05-09-2014, 08:46 PM
So, I finally took the exam after 15 months of on and off study. It was about the same level of difficulty as NBME 16. You had to really know your stuff; some minutiae I have never heard before. So, when you study a disease or biochemical reaction ask yourself if you really know what is going on or just regurgitating info. Did you know that it's the left pulmonary artery (not just pulmonary artery like most of us learned) that connects to the aorta in a PDA? Yeah, learn at that level of detail. It's pointless to rehash what subject areas I got because its always going to change. One general piece of advice I'll give is to really learn physiology. That was the lynchpin subject. By really learn it I mean read Costanzo's textbook, not her BRS, and do all her questions. Physio linked into different subjects time and time again. I had read her textbook on my own in med school so I re-read the notes I made off it. My last few months of study was just Uworld and Picmonic, and putting uworld incorrects into Cerego flashcards. Picmonic helped me bigtime on the exam when I was stuck I would just imagine the card in my head and the detail I was looking for appeared.
I'll post more once I get my scores with my NBME history, etc. One more thing. Study hard and have faith in yourself that you'll pass. I was so afraid of this thing after studying for more than a year and postponing repeatedly. You can never be fully ready for it. Just do it and move on with your life knowing it has pretty much zero practical relevance to your ability to be a good doctor. At least Step 2 will be clinically based. Good luck to everyone.
I'll post more once I get my scores with my NBME history, etc. One more thing. Study hard and have faith in yourself that you'll pass. I was so afraid of this thing after studying for more than a year and postponing repeatedly. You can never be fully ready for it. Just do it and move on with your life knowing it has pretty much zero practical relevance to your ability to be a good doctor. At least Step 2 will be clinically based. Good luck to everyone.