Got my score!

[RedSoxSuck]

Hey guys,

I previously posted my CBSSA profile for NBME 5 which was taken exactly a week ago (4/16/12) and it was not great. It translated to a score of 170. So i chose to sit for a free CBSSA offered by my school past thursday (4/19/12). I scored a 208 on that. Which is a major improvement in 3 days.

I reviewed Biochem which i hadn't prior to NBME 5 and there was an entire block of 1 liner biochem questions. And i read as much of pathoma as i could (read around 65% of it in 2 days).

So now i am in the process of making a final schedule. My exam date is May 31st.

Prior to NBME 5, i did the following. Read a system (i.e cardiovascular) in pathoma then read the same system (i.e Cardiovascular) from First aid. I read embryo, anatomy, path, phys and pharm. After that i did USMLErx questions focusing on a system which was reviewed that day (i.e cardiovascular). I followed the schedule above and was able to finish everything in 2.5 weeks and then i did a 2nd pass of the schedule above and was able to finish it in 2 weeks. I WAS NOT ABLE TO REVIEW BIOCHEM and took NBME 5 without reviewing biochem and got killed (entire block of biochem in nbme 5). Reason why i focused heavy on path and pharm in my schedule above was because these 2 were my biggest weakness. Improvement is clear in CBSSA ( i have attached the profile).

Now my test date is pretty set and its on may 31st and i was thinking about following the same schedule as above with minor tweaks.

Schedule for next 5 weeks:

Monday - Thursday​

Read a system (i.e cardiovascular) in pathoma and then read the same system from first aid (cardio embryo, anatomy, path, phys, pharm etc) and then do USMLE WORLD QUESTIONS instead of USMLErx.



Then on friday-Saturday: Quickly review material which was covered earlier in the week and then keep doing as many usmle world questions and or take NBME exams. These 2 days will require NO new material coverage. Just review and heavy on questions. Reason for this is because i will forget material so this will allow me quick repetition to make sure that i won't forget material covered Monday-thursday. Also, i can use friday and saturday to do more questions. I can also add DIT or Goljan audio as a source of review these 2 days without touching first aid. Thoughts on that?

Sunday: Scheduled day off

I should be able to finish the aforementioned schedule in ~ 2 weeks and then do a 2nd pass exactly the same

It will allow me to do TWO PASSES OF FA AND PATHOMA IN 4 WEEKS and then last week i can just read first aid and continue with uworld questions.

Any tweaks/suggestions/concerns etc will be immensely appreciated. Thanks!

FYI, i have attached my performance profile from NBME 5 and from CBSSA (offered my school) taken on April 19th, 2012.

I am also planning to take NBME 7, 11, 13, USWSA 1 and 2. Thanks guys!

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[jatt12]

Hey guys,

I previously posted my CBSSA profile for NBME 5 which was taken exactly a week ago (4/16/12) and it was not great. It translated to a score of 170. So i chose to sit for a free CBSSA offered by my school past thursday (4/19/12). I scored a 208 on that. Which is a major improvement in 3 days.

I reviewed Biochem which i hadn't prior to NBME 5 and there was an entire block of 1 liner biochem questions. And i read as much of pathoma as i could (read around 65% of it in 2 days).

So now i am in the process of making a final schedule. My exam date is May 31st.

Prior to NBME 5, i did the following. Read a system (i.e cardiovascular) in pathoma then read the same system (i.e Cardiovascular) from First aid. I read embryo, anatomy, path, phys and pharm. After that i did USMLErx questions focusing on a system which was reviewed that day (i.e cardiovascular). I followed the schedule above and was able to finish everything in 2.5 weeks and then i did a 2nd pass of the schedule above and was able to finish it in 2 weeks. I WAS NOT ABLE TO REVIEW BIOCHEM and took NBME 5 without reviewing biochem and got killed (entire block of biochem in nbme 5). Reason why i focused heavy on path and pharm in my schedule above was because these 2 were my biggest weakness. Improvement is clear in CBSSA ( i have attached the profile).

Now my test date is pretty set and its on may 31st and i was thinking about following the same schedule as above with minor tweaks.

Schedule for next 5 weeks:

Monday - Thursday​

Read a system (i.e cardiovascular) in pathoma and then read the same system from first aid (cardio embryo, anatomy, path, phys, pharm etc) and then do USMLE WORLD QUESTIONS instead of USMLErx.



Then on friday-Saturday: Quickly review material which was covered earlier in the week and then keep doing as many usmle world questions and or take NBME exams. These 2 days will require NO new material coverage. Just review and heavy on questions. Reason for this is because i will forget material so this will allow me quick repetition to make sure that i won't forget material covered Monday-thursday. Also, i can use friday and saturday to do more questions. I can also add DIT or Goljan audio as a source of review these 2 days without touching first aid. Thoughts on that?

Sunday: Scheduled day off

I should be able to finish the aforementioned schedule in ~ 2 weeks and then do a 2nd pass exactly the same

It will allow me to do TWO PASSES OF FA AND PATHOMA IN 4 WEEKS and then last week i can just read first aid and continue with uworld questions.

Any tweaks/suggestions/concerns etc will be immensely appreciated. Thanks!

FYI, i have attached my performance profile from NBME 5 and from CBSSA (offered my school) taken on April 19th, 2012.

I am also planning to take NBME 7, 11, 13, USWSA 1 and 2. Thanks guys!

I recommend doing goljan audio instead of DIT. Also I think you should also read some concepts from RR path after reading pathoma. So it would be something like this- Pathoma+Rapid review path+FA= uworld qbank

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I recommend doing goljan audio instead of DIT. Also I think you should also read some concepts from RR path after reading pathoma. So it would be something like this- Pathoma+Rapid review path+FA= uworld qbank

Good idea!

Anyone else??

 

[shan564]

If I were in your place, I'd do the entire 3-week DIT course. But that's just me.

 

[johndoe3344]

If you were doing pathoma, I'd skip the goljian audios and do DIT. Everyone says the audios don't exactly correspond to pathoma, yada yada, but the audios are still heavily focused on pathology which should already be strong with pathoma.

And even if you felt like you needed no extra help recalling/going over FA/already have it annotated, I would still suggest a second Qbank over goljian audios (guess I'm just not a big fan... although this: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=903589 probably supports why I'm feeling that way)

 

[shan564]

If you were doing pathoma, I'd skip the goljian audios and do DIT. Everyone says the audios don't exactly correspond to pathoma, yada yada, but the audios are still heavily focused on pathology which should already be strong with pathoma.

And even if you felt like you needed no extra help recalling/going over FA/already have it annotated, I would still suggest a second Qbank over goljian audios (guess I'm just not a big fan... although this: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=903589 probably supports why I'm feeling that way)

I agrizzle.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I agrizzle.

I have 2010 DIT. I think it would suffice rather than getting the newest ones? Which are 2011?

 

[jatt12]

I have 2010 DIT. I think it would suffice rather than getting the newest ones? Which are 2011?

Don't overload yourself with all that stupid crap DIT etc, if you just stick to pathoma+RR and FA with u world you will breeze through. Most people on this forum giving advise haven't taken exam yet ( including me), and if you search forum you will read that majority of students who took step1 in 2011 used only those resources that I listed.

 

[shan564]

I have 2010 DIT. I think it would suffice rather than getting the newest ones? Which are 2011?

There's not that much difference between 2010 and 2011, but they made some big changes for 2012. Still, I think that 2010 is still pretty good.

Don't overload yourself with all that stupid crap DIT etc, if you just stick to pathoma+RR and FA with u world you will breeze through. Most people on this forum giving advise haven't taken exam yet ( including me), and if you search forum you will read that majority of students who took step1 in 2011 used only those resources that I listed.

I think you might not have seen his other thread where he mentioned that he already did all of that. I definitely think that Pathoma + FA are critical as initial prep materials, but as somebody who is currently going through DIT, I can say with quite a bit of certainty that it's helping to fill in a lot of the gaps in knowledge that I had from just doing FA on my own.