#usmle

i got hobonichi dupes!! kinbor weekly a6 (pink) and kinbor daily a5 (black)

this week's spread at the beginning of the week vs after last night! it's messier than id like but i think that's the realistic part of having a planner that's used everyday.

11/22/2024

Halfway through my outpatient clinic mini-block. Some interesting food for thought re: medicinal practices in different cultures and how we as pediatricians interface with school health offices to care for children.

In exactly 2 weeks, I will be taking USMLE step 1. I am 80% sure that I will fail. It is my fault. I have been saying for two years that I would take the exam. I am not a superstitious person, but whenever I reveal my plans out loud, they nearly always never come true. But if I plan and act in silence, it almost always works out. Everyone knows I am sitting the exam, starting from my peers, including my neighbours at my grandparents. I am scared shitless - is the best way to put it. I have been studying, but not enough and not fast enough. Being chronically ill is not helping with the early fatigue, so 10 hour studying sessions are near impossible for me. Especially I have been getting worse in the past month. Take that and me being slow, the dedicated time of 4 months just doesn't seem enough at this point. But I should still sit the exam.

I can't seem to open the NBMEs to go through the questions. My brain just turns off immediately. No music, no ambiences, no distraction seems to help me to take my mind off the inevitable failure.

My Story:

I decided to embark USMLE journey last November, got ECFMG applied and started UW for Step 1 late December 2023. I continued Step 1 prep for 2 weeks and then took a break for my university exams. In the beginning of February, I got a bizzare idea of prepping for Step 2 thanks to reddit and Free 120 of STEP 2.

So, I took UW STEP 2 in Feb. Everyday for a month, I did 2 blocks of STEP 1 & 1 block of STEP 2 system-wise. I had to stop for a month in March due to university exams. I jumped back on STEP 1 & 2 immediately after exams, this time, doing 2 blocks of STEP 2 and 1 block of STEP 1.

For STEP 1, I relied only on UW and First Aid. No NBMEs. No other resources. For STEP 2, I used UW and Inner Circle notes. No anki even though Tzancki deck was instilled on the notes.

By end of April, I was done with 90% UW STEP 1 and 60% STEP 2 UW. I sat 15 days dedicated for STEP 1 and gave exam on May and got the PASS. Took a vacation for 2 weeks and then returned back to STEP 2 prep.

I did UW upto 95%, shifted to CMS forms, did 2 each for main subjects and started NBMES. NBMES were all in 250s range except for 13 and 14 which hit 260s. I used to work full time as a research intern during June and do 80-160 questions a day. I also did a review of Inner Circle notes once during the whole month.

Dedicated:

In the month of July, I sat 3 weeks dedicated where I did AMBOSS High Yield qbank and articles. In the final weeks, I went through NBMEs once again, and reviewed the notes.

I also did AMBOSS HY 2nd pass. Did ethics screening vaccination quality and biostats from Amboss.

As for DIP, I listened to high yield stuff but only reviewed the Antibiotics and Palliative podcast in the end.

Day before Test:

Went through all NBME diagrams, did AMBOSS Ethics and Quality, quickly read through ethics articles, did Free 120 two days before the exam.

Test Day:

I was quite relaxed and had my breakfast. The exam felt fairly straight. I took breaks after every 2-3 blocks. Drank water during each break and took a toilet break. Thats all. I finished most blocks with 10-15 minutes to spare and did a 2nd pass of all the questions.

ACTUAL SCORE: 269

Overall, after solving 12k questions, I am happy to complete my fourth year exams, STEP 1 and STEP 2 together in a span of 6 months while being a student and full time research intern.

I am happy to give back to this community and would love to support and finance my further journey with paid mentorships for STEP 1 and STEP 2. If interested, check out here: https://lnkd.in/gwMDWR_9

My Learning Resources: https://lnkd.in/grGsSQnt

My YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gMcGWiUe

My Newsletter: thinkabled.com/cerebrate

Take care.

#usmle #img #step1 #step2 #match2025 #usmleimg #neurology #imresident #matchcycle #nrmp #usce #research

I'll probably give the exam in October, although I haven't set the date yet.

To stay productive, I'll share my studying journey here, mentioning how many blocks I did in a day and what else I did.

I have 85 days to go.

So this is day 1/85.