A few months ago I shared in a comment in a post how I was studying for the mccqe1 and a lot of people came talk to me about it and I said I would write down my tips. I was waiting my exam score so I could give you an idea of how much my studying was enough or not to get a really good score (spoiler: it wasn’t!). My score on mccqe1 exam was 269 and this is how I studied:I studied approximately 6 months. I used Toronto Notes and canadaqbank at the beginning. Some areas that I usually have more difficult (ob gyn, ortho, ped)I also read first aid (they have an specific book for ob gyn for example). Some common internal medicine e family medicine topics I searched for canadian articles and guidelines.
Two months before my exam I started to use u world questions for step 2 (the questions are way more my style, but are definitely NOT mccqe style), all the mock exams that the official website sells (yes, lots of money) and in the last month I reviewed topics at the Uptodate website ( I only used for a month so I only payed 57 dollars ).
I started using onlinememed for a while but it is honestly too basic and I didn’t like his didactic (and somethings he thought were not updated).During the 6 months I watched A LOT of youtube lessons on the most diverse topics, specially psychiatry (I recommend Dr Todd Grande videos. They really help me remember a loot of things and nuances in psychs that I didn’t remember at all).I did the cmpa online thing two times.I started reading " doing it right" book (and i really liked and i wish I had read it while I was in university) but never finished.I started the Shah epidemiology book but never finished (but I need to say that two or three questions from the official mock exam I only got right because I read some parts of that book…)
I took one “ethics class” with a well known and popular program between IMG’s but found their class not the right fit for me and too expensive for what they were teaching.
The exam day: your Permanent Resident Card (PR Card) is not considered a valid document to take the exam, so you need another document with you. Time is your enemy. The last 30 questions I barely read, and I didn’t have time to go back for the ones I was in doubt (that in the morning part, in the afternoon part you have more than enough time).
Looking back now (after I have done the exam and after I received my score for it) what would I have done different? I would have studied more ortho, I would try to find ways to manage my time during the exam better (and this last one for me is the biggest tip!!!), wouldn’t focus on small details like I did (but I always do that so it is almost a part of me) and would have practiced more to write down my answers in the way mcc wants.
I hope this helps someone and encourage people to share more their opinions and ideas for the exam. Preparing for the mccqe exam was a bit frustrating for me because I really notice a lot of people don’t really share their experience. I hope my experience helps some (or any) of you to study better than me and get a better score. What is a better score? No one knows really, but some people have shared in facebook groups that they believe to get in a residency in Canada as an IMG you should get between 280 and 300.
All the best for you all!A beautiful and merry end of year for all of us!
ps.: nowadays this is the only mccqe1 facebook group that I am in, so I am just posting here, but feel free to copy to another groups. I really hope this helps to encourage people to share their inputs after they have taken then exams and receive their scores, so it helps the colleagues that are still beginning the jorney to become a physician in Canada.ps2.: I just recently discovered an online forum that people share a lot of informations about canadian and america exams and matching and etc.