Exam Experience

[Pestanas]

Ok...so I just wanted to do my part and tell my exam story like so many have done before me...

Took my exam yesterday and it was just like everyone described it to be.... LONG! It was very hard for me to stay focused and the screen would glaze over as the fatigue started to kick in. Surprisingly my last block wasn't as bad (maybe because i saw the end in sight) but the middle blocks were just unrelenting......

My resources: Kaplan books, videos, World, qBank, and secrets (I bought just about every other book u could think of but in the end chose not to use them)
In hindsight I don't think the kaplan videos were necessary...nice to watch if you have time (especially helpful throughout the rotations) but you definitely aren't missing much if you don't watch them

I really liked the kaplan books - but I think that's a personal preference bc I need a good comprehensive resource like that - I thought Crush was way too superficial on the topics and never touched the 3rd order questions that the exam likes to ask --but I know people swear by Crush -- so to each their own i guess....

I also thought reading the rapid review at the end of First Aid was very high yield - I got a few questions just having skimmed that the night before.

But most importantly I LOVED world - not only is it exactly like the real exam - but i got a lot of repeat topics from it which was great!!! In regards to the difficulty level -- i thought the real exam was just like World -- a good mix of easy and hard questions

My exam had minimal biostats maybe like 7 questions -- just sens and PPV for the math part and the rest were interpreting data ......those were way easier than the questions on World - thankfully!

I had lots of respiratory - with a couple CXRs....only had one EKG with minimal Cardio ... a couple derm pics -- which were very bad in quality -- could barely even see the rash!!
Lots of management type questions for OB/gyn, Trauma, and minimal specific surgery type questions, but lots of psychiatry

Overall, I thought the exam was very fair....I had good blocks and bad blocks...and there were no surprises because it was so similar to World.

Before my exam this is what i was scoring:
World - 63% (after finishing it 100% the first time thru with all timed, all subj mode)
NBME 3 - 224 (one week before the exam)


I honestly have no idea how i did on the exam because i have a bad sense of judgement when it comes to that....Every time i thought i rocked a World exam...it was usually in the fifties....and vice versa....so I'm just crossing my fingers that things went ok.....NBME predicted my Step One score by 2 points...so I'm hoping it holds the same validity here.....if not higher!!! I'll post my scores when they come in

And I just want to thank eveyone else for sharing their information....it helped alot during my studies and I hope maybe my post can help others.

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[exgatr]

Hey, this is a great thread.

I took my exam 2 weeks ago and didn't think it was that bad at all. It had a mix of stuff that you see on the wards & stuff straight from Step 2 secrets and UW.

I studied for 2 months using Step 2 secrets (same info as Crush, but diff format) and did all of the questions on UW. I averaged about 60% by the last few blocks.

Overall, I think the test was a TON easier than step 1. It's much more about critical thinking than rote memorization. The pickiest topic: I had 2 questions on Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which I had luckily seen in one my patients. Other than that, there were a lot of trauma management and psych questions.

I think it was a fair test & was easier than UW.

 

[arthrodisiac]

Took the exam

I thought it was pretty hard actually, at least harder than usmleworld and the nbme practice tests. There were a bunch of crazy questions that aren't in any of the sources I used (and i used a lot). Biggest piece of advice is know the pediatric immunodeficiency disorders back and forth. A lot of the next step in mgmt questions were so twisted because the situations were ludicrous.

I used step up to medicine, usmleworld (all of it), kaplan qbook, some of first aid, some of brs pediatrics, step 2 secrets, ob case files. Im probly leaving something out.

nbme 1 229, nbme 2, 231, nbme 3 255, uw 65%

we'll see...though i doubt its anywhere near that last one.

 

[arthrodisiac]

Something else i noted during the exam...people said that as you take the exam the questions get harder or easier depending on your performance. I don't see how thats possible from question to question as you can click through all the questions in a given section and reveal them without answering anything, which would preclude questions getting harder or easier. They could make whole sections harder or easier, but that sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

 

[RexMorganMD]

Something else i noted during the exam...people said that as you take the exam the questions get harder or easier depending on your performance. I don't see how thats possible from question to question as you can click through all the questions in a given section and reveal them without answering anything, which would preclude questions getting harder or easier. They could make whole sections harder or easier, but that sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

Thats how the nursing NCLEX is. It also ends the test early if you rock hard, but it will also end the test early if you suck bad
I think med students are too neurotic for this to ever work on the USMLE, but its an interesting idea.

 

[cincityghost]

yeah, so i took my exam on teusday. Thought it was BRUUUUUUUTAL . I went through about 1/3 of world ending up in the high 50's and reading every question's explanations and focusing on doing more of my weakest sections. read about a third of secrets. read through FA about 2.5 to 3 times over the previous 2 rotations. had medicine and peds just prior to exam. one week off to study just for the exam. Thought step 1 sucked too but managed above avg, although my q bank score was more reassuring then. I have a nack for not finishing sections, so i probably blew a half dozen or more q's that way.

For me, it seemed half of the patients on my test were pregnant. Another recurring them was a long term alcoholic with an extensive list of other comorbid conditions that the question would require to be picked apart. I also had many questions that would have almost identical stems with only a few details changed, some even back to back. the format is exactly like world. I thought the test was way harder than world, but i speculate that's just because I finally gave a hoot if i was getting them correct.

Congrats to finishing your exams early in the year. I just hope i passed mine (and it would nice to break avg again ).

peace

 

[TheFlash]

this is a great thread guys!

one question: did you guys get a lot of psych questions? i've spent a total of 1 day on psychiatry, and was under the impression that it was relatively low yield. likewise, i could get burned if the psych is heavy/tough. did you have this experience? i'm trying to focus on medicine, peds and ob/gyn.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I had as much psych as ob/gyn or peds. My questions were actually pretty tough, you have to know DSM criteria very well.

 

[Pestanas]

I had lots of psych but the questions weren't any harder than World questions.....and know your drugs!!!

 

[radiocures]

took mine a couple of weeks ago. i doubt they cost me any points, but testing center distractions were a bother. the computer monitor had a refresh of about 3 Hz (pretty bad flicker); however after recovering from the third seizure, i got used to it. there was some guy taking the TOEFL (test of english as a foreign language) sitting next to me and he was pounding, i mean POUNDING on the keyboard when he was writing. that, and he was "huffing" presumably when he got questions he didn't like.

beyond that, i felt that usmle world prepared me at least for the format. i wasn't as pressed for time as i usually was on boards, and the majority of question stems seemed shorter than those on world and on nbme exams...this may not be the case, but it was my impression.

review materials = first aid for ck, usmle world and kaplan qbank, boards and wards

lunch = peanut butter sandwich, banana, yogurt, sports drink, and a caffeinated beverage i look at but don't touch. i have enough energy on test days without feeding my addiction, but i like the feeling of security of having a diet coke if i need it.

most surprising = choosing prostate biopsy three times during the exam. but i mean, if he's got a nodule, you biopsy, am i wrong? perhaps i missed one of the steps of the abc's on one of those...

worst block = #4. i may have marked 20+ items on this block.

overall impression = better feeling than step 1. fewer "what the hell?" questions. fewer "what the hell!" answers. in spite of this, i doubt this will translate into a better score as this is the impression i've heard from most folks.

 

[TheFlash]

I had as much psych as ob/gyn or peds. My questions were actually pretty tough, you have to know DSM criteria very well.

So it sounds like there were lots of diagnosis and drug questions? Hopefully I can swing it out as long as they don't make me delineate the neurotransmitter changes, etc. Thanks.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Everyone's test is different but my psych was about 2/3 diagnosis and 1/3 treatment. My drug questions were very easy and covered obvious treatments for obvious diagnoses, and classic side effects of commonly used drugs. The diagnosis questions were half easy and half tricky.

For instance you would get a psych patient that seemed to have some disorder, but specifically never had classic symptoms A and B. Would they still qualify for that diagnosis? Or a pt would have classic symptoms for a disorder, but in the context of unique circumstances that might disqualify them from the diagnosis. Or a pt might have a preexisting neurological disorder, and develop some psych symptoms.

 

[lord_jeebus]

most surprising = choosing prostate biopsy three times during the exam. but i mean, if he's got a nodule, you biopsy, am i wrong? perhaps i missed one of the steps of the abc's on one of those...

Not if he's 90 years old or has something that's going to kill him in 5 years...

Probably not if he presents with back pain, has spine lesions, and a PSA of 5000...

 

[arthrodisiac]

My psych questions were mostly straightforward. The statistics questions were too hard, i couldnt even find the answers in a college level stat book, let alone any of the med student resources.

**** the keyboards at the test centers. Why can't they invest in some Quietkey keyboards and save us the aggravation. I was literally ready to get up out of my chair and tackle the girl clacking away. I thought i was going to have a panic attack. I think at 500 dollars a pop, they can afford the dam keyboards. If not, put all the clackers in a seperate room.

Your prostate biopsies were my folic acid deficiencies.

I was actually wondering, how many questions are experimental?

I had a question of a woman with high probability gallstones and cholangitis with crappy ultrasound due to excessive shadows. Which of the following is next step for evaluation. ERCP wasnt a choice.
1- MR cholangiogram
2- PTC
3- duct manometry
4- T-tube
5- Open cholecystectomy

I had no friggen clue

 

[TheFlash]

My psych questions were mostly straightforward. The statistics questions were too hard, i couldnt even find the answers in a college level stat book, let alone any of the med student resources.

**** the keyboards at the test centers. Why can't they invest in some Quietkey keyboards and save us the aggravation. I was literally ready to get up out of my chair and tackle the girl clacking away. I thought i was going to have a panic attack. I think at 500 dollars a pop, they can afford the dam keyboards. If not, put all the clackers in a seperate room.

Your prostate biopsies were my folic acid deficiencies.

I was actually wondering, how many questions are experimental?

I had a question of a woman with high probability gallstones and cholangitis with crappy ultrasound due to excessive shadows. Which of the following is next step for evaluation. ERCP wasnt a choice.
1- MR cholangiogram
2- PTC
3- duct manometry
4- T-tube
5- Open cholecystectomy

I had no friggen clue

niiiice. i'm spending 0.5 days on biostat, and with the test in 4 days i think it's a bit too late for me to negotiate my schedule.

did you go with ptc for that lady? if ercp is unavailable and the diagnosis is clear, i believe that's the way to go for duct decompression. or was it asking "how do you CONFIRM the diagnosis?" in which case i might go with mrcp. ptc is also a good bet if the patient has a ton of co-moribidities and can't tolerate general anesthesia (hence r/o t-tubes, open chole).

 

[cbdoctor]

did you go with ptc for that lady? if ercp is unavailable and the diagnosis is clear, i believe that's the way to go for duct decompression. or was it asking "how do you CONFIRM the diagnosis?" in which case i might go with mrcp. ptc is also a good bet if the patient has a ton of co-moribidities and can't tolerate general anesthesia (hence r/o t-tubes, open chole).

I agree with above; cholangitis can be diagnosed clinically

1) confirm diagnosis --> MRCP
2) true "next step" --> bile duct decompression via ERCP/sphincterotomy or PTC

 

[arthrodisiac]

So if they say PTC you have to assume that includes PT biliary drainage? cuz u can do ptc alone with no drainage. It reminds of when they say just adjustment disorder and adjustment disorder with whatever features.

on second thought, i dont care. im done!

 

[cincityghost]

this is a great thread guys!

one question: did you guys get a lot of psych questions? i've spent a total of 1 day on psychiatry, and was under the impression that it was relatively low yield. likewise, i could get burned if the psych is heavy/tough. did you have this experience? i'm trying to focus on medicine, peds and ob/gyn.

I didn't think there were near as many psych questions as there were OB/GYN on my exam. Maybe as much OB or GYN. Also, I thought they were many of the easiest questions on the test.

 

[radiocures]

Not if he's 90 years old or has something that's going to kill him in 5 years...

Probably not if he presents with back pain, has spine lesions, and a PSA of 5000...

true enough. i don't remember those particular scenarios on the exam.

 

[TheFlash]

aaaaah! starting to go a little crazy here. i'm taking my exam tomorrow i'm planning to review the kaplan notes on surgery, flip through first aid for psych AND review neuro today. i think that plan was a bit overly ambitious. will report back tomorrow post-exam.

 

[Pestanas]

aaaaah! starting to go a little crazy here. i'm taking my exam tomorrow i'm planning to review the kaplan notes on surgery, flip through first aid for psych AND review neuro today. i think that plan was a bit overly ambitious. will report back tomorrow post-exam.

Best of luck to you!!!! pack your power drink of choice...mine was coffee for the morning session and red bull for the afternoon...and boy did i NEED it!!!

 

[manning18]

I might have mentioned this a while back, but I found Caffeine Pills (w/ Tylenol, prophylatically for HeadAches) VERY useful for boosting mental alertness during the CK exam. I took one generican Vivarin after blocks 5 and 6. I felt OK about the exam going into block 8 but, during the block, I determined that I should have taken one after block 7 as well. Coffee and Red Bull etc are OK, but they're probably going to be less strong, take longer to act and, most importantly, cause the need to urinate (quite badly!) in the middle of the block. That's a VERY uncomfortable position to be in.

 

[TheFlash]

wooo woo, i'm all done (hopefully). and boy that puppy was one tough mother. i definitely saw a good number of usmleworld repeats (10?) so that was helpful. overall though, it was hard. i'm just glad to be done. now i can let my neurons degenerate for the next year... research fellowship, whaaaaat?

i'll update with my strategies when i get a score and can actually let you guys know if it worked (or not ).

 

[Deliah245]

Just wanted to add my two cents about my experience since everyone's been so kind to share theirs along with study strategies....so my exam was today, and it's true....it's one LOOOOOOOONG exam. Nothing really prepares you well for being tired for this exam since most of us don't do 8 hour exams even at practice. And my screen had that flickering problem at the bottom left corner, and the lights weren't as bright as I would have liked, so without a doubt, I left the test site with a drop in my visual acuity for sure. But at least it's over, the questions were fair, I felt that my first and last block were a bit harder than my UW level, which freaked me out when I started since I had to mark like 20+ questions while getting adjusted to the flickering screen. But then the more I sat there and did more questions, the smoother the exam went, and then I finished with one hard block. But overall, I felt UW was a fair assessment of the type of questions. I had a good emphasis of all the topics, so know your weak subjects well.

I studied for 3 weeks pretty much doing at least 2 sections of USMLEWorld a day in the morning, going over 2 sections in First Aid, then corresponding chapters in Crush Step 2. I was able to get through First Aid and Crush about 2 1/2 times and all of USMLEworld. UW average was 59% but my last 1 1/2 wk, my averages were 65-76%. I also took NBME1 exam, 600 (239). So hopefully I can pull a similar score and I'd be content. Honestly coming out of the exam, I can't even begin to tell how I did, I started off not feeling that great about it, and then ended it feeling the same way, so who knows? I'll try to post score and see if that studying paid off. Good luck to all studying!! it'll be over soon.

 

[mullerian]

could somebody please tell me the format of step 2.....like how many questions there are in each section and how many sections there are....and the time alloted for each.

I can't find this information on the nbme website anywhere.

thanks a bunch!

 

[genome25]

1 hour for a block of 46 ques...and total of 8 blocks.

 

[Jatpot]

Well, after a couple months of trying to juggle my psych rotation and step 2 study and one episode of bad luck 2 days ago with the server crashing before I took my exam, I finally took step 2 today!

It's been said before, man that is a long exam. That extra block over step 1 really got to me! Having said that, this exam is more than fair. In fact, having used usmleworld to prepare, I feel like the real thing had more straightforward/one step questions. I felt like there were heaps of straight up "what is the diagnosis/what best accounts for this presentation" questions. I had one hard block, 2 ok/hard, and the rest were ok--ok/good. That is my very technical rating system!

Obviously won't know how I did for a while, but I know I passed and I'm cautiously optimistic.

UW: finished 80% of questions; avg was 60% (range: 48--73), mostly low 60s
NBME 1: 590 (237) taken 4 weeks ago.
First Aid.

Way easier than step 1. Here's hoping I get a good score and didn't just think it was easier b/c I was consistently missing the point!

Good luck to you guys who are studying.

 

[persia]

Hey all,

I was wondering about the testing conditions, like the noise levels. I am not overly sensitive or anything but I just go nuts when people are talking or banging on their computer keyboards. I went to try out my local prometrix and since we can't wear earplugs anymore I thought those orange earmufs were pretty useless.

I am concerned about studying so hard only to get there and have it really, really noisy. Any thoughts from people who have taken the exam?

 

[manning18]

My exam was fine and the earmuffs they gave me helped dampen the noise (which was low anyway). I lucked out bigtime, b/c the other center I may have taken the test as was having massive construction in the Strip Mall in which it was located. My advice would be check with the center and see if there might be any construction going on during that time. If so, find a new site ASAP. It was mentioned on these forums that the Homewood, IL site had a lot of noise from construction. Not only that, but the Prometric administrators basically acted as if they did not care and nothing was done to appease the concerns of the examinees. If you hunt around carefully, you might find the link to this old thread.

 

[MeowMix]

it is beyond your control. You can have the nicest keyboards etc. and then have some guy sitting behind you saying "G@dd&mn it!" "****!" "F#ck!" while he is taking his realtor's licensing exam, and you can hear it even through the ear muffs. That's what I had.

 

[persia]

Well, I don't think I want to buy a house from him then. I want my realtor to be calm and confident.

Thanks for the noise feedback, sounds like it could go either way so I need to come up with a mental plan to be prepared I guess. Our local sites have new keyboards and flat screen monitors! No more flickering screens, but the keyboards are still pretty noisey. Oh well, we'll see.

 

[GuP]

For those who took it, can any of you comment on how many images, EKGs, or statistics questions you came across? Thanks.

 

[lord_jeebus]

20-30 images
2 EKGs
8-10 biostats/epidemiology

 

[DrB]

My class and I are just taking Step 1, but I have already been asked if we are going to have another Kaplan review for Step2. I was wondering what people's opinion is on the matter. Should I organize another review program?

I see several resources on this thread; UW, FA, Kaplan, etc etc. I will publish a link to this thread on my school bulletin board. Any advice or links for our class would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
DrB OMSIII
Touro 2009

 

[RockfordWF]

My class and I are just taking Step 1, but I have already been asked if we are going to have another Kaplan review for Step2. I was wondering what people's opinion is on the matter. Should I organize another review program?

I see several resources on this thread; UW, FA, Kaplan, etc etc. I will publish a link to this thread on my school bulletin board. Any advice or links for our class would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
DrB OMSIII
Touro 2009

This is essential. It was the Step II board review at my school that allowed me to do well----if you don't do this, you'll forget all of the pathology, since your 3rd year curriculum is so inconsistent....

 

[DrB]

Thanks!

Are there any preferences on the question banks? My school has ExamMaster... which kinda sucks, but its free.

The Kaplan programs are around 3-5 thousand dollars!!! What other options do we have?????

-B

 

[RockfordWF]

Thanks!

Are there any preferences on the question banks? My school has ExamMaster... which kinda sucks, but its free.

The Kaplan programs are around 3-5 thousand dollars!!! What other options do we have?????

-B

I just used Kaplan's QBook and that was enough studying for me. USMLE II is WAAAY easier than Step I and you don't need to study near as hard.

 

[Pestanas]

Ok...so I just wanted to do my part and tell my exam story like so many have done before me...

Took my exam yesterday and it was just like everyone described it to be.... LONG! It was very hard for me to stay focused and the screen would glaze over as the fatigue started to kick in. Surprisingly my last block wasn't as bad (maybe because i saw the end in sight) but the middle blocks were just unrelenting......

My resources: Kaplan books, videos, World, qBank, and secrets (I bought just about every other book u could think of but in the end chose not to use them)
In hindsight I don't think the kaplan videos were necessary...nice to watch if you have time (especially helpful throughout the rotations) but you definitely aren't missing much if you don't watch them

I really liked the kaplan books - but I think that's a personal preference bc I need a good comprehensive resource like that - I thought Crush was way too superficial on the topics and never touched the 3rd order questions that the exam likes to ask --but I know people swear by Crush -- so to each their own i guess....

I also thought reading the rapid review at the end of First Aid was very high yield - I got a few questions just having skimmed that the night before.

But most importantly I LOVED world - not only is it exactly like the real exam - but i got a lot of repeat topics from it which was great!!! In regards to the difficulty level -- i thought the real exam was just like World -- a good mix of easy and hard questions

My exam had minimal biostats maybe like 7 questions -- just sens and PPV for the math part and the rest were interpreting data ......those were way easier than the questions on World - thankfully!

I had lots of respiratory - with a couple CXRs....only had one EKG with minimal Cardio ... a couple derm pics -- which were very bad in quality -- could barely even see the rash!!
Lots of management type questions for OB/gyn, Trauma, and minimal specific surgery type questions, but lots of psychiatry

Overall, I thought the exam was very fair....I had good blocks and bad blocks...and there were no surprises because it was so similar to World.

Before my exam this is what i was scoring:
World - 63% (after finishing it 100% the first time thru with all timed, all subj mode)
NBME 3 - 224 (one week before the exam)


I honestly have no idea how i did on the exam because i have a bad sense of judgement when it comes to that....Every time i thought i rocked a World exam...it was usually in the fifties....and vice versa....so I'm just crossing my fingers that things went ok.....NBME predicted my Step One score by 2 points...so I'm hoping it holds the same validity here.....if not higher!!! I'll post my scores when they come in

And I just want to thank eveyone else for sharing their information....it helped alot during my studies and I hope maybe my post can help others.

Ok....so NBME underestimated my score.....YAY!!!
236/98

So although I would defnitely still use the NBME practice tests as a guide.... don't be too hard on yourself if you aren't scoring as high as you would like!!

 

[arthrodisiac]

Ok....so NBME underestimated my score.....YAY!!!
236/98

So although I would defnitely still use the NBME practice tests as a guide.... don't be too hard on yourself if you aren't scoring as high as you would like!!

congrats pestanas. i think we took the test the same time, i still havent got my score back yet.