Good Job! Congrats.

Congrats!!! Dude. You deserve it.

congrats!
so your advice to current med school students would be?

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If you want to do something, then you will find a way.
If you want to do nothing, then you will find an excuse.

advice...

set aside time every day to study step 1, starting with semester 1, even when med school feels overwhelming. even if it's only 20 minutes/day. try to do a certain amount of step 1 questions each week (say, 100 questions/week).

read first aid many, many times. i would say almost every single word is HY.

i read kaplan 2002 (subject based books), and kaplan 2005 (organ system review). 2005 was a little cumbersome, too many details. but when you've read a lot, you will read first aid over again, and you could write in a lot more details into the margins of first aid, just from memory, because first aid is grossly deficient in many details. immunology is becoming a lot more HY. neuro images are more HY now. forget all the behavioral from BRS and kaplan, you might get 1 question from these sources. instead, read this...

U of W School of Medicine Bioethic Topics

on my NBME, i scored borderline-low on behavioral. then i read this site, and i got asterisks, high performance, on behavioral on the real thing. it's HY!!! they don't care about the "old" behavioral science, they like the new bioethics and doc patient relationship.

take an NBME 2-3 months before your exam, work on the weaknesses. take another one to see where you are at just before the exam.

and finally, try to sleep the night before. your brain needs to "re-set" itself with some REM sleep, and some deep sleep (delta waves). i got zero sleep the night before, WITH 3 diphenhydramines. i could not get my nerves calmed down. try to get a good sleeping schedule down before the exam, and get a sleeping aid that works.

i know i would have been in the 90s if i slept, even just a little bit. just make every day count, keep reading, study hard, keep to a schedule, don't give up, have faith, it will all work out. it's just a stepping stone.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Way to knock out the step 1... and best wishes to you in your medical career. Thank you for sharing your experience...

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Well Done!!!!

Wow, Congratulations!!! Thank you for sharing your experience.

I met you in this forum when I was afraid & doubtful about going to CAHSU. You always gave me true honest opinions whenever I asked for your advice. I deeply appreciate all your help.

Again, congratulations and good luck on your other steps!

i bet if u had sound sleep before ur exam day u wud have scored high as 99 and dont worry 88 is not that bad is juz 2 minus 90 ..be positive! very good dont worry! thanks for sharing ur experience..u r real hard worker and dedicated med student...goodluck for step 2!

Dear wcb22,

It is people like you that keep me alive and happy. May God Bless you in every single thing that you do!

Sincerely,

Tommyk

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"All USMLE cases are original and are expressly not from questions seen, recalled, paraphraphrased from the real USMLE, the material is for the purpose of the education of future physicians and the safety of their patients."

once again, thanks you guys, and nice to see you back tommyk. and advice to all, tommy's concepts are HY!! he knows the mind of the NBME. they might start recruiting him to write questions for step 1.