so just off the top of my head, a few things i would tell everyone to keep in mind.
one- do NOT discuss usmle with people that usmle does not need to be discussed with. pick a few like three two four people who know about your test and how you are doing with it and that's it. to the rest of the world who loves and cares about you so much to talk about usmle all the time, tell em to pray for you and inshAllah soon. believe me it will make the world of a difference. you minus all the unnecessary stress factors from this test, and its actually not that bad of a test. i speak from experience.
two, remember always : FORGET the past, FORGET the future, live in the present. do not do not do not do not worry about what you have not covered or how behind you are are, or how fast someone else is, or what clothes you should get (thought id add that for fun), or how behind you are on your schedule. and then. do not do not do not do not do not worry about when to apply for residency, when to give ck when to give cs, when to smile at your boss, when to get pregnant, when to get an internship or when to live in the future AT ALL. do not put yourself under the unnecessary stress of stupid impossible and ridiculous (which seem possible at this time) deadlines. they are absolutely useless. what you wanna do is....make a schedule for the next three months. so you have a basic outline in your head. then you make a week to week schedule about what you wanna finish in this one week. and worry about that. that's it. no past. no future. just this one week. in fact, i did day to day. but its hard to stick to day to day schedules rather than week to week. but if you think one week at a time, the day to day will become easier. and you know what, by the end of the week, if you have covered what you were supposed to, then hey take the Sunday off and party ur ass off. partying on Sunday is a vital part of usmle (key advice too). i used to go hiking/climbing every Sunday. it was my motivation factor. till the sun cheated on me n i didn't feel like going out. soon enough i was stuck inside a cave for months. it happens. absolutely normal. anyhow. make a schedule. i can help you with that if you want. stick to week to week stuff. forget about the past (what you shouldve done). forget the future (what you're supposed to do). and forget about everyone else while you're at it. it helps you stay sane through this stupid long ass shit process of step one.
three- the more practice questions you do, the better your score will be. kaplan lecture notes are about 20% of what is actually tested on the test. goljan notes are about 60% and the rest is bogus crap you wont read anywhere EVER. so don't bother with that part. basically, what you wanna do overall is:
Base making phase- (should take about 2-3/4 months standard) read kaplan lecture notes at least two times to make a strong base. without the base, there's no building. you can review the first aid 2010 (not the earlier editions) in between of the two reads. the first read is your THOROUGH like inside out read every word dont skip lines phase. it will be long, annoying, and will seem useless but its very important. do NOT expect yourself to remember anything at all. especially on the second read. naturally when you read something for the second time you expect yourself to know everything. remember, that's NOT possible. its not gonna be possible even on your sixth read to remember everything. the first time is a self thorough read, the second is familiarizing read, third is a review read, and fourth is memorizing read. personally three reads is annoying enough. anyhow for this phase, just do two reads first.
Goljan Phase- goljan goljan goljan. that guy could give the test for you if it were possible. i feel like he makes the test or something. it might be a huge conspiracy with him sittin on top. he'll drive you nuts but he'll get you through the exam. the audio notes seem boring but they are actually not that bad. convert em n put em on your iPods/mp3s/phone whatever. and carry the goljan pathology REVIEW notes with you even if you are out for icecream. the audio notes basically help you stay on schedule. make sure you are reading his notes that he uses for teaching kaplan classes, not his actual text book. dont woory about the slides or other books or whatever. his review notes are more than enough. and actually quite colorful (unless you get the photocopy from Pakistan, then you can just fun highlight them everywhere and they'll be colorful too). if you need those i have em uploaded on the internet you can get em from there too.
question phase- do the q-book, for casual fun. first aid q&a for more casual fun, because we just love questions. questions questions questions. these two books are not important at all, but they are just fun to do while sitting around by this time obviously we don't have a life anymore. sitting with a friend, and doing them together sometimes helps. also its a confidence booster if you know the answer and the friend doesn't. its mean but it works. and it sucks if you're the friend who gets it wrong. he-he just kidding. but yeah sitting with someone does help for discussion sake. next, q-bank. its long, boring, but very very important to do. do NOT expect yourself to even get 20% right. read em like a text book. even if you get the answer right, read the whole explanation throughout. the q-bank is a bigg chunk. get the books from Urdu bazaar. its the most convenient. reading on the computer is just a stress factor in itself. n its like a million questions, that's quite an eye strain. if you feel rich, then after you're done just do a test bank online. that should be satisfying enough. the q-bank is really important. have a notebook/registers (in Pakistan) next to your book at all times. divide it in five-six sections for each subject, and any new information or any information you think is hard to remember (which is all the stupid little rare syndromes which we'll never see in our lives, and genetic bullshit), write that down in those sections. so then one fine day when you are really in the mood to have fun, u can read em over n even test em. yaay. this should take about 3 weeks-one month time standard. and again, ITS OKAY if you don't. just push yourself one week down and let it be a motivation factor for the next week to catch up.
review phase- by this time you're gonna wanna take the test. and so, DONT. read the review books, which is first aid, and you're notes from kaplan (if you're a highlighter or a note taker or whatever). i would read the goljan again just for fun. if you are really behind (and i mean in a year length time) then do the kaplan lecture notes again but i honestly wouldnt. its more of a personal choice. not really needed though.
Uworld phase- very very important. get the books. do not do it online. read through the books just like the q-bank. take it very serious. you will see a lot of these questions on the test. with a word or two tweaked here there. apparently usmle makers are quite lazy. its gonna be difficult. again do NOT expect yourself to answer all. if you are getting 50% then you're lookin at a high ninties in the actual exam. tally your wrong answers yourself so you know where you stand at the end of each subject. remember to add to your fun notebooks all the things that you feel are important and need to be added. after you are done, then register on uworld.com and take the online test, they will giv you an actual score. and goin through the questions for the second time in a random order in a test format will be very easy, yet 'will leave you satisfied'. (thats what she said) hehe.
read your notes and review phase- your notes on your notebook from the questions, kaplan lecture notes, goljan notes. shouldn't take more than two weeks tops.
nbme phase- take any of the forms. a lot of these questions come on the test. do not print all the forms out and read em. its completely useless and the answers are not available online. the answers given by top scorers, a lot of them are wrong. so just don't get confused and take the latest form on nbme.com and they will giv u a score which will tell you where you stand.
get a date phase. (date with the evil usmle) here on you register for your test. get a date for exactly three weeks from this point. (this doesn't mean you register for ecfmg now, that you should've done loong ago basically asap because they take shit long to process all the crap from Pakistan). choose your date. read bismillah and NOW you can start stressing. officially. hehe just kidding. i prefer do NOT tell anyone about your date. just say your prayers. and you'll be just fine.
review last time phase- read kaplan lecture notes again. this is your extremely fast skimming/reading phase. but its VERY important. it boosts your nbme score significantly (it didnt for me) but its supposed to. hehe but make sure you do it. read the highlighted parts of your highlighted notes again. read first aid the margins which give the high yield. read the high yield from goljan. the loose leaflets from goljan which i can give to you. they are just rapid reviews.
take the test phase. SLEEP WELL. make sure you sleep well. people tell you take sleeping pills. i wouldn't do that,. you don't wanna sleep though you're test either. do NOT take any energy drinks. say your prayers. Say Bismillah offer your prayers. and take the test. oh and don't forget to breathe. when you're done. offer your prayers. and FORGET about the test. and party yaaay.
and then call me. hehe
basically over all this is what i would recommend. this is what works for me its what i found out through takin this shit long annoying hell test. it may not work for everyone but i wish someone had told me these things. anyhow this test, it will drive you crazy, you have to make sure you stay sane. no matter what. let me know if there's anything i can help you with at any point. good luck
