Failed twice

[NorthJerseyGirl]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So, found out I failed step 1 twice! and now I am looking for new study tools. Obviously studying First Aid didn't help, and I also have the other books first aid recommends in the back. I have a classmate that failed the first time using Youels' prep so I am not interested in that. But, I am seriously looking into Kaplan's Webprep. Has anyone used it?? The demo looks pretty good. I just can't bear the thought of sitting down again with those same books!!

 

[mhdousa]

NJG,

Sorry to hear about that....standardized tests can be a bitch like that -- it's often
more of a test of your ability to take tests rather than your intelligence. So my
biggest advice to you is to do questions, questions, and more questions. I
would sign up for Kaplan's QBank, and go through all the questions at least
twice. Read over the entire explanation, and make sure you understand why
each answer choice is right or wrong.
I would also pick up the NMS question book, although I didn't find this as
helpful as other people did. The Appleton and Lange question book was
also not bad.
It's been a couple years since I took Step I -- anyone have any other question
sources that were good?

Good Luck!!

-M

 

[-=UberSharky=-]

njg,

hey..dont get down. i know things are kinda tough right now, but that doesnt mean you're not smart enough. hell, you beat thousands of other people just to get to medical school.

anyway, i am in the process of preparing for the exam too. i have a bunch of good ideas for you, but it really all depends on how much time you have (per day, total) and when you're taking the exam. write back and let me know how much time you have, and i'll give you some hints on how to prepare. just to let you know, my studying involves a health dose of Board Simulator Series. These books, in my opionion, are the best out there.

best of luck,

Sharky

 

[anapaula]

NJG do you wanna team up? Some people are better students in small groups than alone. The loud exchange of knowledge consolidates better and helps memory. Let me know
ap

 

[NorthJerseyGirl]

Oh, I've got all the time in the world!! I'm taking some time off to do this thing rightly. I figure I will take the USMLE in the middle of May. So, until then, it's study study study. So, has no one used the Kaplan courses??

 

[hamza4ever]

🙂 ubersharky, no doubt board simulator series is good, i used it as an initial prep for step 1. basically helped me get a good start on my studying and getting motivated. i'm a very lazy guy when i comes to studying and therefore needed the questions to stimulate my studying. i used to do the question block and then revise the ones i got wrong by reading that subject topic from BSS itself and the kaplan notes. then placing the fact into first aid. the only problem with that way of studying i found was that i couldn't exactly assess how much i really knew since the questions were in a random pattern and i was studying pretty much randomly. i managed to go thru 3 of the BSS books but due to time constraints have now sat down with qbank and qbook. in my opinion, if u do have time, BSS is good (although it's questions are tougher than qbank and qbook and don't exactly match the usmle style questions) .....otherwise try ur luck with kaplan qbank.whatever the case, make sure u time yourself when doing questions......



.....take care and keep smiling....🙂

 

[-=UberSharky=-]

hamza....( i like that name by the way )

what im doing is very similar to what you described. im planning on doing all 5 books of BSS. each book i go thru and do all the questions. but i dont do it where i do the whole exam and then look at the answers all together. i do 1 question, then answer it, check my answer, read the explanation and then find the corresponding section in First Aid , read that part, fill in any added info, then move on to the next question. then when im done with the 5 books, i'm going to do q-book and q-bank to finish things off. come may, i should be ready to take the exam.

shark

 

[smackdaddy]

first, you do realize that these first aid books are meant to highlight important points, not to learn from. that said, studying from them is high yield, IF YOU KNOW THE MATERIAL.
Figure out what the problem is.
Some people are bad test takers, some people don't know the material well enough. Be honest.
Some people are natural test takers and can figure out the correct answer without even reading the question based on the format of the answer choices. if you are not one of those, then the only thing you can do is to practice a ton of questions in the hopes of seeing the same questions on the test and INCREASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE BASE. if you have till may, don't waste your time reading first aid cover to cover. figure out which sections you are doing crappy on, and re read those texts.
crib notes and other peoples lecture summaries are not ways to learn. if you shortcut now, you only cheat yourself.

 

[alextron]

smackdaddy is totally right about first aid (unfortunately). Other people I know, who also just used first aid to study from didn't do so well either. Reading your posts NJG, I feel like we have very similar ideas when it comes to studying, and as I've been realizing more and more ever since the 1st day of med school - I HAVE TO CHANGE those ideas!! I was always wanting to read the BRS's, the high yield's, the first aid's etc... and that's all well and good, but as smakdaddy has said, YOU NEED A KNOWLEDGE BASE FIRST!!! I can't stress that enough. I'm a 3rd year now, and I feel like it's taken me doing poorly on a bunch of tests to finally realize this.

Onto more specific help:

I really felt that the Kaplan Home Study course was really good. It comes in 2 HUGE volumes, one which is basic sciences and one which is organ system based. Again, I thought they were really good and organized very well. I also did Q-bank, which was OK - lots of Q's specific to their own materials. As for other questions, NMS step I question book was good (Hard), and also do the q's in the BRS's (i.e path physio in particular).

Hope that helps... That was the longest post I ever wrote. Then again, anything to help a fellow NJ'er (or whatever the correct term is).

 

[Celiac Plexus]

I was overwhelmed with all the study options when I took Step I. So I just did Medpass and QBook. I also skimmed First Aid.

I am surprised that doing MedPass did not help you. When I did it, I would watch a bunch of videos, and then go home and reread all the lecture notes. Then as I kept getting deeper in to the material I would skim over the old stuff too. So by the end, I was racing through hundreds of pages of lecture notes each night. It took less and less time, and it was great reinforcement. QBook was nice too, but after doing the questions, I would skim over these again too. I crammed it all into about 4.5 weeks... It wasn't very fun but I liked not having to worry about whether I was studying the right material. I just bought in to their system and I wound up doing fairly well on the exam...

I would try Medpass again, and this time reinforce the material with nightly re-reads... The material is all in there, so I'm not sure that switching materials is the best thing to do. Good luck!