another key thing to do is to take all 4 NBME exams. I can stress this enough
. they underpredicted my exam score by almost 20 points but they are the most accurate predictors, in other words, if you can pass those exams, you will pass the real thing. i took one every sunday for the last 4 sundays. i felt nbme 2 was the most accurate. my scores were 450 -1, 450 -3, 480-4 and 500-2. On thing to note - I felt like I failed the exam when I walked out. i thought "what the hell was that??" it was so anti-climatic. I sat in my car for a good 15 minutes thinking how could it be all over and how i probably failed. i was told everyone feels that way but I definitely thought iwas the exception. hope this clarifies a few things

[Saora1]

Thank you so much for that very comprehensive breakdown of what you did to prep. I know that everyone's different and has a different style but it's still nice to get an idea to go on.

I've already started listening to Goljan and he is awesome but I guess I need to dust off my First Aid that I've been meaning to use since 1st term. It's not going on 6 weeks into St. Vincent and, even though I brought it with me with the intentions of using it, I've just plain not done it.

It's also heartening to me that you didn't take a prep course. I am one of the few people in my class that doesn't seem to be despite the fact that SGU pushes Kaplan so hard on us. I was beginning to get a bit freaked out when 9 out of every 10 people I speak with says that they are going to the retreat in Atlanta or some such. Was starting to second-guess my decision.

Anyway, thanks again and best of luck to you in rotations.

By the way, being Canadian, what did you have to do in terms of visa? I've contacted the school (despite growing up in Grenada I was born in Canada) and they told me I need to get an H1-B visa but that doesn't sound right...

[mongo18]

well earning the MD and passing the usmle are two different things. I think the "98%" usmle pass rate quotes is one of those pulled from the air.
Steph.


99% is the overall pass rate...90+% is the first time test takers..

[orthonut]

Go train, it's yer birthday! Woo hoo! Congrats.

[stephew]

99% is the overall pass rate...90+% is the first time test takers..
no im afraid its not 99% overall. its good but not that good. however no , i dont have the recent numbers.

[EpiDoc]

hi stephew,

As a current applicant, I just received an "official" email from an SGU student talking about her experiences and she did state the following:

Our average GPA is 3.3; MCAT 25. Our pass rate for Step One is 90% on the 1st attempt; 99%overall.

So maybe these are the most recent stats unless her email wasn't proofread ahead of time. Great stats- if they're correct!

[stephew]

thanks for the info. I still doubt that number but not based on anything recent to be honest.

[Groove]

Thanks for the study schedule vtrain, that helps a bunch. Way to go and enjoy clinicals!

[summerwind]

Thanks for the post vtrain and for the reminder about enjoying your time in Grenada. Human nature is such that we don't appreciate what we have untill it is gone.

[vtrain]

Thank you so much for that very comprehensive breakdown of what you did to prep. I know that everyone's different and has a different style but it's still nice to get an idea to go on.

I've already started listening to Goljan and he is awesome but I guess I need to dust off my First Aid that I've been meaning to use since 1st term. It's not going on 6 weeks into St. Vincent and, even though I brought it with me with the intentions of using it, I've just plain not done it.

It's also heartening to me that you didn't take a prep course. I am one of the few people in my class that doesn't seem to be despite the fact that SGU pushes Kaplan so hard on us. I was beginning to get a bit freaked out when 9 out of every 10 people I speak with says that they are going to the retreat in Atlanta or some such. Was starting to second-guess my decision.

Anyway, thanks again and best of luck to you in rotations.

By the way, being Canadian, what did you have to do in terms of visa? I've contacted the school (despite growing up in Grenada I was born in Canada) and they told me I need to get an H1-B visa but that doesn't sound right...
No - you come into the US to do your clinicals under a B1 visa which is renewed every 6 months. this is really easy to get and you get one when you cross the border to start clinicals. it's timed, so don't get one until you dont plan on coming back (ie dont get one when you're say looking for an apt). other than that, H1bs and J-1s are for when your residency in the states. True the h1b is easier to get but if you want the more competitive specialities, like I want ophtho, you are stuck with a J-1. good luck

[summerwind]

Does it take a long time to get a J-1 visa?