so, yeah, I took step 1 today...I got the insanely hard test, wouldn't you know? And the first block was the absolute hardest. Seriously, I just about got up and walked out half way through, and that's not at all like me. I was so rattled I had to take a break and regroup before moving on to the next section.
The rest of it ended up being at least doable, and really there were a fair share of easy questions. There were also several questions that were just a matter of reasoning. So maybe it'll turn out OK.
I got questions on a lot of things that aren't in FA. And I got plenty of cytokines. No chromosomal translocations, but I did get HLA alleles and anti-whatever antibodies. And some pharm drugs that I only know of because I'm a pharmacist (and please don't ask me what they're for). So that was a barrel of fun.
My test seemed heavy on anatomy, and it was all stuff that Qbank didn't cover, and FA didn't cover, and BSS didn't cover, and that wasn't in HY Gross Anatomy either. Sadly, not a single brachial plexus question. Yep, that sucked. Some of the neuroanatomy questions were also pretty obscure.
There were plenty of statistics and pharmacokinetics, including 2 or 3 questions where I really did need a calculator. Study design and behavioral science were also pretty well represented. Those didn't seem too bad to me, although I do think they were intended to be difficult.
In terms of straight pathology, my test seemed skewed toward skin and musculoskeletal diseases. Which was particularly fun, as I had studied mainly cardiovascular and renal and pulmonary and heme.
The micro wasn't too bad. There were usually a number of clues in the question stem, any one of which would lead you to the right answer.
All I have to say is, thank God I studied the way I did, or I'd have been toast. (I may still be toast, but I'm pretty sure I at least passed.) So here's what I did:
I cut the binding off my FA, and had it spiral-bound with a blank sheet of paper between each book page. This was someone else's idea, but I shamelessly stole it and I feel no remorse for having done so.
Then I went through BRS physio and annotated heavily. Did the same with HY Gross Anatomy, and my class notes from micro. Same with BRS Biochem. I looked through the figures in my class text for cell bio, and copied down anything that looked high yield.
QBank, of course. I did about 1/3 of the questions before classes were over, and from that point on, I did about 2 sets of 50 questions per day, random and timed. Annotated FA some more from the explanations. Finished Qbank a week ago.
I had the five-book set of Board Simulator Series. I did most of the two basic science books, and one test each out of the organ system books. Not as much as I would have liked, but those books are time-consuming, and I was getting short on time.
Something else I did, which I think helped more than anything, was to make flashcards. Lots of flashcards. I made cards for every major disease in Goljan's STARS Pathology, and cards for everything in FA's pharm section. Then I sat down and drilled myself on each card until I could remember it.
During the school year, I was also a notetaker for my school's noteservice, and there were about 5-10 questions on the exam that I could answer ONLY because I had had to learn the material well enough to write clear explanations for my classmates.
So it ended up being kind of a hodgepodge of study techniques, but hopefully it served me well. I still may not do well because it was such a hard test, but I don't know how else I could have studied for the test I got.
next on the agenda: making my liver work hard instead of my brain...
