personal statement blues

i sit here staring at my countless drafts of my personal statement.... waiting for inspiration to hit me... or maybe run me over. my writing ability has left me years ago... around the time i entered medical school, actually. it's gone downhill since then.. any creative writing undertaken after that time has been strained... like it is now.

it helps to have friends to go through your personal statement. also helps to have a brother who's gone through it before (but i'd rather that he not read my personal statement).

so... i'm still sitting here staring. mainly because i really don't know what else i can write about or how to even add any more things to it. and i've sworn i won't go down to shameless plugging of how i am such a fabulous doctor. haha.

but i guess for the sake of others, i'll share some of the wisdom that had been passed to me:

1. don't restate your CV - i know it's tempting to just re-emphasize all that, but i've been told that the personal statement is not the place for this... that's why the CV is separate. it should stay there.

2. keep it brief - now it may sound harder to write something long, but when you really think about it, writing a brief statement is actually harder. but they say that the briefer, the better. mainly because it's harder to do (choosing from amongst the countless things you can say to boost yourself). PLUS, they say that you really don't want to bore the reader and lose the point and the attention. also, don't be too redundant.

3. don't go over melodramatic or too verbose - it's not an essay-writing contest, they say. go for content instead of style. but of course, don't be too boring.

4. be able to explain why you chose that specialty - don't be too vague. they want to know why that specialty inspite of a multitude of specialty choices.

5. future plans - some say that you should state where you see yourself after residency (i.e. plans of fellowship, etc). i haven't gotten to that in my PS but i'llt hink about it.

6. catch their attention - i did say not to be melodramatic but it helps to hook their attention. they say it is best to do so with a use of a quote, a story, or a theme.

7. remember to tie everything together. everything makes more sense when it's all somewhat related and not jumbled together. make it fluid. it's easier to read. and also easier to understand.

8. it really helps to get a second-opinion. have someone read it through and critique it.


Now, all these are really easier said than done. I'm still sitting here staring..... waiting for inspiration to hit me or run me over. Some time soon, i hope.

STEP 1 exam experience

i was talking to a friend of mine today. she's starting to study for step 1 and she had asked me a few familiar questions. i decided to write it all down so as to just answer most, if not all, of the question sin one sitting, and perhaps direct further questions to this site instead. haha. (it really does get tiring to answer the same thing over and over and over and over again! ha!)

my journey with step1 started october 2005. yup, that was last year. and i had taken it end of february 2006. int hat time i spent an average of 3 or 4 hours a day except on the last few weeks where i was doing AT LEAST 8 hours. but technically speaking, if you ask me, i'd usually answer that i DID study 8 hours a day throughout my studying. *grin*

references:
here's what i had used for my study references:
i actually had Kaplan lecture notes, First Aid for step 1, QBOOK, Underground clinical vignettes (for those nights i couldn't sleep, i read those to get me sleepy. haha!) I did find that the lecture notes were quite enough. but i did find that my recent graduation helped since some were fresh from med school (i think). Maybe it also helped that i actually did study in med school. anyways, i spent a good time reading the lecture notes. read over it only once.. making sure i did not move on unless i fully understood it.... i didn't want to have the notion in my head that i was going to read it again... that idea will just make me slack off and tell myself to just read it more thoroughly on the next reading... i do wish i had some of my textbooks with me for reference but i left them all behind. no matter, i had to make do with what i had. i took as much notes as i can but only to help me remember. i really never got into the habit of reading my own notes. i just write to help me remember better. technically speaking i studied for4 months. but in reality it was more like 3months. i made sure i went through the lecture notes. i did first aid about a week or two before the exam date. so that's that for references.

practice questions:
practice questions, i believe are important. i made sure to start doing practice questions at 1 month before the exam. that would mean that i had finished reading the lecture notes by then. i had practice questions from qbook and some other sources. I used mainly QBOOk. i made sure that i did blocks of 50 at a time and reviewed the answers and explanations. only in doing questions did i really remember everything that i had been reading. before that, it seemed utterly hopeless. it felt as if i wasn't retaining anything i read. but questions helped that. I did do NBME self-assessment exams. I did them twice. once at 1 month before the exam. another at 2 weeks before the exam. I used it mainly as a learning tool to assess my stronger and weaker points. and made sure i address them.

exam day:
i arrived 30 minutes early as stated by our exam permit. i arrived having a full night's sleep and a hearty breakfast. it was somewhat nerve-wracking but i had to do it. i signed in and i was assigned a computer by which to work on.

the very first question scared me. and the question after that. and the question after that. It really knocked me off my chair! (well, it really didn't but that's what it felt like) there was a part of me that wanted to just bawl and cry and another wanting to run out of the room screaming.

i realized that there were question i felt i could have never have known to study or could possibly answer. it dealt with the braod spectrum of coverage. but i tried to answer them as best as i could.

it was here that i realize that studying images such as xrays and slides, and gross specimens were important. in my studying, i never made much emphasis and regretted it. but i tried to answer as best i could. some questions were really long. others are quite short and straight to the point. i took my time. tired to read the question carefully and also try not to rush through it. i kept careful note of the remaining time and makred questions i wanted to go back to (i never got a chance to review them again since the time was tight).

managing break times are important. i didn't want to use them all up so early. i wanted to have some time to refresh in the afternoon when my mind grows tired. for me, i spread them apart, taking more breaks in the afternoon and building a momentum in the morning. my schedule is as follows:

block

block

break

block

block

break/lunch

block

break

block

break

block

in general, i thought it was hard. many of the questions felt as though they were some weird form of writing or language and just had no clue. some were a little better. but most important is to stay calm and answer as best as you can... make sure to look through all the answers and do not jump to conclusions too fast.

take a deep breath. read carefully. and move on.

and after about 3 weeks... you'll get that piece of paper with your results.