How I prepared for the exam

Statistics:-

Preparation time: 7 months

Number of reads: 8

NBME 7 on Jan 6^th ‘15  : 207

NBME 13 on Jan 19^th   : 213

Free 150’s on Feb 2^nd   : 74%

NBME 16 on Feb 12^th   : 222

Final Step 1 score (taken on Feb 25^th 2015) :   222

A Brief Introduction:-

I am an IMG looking at getting a residency in either Family Practice or Psychiatry in the US. I graduated from medical school in May 2014.

Books/ Preparation material:-

·        First Aid

·        Kaplan series along with lecture videos

·        Pathoma

·        BRS Behavioral Sciences

·        USMLE World question bank

The Grind:-

·        1^st Read: I started my preparation in August, 2014. I went through the whole Kaplan series, subject-wise. I saw all the lecture videos too simultaneously. It took me 3 and a 1/2 months to finish one run of aIl subjects. 

·        2^nd Read: Mid November onwards I picked up my First Aid and went over the course system-wise. I also did microbiology, pharmacology, behavioral sciences/ biostats and biochemistry from FA. During this time I also studied pathology from Pathoma. I did not do Goljan as it was very time consuming. My basics in pathology were weak and Dr. Sattar’s Pathoma videos saved my life! All of this took me about one month.

·        By this time I had also bought my Usmle world question bank and I would do a timed test of 30 questions everyday. In the test I included all the systems that I finished revising from FA. So I added a system/ subject each time that I revised one. I continued taking these tests till the very end of my preparation. Of course, after reading FA once I would just include all subjects and systems in the tests. Initially my scores were very low, averaging only around 40% in the first few weeks! But I tried to be patient, and soon enough, they rose steadily and so did my confidence. :) 

·        3^rd Read: Now that I was done with FA properly once, the 3^rd read took me much lesser time. In two weeks I finished going through FA and Pathoma. For every subsequent revision I only went through these two books and did not read Kaplan anymore. Except, if there was something I had a doubt in, or some areas that were inadequately explained in FA, I referred to the Kaplan books.
So from 20th Dec to 5^th Jan I finished my 3^rd  read and I took Nbme Form 7, on 6^th January 2015, and scored 207.
Honestly, I was really happy with my score! Probably because it was only my first Nbme and I was just happy seeing that I had passed comfortably and also, because knew I had enough time to crank it up considerably for the main exam.
By this time my Uworld qbank scores were averaging around 55%

·        4^th Read: 8^th to 18^th January. This time too, I just revised my FA and Pathoma. This time I focused more of my time and energy on my weaknesses, as pointed out by Nbme 7- Behavioral Sciences/ Biostats, Pharm, Renal system and Respiratory system. Then I took my second mock, Nbme Form 13 on 19^th January 2015, and scored 217. The ten point jump was good and motivated me further. But I was 5 weeks away from my exam now and time was flying at break-neck speed!

·        5^th Read: 19^th Jan to 1^st Feb- Again, revised only FA and Pathoma. But in Nbme 13 I had only one weakness- Behavioral sciences. I had managed to improve the others. So I bought BRS for Behavioral Sc and Biostats and went through that as well.
On 2^nd Feb 2015 I took the free 150 questions given on the official website and secured 74%. A bit of a let down. I would have preferred something closer to 80! There was no correlation to the three digit score so I had no idea how I had fared.
Now 23 days left for the big day. By now I had exhausted all of the Uworld qbank questions so I was doing them for the second time and was averaging around 88%.

My Uworld qbank Performance Graph

·        6^th Read: 3^rd to 11^th Feb- I revised everything  (FA + Pathoma + BRS Behavioral Sciences) and took my third and last mock, Nbme Form 16, on the 12^th of Feb, 2015, and scored 222.
Now I just had two weeks of revision ahead of me and I was now hoping to get a score in the range of 225 to 230.

·        7^th and 8^th Reads: 12^th to 23^rd Feb- I revised everything twice! And I finally felt like I did remember most things in those books. Phew!

·        24^th Feb : One day before my exam, - Heart sounds/murmurs, Normal values, decided what I’d wear, decided what lunch to take with me, got my permit and passport ready. And, well, tried to calm down! Packed my bag for the next day with water, permit, passport, Tylenol, watch,  chap stick, energy bars, Frappuccino, ear plugs, an extra sweater, and my FA! 

Went to bed at 11 p.m. And thankfully fell asleep soon enough.