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@gritty I m reading goljan with FA now..but i m listening to the audio this time..then i do the goljan 46page high yield note and FA...otherwise it will be too time consuming for me..but i keep the main book open when i listen to the audio n mark the imp thing..i will do uworld 2nd time lets see if it helps..

Good morning guys.

Today's plan,
Will be starting with FA endocrine
Then in the afternoon inflammation chapter from pathoma and heme once sections in goljan
Night UW(lot of pending blocks are there, have to finish revising them)

@asaha thank u for sharing ur plan doing questions as much as i can, i want to end this monster u-world as soon as possible. after this lots of things to master!

@zeeviq, bugguy, Rush

ur tortoise friend is here again looking for some expert guidance , this time to do Micro.

I hv done one detailed good read of bacteria, Dna virus, fungi , bacterial genetics from kaplans. I practised by writing them down and making notes and looking up flow charts at the end of the kaplans book that time . I'm only left with RNA virus and parasites for my first read that I will do tomorrow. After completing these 2 topics of parasite and virus that are left , I wanna revise my micro again , rather than starting a second subject, coz I'm with a fresh mind after taking 3 days off from studies coz of relatives coming over. I also did first 30-40 pages of micro first aid after my first read covering the bacteria and fungi section in it.

Now Plz guide me how do u plan to do ur micro in ur second read, what is ur strategy and timeline for ur second read. zeeviq and bugguy , last time I followed ur detailed decoded immunology plan , ur plan was extremelyyyyyyy helpful . Esp the part of consulting Goljan inflammation diagrams and hypersensitivity table. For the first time in life , I got sense of difference between the hypersensitivities , esp the double hypersensitivities. Ur guidance gave me a direction and sense of time in proceeding. I need that decoded strategy again to revise this overwhelming micro thanks !

Hi my friends, today I have new experience I would like to share it with you guys , today is my first day as a volunteer medical assistant in small neighborhood clinic .

we all have same target with ultimate same goal ( the match ) , so its not only just passing the steps you need a lot of extra work that should be go in parallel to the steps prep .

I am and old grad (2004) , I passed the 1st exam for the membership for the Royal college of Obstetrics and gynecologists . When I was about to start residency in my country I came to US in 2011 with my family .

I started my prep 2013 but in same time I started to look for any volunteer positions since the is always lengthy waiting list, I did some courses in the American heart association to get certification in CPR AED , then I contacted the American register of medical assistant to be a registered medical assistant ( In US you NOT allowed to touch any patient un less u are board certified doctor or at least a registered MA) if you try to volunteer with your own county certificate as a doctor you will only find position in newspaper and flowers section in the hospital.

what I did to be registered MA. Is sending my medical credentials + social security number +75$. To this website http://arma-cert.org/


The reason why am sharing this lengthy and boring story it to let you guys know , especially those still outside US that its not only about reading fa and solving uw , you need more work to be done in parallel + the awesome scores .


I am gonna work only one day a week for 6 months starting full day work 9:00am to 5:00 pm from January 2015

For me I wanna use the experience for multiple reasons

1/ to get use to the health care system in US which is sooooo different from my 3rd world country experience

2/ prep my self for Cs in advance (patient communication and faster typing ,.....) am planning to take Cs by April , ck by July and hopefully applying to match by September 2015

3/ start improving my CV because as IMG I need to boooooost my CV early on because improving CV doesn't happen over month or 2



Finally one more info about me , my nick name is bug guy but am actually a mom of 2 kids (8yrs and 5 yrs). I have huge responsibility over my head , I am a house wife I cook , I clean , I took care of family and I have a wonderful supportive husband .

I am posting this to motivate all old grad moms like me , and yes we can do it


I hope my lengthy post will be helpful .

Now back to my plan for today which will be some pharmacology lectures and uw qs ,


GL every one.

@reminemi , for your 2nd reading I suggest to do use flashcards, personally I liked the Lippincott microcards by Sanjiv Harpavat , it give you clinical vignette and it cover all the hy bugs , its about 200 you can divide it over December eg 10 cards over the day.

I hope this will be helpful

@bugguy it was really inspirational for me, well i am not an old grad still undergrad student! but to see your determination and hard work and how u r managing this monster exam studies! with all those huge responsibilities! its great, keep it up. good luck

Thank-you gritthekeytosuccess , wish you all success

@bugguy, that's awesome!! Congratulations for the spot, It will really help you, in many ways. I am so happy for you! And thanks for sharing this moment with us! It does motivate a lot of people, specially those that are silent member of this forum, there is quite a sum of old grad moms here. I do admire all of you.

And you are totally right, It's not just about scores…

Is OB/Gyn still your first choice? It's a nice specialty.

@ rush , Thank-you so much for your supportive replay , I totally changed my mind about OB/Gyn for couples of reasons mainly because the hazard of malpractice in this country + the working hers and mid nights on calls is not suitable for some one with family responsibilities.

So my next favorite will be pediatrics followed by pathology ( I love bugs , hematology, oncology , and anatomy )