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gobigorgohome22

gobigorgohome22

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Hey fellow Class of 2018ers!

I hope everyone is enjoying the last free summer of your lives!

As the start of 2nd yr gets closer, I have started thinking a little about the infamous STEP 1 exams for USMLE and COMLEX (I'm an Osteopathic student). I thought it might be a good idea to have kind of a study group here to help keep me in check and keep each other in check as studying starts and decided to create this.

I would like to open this up to both USMLE and COMLEX discussion.

So, how's everyone spending their summer? Started thinking any about the hell that is going to be coming up over the next year?
 
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Social life these days:

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Amba said:
Last week I took NBME 13 and got a 249. Little bit under my goal, but I was content since it was my first NBME. Took NBME 15 today and got a 262! 15 definitely felt more difficult than 13. I think I just got luckier on my guesses this time around.
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Nice work! When's your test date?

Glad to see you're still shooting high; it's been a long couple of years!
 
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Do we know how much variability there is in the number of questions on the USMLE? The website says each block "won't exceed 40" and the total exam "won't exceed 280." I heard someone this week say they had an eighth question block, but that was the first I've heard of it.
 
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Entadus said:
Nice work! When's your test date?

Glad to see you're still shooting high; it's been a long couple of years!
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Thanks dude! It's been a while. How have you been? Dedicated just started for me this last Thursday, and I'm taking it June 1. Definitely excited to be done with this exam haha.
 
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Amba said:
Last week I took NBME 13 and got a 249. Little bit under my goal, but I was content since it was my first NBME. Took NBME 15 today and got a 262! 15 definitely felt more difficult than 13. I think I just got luckier on my guesses this time around.
Click to expand...

Awesome scores!
 
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Amba said:
Thanks dude! It's been a while. How have you been? Dedicated just started for me this last Thursday, and I'm taking it June 1. Definitely excited to be done with this exam haha.
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June 8 for me! I'm a week into dedicated now and am taking UWSA1 today so I'll let you know how that goes.

I haven't taken any NBME yet but I did take 4 shelf exams during M1/M2 for my med school; those were typically ~98th percentile so I'm shooting high. I would definitely like to be above 260 on the real deal! :xf::luck:
 
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Entadus said:
June 8 for me! I'm a week into dedicated now and am taking UWSA1 today so I'll let you know how that goes.

I haven't taken any NBME yet but I did take 4 shelf exams during M1/M2 for my med school; those were typically ~98th percentile so I'm shooting high. I would definitely like to be above 260 on the real deal! :xf::luck:
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Awesome dude, glad things are going well. How did UWSA1 go? My goal is also 260 on the real deal!
 
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Amba said:
Awesome dude, glad things are going well. How did UWSA1 go? My goal is also 260 on the real deal!
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Just finished; Wow I felt like I was getting clobbered the whole time! 252! 🙂

I think my stamina is not quite there; the 44 question blocks were killing me. I've been preparing with only 30 question blocks so far and I really would have preferred 40/block like the real deal. 4 x 44 is just way more than I'm used to at this point!

Gyne was my weak point

Raw %scores for the blocks were: 84, 66, 80, 89 (overall ~80%)

I am glad I still have over 3 weeks to improve my knowledge, intuition, stamina, and confidence! :claps:
 
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Entadus said:
Just finished; Wow I felt like I was getting clobbered the whole time! 252! 🙂

I think my stamina is not quite there; the 44 question blocks were killing me. I've been preparing with only 30 question blocks so far and I really would have preferred 40/block like the real deal. 4 x 44 is just way more than I'm used to at this point!

Gyne was my weak point

Raw %scores for the blocks were: 84, 66, 80, 89 (overall ~80%)

I am glad I still have over 3 weeks to improve my knowledge, intuition, stamina, and confidence! :claps:
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Are UWSA questions basically the same (in terms of difficulty and style) to UW blocks? Taking it tomorrow and I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for the beatdown that I'm about to suffer. 4 blocks of UW in a row sounds like it would make my head explode. :laugh:
 
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TheShaker said:
Are UWSA questions basically the same (in terms of difficulty and style) to UW blocks? Taking it tomorrow and I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for the beatdown that I'm about to suffer. 4 blocks of UW in a row sounds like it would make my head explode. :laugh:
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Yes it seems comparable

It feels rough, believe me :hurting::depressed::dead::smuggrin:
 
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Entadus said:
Just finished; Wow I felt like I was getting clobbered the whole time! 252! 🙂

I think my stamina is not quite there; the 44 question blocks were killing me. I've been preparing with only 30 question blocks so far and I really would have preferred 40/block like the real deal. 4 x 44 is just way more than I'm used to at this point!

Gyne was my weak point

Raw %scores for the blocks were: 84, 66, 80, 89 (overall ~80%)

I am glad I still have over 3 weeks to improve my knowledge, intuition, stamina, and confidence! :claps:
Click to expand...

Congrats, that's a great score to start with! Plenty of time for you to hit any weak spots 👍
 
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Amba said:
Haha thanks man, I appreciate your confidence, and I sure hope you're right. Definitely will take at least some luck on exam day. How is your prep going?
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It's going well. I'm not expecting a very high score; any score above average would make me happy. You have been doing very well on your practice tests, so you should expect a very high score. Best wishes for all of us.
 
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Amba said:
Last week I took NBME 13 and got a 249. Little bit under my goal, but I was content since it was my first NBME. Took NBME 15 today and got a 262! 15 definitely felt more difficult than 13. I think I just got luckier on my guesses this time around.
Click to expand...

Amba's taking no prisoners with the NBMEs! Best of luck on the real deal, my man!
 
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Nice to see that you guys/gals are making progress! On the other hand, things are not going well for me. My score on the last 2 Rx block were devastating (55% and 59%). At this point I don't know what to do.

Since I have over 8 weeks left, maybe I should use 2 weeks to do content review in Anatomy/Embryology and other subjects that I am constantly missing questions on... I am open for suggestions!
 
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Another NBME down! Took NBME 12 (offline) this morning and it went pretty well. NBME 16 scared me but today was a nice vote of confidence. Happy with the score and how things are progressing but need to crank it up a little to hit that 240+ mark!


  • NBME 12 (offline): 85% = 236 +/- 5 (4 weeks!)
  • NBME 16: 215 (5 weeks)
  • NBME 15: 225 (~7 weeks out)
  • UWA 1: 195 (~9 weeks out)
  • COMSE: 395
  • NBME 5 (offline): 187 (4 months out)
By the way, its nice seeing you guys hitting your goals! You all are freaking geniuses!
 
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W19 said:
Nice to see that you guys/gals are making progress! On the other hand, things are not going well for me. My score on the last 2 Rx block were devastating (55% and 59%). At this point I don't know what to do.

Since I have over 8 weeks left, maybe I should use 2 weeks to do content review in Anatomy/Embryology and other subjects that I am constantly missing questions on... I am open for suggestions!
Click to expand...

8 weeks is plenty of time to improve! At this point you shouldn't be discouraged by USMLE-Rx scores.... they designed that Qbank purely to test minutiae. Keep reading the explanations and digesting the first aid material. Don't treat it like a self-assessment because it's not. It's a learning tool!

gobigorgohome22 said:
Another NBME down! Took NBME 12 (offline) this morning and it went pretty well. NBME 16 scared me but today was a nice vote of confidence. Happy with the score and how things are progressing but need to crank it up a little to hit that 240+ mark!


  • NBME 12 (offline): 85% = 236 +/- 5 (4 weeks!)
  • NBME 16: 215 (5 weeks)
  • NBME 15: 225 (~7 weeks out)
  • UWA 1: 195 (~9 weeks out)
  • COMSE: 395
  • NBME 5 (offline): 187 (4 months out)
By the way, its nice seeing you guys hitting your goals! You all are freaking geniuses!
Click to expand...

Wow, great job! And 4 weeks is still plenty of time to gain consistency and improve your score!!



Alright y'all who is ready to hit some UWorld today??! :zip: Fight on!
 
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W19 said:
Nice to see that you guys/gals are making progress! On the other hand, things are not going well for me. My score on the last 2 Rx block were devastating (55% and 59%). At this point I don't know what to do.

Since I have over 8 weeks left, maybe I should use 2 weeks to do content review in Anatomy/Embryology and other subjects that I am constantly missing questions on... I am open for suggestions!
Click to expand...

I know it can be pretty demoralizing when sets dont go your way but the nice thing is that you've got plenty of time! If I remember correctly, you haven't started uworld yet? I think it would be best to just crank through Rx as quickly as you can and get started with uworld! Maybe an NBME right after Rx to gauge where you're at and weak points. Then you can do some content review on those weak points while doing uworld.

Giving up 2 weeks just for content review without also doing uworld is a bad idea!
 
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W19 said:
Nice to see that you guys/gals are making progress! On the other hand, things are not going well for me. My score on the last 2 Rx block were devastating (55% and 59%). At this point I don't know what to do.

Since I have over 8 weeks left, maybe I should use 2 weeks to do content review in Anatomy/Embryology and other subjects that I am constantly missing questions on... I am open for suggestions!
Click to expand...

Don't get too discouraged by Rx. They have weird qs and, although they are less mentally stimulating than UW, they can be ridiculously hard. Since you have plenty of time left, I advise that you continue doing RX and perhaps add some DIT videos for the topics that you are weak at. Once you are 6 weeks away from the exam, you should start UWorld and ditch everything else.
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
Another NBME down! Took NBME 12 (offline) this morning and it went pretty well. NBME 16 scared me but today was a nice vote of confidence. Happy with the score and how things are progressing but need to crank it up a little to hit that 240+ mark!


  • NBME 12 (offline): 85% = 236 +/- 5 (4 weeks!)
  • NBME 16: 215 (5 weeks)
  • NBME 15: 225 (~7 weeks out)
  • UWA 1: 195 (~9 weeks out)
  • COMSE: 395
  • NBME 5 (offline): 187 (4 months out)
By the way, its nice seeing you guys hitting your goals! You all are freaking geniuses!
Click to expand...

Wow, that's a sold score. Keep at it!
 
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TheRobin said:
Amba's taking no prisoners with the NBMEs! Best of luck on the real deal, my man!
Click to expand...

Thanks dude, much appreciated. Just took NBME 16 and got a 256. Little bummed that my score dropped from my last exam. 16 felt pretty difficult.
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
I know it can be pretty demoralizing when sets dont go your way but the nice thing is that you've got plenty of time! If I remember correctly, you haven't started uworld yet? I think it would be best to just crank through Rx as quickly as you can and get started with uworld! Maybe an NBME right after Rx to gauge where you're at and weak points. Then you can do some content review on those weak points while doing uworld.

Giving up 2 weeks just for content review without also doing uworld is a bad idea!
Click to expand...
I will most likely finish Rx at the end of this week and then take NBME13--hoping to at least pass it (192+). After that, I will concentrate mostly on Uworld and do a second pass of FA.
 
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Amba said:
Thanks dude, much appreciated. Just took NBME 16 and got a 256. Little bummed that my score dropped from my last exam. 16 felt pretty difficult.
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I wouldn't be discouraged by that result! Remember your current level is a range, so right now you seem to be in the 256-262 range (~259). You're so close to your goal, keep up the positive mindset!! I believe in you 🙂


And speaking of UWorld, wow I just got killed (63%). What a way to start the day! Lots to review this week..... :shy:
 
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Entadus said:
I wouldn't be discouraged by that result! Remember your current level is a range, so right now you seem to be in the 256-262 range (~259). You're so close to your goal, keep up the positive mindset!! I believe in you 🙂

And speaking of UWorld, wow I just got killed (63%). What a way to start the day! Lots to review this week..... :shy:
Click to expand...

Yep, that's a good point. And if anything, I was pretty lazy with studying over the weekend, so this should give me the motivation to keep with it.

And I know that feeling with UWorld. When I would have a block like that, it used to completely ruin the rest of my day :laugh:
 
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Took COMSAE E at school today and scored 544. I basically guessed on all of the OMM qs since I haven't been doing any COMLEX-related material. The test was nothing like NBME. Very easy qs. No biochem or experiment qs. However, most of the qs were either you know the answer or you don't.
 
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Holy ****, coronary circulation just consistently nails me every single time on UW. I don't think I've ever gotten a question right and I'm nearly halfway through the thing.
 
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I've yet to get a stupid heart auscultation question right... Ugh I swear their audio is the worst. I listen to it and practice in other sources and it's like ya ok and then in UW no freaking clue.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
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zhopv10 said:
I've yet to get a stupid heart auscultation question right... Ugh I swear their audio is the worst. I listen to it and practice in other sources and it's like ya ok and then in UW no freaking clue.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
Click to expand...

Neither have I. UW murmur qs are worst.
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Congrats on finishing. It must feel great. If you feel up to it, I'd like to read a write up comparing the type qs you had today to UW and NBME.

Congrats again,
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Very similar/half way in between both. I did Kaplan, too, and I'm glad I did it, but it was definitely not like those questions at all.

First section was horrible. Largely not in first aid or lectures, as far as I recall. I really hope it was experimental, or I'm in trouble. Or not enough coffee... ... ...
The rest felt.... easy? There were plenty of first order questions.

ETA the murmur sound quality was WAY BETTER than UW. I'm terrible at those and I feel like I could actually hear and understand what was going on.
 
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zhopv10 said:
I've yet to get a stupid heart auscultation question right... Ugh I swear their audio is the worst. I listen to it and practice in other sources and it's like ya ok and then in UW no freaking clue.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
Click to expand...
Are you using headphones?
 
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