June 2009: USMLE Step 1 Support Thread

[Deferoxamine]

When are you taking the USMLE Step 1?

For me, I'll be taking it on a Father's Day hangover, June 22. Thank God I won't be busy on Father's Day, seeing that I don't have any children, at least none that I know of.

Figured we'd stir up a support thread, see when everyone's taking their exam, and offer up some good luck for all those taking Step 1 in the month ahead.

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[ZagDoc]

13th here. Don't know if I'm happy I still have 18 days to study, or wigging out I only have 18 days to study.

*passes out on desk*

 

[Depakote]

June 22nd as well. Not freaking out just yet... we'll see.

Good luck, all.

 

[frangeo27]

June 24th....man, 4 weeks exactly tomorrow...

 

[pseudoknot]

June 26, my former area code. Exactly 30 days from now.

 

[BoneNibbler]

Good Luck Y'all.......

 

[sendwich]

June 24....so far away, yet so very close

 

[bretticus]

June 26, one month and counting.

 

[flyingdutchman]

13th here. Don't know if I'm happy I still have 18 days to study, or wigging out I only have 18 days to study.

*passes out on desk*

I feel the same way! Big day on the 13th for me as well, just have to keep this up for two more weeks.....

 

[Knicks]

How long has everyone in this thread been seriously studying? (weeks/days/hours per day)

 

[silas2642]

How long has everyone in this thread been seriously studying? (weeks/days/hours per day)

About 2 weeks, and I've been procrastinating terribly-- there are days that I'm actually pretty productive, and days where I'm just not really getting anything retained. Probably around 6/day. Pretty sad and so not sdn, I know. Definitely need to step it up.

 

[morriske]

Taking it 6/5. Yikes! Going through first aid for the 3rd-ish time. Will take first NBME SA on Friday...

 

[ACE Stimulator]

June 23rd here, gluck everyone!

 

[Severus]

6.11. shoot me. now.

 

[ZagDoc]

How long has everyone in this thread been seriously studying? (weeks/days/hours per day)

Been pulling around 12 hour days (5 hrs doing questions, 7 hours reviewing). I'm on day 6 of serious studying and got 16 left. Our school only gave us 4 weeks between the end of MS2 and MS3 orientation... lame. I tried starting to study earlier but just couldn't compartmentalize class information and boards information well enough to cram for both.

 

[chaostheory]

i'm taking it on june 24th. hopefully, i won't have a panic attack later on and end up postponing it by a week.

 

[confuse]

June 25th here. I have planned for a nice vacation the day after so hopefully the test won't ruin my vacation. Good luck everyone.

 

[Vonsmack]

Taking it June 24th as well. Just started heavy studying yesterday. Planning on studying about 10 hrs/6 days a week for the first half. Last 2 weeks I'll turn it up a few notches and study 14-16 hrs/day with breaks in between. This is how I studied for block exams during the school year, so I know this is about my limit until serious burnout.

 

[pseudoknot]

How long has everyone in this thread been seriously studying? (weeks/days/hours per day)

I started on the 21st, and have been trying to follow the recommended schedule from the school, which is 8 hours of reading and 3 of questions per day. So far I've covered BRS Phys and 400 pages of RR Path, and done 96 questions a night. I think I've generally spent 7-10 hours reading or trying to read.

I've always hated RR Path and thought it would be harder to get through, but the first half went by pretty easily. Since the organ systems started, it's been agonizing. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE KIDNEY!!!

Anyway, I do think I've seen improvement in UW scores since this started, despite the fact that when I'm reading I can't even remember what was on the previous page. I'll take my second NBME on Friday after finishing RR, and I really hope that will give me a boost in motivation.

Hope it's going better for everyone else. I guess I'd better get back to the salt mine.

 

[SeminoleFan3]

16 days now from about 7-6ish...mostly reading, but about 50-75 questions a night (although the question portion is starting to increase). I'm half way through...taking it on June 19th.

 

[NCF145]

Since the organ systems started, it's been agonizing. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE KIDNEY!!!

Haha...I feel you on that.

June 17 for me and then Jamaica before 3rd year.

 

[Depakote]

Haha...I feel you on that.

June 17 for me and then Jamaica before 3rd year.

I have a gulf-view condo in Florida with my name on it

 

[tdd340]

I week to go and about 90% of the day I feel like I might puke

 

[RisingSun]

June 29th.

We had our last final yesterday but still have two more days of "transition" orientation the next two days. I am just cracking open FA. Man, this next month is going to blow.

 

[hateroftheyear]

Calm.

Looking forward to "Up" and "Star Trek" the day before!

 

[Disinence2]

June 12th...

About half way through Uworld, Haven't really looked at FA much yet, been through Goljan once.

Not really sure what to learn...

 

[leahmaria]

June 11.

I'd put it off a week if there were dates available. I'm definitely nervous!

 

[soonereng]

I'm the 22nd as well. Time is going by too fast for me and not fast enough at the same time if that is possible.

 

[Ihateverbal]

June 19.

But I hit a terrible episode of tonsillitis (still have it) and also spent about 4 days after classes, just traveling...so barely got much studying in...

considering postponing..

anyone else get sick during USMLE studying? Sucks...

 

[Redrox]

People keep writing me or calling for advice and I'm going to feel like a total d-bag if I don't do well, after all the expectations

But so it goes; Comlex June 10th , USMLE June 24th, Yosemite June 25th. ( ).

 

[PBandJ]

i'm bringing up the rear with june 30. and i really wish i would have signed up for the morning session...just thinking about being there until 8:30 at night is not thrilling.

 

[Re3iRtH]

Haha...I feel you on that.

June 17 for me and then Jamaica before 3rd year.

Same date for me!!! Best of luck to you.
Got a great trip planned as well.

Anyone notice an increase in their Uworld/Qbank %age during the
final 3 weeks?

 

[perilou]

When you take an NBME test, do you get to review the questions and see which ones you missed? Or do they give you a score and that's it?

Also, are they 4 hr tests?

 

[LadyKae]

taking it june 12 (i'm really f*ing nervous)

what do you guys think is the best use of these last 2 weeks? in my original "master plan," i intended on going through my annotated FA 2 more times. and also doing lots of Q's per day (maybe 200?). and also doing flashcards. but i'm beginning to realize that that's quite the ambitious agenda, and there just aren't enough hours in the day (especially because i'm a freakishly slow reader)

anyone out there have a brilliant strategy that they feel confident about?

 

[jsong812]

taking it june 12 (i'm really f*ing nervous)

what do you guys think is the best use of these last 2 weeks? in my original "master plan," i intended on going through my annotated FA 2 more times. and also doing lots of Q's per day (maybe 200?). and also doing flashcards. but i'm beginning to realize that that's quite the ambitious agenda, and there just aren't enough hours in the day (especially because i'm a freakishly slow reader)

anyone out there have a brilliant strategy that they feel confident about?

I'm planning to follow the "Taus two week plan" which consists of Goljan, FA, and ~100 questions per day. I personally think his plan is a little ambitious as well as it expects you to get through several chapters of Goljan, FA, in addition to the Uworld questions in a single day, but I'm planning to not read Goljan (as I've already read it twice) to make it a little more manageable.

And oh yeah, I'm taking mine June 8th. eek.

 

[NCF145]

Same date for me!!! Best of luck to you.
Got a great trip planned as well.

Anyone notice an increase in their Uworld/Qbank %age during the
final 3 weeks?

Same to you

 

[tomorrowgirl99]

June 10th. I'm nervous. I just am scared that all the crap I learned won't be on the test.

 

[sprinkibrio]

June 24th! Been studying 2.5 weeks now, but still haven't made it through one round of FA. Maybe a week more to finish then I'll have 3 weeks to read it again twice without the books.

 

[PBandJ]

When you take an NBME test, do you get to review the questions and see which ones you missed? Or do they give you a score and that's it?

Also, are they 4 hr tests?

you don't get to review your questions. once you hit submit, that's it. they don't even break it down by section...you just get a score report at the end that indicates your strengths and weaknesses.

i recommend purchasing the self-paced option. that way, you get up to 4 hours to review each section (but again, remember, you can't go back once you've submitted a section). so time yourself and take the section in an hour, and then when you're "done," look up any questions you were unsure about (being honest with yourself to not change your original answers). a friend recommended that to me and it worked out well for my first NBME self-assessment.

also, check around the forums here for advice on which ones are the best to take. they are all a little different (mainly in terms of how old they are).

 

[PBandJ]

you don't get to review your questions. once you hit submit, that's it. they don't even break it down by section...you just get a score report at the end that indicates your strengths and weaknesses.

i recommend purchasing the self-paced option. that way, you get up to 4 hours to review each section (but again, remember, you can't go back once you've submitted a section). so time yourself and take the section in an hour, and then when you're "done," look up any questions you were unsure about (being honest with yourself to not change your original answers). a friend recommended that to me and it worked out well for my first NBME self-assessment.

also, check around the forums here for advice on which ones are the best to take. they are all a little different (mainly in terms of how old they are).

oh also they are supposed to be 4 hour exams (it's 200 questions, and you have 60 minutes for each section). but again, if you do the self-paced version, you can have up to ~4 hours for each section.

 

[perilou]

you don't get to review your questions. once you hit submit, that's it. they don't even break it down by section...you just get a score report at the end that indicates your strengths and weaknesses.

i recommend purchasing the self-paced option. that way, you get up to 4 hours to review each section (but again, remember, you can't go back once you've submitted a section). so time yourself and take the section in an hour, and then when you're "done," look up any questions you were unsure about (being honest with yourself to not change your original answers). a friend recommended that to me and it worked out well for my first NBME self-assessment.

also, check around the forums here for advice on which ones are the best to take. they are all a little different (mainly in terms of how old they are).

Thanks. Very good idea!

 

[Deferoxamine]

I'm the 22nd as well. Time is going by too fast for me and not fast enough at the same time if that is possible.

June 22 high-five. Me too. Good luck.

Also agree with you about the how messed up my perception of time has already become. It's like I've written myself this intricate schedule of when I should study each item, work on UWorld, etc., and yet it feels like I have no control over my day whatsoever. Less than a week in, and I'm already feeling the crunch.

I think I have already come to realize that until Step 1 is over, the one thing I can count on each day, if I wake up, is that I will have a bowel movement. The rest is sketchy.

 

[Re3iRtH]

June 22 high-five. Me too. Good luck.

Also agree with you about the how messed up my perception of time has already become. It's like I've written myself this intricate schedule of when I should study each item, work on UWorld, etc., and yet it feels like I have no control over my day whatsoever. Less than a week in, and I'm already feeling the crunch.

I think I have already come to realize that until Step 1 is over, the one thing I can count on each day, if I wake up, is that I will have a bowel movement. The rest is sketchy.

If I'm lucky

 

[pseudoknot]

Finished RR Path yesterday. It was pretty painful to go through at times, but I think it helped a lot. I just took NBME 6 and saw a 9 pt jump from NBME 1 (which I took before classes ended). I definitely need to re-review hematology stuff. I've always hated that book and it's great to be finished with it for now though .

Starting behavioral today.

So far this has been hard, but not as bad as I could have imagined. I've always been a huge procrastinator and I was worried I wouldn't be able to put in the time, but so far that hasn't been a problem. Still it'll be fantastic when this is over.

 

[RisingSun]

Who here hates FA?

I learn really well from doing questions but I don't want to waste all of my questions doing them just to learn from the explanations. Any suggestions?

 

[silas2642]

Who here hates FA?

I learn really well from doing questions but I don't want to waste all of my questions doing them just to learn from the explanations. Any suggestions?

I hate it too, but it's so high yield. Just from memorizing the biochemistry and micro sections, I saw a 29 point increase from my NBME score that my school administered to NBME 3. I'm pretty sure it's mostly from First Aid. Also, when I'm doing UWorld, and I don't know an answer, it is in FA-- somewhere. I just didn't really think that it was high yield. I'm beginning to get the concept that everything in first aid is high yield and certainly worth my time.

I'm hoping that by finishing up with first aid, re-reviewing it in the last five days, supplementing with UWorld and Golgan with a bit of BRS phys on the side, that I can pass with a decent score. Probably not an sdn score, but hopefully around a 225.

 

[pseudoknot]

Who here hates FA?

I haven't really been using it much, so far just reading more detailed resources and I plan to use FA toward the end except for stuff where it will be the primary source (biochem, anatomy, embryo). It does have a lot of info but at the same time most of it is stuff you will get from other places or probably know already.

I learn really well from doing questions but I don't want to waste all of my questions doing them just to learn from the explanations. Any suggestions?

I think that's the whole point of the questions, right? If you weren't learning from them then THAT would be a waste.

 

[Deferoxamine]

Who here hates FA?

I don't like how on one page, they'll fill every square millimeter with text, some of which is redundant, and which takes away space that I need to add important stuff they neglected. And then flip to 10 pages later, and you'll see almost entire page that's blank... and it's not the end of the section.

What gives?


... and now getting ready to take my first NBME in the morning... and deciding which one to buy.

 

[mahdego]

6/26... that is less than 4 weeks and I am in the 30th percentile. Not good. I am mostly missing questions that over 65% of ppl get right so I am hoping its just little details. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Can someone link to this taus method?

 

[calespine]

I'm probably going to get flamed for asking this q but are all the people that take the test mid-June going to get the score back on July 15th (target date provided by nbme)?