Did anybody take the STEP 1 on/after 15th MAY?

[jimmyboi]

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I have not seen a single post about the new step 1 experience...hasn't anybody taken it yet? The changed were to be made from the 15th of May. Its well a week over that.

just wondering. let me know please

 

[donkeyboy]

yeah i'm curious about that too, someone told me there are going to be 42 or 44 questions per block now with more random info in the questions, but with the same amount of time

i'd like to know what people thought of the new format too

 

[MilkmanAl]

As has been said many times previously, not a whole lot is going to change. You have 46 questions per block instead of 48, and the few "What is this?" questions will be vignettes. They won't be releasing the first of the "new" scores until mid-July or something.

 

[metalrex]

Well it wouldn't hurt to see what examinees have to say about this 'new' format, even though we are not expecting any radical changes.

I am looking forward to hear something too.

Anybody taken it yet?

 

[Domenech]

I don't think those examiners are going to stay at ease with 2 questions less. Definitely expect a LOT more questions with longer clinical vignettes. Expect even the shorter vignettes extended to include a lot of extra information.

Kind of makes me a bit nervous because it is possible that time management becomes messed up a bit.

 

[Harlow]

Took it May 20th. Had the updated 46 question blocks. Personally, I thought the vignettes were for the most part longer than what I was getting on q-banks and NBME assessments. And while timing was never an issue when I was doing practice blocks, I was always running out of time on the actual day.

I will say that I was a lot more paranoid about my answers on the actual day, and tended re-read questions a lot more after I had answered them, and that probably contributed to my timing issues.

 

[Domenech]

Took it May 20th. Had the updated 46 question blocks. Personally, I thought the vignettes were for the most part longer than what I was getting on q-banks and NBME assessments. And while timing was never an issue when I was doing practice blocks, I was always running out of time on the actual day.

I will say that I was a lot more paranoid about my answers on the actual day, and tended re-read questions a lot more after I had answered them, and that probably contributed to my timing issues.

See? I knew they'd substantially increase the lengths of those vignettes! 😡

 

[johnbeck]

Took it May 20th. Had the updated 46 question blocks. Personally, I thought the vignettes were for the most part longer than what I was getting on q-banks and NBME assessments. And while timing was never an issue when I was doing practice blocks, I was always running out of time on the actual day.

I will say that I was a lot more paranoid about my answers on the actual day, and tended re-read questions a lot more after I had answered them, and that probably contributed to my timing issues.

did you take NBME 7? i felt like nbme 7 had a lot of long stems. was it similar?

also, were there still a lot of short stems or were they all long stems?

 

[metalrex]

Took it May 20th. Had the updated 46 question blocks. Personally, I thought the vignettes were for the most part longer than what I was getting on q-banks and NBME assessments. And while timing was never an issue when I was doing practice blocks, I was always running out of time on the actual day.

I will say that I was a lot more paranoid about my answers on the actual day, and tended re-read questions a lot more after I had answered them, and that probably contributed to my timing issues.

Oh jeez....

I thought the 'new' format had shorter vignettes😡 Damn.

 

[Harlow]

did you take NBME 7? i felt like nbme 7 had a lot of long stems. was it similar?

also, were there still a lot of short stems or were they all long stems?

I do remember there being short stems as well, yes. took NBME 7 about a month ago, so I don't remember it well enough to compare.

 

[badasshairday]

Yeah, seems like the practice material like UWORLD has shorter question stems then the NBME CBSE given by my school. I remember that exam had paragraph questions.

The again, the Free 150 had relatively short q-stems, like UWORLD.

In the Step 1 experiences thread, I've seen people post about LONG questions stems, like somebody saying how they are all a paragraph long. uggh, so annoying.

 

[neopentanol]

Yeah, seems like the practice material like UWORLD has shorter question stems then the NBME CBSE given by my school. I remember that exam had paragraph questions.

The again, the Free 150 had relatively short q-stems, like UWORLD.

In the Step 1 experiences thread, I've seen people post about LONG questions stems, like somebody saying how they are all a paragraph long. uggh, so annoying.

Agreed. It really doesn't do anything to test our clinical reasoning or knowledge, itll only force examinees to rush, IMO tarnishing the meaning of exam reasults...bad move nbme

 

[Domenech]

Yeah, seems like the practice material like UWORLD has shorter question stems then the NBME CBSE given by my school. I remember that exam had paragraph questions.

The again, the Free 150 had relatively short q-stems, like UWORLD.

In the Step 1 experiences thread, I've seen people post about LONG questions stems, like somebody saying how they are all a paragraph long. uggh, so annoying.

I read someone claiming he counted.........13 lines in a question.

Why don't they just give a 30 line essay and base 10 questions on it and do us a huge favour?

 

[MilkmanAl]

That doesn't really sound any different than the NBME subject exams I'm used to taking which are supposedly just old Step 1 questions. I don't see how this change is terribly significant. I know I'm pissing on everyone's outrage parade, but seriously, it seems to me like all they did was take out 2 questions per block.

 

[username456789]

That doesn't really sound any different than the NBME subject exams I'm used to taking which are supposedly just old Step 1 questions. I don't see how this change is terribly significant. I know I'm pissing on everyone's outrage parade, but seriously, it seems to me like all they did was take out 2 questions per block.

I've only taken one "full length" NBME exam (4 blocks or whatever those things are, NBME3), but the stems were a lot shorter than 13 lines I'm pretty sure.

For us average-speed readers (hell, I'm probably below average), it might make time an issue.

Other than that, it doesn't seem like the test changed much.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Yeah, I can't speak for the CBSSA (or whatever) NBME tests, but the subject/shelf exam stems are almost exclusively really long. 13 lines would likely be at the upper end of average. I'd say at least half the questions broke 10 lines, especially on the ICM and BS exams.

edit: Then again, it occurs to me that I'm talking about questions printed in a half-page column. 13 lines across a whole page would be damn long.

 

[njmedstudent87]

from what i've been told the question stems are longer BUT you are given more information in them hence making it easier to arrive at a diagnosis or understand what is going on....

i'd much rather have that than some of the junk Uworld tried to pull off where you have to know the disease- the treatment - the side effect - the side effect's side effect...etc.

 

[badasshairday]

I remember on the school administered nbme cbse, there was a question two paragraphs long with lab results spacing the paragraph. It was ridiculous. It was about some Chinese farmer who has some liver dz, I skimmed it, actually did not really read it, just looked for the key word.... Peanut farmer. Bam, aflatoxin was the answer. I was like, wow that is a lot of filler bs.

 

[jimmyboi]

Hey its good to know that atleast someone took the test, I have a few qs:

How good do you think first aid and goljan audio were for the new format.

Were there alot of pics/audio-multimedia questions?

How would it compare to the UW qs?

Did the questions stem have helpful hints?

 

[meerak]

Good thing someone else made this this post also. I was wondering too, and I would like to hear more about it, so I can be mentally prepared for whatever changes they have made.

 

[AggieSean]

Well I take it today, so I'll let y'all know!

 

[meerak]

Good luck bud!!

 

[jimmyboi]

gd luck man do let us know with a detailed post

 

[donkeyboy]

Actually what I just read from the NBME is this: "fewer items presented in a non-clinical vignette format"

ie. the questions will not be longer per se, just that there will be fewer 1-2 line questions and more regular vignette questions. I DON'T think we should read this as "vignettes will get longer," just more vignettes and fewer non-clinical situation questions.

 

[AggieSean]

You know what's funny is that my test was all 48 question blocks, and I definitely had several non-vignette questions. 3 multimedia questions,
all of which were heart sounds. I'd say the questions were a more on the NBME level of difficulty rather than UW. No I can't give an exact percentage, but that was definitely the case most of the time. There were very few WTF questions, and I was able to make a decent guess on them. Some questions I wouldn't have known if I had studied another month. Some questions had 2
right answers (e.g MOA of acamprosate), and some seemed too easy (given heart rate and CO, calculate the SV). Honestly, it was a fair, well-written test. I'm glad to be done.

 

[username456789]

Congrats on being done with this whole mess, Wilford.

 

[ddr1212]

You know what's funny is that my test was all 48 question blocks, and I definitely had several non-vignette questions.

They're taking several weeks to implement the format change and the timing is center-dependent.

Congrats on being done, though!! 👍

 

[twofer]

You know what's funny is that my test was all 48 question blocks, and I definitely had several non-vignette questions. 3 multimedia questions,
all of which were heart sounds. I'd say the questions were a more on the NBME level of difficulty rather than UW. No I can't give an exact percentage, but that was definitely the case most of the time. There were very few WTF questions, and I was able to make a decent guess on them. Some questions I wouldn't have known if I had studied another month. Some questions had 2
right answers (e.g MOA of acamprosate), and some seemed too easy (given heart rate and CO, calculate the SV). Honestly, it was a fair, well-written test. I'm glad to be done.

Congrats!!! go partay!

 

[MilkmanAl]

Careful of your diabeetus.

 

[go lakers]

Just talked to a classmate who took it today. His exam consisted all of 46q blocks, and he said every stem was ridiculously long.

 

[Perrotfish]

You know what's funny is that my test was all 48 question blocks, and I definitely had several non-vignette questions. 3 multimedia questions,
all of which were heart sounds. I'd say the questions were a more on the NBME level of difficulty rather than UW. No I can't give an exact percentage, but that was definitely the case most of the time. There were very few WTF questions, and I was able to make a decent guess on them. Some questions I wouldn't have known if I had studied another month. Some questions had 2
right answers (e.g MOA of acamprosate), and some seemed too easy (given heart rate and CO, calculate the SV). Honestly, it was a fair, well-written test. I'm glad to be done. !

If it was 48 questions per block you got the old test and I think that means you can get your score in 3 weeks rather than waiting 2 months.

Also, congrats!

 

[AggieSean]

If it was 48 questions per block you got the old test and I think that means you can get your score in 3 weeks rather than waiting 2 months.

Also, congrats!

I really, really, really hope that's true.

 

[coldweatherblue]

Just talked to a classmate who took it today. His exam consisted all of 46q blocks, and he said every stem was ridiculously long.

ugh.. more than anything I dread reading all the NBME's esoteric bs as fast as possible for 7 hours straight.. lol.

wtg AggieSean congrats man it must feel sweet!

 

[donkeyboy]

If it was 48 questions per block you got the old test and I think that means you can get your score in 3 weeks rather than waiting 2 months.

Also, congrats!

wait.... it takes 2 months now??

 

[Macguy86]

took the new test today. harder, sucked it was bs. 46q, timing was an issue had to pick random answers for last 3 on 1 block because i was running out of time. its draining as heck to read through the passages. i marked 15 per block (i mark all that im not 95% sure on), and never had time to go back usually i always have 5-10 minutes. it was ridiculous (only 1 block where I had time to go back and that was the one with not as long passages) i would be happy with a 220, got a 236 on NBME 7 and 247 ON FREE 150 FRIDAY. done with this. gluck to all. cant believe they make med students go through this crap, its brutal on so many aspects.

 

[Domenech]

took the new test today. harder, sucked it was bs. 46q, timing was an issue had to pick random answers for last 3 on 1 block because i was running out of time. its draining as heck to read through the passages. i marked 15 per block (i mark all that im not 95% sure on), and never had time to go back usually i always have 5-10 minutes. it was ridiculous (only 1 block where I had time to go back and that was the one with not as long passages) i would be happy with a 220, got a 236 on NBME 7 and 247 ON FREE 150 FRIDAY. done with this. gluck to all. cant believe they make med students go through this crap, its brutal on so many aspects.

I gotta say it again I KNEW IT!!!! (Actually I'm quite nervous inside). Now I'm going to get all sort of weird thoughts troubling me to have had registered for the date before May 15.

 

[hartbot]

The good news about it is that they are making the ppl who took the new test wait 2 months so they have enough data to make scores for the test...this means all the people with 46q blocks are only going to be compared to with other ppl who had the same test.

So it'll be harder for all of us. Problem for me though is that I like to take my time with questions so I feel like i'm gonna be affected more than others

 

[username456789]

The good news about it is that they are making the ppl who took the new test wait 2 months so they have enough data to make scores for the test...this means all the people with 46q blocks are only going to be compared to with other ppl who had the same test.

So it'll be harder for all of us. Problem for me though is that I like to take my time with questions so I feel like i'm gonna be affected more than others

I tend to be a slow reader, so in the words of one of those coked out Olsen twins 20 years prior, "this is not good news."

 

[badasshairday]

took the new test today. harder, sucked it was bs. 46q, timing was an issue had to pick random answers for last 3 on 1 block because i was running out of time. its draining as heck to read through the passages. i marked 15 per block (i mark all that im not 95% sure on), and never had time to go back usually i always have 5-10 minutes. it was ridiculous (only 1 block where I had time to go back and that was the one with not as long passages) i would be happy with a 220, got a 236 on NBME 7 and 247 ON FREE 150 FRIDAY. done with this. gluck to all. cant believe they make med students go through this crap, its brutal on so many aspects.

wish you the best.

What was your uworld percent correct for random timed blocks?

 

[Macguy86]

65% random. (mostly 70's in the end) Unfortunately, i really felt I was scoring 30/46 right for every block...65% is descent on UWorld NOT on the step 1.

 

[njmedstudent87]

macguy86, i feel you on it being draining...that really sucks for all of us

what were the passages like....would they stuff lab values down your throat and give a bunch of unnecessary details?

 

[Domenech]

The good news about it is that they are making the ppl who took the new test wait 2 months so they have enough data to make scores for the test...this means all the people with 46q blocks are only going to be compared to with other ppl who had the same test.

So it'll be harder for all of us. Problem for me though is that I like to take my time with questions so I feel like i'm gonna be affected more than others

That's what you actually "feel" you take more time than others. Bigger questions obviously mean more information alongwith unnecessary info with distractors. That's why it takes time to read and that's why it might screw up the answer selection.

Well those examiners just HAD to do that. What's up with this smartass move by nbme to decrease the questions? Was it really necessary?

 

[Macguy86]

my b, so the questions were LONGER. unncessary info all over the place, i would start skimming but then realize I would miss some important stuff. I had almost half a page psych questions describing alzheimers dementia and some ladies progress through it.

there is nothing you can do to prepare for this 'new' test. just study the same way and keep in mind that the question stems are longer. either way even with 48q you would probably take longer on test day than on practice exams. best advice finish 46Q as best and fast as you can and then go back if you have time.

 

[badasshairday]

All I can say is, this sucks.

 

[Perrotfish]

I can't decide if this freaks me out more or less. On the one hand I'm a fast reader and my school has always used crazy long passages. On the other hand I feel like this makes all of the NBME/USMLEWorld Predictors a lot less accurate, and I feel like I'm walking into something that I didn't prepare for. GAA!

....


....


Does seeing the word 'GAA!' typed out make anyone else think of Fredrich's ataxia?

 

[badasshairday]

Hey guys, at least keep in mind that everyone with the 46q format is in the same boat. So if it threw you off on timing and filler bs, you are not alone. Hopefully it all works out when the NBME does there scoring sorcery.

 

[jimmyboi]

Dont worry guys you will be fine. It is true, that you are not the only one in this situation. Its going to be the same for everyone who takes the new format step.

 

[DRJJ1]

Dont worry guys you will be fine. It is true, that you are not the only one in this situation. Its going to be the same for everyone who takes the new format step.

looks like more money for the nbme new tests to buy
which will cost more for sure

price of step 1 will go up soon too again blaming it on the
new testing procedures,,,its all a money game and ego
they prob made the new test cause they figured
they have every test prep jumping to revamp
their appraoches,, and I agree with many others that they
are making this too hard to become doctors we get penalized
for studying hard and taking prep classes as we do better ,,,oh well

 

[PistolPete]

go lakers, which testing center in SoCal was it? Just curious. I take my exam in about 2 weeks, and I assume all testing centers in SoCal will have the new format by then.

 

[metalrex]

Man, now when I look back I think those latest free 143 did have few questions with long vignettes.Should have seen this coming.

I am just hoping that the longer stems give away alot of 'gimme' info to help us arrive to the answer easily.Guess our paraphrasing skills will be tested to the hilt here.

We'll make it through guys.