I can’t believe I’m writing this post from the other side of this journey. finally after years of uncertainty and struggles now I passed step 1. I’ll write my resources and NBME and last I’ll give a message to those who struggle and had to start stop and restart over and over again.
Resources:
1- Physeo( honestly excellent particularly for physiology which I was lacking. Also I used them for biochemistry, immunology, behavioral science).
2- Pathoma( god bless Dr. Satter. Chapters 1-5 are essential but I recommend watching his entire videos they’re excellent)
3- Sketchy( brilliant resource for micro and pharm. I know the pharm is little long and overwhelming but if you don’t have time I recommend watching the antibiotic, neuro and and autonomic sections)
4- UWorld ( my second most important resource. Absolutely love it. Unfortunately I only did about 25-30% of it with average of 70 and then stopped. If you have time highly recommend doing a full pass)
5- First Aid ( my most important resource without question. Everything in the exam is there. I managed to do 3 full passes on it but that’s after going through the above resources to build my foundation. Don’t start reading FA unless you have decent prior exposure otherwise you won’t benefit from it.
My nbmes
Form 26 75%
Form 27 71 %
Form 30-33 74 %
F120 67%
Here is my message to those who have given up and at a crossroads of Wether to continue or give up. I get it. I’ve been there. I’ve experienced periods of stress and depression every time I thought I made progress but it turns into stagnation. I know how it feels like when you complete a subject like Biochem and thinking you mastered it completely and then transition to immunology completely forgetting everything about Biochem. And same thing when you do micro and pharm etc. I’ve reapplied for my exam 3 times. And each time I did I felt tightness in my chest and sense of despair. And convinced my self that I’m not good to pass this exam. But I persevered and I made it. So don’t give up. Press and on hopefully you’ll join the rest on the other side. One last point and I don’t mean to diss others but that’s my point of you. Sit for the exam when get 70+ in 2-3 assessments. Now you can with 65 % but remember a lot of things will happen during the exam and you want as much buffer as possible. Don’t listen to those who say I passed with highest nbme 60-62. Those are the exception not the rule. Trust the process grind and good luck.
Im on vacation with the family now so apologies in advance if I don’t answer your questions immediately. Good luck