The Road to the test with this blog . . .

Writing a blog has never been my forte , and never quite understood the concept behind as to why people actually ever write them .

Till one fine day , I realized Google had the answers to questions that I knew to ask. What about the questions I didn't know existed ? ?

How exactly was Google / Wikipedia going to help me out by telling me what to study on a normal human level ?

I had decided that I was going to have my go at giving the NBDE !! Yup, the very words probably give us the scare right there then that. . Its a weird mix of emotion fear , anxiety , arrogance attitude to definitely pull through it.

I came from definitely one of the best dental schools of India , and did everything I'm pretty sure all of us do , FIRST complain all about WHY we need to go through all this , prove ourselves again , followed by passive aggression to fine lets get this started. So here goes, I started with scraping my paws all over the globe, pulling out all possible contacts , friends, relatives, families anyone concerned in the dental field for whatever information I could get.

I started out with exactly the same information the majority of us get, stick to decks , do question papers , and revise revise and revise ! Honestly I think that's where we all go wrong. To give you an idea as to my thought process from the start to the end of my test , maybe you might share my experience or learn from my mistakes.

I started my studying ( had been away from books for 5 years, was happily working back home *which ofcourse does not count here = doesn't really help ; more likely for me to get frustrated and say WTF ) , but nevertheless I was like cmon I was a first class student back there so how hard can this be .. I started with reading my decks , made it my bible only to start slowly realizing umm a lot of this stuff doesn't make sense . . I can't put this together .. I can't really remember what is all this about .. and Biochemistry nearly threw me into the worst fit of my life literally right in the middle of starbucks!!! , So I started googling , using all sort of social networks that I could find , Wikipedia was soon becoming my best friend.. AAAAAAnd that's when I landed at this blog by "redroulette"

I had been studying for about 2 months half - heartedly with serious frustration and burnout already when I landed at this blog. That's when I read this and it gave me a direction ( that was the power of a personal human blog ) , Point is the Aids are great but don't really add the human touch , someone who understands the pressures you're under at that point of time and more than ever just someone you can vent out all your frustrations to and the most important - somebody who can actually do something to help you out!!!!

I started with a different perspective post the instructions , got in touch with the blogger .. Yeah !!! How cool am I .. ummm actually The blogger is .. :P

Point being - I had my test scheduled in actually , had about 2 months more to go, needed a plan of action , and honestly the first most basic desi instinct which kicked in - " the shortcut route to success".

I don't want to make this long and boring for you, but if you're an exam goer - believe me .. you're already bored with all the stuff you have to read anyway , so you might as well read something that someone who has been in your shoes has already gone through. Sometimes the very fact of knowing the pain and suffering is not yours alone, Its shared. acknowledged and well you'll get the comfort hug in the end.. So read on and try smiling ..

I made this blog and the blogger my mentor ( I don't really know if you guys are going to get that lucky actually ) . So everything that I write henceforth has been conceived by my mentor and executed by me!

Basically if you've gone through the site , you should have read by now all the amazing info , detailed breakdown of every subject down to every minute topic and heading that would be deemed important. So I had been following that, I managed to get my hands on these famous " USMLE" videos. They were plain awesome.. Hear me out on this.. and maybe you'll find yourself nodding your head out by the end of the statement. As Indians especially , our method of learning has been constructed to focus on the headlines, have a fair idea as to what the topic involves and then we can totally reproduce this out in the exam with a lot of " mirch and masala" ( just some additional spices- for people who don't quite follow the language) , the content of the videos is not so much that different than what you can learn of books. But the first point I feel is so imperative for you to note ; DECONSTRUCT your learning pattern, that method will not get you anywhere in this test. This test has nothing to do with reproducing your memorized learnt lesson, Its got everything to do with how much you can reproduce crosslinking every twisted axon in your brain, how many action potentials it can fire .. Its a simple Neuronal pathway - your ALL or NONE !!!!

Sorry it was too tempting to throw that in, ( I got done with my test 2 days back, so im still fresh) .. Point is… These videos change the way you think , they help you understand the topic the way the board would want you to understand it. . and honestly it may sound cliched, is extremely time - tasking , but it is worth it at the end of the day!!! My blogger here made it seem so exciting, and yeah it was kinda infectious so everytime I would feel bored I'd come back to the blog, pick yourself or surround yourself with this and you would see the change..

Not detracting from the topic, Get the Videos, they are amazing, follow the pattern that you get out here on the site, its easy to follow provided ---- you genuinely work hard, you make a plan of action ,you Reconstruct your mode of learning (the biggest gift of being blessed with a human brain). The blogger here has a busy life and is probably going to be on the cover of some killer ground breaking research model soon , and that's probably when we may gain access to the real identity of this individual , but you have the gift of the experience there to take from this for yourself and adapt to how best it suits you.

I studied with a different pattern of studying than this blogger, do what suits you , if you're a morning person -- i'm just going to turn my butt and keep sleeping, if your the night reader, I'd advise you to cut yourself at your 2 grande of plain black bold coffee ( at some point you just get so wired and with little food lotto sugar , your only burning out faster ) , point is -- work when your fresh , create a routine , a realistic routine and stick to it. Pick your stressbuster - and make that work for you. Variety is the spice of life. ( No, I don't believe it was intended for the situations people put to use now-a -days except this ) . Pandora became one of my best friends , stations of everykind for every subject for every mood helped me. People would think I'm crazy singing or talking to myself , but Be Prepared.. Its a long ride, This is the start of it. And as time approaches it only gets to a point where you want to break down.. Oh my dear dear friend you will so very breakdown..

As you can see this aspect of me writing all this, is to show you the humane side of this test .. because the blog by itself is absolutely perfect in its material , the depth of coverage. I am bringing to it , what the blogger has helped me with , and i believe carries 50% of the test result. The Attitude and Approach to this test..

When you find yourself burning out, when you find yourself tired , hungry /stuffed with all that overeating, nauseous with no sleep , overworked and socially awkward since you have no life basically , THIS is what you read… Believe in Yourself. You are a Winner and You can and Will do it!!

Yep , I know you're either smiling thinking Oh Lord What a retard , Or you are actually sitting up and saying this aloud. Try it! It simple/free/effective .. Buy one Get the other smile free free free !!! :P

2 days before my test , I had my guts in the worst sort of volvulus ever , Cardiac tamponade was a second away , and I think I had already suffered a cerebral infarct! What more right ? ? The night before my test I found myself hyperventilating and insomniac to the core .. But the words of my mentor , the self spoken words of my inner soul, the love and expectations of my family , the hours of hard work I had put in , made me believe that Yes I can do it. YOu find your own muse ( whatever it is) … The point is be calm, stable and treat it just like a dissection. Each question comes to you like a piece of art, you don't just hack your way into it, your a doctor, precision steadiness is our key.. Cmon We are way bigger risk takers than even cardiosurgeons I think, we hold airrotars in our hands with diamond burs rotating at such speeds, we could tear the person up, this is only a test .

I walked into that test, not thinking about the 9 hours that I was going to be on that chair for, what I remembered, What I didn't remember, What score I wanted, how hard i had studied but I walked in wearing the clothes I was most comfortable in, and with one and only thing in my mind. I had 400 questions coming my way , and I'm going to focus on ONE question at a time, slow steady , breathe and focus on just that question for what it is at that time. Mark the question and move to the next. If I knew the answer I'm good. If i don't , I say Mark and move. The morning session ended before I had even realized. I told myself 200 more to go. I had one hour of a break to which i utilized to close my eyes, meditate, rest my eyes and just hear myself breathe. Get some refreshments ( snickers provided me what I wanted then) and walked back saying ok , another 200 , one at a time , lets give it all I've got. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tired , or my body was agitated , restless , but I shifted in my chair more than you would on a roller coaster , keep your mind calm and alert , feel free to cross your legs on top of the chair, scratch your head, give yourself a neck rub or probably just smile looking at some questions to which you're like What the hell is going on. Make it work for you , rather than freaking out as to OMG where is this going???How can this be happening to me? I'm doomed!

As I walked out of that centre, I have no idea as to how I did, ( please pray I did well ) , but what I do know is that I gave it my best shot , I overcame my fears of the test , giving myself a pat on the back that I was calm and achieved what I went there for .. The story post this was hardly exciting .. I was so wired, that I was a retard for the rest of the evening but I didn't care. I did my job the best that I could, and you need to be able to walk away for no one else except yourself at that point of time. The rest is Destiny!

So go out there, Give it ALL you've got and I truly believe that Good things shall follow !

All the Best! :)