Mistakes to avoid when preparing for the USMLE

Here's a list of things I wish I did differently for all the steps.

USMLE Step 1

1) I would have started the uworld qbank in the last semester of Basic Sciences.
In my last Basic sciences semester, I was mostly using Kaplan videos for Pharmacology and the First Aid book generally. I also used Pathoma videos in the previous term for Pathology.
I started doing uworld questions only after completing my fifth term exams. I underestimated the importance of a question bank in preparing for the USMLE, so I did a lot of reading and not as much of the question bank as I should have done. Well, not as thoroughly as I did for the subsequent exams. I had two months to study after my Basic sciences before clinical rotations started. In hindsight, it would have been more beneficial for me use the qbank for more than 50% of my preparations for this 8-hour exam. Instead I focused more on retaining knowledge with the use of DIT and Kaplan videos.

USMLE Step 2 CK

1) I would have scheduled my elective rotations with either a gap to study or scheduled a lighter rotation during my preparations. In the month of my exam was a tedious Pediatric rotation, and those are hard to come by in NYC, so I stuck with it.
2) I would have cut down on the note-taking from uworld. So I may have gone overboard on this while trying to get every detail from the qbank. This surely took away from the limited amount of time I had to prepare. On the bright side, I used the notes to review certain topics while preparing for step 3.

USMLE Step 3

1) I would have had at least a morning or afternoon free after the first day. I had some time after the first day on my initial schedule. But the only schedule available when I moved my exam forward was two consecutive days (the first in the afternoon and second, the next morning). This was terrible, especially since I already find it hard to fall asleep on a regular day. It was worse because of all the caffeine I had that evening. Thank God I found the second day easier and the CCS cases were super short, because I was so sleep-deprived, I was trying really hard to stay awake.
2) I maybe would have gotten another qbank in addition to uworld. I say this because I dropped about 20 points from my step 1 and 2 scores despite doing the best on uworld for all of them. But passing is the most important thing for step 3.

ECFMG, NBME, NRMP links for medical students and medical graduates

If you're just starting this journey and you need to know the basics, here are the websites to familiarize yourself with.

http://www.nbme.org/students/usmle.html Examination and assessment information

http://www.ecfmg.org/ All the information required for IMGs can be found here.

http://www.ecfmg.org/fees/index.html USMLE exam fees, etc.

http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/NRMP-and-ECFMG-Publish-Charting-Outcomes-in-the-Match-for-International-Medical-Graduates-Revised.PDF-File.pdf

http://www.nrmp.org/match-data/main-residency-match-data/

Done With Medical School! (Med school photoshoot with my med school family)

So my last day of medical school fell on my birthday this year, 2015. If that isn't a great gift, I don't know what is. All I can say is thank God.

First stop, Guggenheim museum.

Onto the next site, Bethesda Terrace, NY

Now off to the Brooklyn Bridge

But first, let's take a selfie...

Very tired at this point.

Finally, the bridge

And it's a wrap!