However by no means do I feel like I mastered the exam, many questions were tricky and still have doubts about quite a few answers, in every block there would be 7-8 questions that made me pick an educated guess rather than a confirmed answer, however this time around my time management was better and I didnt leave any question unanswered although in block 7-8 i did rush in the last few questions. April 3rd: Woke up at 7, took a shower, light breakfast, reached exam center at 8:15, they let us enter at 8:30, and started the exam. Hopefully the standardized testing gods look kindly upon my guessing haha.
In the Name of Allah the Most Beneficial, the Most Merciful Date Exam Taken: 3rd April Preparation time: 25th December to 3rd April 3 Months Score: 264 Mocks Exam: NBME 4: 254 18 days out UWSA: 264 8 days out Uworld Percentage First time : Avg 75 percent Offline Second time : 92 percent Step 2 CK in 3 words, UWORLD, UWORLD, UWORLD Study Plan: BACK GROUND: Step 1: September 2013. December 20th 2013 1 Month First Read: Just a quick read as I knew from my Step 1 Experience that studying for steps exam is useless without questions. Listen to Kaplan videos at 1. Just get the concepts and move on because lots of things have changed. BASELINE: YOU GOT TO MOVE ON MAN. Second read: UWORLD PLUS BOOKS Purpose: To get the knowledge necessary to ace the exam WELL THIS READ IS MOST IMPORTANT FOR YOUR EXAM. THIS READ WILL DETERMINE WHERE YOU GONNA LAND IN YOUR MOCKS like in 230s, 240s and 250s. ONCE YOU ARE DONE YOU ARE DONE. And then you do its UWORLD, if you are scoring above 65-70 percent do the next block. Open MTB2, MTB 3, MTB IM. You need a good grip. And then attempt the next block. You are officially cutting your social life. You will eat with books, go to washroom with books, and sleep with books. I had a study partner. We used to open one system and either of us read to the other. In a way we keep on reinforcing each other. And then we set a timer and do one block of offline Uworld. After that we read and discuss the explanations. Consult book if necessary and read the stuff again if we mess up the block. We used to study one system a day. And next day we used to do 2 blocks. Read all the explanations, high light, just cramp it up. Find a partner for this read. Highly recommended unless you are suffering from social phobia. Just read the question once while attempting, other while reading explanations. No need to make notes now that is for the next read. The more time you spend in this read, the more will be the gap between the start and the end, causing serious troubles in the next read. BASELINE: THE MOTHER OF ALL READS. February 20th 2014 THIRD READ: UWORLD Purpose: To learn how to attempt questions and time management You have to attempt random timed online Uworld questions. Try to make as much notes as possible. For me this read jumps 10 score always if done in a right way. And do it as quickly as possible. The earlier the finish the more you link the stuff and more you jump in your mocks. I bought 2 Month online Uworld subscription, I used to make a random-timed question and then I get question lists and share with my partner and then we start together. We try to finish each block in 45 mins. We had created separations in register for each section and we try to write under one heading of each topic as we carry along. We started from 87 and jumped to 92 by the end. We used to do 2 blocks in first 10 days and 3 blocks in last 10 days. Try to pick up how usmle is going to ask stuff. Try to recognize things. Try to highlight important stuff in question as you are attempting it. Now UWORLD is going to be your questions and UWORLD notes are going to be your book. Learn time management right from the second read. Try to attempt 10 questions in 9 mins, 20 in 17, and 30 in 30, 40 in 40, 44 in 45. Same with the exam. March 12th: UWORLD NOTES revision Purpose: Getting ready for mock exam Revise all UWORLD NOTES as soon as possible. Get comfortable and give a mock exam. And take the date. I revised all my notes alone. Try to find a partner as well. It took me 3 days and then I took my NBME exam. Got confident score and took my date. March 18th: Purpose: Stamina building and setting the routine. I started doing All Uworld Questions again. I also tried to do 8 blocks one day reading some explanations the other day. March 25th: UWSA to get in touch with new questions as well and give some confidence boost. Normally you score high even after getting many questions wrong. Try to squeeze UWSA in between your final UWORLD questions. Normally you remember all the questions and it will take you 30 mins to attempt. I give UWSA and took me 2 days to read the explanations. I also made notes. March 29th: I read all the Uworld explanation notes again in 3 days. March 31st: Just looking at random stuff. List of forgettable, heart sounds, research questions, drug ads. Just the stuff and chilling. April 1st: Relaxed most of the day. April 2nd: Woke up at 8, went shopping for the next day, hair cut, spent time with family, took a shower, loads and loads of prayers, took a sleeping pill at 8 and slept right away. April 3rd: Woke up at 7, took a shower, light breakfast, reached exam center at 8:15, they let us enter at 8:30, and started the exam. Freaked out in the first block, had to mark lot of questions because of stress, but I had no issue with time management. Made an educated guess in lots of questions BREAKS: I took break after every block 1st break: 7 mins 2nd break: 8 mins 3rd break: 7 mins 4th break: 8 mins 5th break: 10 mins 6th break: 10 mins 7th break: 10 mins MATERIAL I USED: MTB 2 for IM, Kaplan for paeds and gyne BASIC MTB 3, MTB IM reference not used much. UWORLD notes by Waqas Nawaz, it reduced my work to half. SOME FAQs How is exam? Do what is in Uworld.
