First post and question(s) about Kaplan

[Dr.FQ]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey everyone

This is my first post here, so let me briefly introduce myself. I'm Faris, a med student in the middle-east (Jordan), which means I'm an IMG. I LOVE medicine and love all the knowledge I'm going to have in a few years, and just the thought of that motivates me. I'm still a first year med student, and where I live, med school lasts for 6 years. The first 3 years are basic sciences, and the last 3 are rotations and wards and all that stuff.

So far, we haven't even started with the medicine stuff yet! Next semester, we'll start with anatomy, physiology, and histology(which I never read about in Step 1 threads). Because my med school is so brilliant, they decided to put biochemistry later, and IIRC, we'll also learn immuno AFTER micro.

So, given this mess of a schedule, I decided to take it upon myself to become ready on all fronts for the USMLE Step 1, starting as soon as possible! I want to score 250+, because I aspire to be a plastic surgeon, and unfortunately that's a bit competitive.

Anyway, so now that I've bored you with all that stuff, time for the actual questions 😛 I've been studying microbiology on my own, almost got through bacteriology, and I'm using CMMRS. I'm loving the book, especially the tables at the end of each chapter which I sometimes annotate with important facts (not many) and revise. I'm finding it good. It's been almost a week since vacation started and I've gone through about 120 pages, so I'm happy with myself. My plan is to hopefully finish it before I start my 2nd semester in early February, because this semester will have (as I mentioned above) the foundation of a lot of medicine, so I'll have to give it a lot of time and effort.

I'm enjoying Microbiology a lot, which surprised a lot of my friends, who thought I was crazy for doing this. Anyway... my brother who's also in med school had a Kaplan book for micro, and I tried to read through it but I really didn't like the structure and layout of the book. I liked reading CMMRS more because it describes the organism in text, and explains some of the stuff, so when you start to memorize you understand what you're learning. I didn't find that in Kaplan, and thought it was kinda messy. It made more sense when I re-read it after learning things from CMMRS, but I think I'll stick to the tables at the end of each chapter (+FA) instead of Kaplan. Is this a good idea? For scoring 250+?

Also, I was wondering how important were the other Kaplan books? For physiology, I've heard a lot of good stuff about BRS physio. So I'm thinking of getting costanzo physio textbook along with the BRS Physio, which I'll annotate with important info (if it needs) so that I can use that to revise for exams/USMLE when the time comes. Is this okay? Or is it bad to use stuff other than Kaplan? Is Kaplan the "ideal" source for all subjects?

I heard good stuff about Rapid Review Biochemistry, as well. I heard Kaplan was good for Pharma. I'm gonna use Pathoma and/or Goljan for Pathology. What about anatomy?

Oh, and one last question (if anyone is still here 😛). When should I start UWorld, and should I solve it after I finish each subject or after I finish everything?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for a HUGE post!

 

[Dr.FQ]

Oh, and reading around the forums, I see people saying that they complete textbooks in a matter of days. Some say that they finished reading CMMRS in like 3 days. How is that even possible? I've spent around 10 days for 140 pages, so that's like 14 pages a day, and the memory is still not 100% there yet (I revise what I studied in the last 2 days every time I study, and revise what's new every week). Am I doing something wrong, or is it because I'm learning it on my own and memorizing (but how else would they be studying? 😳 ).

Thanks in advance! 🙂

 

[Dr.FQ]

Oh, sorry for the many posts, but one more thing. As I mentioned earlier, I'm studying (and living) in the middle east, so basically I'm an IMG. But I have an American passport because I was born there. Would this help me in any way when I want to match? Say if I'm applying for a residency whose average matched applicants got 240 on step 1, and I got 245 for example, will I be accepted or do they take certain measures with IMGs? Like, would IMG's need to score much more, or what?

 

[Transposony]

Please don't take it the wrong way but I suggest:
Ask questions one at a time and keep them concise if you want them answered.
Second, don't always believe what people say since it all depends on the context.
People who "read" a book in 3 days are those who have read that book during an entire year of medical school. So, it was just a quick revision.
It doesn't matter anyway how many pages you read in a day. What matters is how much you know since they are not testing the book but your knowledge and it's application to solve the Qs.
Yes, it will help to have a US passport and there are numerous threads here about IMGs v/s AMGs.
There is even an entire forum dedicated to IMGs here.

USMLE IMG Experiences and Scores Thread

 

[Dr.FQ]

Transposony, you're right, and I'm sorry for asking too many questions. I thought it would be better to do this in a single thread than start a few.

I guess I was freaking out about the IMG thing. Doesn't IMG means that I graduated from a med school that's not in USA? So having a US passport actually helps? I didn't know that. I thought that since I didn't attend the US med school, that I'm automatically considered an IMG.

I freaked out when I heard that only like 3% of the matched spots in plastic/ortho/urology go to IMGs. The number is TERRIFYING. So basically, I could get like 250 on step 1, do research (on the residency specialty), and do extracurricular activities, like electives in different countries, and a US elective in a good place (mayo clinic maybe? High hopes 😛 ). And then after all that, my application would be rejected because I'm an IMG. It was honestly devastating. I kinda felt my dreams shatter right there, because apparently doing what a good US applicant does + some more isn't enough to even guarantee a small chance :S

 

[Transposony]

Ever heard of the saying " cross that bridge when come to it" ?
I suggest doing one thing at a time instead of freaking out.
So, focus on Step 1 and concentrate all your efforts on Step 1 and get a good score.
Then move on to next step.
Anything is possible with a lot of effort and belief.
It's your choice if you want to but there are not guarantees in USMLE just like in life.
You can ask specific questions in the IMG thread where you will have more chances of getting much better answers since they have been in the same boat as yourself.

 

[Dr.FQ]

Transposony, the bad thing is I know you're right, yet I can't get the thought of not being able to match into my desired residency out of my head 🙁

I'm gonna rape Step 1, that I'm sure of. What I'm not sure of is whether or not it will pay off. I really don't want to be left with FM or EM to choose from. From what I've heard, urology/ortho/plastics, etc, are only going to be a dream for an IMG, and that's completely devastating and disappointing.

Anyway, thanks for your help on this thread!