Y EXAM EXPERIENCE
‘In the name of Allah, the mostZ gracious and the most merciful.’
I gave CK a few weeks ago and Alhamdulilah scored more than I aimed for. I would like to thank everyone in this group and esp the people I had the privilege of having fruitful discussions with including Hesham Salem, Mustafa Rıdvan Dönmez, Mhmd Jimmie Jr., Mehika Shetty, Nikitha Vobugari, Ck Ck, Aloe Allizwell, Carolina Zurita…sorry if im forgetting some names.
Special thanks to Nouf Khalid, Reena KM, and Hesham Salem for the amazing crash series (which played a tremendous role in my exam prep; learned a lot from them).
And special thanks to my CMS study buddies: Mehika Shetty, Daniel Navarro Orozco, Neha Panchagnula, Rishbha Dua. Learned a lot from you all!
Brief overview of my assessment scores:
nbme 6 online (3.5 months prior to the real deal) – 240’s (did it half heartedly and in fragments lol)
uwsa 1 (2 months prior) – 267
uwsa 2 (2 weeks prior) – 255 (found it very hard)
nbme 8 online (11 days prior) – 258
Rest of nbmes (3, 4, 7) done offline. 12 incorrect in nbme4, 16 incorrect in nbme 3, 30 incorrect in nbme 7…it was tricky!
Real deal: 260+
Resources used:
- Uw ck – MAIN source. Did it 2x. First time average: 88%; second time did marked and incorrects and some random questions for practice with an average of ~94%. Created my own notes and flashcards on anything that didn’t make sense or was new for me.
- Amboss – did intermediate, hard and some easy questions. It’s a nice supplement to uwck.
- Uw 3 – did it once online. And yes I’d recommend it.
- FRED
- Medquest Qbank (did only 800 questions near the end of prep) – cuz of Dr. Fischer lol but wont’ recommend it.
- CMS (all of them) and discussions with my cms study buddies helped a lot!
- Uwsas and nbmes for step 2 as mentioned above.
- Anki flashcards my own + Zanki deck
- Kaplan books and videos (surgery, ob/gyn and some chapters from IM like cardio and derm). I really liked Dr. Castro’s cardio videos from kln classroom anywhere 2014.
- Uworld biostats review
- First aid for step 1 (for reference and for micro, pharm, psych, biostats)
- Kaplan Patient safety notes
- Uptodate for unclear things. Used it a lot for CMS questions.
Recommendations:
- Practice, practice, practice as many questions as you can. Do multiple Q banks in addition to uwck e.g. uw3, amboss.
- Participate in Crash series. This is an excellent tool for hammering things that are hard to remember.
- Create your own notes, flow charts, flashcards and review them regularly.
- NBMEs are not very predictive for this exam but I think they’re valuable (since Qs are created by the real exam makers). They let you focus on how topics/concepts can be tested in different ways.
- Beh sci sucked for me! I did worse in beh sci even though i did lots of questions and went over 100 cases few days prior to my exam. I think nothing can prepare one well for the weird ethics questions.
- Pay close attention to marked and incorrect uw questions and reflect on why you got the question wrong…possible factors: didn’t read Q carefully, knowledge deficit, difficulty choosing the correct option and learn from those.
- keep building stamina. Initially, you may only be able to do just 1 or 2 uw blocks/day but don’t worry. You just have to keep going. Build endurance by increasing the number of blocks/ day. Near the end of your study period, do at least 4 blocks a day and simulate the real exam conditions (at least 3-4 times) by combining two assessments (nbme+nbme or uwsa + nbme or Fred + nbme/uwsa or just random 8 uworld blocks).
- Identify your weak areas and work on them. The assessments can also highlight weak areas so make sure to brush up on those from other study materials/books etc.
and keep praying!
I believe everyone on this usmle journey is smart and capable of achieving what they aim for. Each one of us is unique…so something that worked for someone else may not work for you or vice versa. So focus on