by Ayaz M. Khawaja

Salam to every reader. Let me start in God's name whose blessings have been innumerable. My score is 268/99. This article would be a fantastic review especially for those candidates who wish to maintain their Step 2 study in parallel to their final year curriculum. It is highly advisable that you do this since the content is not too different and the USMLE curriculum gives a much greater stronghold over medicine and related disciplines rather than your own final year curriculum. This holds especially true for Pakistani medical students. I am not too sure about the situation for Indian medical students.

Let me start by reviewing some issues the same way I did for my Step 1 article.

Issue # 1:

Give Step 2 before Step 1?

I have heard this question a lot more than I expected, especially from students who thought about giving Step 1 before or within their final year but changed their minds. The answer to this question is highly relative and circumstancial. There's no easy answer however.

If you are at the beginning of your final year, and are serious about Step 2 preparation, I would strongly recommend attempting Step 2 before 1. The reasons are multiple. You have a full 1 year ahead of you for Step 2 preparation. You have just come off the fourth year with a strong background (hopefully!) in Pathological basis of diseases, Histopathology, Pharmacology and Microbiology. It would not require any extra effort other than a once-a-time revision of your old textbooks and/or notes which should not take much time. If you have studied the Kaplan series, this means it would be even more efficient time- and effort-wise to go through these subjects quickly.

In the name of God the most Gracious, the most Merciful,

My interview didn’t have anything remarkable apart from the fact that it was too short and I got the visa, so I thought let me add some other details here for those of you coming to Delhi. Others may skip reading this!!

I had my interview on one these chilly and foggy January mornings at Delhi.

Well, I would, like everyone else here thank Dr Umar for this wonderful website. The experience of others does boost your confidence!

I had gone through all the experiences (in fact i took a printout of it and read it like a book!!) on this site but I found that Delhi’s are less in number.

I study at Delhi so that was a thing I found lacking. I didn't know the exact location, the directions, mode of transit to, and most of all how to find the correct entry point once i get there (very childish concerns, you see :-P) and of course like everyone else here i WAS scared of a rejection too!!

So that day, i woke up at 5, got dressed (it was too cold to sport only a suit, i wore a shirt, pants, a tie, stuffed myself with innerwear!!! and a jacket on top, i didn't have a "formal" coat and of course wore my adidas sport shoes-BLACK {& yellow})

I too got a 10 year multiple entry B1/B2 visa. I prepared by reading all the experiences on this site. Much has been written about how to make appointment for visa go to american consulate site or google it the instructions on it are straight forward just follow them and make the appointment. Submit the documents more than 3 working days before your visa interview in case of mumbai consulate.

About the documents I filed them in by dividing them in 3 categories 

1) required for appearing in visa interview i.e. your hdfc slip, VFS appointment letter, the print out of your  D160 form print out (the barcode on it must be clearly visible), passport sizes photograph ( not necessary but take them just in case)

2) To prove my case- Financial and letter from university / Visa letter for step 2

For financial documents i took my an parents account print our, 2-3 salary slip, IT return but the best thing to carry is a document made by a chartered accountant stating total worth including all the assets it shows in one paper total of movable and liquid assets, it looks neat and is easy to understand for VO.

From university a letter addressed to consulate general or your approval letter, all your e mail interaction with registrar. 

I thank umar bahi and this website because of which i got my B1/B2 visa with 10 year multiple entry.i will narrate my experience as well because i do strogly believe it call help others out a lot.

I had my interview in the mumbai consulate at 10 am.i had started from my home at 8:40 am but just because of traffic i reached at dot 10am at the vfs.I was already half freaked out because i was late but somehow i composed myself and got into the bus which took me to the embassy.so the point is try to be early but even if u are late dont worry the way i was worried.just b calm.

It was a flurry of activity with lot of people.i got my finger printing done and then waited for my turn.meanwhile while i notice that the interview was going to take place in a small wooden cabin where the visa officer would be separated from you by a glass window.then fianlly mytoken number was called out.i went and stood out of the cabin.a couple in front of me were interviewed but were rejected which did worsen my already low confidence.then i went in......

v.o: show me your token please

i showed her.i tried smiling at her.

v.o: why do u want to go to america?

me: i have got an oppurtunity to do a four week elective in ........in.....department

v.o: whats your program?what will u be doing there?

Me: i ll be going in early dec.i ll be under the supervision of a faculty and i ll be looking at cases and patients.

V.o: are u studying in u.s?

Me: i said no...i m studying here

V.o: which college?

Me:..... college

she kept typing and typing meanwhile my heart thumped ....

V.o: ok mam, here is the issue,,,u have applied under the wrong category

by Swapnil Lanjewar

First of all, I am very very thankful to lord that I passed my CS. I will share my experience to help my fellow colleagues out there preparing nervously for this exam. Now I know that there is already huge amount of excellent info regarding CS on this site. I will just narrate the plan I had followed.

Basic intro:

I dont think I need to explain the pattern of the exam. But, I would strongly suggest all of you to watch the official CS orientation video on USMLE site at this link-

 http://www.usmle.org/Orientation/2010/menu.html

PREPARATION:

   - Reading material: 

1) First Aid is THE BOOK for preparing for Step 2 CS. Even if you do only FA, Im sure you can pass. Infact  I personally know people who did only FA and still passed the exam. But it is always better to be on the safer side and read everything you can.

2) USMLE World Notes: The guidance for history taking and Physical is wonderful. Cases are respectable too. Would strongly advise to do it in addition to FA

3) Neeraj notes: Valuable addition. Good tips and few important cases like stress incontinence, picky eater etc.

These three together are sufficient and more than enough.

   - Approach:

First, do the history taking and Physical Exam explanation from FA. Then, proceed to the History and Physical Exam from UWorld.

by Sitaram Chilakamarry

Hello, everyone. I’m Sitaram Chilakamarry, an Intern at Kakatiya Medical College, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India. I took my TOEFL test on 14th August, 2010. Received e-copy of my score online in my ETS account by the end of August (on the 12th Post-Op, oops, Post-Test day). By God’s grace and with blessings from Swami Vivekananda, I got a good score – 118. My Score breakdown:

Reading – 30

Listening – 30

Speaking - 28

Writing – 30

Having learnt from free and great advice given by previous test takers from all over the internet, I feel I have a duty to extend a small helping hand to the future test takers. So, here I am, writing this piece of advice. I’m breaking it down into concise points so that it is easy to take it all in.

1.    WHAT IS THE FORMAT OF THE TOEFL iBT?

       The test has 4 sections, READING, LISTENING, SPEAKING & WRITING. You’ll face these 4 sections in that same order. For further description, I suggest you read the official TOEFL guide and the Princeton Review book.  

2.    WHEN TO PREPARE FOR TOEFL?

I cannot speak for other students, but for those from India, immediately after your Final Year Part – 2 exams is the perfect time. You want to have your paper score card in hand before you apply for electives. The paper score card reaches your home usually 4 weeks after the day your e-copy of scores are available (which usually are posted in 2 weeks of the test date). This means, 6 weeks after you take the test. For e.g. I took the exam on 14th August, received my score online in my ETS account on the 26th of August, and the paper score report reached my home on the 25th of September.

Here are few helpful tips for everyone regarding the whole travel, stay and living in US. I tried to explain everything in detail, making sure everyone gets the answers of their unasked questions. You might also like to visit a similar article by medisid by clicking here.

Leaving from Home Country:

If you have not air-traveled before, then here is a general overview of everything. First of all, you pass your luggage and yourself through security check. Then you go to the counter of your airlines, show them your e-ticket/passport/visa, get your boarding passes and submit your baggage except the carry-ons. After that, you might have to pass through another security check and then through the immigration/visa officers. After that you enter the lounge and wait for at the gate number mentioned on the boarding pass. When it is boarding time, they make an announcement and you board the plane. Make sure you are at the gate at the boarding time(generally 30-60 min before departure time).

Baggage:

Most the airlines going to and coming from US allow only 2 bags of maximum weight of 23 kg(50 pounds) and a maximum outside dimension(length+width+height) of 157 cm(62 inches). If you have an over-sized bag or an over-weight bag you might have to pay extra depending upon the airlines, your travel route, size and extra weight of the bag. You are given a couple of tags once you submit/check your 2 bags; make sure you keep them with you all the time; you should show them whenever and wherever you have a connecting flight and collect a boarding pass, making sure your checked baggage is transferred to the flight you are boarding in.

by Usman Sattar

 1-University of rochecter.(good toefl scores-24 min. on speaking mandatory,max.of 3 rotations,F-1 required but expensive 375$/week and competitive plus NYSED requirements but of the few univeristy programmes that don't require step1 as yet.   http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/md/prospective-students/cached/information-application.cfm )

2-NIH (needs to get exceptional scores on TOEFL even 26-speaking would not
guarantee any spot+apply very early and have brilliant academic
career-said by Vicki Malick in 2010 P.S=if your scores are in %,write it as it is in gpa/pass & write in grading system pass/fail, This institute have become one of the most toughest to get into purely due to number of good applicants it attracts, but you never know.    https://www2.cc.nih.gov/apps/publicForms/cep/forms/cepApp.aspx )

3-Yale (Very good coordinators to say the least but requires lots of
money+ IMG friendly offer H1-B as well , overall really expensive 2500$ tuition fee per month+1000$-for furnished accomodations per month in campus, step1 & toefl still not mandatory if you are competent enough in "american language".....kidding...."English"     http://medicine.yale.edu/globalhealth/international/index.aspx  )

Clinical Clerkships/ Core Clerkships are the compulsory ward rotations that you do in your 3rd year of medical school. These include all the basic compulsory ward rotations of general specialties like Medicine, Surgery, Gynae-Obs, Paeds etc.... when you do your clerkships you don't have any prior clinical experience. Visit the following link for its detailed description. Almost all medical universities require clinical clerkship rotation(s) as part of a medical education degree requirement.