by Abdur Ayoob

In the name of Allah,the Most Beneficient,The Most Merciful

 DISCLAIMER: This is what worked for me.It may be possible that this may/may not work for you.I am putting down my experience in good faith.

 Time Taken: 9.5 months

Books used: Kaplan lecture notes,First aid 2008,HY gross anat,kaplan med ethics(conrad fischer),read the goljan transcript once (early in my prep).

Qbanks:UW, few patho topics in kap qbank,nbme(this again is key)

 My reading was haphazard,but in all i must have given 5 reads.

I think UW , kap  LNs and NBMES  are the key..I didnt do UW in the last month of my prep and i regret that. I would recommend to keep doing uw till your exam.i wasnt very comfortable with FA and i kept putting it off till the very last . Gave like 2-3 reads in the very end. It helps you to remember the must know stuff.I didn’t do goljan. It’s a good book but not an absolute essential for 99.

 Contrary to what some people say the exam is not very tough.People around you generally create this hype of a monster and scare you.You end up losing time and delaying the exam. All this exam asks for is sincerity.

NBME is the key.Use this not only as an assessor but also learn from it..try to take all the available nbme(preferably online).The most important part is to learn/discuss the wrong/doubtful questions.The exam maybe tougher but the topics tested are same and I had like 5 direct repeats from nbme.In order to make the nbme worthwile I suggest to take time between  consecutive nbmes to work on your weak areas.

Also its very important to relax the day before. Please try not to get worked up in the week leading to the exam .Have faith in God and Inshallah you will do well. Just play it cool on the exam day.I think it would be a good idea to read the last line first for the long questions.

I marked around 5-6 question in each block and I had around 5 mins remaining in each block except for the last block which was easy and I had 15 min remaining. Nbme will help you manage time so don’t lose sleep over it. I took the exam in a state of fast as it was Ramadan and though I was little tired at the end of the exam, it was doable. So you can definitely do it. Just pray to God for help and keep a positive attitude.

My score 99(236) Alhamdulillah

Form 1 offline (2.5 months) 165/200
Form 2 225(2 months out)
Form 4 236(1 month out)
Form 5 225(2 weeks out)
Form 3 offline 173/200

usmle cd 89%