Looking for some advice for weak subjects

[theprince911]

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Hey everyone,
Need some advice. First of all, my test is scheduled for early June. My weak subjects are Biochem, Pharma, and Micro. Everything else I just need to review. I've been studying for a couple of weeks here and there, got through about 30% of UWorld (was just studying that and learning from that until my low scores demotivated me. Ironically right after I stopped focusing primarily on it, my scores started to rise). Took NBME 7 before I started studying anything, only got 115 right. Shocked myself into studying a bit so I started the journey.

My background: I'm an IMG, and our studies were mainly focused on learning from textbooks. As such, I have probably been through all of Robbins while I was in med school, all of Moore's anatomy (I actually really enjoy anatomy), most of Guyton Physio, a good amount of the Internal Medicine textbook we used, the entire surgery textbook, basically I've studied most subjects n depth. Except I never studied biochem, pharma, or micro (well I did go through MRS once, but seeing as it was a subject I didn't particularly enjoy, I forgot it after our exams concluded). Our tests were pretty mixed subject wise so I was able to do well by studying the subjects I DID want to study really well. Didn't graduate anywhere near the top of my class or anything like that, and basic sciences were around 4 years ago.

So far, I've done DIT for basic pharma, as well as a bit of Kaplan videos + LN for molecular biology and stuff. I was thinking about doing all of Kaplan Biochem, because I'd rather get the subject down properly so I can briefly review it closer to test day without worrying about it. I've also read Renal Phys from BRS, a bit of CVS phys, and gone through FA for Neuro, Behavioral Sciences, Biochem (useless without a foundation) and GI. This was a month or two back.

I just took NBME 12 online, 2 weeks after my NBME 7, after studying what I mentioned above. Got 151 questions right, which according to the scale is a 200. Don't really care about baselines, I just want to see constant improvement and this honestly motivated me because I feel like I have barely begun to scratch the surface, now I am ready to dive in, and once I do, I can see my score improving over the next 10-12 weeks.

I do have a plan for everything else, UFAP all the way, but before I buckle down and go insane with that, I would like to get those 3 subjects out of the way. DIT was good, Kaplan is better, especially for Biochem. I find that I just need to watch the videos and understand (Dr. Turco is amazing for this) and already I have seen benefits from the couple of lectures I have watched. Pharma I might go with Kaplan too. I'm just worried about the amount of time Kaplan will take. And I have no idea what to do with Micro. Sketchy Micro seems decent, but doesn't really seem like something that I personally would learn from, because I learn best from textbooks or a comprehensive source so I can draw pictures and connections in my head and avoid memorizing with mnemonics and such.

Any advice? I'm aiming to pretty much fill my head up with everything I can, I truly believe the human brain can accomplish a lot, so I don't think any score is too high as long as I use my sources and my time wisely. The latter is my biggest problem because I get distracted easily. I'm trying to apply for the match this year for General Surgery, and I'd like a score that would earn me some interviews, so I'm shooting for a 240+, preferably 250+.

Sorry for the long post. To summarize my questions: is it feasible to watch the Kaplan videos for Pharmacology and Biochem in 2 weeks so that I can start my dedicated study for 8 weeks or so? And, besides Sketchy Micro, what are some other ways that I can learn microbiology?

Thank you very much for your time and your help

 

[worldbeater]

. Got 151 questions right,

That's pretty good, despite what others may say on here.

You can use whatever material you wish, but do as many practice questions as you can to apply the content you have studied. That's what will boost your score upwards.

Also if you are looking to do general surgery as an IMG, the best route to go (in addition to doing well on your exams) is find a program that takes IMGs and do research there and/or do a prelim surgery year, that is pretty easy to obtain because it's just an audition year to see how you do. I heard it's brutal though, because they can just use and abuse you for a year and then get rid of you. Just hearing from third party sources.

 

[OrthoRehab33]

Strongly recommend sketchy medical-- you can try Micro made ridiculously easy if you like reading

 

[theprince911]

That's pretty good, despite what others may say on here.

You can use whatever material you wish, but do as many practice questions as you can to apply the content you have studied. That's what will boost your score upwards.

Also if you are looking to do general surgery as an IMG, the best route to go (in addition to doing well on your exams) is find a program that takes IMGs and do research there and/or do a prelim surgery year, that is pretty easy to obtain because it's just an audition year to see how you do. I heard it's brutal though, because they can just use and abuse you for a year and then get rid of you. Just hearing from third party sources.

Strongly recommend sketchy medical-- you can try Micro made ridiculously easy if you like reading

Got it, thank you guys. And yes, I will be looking into research if I don't get a surgery position; I will definitely be applying to numerous prelim programs. A little off topic, but is it inadvisable to apply for prelim and categorical at the same places?

 

[worldbeater]

A little off topic, but is it inadvisable to apply for prelim and categorical at the same places?

I'm the wrong person to ask, not at that stage yet..perhaps somebody else on the forum could help you out.

 

[theprince911]

An update: I've pulled up to a 220 on NBME 15 a few weeks ago, and a 224 on 16 today. 40 questions wrong on both. 15 I took before I finished studying, and was shooting for a 220 and got exactly what I was aiming for. And 16 I took when I was pretty much done with everything except one or two more things that I need to spend a couple of days on, so I wasn't expecting such a huge increase, but I was still hoping for around 235-240. But it's discouraging that I really didn't gain much after studying all of FA. My concepts are straight. Got 2-3 questions wrong because I read through them too fast and was a bit fatigued at the end. Another 6 or so wrong that I would have gotten right if I had completely finished studying, theoretically.

Get this, though. 18 out of those 40 questions I got wrong I had narrowed down to 2 choices, picked the right answer, spent 2-3 minutes rethinking because of a few words I thought meant something that they didn't, and then changed it to the wrong answer. 18. I've never had this problem with second guessing in my life before. It's so discouraging. This is a serious problem in my mind and is really what's tripping me out. I have never been in this position before. I have no idea what happened. I just know that I have to make sure that it doesn't happen on test day.

I interspersed 3 UWorld blocks with this, Random Timed, got 80% on two, and 70% on the third (averages were 55, 64, and 65). Thought they were much harder than the NBME questions.

This is the killer though. I got 30 questions wrong in the first two blocks of NBME 16. 10 wrong in the last two when I was too tired to overthink and second guess myself. How do I fix my mentality and gain some confidence? I know studying will help overall, and I'm continuing to do so, but I honestly feel that if I can't get past this mental block, I'm screwed. I know my stuff, I am comfortable with it. I am just not comfortable with myself when I make a big deal out of the test and I am always afraid of getting something wrong and then picking another answer.

How does one keep confident? It's easy for me up until I sit down on a test to believe that I know what I need to know. As soon as I sit down and start, I get nervous about regurgitating all off my knowledge and not being good enough.

I've never worked this hard in my life for anything. And this is also the only thing in which I am not seeing results.

Planning to go through another pass of my weak subjects over the next week, then sitting down for NBME 17. If I break a 240, then I'll have another week to raise it or keep it constant before my test on the 14. If not, I'm afraid I'll have to push it back to after my CS at the end of June.

Wish me luck, and some heartfelt advice would leave me indebted to you all, brothers and sisters