In previous cycle, visa-requiring IMGs who got 5+ invites from Non-signalled programs, what was your strategy? What kinda program did you apply to for Non-signalled? How many personalized PS or LOIs?
Any geographic regions that are liberal without signals?
I have decent stats, having a hard time to decide on non-signalling programs. Would really appreciate any suggestions!
Thanks in advance!!
Anyone up for doing program research together? I have been researching programs for a while, start whirling everytime after a while. If anyone with a similar profile, with similar aims wanna do it together, I would be happy to connect!
Visa-requiring IMG applying to IM
Programs: mostly uni-affiliated community prgrms and community hospitals (that has support for fellowship)
Target for competitive fellowship later.
Stats: 259, 4 months of USCE at University hospitals, Good number of publication, YOG 2026.
P.S: Would prefer someone who is extrovert enough to do conversation, and wanna do it seriously. (Tried with shy people before, unfortunately didn’t work :(
Also if anyone wanna share some advice about researching programs strategically, I would absolutely appreciate it!
Looking for some good suggestions for professional headshot (for individual, not corporate work) in Dhaka. I am barely finding anything that provides decent online photos.
Would really appreciate anyone’s suggestions. Thanks in advance!
Can someone suggest the best earphones/neckbands within the mentioned range?
Priority: Audio/ microphone quality, happy with lower sound quality if microphone quality is top-notch
What a ride it has been! I have always been a poor to average test-taker. In the last 1 year, I followed this sub like God. Every post shared some strategies, some helpful PDFs, and recent strategies. Whenever I felt like giving up, I searched and held onto the hope of scoring well. Now that I am done and set to leave this sub, it feels like I owe this sub my whatever little knowledge I have about this beast.
I started with 221 in NBME 9 and ended with a score of 261 in NBME 16. Real Deal 259. It was not an overnight charisma, not done within 1 month or so. I ended up delaying the exam, triad, hit the nadir of life, burnt out, and went nearly physically and mentally ill. There were months after months when I felt I would rather move a mountain than move my NBME score. I kept on trying and trying until one day it felt possible to score in my desired range.
My little bit of knowledge as it goes:
A lot of these scores felt devastating to me. I used to weep throughout the day when I had a bad score. After UWSA3, I couldn't get out of bed for 2 days. After UWSA2, I felt it was impossible to be in the 255 range for me, as I am too dumb. Then my mind pattern just changed, and I was in the acceptance stage. I was telling myself, "You did everything. After this amount of effort, it's not in your hands anymore. God should take possession now." I don't know, but god really took that literally, I think haha.
For QI, I did amboss articles, Mehlman. Other than 3 questions on a ridiculous topic (which was not covered by any source), I was very comfortable with the QI and ethics questions. I wanted to share some pdfs that helped, but I guess this sub doesnt allow?
AmbossGPT is the KING! For the last month, it's been worth every penny. I used to go over all the wrongs/unsures of CMS, NBMEs, and ask it to give me atypical scenarios, high yield pearls, why I got them wrong, NBME buzzwords, and whatever else comes to my mind. I relied on it heavily for biostat. It taught me the last-minute drug abstract tackling strategy.
Reach out to people when you feel stuck. This process sucks. I hated studying passionately during my dedicated. idk who the hell invented this soul-sucking exam. This should NOT be considered as a metric of being a good physician. I used to reach out to people so much on Reddit. To all people who helped me out in those worst stages, I pray you land in the desired places in every phase of life.
Feel free to reach out to me if there's anything I can help with. This process made me realize we are all vulnerable in some phases of life. It's a privilege to help out as much as it is to get help.
Goodbye, peeps! My best wishes to all the hard-working people out here. Even if no one tells you these days, you are the best!
How are you holding up guys? Around 3 weeks after exam. My perfect memory successfully erased up the questions or answers I had, Everytime I sit down to work on ERAS, mind is screaming "what if you get 20 points drop like many people july 1st?" Been super inefficient regarding application or PS or anything in general.
Conscious brain says you did your best, subconscious brain says, everything depends on the score, you know that right? Being an IMG sucks so worse, knowing filter won't lift without showing off score.
Why is that effort doesn’t count, only the outcome does? 😭
Guys, did you have the feelings of regret after the exam lately? I took the exam lately...I won't say It's earth shattering, more doable than step 1. Most topics are known, just the options are discovered from alienated brain.
Still the regret is eating me up. My form was heavy on pulm, which has been my weakest for a long time, along with cardio.
After every nbme, I kept on revising systems I was weak on. So obviously did tons and tons of questions on pulm. I could take it to barely average level after all dedication (75ish)
With people chanting about QI ethics HOPI, I did them like maniac in last 10 days, even though pulm was my lowest in nbme 16. I won't say that didn’t help at all, QI ethics were manageable during exam, but with the limited time, I didn't have the bandwith to again push pulm. Now after taking exam, all complex pulm qs coming to mind, and blaming me if I pulled off 200+ pulm qs before exam, it could be manageable also, like most other systems.
If the questions were vague af, I would be in more peace I guess. Just that the topics are known enough, killing me with the thought why I didn’t do enough.
Last 2 NBMEs, free 120 score were in my desired range, still it doesn’t feel sufficient anymore. It feels the penalty of missing easy qs would be heavier that those QI questions.
A 6-year-old boy is brought to the emergency department by his mother because of the acute onset 1 hour ago of severe right sided lumbar pain and three episodes of emesis. The pain is sharp and causes him to double over and cry. Medical and family histories are unremarkable. The patient takes no medications. Temperature is 36.7°C (98.0°F), pulse is 150/min, respirations are 30/min, and blood pressure is 110/70 mm Hg. He appears to be in severe pain. Abdominal examination discloses right upper quadrant tenderness to palpation. The remainder of the examination discloses no abnormalities. Intravenous morphine is administered and results in improvement in the patient's pain. Results of dipstick urinalysis are shown: Specific gravity 1.035 (N=1.003–1.029) pH 5.5, Protein 30 mg/dL, Glucose Negative, Bilirubin Negative, Blood 4+, Leukocyte esterase 1+, Nitrite Negative, Urobilinogen Negative, WBCs 5–10/hpf, RBCs 50–100/hpf, Renal ultrasonography shows severe right-sided hydronephrosis with moderate hydroureter to the bladder. Which of the following is the most appropriate next step in evaluation?
(A) Captopril renography (B) CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis (C) MAG-3 renal scan with furosemide (D) Radionuclide cystography (E) Retrograde pyelography (F) Ultrasonography of the spinal column (G) Voiding cystourethrography
Can anyone please explain what needs to be done here and why?
We all know real exam is brutal than all other practice tests. Those who stayed calm, what was your psychology?
I took nbme 16 lately, the vagueness of the stems totally left me upside down. A lot of easy questions I missed just because my brain stopped functioning when I realised I am marking half of the block. In 3rd block, I literally started crying because I felt I am gonna score horrible, I might need to postpone exam I might not match etc etc....only to realize later this is my highest scored nbme so far.
In my step 1, I stayed totally calm because I knew I scored in 70s in my nbme, it would be fine even if I miss a lot of questions, easy or difficult. In step 2 this psychology is not working at all given the high stake of score here.
How do you really keep calm in really exam? I would be happy to score whatever I got in last 2 nbmes, but I want to handle the arrhythmic brain beforehand.
Is there really scientific way to understand the course of disease? Every NBME there are couple of questions, ask about probable course of disease, resolution/ pain/ another disease etc. etc. Regardless of how much I try to know that disease, the next question is always unknown. Pretty sure real deal has more of such questions where they would be asking about prognosis of a light bulb getting stuck in duodenum or bull attacking left ear.
How do you reason it through? Asking for suggestions from genius minds.
Guys, does the amboss nutrition plan work fine for read deal nutrition? Would appreciate any input from June exam takers.
I have no issues doing them if they are worthwhile, the catch is they are too heavy on biochemistry enzyme stuffs (I was so happy to have left them after step 1, now they are again in life)
What's the best resource to get a big boost for cardiology and pulmonary in last 2 wks? I realized these 2 systems have been my biggest score killers for a while now, hovering around 75% when other systems are 80+. Which resource do you recommend?
I did UW, amboss, CMS all by now, still forgot stuffs which are enough to drag me down, Which one do you think worth repeating at the last stage? Haven't done DIP cardiology, but is it worth the short at this stage?
So according to my understanding, OET is required to apply for pathways. Completion of USMLE steps are not mandatory as of now, they would only be required after pathway is verified and we apply for ECFMG certificate.
Is there anything else I am missing on?
Since NBME won't allow a 20/40 minute block, is it really wise to go for a self-paced NBME? If I keep the timer on a 3rd party site? Like the nbmetimer Netlify app? Or it's just better to do the standard timed pace, then pause at 1 hour, do the next 40 qs?
I am finding absolutely no reason to do a 50-qs block now, since the 20-qs block has officially resumed!
Can anyone pleaseeeee drop any PDF or suggest of any site that might have it? Too broke to pay for another CMS.
Would REALLY appreciate help from any kind fellas!
While I easily get the math qs correct, biostat wordy questions often drive me crazy. Confidence Interval in/decreasing, error mystifying, hypothesis...every nbmes, it takes away 2-3 questions. Any tricks/ cheat codes to get these questions correct?
Or if any write-up/video is available to make it easy? (AI didn’t do a great job)
For example, I get stuck with these kinda qs:
So I certified and submitted my ERAS token from last yr (ERAS 2026 season), so I can import my uploaded 3 LoRs for next year's application. Do I need to do anything else to import these next yr? Or am I all good?
What do you guys do to make online NBME blocks at 20/40 questions? I have been doing 20 qs/30 min, then just do the flags until 30 min passes.
Still, after 40 mins, it's annoying with 10 more questions. Should I just pause the block and come back after rest, and do 10+10 from the next block? I haven't attempted online NBMEs yet, absolutely don't wanna do 50 questions at a stretch.
It still surprises me how much effort it takes for NBMEs to make 20, or at least 40 QS blocks! After paying 62$, we deserve to do whatever we wanna do!!
Looking for a trustworthy online page (Facebook/website) for buying a set of couple's watch, for my friend's wedding. Budget 1-2k.
Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance!
