[Hanbali]

Originally Posted by Budmano786

My brother had a foot long beard when he was interviewing at medical schools and still got accepted...and most importantly, in South Carolina! He kept that beard for most of his first year and apparently no one said anything at all. He did trim it later for some reason...I don't know if I can articulate it properly so I'll let explain why.

A hot chick.

[bravotwozero]

Originally Posted by Hanbali

A hot chick.

Hey man, that's the reason why muslim men are supposed to have beards. Beard = Hot chick repellant.

[fatima]

i know a surg resident who is constantly getting criticized for his sideburns. he's a rebel and refuses to cut them out of spite...and i dont blame him. as long as youre not messy/unprofessional looking i dont see what the problem should be.

[bravotwozero]

Originally Posted by fatima

i know a surg resident who is constantly getting criticized for his sideburns. he's a rebel and refuses to cut them out of spite...and i dont blame him.

Story of my life

[rxrlm]

I interned with a resident whose patients used to ask him if he was jewish cuz of his sunnah beard. He is tabliqi and if he had his way he would probably come to work wearing his pants up his ankles too.

[iliketofish]

I had a fist length beard and wore a kufi every day to school my first year. Alhamdulillah, no one said anything to me but I've since trimmed it down for hygiene purposes and so that patients would feel comfortable with me (... it is South Carolina after all). Unless its a written policy, I wouldn't really care much what the "big dogs" say. Most of them are old and old fashioned and are basing their criticism on personal taste rather than professional consideration.

[MossadConspiracy]

salam

for those who took step 2:

How did you study for it? Which books, if any? Which Qbank?

When I took step 1, I based my study plan on advise from Khairan and a buddy at my school who did pretty well on it.

ws

[Manaar]

Originally Posted by MossadConspiracy

When I took step 1, I based my study plan on advise from Khairan and a buddy at my school who did pretty well on it.

Can you pass on some of that step 1 advice?

[ChotooMotoo]

anyone have step 3 advice?

[hefty]

Originally Posted by MossadConspiracy

salam

for those who took step 2:

How did you study for it? Which books, if any? Which Qbank?

When I took step 1, I based my study plan on advise from Khairan and a buddy at my school who did pretty well on it.

ws

usmleworld.com all the way

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by Manaar

Can you pass on some of that step 1 advice?

salam

this is my study plan. Its a little different from what you usually hear from other people, so take it with a grain of salt:

i didnt take a course, bought the kaplan books and used those along with BRS path and BRS micro. I read every book that I had except for the kaplan pathology book and the kaplan anatomy book (which i just browsed). I took notes out of the kaplan and BRS books into First Aid, giving me an awesomely annotated first aid. I then read through that full first aid book with all the notes. The overall process took 6 weeks. I took 5 days off during those weeks

Throughout the process I did questions every day. I think the key to my study strategy was qbank and the way I used it. Basically I did 50 or 100 questions every day, and went over their explanations. I did NOT only do questions on the subject I was currently studying. I just did random blocks of questions. The only subject I excluded was anatomy which i really sucked at to the point where there was no point doing questions till I studied it. The fact that the questions covered a range of topics kept me sharp on a wide variety of things while I focused my studying on individual subjects. It also helped point out deficiencies and the Qbank explanations themselves were a great learning resource.

Finally, I did two of the online exams that the NBME offers for money. They suck, and incorrectly predicted my score (overshot it once, significantly underestimated it the other time). I also did the free one that they publish and it was quite similar to the real deal.

[Khairan]

Originally Posted by MossadConspiracy

salam

for those who took step 2:

How did you study for it? Which books, if any? Which Qbank?

When I took step 1, I based my study plan on advise from Khairan and a buddy at my school who did pretty well on it.

ws

Qbank is not as good for step 2 as for step 1. I went by first aid and usmleworld, and I did pretty well.

[iliketofish]

YARGGHHH. I accidently ended a 50 question qbank practice test after answering 1 question and my percentage dropped to 37%.

[Salika]

What an interesting thread.

[Bruinrab]

Originally Posted by iliketofish

YARGGHHH. I accidently ended a 50 question qbank practice test after answering 1 question and my percentage dropped to 37%.