Official 2012 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[amavir281]

I saw that there was a similar thread for 2011 that had plenty of useful info so I figured its best to start one for 2012.

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[Brigade4Radiant]

Honestly, these diseases are in a LIST in FA. Unlike a lot of the abstruse 4-step questions out there, these are actually as straight-forward as they come, and anyone would be blessed to get questions on these.

If you can purely memorize them in FA yeah but if you are trying to go through everything you tend to only memorize the most a portion of them, sure you remember some of them like Tay-Sachs but these were not easy questions like name the substance that accumulates. Also I think it's pretty funny that you think the questions were easy when you don't know what the question was asking about. Many things are in first aid that doesn't mean anyone would be blessed to have a question about it.

 

[shan564]

If you can purely memorize them in FA yeah but if you are trying to go through everything you tend to only memorize the most a portion of them, sure you remember some of them like Tay-Sachs but these were not easy questions like name the substance that accumulates. Also I think it's pretty funny that you think the questions were easy when you don't know what the question was asking about. Many things are in first aid that doesn't mean anyone would be blessed to have a question about it.

Yeah, everybody is different. Some people prefer the 1-step questions about something rare because they're just that well-prepared. I'm definitely not that guy... I'd rather have a complicated physiology graph that I can work through with a bit of basic knowledge and a lot of logic. Like the MCAT. Or the SAT/GRE.

 

[gravitywave]

If you can purely memorize them in FA yeah but if you are trying to go through everything you tend to only memorize the most a portion of them, sure you remember some of them like Tay-Sachs but these were not easy questions like name the substance that accumulates. Also I think it's pretty funny that you think the questions were easy when you don't know what the question was asking about. Many things are in first aid that doesn't mean anyone would be blessed to have a question about it.

i hated these specifically because i couldn't keep them straight and felt sure that if they showed up on the exam, high chance it would be a one-stepper and i would still get it wrong. The clinical pictures were always blurry to me, the substances all sounded alike, the whole topic lacked context utterly, and they could have shown me the brown-paper-baggiest macrophage ever and i still would have been uncertain about it.

edit: apparently they're crumpled paper macrophages. which just proves my point.

 

[Phloston]

Many things are in first aid that doesn't mean anyone would be blessed to have a question about it.

If it's actually in FA, it means we've seen it before.

Some people prefer the 1-step questions about something rare...

They always make less common things much more classic and straight-forward presentation-wise. For example, with Gerstmann syndrome, they'll make sure they mention in full that the guy can't write, do math, distinguish left from right or identify his fingers (the big 4), but for the common cold, they'll make you jump six steps and expect you to know the adverse side-effects of a medication used to treat a related organism.


There was some guy who posted earlier on this same thread saying that he got a lot of "one-step, what's the diagnosis?-type questions." That's obviously ideal.

 

[shan564]

They always make less common things much more classic and straight-forward presentation-wise. For example, with Gerstmann syndrome, they'll make sure they mention in full that the guy can't write, do math, distinguish left from right or identify his fingers (the big 4), but for the common cold, they'll make you jump six steps and expect you to know the adverse side-effects of a medication used to treat a related organism.

That was my point - I don't know what Gerstmann syndrome is, so if I get that one-step question, I'll definitely get it wrong. But if I get a 6-step question about the common cold, there's a decent chance that I'll be able to work my way through it. Clearly, you're better prepared than I am, so you'd prefer the straightforward question about the rare condition.

 

[furby]

sry i know this has come up a bzillion times but i am not too computer savvy... where exactly do i download the nbme forms? and answers?

 

[alternatego]

You don't download them (at least not LEGALLY) you buy them and each costs like $60 you can access them here https://nsas.nbme.org/nsasweb/servlet/mesa_main

 

[futuredoctor10]

Thanks to all the replies to some of my earlier questions.

What is the best exam to use as a diagnostic after MS2 ends at the start of dedicated prep time?

I can't believe Step 1 is almost here!!!

 

[murdoc9]

Took it today... thought I'd contribute since this thread has helped me, maybe alleviate some anxiety (or maybe not ). Obviously this is all pre getting my score, so take it w/ grain of salt.

Overall pretty much what I expected. don't know if that's good or bad. Lots of thinking on this test, like others have said. Knowing & understanding physiology and pathophys is (obviously) really important. E.g. what are lab values in renal failure? what happens to synthesis of vit D? (down) serum ca++? (down) phosphate? (up) In your prep focus on how stuff works!

I'd say about 2/3 of the test was - "oh ok, yah that's pretty classic, i think i know that," And 1/3 was "oh wait, i have to think through this." Lots of novel situations where you have to eliminate answer choices mostly (at least for me, heh). Probably marked between 10 - 15 questions per section (tend to mark a lot of questions, so this was somewhat normal)

anatomy on mine was relatively benign, embryology seemed like kind of a nuisance, but probably only because it's a weak point for me

biochem - again seemed relatively benign compared to what i was expecting. know regulation of metabolism, vitamins, focus on diseases mostly, i'd say.

pysch & behavioral science: a few ethicals, # needed to treat, sens/spec, basics of study type, study design. maybe review this before your test (hint!)

immuno got kinda in depth w/ details (some q's I was like... really??) review immuno, path, and pharm sections in FA!

path & pathophys- got interesting i thought. lots of questions coulda gone either way. relies a lot on your basic understanding of phys and pathophys from first two year, i feel like.

I basically went though most of Uworld during second year with organ blocks (my school does custom NBME's, which helped familiarize me with their style) , then went through Uworld again start to finish during designated study time, while annotating some Uworld into first aid. This was all on tutor mode. Ended on 78% in Uworld tutor mode, whatever that means. For about the last week I focused most on FA.

Other resources used during second year (in no particular order step 1 secrets, pathoma, RR path (as a reference), some of kaplan qbank, deja review micro (once through), lange biochem cards (once through), read through most of underground clinical vignettes in anatomy, this was actually pretty helpful. <edit: oh yeah used goljan audio throughout 2nd year to help learn stuff. great guy.>

Practice tests, chronologically:
Cbse thru school before studying: 225-230
nbme12: 238
nbme11: 250
UWSA: 2: 247
UWSA1: 259

Took basically ~5 wks to study. Not gunning for anything spectacular, would be happy with 230+. It really could go either way w/ the curve. Will report back with score in T-4 Wednesdays, apparently.

Good luck to you all. Try to approach this thing with a positive attitude, like "hey i can figure a lot of this stuff out!" I feel like you kinda just gotta go for this thing. I hope I did ok. I hope you all do great too.

 

[goop]

thanks dude that is really helpful. congrats on getting it done, it looks like you're in great shape to hit your target score with the practice tests you had.

any thoughts on micro? how much would you say it's small detail memorization vs just knowing the major things about each pathogen?

 

[gbc1989]

Murdoc, how would you say your test compared to the NBMEs and UWSAs? (in terms of the style of qs and difficulty)

 

[murdoc9]

thanks dude that is really helpful. congrats on getting it done, it looks like you're in great shape to hit your target score with the practice tests you had.

any thoughts on micro? how much would you say it's small detail memorization vs just knowing the major things about each pathogen?

micro was probably one of the less detail oriented sections on my test. there were a couple critters thrown in that aren't often talked about... one virus that I'd never heard of that I (think) i got by process of elimination. sometimes they list a bug by an alternative, lesser known names mad:mad which forces you to eliminate answer choices. so don't eliminate it just because you haven't heard of it.

Murdoc, how would you say your test compared to the NBMEs and UWSAs? (in terms of the style of qs and difficulty)

it's a mix of the two- the harder, more ambiguous questions resembled uworld much more, but there are plenty of gimmes resembling the average nbme question. I had many more questions marked per section on the real deal than in any of the practice tests i took. they just throw more random crap at you and see what you can make of it.

 

[jatt12]

Took it today... thought I'd contribute since this thread has helped me, maybe alleviate some anxiety (or maybe not ). Obviously this is all pre getting my score, so take it w/ grain of salt.

Overall pretty much what I expected. don't know if that's good or bad. Lots of thinking on this test, like others have said. Knowing & understanding physiology and pathophys is (obviously) really important. E.g. what are lab values in renal failure? what happens to synthesis of vit D? (down) serum ca++? (down) phosphate? (up) In your prep focus on how stuff works!

I'd say about 2/3 of the test was - "oh ok, yah that's pretty classic, i think i know that," And 1/3 was "oh wait, i have to think through this." Lots of novel situations where you have to eliminate answer choices mostly (at least for me, heh). Probably marked between 10 - 15 questions per section (tend to mark a lot of questions, so this was somewhat normal)

anatomy on mine was relatively benign, embryology seemed like kind of a nuisance, but probably only because it's a weak point for me

biochem - again seemed relatively benign compared to what i was expecting. know regulation of metabolism, vitamins, focus on diseases mostly, i'd say.

pysch & behavioral science: a few ethicals, # needed to treat, sens/spec, basics of study type, study design. maybe review this before your test (hint!)

immuno got kinda in depth w/ details (some q's I was like... really??) review immuno, path, and pharm sections in FA!

path & pathophys- got interesting i thought. lots of questions coulda gone either way. relies a lot on your basic understanding of phys and pathophys from first two year, i feel like.

I basically went though most of Uworld during second year with organ blocks (my school does custom NBME's, which helped familiarize me with their style) , then went through Uworld again start to finish during designated study time, while annotating some Uworld into first aid. This was all on tutor mode. Ended on 78% in Uworld tutor mode, whatever that means. For about the last week I focused most on FA.

Other resources used during second year (in no particular order step 1 secrets, pathoma, RR path (as a reference), some of kaplan qbank, deja review micro (once through), lange biochem cards (once through), read through most of underground clinical vignettes in anatomy, this was actually pretty helpful. <edit: oh yeah used goljan audio throughout 2nd year to help learn stuff. great guy.>

Practice tests, chronologically:
Cbse thru school before studying: 225-230
nbme12: 238
nbme11: 250
UWSA: 2: 247
UWSA1: 259

Took basically ~5 wks to study. Not gunning for anything spectacular, would be happy with 230+. It really could go either way w/ the curve. Will report back with score in T-4 Wednesdays, apparently.

Good luck to you all. Try to approach this thing with a positive attitude, like "hey i can figure a lot of this stuff out!" I feel like you kinda just gotta go for this thing. I hope I did ok. I hope you all do great too.

 

[FML]

Quick question to anyone/everyone who's taken this thing recently:

regarding these hard questions everyone talks about, are they hard bc the questions are tricky (ex: classic signs and symptoms of diseases A but one minor detail makes it disease B) or are they just very thinking-type 17th-order questions?

Just asking bc the former really get me very frustrated in the q banks whereas the latter I find more logical and would hope that that is what the usmle would test...

 

[Kaputt]

Quick question to anyone/everyone who's taken this thing recently:

regarding these hard questions everyone talks about, are they hard bc the questions are tricky (ex: classic signs and symptoms of diseases A but one minor detail makes it disease B) or are they just very thinking-type 17th-order questions?

Just asking bc the former really get me very frustrated in the q banks whereas the latter I find more logical and would hope that that is what the usmle would test...

I felt the real thing's difficult questions were slightly obscure. Like a couple enzyme deficiencies I'd never seen before or some random proteins never mentioned in World or FA and they're asking for a pretty specific function. These kinds of questions you can't prepare for. (There were only a few of these questions...but I remember them cause they were so obscure).

I'd say in general there are less "17th-order" questions on the real thing than World, which is a good thing because most of the questions are the same type of questions as World but less steps to make.

 

[FML]

I felt the real thing's difficult questions were slightly obscure. Like a couple enzyme deficiencies I'd never seen before or some random proteins never mentioned in World or FA and they're asking for a pretty specific function. These kinds of questions you can't prepare for. (There were only a few of these questions...but I remember them cause they were so obscure).

I'd say in general there are less "17th-order" questions on the real thing than World, which is a good thing because most of the questions are the same type of questions as World but less steps to make.

Ahh, so a third hard category: WTF!!!! haha
Good to know the real thing has UWorld-like but (hopefully) easier questions.

 

[long]

Anybody get their scores back today yet?

 

[dukejen04]

So, I took Step 1 today and I really don't know how to feel. I studied like mad and at some point felt really good about myself but then recently started realizing that despite how much I know, there were still stupid things I didn't know or I'd forget.

Anyway- my test seemed easy- TOO easy, so I'm worried I will get screwed on the curve. And when I say "easy" I don't mean I knew all the answers- I mean that there were certainly questions that I should have gotten but didn't because I'd forgotten some detail I should have known.

Overall, there was nothing surprising or totally out of left field- maybe one or two random anatomy questions that didn't phase me at all because I wouldn't have known it unless I'd spent a month just studying Netter's. Biochem was mostly integrated and not too difficult. Lots of genetics, a fair amount of neuro-related pharm that I should have learned better.

I felt like I breezed through a lot of it, but also feel like those were questions everyone would have breezed through and that I missed things I should have known that other people definitely probably knew, so that makes me feel kind of crappy.

Sooooo, yeah. Not sure what to think. Guess no one gets a perfect score but I was hoping to do really well, and while I don't feel like I didn't badly- I don't feel like a rockstar right now either.

 

[msbbc833]

Do ya'll feel that taking shelf exams from the school 2 months before the test helps? I have taken the behavioral, pharm, and will take path (upcoming Monday). I felt very very good about the exams but they make me nervous. I feel as if I did well on the shelves, and these are retired questions then what the heck are they going to ask on the real thing? I mean, I just feel like the questions on step will be much more far fetched and harder because we've already pretty much seen everything... any thoughts on this? Is step similar to shelf exams?

 

[medicaldonkey]

Not an active poster, but this forum did a lot for me so I felt the need to give back if only briefly.

Test scores came back today...

NBME 12 6 weeks out: 220's
NBME 7 1/2 weeks out: 230'S
UWSA 1 3 weeks out: 257
NBME 13 2 weeks out: 254

Actual 255.

The bottom line: it's just a test. We get so few moments in medicine to do truly amazing things. I hope that one of yours isn't wasted on impressing a residency director as that's the only thing a good score can do for you. Remember why you got yourself into this mess and it'll be a lot easier during the grind.

 

[iCY]

Other resources used during second year (in no particular order step 1 secrets, pathoma, RR path (as a reference), some of kaplan qbank, deja review micro (once through), lange biochem cards (once through), read through most of underground clinical vignettes in anatomy, this was actually pretty helpful. <edit: oh yeah used goljan audio throughout 2nd year to help learn stuff. great guy.>

Practice tests, chronologically:
Cbse thru school before studying: 225-230
nbme12: 238
nbme11: 250
UWSA: 2: 247
UWSA1: 259

Took basically ~5 wks to study. Not gunning for anything spectacular, would be happy with 230+. It really could go either way w/ the curve. Will report back with score in T-4 Wednesdays, apparently.

Good luck to you all. Try to approach this thing with a positive attitude, like "hey i can figure a lot of this stuff out!" I feel like you kinda just gotta go for this thing. I hope I did ok. I hope you all do great too.

MURDOC can you please comment on the step 1 secrets book. Is it worth using in the 6 weeks dedicated study time before the test? or is it too long?

 

[kaleerkalut]

Not an active poster, but this forum did a lot for me so I felt the need to give back if only briefly.

Test scores came back today...

NBME 12 6 weeks out: 220's
NBME 7 1/2 weeks out: 230'S
UWSA 1 3 weeks out: 257
NBME 13 2 weeks out: 254

Actual 255.

The bottom line: it's just a test. We get so few moments in medicine to do truly amazing things. I hope that one of yours isn't wasted on impressing a residency director as that's the only thing a good score can do for you. Remember why you got yourself into this mess and it'll be a lot easier during the grind.

Appreciate the post! Which NBME did you feel was most like your exam? Thanks in advance and great work!

 

[murdoc9]

MURDOC can you please comment on the step 1 secrets book. Is it worth using in the 6 weeks dedicated study time before the test? or is it too long?

Hmm I'd say probably not. It was useful & an enjoyable way to help learn the material for the first time, but I don't think it's a great use of time during dedicated study, compared to doing questions and hammering away at first aid.

 

[missmedschool]

Not an active poster, but this forum did a lot for me so I felt the need to give back if only briefly.

Test scores came back today...

NBME 12 6 weeks out: 220's
NBME 7 1/2 weeks out: 230'S
UWSA 1 3 weeks out: 257
NBME 13 2 weeks out: 254

Actual 255.

The bottom line: it's just a test. We get so few moments in medicine to do truly amazing things. I hope that one of yours isn't wasted on impressing a residency director as that's the only thing a good score can do for you. Remember why you got yourself into this mess and it'll be a lot easier during the grind.

I'm 6 weeks out as well and scored in the 220s in the NBME 12 this week. What did you do during your intensive study period? What do you think gave you that 30 point boost? Thanks!!

 

[Phloston]

MURDOC can you please comment on the step 1 secrets book. Is it worth using in the 6 weeks dedicated study time before the test? or is it too long?

Hmm I'd say probably not. It was useful & an enjoyable way to help learn the material for the first time, but I don't think it's a great use of time during dedicated study, compared to doing questions and hammering away at first aid.

Absolutely true. I think the Secrets book is fantastic, but it's ideal for someone entering first-year. I'm 8 months out from my exam and read about 24 hour's worth of Secrets a few months ago, and I remember specifically thinking that I had wished I had known of/read that book at the beginning of first-year, because now there's just no time.

 

[rule out normal]

I took mine last Saturday. I was surprised to find that UW qbank and self-assessments look EXACTLY like the test day software, while the NBME tests significantly lack the look and the feel of the real thing. I scored 238 and 247 on UWSA 1 and 2 respectively the last 9 days before the test. However, the real test was just almost as difficult as the UW qbank questions. The question stems were longer (the "max" length was longer, not every single question. There were a significant number of "one-liners" and such). I spent too much time on the long ones. I also was cramming my scratch notes onto what I thought was a limited supply, which ended up being "unlimited" had I just requested more paper. All in all, I feel like I made about a 230.

 

[medicaldonkey]

I'm 6 weeks out as well and scored in the 220s in the NBME 12 this week. What did you do during your intensive study period? What do you think gave you that 30 point boost? Thanks!!

First AID--never looked at embryo--waste of time. Quite easy to get 95% of behavioral science and psych right so make sure you have that down pat.
Pathoma--money in the bank and supplemented with select chapters of Goljan RR.
UWorld--probably did 5 or 6 topics (renal, GI, etc) between 8-10 times. I also did Kaplan Qbank and USMLERx. Kaplan is by far the least of these.

I would recommend 50/50 split of studying and questions, but I preferred lots of 10 question sets and I would repeat them until I got them all right later that day.

Hope that helps.

 

[medicaldonkey]

Appreciate the post! Which NBME did you feel was most like your exam? Thanks in advance and great work!

Good rule of thumb: Always take the most recent NBME. I took 7 because of the rep it has and it was not as reflective. 13 came out 1 month before my test. I think I did it2 or 3 weeks prior and got a 254. Actual was a 255...the math is there for the taking. 11, 12, 13 before the older ones.

 

[medicaldonkey]

Oh and I really ignored sections that I started off strong at, and focused heavily on the weaknesses. I ended up focusing so hard on the weak spots, that those became the higher sections. Probably common sense, but people tend to study what they like and find intuitive.

 

[Bernoull]

First AID--never looked at embryo--waste of time. Quite easy to get 95% of behavioral science and psych right so make sure you have that down pat.
Pathoma--money in the bank and supplemented with select chapters of Goljan RR.
UWorld--probably did 5 or 6 topics (renal, GI, etc) between 8-10 times. I also did Kaplan Qbank and USMLERx. Kaplan is by far the least of these.

I would recommend 50/50 split of studying and questions, but I preferred lots of 10 question sets and I would repeat them until I got them all right later that day.

Hope that helps.

Which chapters did u use RR to supplement Pathoma? I guessing u felt Pathoma didn't suffice for those? I know the CNS chapter seemed rushed..

Congrats on the score!!

 

[dr seuss]

Pathoma--money in the bank and supplemented with select chapters of Goljan RR.

The fluid balance chapter in RR is really good and not covered in Pathoma. What other ones did you use?

Oops.. just noticed the post above mine

 

[JackShephard MD]

First AID--never looked at embryo--waste of time. Quite easy to get 95% of behavioral science and psych right so make sure you have that down pat.
Pathoma--money in the bank and supplemented with select chapters of Goljan RR.
UWorld--probably did 5 or 6 topics (renal, GI, etc) between 8-10 times. I also did Kaplan Qbank and USMLERx. Kaplan is by far the least of these.

I would recommend 50/50 split of studying and questions, but I preferred lots of 10 question sets and I would repeat them until I got them all right later that day.

Hope that helps.

Am I understanding this correct? You ran through 8+ passes on some UW sections?

I ask because so many have advised against doing UW more than once or twice.

 

[peace zealot]

First AID--never looked at embryo--waste of time. Quite easy to get 95% of behavioral science and psych right so make sure you have that down pat.
Pathoma--money in the bank and supplemented with select chapters of Goljan RR.
UWorld--probably did 5 or 6 topics (renal, GI, etc) between 8-10 times. I also did Kaplan Qbank and USMLERx. Kaplan is by far the least of these.

I would recommend 50/50 split of studying and questions, but I preferred lots of 10 question sets and I would repeat them until I got them all right later that day.

Hope that helps.

Did you do all three QBanks in your final 6 weeks?

 

[LadyLightning20]

I've benefited from this thread, so I'll give back my 2 cents.

Prep: about 4.5 weeks (boo - I would have loved a little more.)

Gunner Training: (fairly seriously seriously, from end of December through end of March.)
FA - a few times through. I didn't go through this with classes, but I wish I had.
UW - finished it, average 76%, started around 60 to 65 to about 80 by the end. I did this all during my dedicated study period.
NBME 6, before starting: 214
NBmE 7. ~ 2 weeks in - 238.
Goljan - kinda/sorta read through most of the systems during class. Read through all the systems once during dedicated prep. I also flipped through once the night before to look at all the path pictures. I did not use the Goljan lectures, I am not a good auditory learner.
BRS physiology - to clarify stuff, not a primary resource.
Robbins - again, to clarify. (rarely)
Random rads pictures online.



I took it today. I didn't think it was that bad. There were a few questions that came totally out of left field (which is somewhat to be expected) but most of the things that I didn't know, I was kicking myself because it was a familiar topic that I just hadn't studied in depth enough (or I'd forgotten a basic fact.) My brain is definitely fried but I'll try to break it down as much as I remember.

As a general prep note: I didn't start using GT until LATE. (there's a 1500ish post thread on that so check it out if you're interested.) I definitely do better repeating things quickly a bunch of times, as opposed to going through really slowly once, so this was golden for me, even for the short time that I used it. It provided more detail and therefore more context to a lot of subjects. I know FA is the classic resource (and I obviously used it) but having the extra information about mechanism and stuff that GT provided made it a lot easier for me to understand things.

Biochem - more than I thought. I was definitely glad I hammered in a bunch of random crap at the last minute.

Anatomy - I knew this was weak going in and, well, I obviously should have studied it more. Looking at CT's/CXR's online the night before was definitely helpful.

Path - this is definitely my strong point - the only reason my UW average ended up on the higher end is because my path scores were dragging the rest up. I felt like this was really fair, not a ton of curveballs. There were a couple you had to work through but it was very doable. Also, looking at pictures the night before was DEFINITELY a good idea.

Pharm - FA was really good but not quite enough in depth. There were a couple (and I really mean, very few) that were not in FA or UW but I felt pretty prepared for this. On a couple of questions, GT went just that extra step in depth enough to help you answer the question.

Embryo - fair, not that many questions and all of them were answerable from FA.

Micro - a couple of weird questions, but mostly straightforward. GT is definitely strong here too - it has quite a bit of extra detail that really helped me to contextualize things, and the repetition is key to hammering in a subject like this.

Physio - lots of arrows. A couple that threw me off, but definitely easier than UW. KNOW your feedback loops, but also be prepared to reason past those.

I'm probably missing stuff here but that's about all I remember. I'll post a score range when I get it.

Overall:

I feel OK about it. I had a few good blocks at the beginning that I just flew through (also scored on several questions that came directly from my "random **** to cram at the last minute" list, which made me feel awesome.) Then I hit a couple of blocks in the middle where I marked about half the questions, and that was totally demoralizing. So now I'm not really sure how I did.

I do wish I'd had more time to study (i was also pretty inefficient during the beginning of my study period, since I pretty much spent it panicking.) A couple more days would have been great, but this is how my school works. If I had taken a couple more days, actually it would have been with the "random crap" list. As I said above, the vast majority of the questions that I missed, I could tell you on what PAGE of FA to look. So I think going through that would definitely have boosted my score.

Fun tip: chocolate covered espresso beans. Trader Joe's. Totally awesome.

 

[Phloston]

Oh and I really ignored sections that I started off strong at, and focused heavily on the weaknesses. I ended up focusing so hard on the weak spots, that those became the higher sections. Probably common sense, but people tend to study what they like and find intuitive.

Could you elaborate on that, please?

 

[Phloston]

Fun tip: chocolate covered espresso beans. Trader Joe's. Totally awesome.

Rock on.



Congrats on making it to the other side though. Just remember that it's exceedingly rare to feel even remotely at ease. Thanks for posting an initial analysis the night following your exam. Perhaps you'll help us all with a more thorough one after you have a few weeks to digest (and retrieve your score).

Cheers,

 

[JJMrK]

Quick question to anyone/everyone who's taken this thing recently:

regarding these hard questions everyone talks about, are they hard bc the questions are tricky (ex: classic signs and symptoms of diseases A but one minor detail makes it disease B) or are they just very thinking-type 17th-order questions?

Just asking bc the former really get me very frustrated in the q banks whereas the latter I find more logical and would hope that that is what the usmle would test...

I'd say the difficulty is between UWSA and NBMEs.

A lot of the hardest ones were things that weren't in FA or UW (or your school's curriculum), at all, period. The manageable hard ones are either:
1) Classic sx and presentation of disease but "coded" answer choices. In other words, making sure you understand what you're picking, not just picking out the buzzword you memorized
2) A question you've probably never heard of, but with all answer choices you have seen related to other disease and one that you haven't. This basically tests you on 5 things at once; "how confident are you really about eliminating these and picking the thing you've never heard of?" the test makers are saying.
3) Obscure anatomy qs

The 4th order physio ones are some of the easier ones.

 

[kaleerkalut]

I've benefited from this thread, so I'll give back my 2 cents.

Prep: about 4.5 weeks (boo - I would have loved a little more.)

Gunner Training: (fairly seriously seriously, from end of December through end of March.)
FA - a few times through. I didn't go through this with classes, but I wish I had.
UW - finished it, average 76%, started around 60 to 65 to about 80 by the end. I did this all during my dedicated study period.
Goljan - kinda/sorta read through most of the systems during class. Read through all the systems once during dedicated prep. I also flipped through once the night before to look at all the path pictures. I did not use the Goljan lectures, I am not a good auditory learner.
BRS physiology - to clarify stuff, not a primary resource.
Robbins - again, to clarify. (rarely)
Random rads pictures online.

I took it today. I didn't think it was that bad. There were a few questions that came totally out of left field (which is somewhat to be expected) but most of the things that I didn't know, I was kicking myself because it was a familiar topic that I just hadn't studied in depth enough (or I'd forgotten a basic fact.) My brain is definitely fried but I'll try to break it down as much as I remember.

As a general prep note: I didn't start using GT until LATE. (there's a 1500ish post thread on that so check it out if you're interested.) I definitely do better repeating things quickly a bunch of times, as opposed to going through really slowly once, so this was golden for me, even for the short time that I used it. It provided more detail and therefore more context to a lot of subjects. I know FA is the classic resource (and I obviously used it) but having the extra information about mechanism and stuff that GT provided made it a lot easier for me to understand things.

Biochem - more than I thought. I was definitely glad I hammered in a bunch of random crap at the last minute.

Anatomy - I knew this was weak going in and, well, I obviously should have studied it more. Looking at CT's/CXR's online the night before was definitely helpful.

Path - this is definitely my strong point - the only reason my UW average ended up on the higher end is because my path scores were dragging the rest up. I felt like this was really fair, not a ton of curveballs. There were a couple you had to work through but it was very doable. Also, looking at pictures the night before was DEFINITELY a good idea.

Pharm - FA was really good but not quite enough in depth. There were a couple (and I really mean, very few) that were not in FA or UW but I felt pretty prepared for this. On a couple of questions, GT went just that extra step in depth enough to help you answer the question.

Embryo - fair, not that many questions and all of them were answerable from FA.

Micro - a couple of weird questions, but mostly straightforward. GT is definitely strong here too - it has quite a bit of extra detail that really helped me to contextualize things, and the repetition is key to hammering in a subject like this.

Physio - lots of arrows. A couple that threw me off, but definitely easier than UW. KNOW your feedback loops, but also be prepared to reason past those.

I'm probably missing stuff here but that's about all I remember. I'll post a score range when I get it.

Overall:

I feel OK about it. I had a few good blocks at the beginning that I just flew through (also scored on several questions that came directly from my "random **** to cram at the last minute" list, which made me feel awesome.) Then I hit a couple of blocks in the middle where I marked about half the questions, and that was totally demoralizing. So now I'm not really sure how I did.

I do wish I'd had more time to study (i was also pretty inefficient during the beginning of my study period, since I pretty much spent it panicking.) A couple more days would have been great, but this is how my school works. If I had taken a couple more days, actually it would have been with the "random crap" list. As I said above, the vast majority of the questions that I missed, I could tell you on what PAGE of FA to look. So I think going through that would definitely have boosted my score.

Fun tip: chocolate covered espresso beans. Trader Joe's. Totally awesome.

Which practice tests did you take and which ones did you feel were most representative of your exam? Thanks and good luck

 

[djquickfingers]

So, after the taking the test, and a night of recovery, here is my full assessment of the exam:

A little bit of background...I'm an average student, American FMG(no I didn't have unlimited time to study for step):

My Uworld: 64% first pass
UWSA 1-228 (2 weeks out)
UWSA 2-238 (2 days before)
NBME 7-228 (3 weeks out)
NBME 11-230 (2 weeks out)


Prep: I started in earnest about 2.5 months ago after taking the school sponsered NBME, and scored a 210. My primary resources are Kaplan Books/Videos, Pathoma, Goljan Rapid Review Notes and Slides, FA, Uworld, DIT and the occasional bootlegged Kaplan Qbank.

I first started with one run thru of DIT, which I did completely in 3 weeks. I did all the questions and quizzes. Guys, I recommend doing this because I saw no less than 10 questions straight from DIT that he said were HY. I too thought it was too good to be true, but I laughed out loud when i saw questions straight from DIT. I enjoyed it so much, I went thru it again before the test.

I then did Pathoma, and its GOLD..like everyone else here has said, Dr. Sattar knows what he's saying. I tried listening to Goljan, but it was too much for me. I did read his notes and found them reinforcing.

Kaplan: Good for a solid read if you forget something. I read all books twice except Micro, Pathology and Anatomy. They were very good in reinforcing all the things I THOUGHT I knew but didn't. Actually, I found quite a few questions in Uworld directly from Kaplan, that wasn't in FA, so use it if you can.

FA: Pretty gold. Read it one time thru the week before the test. Went thru it a few times before with DIT and supplement with Goljan I suggest supplementing it, but practically everything in FA is relevant. Every line can be a questions or a distractor. I'll detail each section below.

Uworld: Gold!! Like everyone has said, its a MUST DO. Do it twice, do it 3 times, just know the concepts. They WILL repeat, sometimes word for word on the test. What's more surprising is that the format of the test is EXACTLY like uworld. So familiarize yourself with it and skip the tutorial. From the color to the tabs, it all looks the same.

Kaplan Qbank: I can't really comment because i barely did it, and It was just ok. A little too detailed but I can't speak too much on it.

So as far as the test:
It's slightly easier than Uworld, with ALOT of questions being too easy. I was so surprised that they were asking me easy stuff. I almost thought there was some kind of a trick, but they aren't. They will ask classic stuff, like bugs and drugs so know the relationships. They want you to know whats common and how to treat it. There are no tricks, just straight forward thinking. Now for details, and I won't speak to specific questions since everyone's test is different:

Behavoiral: FA and Kaplan are sufficient. Know them cold, as these will be gimme's on the test. They ask for specificity, NPV/PPV, attributable risk. These aren't hard to know so memorize the table and know how to read it. Know study designs, what calculations used in each. Know limitations to study designs and KNOW CORRELATION COEFFICIENT. It's 2 lines in FA but know how to look at the graph..major gimme.

Biochem: FA not enough, so use something else. I used Kaplan. The questions were clinical and not too indepth. Believe it or not but I didn't get a lysosomal storage disease question! Know your rate limitors, and what enzymes are deficient in diseases. Uworld prepares you well for these types of questions

Embryo: nothing major. Know heart defects, know derivatives. All in FA

Pharm: FA is sufficient. No out of the world questions. Know how to read graphs and know your receptors. Know what blocks what, and what happens to EPI if you block something. Uworld gets out of hand with some of these questions but its good practice. I can't stress enough of knowing how to read graphs

Path: Pathoma is gold...nuff said. Goljan, ehh, idk. Use whatever works for you. The test is straight up, "what is the disease?" Very few in depth pathology questions about histology or mechanism. They just want you to recognize what the signs and symptoms are.

Micro: FA is enough. Classic cases, classic bugs. Know what HIV'ers get, both brain and butt. Know how to treat it. Know your fungi, and know your virulence factors. Those are all the secondaries.

Psych: FA..don't waste time on anything else

Neuro: Used James Fix's, FA and some school slides. Pretty much straight forward stuff. I got lucky here

Anatomy: Nothing out of the ordinary. I got luck again. know how to read xrays and know your bones in the wrist, know your organs on CT, know your left from right!

Overall it wasn't as bad as I thought. I always had time to review the marked questions, but I RARELY changed answers. It was long but it is a doable exam. Just make sure you relax the day before, look over xrays. Study everything you can and nothign will be a surprise. There was maybe 1 or 2 WTF questions per block, but nothing tripped me up.

Good luck and hopefully I scored as well as I felt. I'll take any questions

 

[Phloston]

So, after the taking the test, and a night of recovery, here is my full assessment of the exam:

My Uworld: 64% first pass
UWSA 1-228 (2 weeks out)
UWSA 2-238 (2 days before)
NBME 7-228 (3 weeks out)
NBME 11-230 (2 weeks out)

By the sound of your analysis, it seems like you're going to get a 260+, not a 230.

I don't get it though: WHAT was hard on your exam? There's something hard on everyone's exam. I refuse to believe it was "not that bad" all the way through...

 

[secants]

^ haha after reading so many "step 1 experiences" I'm also curious on what the "omg I was marking 15 questions" section was!

 

[Aclamity]

When people do these "school sponsored CBSE exams" what exactly are they? My school gave us a practice CBSE (4 sections in length), but we were told that it's not one of the NBME Self Assessments you can purchase for yourself. Do the schools have access to certain special exams? And are these any different in difficulty to NBME/real test? I'm using my score on this as a baseline, but I"m not really sure how to interpret it

 

[chiefMD]

we had a "CBSE" but our school gave us an NBME. So our score was reflective

 

[Aclamity]

we had a "CBSE" but our school gave us an NBME. So our score was reflective

woah, aren't they the same thing? The test is called CBSE (or CBSSA) and it's written by NBME? I'm sorry I really don't know much about these tests

 

[chiefMD]

yea its the same thing.

 

[djquickfingers]

By the sound of your analysis, it seems like you're going to get a 260+, not a 230.

I don't get it though: WHAT was hard on your exam? There's something hard on everyone's exam. I refuse to believe it was "not that bad" all the way through...

There are always difficult questions but I prepared for it to be bone crushingly difficult. I don't mean to be flippant about its difficulty but I was surprised at its simplicity. Very few 2nd or 3rd order questions. I had a bunch of one line questions that were gimme ques. Now I don't suspect everyone's test will be like mine but over prepare and it'll go well.

 

[FML]

I took it on Thursday and since this site/thread has helped me out, I'm gonna write this up hoping it helps someone else. I'm gonna comment on the test itself and after I get my score, I'll update with study plan so there is some context to the study plan.

The test itself wasn't bad. Not easy, but not horrible. Like has been said before, the easy questions were EASY like very classic presentations, diseases, etc. The medium questions were pretty doable in general just more thinking involved (like 2nd-3rd order) but still able to think through. Now the hard ones were completely out of left field. Like things I would not have known if I had remembered every single thing that I had read/heard in first and second year. I just pray that those were the experimental questions (is that even a real thing? I hope so). I'd say the easy ones were 60-70%, 20-30% were medium, and 0-10% were hard.


Behavioral: Fairly easy. Some things that you had to narrow down to two and kinda pick one but maybe that was just me. One REALLY annoying question on abortions which did NOT have a correct answer. You basically had to take a stand on the issue. Ridiculous.

Biochem: Straightforward. A few of the wtf questions were biochem. Idk even what they were to tell you really.

Embryo: I thought I knew embryo well enough but they threw some really weird and specific questions at me. Some of the hard questions were here.

Pharm: This was a weakness of mine but I think it wasn't that bad. There were some things where they wanted to know how to treat a disease but the first classic answer wasn't there, so you had to know the second-best, which was interesting.

Path: Not bad. Some pics threw me off but mostly you totally could get the answer from the vignette alone. Straightforward for the most part.

Micro: Overall not too bad. There were def some random bugs that I had NEVER heard of, but by process of elimination or other reasoning/knowledge you could usually figure it out or at least narrow down the answer. This is regular for micro but knowing bug = disease wasn't enough. Know specifics about bugs/characteristics/etc.

Neuro: Decent. Most neuro questions had pictures: arteriograms, MRIs, spinal cord sections, etc.

Physio: a lot of goddamn arrows. SO many arrows.

Anatomy: I had some really specific ones here. Super annoying. But some really easy ones too tho.

Random: the test had some REALLY sweet pictures! haha They had these 3-D-like arteriograms in the brain. They were so real-looking!! lol, it was just something that I wasn't expecting and I was totally impressed. They weren't always in the position you're used to looking at them though so know that well. I too looked at the neuroanatomy the day before and I would def recommend it, but more on studying in 3ish weeks!

Overall, not too bad. I prolly marked about 10-12 questions per section but that to me means that I just had to think about them a bit more than a 1st-2nd order question and usually got it down to 2-3 answer choices. But on the other side, I didn't mark the wtf questions bc if I had no idea, I just guessed and moved on.

Hope that helps!

 

[auburnO5]

Took it on Thursday. Honestly it seemed easy. I'll post my experience when I get my score back. I'm guessing anywhere from 225-245.

 

[kaleerkalut]

Took it on Thursday. Honestly it seemed easy. I'll post my experience when I get my score back. I'm guessing anywhere from 225-245.

Did you end up taking any other NBMEs after 12? I'm ~1 week out and I'm stressing hard. Auburn I'm sure you're a 260+ no worries. Congrats on being done.

 

[medicaldonkey]

Which chapters did u use RR to supplement Pathoma? I guessing u felt Pathoma didn't suffice for those? I know the CNS chapter seemed rushed..

Congrats on the score!!

I could tell you but it would honestly not do you much good. The chapters I did in Goljan were not based on the strengths and weaknesses of pathoma, but rather my weak spots. If I could go through a pathoma lecture and finish his sentences, I left it at one pass. If I found myself having the pause and relisten to particular sections frequently (due to a lack of understanding, forgetting it from the first 2 years) that's when I dove in Goljan. I wouldn't get into the mindset of I have to read first AID twice, do Uworld 2x, rapid review once etc. It's likely that you excelled in some subjects more than others and those have stayed with you longer. Becoming cognizant of those strengths is really the key to focusing your studying.

I would take a practice test. Work on my 3 or 4 weakest subjects during the week, and take another practice test. I would then work on the next 3 or 4 weakest subjects (possibly redundant from the week before if a subject continued to haunt me).