part 1 boards

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eyenerd123

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- how early did you start studying?
- did you use KMK? How much did it help?
- any tips?

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I started studying part 1 about 2-3 months beforehand. I used KMK almost exclusively--supplemented with Schwartz visual perception but really that wasn't necessary. KMK helped immensely. They basically spoon feed you what's on the exam. Your job is to remember it all. Go through old Qbanks, commit a few hrs each and every day and you'll do fine.


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3 months beforehand is more than enough.

While I didn't use KMK, I've heard mixed things about its usefulness from classmates. Some lived-and-died by it or enjoyed its organization, but some thought it was not worth the money and could've passed without it. I'd say it was about 50% satisfied and 50% unsatisfied amongst the sample I asked.

Tips: The more often a topic comes up in the curriculum, the more likely it will be on NBEO - your school wants you to succeed on the test so they teach core topics with repetition. ex: myasthenia gravis was discussed in some form or another in 5+ different classes (clinical diagnostics course, pharmacology, neuro, ocular anatomy, human and ocular physiology, oculomotor, etc courses all touched on it briefly) and lo and behold myasthenia gravis was on NBEO. Tetralogy of Fallot was discussed in 2 classes so its likelihood to appear is not as high but still something that can occur.
 
I agree, I also started 2-3 months ahead of time but I am from PCO and this was in concurrence with starting our first rotation so it was a lot of time management and repetition.

I definitely benefited from doing the KMK course-- I feel like they somehow know what questions will be asked.. some were too close to examples stressed to be a coincidence I feel..

That being said, you need to utilize that material and know that you will have to supplement, for example
Contact lenses, Optics, Low vision and to an extent Binocular vision were not covered very well in KMK. I definitely supplemented with our professors' Boards review session ppts for those.

I knew my two weaknesses were Pharmacology and Optics so I spent extra time on those and I ended up getting the highest scores on those two sections on the actual exam.

Recording the KMK lectures and listening to them on commutes, or going back to parts you weren't quite sure about when you jotted down notes during the course helped a lot too.

So again KMK + professor board reviews + repetition. Their flash carts, quizzes, ect. were great resources as well.

Then you'll be more than fine :)
 
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