Official 2008 Usmle Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[lion]

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Greetings my brothers and sisters ,

I am new member here and will be taking my boards in another few months .
I thought I would start a thread devoted to a compilation of 2008 usmle experiences . I don't have anything to report as yet since my test is in a few month but anyone who has taken the test in 2008 please share with us your experience and feedback so we can keep the SDN tradition alive !

Good Luck

"Never , never , never , never Give up ! "

 

[gotgame83]

Test date May 16th
NBME 1- 236
NBME2- 245
NBME3- 247
NBME 6- 253
NBME 4- 259

test day, made a ton of careless errors but i dont care anymore

Test report date June 11th

Step 1- 252

 

[Treg]

I just got my scores. Test date: 5/21, score report 6/11. I am relatively happy with my score, it is exactly on average for the residency I want. Of course I would have been happy with +10-15 points but really can't complain. I will probably take step 2 next summer and try to get +20 points. I am glad to be done with this horrible test though! Treg

(not posting my score because I don't feel like advertising). I posted my experience back on May 21, in this thread.

 

[kasha]

Yeah - Just hope it works out and they actually pay attention to this stuff. I find it hard to believe that even if a question is experimental, they don't put time into crafting it so that it's readable and makes sense. That really throws a person off for the entire exam.

As for my question regarding the nephrogenic DI, my thought was that if the status doesn't change and you keep on losing hypotonic urine, then your serum osmolality should increase, and not remain the same.

i had that question on may 22nd also. remember that if you drink enough water your serum osmolarity will never rise, you'll just keep feeling thirsty and drink more. desmopressin wont help because the kidneys are resistant. now if you put the patient on water deprivation, then you would see a rise in serum osmolarity.

 

[kasha]

I just got my scores. Test date: 5/21, score report 6/11. I am relatively happy with my score, it is exactly on average for the residency I want. Of course I would have been happy with +10-15 points but really can't complain. I will probably take step 2 next summer and try to get +20 points. I am glad to be done with this horrible test though! Treg

(not posting my score because I don't feel like advertising). I posted my experience back on May 21, in this thread.

hey,
i took the test on the same date but had an a/v question and 48 Qs/block. did you have the older version?

thanks

 

[SungHyun7]

step1 258/99 (april 2008)

cbssa 1 - 234 before studying
cbssa 4 - 246 about 2wks before
cbssa 5 - 265+ 5d before exam
cbssa 2 - 265+ 2d before exam

i only used rx & world questions and 1st aid for my preparation. i always found it easy to keep my focus when doing questions, so i naturally stuck to what worked for me.

i started off doing usmleRX, finished about 1200 questions, got the usmleWORLD, then went back and forth between rx and world to keep things semi interesting. i was averaging doing about 150q-200q's/day (for both qbanks) and probably put about 8hrs/day in doing questions and going over the answers. i did try about 300 kaplan questions, but i personally found them to be quite irrelevant, so i stopped after 300ish questions.

1wk before the exam, i read the first aid from cover to cover then did remaining cbssa's while listening to goljan audios to cool my head.

in retrospect, i wish i spent some time doing goljan stuff's as i spent majority of the exam trying to remember what goljan was talking about in his audio.

anyhoo, i just wanted to say, i never touched or even looked at goljan path, brs, high yield or anything else other than 1st aid & qbanks for my step1 preparation. like i said the only regret i had was not going over goljan audio as much as i could've.

and lastly, good luck! if you're reading this, it'll all be over much sooner than you think!!

PS you'll inevitably run into people saying you NEED to do this and/or that, but it should go without saying, you don't NEED to do anything. imho, the key is for you to find out what works for you and to stick with your plan. despite what i believe, you actually may need more resources because you may read lot faster but retain less. the sole purpose of my post is to encourage people who have found my ways (just doing qbank & 1st aid) working for them and yet remained uncertain whether they'd actually be enough--i was there not too long ago. what i'm here to say is, yes they are! my friends (all 5 of them in my study group) and i found them to be more than sufficient to get 99's.

 

[Green Chimneys]

Well amongst these 250+ scores and aspirations, I'll be the voice of mediocrity (or worse).

Before study; paper CBSE: 185
2 weeks in; NBME 6: 200
4 weeks in; USMLE 150 Freebies: 82% (243 via medfriends)
UW 50% complete: 59%
Goal Score: 220

Took the test today. I've been on a pretty delayed sleep phase recently. Go to sleep between 4:30-6:00am, wake up around 1pm. Have always had a problem keeping a normal sleep schedule for my entire adolescent/adult life so this was no different. Exam was scheduled at 9am. Had a beer and a benadryl (oh wait, we're supposed to be using generic names...dyphenhydramine) at 11 and set my alarm for 7am. No sleep...2am took another benadryl with the realization that it was probably a terrible idea. Layed awake until wake up call from my friend at 7. A few cups of coffee and I was good to go.

The exam proctors were kind of nuts, but I had no problems. Everything went fine at the Prometric center. UW prepared me for the interface with perfection. I can't believe they are able to imitate the real thing with that much accuracy. Despite running on no sleep, I was not sleepy at all, but I did have some focus issues in blocks 5 and 6.

In my opinion, this test was HARD. Personally, I think it was as hard or harder than UW. There were some straightforward questions, but a ton of them (at least in my view) totally out of left field. I was also frustrated with many of the questions. I can't tell you how many times I knew the diagnosis only to have them ask about the pathology, or knew the diagnosis and pathology only to have them ask about a random drug interaction. I only felt good about 2 of the 7 blocks and felt absolutely awful about 3 of the 7. I had one audio (heart murmur) question, but it was very straightforward and could be reasonably answered without listening. As most people have confirmed, it was the last question in block 6, which reaffirms my suspicion that these questions are experimental at this point in the game.

I walked out of there feeling like I got hit by a truck, but thankful to be done (at least for the first time). I honestly am not confident that I passed, but I've felt as bad or worse walking out of regular class exams and never been in the bottom 10%, so hopefully this won't be a first. Unless I am the world's best guesser, I am certain I did not reach the stratospheric scores of most of the other achievers in this thread. As for whether or not I reached my goal of 220, I am not optimistic but we'll have to wait and see. All I can say is, the beer tasted great this evening, and I'm definitely writing this post over the legal limit.

 

[airmonkey84]

Can people post how they studied?

 

[Red Beard]

I just put down an answer and forgot about it. I didn't think it'd be a good idea to spend 5 minutes explaining that in order to decode a genetic sequence using tRNA molecule anticodons, I'd need a template mRNA and trust that they'd see the question as an error and could advise me...what, not to worry about it? And I guess I figured it was so blatant that the USMLE would throw it out, or if it was screwed up for me it was screwed up for everyone else and thus wouldn't hurt my score, but I am concerned that I should perhaps report it. However, I have no idea how to go about doing that. It sounds like it's possibly an experimental question, but obviously I'm not 100% confident of that. If anyone has any advice on it, I'd love to hear it.

I had the EXACT same question yesterday, I read it several times trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to be doing. I came back to it and spent the last 15 minutes of my block reassuring myself that there must be some kind of error. It said "in the figure is an mRNA undergoing translation, and a codon table" but there was only a codon table. No possible way to figure out which on of the tRNAs would be next to bind.

Anyway, I too feel like reporting it but don't know how.

 

[Nodelphi]

[email protected] seems like a good place to start for reporting broken questions. Worst case they can forward it to the appropriate authority.

 

[Red Beard]

Osteopathic student, took the exam yesterday, quick run down of my experience up to and including test day:

Started studying in February, one section of FA a week plus the corresponding physio in BRS and path in Goljan Rapid Review. About 80% done with this when we took CBSE at school sometime around May 1st.

Class out May 9th, between then and yesterday I read First Aid three times, skimmed Goljan again, did 50 Kaplan Qbank questions a day, and looked up anything that was confusing me.

Study resources: First Aid, BRS physio, Goljan RR path, and wikipedia.

Day before: skimmed the drugs in First Aid again briefly, tried to relax.

Kaplan Qbank: Overall 67% (238 according to their score estimator) Last 400 questions I was averaging in the low 70s.
CBSE: 220
NBME 6, about 10 days out: 240

Test day: Felt similar to NBME 6 in terms of difficulty and the number of questions I was uncertain about. Someone I know had the nbme 1-4 as pdfs, and I also looked at those during my study. I would say I had 5-10 questions that were EXACTLY the same as questions from the NBMEs.

I had very little pharm, and what I had was simple--First Aid and qbank where more than enought to get the pharm questions right.

I had one A/V question, probably the same as another poster here--a 'healthy' man with a murmur. I answered based on information in the question text, didn't realize you could move the stethascope on the screen until I read this thread!

Had one question that I think was an error, and looks like someone else here had the same question and thought the same thing (see above.)

I would say that about a third of my questions were long case presentations similar to your average kaplan qbank question, and another third were literally 1-2 sentences and simple recall kind of answers.

Very little anatomy, and what I had was very simple. A carpal tunnel question, a winged scapula question, a rotator cuff question, what vein is involved in shunting blood in the development of esophageal varices, etc.

I felt the biochem was pretty simple too, I had two storage disease questions (Pompe's and Tay-Sacchs). The biochem questions were mostly first order.

I had a couple of b*tchy physio questions that were not answerable from first aid and involved some minutiae.

I walked out of it feeling so-so, and after 24 hours I have already thought of several somewhat easy questions I know I missed. Guess I have to sweat it until July if scores are really delated like the NBME website says!

Plus I still have to take COMLEX this coming Saturday...I am a little envious of the couple of allopathic students I met at the test center who said they were going on vacation today

 

[airmonkey84]

A lot of patient management questions too. I thought this was Step I...not Step deuce.

 

[Keg]

I finished about an hour and a half ago and have had a little time to decompress. I may edit some things that I say after a while, and may have to add more if the urge to drink becomes too strong before I finish. First off, thanks to everyone else who has posted before me - you helped me guide my studies just a bit during the past month, and for that, I am grateful.

About Me: I just finished second year at Wash U (all basic science). I came straight out of college without any time off and am now 24.

Review Period: Last day of Finals was 5/16, third year starts 6/13. I started off with the free 150 questions and got 65% correct, which scorrelated with a 195. Pass, but not the 240 I want, by far. Lit a fire.

For each section I studied, I used a review book and annotated into FA what I thought was important (I'm sure FA has doubled in weight since purchase). So I'll just go through my study schedule in order and discuss. The overall schedule is attached as I had it printed and posted on the wall.

Each day was wake up at 7:30, 8-12 study, 12-1 lunch, 1-5 study, 5-8 dinner break, 8-11 UW questions. I started shifting my day up a half hour every week so I could wake up at 6:30 by test time and be comfortable with it.

Physio: 2 days. Went through BRS Phys in 2 days and annotated out to FA. Thought it was a good book and a quick read. In the end, wish I had more time to dedicate to the subject, but I didn't so... I didn't. The end of chapter quizzes were good.

Path: 4 days. RR Path - Goljan. If I'd memorized this book, I would have done much better on the exam. I powered through it at 150 pages a day. Well written, and a quick read for what it is.

Behavioral: 2 days scheduled, got through it in 1 day. HY Behavioral. Good for filling out the gaps from what FA didn't cover/didn't explain very well. The extra day was used to take 2 NBMEs.

Micro: 4 days scheduled, actually 3 days. I read through CMMRS and got through the bacteria in 1 day and then the fungi/parasites/viruses the next day. The third day I made notecards that I'd flip through very occassionally with the hope of reviewing more during the final review period.

Pharm: 4 days scheduled, actually 3 days. Here's where I deviated from my plan. I had thought I'd use Deja Review and FA for this, but I used Kaplan books instead and made notecards over the course of about 3 days. Then I decided I'd give the extra day to the next section and do an hour's drugs every night (in the order of Heme/Onc, ANS, Micro, Repro&Endo, Resp&GI&Immuno&Musculoskeletal, CNS, CVS&Renal, ANS again, and Micro again)

Biochem: 3 days planned. Had planned to use HY and BRS - ended up using Kaplan + FA. It was very thorough, and I'd recommend it. Very well explained. Got through in about 2 days and took an NBME and used the remainder of time allotted to take another NBME later on (on that Friday).

Anatomy: 3 days, took 2. Used Road Map for gross, FA for embryo, and Kaplan/CNAMRS for Neuro. Should have done more here, but not exactly all the time in the world. Oh well.

So this got me to Thursday night. I took an NBME on Friday morning (6/6) and then tried to start reviewing what I'd reviewed. My weakest subjects (self-professed) were Biochem, Neuro, and Pharm. NBMEs agreed with the Pharm and Neuro part, but I starred Biochem my last 2 tests. I had planned on doing a half day of Biochem that Friday afternoon before the general review, but based on that, I tried to do some cardio (my lowest subject, even though I want to go into Cardiology/CT Surgery and thought that I had a good handle on the material 😎) Saturday and Sunday (and Monday) were to read through FA in order from my best subject to my worst (so that the worst subjects were closest to the test). While going, I flagged tables/facts that I wanted to cram day before the test - when it was all said and done, I had 26 things flagged to review.... more than I'd anticipated. Yesterday morning (6/10), I started reviewing those things. Yesterday afternoon, I spent some time with ANS/NSAIDs/Micro drugs, because of what FA says about prevalence of drugs on the test. I then read RR Path's margin notes and took the practice tests at the end (got 74% right both times). Then I spent 2 hours with CNS/heart/renal drugs, then I read the high yield facts at the end of FA and the captions of pictures. Got to bed about 9, fell asleep about 10:30 (quicker to fall asleep than usual, when I stare at the ceiling for 2 or 3 hours).

Test Day

Woke up at 5ish - alarm was set for 6:30. Kept trying to go back to sleep, until about 6:20. Got up, drank some diet mountain dew, ate a banana, my girlfriend made me lunch while I checked SDN and re-read lysosomal storage diseases, then I was off. I had put Golgan's CNS path lecture on a CD to listen to while driving, since this was my weakest subject (I felt). Got there at 7:30ish, they let us in at 7:45, and test got started at 8ish (appointment was for 8:30).

Test was OK. Few neuro or pharm questions that I can remember, which was good for me. Sound question was a kid with a heart murmur I interpreted to be pulmonic stenosis and it asked what congenital infection was most likely. Pretty straightforward questions overall, with the exception of a question about mechanism of nephrogenic DI (V1 receptor deficiency versus aquaporin deficiency... thought that was out of left field, as I had no idea which was which). Had to differentiate between Bartholin's and Skene's glands on 2 questions, which I had little idea of which is which. I can't really remember many other questions - maybe I'm repressing it. In any case, it's over, and I'll report a score when it's time. Format was exactly like the free 150, just full screen. UW does a good job with everything except how labs are set up. If I remember more questions, I'll update. Time to drink. Oh yeah, and NBME/UW info is below. Best of luck to everyone taking the test in the future... just remember, this too shall pass.

Edit: I was marking about 10 per section, on average, and these were the ones I thought I could come back to and make a difference - if I knew it, I didn't mark it, and if I knew that I wouldn't know it on the second pass, I didn't mark it.

NBME 2 (5/23): 460/209
NBME 5 (5/24): 520/224
NBME 6 (6/3): 570/234
NBME 3 (6/6): 530/226

UW: 47% unused, overall average of 58% correct, last 300 average of 68% (random, timed, unused).

Real thing (6/11): 252/99... I did the same thing on the MCAT back in college. Practice tests around 30-32, then real thing 38. I think my short term memory saved me here, with the last minute cramming. Alright, back to bed... rounds at 6:40 tomorrow.

 

[-Goose-]

You tha man Keg

 

[maniax]

Has anyone who took the new 48 questions per section version heard anything about your score? Does anyone think there's a chance we won't all have to wait till July 16? !!!

 

[R_C_Hutchinson]

I finished about an hour and a half ago...

Congrats man, and thanks a bunch for the writeup.

 

[imasoga]

First of all I have never posted here but I have definitely been a regular visitor to the site and thought that I would explain my process. I have DEFINITELY appreciated all of the advice from those that have already taken and taken the time to write about it.

I am definitely an average medical student so take that for what it is worth…I will not be getting a “SDN” score.

I had approximately 5 weeks to study. I have my overall schedule attached if anyone is interested (this is actually what I did, I changed it to reflect the adjustments I made). I did a systems based study except for thinks like Micro and Biochem.

Sources I used:
First Aid
Rapid Review Pathology
USMLE World
BRS Physiology
Micro Made Simple
Immunology from Rapid Review Micro
Kaplan Audio for Biochem
Half of Goljan Audio (I loved this but did not listent consistently)
High Yield Biostats

As for the time I studied. I would get up and start by 7 AM every day. I would take a break from 12:30 to 2 (this got shorter as it got closer to the test) and then studied until 5:30. I would break from dinner until 7 (this also got shorter) and then studied until 10 PM. My wife (who is also a medical student) and I would have a "date night" together once every week where we didn’t study.

It was definitely an intense schedule for me, especially because I do not enjoy schedules. To be honest, I was trying to use this time to make up for sub-par studying during my second year of medical school...I will definitely try to update folks on whether it worked.

As for the sources I used, I think that they were all very useful. I honestly felt like USMLE World was one of the absolute best learning tools that I used. I literally had questions that were almost verbatim from World. I feel like they were a perfect source to fill in the gaps of knowledge that I had. I cannot overstate how helpful they were for me. Other than that I think that First Aid is a good source for preparing you for the fact-based questions on the test (and I definitely had a decent amount of those) and great for consolidating all of the information. For the concept-based questions Rapid Review is a fabulous source.

As for where I stood before taking the test…I finished 85% of the World questions with an average of 57%. My last week of questions averaged 63%. I took the World Assessment test about 1.5 weeks out of the test and scored a 206.

As for the real thing, I don’t have too much to say. I thought that it was difficult but definitely easier overall than World. There were also some Cell Biology questions that I definitely did not feel prepared for from World (one of the few areas I thought World was weak in). I definitely felt like there were many more fact-based questions on the real test than World which was frustrating for me (I am definitely more of a concept person). I felt like all subjects were pretty well represented except for Micro and Biostats. I had very little of either of those which was interesting to me.

I can’t think of anything else to say…except that I hope that is over for me and that I do not have to take it again.

My Advice for those that haven’t taken the test:
-Study High Yield Lists from First Aid the day before such as: Lysosomal Storage Dx’s, Drug Side Effects (the high yield list in the Pharm section), Tumor Suppressors/Oncogenes, etc. I tried to go through Goljan’s High Yield Document and it would have been better for me to go through the facts from First Aid.
-Leave yourself time at the end of sections to review and ONLY mark the questions that you absolutely have to come back to (I know this should be obvious, but I wish that I had marked far fewer questions than I did as I didn’t get back to all of them).
-Do not think about questions after you finish a block (I know this is also obvious, but something I struggled with, especially if I remembered the right answer afterwards!)


I can’t think of anything else…

I don’t know if this is helpful at all but I wanted to at least try to contribute. I have appreciated being able to read everybody’s feedback (and get freaked out by those that have dominated the test!!!).

Good Luck!

 

[hsans23]

hey, you sound like one sincere dude, thanks for sharing

 

[Its_MurDAH]

hey, you sound like one sincere dude, thanks for sharing

I second that.
Thanks a bunch mate.

 

[Red Beard]

[email protected] seems like a good place to start for reporting broken questions. Worst case they can forward it to the appropriate authority.

Emailed them and got this response:

Dear Red Beard:

Thank you for your email of June 11th concerning your Step 1 examination. Your comments were forwarded to our test development department for review. The NBME investigates all items that are reported to contain errors and if any item found to be defective or inaccurate, it is removed from scoring.

We thank you for your feedback and informing us of your concerns.

Sincerely,

Inna Rozinsky, Manager
Examinee Records
NBME

 

[Punkinhead]

Hi all,

I used this site a lot when I was trying to get into med school and then to get ideas on how to study for boards. It was very helpful to me so I thought I'd share my experience too. Take with grain of salt etc.

I took the beast on June 11, yesterday but seems a world away.

I did pretty bad on the MCAT (29Q) but made a good go during the first 2 years of med school. I did above average in all courses and felt pretty good I would pass the Step 1 with lots of review and the right prep.

I used the Penn Method previously described, modified but basically as follows:
Read through FA, skimmed really, first two days and did NBME 4 pdf I had got.

Got a 57%, so that got my ass in gear. I saw the general things I tended to miss and spent the most time on those subjects at the beginning, when motivation was still high. That was a great thing to do because you really can improve your score that way I think. So for me that was Biochem, anatomy, Reproductive, and random side efx to drugs. First year stuff was very rusty, but easily shined. I took the USMLEworld assessment after the first week of studying and had already improved.

I took about 2-3 days per main subject starting with Biochem, anatomy plus embryo, bahav science, phys, pharm and micro (better subjects for me) and finally 4 full days of Goljan audio while taking walks in my parents neighborhood, running or with more complicated stuff like Cancer and repro, annotating first aid while I listened. I would use another source and put into my three-hole punched FA with looseleaf paper.

Last 5 days was memorizing as much FA as possible and going over problem areas like cancer markers. Day before test was the rapid review in the back of FA plus the pix there and the last 2 pages of the pharm intro in FA, side efx etc. Was done by 5pm and watched "No country for old men" Interesting but freaky! I probably studied an average of 12-14 hrs per day.

I also had the 100 pg HY notes which were very dense but a great way to review at the end of each day per subject.

I love Goljan and had read RR during the year with Path so I did that in all of my free time and then just all of Goljan again the last 4 days before my final review. ThAT was so key. GOLJAN AUDIO IS GOLD! So many questions were straight from audio or he gave you the way the questions would be asked or how to do arrow questions. Listen well.

I also had USMLEworld but didn't do too much of it, maybe 40%, got frustrated early and figured if I knew the basics that was good for me. It was awesome for getting a feel for the exact format for the computer test. I happen to learn better by reading, listening. So I stuck with that.

Day of the test I took in coffee and a bagel and put it in my locker. DO THIS. Or at least bring coffee becasue by hour 5-6 you are just falling and the coffee buzz was the only thing that got me through those last 2 blocks. Also trust yeourself. If you have been putting in effort for 4 straight weeks and really going full blast, you will know the information. Especially with Goljan (can you tell I was a fan).

I thought the test went fine. The questions were usually first order for biochem, pharm, and micro, su buzzed through those quick. Had to thinkabout the arrow questions and some path and for some anatomy, I just laughed. I think I probably had encountered every concept in Goljan or during my medical school exams. Myclasses actually did prepare me pretty well during the year. I think the test was fair, and there is a reason why most students pass. I was surprised that they really are not trying to trick you.

My initial goal had been to beat the average for the boards, but then I really just wanted to pass, and I feel pretty confident I did. My advice would be to do whaT works for you, only. I know my friends were like, "why aren't you doing more questions, don't just trust Goljan, blah." But it worked for me because I am an audio learner, and concept person. You know how you learn, that's how you got to this point in medical school, so my advice would be to trust yourself.

Now I get to go get married on the ocean and hopefully never have an experience as stressful as the prep for this test again. Good luck to you all.

Thank you and sorry so long!

-p

Final score:246/99 + 1 new husband! Soo excited!

 

[Punkinhead]

Forgot to mention, I took the practice test at the center a week before the real thing and that was great test run. It helped with anxiety and the practice materials gave me confidence for the real thing. I did okay, ~80% and felt postive about the test afterwards and likelihood of passing. Those were similar but easier than the real thing.

 

[Rogue Synapse]

I took mine on Tuesday, 6/10. Our school had finals on 5/7, and I started studying 5/12. I started it off with UWorld's self-assessment to see where I was weak, and I got around 61% right. Here's what I used:

-First Aid
-Goljan Audio
-RR Pathology
-RR Biochem
-HY Gross Anatomy (just because I happened to have it, it kinda sucks)
-USMLE World / Kaplan Qbank (I split the cost of Kaplan at the beginning of the spring semester with a classmate so we could use it to study for regular exams)

UWorld was my real question source; I only used Kaplan if I felt like I needed some auxiliary questions to reinforce an area in World. I started out with Cardiac and just went through World, one system at a time. I only used the study materials to reinforce questions that I got wrong; I'm really not much of a sit-down dedicated studier. Goljan audio was for the gym in the morning before I studied, although I had already listened to most of his lectures during the regular semester so I wasn't too diligent or organized about it.

I pretty much stayed at about 63% right for new questions across most systems. Strangely, Neuro was my lowest percentage, though it's my favorite subject and the only one I've honored. I think it was all the pharm and biochem UWorld threw in there. I pulled it my total % up to 64 by the time I finished new Q's. I made a notecard for every question I got wrong with the concept or fact I was missing that caused me to miss the question, and went over all my notecards when I finished new questions.

Didn't take any NBME's, but I did take a (required) full-length practice exam through my school. They predicted my score at 243. I don't really see the benefit of taking all those NBME exams unless you think you're on the brink of failing. If it gives you a low score, you'll freak out, and if it gives you a high score, you'll slack off. Might as well just study and take the board and get it over with instead of spending so much time and energy charting your progress.

My goal was 250, though I know I missed some questions that I should have easily bagged. I think the one-week period in between finishing new questions and taking the test did me in. I just don't have the organizational skills to study by myself without something like a question bank directing my studies. I think I peaked at around 6/4, when I finished UWorld, and I wish I had taken the thing then. I guess I'll be OK with a 230 or so - that's about how I felt I did.

The exam itself: Much more straightforward than UWorld. Much harder than the free 150. Really somewhere in between. I was pleasantly surprised at how much more straight neuroanatomy there was than UWorld. Also surprised by how very little biochem there was.

Will update mid-July when I get my score.

 

[It'sElectric]

Pretty straightforward questions overall, with the exception of a question about mechanism of nephrogenic DI (V1 receptor deficiency versus aquaporin deficiency... thought that was out of left field, as I had no idea which was which).

Sorry to rehash this, but I was just looking through HY Cell Biology ('99 version), and this is the only source that I've personally seen provide the answer to this question...and it's very brief. I'm sure it's in some other non-Board style books (it's also in Wiki), but there's no way I would have ever gotten that question right either.

P 104 of HY Cell ('99 version). It's a defect in the V2 receptor, in case there are still some people out there wondering.

 

[InternationlDoc]

regarding the above question - if you think about it a bit it should make sense

because in NDI, there is ADH, it just doesn't work. so, receptor problem.

Anyways, I took my test yesterday - i'll post more when I get the score:

few points:
- HARD! - harder than any of the NBMEs I took. There weren't many gimmes
- A/V - hard
- Anatomy; good chunk 20+ questions - I was well prepared and only missed 1 I think. couple of questions about muscle insertions! (left field totally - got one by guess)
- Behavioral science - my worst subject - had 6 quote questions- probably missed 3. I'm stupid with these.
- Path/Pathophys - Alot of it and harder than UWorld definitely! had a question on Holoprosencephaly! unbelievable!
- Biochem/molecular -mostly doable
- Pharm and Micro - easy. but detailed
So far I for sure know I missed 10. lol. I think now everyday I wake up, I'll add to that count

Alot of the test you just can't study for.

go with gut feeling on difficult questions - or I guess read Harrisons?.

 

[myrtle]

Sorry to rehash this, but I was just looking through HY Cell Biology ('99 version), and this is the only source that I've personally seen provide the answer to this question...and it's very brief. I'm sure it's in some other non-Board style books (it's also in Wiki), but there's no way I would have ever gotten that question right either.

P 104 of HY Cell ('99 version). It's a defect in the V2 receptor, in case there are still some people out there wondering.

It's actually in First Aid - twice, if you look hard enough. 2007 version page 214 and 394!

 

[It'sElectric]

It's actually in First Aid - twice, if you look hard enough. 2007 version page 214 and 394!

It's definitely not on either of those pages. I think you guys are misinterpreting the dilemma, or at least what I consider the dilemma. The problem with NDI could potentially be a problem with the actual V2 receptor or the actual aquaporin channel. It just so happens that ~90% of the NDI cases are a result of a defective V2 receptor. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but no where in my 2007 FA does it show a defect in the V2 receptor being the primary cause of NDI.

It definitely all makes sense, but if I had been given the choice between Aquaporin channel and V2 receptor, I definitely would not have known for sure which it was. I might have guessed V2, but who knows.

If I'm misinterpreting all of this, someone please let me know.

 

[penguinophile]

Sorry to rehash this, but I was just looking through HY Cell Biology ('99 version), and this is the only source that I've personally seen provide the answer to this question...and it's very brief. I'm sure it's in some other non-Board style books (it's also in Wiki), but there's no way I would have ever gotten that question right either.

P 104 of HY Cell ('99 version). It's a defect in the V2 receptor, in case there are still some people out there wondering.

Also is in the First Aid Q & A biochem section. Go figure considering I don't remember seeing it in FA itself.

 

[myrtle]

It's definitely not on either of those pages. I think you guys are misinterpreting the dilemma, or at least what I consider the dilemma. The problem with NDI could potentially be a problem with the actual V2 receptor or the actual aquaporin channel. It just so happens that ~90% of the NDI cases are a result of a defective V2 receptor. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but no where in my 2007 FA does it show a defect in the V2 receptor being the primary cause of NDI.

It definitely all makes sense, but if I had been given the choice between Aquaporin channel and V2 receptor, I definitely would not have known for sure which it was. I might have guessed V2, but who knows.

If I'm misinterpreting all of this, someone please let me know.

Sorry, I thought it was just V1 vs. V2.

 

[It'sElectric]

Sorry, I thought it was just V1 vs. V2.

No problem, I just wanted to make sure I'm not completely missing the idea here.

 

[Red Beard]

go with gut feeling on difficult questions - or I guess read Harrisons?.

Except a lot of that stuff isn't in Harrison's because clinically it just doesn't matter.

 

[DwyaneWade]

Sorry to rehash this, but I was just looking through HY Cell Biology ('99 version), and this is the only source that I've personally seen provide the answer to this question...and it's very brief. I'm sure it's in some other non-Board style books (it's also in Wiki), but there's no way I would have ever gotten that question right either.

P 104 of HY Cell ('99 version). It's a defect in the V2 receptor, in case there are still some people out there wondering.

Yes this is right. The V1 receptor is not in the kidney, it is in blood vessels so it must be aquaporins.

 

[chrisjohn]

This thread is hilarious. I hope readers can cut their way through self aggrandizing posts.
The exam is hard for everyone, maybe not for those whose IQ is the in the 4th SD above the mean, but that isn’t every member of SDN!

Thoughts about my exam:

-BS/Psych: Stat questions were very doable, but more complex than plugging and chugging with a formula, which I HIGHLY recommend memorizing. I knew mine cold and still felt those questions took a little more time than I would have liked. Goljan’s high yield notes covers this well, worth looking at. For the quotation based questions, I always went with the most sensitive, no referral, open ended response. No way you can study for these, but never pick an answer that turfs the patient. No psych pharm.

-Micro/Immunology: Not straightforward at all! Not even close, and I consider myself strong in both. Know your cytokines well, which I did but still didn’t always feel good about the available answer choices.

-Pharm: Memorized so much and had so few questions it made want to cry. 1st Aid is definitely sufficient.

-Path: Hard to distinguish from the overall milieu, I certainly received some extremely ambiguous presentations. Goljan’s presentations didn’t help too much. Don’t misunderstand his presentations rock and are represented but that gets you half, the other are AMBIGOUS as hell.

-Phys: Better than I thought. From reading previous posts I was expected answer choices with eights sets of arrows, only got questions with 2 or 3. USMLE World was a great prep for these and Phys in general.

-Anatomy: I really have a beef here. Folks: do yourself a favor and go over the lower limb. I had heard countless times that lower limb was low yield and it was sparsely covered in 1st Aid so I did zero lower limb prep. Upper limb was better represented but I covered it well expecting it to be represented. Cover all the major joints; you’ll get at one or two questions out of reviewing these. A previous poster stated they received a bunch (20?) of anatomy questions with some muscle insertions. All I have to say I would be beyond pissed if those questions had found their way into my exam, because I didn’t study anatomy much at all. So who knows, this may be higher yield than previously thought. I’d still stick with the upper limb and major joints though. Did get a fractured humerus/radial nerve question.

-Biochem: just a few questions and doable. Spent so much time on biochem and didn’t get a chance to flex those muscles. Could have gone the other way with funky permutations though, so I guess I’m okay with it.

-General: I am struck my how different the composition of my exam was from previous posters. The lesson I suppose is that we truly had to study everything with deep detail to prepare for questions from any area, even though the exam does not test every area equally, not even close. For example I didn’t get one embryology question, not one. 1st Aid is good and really does have what you need to know but crux is that the information is presented in a totally different manner on the exam. Know it cold and you’d be hard pressed to do poorly. I can’t stress this enough and by cold, I mean someone can ask you a question from a random page and you can answer it out of without the benefit of context, like looking at five possible answers. NBME did a great job on my exam making the answer choices funky as hell. I couldn’t always narrow it down when I drew a blank on a question. USMLE World is as essential as 1st Aid. It’s the only way you’re going to see questions that are remotely like the real exam, even though the question stem tends to be shorter and many of the questions I felt were much more straight forward that those on the actual exam. UW’s questions are more polished than the exactly exam. I had several questions that were verbatim from UW that I would not have gotten based on 1st Aid alone.

I left the exam feeling burned out. Definitely should have stuck a coffee in my locker because during the 6th and 7th blocks I would have done anything for some tepid Star Bucks. Questions broke roughly 60%/40% on the mental dyno: things I knew immediately versus those that I wasn’t 100% sure. Not ratio I’m happy with but it is what it is. I studied a lot, hope it pays off. Classic factoids/clinical presentations are on the exam but unfortunately they don’t comprise the entire exam. So those are the things you HAVE to know I guess because the rest I’m not convinced that any realistic amount of preparation would insure a near perfect performance. The exam is designed to make you scratch your head and it does. Good luck to everybody!

 

[myrtle]

This thread is hilarious. I hope readers can cut their way through self aggrandizing posts.
The exam is hard for everyone, maybe not for those whose IQ is the in the 4th SD above the mean, but that isn’t every member of SDN!

Thoughts about my exam:

-BS/Psych: Stat questions were very doable, but more complex than plugging and chugging with a formula, which I HIGHLY recommend memorizing. I knew mine cold and still felt those questions took a little more time than I would have liked. Goljan’s high yield notes covers this well, worth looking at. For the quotation based questions, I always went with the most sensitive, no referral, open ended response. No way you can study for these, but never pick an answer that turfs the patient. No psych pharm.

-Micro/Immunology: Not straightforward at all! Not even close, and I consider myself strong in both. Know your cytokines well, which I did but still didn’t always feel good about the available answer choices.

-Pharm: Memorized so much and had so few questions it made want to cry. 1st Aid is definitely sufficient.

-Path: Hard to distinguish from the overall milieu, I certainly received some extremely ambiguous presentations. Goljan’s presentations didn’t help too much. Don’t misunderstand his presentations rock and are represented but that gets you half, the other are AMBIGOUS as hell.

-Phys: Better than I thought. From reading previous posts I was expected answer choices with eights sets of arrows, only got questions with 2 or 3. USMLE World was a great prep for these and Phys in general.

-Anatomy: I really have a beef here. Folks: do yourself a favor and go over the lower limb. I had heard countless times that lower limb was low yield and it was sparsely covered in 1st Aid so I did zero lower limb prep. Upper limb was better represented but I covered it well expecting it to be represented. Cover all the major joints; you’ll get at one or two questions out of reviewing these. A previous poster stated they received a bunch (20?) of anatomy questions with some muscle insertions. All I have to say I would be beyond pissed if those questions had found their way into my exam, because I didn’t study anatomy much at all. So who knows, this may be higher yield than previously thought. I’d still stick with the upper limb and major joints though. Did get a fractured humerus/radial nerve question.

-Biochem: just a few questions and doable. Spent so much time on biochem and didn’t get a chance to flex those muscles. Could have gone the other way with funky permutations though, so I guess I’m okay with it.

-General: I am struck my how different the composition of my exam was from previous posters. The lesson I suppose is that we truly had to study everything with deep detail to prepare for questions from any area, even though the exam does not test every area equally, not even close. For example I didn’t get one embryology question, not one. 1st Aid is good and really does have what you need to know but crux is that the information is presented in a totally different manner on the exam. Know it cold and you’d be hard pressed to do poorly. I can’t stress this enough and by cold, I mean someone can ask you a question from a random page and you can answer it out of without the benefit of context, like looking at five possible answers. NBME did a great job on my exam making the answer choices funky as hell. I couldn’t always narrow it down when I drew a blank on a question. USMLE World is as essential as 1st Aid. It’s the only way you’re going to see questions that are remotely like the real exam, even though the question stem tends to be shorter and many of the questions I felt were much more straight forward that those on the actual exam. UW’s questions are more polished than the exactly exam. I had several questions that were verbatim from UW that I would not have gotten based on 1st Aid alone.

I left the exam feeling burned out. Definitely should have stuck a coffee in my locker because during the 6th and 7th blocks I would have done anything for some tepid Star Bucks. Questions broke roughly 60%/40% on the mental dyno: things I knew immediately versus those that I wasn’t 100% sure. Not ratio I’m happy with but it is what it is. I studied a lot, hope it pays off. Classic factoids/clinical presentations are on the exam but unfortunately they don’t comprise the entire exam. So those are the things you HAVE to know I guess because the rest I’m not convinced that any realistic amount of preparation would insure a near perfect performance. The exam is designed to make you scratch your head and it does. Good luck to everybody!

Hmmm...I wonder if the make-up of the exam has changed. It seems like people that went after the change (decrease in number, A/V questions) have also noticed more behavioral and anatomy and less path/pharm.

 

[synapse lapse]

Thanks for the writeups from everyone. I sure hope my test is light on 2 things 1)Neuro 2)pharm! Sounds like I wouldn't have minded taking chrisjohn's test.

 

[DrFraud]

General: I am struck my how different the composition of my exam was from previous posters. The lesson I suppose is that we truly had to study everything with deep detail to prepare for questions from any area, even though the exam does not test every area equally, not even close. For example I didn’t get one embryology question, not one. 1st Aid is good and really does have what you need to know but crux is that the information is presented in a totally different manner on the exam. Know it cold and you’d be hard pressed to do poorly. I can’t stress this enough and by cold, I mean someone can ask you a question from a random page and you can answer it out of without the benefit of context, like looking at five possible answers. NBME did a great job on my exam making the answer choices funky as hell. I couldn’t always narrow it down when I drew a blank on a question. USMLE World is as essential as 1st Aid. It’s the only way you’re going to see questions that are remotely like the real exam, even though the question stem tends to be shorter and many of the questions I felt were much more straight forward that those on the actual exam. UW’s questions are more polished than the exactly exam. I had several questions that were verbatim from UW that I would not have gotten based on 1st Aid alone.

There is certainly a lot of variability in the questions that anyone can get, and that's why the step is so hard, and hard to prepare for, but the thing to remember is that if a question was difficult and very tricky for you after studying, it's likely going to be so for the thousands of others who had the exact same question and this is a factor in how your score will be calculated. Congratulations, and now its time to relax & enjoy yourself.

 

[jon0013]

as a long time member of this site (a good 4-5 years) i feel compelled to contribute to this thread because i feel people can learn from my mistakes...

Background: Average student who went straight to med school after undergrad although i graduated a semester and spent 7 months partying and being a bum (4-5 days a week). I am also relatively slow learner and it probably takes me at least twice the time it takes others to learn material cold....but hey i dont care...3.9+ undergrad gpa..32T mcat..

2nd year med: Started out with the attitude that if i would bust my @ss and see what kind of grades I could get...that lasted for about 2 months..During october our school sent out the cut-offs for quartiles. I realized that I would need something like a 98 average the rest of the year to even put myself in contention for AOA (which is what your basic sciences grades are really only good for). I just took it easy and chilled...definitely better than first year..

When spring semester came i finally decided that i needed to formulate a real boards plan and follow through on it. My goal was to be able to run through FA by spring break so i could get a general idea of whats on this test. I am very glad i did this even though i didn't memorize anything during this run through because I was no longer surprised or anxious when the time for dedicated boards prep began.

Steppin it up for Step 1: Was originally going to study for 7 weeks but ended up starting 9 weeks out during spring break since i had the time. I tried to cover pharm using Roadmaps but didnt like that book. So i would say my spring break studyin was a bust. So really 8 weeks of prep..Came back and the final 4 weeks of our school year was a problem based learning block which only took up about 10-14 hours a week of having to attend sessions as well as make powerpoint presentations. These 4 weeks were good as my goal during this time was to read my review books and annotate into first aid.

Books Used (In Order):
BRS Phys (excellent)
BRS Path (very good)
RR Biochem (thought it was solid-good at the time then realized it was a bust)
HY Neuro (excessive) and Neuro made easy (2 hr read..good for vessels)
HY Embryo (as big a bust as kwame brown and a waste of 3 days)
parts of HY Anat (not good)
Brenner Pharm Cards (a bust)
HY cell and molecular bio (pretty good i cant complain and only took a day)
Levinson Immuno (very good) and Skimmed HY Immuno (a bust)
70% of HY Pharm (best pharm source but i had no time to get thru it all)...2 run throughs with lange pharm cards (best soure out there)
HY Behavioral (4 hrs at end..not worth it as FA has everything)
Goljan pdf's- people on SDN love goljan and keep pimpin him so i took a look at a few chapters and realized it was too much and too cluttered...brs path was well organized and i liked it...

questions: some of qbank some of world...listened to about half of the goljan lectures but not really a lecture guy so i just stopped. mixed reviews about questions...they took too much time...if i did a 50 block timed and random it would take me at minimum 90 minutes to review it afterwards. so i did it in tutor mode which allowed me to review as i went along and save time. final 2-3 weeks did it in 50 random blocks. these questions really mess with your confidence cuz at the end i was really worried about what my percentages would be that i was makin dumb mistakes..also dont do questions late night...do em in the morning before studying..

nbme's: goal was to get as high as i could..theres no point in sayin you want a 240 or 260 because how do you know how much you have to truly work to get those scores..just do the best you can

138/200 on bootleg nbme 1 3.5 months out after initial run of FA...at the time i thought that was a 205 or something using some non-sense bootleg formula i found so i was happy and took 2 weeks off to chill at the beach and watch march madness...

180ish on some paper comprehensive shelf that our school made us take...this was about 2.5 months out from test and after my 2 wk vacation from studying...i was half awake so i didnt really care bout the score...

159/200 on bootleg nbme 2 6 weeks out...at the time i thought this was a 240...but using that dumb mult ur percentage by 3 formula...

530 (226) on nbme #3 4 weeks out...this would be my final nbme...

was originally plannin on taking other nbme's as i got closer to test date but nbme #3 bugged me out big time...i was too scared to take any other ones and just concentrated on studying and doin questions (since doin questions was already taking too long)...

study time: so i partied a lot and had a good time in med school...more than most people...but all that stopped in april cuz i knew that i gotta work harder and longer than most people to get the same results (you gotta know what works for you and how smart you are!)...

i know many people who would take a day or night off but i went straight through...the first month i would watch a movie on weekend nights but that was about it...didnt go out to eat dinner or go to the club or whatever...i mean if you have the will to do it then you can cut out the distractions...put in prob 8 hrs a day in april just reading and not doing questions...i felt like i may have spread myself too thin and all this reading wasnt necessary but more on that below...

once may came and school ended i turned it up a notch knowing i had bout 4 weeks..my sleep pattern was always messed up..meaning go to sleep from 3am-10am or something crappy like that..so for the last 3-4 weeks i would study anywhere from 10-15 hours a day...these days were rough and i felt depersonalized at times but you gotta push thru...the last 4 days of the test i went back home and would study from 8 or 9 in the morning to 2am...my head was spinnin and my body was aching but i felt i needed to see everything once more...but in retrospect it didnt really help that much IMO...i guess my parents were right cuz they kept tellin me to stop studying and chill but i was too worried...

test analysis: test was light in micro/immuno and biochem..relatively light in pharm...it sucked because i spent a lot of time and knew every biochem pathway (even crammed in that heme/porphyria synth pathway in the end) and micro bug and antibiotics cold...moreover i wasted a lot of money investing in pharm resources...worst of all was i wasted a lot of time memorizing and cramming side effects...

test was mainly phys and pathophys...3 embryo questions...behavioral mixed in and some biostats calculations...the majority of questions with images i could answer without referring to the picture...i am happy because i just looked at FA images for about 15 minutes on the way to the test..every organ system was well represented...

there were questions that i had no idea what they were referring...came out from left field...audio question involving heart sounds...the volume wouldnt go any higher and i really couldnt tell what kind of murmur it was with other people typing and coughing and making noise...

conclusion: while its helpful to have an idea of whats on this test before you start your dedicated study plan, how you do comes down to how much you can cram at the end...test is generally fair and dont try to ask obscure details for the most part...they like twisting what you know and tryin to make it more difficult...

advice: dont get too stressed...dont get too high or too low...studyin for this test will be a rough 4-8 weeks for anyone...theres no way around it...lay off the caffeine if possible...do whatever it takes to motivate yourself and try to stay sane...my motivation was that half or more of my class had higher grades than me and i was the underdog 16 seed goin against the #1 seed usmle...in terms of intelligence im probably not as smart as 90% of my classmates..i know some people who deactivated their facebooks and stuff like that but i felt that was extreme...yes the test is important but you gotta give yourself a break too...

felt my studying period was too long...a lot of wasted time studying low yield subjects such as biochem and embryo...and dont annotate too much...everything you need to know is already in first aid and is more than enough...

in retrospect i would have given myself 6 weeks and only read brs phys and path, hy neuro, hy pharm+lange pharm cards, levinson immuno...i would try to know brs phys and path the best i could and read the other sources to understand...then i would just spend the final 2-3 weeks with first aid...go over 2-3 times..hit up the weaknesses...and do questions...as for nbme's they arent that useful other than to gauge where you are at...i dont recommend taking them in the final 2 wks cuz it wont really matter...if you do well on it its not like you will stop studying..if you mess up you could get scared..

i have no idea how i will do as i didnt take any diagnostic tests close to test date...for all i know i could have gotten a 200 or a 250..but i prepared the best i could and thats all that really matters...not everyone can be born and play ball like kobe bryant even if they work hard..but just dont freak out..and dont think this test is impossible...its just another milestone in our careers...unfortunately i was kinda bugged out during the first couple of sections..was "overwhelmed" by the fact that d-day was here then 2nd half of the test i just relaxed and tried to hit the zone..

 

[kasha]

tomorrow will be 4 weeks since my test (with AV). i'm hoping their intent by the phrase "target date of july 16th" is meant as a final deadline to report scores for people who took the test later, i.e. not people like me who were among the first to take the new version. it wouldnt make sense to release all the scores of testers from mid may until mid july on one day right?

starting to go crazy...

 

[lord_jeebus]

This is some great feedback!

As a reminder, discussing specific questions encountered on Step I is not permitted on SDN.

 

[ShyRem]

Sorry, kasha. The release date of July 16 is for all new version test takers since May 15 or so through June 30. 🙁 The explanation was "to normalize for the new test". Looks like you've got another month to wait (although for your sake I really really hope they release them sooner).

 

[tfom08]

Sorry, kasha. The release date of July 16 is for all new version test takers since May 15 or so through June 30. 🙁 The explanation was "to normalize for the new test". Looks like you've got another month to wait (although for your sake I really really hope they release them sooner).

This is an interesting point. I believe this points toward the likelihood of the A/V questions not necessarily being experimental as many people have believed. Just because they have never been on step I before does not mean that they cannot count if I understand statistics correctly. I don't know the exact tests, but can't they do statistical analysis of the questions and determine that say 80% of people scoring over 230 get an A/V question correct but only 40% of people scoring below 200 get the question correct and decide from that data that the question is valid? I'm not sure if that is how the NBME works, but it seems like waiting a few more weeks to get a larger sample for their data might be for this purpose.

 

[ZonaRidicularis]

z

 

[It'sElectric]

This is an interesting point. I believe this points toward the likelihood of the A/V questions not necessarily being experimental as many people have believed. Just because they have never been on step I before does not mean that they cannot count if I understand statistics correctly. I don't know the exact tests, but can't they do statistical analysis of the questions and determine that say 80% of people scoring over 230 get an A/V question correct but only 40% of people scoring below 200 get the question correct and decide from that data that the question is valid? I'm not sure if that is how the NBME works, but it seems like waiting a few more weeks to get a larger sample for their data might be for this purpose.

Anything is possible. But also take into account that the new test forms also have 48 questions per block, which could be the primary reason that they have to normalize the new exams. Who knows really...

 

[DwyaneWade]

Sorry, kasha. The release date of July 16 is for all new version test takers since May 15 or so through June 30. 🙁 The explanation was "to normalize for the new test". Looks like you've got another month to wait (although for your sake I really really hope they release them sooner).

I thought I saw someone who took it May 21 post their score, please don't make me wait that long

 

[kasha]

Sorry, kasha. The release date of July 16 is for all new version test takers since May 15 or so through June 30. 🙁 The explanation was "to normalize for the new test". Looks like you've got another month to wait (although for your sake I really really hope they release them sooner).

is this based on concrete info or your own take on things?

 

[Jbienven]

Took it yesterday...

Overall, happy its over with.

I didn't have any of the crap I didn't learn very well... i.e. no cardiac drugs, anti-psych drugs, weigart stains...etc. etc. A pretty user friendly test.

Now I don't want to jinx myself...but I feel like I could have done well. My last practice test was USMLE World (244), and my goal was 240+. Hopefully I got above a 230, which is the lowest I'd really be happy with.

I'll let everyone know when I get the score report, feels good to be done!

 

[tfom08]

Anything is possible. But also take into account that the new test forms also have 48 questions per block, which could be the primary reason that they have to normalize the new exams. Who knows really...

True, but if they have a certain difficulty rating for each question already calculated and the only difference is that the test is 4% shorter, it doesn't seem like it would take that long calculate the scores. Although, I suppose shortening the test and leaving the time constant therefore giving people a few extra seconds per question is going to have some positive effect on the average raw score, so that could also be a reason. I would actually be very interested to see how the raw percentage is affected by such a seemingly small difference in time.

 

[kasha]

I thought I saw someone who took it May 21 post their score, please don't make me wait that long

yeh but that person had the old version. i pm'ed him...

 

[ShyRem]

kasha, the information I put up there was right from the usmle website, confirmed by Kaplan.
From the usmle website (cut and pasted):

Added May 9, 2008: Currently Step 1 examinations contain 350 items, divided into seven 60-minute blocks with 50 items in each block. New Step 1 examinations will contain 336 items, divided into seven 60-minute blocks, with 48 items in each block.

[Posted April 22, 2008]

Starting on or around May 15, 2008, a transition period will begin in which the number of items in current forms of the Step 1 examination will change from 350 items to 336 items. Although the transition will occur quickly at many test centers, there may also be some locations where the changes take slightly longer to complete. The overall transition period will likely last approximately 6 weeks. The length of the examination day will remain unchanged.

The decrease in the number of items per form will be accounted for in scoring the examination results, so that scores on new and old forms will be comparable. Because of these changes in timing, as well as modifications to the test item pool and the processing load caused by a heavy volume of test takers, there will be a delay in score reporting for most Step 1 examinations administered in the second half of May and June.

The target date for reporting Step 1 scores for most examinees testing from May 15 through late June will be Wednesday, July 16, 2008.

As if I would ever be so mean as to make it up and freak y'all out more. 😡

 

[agranulocytosis]

I took my test yesterday and I must say that I felt alright with it. ~70% of the test I could answer just by reading the question and knowing the answer. 20% of the test I would say I could deduce to 2 final answers and from there I would have to make my best guess. Roughly 10% of the test I simply had no idea about. These were things I did not know that I couldn't answer from the course of my studying in basic science or for the boards.

Prep:
I spent 8 weeks preparing. I took the NBME CBSE as an exit exam and scored a 74% on it. I had no idea what it correlated to since my school couldn't provide that information, but it was a pretty good score compared to the rest in my class so I was moderately happy with the way I scored given the lack of objectivity.

I used the 2006-2007 Kaplan 7 book series throught my prep as a backbone, and had the requisite RR Path by Goljan, Medical Micro and Immuno by Levinson, Pharm (not sure of the author but it had Lange written along the side as with the Micro book), HY neuro and FA. I spent 4 months after the end of basic sciences in a "Kaplan Semester" by the school which tremendously helped me since I felt my BS curriculum wasn't up to par. After that was over, it was the 8 weeks of devoted prep at home.

I didn't really use any set plan, but I had the general idea to start with the conceptual subjects first like physio then ending with the more fact-based disciplines like micro and pharm at the end. I read through Goljan a total of 3 times, once in the Kaplan semester and twice in the 8 weeks. I didn't start annotating into FA from Goljan until my second read-through, and I think this helped because as I was doing UW and annotating FA, I knew which stuff was in FA and what was not, so whatever I felt that Goljan explained well that didn't sit well with me went right into FA.

I started UW the day I started my prep and finished all the unused questions in about 5 weeks. The last 3 weeks I spent reviewing my questions until I got them right, but I ended with about 200 incorrect questions I didn't get to. I tried to follow DwayneWade's advice as much as possible on this one, but I didn't have the time to complete all 900 or so of my mistakes.

Test day:
I was really nervous in the first two blocks. Not sure was it really was, but I felt like I made a bunch of silly mistakes and I'm glad I had time to go through those blocks again to correct them. I forgot the MOA of an antihyperlipidemic which was a really stupid mistake and a free point I should have earned had I remembered that little detail.

But other than that, I felt all disciplines were pretty well-represented. I had 10 questions on Cystic Fibrosis, not bad since I felt like I knew it pretty well. But nothing really sticks out as very important. The neuro was pretty doable, biochem was doable as well. I felt these 2 subjects were my weaknesses but thankfully, FA had all that was necessary for my exam. Pharm was straight out of FA, nothing new, nothing less. As long as I knew what was in FA, the pharm on my test was doable. Some required 2nd messengers, but nothing like UW's level on intensity.

Micro and Immuno were also pretty basic. Mostly bacteria and in some classical presentations like fungal infections in diabetics, pulmonary infections in CF, a couple basic parasites and some basic virology. I felt like I overprepared for the antimicrobials, but I'd rather feel overprepared than not ready at all.

Embryo, easy. Everything was in FA.

The test was mostly path and pathophys. The arrow-type of questions were numerous and some were difficult. I counted 5 of those where I could narrow down to 2 and just make my best guess based on the information given. There were no dieases I hadn't heard of before, so it was a pretty comfortable feeling to know that everything on the test I had seen before and can come to a reasonable answer based on my fund of knowledge.

The physio was pretty well-represented as well and I think UW does a good job of tying physio relationships together. Very important to know this subject like the back of your hand.

All in all, I would say ~85% of the test was straight out of Goljan. About 5% I could answer based on my previous knowledge and what UW taught me, but the remaining 10% was just out of nowhere. I'm hoping a lot of those were experimental, but it seemed as though these were details about basic body processes that went into a level of detail not worth studying at this point. You either knew it or you didn't.

I don't have my NBME and other stats with me right now, but I will add those on later to this post, but it seemed like my score would be in the 230 range, right on target of my goal of 230. I would be ecstatic if I scored close to 240, but at this point even a 220 would make me happy. I'm just glad to be done with this ****ty exam.

 

[obiwan]

I took my test yesterday and I must say that I felt alright with it. ~70% of the test I could answer just by reading the question and knowing the answer. 20% of the test I would say I could deduce to 2 final answers and from there I would have to make my best guess. Roughly 10% of the test I simply had no idea about. These were things I did not know that I couldn't answer from the course of my studying in basic science or for the boards.

Prep:
I spent 8 weeks preparing. I took the NBME CBSE as an exit exam and scored a 74% on it. I had no idea what it correlated to since my school couldn't provide that information, but it was a pretty good score compared to the rest in my class so I was moderately happy with the way I scored given the lack of objectivity.

I used the 2006-2007 Kaplan 7 book series throught my prep as a backbone, and had the requisite RR Path by Goljan, Medical Micro and Immuno by Levinson, Pharm (not sure of the author but it had Lange written along the side as with the Micro book), HY neuro and FA. I spent 4 months after the end of basic sciences in a "Kaplan Semester" by the school which tremendously helped me since I felt my BS curriculum wasn't up to par. After that was over, it was the 8 weeks of devoted prep at home.

I didn't really use any set plan, but I had the general idea to start with the conceptual subjects first like physio then ending with the more fact-based disciplines like micro and pharm at the end. I read through Goljan a total of 3 times, once in the Kaplan semester and twice in the 8 weeks. I didn't start annotating into FA from Goljan until my second read-through, and I think this helped because as I was doing UW and annotating FA, I knew which stuff was in FA and what was not, so whatever I felt that Goljan explained well that didn't sit well with me went right into FA.

I started UW the day I started my prep and finished all the unused questions in about 5 weeks. The last 3 weeks I spent reviewing my questions until I got them right, but I ended with about 200 incorrect questions I didn't get to. I tried to follow DwayneWade's advice as much as possible on this one, but I didn't have the time to complete all 900 or so of my mistakes.

Test day:
I was really nervous in the first two blocks. Not sure was it really was, but I felt like I made a bunch of silly mistakes and I'm glad I had time to go through those blocks again to correct them. I forgot the MOA of an antihyperlipidemic which was a really stupid mistake and a free point I should have earned had I remembered that little detail.

But other than that, I felt all disciplines were pretty well-represented. I had 10 questions on Cystic Fibrosis, not bad since I felt like I knew it pretty well. But nothing really sticks out as very important. The neuro was pretty doable, biochem was doable as well. I felt these 2 subjects were my weaknesses but thankfully, FA had all that was necessary for my exam. Pharm was straight out of FA, nothing new, nothing less. As long as I knew what was in FA, the pharm on my test was doable. Some required 2nd messengers, but nothing like UW's level on intensity.

Micro and Immuno were also pretty basic. Mostly bacteria and in some classical presentations like fungal infections in diabetics, pulmonary infections in CF, a couple basic parasites and some basic virology. I felt like I overprepared for the antimicrobials, but I'd rather feel overprepared than not ready at all.

Embryo, easy. Everything was in FA.

The test was mostly path and pathophys. The arrow-type of questions were numerous and some were difficult. I counted 5 of those where I could narrow down to 2 and just make my best guess based on the information given. There were no dieases I hadn't heard of before, so it was a pretty comfortable feeling to know that everything on the test I had seen before and can come to a reasonable answer based on my fund of knowledge.

The physio was pretty well-represented as well and I think UW does a good job of tying physio relationships together. Very important to know this subject like the back of your hand.

All in all, I would say ~85% of the test was straight out of Goljan. About 5% I could answer based on my previous knowledge and what UW taught me, but the remaining 10% was just out of nowhere. I'm hoping a lot of those were experimental, but it seemed as though these were details about basic body processes that went into a level of detail not worth studying at this point. You either knew it or you didn't.

I don't have my NBME and other stats with me right now, but I will add those on later to this post, but it seemed like my score would be in the 230 range, right on target of my goal of 230. I would be ecstatic if I scored close to 240, but at this point even a 220 would make me happy. I'm just glad to be done with this ****ty exam.

congrats man....