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Askdoc-USMLE Prep Courses
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By meliza, on February 3rd, 2012%
A lot of times, people presume that with my double 99, prepping for me was a breeze. That I did not go through the same problems every Old IMG went through in my own prep. Nothing was further from the truth.
When I was starting my prep, one of my biggest problem was . . . → Read More: Old IMG Have Not Studied for an Exam for a Long Time
By askdoc, on July 26th, 2009%
Today, we will talk more about the NBME self-assessment tests. We previously discussed what the NBME self-assessment tests are and how they impact your USMLE review. You can read the posts here. Now we will cover three important topics. When to use the NBME self-assessment tests, how to use the NBME self-assessment tests and how wise it is to use the USMLE World self-assessment tests instead.
Continue reading NBME Self-Assessment Tests and USMLE Review – Part II
By askdoc, on June 19th, 2009%
The NBME self assessment test is another of those tools that I feel is responsible for the increasingly high scores in the USMLE. It is a great tool that allows the test-taker to assess his or her readiness for the exam. To a certain extent, if used properly, it is also a useful tool for the examinee to target a certain score, even 99′s and achieve it.
Continue reading NBME Self Assessment Tests and USMLE Review
By askdoc, on March 13th, 2009%
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.
Be at Your Best on the Day of the USMLE Exam.
So what do you do on the day of the USMLE 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 USMLE examination, when you schedule the examination. It is a known fact that during review, people do reach a plateau and the best time to sit for the USMLE exam is just before or just after you reach your peak. Earlier or later than that can result in lower scores. During review, immediately after learning and memorizing your lessons, you start forgetting right away. 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 for the USMLE is around that long. That is why my USMLE Step 1 prep course is around 6 months long. Continue reading What to Do on the Day of the USMLE Exam
By askdoc, on October 25th, 2008%
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 Answering USMLE Type Questions – Part II
By askdoc, on October 15th, 2008%
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 Answering USMLE Type Questions – Part I
By askdoc, on October 12th, 2008%
Everyone knows the usefulness of keeping a large amount of high yield information in your head just before the actual examination. This can help a lot in boosting your score up in the last few days before the actual examination. Although I am never an advocate for last minute cramming for an examination like the USMLE, the benefits of having a large number of high yield facts in your immediate memory is something no one can ignore. The reason is that unless the information is in your immediate memory, chances are it will take some time for you to recall that information and in the context of timed examination like the USMLE, that can make or break you.
Most reviewers acknowledge these facts. First Aid for Step 1 has its Rapid Review section. Levinson and Jawetz has its “Brief summaries of Medically Important Organisms. and Trevor and Katzung’s Pharmacology Review has it’s “Key Words for Key Drugs”. All to be reviewed just a few days before going into the examination.
Continue reading High Yield Fast Facts for the USMLE
By askdoc, on September 15th, 2008%
We begin part 4 of our series on “What to Study for the USMLE”. In Part I, we discussed the need to choose our review material based on what we want to achieve in the exam. We also discussed the use of substituted judgment when we rely on reviewers to know what to review for the examination, and the need to make sure that these judgments are based on the same goals we have with regards to passing, scoring well or acing the exam.
In part 2, we discussed that the score you want to achieve not only dictates the review materials you choose, but also how much of those review materials should be mastered and not just read through. In part 3 we talked about the various materials you used for review and the need to go back to textbooks for concepts you do not know, since you cannot review concepts you do not know. You have to learn them first and you need textbooks for that.
In part 4, we will discuss the two types of text reviewers you should be using for your review and how to use the concept of different types of recalls with the reviewers to maximize the amount of material you can store in your head for the exam.
Continue reading What to Study for the USMLE – Part IV
By askdoc, on August 11th, 2008%
We begin part 3 of our series on “What to Study for the USMLE”. For those just joining us, please refer to previous post here and here. Due to the sheer number of review materials available to examinees, we need to classify them in order to make it easier to choose and mix and match between them.
Broadly, we can classify our study materials into three. First are reading materials, mainly books and other written study aids, eg. Flashcards, etc. Second are Question Banks, which by themselves are very important and crucial study materials. Lastly and increasingly gaining importance are audio and visual resources like lectures both audio and video.
Continue reading What to Study for the USMLE – Part III
By askdoc, on August 1st, 2008%
Back in 2004 when I was just starting my preparation for the USMLE, my greatest fear was in failing this examination. My status as an old graduate made failing a stark reality for me. Every person I asked told me that as an old graduate I have no chance. The most encouraging response I got was, “maybe you’ll pass, but it’s impossible to match with really low scores.” When I went to forums, I hear horror stories of people failing which frightened me even more. Then once in a while, when I read of people celebrating and crowing about their 99′s, I secretly wished that that was me. Even my own family thought it was impossible for me to make it. It got so bad, it took me over a year to get around to seriously preparing for it. 
Now 4 years later, with a double 99 in my belt, I feel bad whenever, I read about people failing the examination. If I can make it, they should be able to make it, too. 2 years ago I wrote an advise to someone who had failed already thrice and was plaintively asking people “What to do”. I’m happy she eventually passed her exam with an 82. Since that time, I am happy to note that a lot of people have passed and raised their scores and even got 99′s using that advise. A couple of them had the opportunity to catch me between Steps and was couched by me through emails to raise their scores with varying results. However, since that time, hundreds of people still failed. Some had read my advise but were doing exactly opposite of what I had written. Others, I found out did not understand how to implement what I had written.
Continue reading Askdoc’s USMLE Step 1 Prep Course open for Applicants
By askdoc, on May 15th, 2008%
*Note: I wrote this a while back in prep4usmle.com. You can access the original article here.
I’ve used this framework for analyzing my weak points throughout my review.
We can divide our whole preparation into 3 parts,
Continue reading KA, KR and TP.
By askdoc, on May 14th, 2008%
Note: This article was originally written and posted by me on prep4usmle.com. It talks about how to increase our ability to acquire knowledge. Part 1 is on How we learn and Part 2 is on how to increase our reading speed which is posted here. You can access the original post in prep4usmle here.
We’ve discussed the concept of Mastery Know and Familiar in our Knowledge level and how this will impact our performance in the exam. Continuing our KA discussion, we will discuss 2 topics that is important in increasing our ability to acquire knowledge.
Continue reading How We learn.
By askdoc, on May 13th, 2008%
Note: I wrote this sometime ago to help out somebody who was having difficulty in her review. It was posted in prep4usmle. It illustrates the use of the concept of Master, Know and familiar in preparing for the USMLE.
This part is especially for gigiMD. 
Just like any diagnostic exam, our quick and dirty evaluation has its share of false positives.
While most people who have a KA, KR or TP problem really have a KA, KR or TP problem. A minority have a mixed problem, combination KA,KR or KA, KR, TP problem. They often evaluate themselves to having a KR or TP problem and so missed out that they also have a partial KA problem.
Continue reading Mastery, Know and Familiar applied to USMLE review.
By askdoc, on May 12th, 2008%
Note: I wrote and posted this sometime ago in prep4usmle.com. Since it is impossible to know everything there is to know about Medicine, one should prioritize what medical concepts should be retained. Another post talks about how this can be implemented.
Thanks for reading my post and your kind comments. To continue.
As we all know, Medicine is a very broad subject, so broad that we are divided into specialties. However, for the purpose of the board we are required to know a little of everything. So for the purpose of the board, What you need to know is divided into 3 parts.
Continue reading Concept of Mastery, Know and Familiar in USMLE content.
By askdoc, on April 14th, 2008%
Clinical Vignettes are increasingly becoming more common and important not just in Step 2 and Step 3 but even in Step 1. Increasingly, it is not enough to just memorize important medical facts, but to recognize how these facts apply in real life practice of medicine. The use of clinical vignettes also tests your ability to recognize Continue reading Clinical Vignettes in the USMLE and how they affect your review process
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