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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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I was using UWorld but I want something where I can focus on each organ system without ruining the Qbank. Has anyone else tried that strategy? One bank for organ systems and one bank for real assessment?
 
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W19 said:
In trouble...

NBME13.... 188

I have about 7 weeks left to increase that score to 225+... I am not even sure if that is even realistic.... I am basically fvcked right now!


I have not touched Uworld so far and I am 75% done with Rx... Averaging ~64%!

This is after doing 10 days of dedicated time (10hrs/day)! I am going to have to do 14+ hours/day if I'm gonna to pass that beast...let alone get a 225+
Click to expand...

I know that it can be extremely demoralizing when a practice test doesn't go your way but use this is a motivation rather than letting it bring you down (easier said than done. I know. Been there multiple times). You've got plenty of time to bring your test up to the range you want.

I'll reiterate what everyone has said previously. Start uworld NOW! It will take a lot longer than you think it will to do all those questions and I personally think a 2nd run through uworld has been extremely valuable to me.

Make a plan for the next 7 weeks. I did some math for you:
- 2500 total q in uworld + 1500 assumed incorrects after 1st run though = 4k
- That turns out to be ~2 sets a day over 7 week period. This is completely doable! My suggestion would be to move to 2.5 - 3 sets a day as you get more acclimated to uword. This will give you time for things like off days, NBMEs, utilizing pathoma/FA etc.

The good thing is that there is still plenty of time if you use it adequately. I dont think you should do 14+ hr days as you said. That's just going to hurt you in the long run. Stick to 4-5hr/set (10hrs on uworld) + 2 hrs pathoma/FA.
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
I know that it can be extremely demoralizing when a practice test doesn't go your way but use this is a motivation rather than letting it bring you down (easier said than done. I know. Been there multiple times). You've got plenty of time to bring your test up to the range you want.

I'll reiterate what everyone has said previously. Start uworld NOW! It will take a lot longer than you think it will to do all those questions and I personally think a 2nd run through uworld has been extremely valuable to me.

Make a plan for the next 7 weeks. I did some math for you:
- 2500 total q in uworld + 1500 assumed incorrects after 1st run though = 4k
- That turns out to be ~2 sets a day over 7 week period. This is completely doable! My suggestion would be to move to 2.5 - 3 sets a day as you get more acclimated to uword. This will give you time for things like off days, NBMEs, utilizing pathoma/FA etc.

The good thing is that there is still plenty of time if you use it adequately. I dont think you should do 14+ hr days as you said. That's just going to hurt you in the long run. Stick to 4-5hr/set (10hrs on uworld) + 2 hrs pathoma/FA.
Click to expand...

Are you only doing the ones you got wrong for your second pass or everything? Also how much time do you now spend on Review. This is my third day of doing second pass. I'm doing 4 blocks a day and spend no more than 45 mins reviewing each block. I basically skim thru the explanations for the ones I get correct and only focus on the objective part. For the ones I get wrong, I read the explanations thoroughly.
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Are you only doing the ones you got wrong for your second pass or everything? Also how much time do you now spend on Review. This is my third day of doing second pass. I'm doing 4 blocks a day and spend no more than 45 mins reviewing each block. I basically skim thru the explanations for the ones I get correct and only focus on the objective part. For the ones I get wrong, I read the explanations thoroughly.
Click to expand...

I'm doing everything again, not just incorrects. I still spend almost the same amount of time as I did before (4-5hrs). I think I need to get that down to around 2-3hrs but just haven't done it yet.

I'm averaging in the low 80's this time around which is ~20% more than 1st round. How is your average this time?

Edit: Doing 2-3 sets a day depending on other obligations.
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
I'm doing everything again, not just incorrects. I still spend almost the same amount of time as I did before (4-5hrs). I think I need to get that down to around 2-3hrs but just haven't done it yet.

I'm averaging in the low 80's this time around which is ~20% more than 1st round. How is your average this time?

Edit: Doing 2-3 sets a day depending on other obligations.
Click to expand...

I'm averaging ~90%, which is also 20% above my first pass. I'm not sure if I should take the time to read thru the explanations. It's extremely exhausting and if I don't do 4 blocks daily, I won't be able to finish a second pass before my test day. today, I'm doing a block of pharma/micro on Rx just to refresh my knowledge of these little minutiae. Still haven't gotten time or chance to start Pathoma (although I did most of it during first two years of school).
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
I'm averaging ~90%, which is also 20% above my first pass. I'm not sure if I should take the time to read thru the explanations. It's extremely exhausting and if I don't do 4 blocks daily, I won't be able to finish a second pass before my test day. today, I'm doing a block of pharma/micro on Rx just to refresh my knowledge of these little minutiae. Still haven't gotten time or chance to start Pathoma (although I did most of it during first two years of school).
Click to expand...

I think with your average, its not really necessary for you to read through all the explanation. It might even be better to add some Kaplan questions to have new questions. Im not so sure its worth redoing if your averages are that high....
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
I know that it can be extremely demoralizing when a practice test doesn't go your way but use this is a motivation rather than letting it bring you down (easier said than done. I know. Been there multiple times). You've got plenty of time to bring your test up to the range you want.

I'll reiterate what everyone has said previously. Start uworld NOW! It will take a lot longer than you think it will to do all those questions and I personally think a 2nd run through uworld has been extremely valuable to me.

Make a plan for the next 7 weeks. I did some math for you:
- 2500 total q in uworld + 1500 assumed incorrects after 1st run though = 4k
- That turns out to be ~2 sets a day over 7 week period. This is completely doable! My suggestion would be to move to 2.5 - 3 sets a day as you get more acclimated to uword. This will give you time for things like off days, NBMEs, utilizing pathoma/FA etc.

The good thing is that there is still plenty of time if you use it adequately. I dont think you should do 14+ hr days as you said. That's just going to hurt you in the long run. Stick to 4-5hr/set (10hrs on uworld) + 2 hrs pathoma/FA.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input! I will start Uworld tomorrow... Bringing up that score to 225+ will be a tall order, but I will certainly do my best, and if I don't get that 225+, it won't be for lack of effort.
 
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You know what? I refuse to do anymore UW. I REFUSE TO DO IT. I AM DONE.

...sigh. *loads up another block of UW*
 
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Burnt Almonds said:
Do either of you know why they keep using the term "glomus tumor" instead of paraganglioma? Also, is lymphangiosarcoma no longer a thing?
Click to expand...

They call it glomus tumor because its neoplastic proliferation of glomus body which senses temp.

Lymphoangiosarcoma might just not be "high yield" any more.
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
They call it glomus tumor because its neoplastic proliferation of glomus body which senses temp.

Lymphoangiosarcoma might just not be "high yield" any more.
Click to expand...

I had a question on it yesterday haha, pretty much just long standing lymphadema---> lymphangiosarcoma that seemed about it for what we have to know lol


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zhopv10 said:
I had a question on it yesterday haha, pretty much just long standing lymphadema---> lymphangiosarcoma that seemed about it for what we have to know lol


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

Was it the lady that had angiosarcomas on her arm? That one nailed me.
 
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If by angiosarcoma you meant lymphangiosarcoma yup, that's the one! Haha post mastectomy


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TheShaker said:
Was it the lady that had angiosarcomas on her arm? That one nailed me.
Click to expand...
yeah, apparently now you just have to know lymphangiosarcoma is a subtype of angiosarcoma that is particularly related to long standing lymphedema, most commonly due to post radical mastectomy.
 
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Just finished NBME 16. Man, that was brutal. I got killed on the first block, then I was able to redeem myself on the rest of the test. Ended up with 233. Give me this score now and I'll gladly take it.
 
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ok so update - I had done NBME 15 on Thursday and scored a 217 which was a 17 point drop from UWSA2 a week ago - so took NBME 13 today and got a 228. Hoping that's a good sign.
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Just finished NBME 16. Man, that was brutal. I got killed on the first block, then I was able to redeem myself on the rest of the test. Ended up with 233. Give me this score now and I'll gladly take it.
Click to expand...

Yeah 16 was rough for me as well. I was going WTF WTF WTF the whole time.
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Just finished NBME 16. Man, that was brutal. I got killed on the first block, then I was able to redeem myself on the rest of the test. Ended up with 233. Give me this score now and I'll gladly take it.
Click to expand...
Great work! Well done!

lunchbox2 said:
ok so update - I had done NBME 15 on Thursday and scored a 217 which was a 17 point drop from UWSA2 a week ago - so took NBME 13 today and got a 228. Hoping that's a good sign.
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Nice improvement!

I'll be taking my first NBME next week-- either Monday or Wed (have not decided yet).

Probably NBME 15 to start-- unless anyone has a better suggestion?
 
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dfib slim said:
Are you using headphones?
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UW heart sounds aren't very clear even with headphones. Of course I'm terribly non musical.
I was talking to a cardiologist yesterday who laughed that I was "bothering to learn" murmurs like I don't have access to "better technology."
 
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Blue Flame said:
Half the time the UWorld murmur audio file won't even load for me. Still, I've gotten those questions right mostly from the history alone so far. You don't necessarily need to hear an S4 to guess that a 65-year-old man with longstanding HTN, DMII, and a murmur in the apex of his heart will have LVH, for example.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately the step questions were non obvious without the sounds. But, again, the sounds were so much clearer.
 
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Ughh well that's annoying- I took NBME 12 today and went down 15 points from last weeks (239->224). Hopefully next weeks goes a little better haha Anyone think 12 was hard? Some reason that first block just rocked me...
 
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Just finished NBME 18. Holy crap that was a beatdown for the ages. If I said "WTF" as many times as I did during the real exam, I'd probably get escorted out of the Prometric center.
 
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TheShaker said:
Just finished NBME 18. Holy crap that was a beatdown for the ages. If I said "WTF" as many times as I did during the real exam, I'd probably get escorted out of the Prometric center.
Click to expand...

Pretty much how I felt after taking it as well :laugh:
 
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TheShaker said:
Just finished NBME 18. Holy crap that was a beatdown for the ages. If I said "WTF" as many times as I did during the real exam, I'd probably get escorted out of the Prometric center.
Click to expand...

I felt the same way. That was brutal.

Is there a general consensus on how the newer NBMEs stack up in terms of difficulty or predictiveness?
 
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Burnt Almonds said:
What was the major problem? Did you recognize the topics?
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There were a lot of topics that I just simply never saw before or fairly low yield topics that I have a fuzzy memory of. There were also a lot of the usual topics but presented in a confusing or convoluted manner. I'll be honest, they did a pretty good job making me feel like I knew nothing about anything and made me second guess myself a lot on topics that I have a pretty solid foundation on.

Ibn Alnafis MD said:
wow. have you taken any UWSA? if so how did it compare?
Click to expand...

I took UWSA 1 (44 questions). I felt like it was pretty easy compared to NBME 18 (not that I thought it was easy...). I generally feel like UW stuff is much more difficult than NBME but NBME 18 felt a lot more like I was doing a UW block with how convoluted the questions were. Not to say that it's unfair though, it's actually a very well written test from an examiner's standpoint.
 
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Valkyrie927 said:
FYI for anyone who felt cruddy after this test, I took it 8 days before my exam and scored a 228 and wasn't very happy, since my goal was higher and I thought my UWorld progress reflected something in the 230s. Well, my actual score came back today and I managed a 240 on the real thing. So anyway, if you didn't feel wonderful after this test, you do have hope of still doing much better on the actual exam, and I'm saying that as someone who normally does better on practice than the real thing.
Click to expand...

Just took it too. I found this on the NBME 18 answers thread, so it made me feel a bit better
 
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Planning on doing 2 tests tomorrow (NBME 18 and UWA 2) to simulate a full length exam.

I think I might be dead after tomorrow.
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
Planning on doing 2 tests tomorrow (NBME 18 and UWA 2) to simulate a full length exam.

I think I might be dead after tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Yow! That's more questions than the real thing! Good luck

I'll be taking NBME 15 later today... have to find a good place to take it first...
 
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Just took UWSA1. Block 1 = 88%, Block 2 = 88%, Block 3 = 83%, Block 4 = 90%. Estimated score of 252. I think I've accepted at this point that my score is going to be closer to 250 than 260, which is fine.
 
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Amba said:
Just took UWSA1. Block 1 = 88%, Block 2 = 88%, Block 3 = 83%, Block 4 = 90%. Estimated score of 252. I think I've accepted at this point that my score is going to be closer to 250 than 260, which is fine.
Click to expand...

To be fair, both of your low 250's results came from tests that are more likely to underpredict.
 
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TheShaker said:
To be fair, both of your low 250's results came from tests that are more likely to underpredict.
Click to expand...

That's fair, though I don't know if there is enough (or any) data with the new UWSA scoring scale to make any conclusions about that yet.
 
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Here we go folks. TWO (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) tests down! I took NBME 18 (morning session) and UWA 2 (afternoon session).

My thoughts on the exams:
- NBME 18: Yes, it is as hard as people make it out to be. I'd say I only felt confident on 1/5th of the questions. Another 2/5 were reasoned out guesses + 1/5 where the material seemed familiar but grasping at straws + 1/5 where I was questioning if I ever even started medical school. Again, timing was a problem! There were 5 questions each block were I was picking ans without reading the questions because <1min left. Didnt get to review any marked questions! I think I could have done a few points better if this wasn't a problem. I took 5min breaks between each sections. And 20min at the end of this test for lunch before sitting down for the 2nd half. I made myself not look at the results after this test ended. That was hard lol.
- UWA 2: I thought it was on par with other nbmes (closest to 16 id say). Nice mix of easy and hard questions. The main problem here was exhaustion. It was SOOOOO hard to make myself sit down for the last 3 blocks. I expected to be tired but not this tired. This worries me for the real thing. Timing was not as big of an issue due to 40q/60min set up but it was still a problem in the sense that I didnt get to review any of my marked on last 3 blocks. I was just in a mental fog during last 3 blocks and just wanted it to end! Took 10min breaks between each block.

And the scores are: NBME 18: 232 UWA2: 230 (69%, 70%, 64%, 67%)

Happy with the NBME 18 score. Its higher than expected and I think it could have been 3-5 pts higher without timing issues. Not that happy with UWA score but kinda expected based on just the mental exhaustion. In general though, UWA hasn't been that great of a predictor for me personally. I think it really underpredicted my performance on UWA1 as well.

So the running total is

  • NBME 18: 232 & UWA2: 230 (3 weeks)
  • 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)

I think it was a good idea for me to do 2 tests together to get a better understanding of the real deal. Can't train for half-marathon and expect to finish full!
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
Here we go folks. TWO (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) tests down! I took NBME 18 (morning session) and UWA 2 (afternoon session).

My thoughts on the exams:
- NBME 18: Yes, it is as hard as people make it out to be. I'd say I only felt confident on 1/5th of the questions. Another 2/5 were reasoned out guesses + 1/5 where the material seemed familiar but grasping at straws + 1/5 where I was questioning if I ever event started medical school. Again, timing was a problem! There were 5 questions each block were I was picking ans without reading the questions because <1min left. Didnt get to review any marked questions! I think I could have done a few points better if this wasn't a problem. I took 5min breaks between each sections. And 20min at the end of this test for lunch before sitting down for the 2nd half. I made myself not look at the results after this test ended. That was hard lol.
- UWA 2: I thought it was on par with other nbmes (closest to 16 id say). Nice mix of easy and hard questions. The main problem here was exhaustion. It was SOOOOO hard to make myself sit down for the last 3 blocks. I expected to be tired but not this tired. This worries me for the real thing. Timing was not as big of an issue due to 40q/60min set up but it was still a problem in the sense that I didnt get to review any of my marked on last 3 blocks. I was just in a mental fog during last 3 blocks and just wanted it to end! Took 10min breaks between each block.

And the scores are: NBME 18: 232 UWA2: 215 (69%, 70%, 64%, 67%)

Happy with the NBME 18 score. Its higher than expected and I think it could have been 3-5 pts higher without timing issues. Not that happy with UWA score but kinda expected based on just the mental exhaustion. In general though, UWA hasn't been that great of a predictor for me personally. I think it really underpredicted my performance on UWA1 as well.

So the running total is

  • NBME 18: 232 & UWA2: 215 (3 weeks)
  • 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)

I think it was a good idea for me to do 2 tests together to get a better understanding of the real deal. Can't train for half-marathon and expect to finish full!
Click to expand...

Wow. Good job, man. If I had your NBME 18 score, I'd probably take a whole week off (jk :)). Having to complete one NBME exam is draining already, so I can only imagine how tough it was to do UWSA afterwards. Therefore, I think it's safe to assume that your UWSA2 performance may not be the best reflection of your knowledge. Had you taken it on a a separate day, I'm sure you'd have scored higher. Nevertheless, congratulations on getting such a good score on NBME 18 and best wish to all of us!
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Wow. Good job, man. If I had your NBME 18 score, I'd probably take a whole week off (jk :)). Having to complete one NBME exam is draining already, so I can only imagine how tough it was to do UWSA afterwards. Therefore, I think it's safe to assume that your UWSA2 performance may not be the best reflection of your knowledge. Had you taken it on a a separate day, I'm sure you'd have scored higher. Nevertheless, congratulations on getting such a good score on NBME 18 and best wish to all of us!
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Thanks bro! Appreciate the confidence. You've been killing it lately on your practice tests! I need to get my ass in gear so I can keep up.
 
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I'm just about finished with UW. I've been reviewing my UW notes consistently on all the ones I got wrong. I've hammered out around 850q's on Rx on medium/hard. You guys think it's worth doing-- I feel like the questions are kinda inbetween NBME and UW just not as vague as the NBME
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
Thanks bro! Appreciate the confidence. You've been killing it lately on your practice tests! I need to get my ass in gear so I can keep up.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind sharing, how many wrong answers you had on NBME 18 that resulted in scoring 232? Also, was it much harder than NBME 16?

Thank you,
 
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