Feedback appreciated - took Step 1 today and thought it was too easy

[josephf1]

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Hi, helpful site, thanks for all the posts.
Studied from all the usual sources: FA, Goljan, Kaplan, HY, MRS, nothing out of the ordinary
Did all 4 NBMEs and was getting around 220 +/-
Sat down today, and after all the hype, was in shock. Maybe you all can comment, was expecting hard "2 step" questions of stuf "not in FA" but this is the type of stuff I got, and it went on and on for all the blocks:

* Guy with PCP and low Th count, Dx? AIDS
* Guy with arthritis and gram - diplococci, Rx? Ceftriaxone
* Mom has 2 yo girl and a swimming pool, how to make her safest? Build fence around pool???
* MCC skin infection in wrestlers? Herpes
* Guy allergic to cephalos, taking something else, gets rash in sun? Penecillin
* Embryonic problem with Inf ParaThyroid, what else affected? Thymus
* pictures of brain, guy with B1 dif + confabulations? point to mammalary bodies
* Fat guy with immenent MI, advice? exercise
* Guy had bad reaction to something and halothane? succinylcholine
* guy went to SW and had sphericles in lungs? coccidiomycosis
* kids butt itches? pin worms
* red object with yellow sulfur granules in pic? actinomycetes
* this was a kicker: picture of nephron and asked where K was reabsorbed.
* what do meningococci and pneumococci have in common: diplococci
* advice a CA blocker that works on the heart: verpamil
* womens breast infected, red: Staph A
* pic of brain, guy has resting tremor: pic substantia negra
* pic of hemi anopsia or whatever: optic chaism
* pic of brain stem, guy cant feel half his face: pick CN VII

I dont know, it went on like this, no hard 'experimental' questions, no hard stuff on micro/histo, no crazy viruses or drugs for worms, or anythign else crazy, i was angry after block 4 i studied so hard.
Also 20+ repeats from the NBME questions and free 150 questions.
I finished in under 4 hours. I was in shock.
Anyway, any one else have a test like this? Did you end up getting a great score like 250+ or was I having a hallucination and really read every question wrong and will end up failing?
Please advise with your experiences.
Thanks

 

[mjl1717]

Hi, helpful site, thanks for all the posts.
Studied from all the usual sources: FA, Goljan, Kaplan, HY, MRS, nothing out of the ordinary
Did all 4 NBMEs and was getting around 220 +/-
Sat down today, and after all the hype, was in shock. Maybe you all can comment, was expecting hard "2 step" questions of stuf "not in FA" but this is the type of stuff I got, and it went on and on for all the blocks:

* Guy with PCP and low Th count, Dx? AIDS
* Guy with arthritis and gram - diplococci, Rx? Ceftriaxone
* Mom has 2 yo girl and a swimming pool, how to make her safest? Build fence around pool???
* MCC skin infection in wrestlers? Herpes
* Guy allergic to cephalos, taking something else, gets rash in sun? Penecillin
* Embryonic problem with Inf ParaThyroid, what else affected? Thymus
* pictures of brain, guy with B1 dif + confabulations? point to mammalary bodies
* Fat guy with immenent MI, advice? exercise
* Guy had bad reaction to something and halothane? succinylcholine
* guy went to SW and had sphericles in lungs? coccidiomycosis
* kids butt itches? pin worms
* red object with yellow sulfur granules in pic? actinomycetes
* this was a kicker: picture of nephron and asked where K was reabsorbed.
* what do meningococci and pneumococci have in common: diplococci
* advice a CA blocker that works on the heart: verpamil
* womens breast infected, red: Staph A
* pic of brain, guy has resting tremor: pic substantia negra
* pic of hemi anopsia or whatever: optic chaism
* pic of brain stem, guy cant feel half his face: pick CN VII

I dont know, it went on like this, no hard 'experimental' questions, no hard stuff on micro/histo, no crazy viruses or drugs for worms, or anythign else crazy, i was angry after block 4 i studied so hard.
Also 20+ repeats from the NBME questions and free 150 questions.
I finished in under 4 hours. I was in shock.
Anyway, any one else have a test like this? Did you end up getting a great score like 250+ or was I having a hallucination and really read every question wrong and will end up failing?
Please advise with your experiences.
Thanks

In all seriousness I took the step last Tuesday the 11th and my exam covered everything and had the 2 step qs + different versions of Ohms law-{flow =pressure/resistance}, Hardy Weinberg and was concept based.

#1) you may have gotten a special exam.
#2) 4 hours probably sets a time record and could go down in the Guiness Book of Records PROVIDING you break a 250 or 260. 4 HOURS is faster then the superstars of this forum.
#3)One thing about the internet is "whats reliable"
#4)Good luck buddy!

 

[ndspider]

I think you have a case of foot and mouth syndrome.
From my experience, the people that are humble do the best on tests. The people that say they do good usually do about average.

I can't wait till you post your score.

Spider
p.s. looks like we had the same test. I didn't have experimental quesitons. Did you get the Mercury toxicity Q?

 

[cd1998]

hi,
i studied a lot and, while i didn't think it was ridiculously, i definitely came out thinking it was easier than a lot of my friends thought. i also freaked out that i must have misread the questions or not read into them enough, but i got my score back over the weekend and got in the mid-230s (i only took nbme 2, but took it less than a week before the real thing and scored a 224). i wouldn't freak out, odds are you did fine.

and btw, i have a friend who finished in about 4 hours as well, and she ended up scoring in the 240s.

hope this helps.
-cd1998

 

[(nicedream)]

Hi, helpful site, thanks for all the posts.
Studied from all the usual sources: FA, Goljan, Kaplan, HY, MRS, nothing out of the ordinary
Did all 4 NBMEs and was getting around 220 +/-
Sat down today, and after all the hype, was in shock. Maybe you all can comment, was expecting hard "2 step" questions of stuf "not in FA" but this is the type of stuff I got, and it went on and on for all the blocks:

* Guy with PCP and low Th count, Dx? AIDS
* Guy with arthritis and gram - diplococci, Rx? Ceftriaxone
* Mom has 2 yo girl and a swimming pool, how to make her safest? Build fence around pool???
* MCC skin infection in wrestlers? Herpes
* Guy allergic to cephalos, taking something else, gets rash in sun? Penecillin
* Embryonic problem with Inf ParaThyroid, what else affected? Thymus
* pictures of brain, guy with B1 dif + confabulations? point to mammalary bodies
* Fat guy with immenent MI, advice? exercise
* Guy had bad reaction to something and halothane? succinylcholine
* guy went to SW and had sphericles in lungs? coccidiomycosis
* kids butt itches? pin worms
* red object with yellow sulfur granules in pic? actinomycetes
* this was a kicker: picture of nephron and asked where K was reabsorbed.
* what do meningococci and pneumococci have in common: diplococci
* advice a CA blocker that works on the heart: verpamil
* womens breast infected, red: Staph A
* pic of brain, guy has resting tremor: pic substantia negra
* pic of hemi anopsia or whatever: optic chaism
* pic of brain stem, guy cant feel half his face: pick CN VII

I dont know, it went on like this, no hard 'experimental' questions, no hard stuff on micro/histo, no crazy viruses or drugs for worms, or anythign else crazy, i was angry after block 4 i studied so hard.
Also 20+ repeats from the NBME questions and free 150 questions.
I finished in under 4 hours. I was in shock.
Anyway, any one else have a test like this? Did you end up getting a great score like 250+ or was I having a hallucination and really read every question wrong and will end up failing?
Please advise with your experiences.
Thanks

Too bad some of your answers are wrong

 

[TX_Longhorn]

Too bad some of your answers are wrong

would u mind pointing em out nicedreams

 

[exmike]

Too bad some of your answers are wrong

lol. so funny. so true. let's see... can't feel face - CN V, not CN VII. allergic to ceph is tetracycline can't use pen if ceph allergic. both are beta lactams.

so.. maybe it wasn't THAT easy

 

[velo]

lol. so funny. so true. let's see... can't feel face - CN V, not CN VII. allergic to ceph is tetracycline can't use pen if ceph allergic. both are beta lactams.

so.. maybe it wasn't THAT easy

actually with the photosensitivity (rash in sun) I think that one might have been a tetracycline. You're right about the allergy issue with PCN and cephs though.

To the OP, I hear you about wishing you hadn't studied so much for the exam...most of what I needed I felt like I covered in the first 1.5 weeks, and the stuff I didn't know I don't think I would have covered if I had studied for another month. I'll also agree that step 1 has its fair share of "gimmie" questions.

HOWEVER, if you come online and start a thread that says "Step 1 was too easy" you will get flamed like californian brush, and deservedly so I think

 

[velo]

oh sorry exmike, I didn't read your post very carefully...you said tetracycline. My bad.

 

[yadayadadude]

I finished in about 4 hours too (probably closer to 4.5) and left the test feeling pretty good about my performance. I got 246/99. Nothing to brag about around here (where apparently half of us broke 260), but not too shabby either. I'm sure you did fine. Good luck.

 

[(nicedream)]

lol. so funny. so true. let's see... can't feel face - CN V, not CN VII. allergic to ceph is tetracycline can't use pen if ceph allergic. both are beta lactams.

so.. maybe it wasn't THAT easy

Yeah, that's them, and the one with the guy about to have an MI, I'm not sure about exercise - but I don't know what the other choices were. Anyway, just thought it was funny.

 

[joe6102]

He is obviously lying. This thread should be closed.

 

[VincentAdultman]

"Fat guy with immenent MI, advice? exercise"


Are you serious?


"Hey fatso, don't give me that crap about the crushing chest and arm pain. Get your ass on that treadmill untl I say stop!"

 

[josephf1]

I forgot one more question on my step 1:
* Anal retentive, OCD, shallow, insecure, overly critical, med student enters your clinic, obsessing his entire identity and those of his peers is determined by a 3 digit number assigned to an exam, when a fellow student inquires about the overall theme of a overly hyped misrepresentated step, rather than offer intuitive insight, feels to make himself/herself superior by deconstructing an email written in hurry, perhaps out of jealousy that a fellow student may be more intelligent. oh well, you knew med students were shallow boring overcompetitive types. What do you offer this med student for treatment options:
A) A kick in the ass
b) Rub your 267 in his face and laugh as your cutting off his actinik keratosis and giving his wife botox for $200 cash, as he with his whimpy 205 (despite his 41T MCAT) checks your childs vaccination schedule
c) have your brother in law the lawyer ambulence chase his clients with bed sores
d) cohabit with his trophy wife while he's working the 81st hour of his week in general surgery residency year 45
e) all of the above

 

[dara678]

hey joseph,

ppl on sdn can be really harsh 🙁 sucks but that's just the way it is. i guess a lot of posters here are just miffed that you're saying that the test was easy when a lot of them studied like crazy for it and didn't find it so easy. also, they might find your comments -- whether they were intentional or not -- arrogant. now i don't know what you're real intention is, because it's really hard to tell on a forum, but don't let the comments get to you.

 

[VincentAdultman]

hey joseph,

ppl on sdn can be really harsh 🙁 sucks but that's just the way it is. i guess a lot of posters here are just miffed that you're saying that the test was easy when a lot of them studied like crazy for it and didn't find it so easy. also, they might find your comments -- whether they were intentional or not -- arrogant. now i don't know what you're real intention is, because it's really hard to tell on a forum, but don't let the comments get to you.

Well, you better make sure all your answers ARE right when you post something like that!

By the way, nothing quite says "I'm a d!ck" then equating low board scores with Family medicine/pediatrics.