MTB 2 DONE!

Finally done with one reading of Master the Boards along with high yield videos. I had Emergency Medicine left for the day. Didn't take that long to finish. Did a couple of Kaplan questions.

Took the remaining day off to relax. Had some Netflix time. Treated myself for finishing MTB.

Thats it for the day! Had a super casual one.

See you tomorrow.

Cheers!

Psychiatry

 

Today was dedicated to Psychiatry. I have to say that it is pretty much a repetition of what we learnt for STEP 1. MTB was quite a nice read for this topic. 

Did a couple of Kaplan Qbank questions. 

Tomorrow is the last day dedicated to MTB. Emergency Medicine is left. Hopefully I will be done with it and manage to do some questions later.

That is it for today.

See you tomorrow.

Cheers!

Nephrology , Radiology , Ethics

Finally done with nephrology! That was a long topic. I always had an issue with Electrolyte Imbalance and Renal Tubular Acidosis. Have to say that MTB 2 dealt with these topics quite well. Then I did Radiology. MTB covered this very briefly. Kaplan High Yield videos were very good for Radiology though. I guess we will get to learn Radiology better by doing questions. I did Ethics section next. It was like a summary of 100 cases of Ethics by Conrad Fischer. He summarized the topic pretty well in the High Yield videos.

I did a couple of Kaplan questions.

The most fun part of the day was my Zumba class-Man was it fun! Had a nice dinner later.

Was a really good day! Hope everyone is having a great day as well!

See you tomorrow.

Cheers!

Nephrology-2, Oncology

Continued nephrology today. A couple of topics are still left. It got a little monotonous so I did oncology for a diversion. The women who teaches these topics in Kaplan High Yield is really good.

Did a couple of Kaplan Flash Cards.

It was quite a relaxed day. Chilled at home later.

See you tomorrow.

Cheers.

Neurology-2,Nephrology-1, EXAM DATES !

I finished neurology. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed neurology from MTB 2. High yield Kaplan videos went along great with the notes. I started Nephrology. The woman who teaches High yield is pretty good. She gives really good explanations to all the example cases. I would recommend  high yield videos for this topic.

Had a dinner party at home so could not go to the gym today. I had quite a good time though.

Then comes the most interesting part. I got my STEP 2 scheduling permit. I booked STEP 2 CK for the second week of May. I booked CS for the last week of June. I feel quite excited after scheduling the dates! I feel I prepare seriously when I know "the date".

It was quite a fun day!

See you tomorrow!

Cheers!

Gastroenterology-2,Neurology-1

I finished Gastroenterology. This topic can be done pretty fast. The high yield videos for this are decent. I started Neurology. I was dreading this part due to the memories from STEP 1 preparation days. But surprisingly, it was quite a fun read. Maybe because you don't have to learn the itty gritty details which you had to for STEP1. Also, Dr Conrad does a great job with the videos. I managed to finish half of it today. Bottom line, enjoyed studying today.

Had to run some errands after leaving the library. I had a killer workout today-BOOT CAMP. The trainer really pushed us. I feel great whenever I get through such a hard class.

Could not do Kaplan questions today.

Thats it for the day.

See you tomorrow!

Cheers!

Hematology-2 , Gastroenterology-1

Done with hematology.I started Gastroenterology today.I got through esophagus and stomach.
I did a couple of Kaplan Cardiology questions.I am really enjoying Kaplan Qbank.

Had an amazing workout-cycling class was super intense.

I will hopefully finish MTB 2 by January 28. After that I was planning on doing Kaplan Qbank along with a few pages of Kaplan lecture notes everyday for the next month.I have been reading many contrasting views on how useful Kaplan notes are for STEP 2.I guess I will start and then continue them if I find them useful.I spent an obsessive amount of time searching on various forums regarding this today.But now I am going to stick to the plan and just see how it goes.

Im going to call it a night.

Cheers!

Hematology

I started hematology today.Thank goodness Dr Fisher is back for hematology.He keeps you engaged in the subject and makes it interesting.Have to pick up from CML tomorrow.

I attended the part 2 Kaplan live lecture today.It was quite enjoyable actually.But I will not be subscribing to future lectures.They are too expensive and I have not seen any recommendations for them on any forums.

Many people got their results today. I heard the new STEP 2 CK mean is 240 with SD18. It is getting very competitive day by day. I saw many people with 250+ scores. Hearty congratulations to all those who performed well! And to all those preparing- keep going! We will get there!

See you tomorrow.

Cheers!

Rheumatology day 2

Done with rheumatology.I skipped the Kaplan high yield lecture for the remaining topics in rheumatology because they were not very helpful.

I attended the online Kaplan class by Dr. Faselis today. It was a free observation class.It was pretty good actually. The full course it something around $3000 I guess. That is very expensive. For those who are okay to pay that amount of money and have the time to attend, it seems like a useful course.

Was an okay day overall.I have to finish MTB 2  by 28 January.Then seriously start off with Kaplan notes and the Kaplan Qbank.

Thats it for the day.

Cheers!

Pediatrics , Rheumatology

Done with Pediatrics finally.It was going very slow since the last 2 days.But it was good today.I started Rheumatology and I am done with nearly half of it.The high yield videos are not that great for this topic.

Now that the long weekend is over I am excited to go back to the library from tomorrow.I can concentrate well there.I want to finish rheumatology tomorrow and do some Kaplan Qbank  questions.

Otherwise it was quite a boring day. Did not go out. The days I don't go out(at least to the library or the gym) I feel so low. Hope it will be a better day tomorrow-mood wise.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Cheers!

Pediatrics

Still doing pediatrics.It was a lazy Sunday.I could not finish pediatrics today.Have pulmonology and infectious section remaining in pediatrics.I just was not motivated enough to study much today.

Anyways I guess I needed a little break.After all its sunday.Went out for a lovely dinner with the family.

Hope tomorrow is productive.

See you tomorrow!

cheers

Pediatrics

I started Pediatrics today. The guy who teaches Pediatrics in Kaplan high yield is so good. He makes everything so clear. He made it quite a fun experience actually.I finished half of Pediatrics in MTB 2.I was a little unwell today so I couldn't do much.

I will hopefully finish Pediatrics tomorrow and get some Kaplan Qbank questions done.

Hope everyone had a great day! See you tomorrow.

Cheers!

pulmonology part 2 and opthalmology

Done with pulmonology. Man the guy doing pulmonology videos in high yield is boring! Well anyways, its done. I did opthalmology from MTB 2. Its a very small chapter in MTB 2, so that didn't take long.
Did a couple of questions in Kaplan qbank.
Had an awesome work out.HARD but awesome.It was a boot camp session which was pretty intense.
Made myself some garlic broccoli stir fry for dinner.Yum!
It was a good day. :)
Happy weekend!
See you tomorrow.

cheers!

Pulmonology day 1

I finished endocrine and started pulmonology today( in MTB 2).Did half the topic.The Kaplan high yield videos for pulmonology are not that good.This guy literally was reading from the slides and wasn't giving any clear explanations.So I would actually say that if anyone is in a time crunch you could skip these videos from high yield.

Could not get any Qbank questions done today as the Kaplan site was down till almost 2 pm today.
It was an okay day overall.Hopefully I will get pulmonary done tomorrow and start a new topic.

I had an AMAZING workout today.Zumba class was so good.Had a yummy banana shake after the class and a super healthy dinner with lots of veggies. :)

Going to call it a night.

Hope everyone had an amazing day.

See you tomorrow.

Cheers!

Endocrine

I did endocrine today.Almost done with it in MTB2 except for the last page.Most of it is just a revision of what we learnt in STEP 1 actually as most of the diagnostic tests are conceptual as compared to other diseases.So it was pretty interesting.

I could not do Kaplan bank today as I had a family event for which i had to wind up studying by 4 o'clock.

Good day I would say.

I am going to try waking up early tomorrow.Its high time I wake up early!

Goals for tomorrow:

-Wake up early

-Pulmonology in MTB2

-workout

Hope everyone has had a great day!

Cheers!

cardiology done!!!

I finally finished cardiology today!!!

I really liked the way Dr. Conrad Fisher dealt with cardiology.I also did the preventive medicine chapter from MTB2.I started doing Kaplan Qbank today.I like it so far.Till now I find it better than the one for STEP 1.I will try to finish as much of Kaplan Qbank I can before I start UWORLD.

Ultimately it was quite a productive day!

See you tomorrow.

Cheers!

The week begins

I woke up late today!!!I woke up at 9.I know thats super late for a monday.I quickly got dressed,had breakfast and managed to leave for the library by 10. Reached around 10 20.

I started cardiology section of MTB2 today.Got through half of it along with Kaplan high yield videos.It did take quite some time because cardiology is not my strongest section and i really wanted to understand all the concepts.I was at the library till 7 15.

Couldn't go to the gym today as i was at the library studying late.Had dinner and now i am writing this blog post.

I will try to get a little studying done before i go to bed.

Goal for tomorrow:Finish cardiology and maybe endocrine as well.

Thats it for the day!

See you tomorrow.

Cheers!

Lazy Sunday

I got up late today!...around 9... Had a nice breakfast.Weekends are great to have a leisure breakfast when you don't have to be worried about hitting the traffic.I started studying around 10 30.I finished Gynecology pretty fast actually.Then i didn't want to start a big topic as i wanted to start a topic that i could finish.So i did dermatology after that.

I really like Kaplan high yield videos so far! The best thing is when I am reading MTB 2 I don't get bored.Even though FIRST AID was a great book for STEP 1 i didn't enjoy studying it the first time because it was very dry for my liking.I would doze off after 5-6 pages.But as high yield integrates with MTB2 it keeps me engaged.

So I finished studying by five.I didn't want to study after that.Its important for me to chill out at least half a day a week to reboot myself for the week ahead.I watched some Netflix till 7. Then i got ready to hit the gym.Had a decent workout.Got some subway for dinner on my way back.

I think my first week of preparation was decent. I finished Surgery, OBG, Dermatology and first two chapters of Internal Medicine in MTB2(with corresponding high yield videos).

I am gonna maybe watch some youtube or Netflix for a while and call it a night!

Hope its been a great day for everyone.

Cheers!

Sunny Mornings...

What a beautiful morning it was today!
Great beginning to a weekend.
Had to do a bit of tidying up-weekend chores right!

Started studying around 10 30.
I managed to finish obstetrics portion of MTB 2 today along with the corresponding high yield Kaplan videos by around 4 30.
So that felt good!

Tomorrow I want to finish gynaecology notes and videos.And i thought I would start doing a couple of Kaplan Qbank questions everyday-maybe 20 for starters.However,lets see how that works out.

So YES, i went to the gym and worked out today!
Felt really good.
But because its been a while since i worked out my muscles are sore.(Good kind of sore-If you know what I mean! :) )
I definitely am planning on going tomorrow.

Had a great family dinner-the best part about weekends!

Had a good day overall.

See you tomorrow with another update.

Till then-

CHEERS!

Going good so far!

FIRST WEEK OF USMLE STEP 2 CK UPDATE

I have starting going to my happy place again....the library!
It seriously feels like home.
I have to say its been going good so far .
The resources i have been using are: Kaplan high yield videos and master the boards for step 2 ck.
My goal has been to do do at least 24 pages of master the board notes and corresponding videos in high yield.
By this schedule i should be able to finish both the above by january 29.
Thats the plan so far.

Finally adjusting to California weather again!

I am really unhappy with my health!
I am planning to start running....something that does not come to me naturally....but i really want to give it a shot!

Goals for tomorrow:
1.24 pages of master the boards and high yield
2.exercise:5 minutes running on the treadmill
                15 minutes stair-master
                3 sets of 25 squats

Will update with the progress tomorrow!

cheers!