ACLS vs football/soccer world cup.

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It all has comes down to this.  Do I just leave everything and sit down to start studying(yet again) or should I just go ahead and enjoy the last 5 days of freedom by watching the football world cup.  I am confused, as always.  Lying by my side, in the nearest closet is the ACLS Manual.  It is supposed to make things easier for me during the actual course.  It is important.  It saves lifes.  The training is essential and the rewards are plenty.


Yet, on the other hand is the high speed DSL internet connection temping me to stream quality football matches from the ESPN webpage.  Football has always been a passion for me.  First I liked playing it, but then it gave me terrible injuries, and I had to abandon the idea of actually pursuing it as a career.  Now I just watch.  Although I do not have the analytical eye for footballing strategies employed by the likes of Jose Morinho, but I am slowly understanding the game in all its beauty and glory.  


It is amazing how a simple game of kicking a ball by eleven players of each team can generate so much wealth, excitement and revenue.  It is also amazing how this game has brought peace to many beleaguered nations and has employed so many youth.  Football in short is truly amazing.  A treat to watch, and a treat to play.  It also is an amazing tool of conversation, provided the other person has at least some interest in the game.   


I think I will choose football for today at least :D               


In football we trust :D    

Tumhein dillagi bhool --- Sir Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

A great song by one of the greatest singers of our time. Rest in peace Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. You have made much more then a history. Your legacy will live forever.

History Channel: Einstein (2010)

On of the best documentaries of all times. It is a must watch!



History Channel: Einstein (2010)

What a painful irony.

When you attack black people they call it 'racism'. When you attack Jewish people they call it 'anti-semitism'. When you attack women they call it 'sexism'. When you attack homosexuality they call it 'intolerance'. When you attack your country they call it 'treason'. When you attack a religious sect they call it hate speech. But... when you attack the Prophet (PBUH) they want to call it 'freedom of speech'!

Dr. Taxi

Please read on!

Dr. Taxi

Buzkashi(Read more about this 'sport')

A sport NOT for the faint hearted.

The Step2CS Essentials(A must-see website for the Step2CS exam)

http://cs-protocol.blogspot.com/

Six Phases Of A Tapeworm's Life

LOL!


http://theoatmeal.com/comics/eat_you

My Step3 Exam Tips Thread on the Forum.

http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/98017/

How I did it, the USMLE Step3

Guys,

This is the simplest one. By simple, it doesn't mean its easy. Simple means the reading material is limited, the scope of the exam is too broad, compromise is the name of the game.


The exam was doable and fair. I had the exam cancelled once due to bad weather and had to reschedule it to two weeks later. The wait for the result was never ending(the result came at the end of seventh week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, IT WAS ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL WORTH IT!!!!!!!!


Score: 88/211.


Exam prep: Around three months.


Materials: UW Twice 63%
Kaplan Qbank once(Early sixties, don't exactly remember)
NBME 490
CK Medicine once
CK Ob/Gyn once
CK Surgery once
MTB(Useless book, but read it still, in two days i.e)
UW CCS Software and printed cases(Did them around three times)




This exam is very doable. I was scared to death before I even sat to study for this exam. The questions are vague. Your knowledge will narrow down most of the questions to two choices. Then its a game of probability. 50 percent of the time you will be right. So trust what you study and trust your probabilities


The CCS is just like UW's CCS. Do not forget to do the software-less cases. I made and then used my own flash cards and it worked very very well.


Take a lot of breaks.


Keep it cool and keep it real :)


Let me know if you need further clarification :)


With Step3, I complete my USMLE Exams. I will now move onto stuff that is I have no control over, the visa stuff. Who ever is reading this blog, please pray that I get the visa in time. 

Amazing! SO MUCH TALENT!

The Final Frontier, USMLE Step3.

Alhamdolillah, by the grace of Almighty Allah, I passed it. I have a distinct and time-tested strategy for this exam as well. I will update you guys about it later. I am over-whelmed with joy right now.

One of the greatest bowlers of all time in Cricket.

I passed!

I passed the final Step of the USMLE. The USMLE Step3. I will devise a strategy for all of you guys to tackle this exam as well. It was much easier as compared to the other two when it came to preparing for it. It was difficult when i was actually taking it.




More later, let me dance a little now :D

The humor in protest.

For those of you who are wondering what I posted, this is a protest against the extensive Load-shedding of electricity due the power crisis in Pakistan. 


The folks here are depicting an age old Urdu proverb which means 'not paying attention to' when transliterated into English. 


The government is not paying attention to repeated protests by the common man.

Interestingly hilarious :)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 KATHMANDU: Nepalese university students awaiting results of end-of-year exams may be kept in suspense for a while longer after it emerged that many of their papers had been eaten by rats. Hundreds of unmarked exam papers from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan University were handed to a local police station to be kept under lock and key, but were inadvertently placed in a store room infested with rats, a police official told AFP. “The exams were two and half months ago. We kept the answer papers in a secure room. But a few days ago we discovered that some of them had been eaten by rats,” said police inspector Ram Prakash Chaudhary. “We told the university officials about the problem straight away”. Source: The News.

Got Flu? :)

Got Flu??? Click the link below for Pakistan's No.1 Tonic. Its number one because Time Magazine say its number one :)


http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1734666_1734664_1734656,00.html

This is just beyond jaw-dropping!

Amazing awesomesaucenessestest :)

:)

!ڈیتھ ٹو انگلستانی کلبز! لولز

The Islamic Academy of Huntsville, Alabama.

More about this amazing project in a later post.

The Timeline for taking the USMLE

Hello guys. Yes, here is the promised post about the timeline for taking the USMLE.


I will talk about this keeping in mind the following.


1. You have just finished your final year.
2. You have decided to skip Housejob.
3. You have done your clinical electives in the USA and have good recommendations from US Clinicians.


The key to a successful strategy in the USMLE is to have passed and have the results of as many exams as possible by 1st September of any year. Now, that would mean taking ALL of your steps by 1st September and having their results.


Suppose you are done with your final year of med school, and have your results and degrees by December, this should work like this:


Step1: Start studying from Jan and take the exam in September or October latest.


Step2CK: Since there is a lot of overlap between Step1 and Step2, therefore it should theoretically not take more then three months to take Step2CK. So, by December to January, you should be able to take Step2CK. You would in the meanwhile have also applied for Step2CS and the visit visa(If you do not have your five year multiple from the clinical electives you went for in your final year)


Step2CS: Take Step2CS by March-April. You will have your results by July-August.


Step3: Take Step3 after two months of prep. So, this will mean taking your exam in October and having the results of Step3 in November. Update each and every Program that you have applied to via email and phone call when you get your Step3 scores.  


More later....

No blog can live without a blonde joke :)

A young brunette goes into the doctor's office and says that her body hurts wherever she touches it.
"Impossible," says the doctor. "Show me."
She takes her finger and pushes her elbow and screams in agony. She pushes her knee and screams, pushes her ankle and screams and so on it goes.
The doctor says, "You're not really a brunette are you?"
She says, "No, I'm really a blonde."

"I thought so," he says. "Your finger is broken."

Chinese city to sterilise 10,000: report

Officials in southern China have launched a campaign to sterilise nearly 10,000 people as part of a crackdown on parents who violate family-planning rules.

Family planning authorities in Puning, a city in Guangdong province, have detained more than 1,300 people in the drive, the Nanfang Countryside Daily said in an investigative report published on Thursday.

Those detained included parents who refused to undergo the surgical procedure and their "relatives," the report said.

They were being held in local government buildings and lectured on family planning rules, it said.

China's family planning policy generally limits families to one child, with some exceptions for rural farmers, ethnic minorities and other groups.

"It's not uncommon for family planning authorities to adopt some tough tactics," an employee at the Puning Population and Family Bureau was quoted saying in Friday's English-language Global Times newspaper.

AFP calls to government officials in Puning went unanswered.

The 20-day campaign launched last week is targeting 9559 people considered the "most severe violators of the family planning policy in Puning," the Global Times said.

So far, half the couples targeted had agreed to sterilisation, the paper said.

The Nanfang Countryside Daily is part of the Nanfang publishing group, which is known for its investigative articles and other reporting that often pushes the boundaries of what is allowed by the ruling Communist Party's censors.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/7071630/chinese-city-to-sterilise-10-000-report/

The Timeline.

Next post will be about the time line for taking Step1, 2CK, CS and Step3.

A small passage from the Holy Quran

Only in the remembrance of Allah, can the heart find peace. [Qur'an]

A great Hadith.(Sayings of the holy Prophet Mohmmad, SAW)

"If you put your whole trust in Allah, as you ought, He most certainly will satisfy your needs, as He satisfies those of the birds. They come out hungry in the morning, but return full to their nests." (Tirmidhi)

Step2CK and CS.

Here is how I did it in Step2CK.

Books. All kaplan. In step2, books won't help that much. The Mcqs will.

Give two reads to all kaplan books except psychiatry, for that step1 BS is more then enough. Next buy the online Kaplan Qbank, do it mixed timed, in 15 days, with noting the explanations down on a separate register. Then, buy Usmleworld Qbank, again online and mixed and timed, do it in 15 days. In between these two Qbanks, one should do an NBME Form 2. After doing all this one is adequately prepared, and this is the max prep anyone can do for Step2ck. Ideally this should enevr take more then two months, but I had issues at home, so the timing of my Step2 weren't as ideal as those of step1.

For Step2CS, usmleworld and firstAid books. Prep4usmle.com forum, neeraj CS notes, arletes CS thread, both on the forum, and a lot of practice with a live partner or with someone who is also preparing for this exam on skype.

Let me know if any further info is required

Step1, and How I did it.

Step1:

Books:

Anatomy: High Yield embryology 1st edition, high yield gross anatomy latest edition, kaplan neuroanatomy, did not do histology, I think it is useless.

Physio: Kaplan physio is more then enough

Biochem: Kaplan

Pharma: kaplan

Patho: kaplan and Goljan patho( also listened to goljan audio with it as well)

BS: kaplan.

DvDs: watched physio, BS, biochem. I am hearing now that pharmacology dvds are getting better as well.

How to do it.

1. First three months: Read each subject in ten days, read a chapter, then watch it on kaplan dvd and transfer extra stuff from dvd onto kaplan.

next two months: 2nd read.

next 20days: 3rd read

next 15days: kaplan online Qbank: this will amont to around 150questions per day, not an easy task but doable. Make a register and write down the stuff you don't know from the books onto this register.

next day: do nbme form 2.

next 15days: Do Usmleworld mcqs.

Next twenty days: revise everything and go for the test.

Please let me know if you need further clarification.

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