My Step 1 Experience - Road to 252

 Hi sisters and brothers,

'THIS THING IS DOABLE', how about that as a beginning? Yeah, each and every one of you can beat the mean (which should represent the lowest circle of your bull's eye target).

THIS THIS IS DOABLE, I have been there. And just to realize how realistic it’s to target 250+, I’ll give you some background about myself.

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My name is Awwad, I'm a Sudanese doctor who has graduated in 2010. Did my Housemanship in 2011-2012 and national service in 2012-2013, during which, I took the exam (6th August 2013).

I’m an average guy; average height, weight and IQ, who always ranks somewhere in the middle in every class I go to. And if I have one thing to be proud of, that would be the fact that I’m hard-worker. And when it comes to reading, I’m a real horse!

During my preparations, for some reasons, I was forced to work, as such, I didn’t have that much time to read. I mean, if you have someone to pay and buy things for you, that should be like BOOM!

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Duration: 11 months (September 2012 to August 2013). For me, this duration was quite reasonable because, as I said, I was doing my national service somewhere in small village in western Sudan, better known as Darfur. The so-called government’s day starts at 9 am and ends at 2 pm. In the evening, I used to go to my private clinic, so, basically, I had to study during the noon (3 pm to 6 pm) and early morning (5 am to 8 am). This had gave me about 6 hours per day for my preparations. And if you add to that the fact that it was a village, with no electricity or internet connection except for some occasion and some governmental houses, and the fact that I had a bad time studying during my collage, those 11 months would be the expected duration.

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Materials:

Kaplan lectures (video lectures):

I saw all of Kaplan’s videos, except pathology, in a way that I would explain latter in this text.

Pharm: Dr. Raymond is a BIGTIME. Loved this guy. He would be doing most of them pharm lectures (except the first and last chapters). He will lay the foundation for you to understand some ‘brain-eating’ concepts.

Bio: Kaplan have hired the right persons to do this, I guess. Dr. David Seastone and Dr. Sam Turco are big deal teachers. Without their help, Bio would be like some big pile of indigestible material. Dr. Raymond would be here too for a chapter or two. 

Micro and Immuno:

 Despite that fact that I liked Dr. Kim, but I think she is like a waste of time. But the thing is, while there are some other good sources for micro like MMRS, immuno. has got Dr. Kim and Dr. Kim only. First aid is definitely not enough. So, Dr. Kim is a must, especially when it comes to immunology. She is not as boring as some might say, it’s the nature of the subject that makes her looks that way, go easy on her guys!

Physiology:

Those chapters done by Doctor Fischer were a waste of time. If I were you, god forbids, I would start physio lectures with Dr. Wazir. He is quite onto it and up to it.

Pathology:

Pathoma, Pathoma, Pathoma! If you want pathology presented to you in some golden plates, sliced, organized and spiced, follow this guy, he will supply your needs! Goljan is funny, have some good points to give, but he is like an adjuvant to pathoma not a substitute, if I to say. I watched the whole course of pathoma once ( with writing, as I would explain latter ) and listen to Goljan twice and read his 160+ page notes.

Histo, Embryo and Gross anatomy:

I saw Kaplan on these, which is turned out to be a mistake. FA is enough. Quite enough.

Neuro:

Kaplan did a hell of a good job in this one. I have listen to the doctor there carefully, twice. No another source is enough for neuroanatomy. Kaplan is a must.

Behavioral:

Definitely Kaplan. Dr. Steven is smart, lovely and knows how to do it. Must see. I saw him twice!

Genetics:

This one is troublesome to me. I didn’t find any source that touch it all. Never the less, Kaplan had helped me a lot.

Passprogram: “find the concept or clue, click and move!” Really?

This is a nice course in the sense that it integrates step one with step 2 CK, but it gives more account to step 1. I watched the whole thing except those chapter designated frankly for step 2 CK like pediatrics and stuff.  Biochemistry chapter is highly recommended, for, only in this course I have found big talks about stuffs like: malate-aspartate shuttle, G3P shuttle and some other minors, yet very important, talks. If I were you, I will see all of these lectures presented by Dr. Francis, at least, because he is so funny!

Youtube:

Youtubes helped me understand some apparently difficult concepts like: cardiac function curves, aortic arches, Lac operon, Hardy-Weinberg equation and so many else. Consult youtube whenever you feel the need. Its yourtube!

The World Wide Web, including the amazing group of EAMTAR, various USMLE forums and, rarely, Wikipedia.

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Now, for me, the following was important, because I’m sort of a visual person, meaning, it makes a big difference for me when I write lectures down. But, since it’s so difficult to rewrite Kaplan’s note, I have managed to play the same video I’m watching on my PC on my iPad. Then, when a new slide comes, I take a snapshot and import the image to an app known as Noteshelf and then add my annotations. See the following pictures:

 

My annotations in one slide in a pharm lecture

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Qbanks:

I did UWold on line, ranom, timed in 30 days. After the block is done, I read all explanation, with special attention to wrong one. I have got 77%, here are my details:

 

Kaplan qbanks:

Due to some negative feedbacks that I have encountered concerning this important qbank, I have dealt with is it carelessly only to be surprised in that the real exam is full of Kaplan’s style type of questions, you know, those question with long stories about various kinds of rats and rabbits! Guys, don’t ever underestimate this qbank.

NBME:

At the beginning of my preparation, I did one of those and I have got 110. At that time, I have no idea on how this is low/high, but when I asked some expert friend, he told me it ok for a beginner.

I also subscribed for the two of the UW self-assessment and I did only one of them carelessly two weeks before the exam. I mistakenly closed one of the blocks before the last question, so I did not relay on the result that much. Moreover, at that time, my mind had been made up that I’m going to take the test as schedule no matter what! In short, I gave no real care for these assessment tools, because, as for me, it makes no difference!

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First aid, the grandest stage of them all!

Very very helpful, especially with aid of video lectures of Rx 2012. First of, I have corrected all of the mistakes on 2012 using errata and then brought some sticky notes to add side notes if needed. Followed the video lectures while the book is in front of me twice

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Mistakes:

Long duration. If you have nothing else to do, 9 months should be enough.

First aid is enough for embryo, histo and gross anatomy.

Kaplan qbank deserves a little more respect and attention.

In the real exam, don’t ever try to go for more than two blocks in a raw. Its one of those ‘fatal errors’ that I have done.

Go solo! Study partners might constitutes a nagging drag and seldom beneficial. I have tried one for weeks, unfortunately!

Do more biostatistics, it has a bigger burden in the exam that you might expect! This thing surprised me the most.

Take you food with you to test center, you might not like the one that is provided in the cafeteria there. Especially if you hate potato chips like me!

Red bull does not give you a dork, not even a feather so forget about wings!

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You would do it, and this experience is not for you to follow, but is to remind you that you could do! You could beat the mean, at least by one SD if you want  to and worked for.