AIM YOUR BRAIN® at USMLE Step 1 Book -- HELP!

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

pharmdmd@ucd

Member
10+ Year Member
5+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
If you are using my book and you need some help, please post your questions here and I will do my best to answer them in a timely manner.
Happy New Year! MKM

Mary K Miller, PharmD, MD
http://www.ideas2pen.com
http://aimyourbrain.wordpress.com

Members don't see this ad.
 
I think many people like me are unaware of your book.


Please describe/explain what your book is about and how it will benefit us.

Thank You
 
I've been helping some of my students study for USMLE Step 1 for nearly 10 years. Over the years I developed the AIM YOUR BRAIN® Study System which helped my students use their online question banks . . . better (IMHO). With each new student, I found myself writing out the instructions over and over again (by hand), so I decided to write the book. The POV of the book is that most medical students find studying for their USMLE Step 1, an inconvenience at best and an extremely dreadful experience at worse (especially for students that have a strong dislike for multiple-choice exams).

I posted my offer of help on SDN for current book users because I found my other support/help sites weren't being used that much. I started thinking that maybe I wasn't reaching them. SDN has always had a great USMLE Step 1 forum, so I thought I should post here.

I guess the best way to discuss the potential benefits to SDN members is to share with you my intentions for the book. The book is intended to help students:

--Organize, study, and use time more productively
--Use online-question banks more efficiently
--Clarify what to do when life intrudes while studying
--Respond to test anxiety and other difficult issues
--Overcome the "I hate multiple-choice exams" mindset
--Set the stage for your success

I hope this helps. MKM
 
Last edited:
Members don't see this ad :)
Welcome to the first installment of my 2010 SDN journey. I have been moved to the "For Sale and Advertisements" section by one of the moderators for advertising. I have sent 2 private messsages and one "Contact Us" message to the SDN folks for clarification regarding what I did wrong. I just received a (#1) reply that says my post was an advertisement, but no specifics about what I did wrong or what I can do to fix it.

I really don't know what I did wrong. I guess I shouldn't have put the book title in the thread?

My real purpose was to try offer help to my current readers, but I guess this was a mistake. I don't need to put a secret ad on SDN because the book is already being formally advertise on other sites.

I can change my thread title to "Help for students reading mystery USMLE Step 1 book"? Would that help?

I put my website and blog under my name because SDN asked for other links such as twitter and facebook and I just automatically included it. Should I delete all of this?

I replied to a question with complete sincerely, should I have not repied?

If anyone has any ideas on what I should do, please let me know. Thanks. MKM
 
Update 2 - 2010 SDN Journey

Yesterday was full of PMs between one of the administrators and me. I was told that members dislike advertising in the body of the forums. I agree with that completely! I just didn't realize my original post would be categorized as an advertisement and I still don't know which portions of the post made it so . . . in the eyes of those in charge.

The good news is that I am allowed to stay in this area. Also, someone from the "sponsorship" opportunities part of SDN is suppose to contact me. I'm hoping maybe she can let me know what I did wrong.

Anyway, back to MY original purpose in all of this:

"If you are using my book and you need some help, please post your questions here and I will do my best to answer them in a timely manner".
 
Update 3 - 2010 SDN Journey

I have placed my "first" ad this morning in this section of SDN for something FREE.

I have created a supplement to the book that anyone can use to help them study.

The supplement is on "How To Make A F.A.C.T.O.I.D. Book". F.A.C.T.O.I.D.™ is an acronym for Frequently Asked Concepts To Own In Depth.

Here is the content from a tweet I sent out before my SDN adventure.

**USMLE Step 1** Get your FREE (until Jan. 31, 2010) eBook, How to Make A F.A.C.T.O.I.D.® Book? (Study System Supplement for AIM YOUR Brain at USMLE Step 1 by Mary K Miller, PharmD, MD.) Your coupon code is FZ82S. eBook available on Smashwords. Click on link, add book to cart, sign up for free Smashwords account and add coupon code FZ82S at checkout. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/4968

I hope this helps!
 
Still no word from the "sponsorship" coordinator. Still not sure what I did wrong on my original post. I really don't like to leave things hanging, so I have decided to research this myself (since no one has come forth with specifics, i.e. you need to delete this, you shouldn't have done this, etc). To start my research, I clicked on the link at the bottom of the web page and re-read it several times.

http://www.studentdoctor.net/online-service-agreement/

Are they referring to section 6.3(g)?

In section 6.3 . . . You may not, under any circumstances do any of the following:
. . . (g) send email to Users or other Internet users for any purpose other than personal communication, including to advertise or offer to unsolicited sell goods or services to other Users, use as a mass unsolicited distribution medium to communicate a generally unosolicited message, or use your email account as an address to which Users or other Internet users need to respond (except as otherwise expressly permitted by Coastal Research Group); . . .

I don't think Section 6.3(g) applies because I didn't send out any emails and only replied to PMs from a moderator and administrator after I was "told" I was advertising.

Hmmm, I don't think this is it.

Why bother with all of this? As a physician, teacher and human being, I value honesty and integrity. As human beings we inevitably will make mistakes during our life. If I make a mistake, I want to know about it, correct it and learn from the experience. This includes something as simple as posting an offer of help to current readers and have the post categorized as something that it was not intended to be.

I will continue researching this until I have an answer. As always any help would be appreciated in this quest.
 
As you can tell from my "join" date I signed up for SDN over 4 years ago. I posted a few questions and responses then and did not post again until Jan 2, 2010.

I am still trying to figure out what I did wrong. So, I tried searching the word "advertise" on the landing page for SDN. The search brought up the following results:

"White Coat or White Glove: Concierge Medicine 101"
"Opportunities in Medical Writing"
"The Successful Match: Facebook, a new way to screen applicants?"
"Using the SDN Forums" with "The SDN Forums Terms of Service (TOS) [posted 01 November 2008]
etc.

I may be getting closer to what I did wrong . . .

In the "Using the SDN Forums" I found #5 "Don’t advertise (spam). SDN is a student forum which relies on sponsorships to operate. To promote your product or service, see our sponsorship section. Also, no ads in your signature, it’s the same as spamming."

In the SDN Forums Terms of Service I found the following:

"Posting Advertisements

This is a forum of ideas, so advertisements are not allowed in the main forums. Advertisements may only be posted in the Free Classifieds section of the forums. A member may answer another member’s question about their occupation or business, however, blatant advertising or solicitations of or for business is prohibited. This includes, but not limited to, links to products or services with which the poster is affiliated, whether or not a fee is charged for the product or service. Spamming, in which a user posts the same message repeatedly, is also prohibited. Pyramid schemes — chain letters that involve money — are not only prohibited by the Student Doctor Network standards, but they’re also illegal. It is permissible for members to mention services or products that are provided by them or the companies with which they are affiliated, as long as the information is germane to the topic, is not a blatant advertisement, and the members mention their affiliation with the company in the content of the message."

So it seems I shouldn't have put my website or blog under my signature. However it is OK to list other social media in your SDN profile. Huh? Spammer, huh huh?

All of this boils down to intention. I did not intend to advertise. When I joined SDN in 2005, I did not post any advertisements on the USMLE Step 1 forum then and I did not intentionally post an advertisement on Jan 2, 2010. It might be helpful for SDN to include an advertisement clarifying document with examples of what is and what is not acceptable. I found having to dig around a large website with lots of content, looking for what I did wrong . . . somewhat inefficient. Also, I believe SDN members should be given the benefit of the doubt in matters of this kind.

So, if by unintentially advertising I offended or disturbed you or anything else, I sincerely apologize.

Still no word from the sponsership coordinator. I guess I will try and redo my original post without "advertising". If you have any suggestions let me know.
 
Still not sure whether to post in the USMLE Step 1 area again due to the somewhat negative experience earlier this month. Also, I don't know if I am allowed to create a SDN blog when I have been "parked" in the classifieds. Hmmm. Let's give it a try. I have created a link to my WordPress Blog via my new SDN blog. Here is the SDN blog link http://forums.studentdoctor.net/blog.php?b=3150 (kind of long . . . oh well, not going to worry about it).

I plan on blogging on my WordPress blog this week. Stay tuned for more . . .
 
Sorry for the delay in posting. Here's a peak at the new blog post. In the process of upgrading from wordpress.com to wordpress.org to take advantage of the features. Enjoy.

Back By Popular Demand . . . Free eBook on Smashwords


OK. You asked for it and here it is again, our free eBook on Smashwords.

Get your FREE (until Mar. 17, 2010-St. Patricks Day) eBook, How to Make A F.A.C.T.O.I.D.® Book?

(Study System Supplement for AIM YOUR Brain at USMLE Step 1 by Mary K Miller, PharmD, MD.)
Your coupon code is EW49Y. eBook available on Smashwords.

Click on link, add book to cart, sign up for free Smashwords account and add coupon code EW49Y at checkout.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/4968
 
Ends Soon . . . Free eBook on Smashwords

Get your FREE (until Mar. 17, 2010-St. Patricks Day) eBook, How to Make A F.A.C.T.O.I.D.® Book?

(Study System Supplement for AIM YOUR Brain at USMLE Step 1 by Mary K Miller, PharmD, MD.)
Your coupon code is EW49Y. eBook available on Smashwords.

Click on link, add book to cart, sign up for free Smashwords account and add coupon code EW49Y at checkout.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/4968
 
I have added a twitter audiobook poll on my blog (thinking seriously of bringing out an audio version of the book). Remember, one of the major points of the book is that we all have different learning preferences . . . sight, sound, motion and/or muse. The audiobook would of course be targeted to the "sound" learners. http://aimyourbrainusmle.com
 
Hi Everyone,

We've just updated our Ideas2Pen website http://ideas2pen.com. We have added a new "Checkout with Amazon" button to make the checkout process smoother.

When you are ready to checkout, simply click the "Checkout with Amazon" button and enter your Amazon.com e-mail address and password. You will easily and quickly access your account information from Amazon.com.

Many of you wanted an easier way to checkout on the website and so here it is. We hope you take advantage of this new payment option. Thank you for your continued business. Happy New Year and good luck with your studies.

Sincerely,

Ideas2Pen Publishing Company

Home of Dr. Miller's award winning book, AIM YOUR BRAIN at USMLE Step 1
 
Get your FREE (until February 14th, 2011) eBook, How to Make A F.A.C.T.O.I.D.® Book?

(Study System Supplement for AIM YOUR Brain at USMLE Step 1 by Mary K Miller, PharmD, MD.)
Your coupon code is HQ64E. eBook available on Smashwords.

Click on link, add book to cart, sign up for free Smashwords account and add coupon code HQ64E at checkout.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/4968</a>
 
Top