Notes during USMLE--did you know?

[AmaurosisFugax]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I learned *at* my Prometric site when I was taking USMLE that you are allowed to look at notes/books/whatever during your break times in between sections! I seriously had never heard of that before. Were you all aware/unaware of that? Am I seriously a total idiot? Does it even matter much, strategically?

 

[TIMMY]

I learned *at* my Prometric site when I was taking USMLE that you are allowed to look at notes/books/whatever during your break times in between sections! I seriously had never heard of that before. Were you all aware/unaware of that? Am I seriously a total idiot? Does it even matter much, strategically?

yeah i heard about it....but trust me...First Aid is the last thing u want to be looking at over breaks. The test is so random...ul have no idea what to review over breaks! (My opinion)

 

[Dr.ImCute]

When they did the test in paper packets, some people said that they repeated themes of questions... so apparently studying in between helped out because if you got it wrong the first packet, at least you wouldn't when something similar came up again in a second packet.

 

[AmaurosisFugax]

I think it's a good thing to realize

Like if you're in there and you realize you've gone a little foggy on something that has a high likelyhood of reappearing somewhere else (like for me, anatomy of the arm) then you can take a quick break and look up the info you messed up on.

350 Q's doesn't mean you'll have 350 unique Q's....

 

[CalBeE]

Yea....Just took Step 1 today, there were like 4-6 questions that could be considered "Repeat" questions for me (i.e. variants of 2-3 questions repeated). I'm not sure if that could mean one question is the real thing, and the other is an experimental Q.

 

[viper]

Just posted this in another thread so look there --- but gotmedbooks.com guide explains this on page 10 I think.

Also yes it is for the purpose of the repeat questions - look at ones you didn't know or werent sure - you should NOT be studying during the breaks obviously. And for those that will freak out knowing they got it wrong - don't do it. But it does help and question do repeat, sometimes verbatim.

 

[Waiting4Ganong]

Yep, I did this. I got a question I wasn't sure of during block two. Planning to take a break after two sections anyway, so did, confirmed it would be okay to break out my notes in the break room then looked it up. Result was I got it wrong that first time (had narrowed it down to two choices) but got it right the next two times questions came up testing that fact. Two extra questions right = two extra points. If that is the difference between 98 and 99 it'll have been well worth it.

In other news now that I'm done I'm selling all my Step 1 books now:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmanchester1974QQhtZ-1

 

[driedcaribou]

There were many times during my test that I regret not looking up something I knew in First Aid....