Exam experience

[Anonymous]

Hey...i have been an observer in this forum for nearly 2 years now I believe. Never contributed much, as I always felt like the Qs that are being asked here were kind of hard and sometimes way too detailed. During time, I could answer more from the Qs you guys posted...and it kept me going.

I prepared maybe for 1 year. Studying on and off, sometimes with 2 weeks no studying...

What I was studying :

1. Live Lecture Notes
2. First Aid (didn't know it very well, I dont like FA very much)
3. Goljan 100 pages (2 times)
4. Goljan audio lectures (always fell asleep in the middle because i listened to him before going to sleep...so might have missed half the course)
5. Kaplan IV Qbank
6. Kaplan Qbank
7. UCV's...all of them. Did them with a friend in med school...every day we got up at 6am...did 1 case out of every book...reading to each other. This sounds very strange, but after 3-4 months, read around 1000 cases
8. Started a lot of other stuff, but didnt finish : Step-up, Goljan books, NMS Qs, Board Simulator Qs...

My performances :

Kaplan Qbank : 60%
Kaplan IV Qbank : 70%
NBME form I : 340
NBME form II : 450

After studying forever and having 4 weeks left, I took the NBME I, and was shocked. It was terrible hard and I got really scared. I read people score over 600 on this thing...it was a reality slap in my face that I still had a long path before me. I studied day and night for the next 4 weeks...took NBME part II...and got 450. That was enough for me and after moving the exam for 200 times, I went and took it. I just wanted to get it over with. At the end I sat down...and my eyes were just crossing into space...i didnt have any energy anymore to study. it's like my brain was low on batteries. Even by taking a day off studying...even with knowing I have to til do so much more...I was simply powered out ! I cannot really say what to do...what I did...i kept sitting on my butt...reading every line 5 times, instead of one time before I knew what I was reading.

Anyway...I have read many posts and experiences here before...and the ones I wanted to follow as well and thought they were very very helpful are :

1. To get sleep (!!!!) before the exam. Your brain will work like a steammachine...like those old trains, even if you slept good, at block 7 it feels like liquefactive necrosis up there !!

2. First Aid. I knew it was important...everybody stresses this. But I simply did not get along with FA. It is a terrible book. Facts, facts, facts. I could read 20 pages...but then I forgot the precious facts on the first page of reading. I would need to read it 200 times to 'know-by-heart'. I am not that smart to know this book by heart. Jesus, and I glad I didnt. I rather did questions, questions, questions. Got my little facts... and the dirty little tricks there. You will be suprised how much you learn from doing questions !

3. DO NOT JUMP FROM BOOK TO BOOK. Big mistake. If you read First Aid...read First Aid. Dont all the sudden start reading Goljan. Dont do Qbank....then all the sudden start doing NMS. It will mix everything up. No straight schedule. Chaos. That will negatively stress out your brain...thinking damn...its a lot of stuff around me. There is lots of beautiful books out there. They are very tempting...USMLE SECRETS, CRUSH THE BOARDS, First Aid, STEP UP, and and and....they make you think you have to read them, otherwise you missed something. Honestly, I caught myself many times. I was looking out for the big "secret" that prepares me for the USMLE when I was "sleeping". You will not find it. Stick to one thing. It's better.
And shift back a gear when you read something...because at the end it's not how much you read, it's how well you understood it...and can recall. So rather read 10 pages and know them, instead of reading 50 and make yourself say hey...i read 50 pages...i will pass for sure.

4. Pray. Didnt do it enough. But it will keep your spirits up

5. Watch a movie every now and then. Do something else than just studying. Life is too beautiful to just study for the boards. Study hard. But dont forget your family. Forget them maybe for the last week...hehe.

6. They say dont study your last day. Hell yes I studied my last day ! I say read a round up...like Goljan 100 pages...or watch some slide review thing. What's wrong with that ? It helped me a lot !

7. Dont drink too much coffee on the exam day. It will make you move into the toilet during your exam.

8. Take the exam at a time when you used to start studying.

9. Don't spend too much time on these forums, dont check your email every hour, dont give in to this wide variety of internet fun out there (I had to struggle with this one...)

10. Fool yourself and tell yourself you are Supersmart ! Tell yourself you will pass with a 99. Tell yourself everything I know already...i just need to add some info (hehe). If you feel so good about yourself...so arrogant and naiv....then I realized you will absorb new info much quicker. Instead of subconciouslly being scared of new info...you will accept it quicker. Strange ? Yes.

To come to the exam >>

Exam day
--------

No headache day. Thank God ! Exam time scheduled : 7:30. Had my daily coffee at 5:30. Was so nervous that I wasnt hungry. Forced myself to have 2 bologna sandwiches (EAT !!)...drove to the center...got stuck in traffic. Hated it...stressed me out a little. Got there 7:15. Had to wait 20 minutes until she called my name. Locked my stuff up...and there I was...feeling like the little David going against Goliath...(not Goljan !)....

I sat down, skipped the damn tutorial...and dived right in. First 2 blocks...uhhhhhh.....tough. As I expected. Then the 3rd and 4th I thought...hey...they are being just nice now...and the last 3 were not too bad either.
The Qs are pretty much always asking WHY...not WHAT ?
Understand concepts. Mostly had Pathology with Pathophys, followed by Pharm, Immunology, Biochemistry/Genetics, Physiology, and then the rest...almost no Qs on Micro, Anatomy or Beh. Science. Suprised me. I thought I get a lot more on Micro. But was happy I didnt have too many mice experiments...just 2.

Had EM pictures, gross pictures, graphs, tables, calculations, hand drawn pictures...sometimes you have to simply fit it into the question as additional hint...but most of the time they point to something.

I dont mention any questions that I got...because it wont help you. I would never suggest to base your exam on remembered Qs...i think you will not find a person that has a same Qs like you. Maybe the same concept...but in how many ways can you ask about a concept ? in many many different ways.

Some Qs killed me. I dont know if they were experimental or not. But they are just huge and come with many fancy words...i picked the answer that looked most "WRONG" looking, as usually on Qs like this...i answer wrong anyway...so I chose what I would have never chosen before. lol.

Time was ok. Again, I think it's because I practiced so many Qs ! In the last 2 blocks maybe it got a little hectic...but it was because my brain didnt want to go anymore on the last 10 Qs always.
One guy had some typing test behind me. I was thinking what can I do to shut him up. I lost maybe a minute...but just kept going and didnt do anything.

After the exam I sat in my car and opened FA. If you want to feel ok about the exam, then dont open it. I found mistakes...it made me feel like I want to run back in and say hey...I knew this...i want to change my answer please

Otherwise I had no clue what to think. Either I did well or passed terribly. Thats one misterious thing I read even before....you will first off not remember almost any Qs...and 2nd of all, you will have absolutely NO IDEA how it went. That makes the 4 weeks waiting in no way easier. Speaking of the waiting...it's terrible. People will tell you : You will do fine. I am sure you passed. AHH...first off, with all respect....shut up ! lol...that puts even more pressure on me. Then Secondly, waiting is terrible because you then you start daydreaming and Qs that appeared on your exam pop back up in your head. After 3.5 weeks waiting you are almost on the edge, with no fingernails left and constantly feeling like nervous guy from scrubs, or a hysterical woman.

I am glad it's over. I hated Step 1.

Good luck to each one of you...keep studying hard...it's really not that hard...believe in yourself....and always keep thanking God for being allowed to live each day on this beautiful planet.

Will report back with my score...to see if however I studied...would be beneficial for those who want to score higher.

All my love,
C.

[Anonymous]

dear cruz!!!
thanku for sharing with us , that was a very animated and heart rendering account of ur experience ! i hope the very best for u !
i take my exam in 4 days ! i am very scared but am glad that there are people out there who can tell us their experience so we have an idea of wat we r going into and we know that there r others in the same boat with simialr expereices !
goodluk godbless

[lf777]

Thanks a lot for sharing that with us. It's a great post.

FA is sometimes difficult to master. You can try different books, though.

Let us know when your results are available !

regards,
lf

[Rahat3256]

hii
that was really so nice ....you have told all the corner of your life during & before ur exam.....something will match will somebody...may be me...who knows...but everything will help us a lot.....thank u once again...& dont forget to let us know ur score...hehehehe...all the best..

[Anonymous]

Dear Cruz,

You described your pre- peri- and post-step1 experience in an excellent way. That was absolutely great. Thanks for sharing with others all these feelings and emotions.

Take care!

[katas]

HEY IF YOU DON'T NEED GOLJAN AUDIOLECTURES AND 100PG HY NOTES I CAN BUY IT FROM U .
I WISH U GOOD LUCK TO PASS YR EXAM.
CONTACT ME PLEASE ON RANDOYA2003@YAHOO.COM.