Ajay Iyer - 243

Exam date :December 24th

Step 1 Aim :240

Step 1 Score :243

Study preparation time : 8-9 months (with a break of about 1 month in between)

Finally the day is here when I can post my result on this forum. I am not an introvert but i am not someone who speaks a lot on public platforms and social media but i had always thought that if i scored well I'll post about it for sure.. As my preparation went through different phases i used to think that if i actually did end up doing well it's certainly going to be an inspirational read. So here goes :

Firstly Reading material :

Physio :Kaplan 2015 lecture Notes and 2015 videos

Biochemistry :Kaplan 2015 lecture notes and 2015 videos

Anatomy: High yield for gross anatomy, kaplan for neuro anatomy

Pathology :pathoma videos and book

Microbiology :Sketchy Micro

Pharmacology : 2015 kaplan lecture notes and 2010 kaplan videos of Dr Raymon

Behavioral science and biostatistics : kaplan 2015 lecture notes and videos

Immunology :Tried kaplan but didn't like it, i think FA is sufficient

Qbanks : Uworld, Usmle rx, Kaplan (found kaplan to be the least useful one)

First pass Uworld - 77%

Second pass Uworld - 90%

I went through this reference material twice for all the subjects and then had around 5-6 passes of FA before the exam. I didn't know too much about Board & Beyond and other materials when i was preparing but you can give it a try.

I've come to realise that different things work for different people and there's no fixed way of preparing. Some people retain better through questions, some retain better through videos, some retain better through text. You need to realise what's best for you and go for it. Apart from Uworld and FA which are a must , there's no need to follow the herd, just do what you think works for you.

Study period :

I did it subject by subject but people can follow the system by system method too if it works for them. For each subject i read the reference material, read FA and did the Uworld of that subject before moving on to the next subject. I know it can be tiring and boring but please never leave a subject half done and incomplete. Once you've started a subject you just have to finish it, take a short break of 2-3 days if you want to and then move on to the next one.

I completed the first reading of all subjects with the first pass of uworld in around 3-3 n half months.

It's important to have a good and strong base so i would suggest everyone to have read a reference book at least once before moving on to First Aid. First Aid is the most important book for the exam but without reading any reference book you may not understand certain things in the book and you may have to mug up certain things which won't be retained in your long term memory.

Then i started doing the kaplan qbank during my second pass of the study material but found it to be much less useful compared to Uworld

You must always keep in mind that the scores you get on these qbanks aren't that important. Never get bogged down if you aren't scoring well on them. Use them as a learning source and just try to learn from your mistakes and read the very relevant and useful explanations of these questions which you can't learn from your books.

Everything was going well till around 6 months of my preparation when i had to go through a major personal crisis. I don't want to go into details but the thing i wanted the most was now deemed impossible to happen and taken away from my life. Honestly speaking, It was a bad phase for me. It was difficult to concentrate and study through it but once i was able to concentrate on my studies i was able to use my studies as a way of distracting myself from these personal issues. One way it did help me in was the fact that i wasn't scared of the exam anymore. The thing i wanted the most wasn't going to happen and i was still surviving after it so i just had the attitude that i have faced the worst for me so let's see what this exam has to offer.I was working hard and giving my best but i knew that even if the exam doesn't pan out well, it isn't the end of the world.

The Last phase :

I started with usmle rx which i found to be a very useful resource of revising and strengthening my knowledge of FA. And then i started giving the mock tests

Nbme 15 :221 (2 months out)

Nbme 16 :232 (1 month out)

Nbme 17 : 246 (20 days out)

Uwsa 1 :249 (15 days out)

Nbme 18 :236 (12 days out)

Nbme 19 :226 (1 week out)

Uwsa 2 :245 (4 days out)

Free 120 :87%

As you can see my scores were fluctuating quite a bit. I was on an upward curve until nbme 17 but then i started on a downward trend of sorts. Once i had read too much i started overcomplicating the questions and thinking that the answer can't be so straightforward and simple and got easy questions wrong. I started making really silly mistakes as well. Nbme 19 and Uwsa 2 were especially very disappointing for me in this regard. I missed things and hints in the questions which i never used to miss earlier. I didn't have a weakness in any particular subject or system it was just a random collection of silly mistakes!

But i tried to take it in a positive way, i knew that i had the sufficient knowledge of getting the score, i was somewhat lacking in the approach for the questions, not in knowledge. So i used that as my strength and tried to maintain my cool,my confidence and reviewed all my mistakes thoroughly and tried to cut out the silly errors and other minor problems as much as i could.

Remember that the scores of these mock tests are only predictors and they aren't the actual exam. Each exam is different. You just need to understand the pattern and way of questioning and learn from your mistakes until the last day and apply it all on the day of the exam.

If you've gone through the material well enough and worked hard and have above average intelligence then you should understand that around 60-70% of people are in a similar bracket as you. After that it's all about your mental state, mental stability, maintaining your cool and being confident in yourself and your own knowledge. Don't succumb to any kind of peer pressure, believe in yourself that you can do it and i am sure that you will.

I know that exam is very important in where you end up in your career but your own mental health is the most important thing. It's not a life and death situation, you can only study and do your best and do the things under your control. Don't be too stressed and tensed, if you have studied well and gained knowledge it'll be helpful to you and it will shine through at some point in your career if not now, then later.

Giving the exam is a phase and task in itself because you're alone in the process. You have to take your own date for the exam and go through with it which is a very different situation to what we immigrants have been used to. Don't postpone the exam just for the sake of it feeling that you aren't prepared as much as you should be. You'll always feel that you're lacking somewhere and aren't prepared in one or the other subject or system. Select a date, plan it out and give your best. Running away and postponing the exam time and again will only add to the stress.

You'll always feel that you haven't done well after you come out of the exam. I had a few doubts of whether i would even get a score if 220! But after a few days you'll come to realise that you didn't do that badly. Just enjoy and relax until your result comes out. No need to stress during this period because you can't change what has happened. You deserve a break no matter what score you get.

I have a Greencard and i want to get into internal medicine with maybe a fellowship in hemato- oncology later. I think I'll be able to achieve that through this score so i am satisfied and happy with it.

I am really willing to help anyone who has any queries or doubts or who's going through any similar issues to the ones i faced be it personal or academic. It may seem that you're alone and lonely in this process but you aren't :) You can inbox me or contact me at my email id ajjuozil10@gmail.com /ajjuiyer@gmail.com.

Hope all of you can achieve your goals you've set out to achieve. Be brave. Be happy. More power to all of you. Best of luck :)