Feb 23
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
February 24th, 2009 at 5:06 am
i am presently reviewing for step 2 CK. How do i enroll on your prep course? how much? mechanics? i’m in Cali right now.
February 24th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Hi art,
The prep course currently only covers Step 1 and the next class starts in April, although enrollment is in March. You can read more about the course in my post “Accepting Applications…” Click the Home page, scroll down the list of topics to read it. I have also posted in the comments section on how to get to know more about the course. My students are from all over the US. 7 are currently enrolled from the second batch. They are comprised of both AMG’s and IMG’s. As to how much it costs Well the first batch got it free, but they needed to have failed the exam before to apply. The second batch paid US$100 each but anyone can apply, it’s just first come first served. I wanted to accept only 5 for the second batch, 10 applied, I accepted 7 and asked the other 3 to enroll in April class. Now I have 11 people reserving positions in April class but I will only be accepting 10. Anyway, I’ll still be accepting first come, first served, so I ask everyone to enroll early once Enrollment starts in the first or second week of March. I don’t know how much the charge will be this time, though and that remains to be decided.
Askdoc
February 25th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
hii im prparing for step 1. i’ll do kaplan and uw. i heared that the actual exam qs are closest to uw is that right??
and im planing to take NBME 2 online and may be 3 too for assessment.
i dont have time to do the 6 NBME so , are 2 enough??
the kaplan and uw are more imp. than NBME , i mean i better complete the 2 bank rather than studying the rest of NBME offline with their answer that i had from others?? are there any repeated question in actual exam from nbme??
thanx….lolo
February 25th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Hi lolo,
Actually, both Kaplan and UW have good exam q’s that are close to the real exam. UW has more tough q’s. The USMLE is quite fair, tough q’s do not exceed a quarter of the exam. The tough q’s in UW is about 40% of the q Bank. The USMLE has both tough q’s and easy q’s. Read my post on NBME and q banks. Studying NBME does not help much in the actual examination. They actually represent the easier q’s in USMLE. My own exam had two repeats from NBME form 1 but as I said they are the easier ones. Better to use the NBME as evaluation tools rather than study them. UW and Kaplan, especially UW is much, much better as a study tool.
Askdoc
February 26th, 2009 at 8:04 am
thanx alot for the advice and i read the posts they are really helpful.
February 5th, 2010 at 9:59 am
HI , I want to ask if we have to use the latest edition of books.
I’m using an old version more then 2-3 years , studying on BRS path & physio … High yield anatomy , behav. …. clinical microbiology and using kaplan lecture notes for the pharma , bioch & immunology.
my problem I did complete the books and did write my notes and I don’t want to change them.I didn’t feel that much difference may be the pharm they add 1-2 drugs.. but I’m doing kaplan q bank and the UW both online and planning to read the 1st aid 2010 edition… so I think It’s a bad idea to change my books now , do you think It’s OK as long as any new informations will be covered by the 1st aid and the Q banks.
thanks a lot.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:05 am
I want to ask too , we don’t have to use the kaplan notes to get a high score since most of my friends using the kaplan. I have the medEssentials and may be I’ll go over some of the tables. I don’t know what to do , I don’t want to miss a good score because I’m not using the right books.
February 16th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Hi YK,
First, you do not need the latest version of Kaplan notes to do well. I took my Step 1 in 2006 and used 2001 Notes and 2004 edition reviewers and still got a 256. Qbanks will cover the latest information tested anyway. Next medessentials is too light to get a high score. Remember, the more detail you studied the higher score you can get. Of course the amount of detail you can absorb and recall is dependent on your memory capacity and intelligence and so there is a limit to how much detail you can get into. Around 20% of the USMLE require very good analytical ability, so even with good memory and recall, getting a really high score is not a guarantee.
Askdoc