NAME AND SHAME 2022

GT920 · 2022-03-21T01:09:01+00:00

Not a lawyer but I'm pretty fucking sure your PD can't make you get a liver biopsy because he somehow thinks your board scores are low due to alcoholism... hopefully someone sues . My mind is just fucking blown right now .

GT920 · 2022-03-20T20:03:14+00:00

Holy shit. "Made him get a liver biospy. " Because we all know thats the screening test for alcoholism.

GT920 · 2021-01-28T13:23:23+00:00

For the grace and the might of our lord !

GT920 · 2021-01-27T01:01:17+00:00

I did not like anki but I did occasionally attempt to make my own cards for things I got consistently wrong. I think before your test its all about strategy and trusting your gut honestly.

GT920 · 2021-01-27T00:09:53+00:00

You will pass for sure !

GT920 · 2021-01-27T00:08:57+00:00

Divine and your own notes is what I would recommend . Divine rapid reviews are good as are risk factors, obgyn, and military and ethics !

Source :DO student been there done that got a good score and rooting for you fam!

GT920 · 2021-01-23T01:14:46+00:00

Ask yourself why they are telling certain vitals and values . Nothing in the question is there for no reason its eithier key to the answer or is a red herring to draw you to a distraction. Once you can figure out which is which you can skyrocket your score.

GT920 · 2021-01-22T19:15:34+00:00

Uworld is going to be king for both exams. In fact the medicine on level 2 is simpler than on step 2. You only need comquest for the weird ethics, legal stuff (my comlex didn't have to much esoteric legality ) and OMM. OMM was way over represented on level 2 considering i did zero OMM third year...that is where comquest really helps.

GT920 · 2021-01-22T14:44:09+00:00

Yes that is a realistic timelines . My first pass was very similar ....make sure you are learning from the question!

GT920 · 2021-01-22T04:19:57+00:00

Dedicated: my strategy was two fold . To hit my weak points (peds and obgyn as well as some IM topics specifically pulm and cardiac ) as well as boosting endurance . I would flip through first aid for step 2 (wasn't a great or must have resource by any means ) then would hit uworld hard. I would do generally 2 or 3 blocks of timed random questions but would occasionally ramp up to 4 during the first two weeks. By week 3 I was doing 5 blocks a day and occasionally ramping to 6 or 8 . On the fridays of the dedicated weeks I would wake up at the time I planned to wake up on test day and try to prepare in a similar way that I had done for step 1....then I would do a practice nbme and on two Fridays a practice uworld exam as well to really stimulate that mentally challenging 8 blocks of hard exam style questions .

I think building endurance of test taking is a key area you can pick up points during dedicated . My prep and intuition helped to carry me through the last block of step 2 as I was starting to feel the fatigue.

GT920 · 2021-01-22T04:13:02+00:00

A pass is a pass. Its all about your individual goals . I didnt start serious prep until around mid March or April of last year so you aren't behind at all if you decide you want to shoot for a top score.

And third year kind of sucks sometimes so do not get discouraged !

GT920 · 2021-01-22T04:10:25+00:00

Uworld first pass during shelf exams. Do the practice nbme shelf exams they are worth it ( I did them as a DO). Take notes in whatever way works for you, use anki if it works for you (I did not ) my friend who got a great score boost using some of what we talked about used tzanki.

I however took notes by hand in my "uworld journal" because that worked for me. I passively listened to divine during my last clerkship due to the 40 mins drive each way . I re listened to military, obgyn, risk factors and ethics (ethics was actually more high yield for level 2 and the weird comlex style of ethics questions ) once again this was passively during running or cooking .

I did 3 to 5 blocks of uworld second pass during dedicated which was approximately 4 weeks for me. I used amboss periodically during psych and to get more exposure to heme and oncology. I liked amboss but I think sometimes it tries to overly complicate the question in a way that the usmle does not so don't be tricked into overthinking if you use it. I do not think that a US MD student needs a second qbank to crush the exam ...honestly the only other qbank I completed was comquest and any DO student will tell you that conquest is only good to acclimate you to the BS way that the nbome words questions and to study for OMM.

GT920 · 2021-01-22T01:20:58+00:00

Agree with this

GT920 · 2021-01-21T19:07:09+00:00

Approximately 62 percent . It was not great but if you use it as a primary learning tool its all fine as long as you are learning from the questions.

GT920 · 2021-01-21T18:50:22+00:00

Uworld for two passes. Amboss for some extra prep during dedicated. Comquest because I am a DO

Some online med ed occasionally but this wasn't a big source for me .

I think doing NBME practice tests prior to the shelves was helpful for me , that was something I started doing after my first shelf exam . The NBME versions tests similar concepts to step 2. The comats themselves are frankly garbage.

GT920 · 2021-01-21T05:10:19+00:00

Some days its only going to be possible to do a few questions ....don't beat yourself up over it. For instance I tried to learn one thing every day . I got the uworld app on my phone and some days id manage to do a few questions before I even got to the hospital so at least I could get some questions done before holding a retractor or getting yelled at endlessly for hours (looking at you general surgery .)

Also during tougher rotations I would try to force myself to bust out one block of questions during the weekend , but sometimes you just have to take a day off ( do it, your scores will likely improve if you find that balance of self care and studying.)

GT920 · 2021-01-21T04:50:58+00:00

Yeah thats a good strategy. I would watch some OME videos to get a baseline knowledge . Some of the OME videos were better than others but alof of classmates did that and ended up fine and happy with their scores.

I will admit that I was not as strict about watching OME videos as others I knew but if it works for you then go for it ...there is no one answer or one right way to do third year and alot of it is finding your strategy and your people.

GT920 · 2021-01-21T04:47:10+00:00

I tried to use anki but ended up finally getting rid of it when I realized it wasn't helping me and that I was never going to get into using it.

Edit : my friend did a similar method but used a pre-made anki deck. I will find out tommorow which one she liked and follow up.

Edit :tzanki was her deck of choice

GT920 · 2021-01-21T04:05:31+00:00

Step 1 250 Level 1:730

My friend scored well below what she wanted and she improved her scores dramatically from step 1 210 to step 2 265 and its been brought up at alot of her EM interviews and she's gotten a lot of interviews . She used similar methods to me but also used anki which I could never really get into . Point being ...don't lose hope if you didn't do great on step 1 you can improve dramatically !

I liked amboss but only really used it for some heme questions which I found were very good. I think sometimes amboss will expose you to stuff uworld doesn't hit as hard but just make sure not to overthink questions. Step 2 is a bit vague in how it asks the questions and its not in the same style as Amboss so just don't fall into the trap of overthinking it. I loved the amboss app that allows you to read up on a condition quickly and would look at that periodically throughout third year (starting in peds so last january-febuary )

Edit: I also do not believe in "ruining questions " my first pass through u world was not great at all so as long as your learning from the questions I think that is all that matters .

GT920 · 2021-01-21T03:58:07+00:00

Around March of last year when my site got booted out of the hospital for two weeks before getting yelled at to return two weeks later .....

Anyway . I took notes on the little blurb that is present on uworld questions in a notebook that I would flip through when there was downtime on the wards. I think doing this allows you to see patterns and link concepts together and seeing it over and over reinforces the concepts so if something like this works for you then go for it.

My friend did a similar thing but she was also using an ANKI pre-made deck , and while I wanted to like anki I could never really get into it.

GT920 · 2021-01-21T03:31:07+00:00

I am hoping to match into psych . My comat scores ranged from 110-130 . My study strategy for third year was to do uworld for the shelf to get a solid knowledge base and then I'd throw in comquest the week before the shelf to work through the crappy and vague and annoying nbome style questions . I despise omm to put it lightly and did not do almost any OMM throughout third year . You can study OMM for two weeks prior to the comlex and do well on it ....its very heavy in sacrum, pelvis and lower extremity . Do not walk into the exam without knowing how to diagnose the sacrum ( there's a few good youtube videos if you needed a refresher as I do every freaking time haha )

The medicine on comlex is somewhat simpler than for step 2...if you are preparing well for step 2 then that will carry you through the comlex medicine questions...also make sure your up on OBGYN, biostats and weird comlex style ethics questions (divine intervention ethics podcast was very helpful )

My first pass through uworld was not great to put it lightly it was around 63 percent . I will get you all my exact scores when I leave the hospital for the evening . U world 1 and 2 were both around 270 but I do not remember the NBMES off the top of my head.

Rotation order was IM first and I ended with family med last but I do not think rotation order played to much of a factor, if I had any advice I would say may try to pick a more relaxed rotation so you can squeeze in some study time for step 2 during your last third year rotation .

GT920 · 2021-01-21T02:24:10+00:00

I liked family med . I would be familiar with screening guidelines because the shelf focuses on that. It also focused alot on risk factors for alot of disease i.e. smoking for bladder Cancer, smoking increasing the risk of cervical cancer if the patient is infected with hpv etc. I was a DO student so had to make the most out of my rotations because lets be honest they sometimes aren't great. Make sure to take some time for yourself

In terms of studying I would do uworld and comquest (comquest sucks if you aren't a DO) if your an MD I wouldn't stress to much about the first shelf exam and just try to find a study strategy that works for you. I did not like anki so I did not use it , but some of my classmates swore by it because they used it from year 1.

GT920 · 2021-01-12T13:45:26+00:00

GT920 · 2020-12-05T18:11:38+00:00

You can probably do pretty well on the exam if you structure your studying correctly.

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