BUZZ WORDS!!!!! are they even implemented on the real exam!?!

[medschoolmania]

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judging from past exam experiences from what people have posted.....it seems to me that there are no buzz words anymore on the current step 1. that they have deviated or tried to stay away from giving "hints" or "hallmark characterisitics" of a certain disease! so for those who have taken the exam...what is your honest opinion about this? any advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks! : )

 

[Whats_up_doc]

judging from past exam experiences from what people have posted.....it seems to me that there are no buzz words anymore on the current step 1. that they have deviated or tried to stay away from giving "hints" or "hallmark characterisitics" of a certain disease! so for those who have taken the exam...what is your honest opinion about this? any advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks! : )

True. I felt my USMLE test was more like talking around what things meant. VERY FEW BUZZWORDS! Why? Because these guys want to know if you UNDERSTAND, not if you can memorize buzzwords. Most of my test were clinical vignettes and answers were with long sentences. They don't give you buzzwords, they give you a description. Be ready for that. Good luck.

 

[FreakofMeds]

I am very poor at remembering questions after an exam. In fact I am so poor at that, I feel like step 1 was almost a blurr just 10 days after taking it.

Taking that into consideration, I remember that I was able to guess many questions' answers before even looking at the choices. I looked at the stem, recognized the answer and just searched for what I wanted in the choices. I am not sure exactly if that was out of the fact that I recognized "buzz words" or not, but I think in general the stems provide "typical" scenarios most of the time (African American > Sarcoidosis or Sickle Cell... etc)

It's not as vague as some might suggest.

 

[thedon35]

Yeah there may not be a ton of buzzwords, but it seems like it had the typical scenarios you would read in UW or other question banks.