Good evening everyone! I just passed today and this is my experience, hope it’s helpful. I scored 180 and passed 18 stations and I genuinely and truly thought i would clearly fail this exam. Firstly I’m sure you’ve heard this a lot but the academy really doesn’t matter. I was with Aspire and i had recently heard a lot of people fail and it got to me in a negative way at some point but it really makes no difference it’s all about your hard work. It’s so so important to stay as updated as you can. There are new stations everyday, make sure you stay on top of them. One of my biggest problems on the day was nerves. I thought i was too nervous i would surely fail, try to tell yourself after each station to focus. A good tip but hard, is to really try to treat each station separately. No matter how many times you feel during the exam that you’ve surely failed JUST KEEP GOING . I was positive during the exam that i had failed and i cleared all stations. Don’t dwell on mistakes you think you made, i scored low in a station because my mind was on a mistake i made in the one before and i oddly was NOT punished for my mistake. Fa try not to judge yourself in the exam, you truly never know. Work on interpersonal as much as you can, let patients talk. I had a patient in a PAD station who talked for a minute straight when he heard the 2 minute bell. I was internally freaking out but i let him talk, did not finish my management as i wanted and scored 12. Simulators usually have clear instructions, don’t feel freaked out if someone does something that’s a bit odd, let them do whatever they want and try not to show them that you’re annoyed with them. Try a the two minute bell to shift from whatever you’re doing and move on to management if you haven’t started yet. Time management with combined stations needs a LOT of practice. Usually taking a VERY SHORT history is enough, remember both history taking and examination are data gathering. It’s usually effective to help you cover management and the more you practice the less time you’ll need moving forward. Outside the cubicle try to think of a few main points that you want to cover quickly and that should help. Finally, try to stay as calm as you can. Prepare yourself mentally that the exam will be different from what you’re used to. It’s okay to deviate from what you usually do at home because it’s a completely different environment. I felt like this was not how I practiced at home, what am i doing, I’m surely failing. Maybe if you prepare yourself beforehand that it’s okay to deviate on the exam day, some role players will pop something new on you perhaps so it’s only normal to deviate a bit. Just try to get back on track and cover your main points. An important addition is Dr. Aman Arora’s audiobooks they were truly life saving with IPS. Try to listen to them as early on as you can. Best of luck to all! By: Noreen El-Bayoumi
