00:00
So let's go ahead
and get started.
00:03
So I am going to be your host
today, my name is Nicole Shinn.
00:06
I'm responsible for
Lecturio Student Engagement.
00:09
Again, this is really
exciting for us today.
00:12
Because this is something that we've
been wanting to do for quite some time.
00:16
And we finally were
able to make it happen.
00:19
And so one of my passions
is working with students,
and just helping you
get through that hump
wherever it is that where
you need that motivation.
00:30
It's one of the things
I love doing the most.
00:32
So I will be your host today.
00:35
And I will be facilitating as we
go through the presentation today.
00:39
Of course, the star of the
show, DocOssareh.
00:45
And so I want you guys to meet
him, I'm introducing him.
00:49
He has a great bio, I mean, this,
he has amazing, done amazing things.
00:54
So I'm going to
turn it over to him.
00:57
The floor is yours.
01:00
Alright, thank you Nicole for
that very nice introduction.
01:03
And hello to everyone
who's on in today.
01:06
So the topic for
today's lecture.
01:09
And this is kind of a focus
that I wanted to have,
you know,
you will study for the USMLE.
01:14
You know, you'll make it through
your first two years of med school,
you'll study for months
and months on USMLE.
01:19
And then test day arrives.
01:21
Really I think one
important key to consider
is how do you ensure
that test day goes well?
You know, you studied,
you planned out resources to use,
you made a schedule, etc.
01:32
All the things that
common people think about,
you study the technique,
you studied all the content.
01:37
And I think logistically,
there is a lot that goes into test day that
I think a lot of value discussing today
to make sure all your hard
work pays off perfectly.
01:45
So that's the topic of what
we're going to do today.
01:47
That's the big overview.
01:49
And we'll have lots of details on how to
make every aspect of the day go perfectly.
01:53
So you earn the high score that
you put all that effort into.
01:56
So my name, I'm DocOssareh.
01:59
I had a YouTube channel
called DocOssareh.
02:01
I've given lectures
in Lecturio platform.
02:03
So a little bit about myself.
02:05
I'm I happen to be an M.D.-M.B.A.,
Southern California train,
I did my own neurology at USC,
my board certified general neurologist,
and I completed a Vascular Neurology
or Stroke Fellowship at Cedars-Sinai.
02:18
And now I work as a
Stroke Neurologist
or Vascular Neurologist
here in Southern California.
02:22
And really,
my whole focus has been,
I am nothing but a normal guy.
02:27
You know, I mean, look at that photo
of me before I had all that great hair.
02:30
That was the beginning
of medical training,
look at my hair now,
the end of medical training.
02:35
But I'm just a normal guy.
02:36
What does that tell you?
Anyone can do what I did.
02:39
And that's what's
been my passion.
02:40
That's why I joined Lecturio.
02:42
That's when you know,
joined years ago,
I made that long lecture series
on how to do well in academia.
02:46
Because if I can do it,
frankly, anybody can.
02:49
I am as average and maybe a
little below average, sometimes.
02:53
You know, but if I can do
it and do well in life,
treat patients well, and you know,
have a great life going here.
02:58
And hopefully you can too,
but just don't want anyone to know.
03:02
And let me try my best to give
you all the techniques I can
to help you ensure some success.
03:07
So let's see.
03:08
Next slide. Okay.
03:09
So, like we said,
when I gave you a little teaser,
you've done it,
you've made it to test day.
03:14
Now what and that's I think
the key is put that framework,
even if you're in the
first year of med school,
the second year USMLE is around
the corner or it's a bit far away.
03:23
This is something you
should think about,
kind of like when
you go on a vacation.
03:27
It's one thing that you want to go
to, say a resort.
03:31
But again, the logistical
planning of getting there,
you want it to be streamlined
to not ruin the outcome.
03:36
The same thing here,
you put a lot of time
into picking a schedule,
the resources, putting in all
those painful hours of studying,
and then also all those painful
complex times of test taking strategy.
03:47
Now you have to execute it,
you don't want anything to go wrong.
03:50
And that's what we're
going to focus on.
03:52
So I highly recommend
that we all discuss
and take seriously what
do you do on test day?
So what happens on test day?
Well, let's start really
quick before test day.
04:02
Let's hope you sleep.
04:03
And I happen to have you know,
I work with students privately as well.
04:07
And you know,
I get texts from different people.
04:09
And recently I had a student
text me the night before.
04:13
She was in a different
timezone, it was 3am my time.
04:16
Why was I awake at 3am?
You know what,
sometimes I can't sleep.
04:19
And she texted me
and she's like,
"I have step one."
"And you know, four or five
hours I haven't slept a wink."
And I was like, "Oh my God."
You know, in my heart,
I said, "Oh my God."
But you know, for
her, I was like,
"That's okay, you'll do okay, you know,
you got to push and push through."
You're not gonna let all
your hard work go to waste.
04:36
So I just say that so you know.
04:38
In real life, you may not sleep
that well the night before.
04:41
And that's okay.
04:42
You know, I want to give
you a real life example.
04:43
It's like we all sleep eight hours before
and wake up to all smiley sunshine.
04:47
No, you may not sleep
the night before.
04:49
You may be super tired,
and you wake up groggy.
04:51
And the last thing you want
to do is take that test.
04:53
You may think to
yourself every minute,
"Man, I just want to quit
I don't want to call in."
Let's just find an excuse.
04:58
"I have diarrhea,
I can't go in." You'll find something.
05:00
No, you got to push through.
05:02
And that's number 1.
05:03
Don't feel guilty,
it's real life.
05:04
Some days you don't sleep good.
05:05
When you have a lot of stress, you'll
definitely not gonna always sleep well.
05:08
If you slept well,
you know you got lucky.
05:11
And if you didn't,
that's okay too.
05:12
So don't worry about
the night before.
05:14
Sleep whatever you can the best you
can, try to take it easy,
I recommend not studying
the night before.
05:21
You kind of want to take
it easy watch some TV
or just kind of
relax and workout
and then go to bed
early the best you can.
05:28
And that's kind of my
before the night thing
and to let you know real things
happen that can make you tired.
05:33
Now, test day.
05:34
Before test day, what we're going to do
is be going to a Prometric testing centre.
05:39
Prometric is a third party
company that is hired
for people to take standardized
exams on different platforms.
05:47
So whether you're
taking the USMLE,
even the MCAT, accounting
tests, different platforms,
you can take it
at these centers.
05:54
So USMLE is only done
at Prometric Center.
05:58
Now Prometric Centers are this really
weird, creepy, sterile environment,
which is kind of the required
because you're going to go there
and you're going to take a test.
06:07
And they have sterile environments
of you know, weird computers,
cubicles they put you in,
there's cameras all around you,
you're getting fingerprint.
06:16
We'll talk about a little
bit more of this in a second.
06:18
But that's where
you're going to go.
06:20
So the first thing you should do
when you sign up for your test date
is know where are the
Prometric Centers around you.
06:25
And once you pick one and schedule
your test day, drive to it.
06:28
Get a sense of what it's like.
06:30
I can't overemphasize
this enough.
06:32
I drove to mine,
I parked where I would normally park,
I walked in, I found the centre,
I feel like I was going to go
in a bin kind of open the door.
06:39
And they asked me What
are you doing here?
And I said, sorry, you know,
wrong, we're gonna walk back out
and just kind of watch
what people were doing
a little bit coming in
and out of the room.
06:46
That's just get a sense of it.
06:47
You don't want to show
up on a damn danger.
06:49
Like, where do I park?
What's the room? Where a suite 201?
You know, or something like this.
06:54
You want to have a -- you know,
a mind frame some pictures in your mind.
06:58
So, you know,
go even the week before,
it's not gonna be
the day before.
07:02
Whenever you have time, drive out there
and get a sense of traffic look on,
you know, waze, see what traffic
times are early in the morning
because your test
is usually at 8am.
07:10
There are pm options,
but most people take 8am.
07:13
So see what the morning
traffic is like,
run that traffic get there.
07:18
And you want to get there early,
at least 30 minutes, if not more.
07:21
I would recommend an hour and
just sit in your car and hang out.
07:23
You know, review material,
whatever you want to do,
but get there it's
an hour early.
07:27
So on test day, what happens?
Let me just review the slide.
Okay.
07:32
So on test day, what happens?
You're going to go in and
they're going to say to you,
"Okay, let's go through
the details here."
So let's discuss the
entire process in detail.
07:40
Now, first thing,
you can actually do a mock test day,
believe it or not at Prometric.
07:45
So what better than to
drive, park, get there etc.
07:51
You can actually do a test day.
07:52
During the pandemic this one away,
but pre-pandemic it was present.
07:56
And it should be present again,
because testing centres are open again.
07:59
And what you do is you will
schedule, I want a mock test day.
08:02
And what they'll do is
they'll give you a day,
usually 2-3 hours,
sometimes one hour only.
08:07
And you'll get to go drive there,
they'll give you a printout,
you'll show up
with that printout,
you'll show up with your
proper form of identification.
08:14
And they'll say to you,
"Okay, you're here for
the Mock USMLE Test day."
And they'll run you
through the whole thing.
08:21
There you walk in, you have to
have your proper documentation,
that's the form that the USMLE gives
you to be able to take the test,
two forms of
identification usually.
08:30
I always brought a passport
and a driver's license,
and the names have to match.
08:34
If they don't,
you need to have a third piece of paper,
it's usually notarized or
very formal that explains
why the pay for your name isn't
matching to make it clear to them.
08:42
They're very strict about this.
08:45
Everything these people
are so strict about.
08:48
And you have to think why.
08:49
Prometric is a company
that makes money from USMLE
and other testing people
to operate this test.
08:56
If they hear from someone or a
complaint that oh, we gave a test
and you weren't sure on the name
or maybe someone cheated, etc.
09:03
That could jeopardize prometrics
entire business model,
and they're not going to
get any more business.
09:08
So Prometric doesn't care about
you, they care about themselves.
09:11
So they will do everything
they can to follow the rules,
and they're not going
to kind of budge at all.
09:15
They're pretty strict.
09:16
And you'll even see
when you go there.
09:17
They're worse than the
TSA, they're rude.
09:19
They're strict, they're awkward.
09:21
They kind of treat you
like a prison inmate.
09:23
And you know,
just be ready for that mentally.
09:25
It's not going to be a fun day.
They're not nice to you.
09:28
So the mock is great.
09:29
You get there, you get your paper,
you give your documentation,
you get a sense of how
they kind of mess with you.
09:34
They give you a locker key,
and then you have access to a locker.
09:37
You have to put
everything in that locker.
09:39
You can't have a watch on even
because you know they'll think,
Oh, what if it's broadcasting
into your ear or your brain
and giving you cheat codes.
09:48
You cannot bring in any pencils.
09:50
No cell phones, obviously.
Nothing.
09:53
The only jewellery you can have is
like a wedding band and that's it.
09:56
Bracelets are not allowed.
09:58
I think an earring is allowed
maybe, maybe not.
10:00
Just don't wear anything.
10:02
This is my point: Don't have a
risk of having anything go wrong.
10:07
So I don't wear jewellery,
I don't wear watches, nothing.
10:10
So just kind of get that
sense going into it,
they'll fingerprint you,
they'll run you through the,
you know, show us up your
sleeves and the scanning
with high COVID more
of that in a second.
10:19
And then it'll put you
at a weird computer.
10:22
And you know, it's usually Dell
or HP really old black desktop,
and they'll sit you there.
10:26
On the right, you'll have a
cubicle you're sitting in,
and on the right side,
there'll be like two different headphones.
10:32
One is the headphone like
this that you can hear on.
10:34
So the test, say has heart sounds
or lung sounds, you can hear them.
10:38
And then there's other big
headphones like this also.
10:41
But they're the ones
that go over your ear.
10:43
And they kind of function
like they're noise cancelling.
10:46
So that you can have
complete silence in your ear.
10:49
It's like what you see people on
the runways of airports wearing,
it's the same thing.
10:53
And they can also give you little ear
plugs you would put into your ear.
10:56
So you'll see all those options.
10:58
Depending on the test site,
they will also give you two pencils,
and a blank piece of paper
or two blank pieces of paper,
or two pens and two
laminated pieces of paper.
11:10
Depending on what age sites different,
depending on what resources they use,
and then they'll let you only
bring in your one form of ID,
that's the only personalized
thing you can bring in
and the key to your locker.
11:23
So you're going to walk into there,
you'll have your pencils or pen,
the paper,
whatever they gave you,
your driver's licence,
your key, and that is it.
11:32
And you're just going
to go into the room,
you do the mock test,
it's like an hour or so long.
11:37
And usually it's like a
little sample USMLE thing.
11:40
There's no score, there's no
report, it doesn't go anywhere.
11:43
It's just for your education.
11:45
They don't tell you how you did,
you don't know your
score, nothing.
11:48
But so just a day
for you to do that.
11:49
And the nice thing
is, it's a few blocks.
11:51
So you can do a block,
find out what it's like to take a break
because for a break,
you got to get up,
you got to go out you got to
go through security again,
fingerprinting sign out,
that eats up some time.
12:02
You can try going to the bathroom,
using your locker key etc.
12:05
Coming back, checking back in again,
fingerprint security metal scans
up your sleeves up your things
to check all your pockets,
signed back in, go sit at the
desk, again that eats up more time.
12:16
These are all good things
to get a sense that as to
what is your
Prometric Center like.
12:20
Most prometrics are
very streamlined.
12:23
These people are fast efficient to
the point they're not lollygagging
because they know you have
a time sensitive test,
and then I hear to
mess with your day.
12:32
So that's the beauty of this.
12:33
And then they'll give you a piece of paper
saying you did it and you get to go home.
12:37
This is the beauty
of the mock test day,
it's the full days, you know,
exposure, but you get to do it early.
12:44
You drive there, you park,
you get the sensation,
you go in and check in
you do some questions,
you take a break and come
back in etc you leave.
12:52
And now you have a lot of mental
framework of what was this like?
What was you know, the test day like
what was so weird about it, etc?
Now, you know.
13:01
So that's the beauty
of the mock test day.
13:03
When you want to do this,
it's the same as when you schedule
it's an option on the pull down menu.
13:07
If you can't figure it out,
call Prometric, call USMLE
tell them, "I heard I can do a
mock test day. How do I do it?"
If it's not in the website,
call them and make them tell you.
13:17
So that's the rationale there.
13:22
Let's see next slide.
13:24
Okay, how to prepare your documents,
packers applies for success?
This is key.
13:28
So as you notice, and
yes, I did do a mock test.
13:32
Of course, it was great.
13:34
I'm telling you about it.
So so fantastic.
13:35
Okay, so how do you prepare your
documents and supplies for test date?
This is key.
13:39
This is kind of like when you're
packing your bags to go to
a trip, you know,
like packing your bag intelligently
versus throwing in random stuff
will make a big difference.
13:48
So here,
I actually brought a folder.
13:50
This is a Word document file.
13:54
So what I did was I printed
my you know the thing
they give you to allow
you to go into test day,
I put in my ID card and
my passport in there.
14:03
And that was like
my document package
because that's what
you have to bring.
14:07
Then the question is, well,
what foods do you bring?
Boy, oh boy is that
critical or what?
So food is everything here.
14:15
So.
14:17
Sorry, one quick thing I want to
mention on real test and the mock day,
you are given access
to a 15-minute tutorial
on how do you use a
mouse or a keyboard?
Does your screen work?
Can you hear on your
headphones, etc?
On mock test day run
that entire 15-minute,
What's it called a
finish, sorry.
14:40
So on mock test day,
run that entire 15-minutes roll,
read every line etc get
comfortable with it.
14:46
Because on real test day,
we're going to pass right through
that tutorial to add 15 minutes
to our total break time.
14:52
So just thing before I forgot
to mention that I see here.
14:56
So remember, do the entire
tutorial on mock test day
because on a real test day,
you don't want to do it.
15:02
Also so you don't get to do a
mock or you forget, that's okay.
15:06
Because you can actually
do the mock tutorial,
or excuse me the tutorial
online on USMLE website.
15:12
So they're kind of
nice about that.
15:14
Now going back to the
supplies you bring up.
15:16
We have 3 questions before you
go talking about mock tests.
15:19
Sharon would like to know,
how do we track the time
when taking a break
out and watch?
That's very smart.
So on, you'll see on the website, so like,
here's the screen up on
the on this site actually,
so if you're looking
will be a clock.
15:35
And it'll have a countdown timer for
your block and for the entire test day.
15:40
So you actually have to keep track
by just using that one clock.
15:44
And I actually think it's
more valuable to use that
as opposed to using your watch.
15:49
Because your watch is kind
of all over the place.
15:51
You know,
you could get distracted with time,
how long was my break,
pretty hard to keep track of.
15:56
And we'll talk about how to time
your breaks in the next slide or two.
15:59
But you look at the top clock,
you see the clock going down,
you know you have
an hour per block.
16:05
And you have a few minutes
for a break, 5 or 7.
16:07
Just keep that so I look at the time
and I say, "Okay, write it down."
I got an hour to go, next one.
16:13
And so that's how you keep
track of your timeline
by looking at the countdown clock
on the top right hand corner.
16:18
That'll be the key.
16:20
Next, how do you bring the
documents practice class?
We talked about documents bring the
folder, two forms of ID,
the paper that has your name on it
saying you're taking a test that day.
16:29
And then what do you bring?
Number 1: So it's just
-- closing and the food.
16:32
That's all you're gonna
bring it with you.
16:34
I'm just gonna make
a quick side here.
16:36
Do not bring any test study
material into the testing center.
16:42
You're technically not even supposed
to have it in your car or on you.
16:45
That's technically a violation.
16:48
Do the majority of people
said there in their car
reading first date, of
course, no one's that crazy.
16:52
They're not going to come into
your parking lot, y'all crazy.
16:54
But don't bring it
into a test room.
16:56
They'll make a scene
until you take it out.
16:58
And that just feels uncomfortable
with a lot of anxiety.
17:00
And it is considered cheating.
17:02
So if you have like a book
in there that they didn't see
and you're taking a
break and you opened it,
they see the book, problems.
17:08
So do not bring any
material into the room.
17:11
Leave it in the car,
leave it at home, I don't care.
17:13
Don't take the risk.
17:15
And guess what if you say
like you're taking a break,
and you're like man in my
car, I could look this up.
17:19
I just had this
question about it.
17:20
Don't do it. Don't be stupid.
17:22
If you get caught, gameover.
17:24
The one thing you may remember,
maybe it'll come up later.
17:27
Maybe it won't.
It ain't worth it.
17:29
Don't do it.
17:29
Don't take any
risks on this day.
17:31
It's the most
important test day.
17:33
You know your medical career is on all
these little stupid tests, don't risk it.
17:37
So, close.
17:39
What do you wear?
I keep it simple.
17:41
Most testing centres are cold.
They run the AC.
17:44
Why do they run the AC?
I'm not sure maybe
to torture you.
17:47
But I always wear long pants,
socks and some super
comfortable shoes.
17:52
I usually wear like clogs
because it's what I used to wear
back in the day in the hospital.
17:56
My last test at worst on my
crocs, I know very attractive.
18:00
You can also wear some
vans that's my worst
like skateboarding shoes
just be comfortable.
18:03
And then you know,
kind of loose baggy jeans and a T shirt
and then a like
pullover sweater like,
what's it called,
like a pullover hoodie sweater.
18:13
The reason here is you cannot --
So the clothes there.
18:19
You cannot technically take your jacket
on or off during your testing canter.
18:24
Usually you can do it,
no one's gonna care, like just unzip it.
18:27
You can open it if you're hot.
And if you're cold, zip it back up.
18:31
The reason is,
you don't want to like overdressed warm
and then you can't be like you
know, take off all your clothes.
18:36
They'd asked you to step outside,
you know eat up your time to do that.
18:39
So long pants is chill,
put on some shoes,
a t-shirt because if you're
cold you can zip up the hoodie
and if you're hot open it
up and kind of do like this.
18:48
And you're good to go.
18:48
If you notice going to test
day, it's really hot.
18:51
On your next break,
you could just take off a sweater
even take off your socks and
put your shoes on without them
or just walk around with your socks.
I don't know.
18:58
No one's gonna care.
18:59
But you can protect
your temperature.
19:00
Who cares how you look?
I just took my neurology boards last
September I showed up in scrubs,
you know because I'm comfortable in scrubs.
I wear them.
19:07
I showed up in scrubs.
19:10
Yeah, and then I see a question
here from Excel Judy or Jude.
19:13
Do not, no.
19:14
Can you review notes on a break?
No.
19:16
You do that you're
gonna get slammed.
19:18
These people are so strict.
19:19
So high school, man people are
chill in high school entrance test.
19:22
This is your medical
licence, you know.
19:24
The lives of people
is in your hand.
19:25
Don't do a girl or a boy.
19:28
Okay,
so we talked about clothes,
wear some comfortable shoes,
don't wear flip flops,
it gets cold socks,
loose jeans, pants,
you know a t-shirt and
like a zip up hoodie.
19:37
And again,
I recommend zip or button
so you can open it
like this to stay cool.
19:42
You know kind of some pro tips and again,
they're going to be picky about the hood.
19:45
You can't put it on.
19:47
They're annoying,
but I like to keep it on my neck.
19:49
Okay, and that's it.
19:50
Now. food.
19:51
What do you do for food?
So we talked about the
supplies the folder,
we talked about the clothes,
the classic setup, you know.
19:57
You look like a young
college kid sort of.
19:59
And then for the food.
20:01
I brought a lot of food.
20:03
I could have fed three
kids with the food I bring.
20:05
And I do it on every
single test day.
20:07
Why?
You don't want to run out,
who cares stored away at the end.
20:12
So drinks, snacks and main courses
is in the restaurant, it's USMLE.
20:17
Some drinks, I would
bring, I think a coffee.
20:21
Oh, thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
20:23
I'm not good at the slides.
20:24
So I'd bring the coffee, okay.
20:27
And then I always bring a small thing of
coffee cuz I don't want to get to buzz.
20:30
I bring some tea because I like
to start the morning with coffee
and then have tea later.
20:35
Do whatever works for you.
20:36
If you're a person that
likes to slam bread bowls
and do crazy things,
don't change it now.
20:41
I just never liked that stuff.
20:42
I couldn't do energy drinks.
20:43
They were too high low for me.
20:45
And I can't drink
too much coffee.
20:46
So I had a little coffee in
the morning I finished it.
20:49
And then I went to
tea and then water.
20:51
I also brought Gatorade
because sometimes
you just need that sugar
kind of to help you going.
20:55
So that's my thing.
20:56
Every little small
thing a coffee.
20:57
A big thing a tea
like a big thermos,
a big thing of water
and I think of Gatorade.
21:03
So that's my drink setup.
21:04
Snack setup.
21:05
I bring bananas just whole bananas because
you can peel them and eat a really quick.
21:10
Chocolate you know,
it's like chocolate you break off squares
and again, you can just you
can eat that and walk in
that's kind of the
beauty of this.
21:17
Again, a dark chocolate gets
a bit more spice for your life
and it kind of
wakes you up more.
21:21
Apples, cut them up,
don't try to eat them like this, you know,
chewing and making a big scene
cutting up shoving your mouth
you could eat him with the skin.
21:29
Why? Spice of life, exactly.
21:31
Apples to keep you more awake,
the skin eat the red one, so yummy.
21:36
Okay, that's just me.
21:37
You can have a snack to
like, but that's my setup.
21:39
And then main course one
thing one thing only.
21:41
Classic. What is it?
What is it? PB&J.
21:45
Right? Are we in high school?
Are we in kindergarten?
I don't know.
21:47
But PB&J is my favorite.
21:49
Why?
When I was studying for step 1,
first I would go library
I'd bring banana with me
PB&J and Apple and like
a water and my tea.
21:57
So that was kind of my setup.
21:58
And I wasn't going to
break it on game day.
22:00
I didn't even change the
brand of coffee that I use.
22:03
I was drinking like this
weird cheap you bond stuff.
22:06
And I kind of outgrew it.
22:07
But on test day I bust out
that cheap you bond....
22:10
This is my point to you,
whatever you eat and drink
in normal life, do it on test
day, don't try to mix it up.
22:16
Don't be eat heavy,
don't be eat in crazy.
22:19
And I'm just telling
you the foods that I eat
because it's just
works well for me.
22:25
And hopefully you can kind
of copy them if you like.
22:27
But don't eat anything heavy.
22:28
Don't eat anything intense because the last
thing you want is to eat a lot of food,
all that blood to go
into your enteric system,
you're going to get tired
lightheaded, not what you want.
22:36
You want to be like an athlete,
just keep racing that endurance pattern.
22:40
That's the goal of what we want.
22:41
So that's my
rational for my food.
22:44
And if you notice,
none of my food is messy.
22:47
The PB&J,
you eat it in a ziploc bag,
the apples you just put an
amount, chocolates in the wrapper,
bananas peeled, throw it away.
22:54
So clean, easy, efficient.
22:55
So that's my style.
22:57
So we talked about how
to bring the documents,
what clothes to wear,
what food to eat.
23:00
Now, the most difficult thing of all,
how do you time your breaks, man?
Okay,
you have seven blocks on USMLE.
23:08
When I took it
initially it was 6,
then they changed it.
23:12
Why?
To make you suffer, that's why.
23:15
Really, I think they did.
23:16
Because if you have more blocks,
true you have less
questions per block.
23:21
But now it means your...
23:24
break time is a lot less.
23:26
So if you have 7 blocks,
the first question you have is,
well, when do I take a
break relative to the block.
23:33
So you know,
you go in on exam day,
you know, you get given your --
Information, they'll give you the key,
you open up the key to the
locker, you put your food,
you know your ID in there.
23:44
And that's it, so simple.
23:47
And then you know, you go in
there they do the fingerprinting,
they do the metal
detection, they sign you in.
23:52
And then you go into the room you sit
down, you click start,
and it'll say here's a 15-minute
tutorial to waste your life
and to eat up 15 minutes
of your break time.
24:00
Don't use that 15-minute tutorial
because either experienced it.
24:05
Can you drink water if it
isn't a break time? No.
24:08
How are you going
to have the water?
You can't have water
by the computer.
24:11
You don't let you go until you,
when you go in all you
get is the pen or paper
and the pencil thing you
know, pen, pencils and paper,
your key for the
locker and your ID.
24:20
That's it.
24:22
You can't drink water.
24:23
For that hour, you got to be
a big kid gotta toughen up.
24:27
Alright,
so you go into the room.
24:29
And you know you sit down the
computer, you click start the tutorial
because you saw the
tutorial on the mock day
or we logged into the platform that
you download something on Java,
JavaScript, that's old school,
and that opens up the tutorial
for you on your own home computer
where you can experience
it and test it.
24:46
The only thing I recommend
testing on actual exam day
is make sure the
screen looks fine,
which takes the longest
look and there it is
and make sure you
put on the headphones
and they'll have a button
for your test that, you know,
the headphones speakers, hit test,
hear the audio make sure work.
25:01
If those two things are
good, you know,
it'll have you type a little something
you want to type on to somebody,
it's all a mouse click,
you know, click Next.
25:09
And you're good to go,
just keep hitting next,
I think they're important to
read because you already read it.
25:13
And then you just now consumed
your 15 minutes of break time
into your normal break time.
25:18
So if they give
you several blocks,
they give you an hour per block,
and then you get 45
minutes of break time.
25:28
And if you don't use your
15 minutes of your tutorial,
now you have an hour break time.
25:33
So you go in, you click start,
finish the tutorial, you hit, let's go,
block one is initiated.
25:39
So if countdown timer
starts in the top right,
where you will see a total time
countdown and the block countdown
because you only have an hour per
block that then I kind of let you,
you know, spend too much time
per block and not get it done.
25:51
They're gonna make
sure you get it done.
25:53
So but there is a little bit of wiggle
room where you could screw it up.
25:56
So you'd start block one,
you know, it's an hour,
and you start doing the questions
because you were doing Qbanks at home,
you know you're doing and then
the blocks coming to an end.
26:05
And then you finish it.
26:07
If you finished before an hour,
you know, you could finish
and whatever time you finished early
does get added to your break time.
26:13
So that's nice.
26:14
They don't take
it away from you.
26:15
And then then you
finish the first block,
then the question is,
do you take a break or do you keep going?
This is completely based
on how you prepped.
26:25
So I was the type that
after every block,
I wanted to get up, go to the
bathroom, drink a little water,
eat a little snack,
sit back down kind of move.
26:33
That was me.
26:35
I knew people who on test day
did you know two blocks
three blocks back to back
and then it took a break.
26:41
I even know one person who
did the entire test sitting
that was psycho to
me, don't do that.
26:46
I don't know, I don't like that.
26:47
I like the idea of being normal,
you know,
take a break after you block,
maybe take a break
every two blocks
in between, you know,
after four blocks,
have a little lunch
break for yourself.
26:56
So that's what I did.
26:57
So here's my setup,
complete block one,
then take a 7-minute break,
go to the bathroom, eat a little piece
of apple, -- a fourth that your sandwich,
a little bit of coffee, tea,
water, whatever you want,
and then come back in.
27:10
And remember,
it takes about 4 minutes to you know,
get out and back in into the center
with the fingerprinting the name,
the you know,
scanning for metal, etc.
27:22
So that's already 4 minutes
that you're seven gone,
and gives you 3 minutes to run to the
bathroom and eat and come back in.
27:28
So I just tell you
be ready to move.
27:31
Like it's not like a casual break,
it's kind of a rushed break.
27:35
But you know,
you can get up move around.
27:37
So I did a break
after every block.
27:39
And I gave myself 7 minutes at
the halfway point after block 4.
27:44
You know, because it's seven blocks.
After all, it's kind of odd,
you could do it after break block 3 or
block 4, whenever you want to eat lunch,
then I took a 15-minute break.
27:53
Gave myself a little more time.
27:55
You know, after block 3 or 4,
I would recommend doing it after 4.
27:58
Because after you've
done four out of seven,
you need a moment
to recalibrate.
28:03
And this is the most important
thing I may tell you today.
28:05
It's a concept
called buckling down.
28:07
I was taught this years ago and it's
been paramount to my life and success.
28:12
Whenever you start to feel tired or
weak or I don't I'm kind of over it.
28:17
That's when you feel
that you tell yourself,
"Listen,
everyone feels is right now,
if I can buckle down and double
down to work harder focus
and you know,
recalibrate myself.
28:27
Now with everyone else
starts to drift down,
I'm going to drift up so eat now the
gap between my success will be greater.
28:33
So throughout the assembly
and throughout life,
when you start to feel the urge to
be slacking and lazy, amp it up.
28:39
And that's the point where you
will differentiate yourself
from other people and
get better in life.
28:43
And in this case,
do better on the exam.
28:45
So block 1, 7-minute break,
take block 2, 7-minute break,
block 3, 7-minute break,
block 4, 15-minute lunch break, eat a
whole sandwich, go to the bathroom again,
drink a little more water, etc.
28:59
So I like to take a
break after everyone,
I go to the bathroom after every
block, I eat a little bit and snack.
29:05
And then like I
said, after block 4,
we take our 15-minute break,
which is our lunch break.
29:10
And then after you complete block
7, you're all done.
29:12
That's nice.
29:14
So that's our snack schedule.
29:16
We talked about
the break schedule.
29:17
And now the question becomes some
personal time management here.
29:20
Now, this is kind of going to be contingent
on how you practice on your Qbank.
29:25
But for me, I would get the
questions done in under an hour.
29:29
Not drastically a couple minutes.
That's fair --.
29:31
And it's up to you
whether you want to...
29:38
Sorry, it's up to you whether
you want to use that extra time
that you finished early and
just apply it to your break time
or if you want to eat
up the hour of you know,
because you'd like to have
each block just be one hour
because you're like I don't
need that much break time
and just review questions
that you flagged.
29:54
Up to you,
I repeat questions that I flagged
and I told myself, "Don't change it unless
you're 100% sure it needs to be changed."
Just in general thing,
they do say that if you change the answer,
if you pick one, you're likely
going to go from right to wrong.
30:09
Unless you're 100% rights
that no longer applies to you.
30:12
So that's where I think you could
do an override from this myth.
30:15
And just, you know,
kind of tell yourself,
I know what I'm doing.
I picked it initially wrong.
30:20
I thought about some more,
I think actually it, I'm more clear now.
30:23
So if I have time left over on a block
and the hour section of each block,
I use it up,
I don't apply it to my break.
30:28
I think there's ample break time
because I'm quick to get in and out,
go to the bathroom and snack.
30:33
So kind of how that works.
30:36
Yeah, so we talked about that.
30:37
Okay, now,
the importance of your mental state,
and how it leads to success.
30:41
So this is a bit about,
we kind of gave a teaser about it,
about your mental health.
30:48
Looking forward to how you decide
to fight question, that's up to you.
30:51
So when you're doing a question,
you can you know,
if you're unsure,
I pretty much like anything
I'm uncertain about,
which means I may flag
a lot of questions.
31:00
But again, that's my style.
31:01
That's how I did it
when I was cube banking.
31:03
That's how I did it
when I was preparing.
31:05
So it only made sense to
kind of continue doing that.
31:09
Now, you may find that that's
not going to work for you.
31:12
Because after you
finish your test,
if you have a bunch of things
flagged How do you review?
I just likes to do that.
Because after I reviewed them,
I mean, after I flagged them,
after I finished the block,
I could go back and look at it.
31:22
I just like to see what
I was uncertain about.
31:25
And I could be like,
Yeah, I still don't know,
I don't know on the flag
it I make it go away
or if I think you know what,
I think I could figure this out
and have time left over.
31:32
I give myself a minute or 2 extra and
try my best to get that one right.
31:35
So that's my strategy
for flagging.
31:38
Alright, so the importance of your mental
state and how it can lead to success.
31:41
This is outrageously important.
31:42
How you go into there
is so important,
you got to have the
right state of mind.
31:46
If you're for dazzled or freaking out
are panicking isn't going to help.
31:50
And if you're too disconnected
like that, either.
31:52
So, number 1 that we said,
you know,
the day before the exam,
that's when the mindset starts.
32:00
Don't go crazy.
32:01
Don't be doing a bunch of
questions and a bunch of tests.
32:04
And then maybe you don't do well
and you start doubting yourself
in like, oh my god,
I'm gonna fail.
32:08
Let's not do that.
32:09
It's just too late review all day,
you've done plenty of questions.
32:12
If you haven't then
okay, it's a choice.
32:14
You're gonna be slamming
questions to get into it.
32:16
But if you hopefully have been you
know, preparing well,
you feel comfortable with
your questions, skills,
and you can just take do
some light review all day
and take the afternoon evening
off, take a chill,
sleep the best you can and
accept that it may not work.
32:30
And again accepting this and
having this mindset beforehand,
sets expectations and
makes the day go easier.
32:36
You need to be relaxed and calm.
32:38
You know, don't do anything
wild than I have before.
32:41
Do not celebrate.
You're not even done yet.
32:43
Wait till you're
completely done.
32:45
Don't even think about celebrating
until you're completely done.
32:48
Here's a real life thing.
32:49
I remember I was taking a
different test and this guy,
he was like man,
I had planned this whole party
to go to Vegas after my test
and towards the end of his test
he was thinking about the trip
what club he was going to go to
who is going to hang out
with and it distracted him
and that's what I mean.
33:08
Don't think too much
about what am I going to
you know, don't put
yourself in that position.
33:12
The mind frame is so important.
33:15
So really focus on
putting yourself simple,
think about celebrating later
you have plenty of time etc.
33:21
Eat, you know, eat
clean, wake up early.
33:24
Because you know last thing you want
to do is wake up in the morning rushed
like "O my god I slept in",
"Oh my god I didn't plan this well."
Now there's lots of
traffic I may be late
quickly getting things ready.
No.
33:35
Get all the food ready
the night before.
33:38
Everything piled up
ready to go into pile
documents already so
all you do is wake up,
do your quick morning
routine whatever it is,
eat some breakfast.
33:48
You know, put on your clothes that
you've already prepared the night before
because we talked about our
outfit, put them on,
grab the food,
grab the documents and go.
33:59
So that's that's a
good trick there.
34:01
And that's simple because
you want to remove things.
34:03
Again you don't get
there an hour early,
I don't care sit your
car watch YouTube.
34:08
You know take it easy do questions
if you want I don't care flashcards.
34:11
But again, get there early
because last thing you want to do
is be rushing worried
about traffic,
maybe get a speeding ticket etc.
34:17
Don't do that, be clever wake up
early, be prepared, take it easy.
34:22
Now like I said when
you mental frame here
this is going to be quite a second
most important thing I tell you.
34:27
When you get there you're going to see
a bunch of other kids taking the test
because the way Prometric
does it is they have like
sections of test days that
they do for different tests.
34:35
So when you go there mostly
kids are gonna be taking USMLE.
34:38
You know the day before
it could have been
most the case taking
the accounting exam etc.
34:42
Now, when you go there you guys
see a lot of other kids in there
and they're all going to be you know,
having their med school sweaters on,
talking about step 1 that we
chit chat with each other.
34:52
Stay away from it.
34:54
Like I said, the second most
important thing I'm telling you today,
stay away from it.
34:58
Be that weird kid look at the
floor, look at the corner,
go sit by yourself, don't talk to
anyone, don't make eye contact.
35:04
The last thing you want to do is
be talking to all these people
and getting yourself messed up.
35:10
Because all those kids who are talking
or their little chatter annoying boxes,
who are trying to get
into everyone else's head,
and those people
are gonna think,
"Oh, yeah, I did, you
know, a Qbank five times,
and I've been scoring,
you know, perfect,
and I want to go into
or so or plastics."
I don't care what
anyone has to say.
35:26
All that is,
is noise that's getting into your head
and distracting
you from success.
35:31
So I'm really big about that.
35:33
Be in your own mind.
35:35
You can't unfortunately,
put in headphones, listen to music,
they make a thing
about that again.
35:39
So what do I do, I just sit there and kind
of like serve myself, look in the corner.
35:42
Don't talk to anyone.
35:44
You know, who cares what
anyone thinks about you,
this is your very
important test day.
35:48
So ignore everyone.
35:50
Don't talk,
try your best to not hear anything.
35:53
A lot of testing centers now
have a no talking policy,
which it's really creepy,
when you go in there it's dead silent.
35:59
But I like it now before
it wasn't like that.
36:01
So you might hopefully it's
like that where you go.
36:04
And, you know,
just kind of keep yourself
away from all that baloney,
from all that noise, let it go.
36:08
And again, don't bring your
phone into testing center.
36:11
Leave it in the car, the last
thing you want to do is them saying
your phone went off, you got a
taxi looked at it. That's cheating.
36:17
Don't even take the risk.
36:18
Don't bring anything in except
the clothes you're wearing,
your document package
and the food and drink.
36:23
That's it. Keep it simple.
36:25
Now, so that's the
importance of mental state.
36:27
And I'm telling you, you got to
plan all the stuff the night before.
36:29
So you have a low
stress morning,
get there, keep to yourself,
stay in your own bubble.
36:33
And the truth is me a lot better because
you're in your own zone the whole time,
no one can distract you.
36:40
All right, now here are some tips
for how to stay focus on exam day.
36:44
Now, if you're taking step 1,
you have a lot of experience
for taking very long exams
for extended period of times, you may
have taken an exam to get into undergrad,
you may have taken an exam to get in for
the MCAT to get into med school, etc.
37:00
This isn't rare to you.
37:01
So this is where it's important.
37:03
You know the sense you
got to go back again
to the first most important thing
I told you about buckling down.
37:09
If you have seven
blocks on exam day,
and you're on block
five, let's say or six,
when you start to get tired.
37:15
This actually happened
to me on step 1,
I started to get so tired.
37:20
For a few moments,
I had some doubts that I was like,
You know what,
I may not be able to do this.
37:25
I'm tired. Like I don't know
what's going to happen here.
37:28
And what I had to
do was buckle down.
37:31
I told myself, man,
I won't block six.
37:33
I'm tired as hell,
I don't feel like doing this.
37:35
All I want to do is go home.
37:37
But I have no choice.
I'm here, I'm stuck.
37:39
I might as well suffer,
you know, make it happen.
37:44
So what do you do that you
have to mentally tell yourself,
everyone else must be tired too.
37:48
And they're all slacking now.
37:50
So what am I going to do?
I'm going to amp it up.
37:52
So how would you do this,
you can just magically turn it on.
37:56
Number 1. You got to tell
yourself that and go okay, got it.
37:59
Second, there is this thing you
can do called a tension exercise
to help yourself get better.
38:05
When you're in the room,
this is where you do this.
38:08
Now you sit there and
he served from your feet
and you go all the way up to your neck
and you start contracting every muscle,
your toes, your foot, your calves,
your thighs, your buttocks, your core,
your back, your arms, your
shoulders, your neck and your face.
38:20
And you hold it for like 10-15
seconds, whatever you can.
38:24
And then you suddenly let it all
go and you take a deep breath.
38:27
You're allowed to take deep
breaths, right exam day.
38:29
You're actually also
allowed to talk to yourself,
I talk to myself a lot.
38:34
And not like in a weird way
but like I kind of like...
38:36
Could this be this could be
done, I don't know.
38:38
And I kind of read
questions in a whispery tone
my 25 year old male past
medical history, okay,
you know, that's okay, no one's gonna care.
Everyone kind of does that.
38:47
So do this kind of you know,
tense thing go, take a deep breath,
no one's gonna care, you can breathe,
take noise, it makes some noises.
38:54
So that's something you can do when you're
in the test we can't leave for a break
in the middle of a blocking
need to recalibrate.
38:59
Take 30 seconds to do that
it helps tremendously.
39:02
Something separate you can do is
we need to block for the break,
run around outside.
39:09
You know, kind of move stretch yell
I don't care what you got to do.
39:12
Do whatever you got to do to get
it out to wake yourself back up.
39:15
So that's what you know the
brakes are for amp yourself up.
39:18
There are some people okay,
I forgot to tell you this,
who bring stimulants with them.
39:23
Whether you take them or not,
whether it's caffeine gum, nicotine gum,
nicotine patches, prescription drugs,
illegal illicit drugs, I don't care.
39:33
Some people do them probably a lot
more than people want to do them.
39:36
I would say I've seen too many
things on Prometric bathrooms.
39:39
But just so you know, you
know, don't do anything crazy.
39:42
You know, if other people have seen
it, they could report you.
39:44
So just be aware.
39:46
You know, this is a zone where you
have to really protect yourself.
39:49
So be cautious.
39:51
Now, okay, so that's kind of some key
things to stay focused, double down,
buckle down when you get hard.
39:56
It'll make you different
for everyone else.
39:58
Do the tension
techniques early on.
40:00
In exam rooms during the breaks,
run outside, eat some foods,
get the sun, go to the bathroom a
lot, a lot of water,
whatever you got to
do to make it happen.
40:08
And we talked about the
stretching technique already.
40:11
So perfect.
40:11
And then let's go through
some art big takeaway points,
we discussed a lot of logistical things
that hopefully now are simple to you.
40:20
So get the test takes
place in a very awkward
and sterile Prometric
testing centre,
you want to be familiar,
do a mock test drive there beforehand,
get a sense of what it's like,
so that when you get there,
you're not totally freaked out,
or hopefully through this lecture,
you kind of heard,
okay, it's a really weird thing.
40:37
They're making you dress certain
I can't bring anything in with me.
40:42
No water, no pills, no, nothing,
you know, they're scanning me for metal to
show them up my sleeves and up my ankles
at minutes to get fingerprinted assigned
in and out now that you're aware of it.
40:53
And hopefully you
can experience it,
that can really help
you on exam day.
40:57
And again,
plan every single break.
40:59
I spent so much time
before test day.
41:01
So there was paper, writing block
1, block 2, you know,
all the way to block seven,
I had six but you guys have seven now
and thinking okay, 45
minutes, let's just say at 50
because it used up
five by accident 50.
41:12
I was dividing you know, minutes,
okay, 7, 8, maybe 15. Whatever.
41:16
I told you 7, 7, 7, 15.
7, 7 is how I do it for the break minutes.
41:21
But again,
plan what works for you.
41:22
If you're a person that
does two blocks at a time,
okay, maybe take longer
breaks, whatever happens.
41:28
So plan your breaks well
before in advance the food,
I told you what I eat,
pack them all the night before
put them right there, whatever's in the
fridge, whatever's on the kitchen counter,
ready to go and exam
date, no crap.
41:39
You can stay in your
own mental space.
41:41
Everyone's going to be chit chatting
and talking about nonsense, you know.
41:45
This I did, I took this,
I say that I've been scoring this,
I don't want to hear any of it.
41:49
You want to hear whatever's in your
head, keep it chilled,
buckle down in the later
blocks, it improves your score.
41:55
Everyone else is
getting tired and lame,
you're not because you have
techniques we talked about,
you're going to do
substantially better.
42:01
It's that few score difference.
42:03
It's that crazy.
42:04
A few questions is what separates
higher scores from low ones.
42:08
Because on average,
most people do well,
you know, you're in a crowd
of very accomplished people
who are very good at tests.
42:14
So for the most part,
everyone's going to be doing very well.
42:16
And when you can buckle down well,
at the end, it works out for you.
42:19
And again, some of the
techniques, we talked about
the muscle relaxing
and releasing,
controlling your stress,
getting a snack walking outside,
you know, etc.
42:30
And then here we go.
42:31
So, I don't know if the call is doing
this, but I'll be your presenter.
42:35
Hey, do you want to
prepare for the USMLE?
Try Lecturio for
free for one weekend.
42:39
There's no credit card neccesary.
I'm kidding.
42:42
But let me see some
of the questions here.
42:43
Okay, what tips would you give
if you were taking the LSAT?
It's the exact same thing.
42:49
And because again,
this stuff is not like specific to USMLE
if you took my wife took the
accounting test and actually the CPA,
we use all the same techniques here
LSAT, exact same thing.
43:00
And you may discuss that,
you know, the more time
you put into preparing this
the food,
the exposure that drive,
it's just on exam day,
it's seamless you go,
you perform, you go home,
hopefully good result.
43:16
That was, that was wonderful.
43:19
But I was going to open the
floor up for any more questions.
43:23
- So we're having a good time.
- Sure, sure.
43:25
So if you have any other questions
that you'd like to ask, now's the time
to answer some questions
before we get to this slide.
43:35
--
I was looking through all the...
43:41
Yeah, I think we answered.
43:44
I think it's Sharon.
43:47
Yeah.
Here's a question from Sharon.
43:49
Sharon said, No, you can't take the you
can leave the paper and pen at your desk.
43:54
When you leave to
go take a break,
the only thing you bring with you is your
ID and the key your locker nothing else
because they want to check your ID
and you can get access to your locker.
44:03
Let's say for example,
your paper fills up.
44:06
What do you do just have to raise
it, it's way awkward
or if your pen breaks or the pencil
isn't working, you just raise it.
44:11
Keep your hand up and
someone will come to you.
44:14
It'll give you a new
one take oh by the way.
44:16
So man's asking,
can you take prescriptions during the day?
You can't I mean,
think about it like food.
44:25
So only during a break. Can you do anything
and if you're gonna do anything sketchy,
do it in like your
car or bathroom
but frankly,
you're not gonna have time you know,
if you're gonna run to the
parking lot not enough time,
you'll you'll be surprised at
checking in and checking out
takes so much time, the security,
the writing in, the fingerprinting.
44:45
All this takes forever.
44:46
So you're you're not
going to do these things.
44:48
So you get a super bad
headache in the middle.
44:50
Yeah, that's worth it.
44:51
Eat up a couple
minutes, run your car,
take a bunch of motor and title,
slam some water and come back.
44:56
But again, these are just like
logical things you would do.
45:00
No more whiteboards.
So it's whiteboard laminate paper, pencil.
45:03
I haven't seen whiteboards
boards in a long time.
45:06
I know we're talking about but how
do you here at the CES pathway 6,
skills physical skills pathway?
Well that's very different
because that's your CS test
where you walk into
the exam rooms.
45:24
That one apply it to a different test
because that's a whole different thing
about what do you wear that day?
How do you greet the patient?
CS, believe it or
not, people fail.
45:34
Good doctors from US med
schools are big names.
45:38
So CS, we'll have to do
a whole different thing.
45:41
If you're in high school and
watching this Farshad, good job.
45:43
When I was in high school, I was trying
to download illegal like songs on Napster,
so and playing Counter
Strike like a nerd.
45:51
Okay, and eating Mike and mountain
Mike's pizza watching Sacramento Kings.
45:54
Do they have vending
machines or small capture?
No, that's a very good point.
45:58
This is all in what's
called a business park.
46:00
For those of you that are not
familiar with commercial real state,
business parks are just like big buildings
with a bunch of different suites.
46:07
And this is just one of those.
46:08
So you show up and there
is like a random building
and random suite inside of it
with no big name or anything.
46:14
That's where you go.
46:15
And it's like a bathroom
that everyone share.
46:16
It's very uncomfortable.
46:18
And USMLE there you go.
46:23
Can you take exams in USA?
I mean, USMLE I'm not sure
what you mean by that.
46:28
Are there any med programs that don't
require undergraduate degrees anymore? No.
46:31
They are strict.
46:33
How can we motivate ourselves when...
Okay, that's a really good point.
46:38
That's a whole different topic
of how you motivate yourself.
46:40
But it kind of comes down
to the inner question of
what are you trying
to do that day?
Whether you're at home studying
you don't want to do it,
I kind of just tell
myself the opposite.
46:48
If I don't do it, I'm going to feel
really pissed off and guilty later.
46:52
And usually you have to
do the suffering anyways.
46:54
I'm really big and suffer
early feel good that it's over
and then know that rewards coming
so that's kind of how I do it.
47:02
I just tell myself I'm just going
to suffer and get over with,
turn off my distractions and then just
you know enjoy the free time afterwards.
47:09
Like right now you know
I'm doing this by myself
after this I'm gonna
watch Fast and Furious 1,
get ready for a Fast and Furious 9
coming out, you know, well review.
47:18
So I don't know we answer
man had a question.
47:20
Can you take prescriptions
during the day?
I don't know if we address that.
47:23
Only if you take it
like during a break.
47:26
Okay.
47:27
But I would do it like you know,
when you're eating the sandwich,
quickly put it in,
drink the water.
47:31
And then we have would you say slagging
many questions with psych you out?
I don't know,
if we addressed that.
47:37
You only you only do that.
47:39
Do what works for you when
you're doing your Qbank prep.
47:42
I flagged a lot,
some people never flag.
47:45
So if you think it's gonna like
you, don't do it.
47:48
But again, just on exam
day mimic what you did on
like when you were sitting
there Qbanking your time,
don't try to change your
technique on test day.
47:58
And then there is a
question regarding
what do you suggest for those who
are planning to take CK in this case?
CK is same thing because
it's the exact same format.
48:13
There you have eight blocks with an hour
of time, so you get even less in between.
48:18
But same thing, same food.
48:19
Once you learn this
technique for step 1,
you will mimic it for step
2, for step 3,
for your boards, for your specialty,
even for your sub specialty boards.
48:29
I mean, like I said,
I just took neurology boards in September,
I wore scrubs and I
still ate bananas,
peanut butter, jelly, chocolate,
had my tea, my coffee.
48:37
I hated it.
48:38
By the end of the test, I was like I
don't want to eat PB&J for a while.
48:42
Because you know,
I've done it every single test day.
48:44
So any test you take
identical planning,
identical clothes and
execution always works.
48:50
And then we have a question.
48:51
I'm asking what is step 3?
So step 3, so they're USMLE step
1, 2 and 3.
48:58
Step 1 is the basic
science review.
49:00
So yes, it's a review of your
first two years of med school.
49:03
Step 2 is clinical
basic science.
49:06
That's a review of your third and
fourth year of your medical rotations
from the different specialties, surgery,
internal medicine, neurology, OB GYN, etc.
49:14
Step 3 is actual
clinical practice.
49:16
So you take step 1,
after your second year of med school,
you take step 2 after your fourth year
or during your fourth year of med school.
49:24
And then you take step 3 after
or during your intern year.
49:28
So at that point,
you already graduated med school,
you're out there
working as an intern,
you're learning how
to treat patients
and finally being a doctor
with a long white coat.
49:36
And you're expected to go home
and save for step 3 at night.
49:38
And you take step 3,
which is actual clinical management.
49:42
They'll ask you like okay,
so you're seeing a patient,
they have heart failure, they're
taking this medication at this dose,
what should you do?
So it's much more real.
49:50
And then after
you finish step 3,
you get a medical
licence in practice.
49:55
And then Sharon has a question.
49:57
Do we all start at the
same time in the morning
or can I start at like 8am
and other people at 10am?
So it's everyone's going
to get scheduled at 8.
50:07
And they're going to
start bringing people in,
like, Okay, you come on
in, they scan you,
you're all set up seven minutes
later, they take the next one in.
50:14
So everyone's gonna get
there the same time,
but actually in the order
received, you will get seated.
50:19
So if you show up late
you may be starting at 9.
50:22
And then is it possible
to study 8 hours a day?
Is that something
that's feasible?
Easy, easy peasy lemon squeezy.
50:31
Why is it easy?
It's called the taco
Sora Pomodoro technique,
or the Pomodoro Technique,
aka study for 5-minute I mean, sorry,
study for 30 minutes,
and then take a 5-minute break,
study for 30 minutes,
take a 5-minute break.
50:46
How does this work?
It gives you a sense that during
the 30 minutes of studying,
you turn off your phone, put on
airplane mode, no Facebook, nothing.
50:55
For 30 minutes, you go hard.
50:57
Then, you know the timer
beeps that you went off,
you get a five minute break
of doing whatever you want.
51:02
I don't care if you jump off the roof naked
for five minutes, five minutes of freedom.
51:06
And then you know,
when the timer goes off.
51:08
Again, it's back to studying.
51:10
So that's the rationale of how we
study for a long time is 30 minutes,
you know, a break is coming to break you
enjoy the five minutes go back to it.
51:17
That's called the
Pomodoro Technique.
51:20
And spending more questions,
is that equal better scores?
Yes, there's actually
a direct correlation
between the number of questions
you do and your outcome.
51:31
Because the test is
kind of threefold.
51:34
It's the content
you get into stuff.
51:37
It's test taking strategy,
which you start to get better at and
experience while doing lots of questions.
51:43
And it's exam day management.
51:44
So if you have
those three things,
and I think the majority of people
just focus on the one which is content.
51:50
It doesn't matter what you know,
if you don't know how to
perform on a standardized test,
and how to strategize
and use the question,
it's not going to go well.
51:58
Although actually on Lecturio,
I was just doing a review.
52:01
Because it made me,
there is a bunch of walkthrough videos
that I had to do for
step 1 and step 2,
where I tell you how to do
like, I do a question with you.
52:10
And I tell you everything
going on in my head,
and how I tackle it.
52:13
So you could watch that and kind
of learn test taking strategy
that was painful to do, because showing
you how my brain works was painful.
52:21
But we did it.
And that's I think valuable.
52:23
Because once you
learn the material,
you gotta learn like,
how do I eliminate questions?
How do I read a
question quickly?
What are the techniques?
That's what we use.
52:31
And today, we talked about
all the technical aspects.
52:33
So you should really be set.
52:35
And one last question,
because that was a perfect segue.
52:38
But I want to make this answer.
52:40
What is the average time
to prepare for step 1?
Well, that's hard.
52:46
So it depends how
good are you are.
52:48
Now if your normal,
people will just like,
you know, study the first 2
years and take like 1-3 months
of hardcore studying at least a
month, there's no way to get them on.
52:59
Really,
people are getting crazy now.
53:02
So step 1, by the
way, is now pass fail.
53:04
So does that mean you should
slack off and just get a pass
and be like, Oh, P=MD.
53:08
No, because this is the
thing nobody told you.
53:11
And this isn't in all the
articles on Kevin MD or whoever.
53:14
Step 1. Content will haunt
you for the rest of your life.
53:17
Step 2. It's there.
Step 3 is there.
53:20
For your geneeral
boards, it's there.
53:22
I took neurology boards
and it was on there.
53:25
So step 1,
content never goes away.
53:28
So it is in your favor to
memorize it and do well in step 1.
53:31
It's not even the
last pass fail,
it's going to impact your next
scores for 2 or 3 years --
in your whatever
boards you take.
53:39
So you know,
what people are doing now
is first year of med
school people are Qbanking
and watching Lecturio
videos or whatever videos
while they're seeing
their lectures in class
to learn what is high
yield, how to do a Qbank.
53:51
And if you think about if you were
doing a little by little over 2 years,
you're gonna have a
lot better performance
than the guy who crammed
it at 1-3 months.
53:57
That's just real life.
53:59
And if you're thinking, oh my
god, I'm an MS2, I didn't do it.
54:01
Who cares? Do it now.