Just want to thank this group for being very helpful with my USMLE journey

Hi. Just want to thank this group for being very helpful with my USMLE journey. I would like to share my experience with you.

I started studying January 2020. I initially scheduled my exam April 2020, then scheduled my CS May 2020 in LA, then I have scheduled observership in Texas in June. But upon the announcement of the lockdown last March, my exam was postponed. Everything was postponed. I had a lot of anxieties during the start of the pandemic, I couldn’t study well, I can’t focus. So I stopped studying and did telemedicine in my home country for 2 months (April and May). Then I rescheduled my exam July and started reviewing again last June. But after getting a low score in UWSA2, i got scared and rescheduled it August, then again, my schedule got affected by strict quarantine rules and it was rescheduled to Sept. 17. So here goes:

Review materials: Uworld, First Aid, NBME and CMS forms

UWSA1: 207 (Feb 2)

NBME 6: 207 (Feb 28)

NBME 7: 213 (Mar 7)

NBME 8: 205 (Jul 21)

UWSA2: 218 (Jul 27)

Free 120 (PDF file): 85% (Sept 12)

Free 120 (after Nov file): 79% (Sept 13)

Real deal: 234!

I was thinking, maybe God doesn’t want me to take the exam last April… because i could have failed. He is like telling me… aren’t your low scores signs that you’re not yet ready?! Thank you Lord for guiding me and not letting me take the exam last April. 😊

My preparation was crazy. I read first aid first round, then when I was in my first round of UW, i took down notes. (I typed my notes because I love to type, it takes a lot of time since you do word formatting, but it really helps with info retention.) I did this for 2 months (Jan and Feb). Then start of March, I studied my self-made notes and took NBMEs. I was at my momentum of studying… then it got postponed. I guess a lot of you experienced this.

Start of June, I did 2nd round of UW, but since it has 3k+ questions, I only repeated all incorrect questions (which was about 60+%). I keep on repeating them until i have no more incorrect questions. I made another set of notes for my incorrect questions - this time focusing on those that I really kept on forgetting. After doing this, I reread first aid 2nd round, reread my UW notes from first round, and reread UW notes from 2nd round… crazy huh… but it really helps me retain things if I keep on repeating them. Then last week of prep, I reviewed UWSA, NBME and CMS forms (I made notes for them as well), then flashcards.

So I hope my post helped someone today. I’m not really a believer of certain tests being predictive. it would really depend on how you studied and how focus you are on the day of the exam. Remember to condition yourself on the day of the exam. Because no matter how long you have been studying, if you are sleepy during the exam, that certainly wouldn’t help you focus.

So there, thanks again guys, God bless!