Are there lots of up/down arrow type questions on Step 1?

[Hemichordate]

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I'm doing NBME and UW pathophys, and it seems like there are a lot of up/down arrow type questions where you have to know the exact levels or change in a particular substance. Are there questions like that on step 1?

 

[loveoforganic2]

Yes, all variety of them, testing some combo of phys, pathophys, and pharm. Probably had 10ish arrow q's. I didn't find them terribly difficult though - at worst the types that you end up eliminating to 50/50

 

[HoboCommander]

Lots and lots on the real exam, more than on the NBMEs. Very important to get good at those.

 

[thehealer]

Yea, I took it on 7/18 and I definitely had a bunch. If I had to guess, I'd say 15? Though, I don't remember them being impossible.

On a side note, I always love it when I take the time to actually sketch out the hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenals or whatever, and then say "Ok, at least I know that the PTH is elevated here...only to see that in all 12 answer choices, its either "decreased" or "unchanged." In those situations, I need them to send an angry midget into the testing room to bop me on the head with a squeaky hammer before shooting me looks of disgust and walking away shaking his head. 😀

 

[Lioness12]

Yea, I took it on 7/18 and I definitely had a bunch. If I had to guess, I'd say 15? Though, I don't remember them being impossible.

On a side note, I always love it when I take the time to actually sketch out the hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenals or whatever, and then say "Ok, at least I know that the PTH is elevated here...only to see that in all 12 answer choices, its either "decreased" or "unchanged." In those situations, I need them to send an angry midget into the testing room to bop me on the head with a squeaky hammer before shooting me looks of disgust and walking away shaking his head. 😀

Haha...

 

[Stingarov]

Many many many

 

[Anastomoses]

Can someone post or link to one of these type questions? I have no idea what this arrow business is.

 

[blaqmamba]

I only had like two, so I think it's variable.

 

[Phloston]

I had ~4 on my exam. Two of them were actually two of the hardest questions on my whole exam because they tested obscure things.

 

[paul411]

Can someone post or link to one of these type questions? I have no idea what this arrow business is.

An example would be a patient presenting with DKA and they'll ask what the levels of blood glucose, ketones, K+, pH, HCO3, etc. would be. Each answer choice will be a collection of up/down arrows or a dash corresponding to each column.

They can get really tricky because you are unlikely to study/learn physiology concepts in that context. It requires you to synthesize several concepts, making them excellent but difficult questions.