Obscure concepts

[PediatricsRocks]

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For the sake of those of us who are only going to be able to make it through a fraction of UWorld, what sorts of obscure concepts have you seen so far? I'm talking about something random like Gibbs free energy.

Also, for those of you who have already taken the step, what sorts of obscure concepts did you see on your test?

 

[knuckles]

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about all the oddball concepts people mention on here. Chances are, if you know your first aid in and out, you're going to do great. The NBME people realize you haven't seen all the stuff they give you and that's the point. You should be able to reason the answer choices down to 1 or 2 and at that point it's hit or miss. I don't think its worth losing sleep over.

 

[Vikingwizardguy]

Is it weird that I'd rather there be more Gibbs free energy questions than pharm? I remember freshman chemistry better than I do some of that stuff. I saw the UWORLD question on it and immediately thought up deltaG = -RTlnKeq.

 

[1nycdoc8]

Is it weird that I'd rather there be more Gibbs free energy questions than pharm? I remember freshman chemistry better than I do some of that stuff. I saw the UWORLD question on it and immediately thought up deltaG = -RTlnKeq.

that's exceptionally weird. you better not be allowed to help write a NBME exam one day ha

 

[tideleonheart]

Obscure stuff is stuff that you can't really study for. You're going to have them on your test and you're going to get them wrong, and it's not worth your time to try to find all the little obscurities out there. That would take wayyyy too long. Instead, hammer down concepts that most other medical students SHOULD know. Make sure to get a lot of those correct, and you'll do great!

Gibbs is actually really nice because it's a straightforward concept that is easy to remember.. There are 1 or 2 UW questions (that I've seen so far) and you simply need to know one little fact/concept. If Reaction X --> Y has a negative Gibbs, it's favorable, and so [Y] > [X]. If Reaction X --> Y has a postive Gibbs, it's unfavorable and so [X] > [Y].