I technically started studying for the NBME CBSE when I got into medical school. But, I consciously started studying for the examination in MD5.
Honestly, my lecturer did a good job at the review classes. He laid a good foundation on a lot of the systems.
After Md5 was done, I took a 1-week break to cool off and this was in August. I decided to use the free USMLERx question bank and I was literarily averaging 50-60%. That was the “ginger” I needed to sit up.
When the free 5days was over, I used a different account to subscribe for another free session. During which I did about 500 flashcards because the free session was for 5days. I did that because I realized I missed a lot of little details in the first aid book.
When that expired, I switched to beckers q-bank. Basically, the whole of August was a trial and error thing for me.
I subscribed to UW in September and that was when the game changed for me. I initially started with 80 questions per day but, I couldn’t keep up with the review. So, I switched to 40 questions per day and I tried to finish the review that same day. I continued this pattern until the end of the month.
By the end of September, I had completed 1000uw questions. Because I didn’t want to get burnt out, I always had Sundays off from studying.
My examination was scheduled for the 14th of October. So in October, I stopped questions to re-read my first aid. This was my personal preference to help refresh my memory.
That was how I studied for my NBME CBSE. If you read to this point, I want to remind you that passing the examination is possible. Have YOUR pattern of studying and be consistent with it. Please don’t give room for fear of the exam or anything. Check out my previous post on how to ace your basic science comprehensive examination.
This is the part you have probably been awaiting. Alright, I had an 80% on my examination. I say this to tell you that it is very do-able. I want to see you do much better than I did because I know you are capable.
