PASSED!!!!!!!!!!! with the highest score on ICE and CIS, all above borderline on SEP

date: May 24, 2018

location: LA

time: 2 months

materials: Kaplan live full course(5days) + Mock exam, 3 SPs, 2 live CS partners, 5 skype CS partners, FA 6th edition, Kaplan core cases, Espresso English

Tips: 

- improving on your weak part, and practice till perfect. 

- SEP: I'm not native English speaker so I bought a full course of online English course from Espresso English and emphasize on pronunciation and grammar lesson. I listened to their mp3 on the car while driving to and from work. Apart from that, I listened to English news from FM 88.00 almost every day for 2 years. I practiced with native speaker SPs and never overestimate my English.

- SEP: For the thai native speaker, we have the problem with the consonant th, sh, ch, z, and pronunciation of words ex. acne (ak-nee not ak-ne), febrile (fee-bral not feb-brile) and also the intonation. I study the phonetic symbols and use dictionary.com for correct thousands of word I mispronounced. DON'T try to formulate sentences you didn't practice before. because I did and it all went wrong -> SPs ask me to repeat it.

- ICE: I practice typing skill without looking at the keyboard and able to type 60-70 wpm since I was a 4th year medical students. It helped me type patient note quickly and put all my effort into the content I'd like to type. I and my IMG friend build a table of disease, symptoms, DDx., Investigations. So I type only keywords and that improve the score. I close the FA book and try to jot down by my memory. 

- CIS: practice the challenging question so that you won't be panic when you've got one. Go an extra mile for advising and offering options to patients. Try to counseling at least one thing to SPs. Do physical exam gently and oriented yourself with table well. 

- Try to look smart, don't make patient doubt your capabilities by saying ah, er, ehm. And you'll be able to avoid that by practice, practice, and practice

- Mock exam helps a lot in figuring your defect so that you can improve it 

- Thanks to one Thai doctor who warned me that this exam is super hard and I have to work hard to achieve PASS. 

- Always go an extra mile, don't think it's easy, don't ever think you're good. We always have something to improve. Try to be perfect, because we couldn't be 100% perfect but if we try, we're great.

- Speak clearly, don't mumble, make a good eye-contact and don't turn your back to SPs. Don't show that you're elegant but show your empathy with their pain and what they're going through. 

- Lastly, don't take the exam at the beginning of the exam period, because you have to wait so so long time like me, I waited 33 months with anxiety and depression with PTSD. 

- Good luck! Hard work pays off.