Advice for second attempt

[prinz]

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Hi,

I'm a student at a caribbean school and wrote step 1 at the end of april. I dont know my exact score yet, but i did the oasis trick and it let me re-register for step 1 after my score was reported.

Here were my stats going into the exam:

1.I was an average student in basic sciences.
2.Qbank average of 59% (did 100% of it). i went through all the answers (right and wrong) and made notes on almost all questions. By the end, I had almost 150 pages of notes which i went over 2-3 times.
3.Qbook average (850 questions): around 63%
4.USMLE CD average of around 64% over 3 tests
5.kaplan simulated exam: 57%
6.Listened to goljan audio once
7.NBME Form 1 (one day before the exam): 380 (=186 on step1)
8.FIRST AID: read it almost 4-5 times (especially Pharm and micro)
9. Went through all the kaplan videos along with the text and took extensive notes, although I didn't find that very helpful because I need to read/listen to information atleast 2-3 times before some of it starts sinking in and I couldn't do that due to time contraints.

Here is what i plan for my second attempt:

1. Go over all my Qbank notes as many times as possible.
2. re-do qbook, USMLE CD and Kaplan simulated exam.
3. Read FIRST AID as many times as possible. ( I am going to make notes in my FA as I go along, although I am not exactly sure how much of the information from kaplan and other sources I should transcribe in there)
4. Do questions from ROBBINS REVIEW OF PATHOLOGY
5. Do BSS questions.
6. Wait till my results come in and re-do the kaplan videos for the subjects I was weak in.
7. Im planning to study for another 4 months before I re-take it. I will take NBME form 1 after two months of studying and then NBME form 2 a month later. My last month will be review time.
8. Plan on doing questions from appleton and lange, NMS and Rapid Review Series. By the end, I would like to have done 10,000 questions.
9. Listen to goljan audio (as many times as possible) along with his high yield notes.

I have to do really well on my second attempt (90+) Even though I want to go for family medicine or pediatrics, there are many factors which I have to work against (I'm an IMG, I need a visa to work in the US and now i havent passed Step 1 on my first attempt) which excludes me already from applying to many residencies.

Is there anything else I should look into doing? anything that you dont think I should do? Any other advice?

Thanks for your replies.

 

[RustNeverSleeps]

I have heard that the OASIS trick does not always work -- i.e. sometimes it will let you register if you have actually passed. With your QBank scores, passing would certainly be feasible, particularly if you reviewed the notes. I don't want to give you false hope, but you may want to wait until you actually get your score report. Good luck!