Ive been hesitant to post up my results because of how painfully skewed the average in this thread is and because I know my classmates lurk here. Even so, I guess Ill post up because I hope someone can benefit from my post. Besides, at least Im not a <10 n00b lurker.
Stats:
Qbank: 78% overall, 84% last 300 questions, 100% complete
USMLERx: 79% overall, 60% complete
Qbook: ~70% overall, 100% complete
Kaplan full-length practice: 76% 3 weeks before
NBME free items: 92% 2 weeks before
NBME 3 (only one I took): 800 (265+) 5 days before
Actual exam: 266/99
Study plan: I took 6 weeks to study, about 10 hours a day with a few days off interspersed. I really didnt start studying specifically for the boards during 2nd year. Each day I would do 50 Qbank questions and 50 USMLERx questions timed and then spend at least 2 hours reviewing my answers. This became 200 questions a day during the last 10 days with the extra mostly coming from Qbook. I organized my studying around FA with some modifications. I annotated FA with the answer to every question on Qbank or USMLERx (assuming the answer wasnt in there already).
I did Biochem/cell/molecular/genetics first using BRS and the Kaplan class books (bought them off ebay). I then spent about 5 days on Micro/Immuno using primarily the Kaplan text and micro cards. After that I divided up my studying by organ system, about 3 days per system (more for neuro). I started by reviewing the relevant chapter in FA, then did Embryo, Anatomy, Physio, Path and Pharm in that order. I used HY for Embryo and Anatomy, BRS for Physio and Path, and Pharm cards for Pharm. I also went through HY neuroanatomy during my neuro block. I finished up with Psych and Biostats, I used BRS Behavioral (only a little) and HY Biostats for that. My last 4 days were spent going through my annotated FA.
Resources I liked: BRS physio and path were great and the HY embryo and Anatomy were long enough to be helpful and short enough not to put me to sleep (dont like those 2 subjects much). Pharm cards were nice to carry around and study when I needed to get out of the house or library. I actually had several questions right out of Qbook, so thought that was a good resource.
Resources I didnt like: Goljan. I know I am way in the minority on this. I had the audio and his texts and tried to use both, but found them to not be that helpful. Every time he went off on some tangent I was just like why am I wasting time listening to this when I could be learning something? Thats just me, and I know lots of people like his stuff. I also didnt like BRS physio cases and problems.
My $0.02: 6 weeks was about a week too long for me, I really didnt feel I was learning anything by the last week. For me at least the key was doing questions and lots of them. Qbank, USMLERx and Qbook both go overboard as far as difficulty, but if you learn the concepts behind the questions you are gold. In reality Id say 85% of my answers on my exam came from knowledge I got during my first 2 years, the reviewing was just the icing on the cake. My goal was 250 (Im planning on going into Rad. Onc. so I set the bar high for myself) so I am very pleased. I am happy to offer suggestions to anyone, feel free to PM.
Good luck to everyone!
