I keep pinching myself cause this feels like such a dream. But when you put in the work, anything's possible!! Congrats to everyone who passed, and to those who are going to retake, I have no doubt you'll be posting your pass in October!! <3 Settle down because this post will be detailed, it was posts like these that helped me pass, so I'd like to give back for future students.
post exam opinions- I swear I was sure I failed that exam, I had about 110 flagged, and I was convinced all the ones I wasn't sure about were going to be scored. This feeling is gonna happen, use the waiting time for the score to distract yourself with school, friends and family. It helped me a bit to discuss some choices with friends, but the anxiety was worse than anything I've ever experienced in my life. I felt like there wasn't an equal representation of the subjects, the LEAN was VERY focused on blood vessels and ligaments, I might have gotten 3-4 spitback questions regarding LEAN, but all other questions were second order, where you had to think about the orientation of the foot and landmarks. I also had so much neuro and biochem, I was so grateful I ignored when people said to review those subjects once the day before the exam, cause I swear I had complex questions about those subjects. Overall, very very anxiety inducing, I was stiff as a board the entire exam and I felt like I forgot everything I learned was left at the door. Good note to make: remember some things you're prone to forgetting regarding LEAN physio, important rules, patterns ossification centers, as soon as you start the exam, they'll serve you well. This exam is not reflective for your performance as a future pod, its an exam you just gotta bite the bullet for.
Now for my sources:
LEAN- I rewatched all of my lectures, about 2 a day for almost a month, in May. It was a good refresher on some rules and things that the professors had emphasized would be on the boards during the course like which is first, which is last, what bones have what landmarks etc. I also read Ohio notes 2-3x starting at the end of May until the night before the exam. great resource, 10/10 find and use!! Practice questions were BV, practice exams, and any practice questions I collected during the class itself, as well as the LEAN flashcards. I also received the Scholl notes a few days before the exam, but I didn't get the time to use them, they looked good IMO. I also used some youtube for nerve and vessel injuries like DirtyMedicine.
Micro- when everyone says sketchy, they mean it. USE IT! Its more than enough for your exam, did not use any school notes. BRS is a good source for practice questions, as well as the practice questions sketchy provides, and BV (obvs). The actual exam questions for micro weren't too bad, it was the only subject I was like 80% confident in. I reviewed micro first to get it out of the way, did the anki deck you can find easily on reddit to keep things fresh. And reviewed the images from the sketches the week or 10 days before the exam to solidify my association with the bug and sketch.
Pharm- Used sketchy once again, as well as osmosis to learn MOA's. I also used DirtyMedicine for remembering the MOA's of the drugs. Sketchy was for remembering names and being able to group them, and again for image association. Its alot, so I recommend starting early, and completing once section in 1-2 days, by dividing up your studying, it'll take you about 3-4 weeks to get through it all. Also reviewed the sketches the week before the exam for the same reason I did micro. I also used Rami's Pharm crash course, I WISH I HAD THIS EARLIER!! I got like 7-8 questions right because of this source, piece away at it while you're studying. Lastly, our upperclassmen made a PDF for the final, which was cumulative, and was a HUGE help, so keep your study guides. Having ur pharm course in semester 4 was a big help, so keep your notes. It was very antimicrobials heavy, as well as cardiology and renal. Practice questions were BV, class practice questions. Also downloaded an anki deck for sketchy pharm.
GA- I know 100 concepts seem so minimal and maximal at the same time, but that's truly all you need. Use HyGuru's video to go through about half the 100 concepts, cause sadly that's all that's available. For the rest of the 100 concepts, I watched youtube/osmosis for each "concept" to fill in any blanks. Download the anki and do that over and over again. Practice questions were BV. This was another subject I was quite confident in. Also used sketchy for some confusing concepts, like the GI system.
Physio- Alot of people recommended using our school's review, but I can't be bothered. I read BRS, did not do the questions in the book cause they were crazy difficult. Yes the book is long, but its 7 chapters, one chapter a week, you can get through it. Have a small study guide on the side that you write important rules, arrows, diseases, hormones, etc etc so you don't have to review the whole book again. I also used sketchy to review cardiology, renal and pulmonology. Practice questions were what was provided by our physio professor, BV.
Path- I used Pathoma for the first 4 chapters of the book, by annotating and watching Dr. Sattar's videos, he's the absolute best at reviewing what's important and dumbing it down. Don't be intimidated by the length of the videos, they'll serve you so well. For the rest of the course, I used my school's pathology review given by our professor, which was the best. There were some lower yield questions on the boards itself, but I took the L on them lol. Practice questions with BV.
Neuro- used my school's review, which is for the most part, all encompassing. Watched some DirtyMedicine and 2 Minute Neuro to solidify some concepts that weren't touched on too much. I had too many spinal cord lesion questions, that it's criminal, so review those well. I spent about 3 days reviewing this. No regrets, because many upperclassmen I know told me to just look at it superficially and you'll be fine. If I took their advice, I'd be the opposite of fine right now. Practice questions were BV.
Immunology- Used Osmosis, and a document that was going around in our class that had all the IL's, cytokines, cell types, etc. Practice questions were BV, know these 3 things I wrote like the back of your hand cause they help in questions like path and physio as well. Another subject I didn't take lightly
Biochem- I studied this for 2-3 days, using osmosis and another document that was going around in our class. I also used sketchy to remember crucial steps and processes. Practice questions from BV, but they were toooo easy for what was on the exam. Yet another subject I was told to take with a grain of salt.
Now to questions and my performance on it, oof. *NONE of the questions presented to us for practice are reflective of the exam*, but do them it will help with self assessment.
BV- I scored a 50% the first pass, cause I was doing random quizzes of 30-50 questions daily just to get exposure to questions all the subjects everyday, even if I was studying a totally different subject each day. Anything I saw I was repeatedly getting wrong, I wrote in my notebook, and just read and redid over and over till I got them right. Second pass I scored like 70%, after content review, at this point I was doing quizzes divided into subjects to see where I was weak. Third pass was a few days before the exam and I was scoring in the 90's, likely because I remembered alot of the questions, but it still helped on memorizing what I kept forgetting.
2005/2008 exams- They were mainly first order questions, and since they're so old, not a good reflection of the questions on the actual exam. Just use it as a source for what you need to brush up on, I scored 58 and 60 in both exams in the last 2 weeks.
Prometric- You'd think the company that is administering the exam would have the best questions, haha, sike. These were the easiest of the bunch and I scored 68 and 70 the week before the exam. Again, use it just to see where you stand with regards to what you need to brush up on.
Sketchy/non APMLE oriented questions- the questions are complex-ish but these were actually a bit reflective of the exam, so do them, and alot of the questions are repeat so it helps to see the same question asked differently.
Schedule setup, there are two types of people, feel out which type you wanna be, both are equally efficient.
- one that devotes a week to one subject, do all the practice questions and material that week, then brush up on it in the last week or two before the exam.
- The other type study 1 chapter/section/whatever of one subject everyday, so at the end of the week you have had a little taste of every subject, and which practice questions you do are your choice (random or subject based)
- **Be sure to complete you content review by the time you are at least two weeks away from the exam for practice question, and quick review time**.
I started last week of April and studied 4-5 hours a day 5-6 days a week, and took a day off. Once June came around, I gave up my days off and they turned into 1 evening a week off, and I was studying 7-8 hours a day at this point. Week before the exam, review LEAN pharm and micro if you're crunched on time, I slept, ate, drank boards in the last 3 weeks of studying.
Misc notes
- Use the APMLE curriculum guide to check off what you've studied, and which subjects/topics hold the most importance.
- Have quizlet, anki, BV and a notes app downloaded on your phone. Have all your important study sources loaded on there so you can do some review while commuting, taking in some sunlight, on a walk (this will likely happen in June).
- Please for the love of all that is holy, do not talk to a million people who will tell you their progress, scores, etc. It's so discouraging, I had 2 friends in my class I'd talk to on the daily to just keep accountability and ask questions to. Ignore all the other sounds and people, everyone studies differently.
- Collect your resource and make a file on your computer/tablet and be prepared for when you start studying. Take the advice of upperclassmen with a grain of salt, and study each subject as if it'll 100% be on the exam, and you'll expect complex questions.
- Highly recommend taking a week off after the semester ends and board studying starts, you won't regret it.
- the computers at the testing centers are mad laggy, be patient.
- Watch some of the APMLE "how to prepare" videos on youtube, I watched them when I first started studying, and then again towards the end for consolation when i thought I studied everything all wrong.
- DO NOT COMPARE YOUR PRACTICE QUESTIONS SCORE/PROGRESS IN REVIEW WITH OTHERS PLEASE!!!!!
- Do not think you can do all of this in 3-4 weeks.... you most likely wont be able to without your brain imploding.
-If you're easily anxious (like me) stay off SDN, reddit, forums and sites like such because 1. you're gonna compare, and 2. you're gonna read the posts where people didn't do so hot and you're gonna convince yourself you've failed. During your studies, the only reason you use this site is to gauge which resources people used, find them, and assess if its right for you.
Final notes: remember, most students pass the exam, if not on the first, then the second try. But don't lack in your efforts that you have to take this exam again, taking it once and paying all that money for the exam is enough. Do not give up. This exam is not a reflection of you as a future doctor, simply an exam that stands in your path, it depends on you how much strength you give to get it out of the way.
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