Hi guys,
I just wanted to start a blog where med students like me can read about other med students struggle with the USMLE and get a better grip of what its all about....I just got my exam results n thought it was high time i gave something back to the community n help newer members.I felt posting my step 1 experience would be a good idea to start my blog
exam date:jan 17th
result date:feb 9th
score:99/251 :-)
I started preparing for the exam in july 2010...but I culdnt read intensively during the first 3months due to my internship...i used to get to study for not more than 3-4 hrs a day...thats when i did most of my kaplan reading
Prep---
-kaplan lecture notes except for goljan
-goljan audio ,slides ,RR for pathology---kinda overkilled it
-next came 1rst revision of kaplan
-then i started FA 2010 n simultaneously started doing kaplan qbank(not qbook...didnt touch qbook).However i couldnt finish it n only did about 800 qs...coz at that point of time i had to roam around my college's office alot for the degree n other documents n that took a lotta my time(alas thats how govt. colleges work from where i come from)...but i managed to read FA once thoroughly...also i was getting ready to move to the US permanently n so u know packing n farewells n all...
-in november 2010 i gave kaplan a 2nd revision--just some topics like bacteriology,genetics etc n FA second reading.aroung november 12th i started uworld qbank.
-i felt that s when my real prep prep started...uworld was awsome..i finished uworld in about 35 days...including 1 revisionof each and every question.all through these 35 days i listened to goljan tapes every chance i could...i then revised FA 2 more times n some other topics from kaplan here n there n also goljan...by this time i was very well versed with goljan n FA...however i was fast approaching burnout n my exam was far away---jan 17...
one word about uworld is that i personally liked it more than kaplan qbank...but both of them r very good..thats just my opinion.qbank tends to test u in similar topics but the choices r based on very minute points in the actual concept...
-then i took uworld self assessment 1 on dec 31rst n got 260...this kinda filled me with a lot of hope n new zeal n i couldnt give up just yet...
-i began to then assess my strengths n weakness n worked on those...i hit the behavorial sciences book hard n subscribed for the uworld biostatistics course which was pretty good btw..i did FA all over again n hy molecular biology(didnt read the whole of it though)...
-i took the uwsa2 at around jan 8th n got 265 on it...but by this time i was really stressed out n burning out quick...but i was never tensed about the exam(even on the exam day).
-i basically repeated the same process again n again n was praying everyday for clear weather on the exam day so that the centre wd stay open(snow storms ppl...ugggh)....bcoz i couldnt go another day thinking about the exam
-finally on jan 14th i took nbme 7 n scored 247/610...n was pretty happy..
-the next day i just went over someof my notes n slides n some annotations i made in my FA book(actually lots)
-jan 16th---took rest...felt refreshed..
Day of the Exam---
-jan 17th---huh...its finally here n i felt totally ready...i got up at 5:30am n got ready...n had a good breakfast...packed my bad with gatorade,snickers,some food my mom made,my scheduling permit,etc.the exam centre s located about 20 min from my home...so i was in no hurry...i watched a few motivational videos from youtube which really got my spirits up n i really recommend them..then i started a lil early got in into the centre signed my name etc etc etc...the people there were very friendly...it was a small centre but it was really good...exam start...
The Exam--
I cant divulge too much info about the actual exam but all in all it was not as tough as i thought it d be...blocks 3 and 7 were very tough for me n blocks 2 n 6 were a lil difficult relatively...the other blocks were very very easy for me...time was never a factor for me...in fact for one block i had almost 16 min left n for the rest atleast 5-6 min each...i went out to the toilet n ate something after every other block n had myself well hydrated with gatorade...i never felt exhausted even for a single second....i actually came out 15 min early n after the exam i had this feeling that i must ve left something out.i thought i did o.k.
The initial euphoria of having finished with the step is undescribable...i couldnt think of anything for 2 days after until my exam anxiety actually started to creep in...i was literally getting paranoid...i started to read a lot of failure stories on various forums n it just added to the paranoia...i swear i didnt have a single nights sleep without having palpitations at some point or the other.but at last now that the result is out i m on 7th heaven.
And thats my story....all in all i just wanna tell all the future exam takers that the exam is very very doable...its not very very tough like a lot of ppl complain about...of course whats an exam without a few tough qs...so never ever get depressed looking at stories of failure n low scores...be optimistic throughout...keep urself motivated...never get stressed out...i never studied for more than 6-7 hrs a day which i thought was adequate time...i took single day breaks once in a while and made sure i got lotsa sleep everyday....remember its all in ur mindset...if u think u can fly...u will fly.
All The Best
P.S. --if u have any doubts pls feel free to post in comments n i ll try my best to answer them
