my exam experience!!!!!

[Anonymous]

hello friends,
First of all i need to thanks everybody in this forum who helped me and gave me strength to undergo this exams.
Exam was doable as most people said....they were correct.Distribution of Q was also even...but more stressed on patho.,physio,pharmac,behavioral sc. and micro...compared to anat. and biochem.
Exam was very very long..i took break of app.5-7min.after each block..i think that helped me a lot.
Now regarding exams :
ANATOMY : Least tested.....had 3-4Q from histo.and 2-3Qfrom embryo...gross anat.was mostly on upperlimb nerve injuries ,had 3CTSCAN total of neuroanat.and few Q from neuroanat.but i think FA is enough to ans.anat Q
BIOCHEM : Had few Q from pathways...but they were pretty straight forward...no need to memorize all big pathways..got many Q from abnormal diseases like PKU,maple syrup urine dz.ochronosis etc
Got 3 pedigree chart from genetics,1 Q regarding pleiotropy and genetic imprinting
2Q regarding hardy-weindberg equation...but i was not able to figure out ans.of one of them..was little tricky and time was running...so couldn't get the correct ans.i guess
MICRO : Had many many Q from micro.But they were very straight..had few Q combined with micro and patho.
Had 2Q from bacterial genetics also..can't remember exactly what was the Q.but they were straight forward and for micro.i can say that FA is more than enough to ans.
PATHO.AND PHYSIO : Heavily tested...only few Q were straight forward..most were 2 or 3 step and few were very tricky..can narrow down to 2 choices,,but then it was hard to decide which one is correct.Had 2 graphs from renal physio.had 2 acid-base problems,high altitude,respiratory i think i have maximum in my exams.In every block i was getting 2-3 Q from respi.starting with patient having history of smoking since 10,20 or 30 yrs.had lot of Q from that topic.even cardio also..in short all systems were tested in patho and physio.and this two subjects are very important.
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE : In every block i got appr.3-4 Q on ethics.Even had few Q from stats.but not too much calculations..sensitivity and PPV,NPV etc.had 2Q from defense mechanisms and sleep disturbances also.
PHARMAC : Many many Q from this ...but they were easy and simple..need to memorise all tiny tiny side effects for some Q.Had 2 graphs from pharmaco dynamics regarding potency and efficacy and also from ANS with drug X and norepinephrine etc.kaplan pharma is very good and u can revise from FA also .But for ANS i suggest FA is not enough...read from kaplan or any other book.
IMMUNO : There were few Q..but i don't remember exactly..had 1-2 Q from IL and complement pathway and CGD etc.Had few Q from molecular biology..but it was not that bad..as i expected.They were tricky to answer but then i selected best letter which i like and went ahead..thinking that they might be for assesment and they even won't count that.Hoping for the best coz there was no point in wasting time in that Q as i was poor in that topic and i was not able to figure out the correct ans.or i should say was not able to understand the Q stem itself.
I hope i could tell u all in brief about subject distribution
Regarding material which i used...
Used kaplan notes 2001 for all subjects and yes was reading goljan for patho.GOLJAN IS GOLD and HY 36 pages of goljan..really worth reading.
Did Q-bank,Q-book,BSS 45% ONLY,BLACKWELL,usmle cd
my scores in Q-bank was average 74%,usmle cd-42,37,35 and took NBME-1 3 WEEKS prior to my exams and scored just 430.
I don't know what more to write....i m not very good at writing exam experience but as other people's exam experience has helped me alot..i feel it is necessary to pen down whatever u can .
This forum was a great help to me...got very good freinds from this with whom i used to discuss and they were always there to help me in giving moral support also.
Now waiting for the results..worst period...it was easy to read...but to wait for results is so horrifying.
Thanks to everybody in this forum and thanks for spending ur time to read my exam experience.
WISH U ALL GOODLUCK.

[Anonymous]

HI,

First of all,Thank you very much for your input.
I am giving my exams on 20th MAy and just gave the NBME test where I scored only 470 and 430.so kinda depressed.but you give me Hope.

All the Best for your results.

Thanks

[kokushubila]

Hi ,
Just a note of THANK you for your comments .I tell you -You have already passed my friend .

I will do my exams soon so this is really an inspiration to me.YES everybody say it's doable now I have to pull up my socks.
God bless you
Hope we will soon your results ! Don't worry 8)

Koku