askdoc-usmle

I would like to congratulate Marlene for successfully passing the USMLE Step 1 with a score of 88/213 which she took last March 27, 2009.  She is part of the first batch of enrollees in my prep course for USMLE Step 1 which started last September, 2008.  For those who were visiting the blog since last August, you will recall her ardently arguing for a position in the course. Well she finally made it.

When Marlene first came to me, I was actually taken aback. She graduated way back in 1997. Failed Step 1 multiple times even after taking courses. Could I really help her pass it this time? As we all “know”, OLD grad + Multiple failures = basket case.  However, the purpose of setting up this course was to help those who need the help most and she would certainly qualify.  She promised me that she will study hard if I will help her pass the USMLE. Well, I guessed we kept both ends of our deal.

For those who want to find out more. She has written her exam and prep experience in my forum at http://forums.askdoc-usmle.com. The prep course is set up to help you raise your scores. By how much, depends on how hard you are willing to study. 

Askdoc

I would like to announce that I’ll be accepting applications for the June Batch of Askdoc’s USMLE Step 1 Prep Course which will start on June 1, 2009 and end on November 30, 2009. This is the 4^th batch of enrollees for this course and again due to experiences with the previous batches, changes are being implemented to the program for this batch.

As you may well be aware, the first batch started last September, 2008. No fees were collected, however, the applicants were required to have failed Step 1 at least once. Tong, the first to take the exam from that batch has passed with a score of 97/232. The second, Marlene just passed with an 88/213. Most of you may know Marlene. She was the one who was ardently negotiating a position in the prep course on this blog last July to August when I first announced the course. Well she finally made it. You can read more about their exam experience here.

The February batch is mostly on schedule to take their exams in June and July, except for two who have requested to be move the June batch and one who is MIA. So a total of 4 will be taking their exams soon. Continue reading »

I wrote part of this post in answer to questions from my readers and students. After 2 emails and one answer to comments, I have decided to elaborate and write in more detail as a post that I will share with everyone.

 So what do you do on the day of the examination? The day you sit for the USMLE is the culmination of months of preparation. It may seem unfair that no matter how well your performance were in those countless q banks and test simulation, the only performance that really counts is the one you do on exam day. Therefore, it makes sense to maximize your chances of performing well for that date.

 Your preparation should begin way before the date of your examination, when you schedule the examination. It is a known fact that during review, people do reach a plateau and the best time to take the exam is just before or just after you reach your peak. Earlier or later than that can result in lower scores. When you review, immediately after learning and memorizing your lessons, you immediately start forgetting. Normally, the amount of medical concepts you are memorizing and retaining is growing faster than you are forgetting them. However, there comes a time when you reach your peak and eventually plateaus. Afterwards you will go into decline and forget more than you are learning. Most people go into plateau in about 6 to 8 months, therefore the ideal review time is around that long. That is why my prep course is around 6 months long. Continue reading »

*Enrollments for June Classes already started and will be open for the whole of May, 2009. If you are interested in enrolling please click on this link.  Thank You

Hello everyone, I will now be accepting applications for the April batch of Askdoc’s USMLE Step 1 Prep Course which will start April 1, 2009 and end on September 30, 2009. This is the third batch of enrollees for this prep course. As you may well be aware, the first batch started last September, 2008. No fees were collected, however, the applicants were required to have failed Step 1 at least once. The first to take the exam from that batch has passed with a score of 97/232. You can read more about him here.

The second batch started on January 26, 2009 and currently with 7 members. They paid a fee of $100 but this time around, everyone was accepted but on a first come, first served basis. Currently 4 are doing very well and 3 are doing poorly, not in terms of scores but in terms of progress. You need to be committed to finishing the course, and in order to do that you need to show up. Therefore some modification to the programs need to be done which I’ll discuss later.

Due to my experience with the first and second batch, I believe I have to describe the course in more detail including expectations and the amount of work needed so there is no misunderstanding.

1. The course covers USMLE Step 1 which is seven subjects all in all. The course is 6 months long. Therefore telling me that you do not have enough time to finish 1 subject in 4 to 6 weeks means you won’t have time to finish the course period. Therefore please be ready to invest the time needed to do the course. Nothing less than 4 to 6 hours a day at least 5 to 6 days a week is needed. If you are unable to commit this time, then this course will not help you.

2. The reason you would want in on this course is that it will teach you how to prep for the USMLE in the proper way. Therefore you must be prepared to follow instructions. You would be surprised at how many people insists on following their own methods of studying rather than those outlined in the course. If you will not follow the course’s review methodology, why bother enrolling? Continue reading »

I would like to congratulate Tong for successfully passing the USMLE Step 1 Exam with a score of 97/232 which he took last January 27, 2009.  He is part of the first batch of enrollees in my prep course for Step 1 which started last September, 2008. He is currently preparing for his Step 2 CK and I wish him all the luck. May he also have a good score or even higher than his Step 1.

For those who want to find out more. He has written his exam and prep experience in my forum at http://forums.askdoc-usmle.com. Two more of my students from the September class will be sitting for the exam in the next 2 months. I wish them luck and hope they do just as well.

Askdoc

*Enrollments for June Classes already started and will be open for the whole of May, 2009. If you are interested in enrolling please click on this link.  Thank You

I would like to announce that I am now ready to receive applications for Askdoc’s USMLE Step 1 Prep Course which will start on January 19, 2009 and end on July 19, 2009. However, before submitting your application, please be sure you are really committed to finishing the course, since there really is limited space available.

Due to my experience with the first batch, I believe I have to describe the course in more detail including expectations and the amount of work needed so there is no misunderstanding.

1. The course covers USMLE Step 1 which is seven subjects all in all. The course is 6 months long. Therefore telling me that you do not have enough time to finish 1 subject in 4 to 6 weeks means you won’t have time to finish the course period. Therefore please be ready to invest the time needed to do the course. Nothing less than 4 to 6 hours a day at least 5 to 6 days a week is needed. If you are unable to commit this time, then this course will not help you.
2. The reason you would want in on this course is that it will teach you how to prep for the USMLE in the proper way. Therefore you must be prepared to follow instructions. You would be surprised at how many people insists on following their own methods of studying rather than those outlined in the course. If you will not follow the course’s review methodology, why bother enrolling? Continue reading »

In this time of economic uncertaintay, let us use this holiday season to take time off from our hectic schedule. After months of reviewing USMLE and preparing for interviews, it is good to take a break and replenish our energy for the challenges ahead. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Note: This was initially published in 6 parts and was then consolidated into a downloadable ebook.

Why create a study plan?

This is probably the question foremost in the mind of anyone who ever thought of tackling the USMLE. I remember when I was starting out, how this pre-occupied me a lot. Although studying for the USMLE is a big endeavor, studying how to study for the USMLE is no mean feat either. Just like an architect or engineer needs to plan out how to build a building before actually building it, we need to plan out how to prepare for the USMLE before we even begin studying.

Now some people can just jump right into reviewing and 3 to 5 months later take the exam and come out with a 99. I’m not one of those and so are I believe majority of those taking the USMLE. Some will start by applying and scheduling an exam 5 months later, only to find out that they’re not ready. So they extend their period of eligibility and still they’re not ready. Some will take the exam and fail or score so low that it amounts to the same thing. Some will forfeit the application fees and reapply later. Of those who do, some wind up getting good scores because they’ve learned their lesson and did better preparation this time, while for others the results are going to be poor because they did not change anything they’ve done before. Proper planning is crucial for proper preparation Continue reading »

We will now continue with Part II of our series on “Answering USMLE Type Questions”. In Part I we discussed the 3 most common problems people have with USMLE type Questions. In part II we will discuss various strategies to correct these weak points. There are strategies you implement during the preparation phase and other strategies you do during the exam itself.

However,  the strategies during preparation is more effective than those you employ during the examination and therefore it makes sense to fix these problems before the actual examination day.

The main challenge in clinical vignettes is to be able to diagnose the case as fast as possible. As a medical student, the way we learned clinical cases starts with a diagnosis, say Myocardial Infarction. Then we study the signs and symptoms that accompany myocardial infarction followed by laboratory tests that suggest or confirm the diagnosis. Lastly we study therapeutic interventions. That is how clinical vignettes are presented in Underground Clinical Vignettes, which is fine for medical students having their first taste of medical cases. Unfortunately for most people who are ready to take the USMLE, they’ve already gone through that process and will probably need only a short review and it will still not help them with diagnosing clinical vignettes. The reason is that clinical vignettes are presented the other way around with signs and symptoms as clues while you come up with the diagnosis. Continue reading »

I wrote this initially in response to someone who was really having a hard time answering tough USMLE type question. Most of the time, when people think their problem is answering tough USMLE type question. the reality is that they have a KA (Knowledge Acquisition) problem. In other words, they did not do their review properly and their problem is primarily with insufficient knowledge base rather than difficulty with USMLE type questions.

Therefore, I always make it a point to test their knowledge base first. This is usually done by testing them using straightforward questions that test knowledge and recall without the common tricks that accompany USMLE type questions.

Now as you may know, I have an online prep site at http://prep.askdoc-usmle.com.  The prep site contains all the courses available to course participants of my USMLE Step 1 prep course. There is a demo prep course for Review of Pathology which features the first chapter  out of 25 total chapters of Review of Pathology. It covers cell pathology. The online quiz is a straightforward quiz which directly tests recall and does not use USMLE type question. Do well there and it proves you do not have a knowledge base problem.

Continue reading »