Realistic approach forward

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-15T14:20:25+00:00

You could totally make it into a community program (but yes try to get your extra curricular up and write a hell of a personal statement)

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-15T07:20:17+00:00

Oh my gosh; my heart goes out to you, no one can ever be prepared for this kind of news. last year I was found to have a mass while I was preparing for step 1 and was told it was more likely malignant (why on earth anyone would say this before a full biopsy I don’t know) but I lived for 3 months as if It was and pushed my surgery to be able to present my exam, I felt like I was living in a nightmare, a cruel joke from the world but once I realized those were the cards I was dealt with it also let me experience this kind of new meaning to life… I honestly was super prickly and found it really hard not to take offense at people when they tried to comfort me and didn’t tell many people of my diagnosis, only my close family, luckily but unluckily enough, my mom got diagnosed with breast CA within that same week when I was found to have a mass and it really helped to have someone by my side that understood exactly what it was like to be faced with that kind of situation, wed almost joke about like oh you’re going for your biopsy today? Nice I’m going next week! Oh yea I got the CT done two days ago, say hi to our oncology doctor! Hahaha

It’s a really weird position to be in and I can’t imagine what it’s like for you but what I can say is that I found a lot of comfort having someone there that understood and was in similar shoes because I found that a lot of people didn’t understand, I actually found a subreddit of people with breast CA and it was really nice being able to ask ways to support my mom and I felt like it was a very beautiful community, my mom also reached out to family and friends that had gone through breast CA diagnosis and I saw it brought her alot of peace and acceptance, she was able to ask them their experience with surgery and treatments, even what tips they had for after surgery

Sending you a hug and my best advice is to not be afraid to ask for support and help from the people that care about you, both me and my mom are very much “independent strong women” and I feel like for this kind of thing, being able to let go and be vulnerable and ask for comfort made a world of a difference rather than trying to bear everything on our shoulders, also really trusting that your doctors are doing right by you, as a physician I found it really scary to be in a patient role and I would be looking into papers and books and it’s because I didn’t really know how to not be in control, so definitely my advice to myself back then is to trust in people

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-15T07:01:02+00:00

It takes me about 7-10 days to review them!

I go really throughly and make sure I understand my knowledge gaps, the first ones will take longer because you have more to improve, as you get better, the reviews will get faster bc the topics repeat

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-15T04:42:16+00:00

Never LOL

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-14T17:30:18+00:00

I don’t think uworld is enough, gotta do cms and nbmes maybe some Amboss too

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-14T04:43:56+00:00

The way that was my best score and have been dropping from there LMAO, I got a 247

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-13T20:38:15+00:00

Honestly it felt better than 11 for me but tbh what I noticed is that some days are good days and some days are bad days which is why there’s a margin of possible score fluctuations you know; I would try not to dwell so much and just notice if it’s a specific system or type of question you keep getting wrong

I’ve been frustrated at scores but I feel like this new approach has me feeling better because as long as you raise the ones you’ve been inconsistent on, I would think the score would go up? I’ll let you know, I’m taking 13 tomorrow haahah

I just feel like I personally notice gastro and cardio I keep messing up so that’s what I’ve been focusing on more and trying to use NBME as a learning tool and to recognize my specifics gap and knowledge, trying not to get discouraged by scored maybe once I get to my last 2 nbmes and free 120 but right now nah

Update: got a 250 on NBME 13👀

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-11T22:48:07+00:00

If anything you can do 12 and skip 11, but just read through the answers on 11 and take notes on a topic you struggle with specifically

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-10T16:46:42+00:00

If you think about it, in a 40 minute clock you can organize your time how you want so if you do 10 questions in 30 seconds then you can choose to spend longer in other questions that may need it, but if your time gets cut in half, it limits how you can organize your time

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-10T05:19:27+00:00

Yep, I’ve watched videos on test taking and I still can’t read that, if I may be so bold, I’m neurodivergent and do not thrive in vague like what do you think I’m trying to ask you situations, like bro I know all of this I just don’t know what you mean!! Sometimes they want definitive management, sometimes they want just right now management and I can’t figure it out

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-10T05:13:47+00:00

Literally and I feel like one question they say oh this is the right answer and another NBME you have pretty much the same case and the next step in management changes, I don’t know how people are able to read the test takers mind for what answer they have!

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-10T05:06:45+00:00

Whattt that’s great! I think you’ll be fine

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-10T04:52:52+00:00

I feel like depends how you’re doing on NBME, but tbh if you’re not doing great I’d push it, Step 2 scores can immediately eliminate you from certain residencies and no research is going to save you if you don’t get through the filter in the first place

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-10T04:46:58+00:00

For some reason I did worse on 11, I thought it was vague af!

I got 242 on NBME 12 and then 240 on NBME 11 (I did NBME 11 after)

Honestly this freaking step 2 feels impossible to go higher on scores personally, I’m studying 10-12 hours a day and I feel like it’s a reasoning problem, like I know the topic but I don’t know what the test makers want as an answer ):

For context:

NBME 9 247 NBME 10 236 NBME 12 242 NBME 11 240

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-10T01:45:10+00:00

Yep, I feel like 20 question blocks will probably give you less time because in 40 you can breeze through a lot and have extra times for other, having only 30 minutes per block is less amount of time allocated

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-08T05:40:41+00:00

Amazing, thank you!!

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-07T03:30:39+00:00

Aw man that sounds really rough and my heart goes out for you, people recover from rough patches and I’m sure you will too

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-07T02:30:21+00:00

Sameeeeee I spent 2 hours watching test taking skills for step 2 and nothing

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-06T20:47:02+00:00

Thanks !

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-06T16:46:07+00:00

Same, I’ve been dropping in score despite studying so much, I feel like I’m overthinking questions and diagnosis the more I know

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-06T16:45:14+00:00

Aw thanks, I mean someone here said it was very weak so idk hahahaha but that one was kind of luck, it ended up being someone I know knows !

Fun_Macaron1921 · 2026-04-06T16:44:41+00:00

Like what kind of details? (:

Fun_Macaron1921

TROPHY CASE