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- Dec 18, 2014
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Hi guys, I took the CE today and I am pretty sure that I failed.. I've been trying to figure out the reason behind this for the last few hours.. and decided to post here while it is still fresh in my mind. There were several reasons that I think I failed.. and any advice on how to tackle those subjects/reasons would be greatly appreciated.
Exam prep: June to now, UW 1.5x, COMBANK 2x, COMQUEST x1 (finished last Friday). Master the Boards (partially read). Savarese (multiple times).
1. Anxiety/ Poor test taker/ lack of confidence. The mentality I have going into the exam is my most serious problem.. I do not sleep well for 1-2 weeks before these exams because of my anxiety.. and by the time test day comes, I am usually a zombie. Today I missed at least 12 questions that I can recall that I would have gotten correct on any other day. In addition to that, due to my anxiety, I froze/doubted my answers and struggled with time (making anxiety worse), I had ~15 questions that I couldn't even get to, 8 of which I didn't even click an answer (I know...). This accounts to almost 30 questions where I performed worse than I should have.
I have always been an anxious person.. and worse in a big test. I failed the COMLEX 1 on my first try for similar issues.. anxiety being the big one. And I have been trying very hard to work on my state of mind this whole year.. but disapointed that I haven't made any progress. I really thought I had, but I think I need some professional help. 2 board failures surely doesn't help either.. I'm starting to believe that maybe I just don't have the smarts to do this.
Some things I have tried: meditation ~15 minutes in morning and night. Exercise (even though I haven't done much in the last 2 weeks :/)
When I failed my COMLEX 1 last year, I went to my PCP and tried alprazolam on and off. Zolpidem for my sleep. and now I'm on propanolol. Nothing has helped it seems.. so if anyone has ever felt the way I feel now and have any advice for my mentality, I would really appreciate it. And for those that don't understand why it is so difficult to just stop being this way.. I envy you.
2. MSK. I am terrible with language/vocab.. you can probably tell a little with this post. MSK is like learning a new language and memorizing where everything is/ what they do. How patient gets injured/presents, etc. It is just plain memorization with little substance.. which I really suck at. Although that's 80% of this profession anyways. FML. What do you guys do to memorize? Tips are greatly welcomed.
3. Initial/next/most appropriate. I feel like I get these mixed up a lot. Is there a good resource that diagrams them out for MC presentations?
4. Preventive care. Is there a book that lists all the screening guidelines? I feel like I have gone over them 100x but keep forgetting.. yeah. once again, memory issues.
5. OMM. I thought I was well prepared for OMM.. but again, time is an issue. For some reason, the exam testers feel the need to confuse you with +L, but give you R results, restricted/SD, direct/indirect technique. These questions make me anxious because they require extremely careful reading and thinking of treatment positions is also time consuming. Half the COMLEX II felt like a reading comprehension test. WHY?
6. Medical Jurisprudence. This was way higher yield than I had expected (6-8 questions). I have no idea what resources to use to study this. These were things about Medicare/Medicaid, ethics, etc.. Each of the banks had some questions about it, but none that showed up on the test.. so I have no idea how to prepare for them. I guessed on all of these questions and although I know they are supposed to be common sense, I tend to lack it (ie. are you supposed to get rid of your cat if your baby is allergic to it? or have the baby on some antihistamine?)
7. Statistics. Once again, much higher yield than I expected (6-8 questions). I think the QBanks explain the material ok, but is there a book that puts it all together in a few pages? ie. explaining what OR=1.2, CI = 95%, p<0.1 actually means in words?
That's the gist of it.. I hope that I am wrong.. but pretty much every question that I remembered and looked up... I got it wrong. I pray that I am overthinking.. and that in a few weeks I will have passed.. but that would be a surprise.
Since all my Qbanks have expired, my plan starting later this week is reviewing Secrets. Keep hearing good things about it.. but didn't get it because I had MTB. But just got the 3rd edition through PRIME and it should be here in 2 days.
Thanks for reading my rant. I know it is long.. but I needed to post my frustration somewhere and I really need help. Exhausted. Time to sleep. Thanks for any of your advice.
Exam prep: June to now, UW 1.5x, COMBANK 2x, COMQUEST x1 (finished last Friday). Master the Boards (partially read). Savarese (multiple times).
1. Anxiety/ Poor test taker/ lack of confidence. The mentality I have going into the exam is my most serious problem.. I do not sleep well for 1-2 weeks before these exams because of my anxiety.. and by the time test day comes, I am usually a zombie. Today I missed at least 12 questions that I can recall that I would have gotten correct on any other day. In addition to that, due to my anxiety, I froze/doubted my answers and struggled with time (making anxiety worse), I had ~15 questions that I couldn't even get to, 8 of which I didn't even click an answer (I know...). This accounts to almost 30 questions where I performed worse than I should have.
I have always been an anxious person.. and worse in a big test. I failed the COMLEX 1 on my first try for similar issues.. anxiety being the big one. And I have been trying very hard to work on my state of mind this whole year.. but disapointed that I haven't made any progress. I really thought I had, but I think I need some professional help. 2 board failures surely doesn't help either.. I'm starting to believe that maybe I just don't have the smarts to do this.
Some things I have tried: meditation ~15 minutes in morning and night. Exercise (even though I haven't done much in the last 2 weeks :/)
When I failed my COMLEX 1 last year, I went to my PCP and tried alprazolam on and off. Zolpidem for my sleep. and now I'm on propanolol. Nothing has helped it seems.. so if anyone has ever felt the way I feel now and have any advice for my mentality, I would really appreciate it. And for those that don't understand why it is so difficult to just stop being this way.. I envy you.
2. MSK. I am terrible with language/vocab.. you can probably tell a little with this post. MSK is like learning a new language and memorizing where everything is/ what they do. How patient gets injured/presents, etc. It is just plain memorization with little substance.. which I really suck at. Although that's 80% of this profession anyways. FML. What do you guys do to memorize? Tips are greatly welcomed.
3. Initial/next/most appropriate. I feel like I get these mixed up a lot. Is there a good resource that diagrams them out for MC presentations?
4. Preventive care. Is there a book that lists all the screening guidelines? I feel like I have gone over them 100x but keep forgetting.. yeah. once again, memory issues.
5. OMM. I thought I was well prepared for OMM.. but again, time is an issue. For some reason, the exam testers feel the need to confuse you with +L, but give you R results, restricted/SD, direct/indirect technique. These questions make me anxious because they require extremely careful reading and thinking of treatment positions is also time consuming. Half the COMLEX II felt like a reading comprehension test. WHY?
6. Medical Jurisprudence. This was way higher yield than I had expected (6-8 questions). I have no idea what resources to use to study this. These were things about Medicare/Medicaid, ethics, etc.. Each of the banks had some questions about it, but none that showed up on the test.. so I have no idea how to prepare for them. I guessed on all of these questions and although I know they are supposed to be common sense, I tend to lack it (ie. are you supposed to get rid of your cat if your baby is allergic to it? or have the baby on some antihistamine?)
7. Statistics. Once again, much higher yield than I expected (6-8 questions). I think the QBanks explain the material ok, but is there a book that puts it all together in a few pages? ie. explaining what OR=1.2, CI = 95%, p<0.1 actually means in words?
That's the gist of it.. I hope that I am wrong.. but pretty much every question that I remembered and looked up... I got it wrong. I pray that I am overthinking.. and that in a few weeks I will have passed.. but that would be a surprise.
Since all my Qbanks have expired, my plan starting later this week is reviewing Secrets. Keep hearing good things about it.. but didn't get it because I had MTB. But just got the 3rd edition through PRIME and it should be here in 2 days.
Thanks for reading my rant. I know it is long.. but I needed to post my frustration somewhere and I really need help. Exhausted. Time to sleep. Thanks for any of your advice.
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