i'm a medical student in korea, took step 1 in june, passed,took step 2 in Oct, but failed this one. T.T after a lot of tears( since the biggest reason for my study was to see my boyfriend again in my life) and having been on the verge of giving up everything, i' ve decided to gain up strength again and retake the test. i think the biggest reason for my failuree was due to unfamiliarity with the 'pattern' of the quetions on the actual test.( even though i did pretty good on sample questions in the CD rom) and i'm considering to take lecture programs ( classroom courses) for usmle while i'm taking clinical clerkship program for exchange students at Mt. Sinai in Feb. Could you recommend anyone for me, that's in NYC ?? Thank you for reading!
Take a USMLE prep course at Kaplan Educational Centers (www.kaplan.com). They provide excellent preparation for the boards, and a lot of foreign-trained medical students study Kaplan material prior to taking their exam. The closest center to Sinai is the center at 6th Avenue and West 56th Street, I believe. There is also a center at Cooper Square in Greenwich Village, which is in lower Manhattan (20 Cooper Square, I think, just south of Cooper Union). Check out their website and GOOD LUCK! Tim W. of N.Y.C.
dear turtleboard, thank you so much for your information. you've helped me greatly..! i've checked out kaplan.com and went over the prep. course schedule- yet to my disappointment the course starts in late march which does not correspond with my schedule ( i'll be at mt.sinai from Feb. till March. and i'm planning to retake the test about in april ) in addition, i found out it is a very expensive course, so i guess i have to exclude that option even though it seems to be the best choice. maybe i'd better study VERY hard with books...kaplan.com offers online lecture program though which is a lot cheaper..shall i consider that ? have you heard anything about it? anyway, thank you very much, again...i'll try my best and i'll not get disappointed even if i fail again in my next attempt because then i'll just think it is not meant to be the right way for me.*^^* ( this is how korean people use to make a smiling face.) happy new year! ps ops, i forgot to ask one more question, even though it seems very trivial- i 've got extremely exhausted while i was taking a 9 hour test ..i basically used 5 to 10 miniutes' break for every block, which was so tiring - do you have a better idea for actual test-taking strategy? [This message has been edited by anaisanais (edited 01-02-2001).]
I don't know if this is an option for Step 2 preparation from Kaplan, but they offer their course books for Step 1 at the modest price of $300. Have you been using books? I'm not sure how Step 2 goes, so I can't offer any advice (gosh, I haven't even taken Step 1). Anyway in regards to stamina during an exam, the MCAT is a 6-hour affair that easily turns into 8-hours depending on your site and your proctors. I took Kaplan for the MCAT and found that with more and more practice I was better able to keep track of my time and keep a clear head going into the 7th hour, so perhaps practice is all you need. Can you take a food break? Can you take more than 5-10 minutes? We were afforded 20-minute breaks when I took the MCAT, which was about 10-minutes more than standard. Tim W. of N.Y.C.
