04-11-2003, 08:07 AM
Mutaz - mutaz66
Finally guys I took the exam.
My experience was not different from the previous notes written by the folks who took the exam.
Most of the questions were Medicine I would say 60-65%.
The Qs were very long I would say the only that came close to their length was Kaplan's simulated exam Cd.
By the way there were no Qs about rare or fancy syndromes,most of the Qs were about common topics. I had few OBG Qs may be 15. Surgey was also there mostly trauma cases and few General Surgery Qs, I felt that Surgery was pretty straightforward maybe because it was cleverly covered in Kaplan's surgery book.
I had many Peads. Qs but most of them were easy mostly easy and covered the big topics.
Many Psychiatry Qs were vague and twisted but felt that Blue Print Psychiatry was OK.I had very few Qs in Epidemology and Stat no calculations were required just understand the principles.There were many Qs regarding screening of normal people. few Qs about mechanism of the common diseases. I forgot to mention that OBG Qs were alright and same thing for the very few Derma Qs I got. I got flustered by some of the Opthalmology Qs and by a couple of Geriatrics Qs so please try to know whats normal for people > 80yrs.
Medicine: lots of cardio,Resp,Endocrine,Gi and integration Qs mostly lengthy Qs,forgot to mention infectious dz were heavily tested, Nephrolgy esp. electrolytes were there in every block and some of them were really tough.Got V. few Qs on ethics and the onlything I could do guess,mark and go on.
Got few easy pictures one EKG one Ct chest and a cople of Xrays.
Now that I took the exam I would to give you my idea about the books and MCQs:
Surgery Kaplan and only Kaplan.
Peads: Kaplan is more than enough unfotunetaly got late so I studied from BluePrints which is OK but time consuming and filled with unnecesary details{look @ their cardio section.
OBG: Again I read Blue Prints but Iam 100% sure that anybody would have answered most of the Qs by reading the shortest available OBG book.
Psychiatry: studied blueprints which was OK and good because itis short and to the point.
Medicine:Reviewed the Blue Print book which was good but not enough,I looked @ Kaplans book and it also looks good. Know the big topics well OK!
I had a brief period of paranoia during the exam hehehe
I felt I did v. good in the fourth Block and when I started the fifth block I felt that it was suicidal! believe me I could answer none of the first 5Qs on that blocked, thats when my paranoia kicked in[could this be adaptive?!],of course I know itis not but Iguess it was paranoia due to acute stress reaction.
MCQs:
Best is Qbank.
Lengthwise Kaplan simulated exam is v. good.
Don't waste your time on NMS unless you have nothing better to do, some people advocate it for the explanations but beleive me if you spend that time revising your basic books you will not regret it.
Scores: Did the Qbank 2and half months ago Ist time average score was 84% 2nd time 1/12 ago 91%.
Simulated exam Ist time 3/52 ago scored 83%.
Now I have to start studying for step1 and if you guys would kindly tell me the best books for step1 I would be gratefull.
Thanks to all and if you have Qs please donot hesitate to post them.
Wish me luck.
Follow Ups:
Finally guys I took the exam.
My experience was not different from the previous notes written by the folks who took the exam.
Most of the questions were Medicine I would say 60-65%.
The Qs were very long I would say the only that came close to their length was Kaplan's simulated exam Cd.
By the way there were no Qs about rare or fancy syndromes,most of the Qs were about common topics. I had few OBG Qs may be 15. Surgey was also there mostly trauma cases and few General Surgery Qs, I felt that Surgery was pretty straightforward maybe because it was cleverly covered in Kaplan's surgery book.
I had many Peads. Qs but most of them were easy mostly easy and covered the big topics.
Many Psychiatry Qs were vague and twisted but felt that Blue Print Psychiatry was OK.I had very few Qs in Epidemology and Stat no calculations were required just understand the principles.There were many Qs regarding screening of normal people. few Qs about mechanism of the common diseases. I forgot to mention that OBG Qs were alright and same thing for the very few Derma Qs I got. I got flustered by some of the Opthalmology Qs and by a couple of Geriatrics Qs so please try to know whats normal for people > 80yrs.
Medicine: lots of cardio,Resp,Endocrine,Gi and integration Qs mostly lengthy Qs,forgot to mention infectious dz were heavily tested, Nephrolgy esp. electrolytes were there in every block and some of them were really tough.Got V. few Qs on ethics and the onlything I could do guess,mark and go on.
Got few easy pictures one EKG one Ct chest and a cople of Xrays.
Now that I took the exam I would to give you my idea about the books and MCQs:
Surgery Kaplan and only Kaplan.
Peads: Kaplan is more than enough unfotunetaly got late so I studied from BluePrints which is OK but time consuming and filled with unnecesary details{look @ their cardio section.
OBG: Again I read Blue Prints but Iam 100% sure that anybody would have answered most of the Qs by reading the shortest available OBG book.
Psychiatry: studied blueprints which was OK and good because itis short and to the point.
Medicine:Reviewed the Blue Print book which was good but not enough,I looked @ Kaplans book and it also looks good. Know the big topics well OK!
I had a brief period of paranoia during the exam hehehe
I felt I did v. good in the fourth Block and when I started the fifth block I felt that it was suicidal! believe me I could answer none of the first 5Qs on that blocked, thats when my paranoia kicked in[could this be adaptive?!],of course I know itis not but Iguess it was paranoia due to acute stress reaction.
MCQs:
Best is Qbank.
Lengthwise Kaplan simulated exam is v. good.
Don't waste your time on NMS unless you have nothing better to do, some people advocate it for the explanations but beleive me if you spend that time revising your basic books you will not regret it.
Scores: Did the Qbank 2and half months ago Ist time average score was 84% 2nd time 1/12 ago 91%.
Simulated exam Ist time 3/52 ago scored 83%.
Now I have to start studying for step1 and if you guys would kindly tell me the best books for step1 I would be gratefull.
Thanks to all and if you have Qs please donot hesitate to post them.
Wish me luck.
Follow Ups: