All thanks to Almighty Allah, my family specially my parents and all my friends to help me in this
pathway.
Total duration: 16 months
First 6 months: I completed all kaplan lecture notes during these months except for microbiology for
which I believe FA is enough, and for pathology for which I used Pathoma. I watched lecture videos to
only those parts in which I was lacking. Most of the stuff I forget by the end of preparation, so it was just
to make a sound base to start FA which is the real thing.
Next 5 months: I was doing FA with Uworld first systematically and then randomly (75% correct). After
completing Uworld, I go through all my incorrect questions again. During this phase I start making my
own notes in which I was writing the stuff that is difficult to interpret from FA or is entirely missing from
it.
Next 3 months: This was the turning point of my preparation and I consider it to be the most important
part, I started this phase with UWSA-1 (scored 243) and then go through NBMEs each week, I used all
these self-assessment exams as a new question bank and tried to learn most from these, it usually took
me 3 days to cover a single nbme and finding possible explanations of difficult questions from internet
and FA. Most of the people use nbmes as a tool to solely assess their level but I believe everyone should
do nbmes like a seperate qbank. November 2018, I did nbme 17 (scored 243) and then after a month I
took nbme 18 (scored 250). Moreover, I also revised FA with my notes during this phase. But majority of
the time I studied through internet during this phase searching various webpages like wiki, medscape,
ncbi etc. With every assessment I was clearly improving my skills and knowledge that continued till the
exam, which one can notice with the progression of my scores in these assessment exams.
Last 2 months: I did anatomy shelf notes, 100 cases of Conrad, Uworld biostat review, some selective
topics from kaplan medicine and pediatrics lecture notes and revised FA again with my hand made
notes. 20 days before exam I took UWSA-2 (scored 262), after this assessment I was feeling confident
and booked the test date. 15 days before exam did free 120 got 91% correct answers in it. Last few days
I was doing some high yield topics and easily forgettable stuffs.
Exam day: Tried to solve qs as a routine nbme blocks, took breaks after most blocks to refresh and eat
something, also had a coffee twice after 3rd and 5th blocks. In the end, I consider one just need a calm
mind, months of study and a pair of strong gluteals to hakai this exam.
What I believe if you want a score between 230-245 revise FA again and again, but if you want higher
use multiple sources and do make notes.
Step-2 experience (Sept-2017): I appeared for CK before step-1 which I believe one should never do, as
this exam requires a lot of knowledge of step-1, I scored well below the mean in this exam, please dont
ask me for it 
, studied for only 5 months with a job and did no any assessment exam, but I believe this
was the actual push I needed to work hard for step-1 and to achieve a score that exceeds the mean
score point as much as I can, so this experience is also an answer for all those “should I continue?”
questions after a bad usmle score. Never lose hope in this pathway you can improve your credentials at
USCE or at any step.
Good luck everyone.
Remember me in your prayers.
Thanks.
Regards,
Dr Hassaan Mustansir,
Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences,
Pakistan