Official 2009 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[VFib911]

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Two days premature, but I thought I would get it started anyway as I just took the exam this morning!!!!!

Overall impressions:
- Path, path, path - been said before and I'll say it again "know it Goljan style"
- Don't forget the biostats. I prob had 10-13 questions here.
- UW is gold... both for content and material presentation. Get comfortable with the interface and it will help you test day as it is very similar.
- FA was very helpful, but I used it for review rather than primary study source.

Today:
- In at 8:30, out at 2:30.Finished each block with 10-15 minutes left.
- Three breaks, one quick trip to the BR, one 10 minute Red bull/ powerbar refresher, and one 20 minute monster/ MetRx "lunch" and walk.
- I didn't find a large difference in content difficulty between the different module. The second-to-last was my most difficult and I was have ing a little difficulty concentrating, but I think my brain was pre-toast.

I'm feeling pretty relieved at the moment as it was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. In NO WAY was it easy, but certainly doable. I had planned on taking this in July after the COMLEX, but I convinced myself I was not ready for it. Retrospectively, I feel I still would have done well after my COMLEX prep, but the last 6 months has filled in a lot of gaps.

Pre-COMLEX:
- Goljan mp3's 1st and 2nd years commuting to-from school. I did a ton of commuting. Highly valuable.
- Kaplan Biochem DVD(felt it was my weakest) and Micro DVD(lots of content).
- MedEssentials and FA for system-based content review. Big Robbins for reference only.
- CMMRS, know the virus charts, staph and strep algorithms, systemic mycoses, immunocompromised opportunistics.
- Costanza text for physio. Tried to review BRS physio (also Costanza), but I am strong in physio and I felt I was wasting my time.
- Lippincott pharm. Cover-to-cover, but overkill. Easy read though if you know your pharm.
- Kaplan and FA for biostats.
- Flash cards from eBay, both electronic and paper. Great way to review - at least for me - but be aware there are occasional errors. Prob went through 5-7000, really.
- BRS flash cards - Micro, Pharm, Biochem.
- (Savarese for any DO's - know the green book and you are golden.)

COMLEX - 06/08.

Post- COMLEX

UWorld - Thank god I did this. Wish I had done this before the COMLEX. Did tutor mode, took notes, looked each unknown up. I ended up with about 40 pages of topics with key notes written next to each topic. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
HY Histo, Cell Bio, Immuno. By this time it was mostly review, but they all helped tie things together and are quick reads.

One week before test:

Goljan cover-to-cover. Goes quick when it is review.
HY Neuroanat - overkill for my exam. Still good topics if you have the time.
FA cover-to-cover.
Reviewed UW notes/ answers.

UW - 100% completed, overall 68%. Last 450 questions mid 70's. Tutor, random, unused.


That's it. I have been meaning to post this for a while after my COMLEX grade posting, but never got around to doing it... been too damn busy reading. I'll update when result is in.

BTW - anyone know if it takes longer to receive your grade this time of year since fewer people are taking the exam?

 

[Ihateverbal]

GeorgeMichaels

I think we had the same question lol 😀
Read your pvt msg

I can't take the wait, it's been only 2 days and I'm like antsy to know my score. I think I'm going through USMLE withdrawal because today I actually considered taking NBME 6 or UWSA 2 (because I didn't take an assessment for a week before my exam) and wanted to know exactly where I stood.

That thought crossed my mind and then passed after 5 seconds. But that's pretty sad I thought about that.

 

[docjg17]

Thanks guys. Of course there was more to the question than that, but my hunch paid off and I was started in the right direction...I had a lot of those moments on the exam (ie an answer would pop into my head, but I didn't know where it was coming from ---class, FA, flash cards, etc). The stress of the exam can help in that it prevents you from overthinking (or it can hurt you if you are so stressed you stop thinking).

So here is my two cents

I haven't seen this said recently on the posts, but many of my classmates encountered this on the exam. Don't BS behavioral science (BS). They know we don't care for it/take it seriously in comparison to the strictly natural science subject matters. Don't blow it off. I had AT LEAST 10 questions with patient-doctor interaction ethics questions (ie the patient says or wants this, what should the doctor do next). Granted those questions are usually straight forward, you can miss them if you don't know what the underlying rule is for a situation(ie whenever there are questions about a child's safety you ALWAYS call social services...you don't talk it over with parents and have a kumbya moment)

Also I had lots of endo. Levels of this hormone go up what happens to the others. Straight forward, so long as you know the positive and negative feedback loops well.

I got some crazy neuro path questions. Identify the lesion given a stroke that causes these/this deficit. Now that sounded easy at first (who doesn't know their homunculus by now). Then I looked down and started laughing --not a happy laugh, at WTF laugh. They put 4 out of the 6 points all in the same 5mm area (ok maybe it was more like 4 in. but you get the point). I went for the "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" method to answer that question. I am guessing I didn't get that one right.

I had at least 5 or 6 pharm questions per block. Like most stated earlier they are mechanism questions with a few "which drug should give in this situation" type questions. Those quesitons, however,were pretty specific. For example (not on the exam mods), what drug do you give in addition to Sulfadiazine for Toxoplasma gondii. I knew the answer, but I was like wow you guys are trying to see if I memorized every word of FA. In general, pharm was solid for me. I crammed/reviewed all of pharm in AGAIN the last two days and took ppl advice (thanks!) to know mechanisms well. I also did the same thing for micro (crammed it in again) leading up to the exam. I found it impossible to keep everything straight for a long period of time. Going one week without reviewing micro and I started mixing things up/forgetting details like virulence factors. Needless to say more micro would have been appreciated, but I guess the 20-30 or so I got was a fair distribution.

I also got some psych (maybe 6 questions). I was kicking myself cause I blew of psych the last week of review. I figured studying for pharm and micro hard core were more important - and it was - but 1 extra hour of psych and I couldn't have gotten all of them right. Unsure but I am sure I missed at least 2 or 3 of them.

What else, oh please be aware: THERE IS NO TIME TO SECOND GUESS YOURSELF. You need to trust your instincts, pick it and move on. You will get more right that way versus having a mini convention in your brain trying to analyze each question to get it right. That might work and you get the first 20 or 30 all right, but when you have 10 min. left and 20 questions left you will freak out and miss most of the last 20. Pace yourself. The rule I used was 8 questions for every 10 min. of time. That really help keep me on tract (except for the last block when my blood glucose was probably in the 60s and my fatigue kicked in).

Lastly, know this is a thinking exam. You will figure things out most of time, not straigh recurg info. When you see a question that is 2 paragraphs long, don't read for general content (they will tell you the BP, HR, RR for each patient and what they ate last night for fun). READ FOR BUZZ word and important clues that you have learned throughout your studying. When you hear headache, photophobia, nuchal rigidity and petecia (biggest clue of all) stop the bus. You know it's N.menidigits skip to what the key question is at the end and answer the question and move on. Yes, it might be something else, H.influenza or something like that but 9/10 times its what you think it is. This will save you time.

Ok, good luck everyone! Now I got rest up before I start on the wards.

 

[docjg17]

I think it is the most common cause of septic arthritis.... Hmm... 🙄

Mayo says staph aur is the most common (according to the link someone else just posted)...

 

[silas2642]

I definitely agree when you say that there is no time for thinking. I know that i missed plenty of questions that I would have gotten right if I had time to go back and think about the question. There just wasn't time, which was frustrating.

You need to know your material pretty cold and be confident enough to not second guess yourself. There were questions where I knew the answer because of UWorld but where i wanted to change the answer because I thought of something else. There were others like that too-- straight recall questions where I was second guessing myself. Later on I was thanking myself for not changing the answer and kicking myself for changing the answer. That's the way it goes, I guess.

Know the brain. Like the others have said, neuro is very high yield. I would also say that micro and toxins where pretty high yield too. Understand why things go up and down in the pathways too-- when you hit these questions in UWorld make sure you under stand the answers and don't just breeze through them. They love these questions on step I.

I swear to God everyone in my test either had diabetes, was pregnant, or was pregnant and had diabetes. It might be me, but I don't think so. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Know your bread and butter diseases-- CHF, lung cancers, etc.

 

[Cliff Huxtable]

I just took the test today. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions, just PM me.

I got a lot out of this thread and SDN in general so thanks to everyone.

 

[confuse]

I just took the test earlier today. I studied for 5 wks for an average of 8 hrs/day. I had a really laid back approach throughout my study period until 4 days leading up to the exam during which I averaged 18 hrs/day.

NBME 2: 208 (prediction, 5 wks out)
UW Sim 1: 221 (2.5 wks out)
NBME Free 150: 231 (medfriend prediction, 5 days out)
UW: 69% (47% completed)

My main study source was FA + MedEssentials + UW. I used FA Basic Science and Organ System books as reference.
Things I did right: Cram, cram, cram FA several days before the test. I have a short memory so this helped alot.
Things I regret: Not doing more UW questions. My test questions were very similar to UW.

I only had 3 hours of sleep yesterday due to busy cramming and actually woke up early to prepare for lunch. I was really freaked out from reading this forum and seriously contemplated postponing my exam had it been possible, but I'm so glad I'm done now. 😀 My first block didn't went so well because I was taken back due to the Fred 2 version. My NBME 150 practice taken at the center was in Fred 1 and crossing out ans choice was much easier in Fred 1. I got into the groove after second block. I usually finished with 5 minutes to spare. I thought the question length was same as UW's.

Anatomy: More than I expected. About 2 q/block but thankfully most of it deals with upper/lower extremities
Biochem/Genetics: well represented, test basic concepts and classic presentations
Embryo: 2-3 questions total
Immuno: tons of immuno combined with basic path kinds of questions
Micro: lots of bacteria and fungi but barely any viruses
Path: well represented, in order of frequency: Resp 🙂rolleyes🙂 > Card > Neuro > Rep > everything else. Respiratory was the last system I covered while running out of time so I only read through it quickly, but it was the most represented on my exam. Reiterating other people's advice: be ready to tested in any topic.
Pathophys: well represented, lots of arrows
Pharm: well represented, this is my strong subject so I was hoping for more. All except 2 drugs was in FA.

Things I wish I had found out earlier: With the heart sounds, you can place your stethoscope at different locations. There is a error pop up script at the final block on my test. Don't freak out, just click yes and continue.

I thought my test is very fair and straightforward. I look up the questions that I was unsure about and some of them came straight from FA. I think if you know FA cold and completed UW, you can answer 95% of my test. There was 3-4 experimental questions that I could tell: misspelled or incorrect word choice in the question stem, weird questions with answers that didn't make any sense.

 

[Trevelyan]

I took my USMLE on June 3rd, and I received my score back on June 24th.

My score ended up being a 226. I am pretty happy with it. I only studied for three weeks or maybe less, and not too intensely. My studying consisted of listening to the majority of the Goljan audio files (I think I didn't do GI, cardio, repro, and endocrine) and doing 374 questions of the Kaplan Q bank. I did not use First Aid at all, and from what it seemed like to me comparing myself to my classmates, I am probably the only person who didn't use First Aid. I just didn't care for it.

 

[Whats_up_doc]

I took my USMLE on June 3rd, and I received my score back on June 24th.

My score ended up being a 226. I am pretty happy with it. I only studied for three weeks or maybe less, and not too intensely. My studying consisted of listening to the majority of the Goljan audio files (I think I didn't do GI, cardio, repro, and endocrine) and doing almost 374 questions of the Kaplan Q bank. I did not use First Aid at all, and from what it seemed like to me comparing myself to my classmates, I am probably the only person who didn't use First Aid. I just didn't care for it.

Now you have a great story to tell your grandchildren. Good for you! 👍

 

[quietude]

I took my USMLE on June 3rd, and I received my score back on June 24th.

My score ended up being a 226. I am pretty happy with it. I only studied for three weeks or maybe less, and not too intensely. My studying consisted of listening to the majority of the Goljan audio files (I think I didn't do GI, cardio, repro, and endocrine) and doing 374 questions of the Kaplan Q bank. I did not use First Aid at all, and from what it seemed like to me comparing myself to my classmates, I am probably the only person who didn't use First Aid. I just didn't care for it.

You had FREDV1, right? I keep hoping someone with V2 will report in soon...

 

[Trevelyan]

You had FREDV1, right? I keep hoping someone with V2 will report in soon...

Yes.

 

[bbqbakedlays]

Anyone with V2 get their scores before 6 weeks? Also, some people keep bringing up July 15th.....is that 6 weeks from your test date or a general time where a lot of scores will be released? I took it on June 12th and I CANT STAND this waiting. ARGH! 🙁 It is driving me mad...i am feeling worse and worse about the exam as time passes...

Im pretty sure I had V2......DANG IT!

Spending all day in the psych ward on my rotation isnt helping...lol.

 

[Futuredoc1364]

Thanks guys. Of course there was more to the question than that, but my hunch paid off and I was started in the right direction...I had a lot of those moments on the exam (ie an answer would pop into my head, but I didn't know where it was coming from ---class, FA, flash cards, etc). The stress of the exam can help in that it prevents you from overthinking (or it can hurt you if you are so stressed you stop thinking).

So here is my two cents

I haven't seen this said recently on the posts, but many of my classmates encountered this on the exam. Don't BS behavioral science (BS). They know we don't care for it/take it seriously in comparison to the strictly natural science subject matters. Don't blow it off. I had AT LEAST 10 questions with patient-doctor interaction ethics questions (ie the patient says or wants this, what should the doctor do next). Granted those questions are usually straight forward, you can miss them if you don't know what the underlying rule is for a situation(ie whenever there are questions about a child's safety you ALWAYS call social services...you don't talk it over with parents and have a kumbya moment)

Also I had lots of endo. Levels of this hormone go up what happens to the others. Straight forward, so long as you know the positive and negative feedback loops well.

I got some crazy neuro path questions. Identify the lesion given a stroke that causes these/this deficit. Now that sounded easy at first (who doesn't know their homunculus by now). Then I looked down and started laughing --not a happy laugh, at WTF laugh. They put 4 out of the 6 points all in the same 5mm area (ok maybe it was more like 4 in. but you get the point). I went for the "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" method to answer that question. I am guessing I didn't get that one right.

I had at least 5 or 6 pharm questions per block. Like most stated earlier they are mechanism questions with a few "which drug should give in this situation" type questions. Those quesitons, however,were pretty specific. For example (not on the exam mods), what drug do you give in addition to Sulfadiazine for Toxoplasma gondii. I knew the answer, but I was like wow you guys are trying to see if I memorized every word of FA. In general, pharm was solid for me. I crammed/reviewed all of pharm in AGAIN the last two days and took ppl advice (thanks!) to know mechanisms well. I also did the same thing for micro (crammed it in again) leading up to the exam. I found it impossible to keep everything straight for a long period of time. Going one week without reviewing micro and I started mixing things up/forgetting details like virulence factors. Needless to say more micro would have been appreciated, but I guess the 20-30 or so I got was a fair distribution.

I also got some psych (maybe 6 questions). I was kicking myself cause I blew of psych the last week of review. I figured studying for pharm and micro hard core were more important - and it was - but 1 extra hour of psych and I couldn't have gotten all of them right. Unsure but I am sure I missed at least 2 or 3 of them.

What else, oh please be aware: THERE IS NO TIME TO SECOND GUESS YOURSELF. You need to trust your instincts, pick it and move on. You will get more right that way versus having a mini convention in your brain trying to analyze each question to get it right. That might work and you get the first 20 or 30 all right, but when you have 10 min. left and 20 questions left you will freak out and miss most of the last 20. Pace yourself. The rule I used was 8 questions for every 10 min. of time. That really help keep me on tract (except for the last block when my blood glucose was probably in the 60s and my fatigue kicked in).

Lastly, know this is a thinking exam. You will figure things out most of time, not straigh recurg info. When you see a question that is 2 paragraphs long, don't read for general content (they will tell you the BP, HR, RR for each patient and what they ate last night for fun). READ FOR BUZZ word and important clues that you have learned throughout your studying. When you hear headache, photophobia, nuchal rigidity and petecia (biggest clue of all) stop the bus. You know it's N.menidigits skip to what the key question is at the end and answer the question and move on. Yes, it might be something else, H.influenza or something like that but 9/10 times its what you think it is. This will save you time.

Ok, good luck everyone! Now I got rest up before I start on the wards.

I def. agree with your experience. I took my exam over a week ago and there is not a whole lot of time to get into every question and figure out the right answer. Especially for the ones that require you to think in 3-4 steps (few but most questions are at least 2 steps). So you gotta be able to formulate what they are asking quickly and don't overthink it. Were there questions that I had no idea about the answer? yeah perhaps 10-15 and I just guessed. I mean I could still narrow them down a bit. But I probabaly missed a lot of those. There were probably another 30 that I had a very strong guess and I probably got 60-80 % of those right based on when I checked my answers later. I am hoping that I got 85% of the questions right, but I am not sure because there may have been some questions that I didn't mark and thought I knew but I actually got wrong.

The funny thing is that I am horrible at predicting how I do on big exams. So I might end up with a low score.

Good luck to all of us waiting for our scores...😉

 

[quietude]

Anyone with V2 get their scores before 6 weeks? Also, some people keep bringing up July 15th.....is that 6 weeks from your test date or a general time where a lot of scores will be released? I took it on June 12th and I CANT STAND this waiting. ARGH! 🙁 It is driving me mad...i am feeling worse and worse about the exam as time passes...

Im pretty sure I had V2......DANG IT!

Spending all day in the psych ward on my rotation isnt helping...lol.

V2 looks like what USMLEWorld looks like now. I think Kaplan hasn't switched over to the new format yet except for their assessments.

Due to the changeover anyone who took V2 in late May-mid-June (peak season, I think) is supposed to get scores back by July 15th. They word it just vaguely enough that while they'll probably come back July 15th, it's possible that they may come out earlier.

The only reason why I occasionally even remember I have internet is to see if the USMLE people decided to give us all a nice surprise and release our scores earlier. I took mine the 12th as well. 🙁

 

[TXDO]

Hi,
I would like to ask how do you guys memorize the drugs for USMLE? is the list in FA sufficient?

Thank you

 

[ENThopeful]

reading these experiences scare the crap out of me... it seems like no one lately is getting a straight forward test. in terms of difficulty is it like UWorld?

 

[bluntdissector]

reading these experiences scare the crap out of me... it seems like no one lately is getting a straight forward test. in terms of difficulty is it like UWorld?

Maybe they score it like the World SA, then the avg will be like 260...
😀

Just remember, there is a bigger chance that people come back and post negative experiences or 'unfair' experiences so as to 'warn' others and make themselves feel a bit better (at least that's what I think.) Or if you want to come show off your score you'd come back! 🙂 I rate, if you had a decent experience, or an average one, you'll just move on or go to Step 2 forum. No news is good news.

Just my view, maybe I'll come post my horrible experience on July 8th as well and then this post will haunt me! 😱

 

[sprinkibrio]

I took around six weeks to study with 10+ hrs/day and one day off/wk. Those first 4 weeks I got through FA once along with RR Biochem, RR Path, BRS Phys, HY Pharm, HY Behavioral Science, HY Neuroanatomy, and HY Embryology. The the last two weeks 95% of my time was doing problems and I only used FA for problem areas. I reviewed micro and pharm two days before and the day before I took off.

NBME 1 prestudy/week 1: 183
NBME 2 week 4: 225
Free 150 week 5: 89% (255-257)
UWorld practice test 1 week 6: 239

UWorld mostly in tutor mode, random:
87% finished
Cumulative score 62%
Range 50-79%
Last 7 blocks average 68%

SCORE 138/99!!!

Behavioral science: doing UWorld and reading HY was enough for the what would you say type questions, stats has always been super easy for me, ~20 ?'s
Biochem: either there was a lot of it or it is all that I remember since we all tend to remember what was hard for us. it was about 1/3 molecular bio, 1/3 genetics, and 1/3 metabolism.
Micro: micro was easy piezy for me. classic presentations for a diagnosis, a few RNA/DNA viruses, AIDS-associated fungi, one parasite. there were a few pharm questions associated which were hard
Path: mine was a very even spread with cardio possibly in the lead. the murmurs all sounded identical and were ridiculous. there were lots of newborn/pregnant questions just like on UWorld. i don't know why everyone is freaking out about neuro or endo... which just goes to show how useless this information is.
Embryo: a few questions which were fine.
Anatomy: I had more questions than I expected but one was the difficulty equivalent of "where is the adrenal medulla" LOL. no crazy questions.
Pharm: one drug was mentioned three times and I had never heard of it. I don't think it was in FA, but I did learn it over MS2. there is no way I would have learned it had I done anything different so it's fine. the rest was managable even for me who hates pharm. the harder questions were micro/pharm combinations.
Immuno: the major cytokines, only one CD question, the type 1-4 reactions. all classic stuff.

I very much appreciate all the advice to try to go at a quick pace. I am a VERY fast test-taker and finished with around 7 minutes to go over marked questions. That ended up being perfect for me, but I accomplished this by marking answers and moving on. I wouldn't think through the answer choices unless it was a complex question.

I don't think I had an "easy version." I think I took the test in stride and didn't try to figure out if >140 is a 85%age. Just chill and take the test and appreciate that it is a lot easier than UWorld, no matter WHICH version you get. I marked about 10 questions/block. My best preparation was hard work second year and UWorld. You have to feel comfortable with your ability to guess and not freak out if you don't recognize information in some of the questions. Also, stop studying things you already know. If you can't necessarily recall it off the top of your head but can recognize it in a question stop studying it. Just skip over whole chapters in FA if you need to (the second time around)... focus on what you really DON'T KNOW in those last two weeks!

 

[bluntdissector]

NBME 1 prestudy/week 1: 183
NBME 2 week 4: 225
Free 150 week 5: 89% (255-257)
UWorld practice test 1 week 6: 239

UWorld mostly in tutor mode, random:
87% finished
Cumulative score 62%
Range 50-79%
Last 7 blocks average 68%

Hi

Thanks so much for sharing a relaxed, confident and quasi-positive experience! 😀

Regarding world/nbme/free 150 - your 'predicted score' varied quite a bit...which would you say 'felt' most like the real thing? Obviously you said it's easier than World - but how about world SA? (Free 150 score is really good, I hope you get >250!)

Thanks and well-done!

 

[future_dr_house]

You had FREDV1, right? I keep hoping someone with V2 will report in soon...

I had Fred V2 on June 19

 

[kdburton]

I took it yesterday. Very basic. Difficulty b/t that of USMLE World and the NBMEs. There wasn't a single unfamiliar concept tested on my form, although there were some answer choices mixed in that were unfamiliar to me (I think a couple pharm ones), but the other choices included the "best answer" according how I interpreted the questions. I personally think its really hard to accurately break down what percentage of the test was this and that and I think that when people have posted on here that there test was heavy on something it seems more often than not that it was to their disadvantage (i.e. they remembered all the questions they couldn't answer, so there test was heavy on whatever subjects those were). I'll post more details later, but for now I've gotta catch a flight to Miami 😎

 

[sprinkibrio]

Hi

Thanks so much for sharing a relaxed, confident and quasi-positive experience! 😀

Regarding world/nbme/free 150 - your 'predicted score' varied quite a bit...which would you say 'felt' most like the real thing? Obviously you said it's easier than World - but how about world SA? (Free 150 score is really good, I hope you get >250!)

Thanks and well-done!

I would say it was easier than World SA, but not that much. I think that's a good comparison of the difficulty although the subject matter was more like UWorld. For some reason on World SA 1 the subject matter seemed to come out of left field for me.

My scores definitely did vary... I took the World SA in like 2 hrs and didn't really focus well. I just wanted a quick estimate of my score right before the test. I could have peaked with the 150.. who knows. I think the 150 is an overestimate. Hopefully I'll get >240, my goal!

 

[hoya2gatormd]

Hey guys,
Took the exam this morning. Very challenging as expected. I spent 7 weeks studying, and completed all of USMLE world plus redid the ones I missed and Utah Webpath. I felt both were helpful. In hindsight, I wish I has spent more time really digging into the facts surrounding some HY subjects. For example, I had some cardio questions that dealt with many of the molecular details. I also found that I spent a good amount of time on the sections compared to practice exams (I timed out of all the sections while reviewing checked answers). I was pleased that the pharm and micro seemed to be high yield facts and key words, veery few shocking questions.
Sorry if this is not helpful, I will try and write back when my head is more clear. My only word of advice is pay more attention to the molecular aspects of the diseases, as they seem to love to push the envelope on the "easy" diseases we have all studied and ask a question that may seem unimportant (not HY) in your studies.

 

[hoya2gatormd]

Hey guys,
Took the exam this morning. Very challenging as expected. I spent 7 weeks studying, and completed all of USMLE world plus redid the ones I missed and Utah Webpath. I felt both were helpful. In hindsight, I wish I has spent more time really digging into the facts surrounding some HY subjects. For example, I had some cardio questions that dealt with many of the molecular details. I also found that I spent a good amount of time on the sections compared to practice exams (I timed out of all the sections while reviewing checked answers). I was pleased that the pharm and micro seemed to be high yield facts and key words, veery few shocking questions.
Sorry if this is not helpful, I will try and write back when my head is more clear. My only word of advice is pay more attention to the molecular aspects of the diseases, as they seem to love to push the envelope on the "easy" diseases we have all studied and ask a question that may seem unimportant (not HY) in your studies.

 

[Tyger]

Just got my score back a couple of days ago. I got 275/99. The only four books I used and read thoroughly were
1. First Aid
2. BRS Path
3. BRS physiology
4. High yield embryology

I supplemented this with some class notes. The most high yield activity is finishing all of Kaplan QBank and USMLE world and doing some of the NBME tests. If you do all the questions, the score is guaranteed to be pretty good.

 

[TXDO]

Just got my score back a couple of days ago. I got 275/99. The only four books I used and read thoroughly were
1. First Aid
2. BRS Path
3. BRS physiology
4. High yield embryology

I supplemented this with some class notes. The most high yield activity is finishing all of Kaplan QBank and USMLE world and doing some of the NBME tests. If you do all the questions, the score is guaranteed to be pretty good.

WOW! WOW!!!😱👍😱
Can you say a bit more of how did you study for it? That's a crazy score and yes it is crazy. Wow, congrat man!!!👍

 

[sebsvenmdc]

Geez, repro and cardio like crazy.

Ok, here's my stuff.

Studied review books pretty hardcore.

Path: RR (like 4x)
Physio: RR (2x), BRS (2x)...love physio
Pharm: FA (~12-15x for the drugs)
Biochem: RR (like 2-3x)
Micro: Microcards (3x)
Neuro: HY (2x)
Behavioral: HY (3x)
Cell Bio: 2/3 of BRS skim-reading
DIT: (1x)
FA (~5x)

Some of this studying was shelf studying...definitely didn't read this stuff that many times in 7 weeks...talking about 2 years, kids!

UW: ~71% (98% done)
Kaplan: ~70% (42% done)

CBSE (mid-March): 232.5 (83 = 230-235)
CBSE (early May): 255
NBME 2 (late May): 249
NBME 5 (late May): 251
UWSA 1 (early June): 252
NBME 4 (2 weeks ago): 251

Free 150 (4 days ago): 89%

So, I thought the test wasn't too bad, but I had a hard time with some of the questions. Had a ton of repro. Cardio too. Made about 4 or 5 dumb mistakes. Some questions were kind of tricky. Unfortunately, I think I needed to get most right to get a good score because the questions didn't seem to be that bad.

I have my faith though, and I'm going to trust God with the result...however it turns out.

 

[ENThopeful]

Maybe they score it like the World SA, then the avg will be like 260...
😀

Just remember, there is a bigger chance that people come back and post negative experiences or 'unfair' experiences so as to 'warn' others and make themselves feel a bit better (at least that's what I think.) Or if you want to come show off your score you'd come back! 🙂 I rate, if you had a decent experience, or an average one, you'll just move on or go to Step 2 forum. No news is good news.

Just my view, maybe I'll come post my horrible experience on July 8th as well and then this post will haunt me! 😱

hahaha true 👍

 

[vir0n]

Geez, repro and cardio like crazy.

Made about 4 or 5 dumb mistakes. Some questions were kind of tricky. Unfortunately, I think I needed to get most right to get a good score because the questions didn't seem to be that bad.

Cry me a freaking river....

 

[sebsvenmdc]

Cry me a freaking river....

Lol, I mean 4 or 5 that I immediately knew I got wrong after each section...I got a lot more wrong than that!

 

[SIQ]

Lol, I mean 4 or 5 that I immediately knew I got wrong after each section...I got a lot more wrong than that!

I understand your pain sebsvenmdc. I also got a 255 (92) on my CBSE 10 days before I took step 1. I made some stupid mistakes and changed a few answers from right to wrong (could someone plz shoot me in the nuts). My only consolation is that these test are all standardized and if you made mistakes and have been scoring highly on your practice test, then other test-takers are probably gonna miss more than you did so don't worry too much--i've been living off this advice myself 😛

 

[NCF145]

Geez, repro and cardio like crazy.

Ok, here's my stuff.

Studied review books pretty hardcore.

Path: RR (like 4x)
Physio: RR (2x), BRS (2x)...love physio
Pharm: FA (~12-15x for the drugs)
Biochem: RR (like 2-3x)
Micro: Microcards (3x)
Neuro: HY (2x)
Behavioral: HY (3x)
Cell Bio: 2/3 of BRS skim-reading
DIT: (1x)
FA (~5x)

Some of this studying was shelf studying...definitely didn't read this stuff that many times in 7 weeks...talking about 2 years, kids!

UW: ~71% (98% done)
Kaplan: ~70% (42% done)

CBSE (mid-March): 232.5 (83 = 230-235)
CBSE (early May): 255
NBME 2 (late May): 249
NBME 5 (late May): 251
UWSA 1 (early June): 252
NBME 4 (2 weeks ago): 251

Free 150 (4 days ago): 89%

So, I thought the test wasn't too bad, but I had a hard time with some of the questions. Had a ton of repro. Cardio too. Made about 4 or 5 dumb mistakes. Some questions were kind of tricky. Unfortunately, I think I needed to get most right to get a good score because the questions didn't seem to be that bad.

I have my faith though, and I'm going to trust God with the result...however it turns out.

From your preparation and scores I'm sure you did superb! Congrats on being done, and enjoy the next few days!!! The real challenge comes Monday!

 

[Deferoxamine]

Geez, repro and cardio like crazy.

Ok, here's my stuff.

Studied review books pretty hardcore.

Path: RR (like 4x)
Physio: RR (2x), BRS (2x)...love physio
Pharm: FA (~12-15x for the drugs)
Biochem: RR (like 2-3x)
Micro: Microcards (3x)
Neuro: HY (2x)
Behavioral: HY (3x)
Cell Bio: 2/3 of BRS skim-reading
DIT: (1x)
FA (~5x)

Some of this studying was shelf studying...definitely didn't read this stuff that many times in 7 weeks...talking about 2 years, kids!

UW: ~71% (98% done)
Kaplan: ~70% (42% done)

CBSE (mid-March): 232.5 (83 = 230-235)
CBSE (early May): 255
NBME 2 (late May): 249
NBME 5 (late May): 251
UWSA 1 (early June): 252
NBME 4 (2 weeks ago): 251

Free 150 (4 days ago): 89%

So, I thought the test wasn't too bad, but I had a hard time with some of the questions. Had a ton of repro. Cardio too. Made about 4 or 5 dumb mistakes. Some questions were kind of tricky. Unfortunately, I think I needed to get most right to get a good score because the questions didn't seem to be that bad.

I have my faith though, and I'm going to trust God with the result...however it turns out.

Nice job, and great perspective... I keep telling myself the same thing - what is meant to happen is meant to happen. Congrats on being done.

And I hear ya on the "stupid mistakes". But I bet everyone makes a few of those per section on test day, even the 270+ people.

 

[TXDO]

I am not sure if this's relevant, but noone even bother to mention the guy who posted with 275/99 score. Is it possible to make that crazy score🙄? Gosh, I wish I coud make 250 when I take the exam.🙂

 

[bluntdissector]

I am not sure if this's relevant, but noone even bother to mention the guy who posted with 275/99 score. Is it possible to make that crazy score🙄? Gosh, I wish I coud make 250 when I take the exam.🙂

It's an amazing score. Almost unbelievable. But then again, Pollux kinda showed us of little faith that there truly is a God! 🙂

Maybe this is his second coming?

Congrats on the score. If it's real it is truly inspiring. If not it's still good for something I suppose...

 

[Steiner]

UWorld 100% complete 67% average. ~70-71% on the last twelve 48 question blocks I did.

Did UWorld, all subjects & unused, 48 question blocks throughout my studying. So I was getting questions on tons of stuff I hadn't done early and less so later on.

UsmleWorld Self Assessment 1-1 week out- 244
Free 150 4 days out-87% medfriends says that=253
UsmleWorld Self Assessment 2-1 day before- 254
NBME form 4 day before-690 medfriends says=259; ClincalReview says=264

Real thing yesterday was tough. I am almost certain I did worse than all those assessments say. My test was loaded with small detailed biochem, pathophysiology, and immunology of obscure things. I had maybe 1 question on bleeding disorders, maybe 1 on cirrhosis of any kind. Resp, cardio, & neuro were probably 95% of the path I had. Tons of babies: I saw this phrase a lot "couple brings in their previously healthy 'blank age' child", quit a few ethics questions, 3 audio questions, and 2 of the new sequential questions. Micro and pharm were pretty straightforward, maybe 1 or 2 in each subject that were really difficult.
After my practice tests, I was expecting to go in and know most of the questions I saw. Didn't happen. Hoping I had the maximum amt. of experimental ?'s they allow.

Be back July 15th with the update

 

[TaoistDoc]

Hey guys, I just took my test yesterday and I was wondering if you could help me out with a few questions. When the score is reported, will I be able to check it out online? The mailing address I listed is in a different state than where I'm living for med school, so I just want to be able to access my score online. Secondly, does anyone have any idea when I should expect to get my score back? I know they say within 6 weeks, but I'm hoping to get it earlier than that.


As for the actual test, I will say that if you know all of first aids and do all of Uworld, you should be able to rock it. I only got to finish about 25% of Uworld, which was rather unfortunate, but the questions I did, I went through the answers thoroughly, which I believe is every helpful. My advice for Uworld: for questions you got right, just read the main explanation and the concept summary; for questions you got wrong, read everything. I didn't need BRS or high yield books. All I used was first aids and Uworld and 3 days before the exam, my Uworld self assessment was a 260, so that just show that you should be able to do fine with just those two resources. On the actual exam, some questions were straight from Uworld and others weren't, but overall, all the concepts were similar to those covered by Uworld. I felt pretty confident coming out of the exam, so I hope my performance match that of my self assessment


On a brighter note, third year starts in 3 days, yay!!!! I can't wait to get pimped and be mistreated by nurses and other staff members and work my ass off while hoping that luck smiles my way when come the assessments. And since I'm starting on surgery, I also can't wait for those sleepless nights and delirious days.

 

[defcon8]

I am not sure if this's relevant, but noone even bother to mention the guy who posted with 275/99 score. Is it possible to make that crazy score🙄? Gosh, I wish I coud make 250 when I take the exam.🙂

Definitely an excellent score and seems legit, but would get alot more attention if he took a few mins to write more about his prep and experience.

 

[fergustsi]

Definitely an excellent score and seems legit, but would get alot more attention if he took a few mins to write more about his prep and experience.

theyd get more attention and credibility if they posted a screenshot. it seems too many people are posting these insane scores to seem legit.

 

[pseudoknot]

EDIT: 252.

Never let it be said you have to read FA to do well.

I took it on Friday. It was about as I expected, just like the harder NBMEs.

I've always been a crappy student, but very good at standardized tests. I think I finished second year at roughly the 33rd percentile in my class. Because of this, I thought I might be able to get to around 240, but questioned if I could do much better than that due to my weak foundation.

Started studying 36 days before the test, just after M2 classes ended.

Study schedule (about 6-9 hours of reading, then 2 blocks in USMLEWorld or Qbank--about 3 more hours):
BRS Phys (2 days)
RR Path (6 days)
BRS Behavioral (2 days)
CMMRS (3.5 days)
Lange Micro Review immuno chapters (1.5 days)
FA pharm sections (1 day)
FA biochem chapter (1 day)
Clinical Neuro Made Ridiculously Simple (1 day)
FA anatomy sections (1 day)
Goljan audio with RR (4 days on 1.5x speed)

In the last week or so my motivation really plummeted. I did go through the highlighted portions of BRS Phys and read the first three chapters of FA, but didn't do much else. I hated FA and probably only ended up reading about a third of it.

Finished all of UW with a 65% average. Completed about 20% of Kaplan Qbank, also with a 65% average.

NBME 1: 225 (55 days out, before completing class).
NBME 6: 234 (28 days out, after phys and path)
NBME 4: 238 (21 days out, after behavioral and micro)
free 150: 86%/248 (12 days out)
NBME 3: 253 (6 days out)

As I said, the test itself was more or less what I expected. I only got about four hours of sleep the night before, so I was a little tired. Also it was uncomfortably hot in the test center (they told me they were required to keep it between 74 and 76 degrees--isn't room temperature like 68-72??). Otherwise, it was just like 7 blocks from the harder NBMEs. I felt like I knew or had a good guess for most questions, but there were a lot where I just narrowed it down to two and some where I was totally guessing. There was one question where I had no clue what they were asking. The heart murmers were OK, it seemed like you could narrow it down a lot based on the stem and then where it was loudest. Oddly, my sequential question (I just had one pair) did not give away the answer to the second one at all. I had another two questions (NOT the sequential type) that were back to back and the stem from each one contained the answer to the other one. That was pretty cool. There was also a question that was nearly identical to one from an NBME test, but changed so that the answer was different.

I felt like USMLEWorld was probably the most helpful resource along with RR Path and BRS Phys. The Kaplan qbank seemed pretty useless and I regret buying it. I don't think I learned anything from it. I used the Board Simulator Series CD a bit, mostly before the intensive review month, and those are pretty useful for drilling on facts.

It's great to be done. I suppose it would have been nice if my motivation hadn't flagged so much in the last week, but oh well. I'll be quite happy if I get something close to the last NBME.

 

[quietude]

I've always been a crappy student, but very good at standardized tests. I think I finished second year at roughly the 33rd percentile in my class. Because of this, I thought I might be able to get to around 240, but questioned if I could do much better than that due to my weak foundation

In the last week or so my motivation really plummeted.

Finished all of UW with a 65% average. Completed about 20% of Kaplan Qbank, also with a 65% average.

NBME 1: 225 (55 days out, before completing class).
NBME 6: 234 (28 days out, after phys and path)
NBME 4: 238 (21 days out, after behavioral and micro)
free 150: 86%/248 (12 days out)
NBME 3: 253 (6 days out)

You are possibly my never-before-discovered SDN twin. Or a lot of us who are good standardized test takers but not great at translating that to classroom work are using SDN to try and grab as many extra points as possible.

Best of luck, I think we're hoping for the same.

 

[Steiner]

After looking at last year's thread, it looks like June 26th is going to be the last day that falls into the July 15th score report day. If you took it on Saturday June 27th or later you're on the regular intervals for score reporting.

***This is total speculation based on last year's dates.

 

[TaoistDoc]

What exactly is the regular interval?

 

[Steiner]

I think it works like this.

All the test takers are organized in blocks like this; Sat-Sun-Mon-Tues-Wed-Thurs-Fri, with everyone within this block of test-takers getting their scores three Wednesdays from the Wednesday within this block.

So everyone taking the test between the Saturday that just passed and this coming Friday would get their score 3 weeks from this coming Wednesday. So, this Wednesday is July 1st, 3 weeks from then is July 22nd.

I really have no idea if this is correct, but it looks like this is the most common score reporting pattern.

 

[calespine]

They used to release scores at midnight the night before the predicted day- are they still doing that?

 

[metallo]

I took it on Friday. It was about as I expected, just like the harder NBMEs.

There was also a question that was nearly identical to one from an NBME test, but changed so that the answer was different.

I took all 6 NBMEs, and I noticed that certain basic topics came up again and again (hemagglutinins and flu, survival probability, cigarette smoking morbidity/mortality, heart murmurs, ACA/MCA/PCA occlusions, peptide vs. steroid receptors, etc.). They really seem to like current, popular issues in medicine. I'm just hoping they emphasize the same types of things on my actual exam (4 days away!).

By the way, which NBMEs are considered the "harder" ones... 3 and 6?

 

[kdburton]

They used to release scores at midnight the night before the predicted day- are they still doing that?

I think they're actually releasing them during the day on the date that they are supposed to be released now. I saw a newsletter a while back stating that they wanted the scores to be released when students who potentially need to talk to a schoool administrator/counselor could realistically get in contact with them rather than doing it at midnight when someone who fails or does super poorly has no one from school to talk to.

 

[Deferoxamine]

I really hope they do the 12:00 midnight release on July 15th. It'll be way more exciting, and the post count in this thread is going to triple in about 20 minutes time. There will be so much sympathetic stimulation in here beforehand that the thread itself might explode as one giant berry aneurysm.

 

[bbqbakedlays]

I really hope they do the 12:00 midnight release on July 15th. It'll be way more exciting, and the post count in this thread is going to triple in about 20 minutes time. There will be so much sympathetic stimulation in here beforehand that the thread itself might explode as one giant berry aneurysm.

I LOVE IT...you are soo right!! I feel like Ive been reading this thread FOREVER...and I think the worst part of this Board exam is the wait after. Everyone synchronize their watches!!!

LOL!

 

[RisingSun]

Took the test today. All in all I would say that it was pretty fair, and that the majority of the questions came from things that I had seen in UWorld and FA. I had a lot of brachial plexus questions. Probably 4 or 5. I had no less than 5 questions on helminths/protozoa, stuff that I really didn't cover because everything sounds the same and I really didn't feel that it would be high yield. And who really gives a crap about those obscure infectious agents anyways? Big mistake! My biggest weaknesses probably were anatomy and micro, so maybe these subjects just stand out to me more because I waffled over those questions more than any other.

There really wasn't too much in terms of pharmacology or micro. Immuno was really easy, like so ridiculous that I actually had to read the questions a couple of times just to make sure that I wasn't missing something. Biochem was pretty heavy, a couple Km/Vmax graph questions (yeah, I'm serious) and quite a few biochem pathways with the question about what cofactor/vitamin is involved.

UWorld really helped build test taking confidence and skills - aside from the qs that I know that I missed (bracial plexus, bugs, and some really bizarre endo questions which probably weren't that hard in reality but I just wasn't seeing the connection at the time) and the few crazy questions each block that I just clicked an answer and moved on, UWorld and FA knowledge helped me either confidently answer, or at least narrow it down to two choices, pretty much all of the other questions.

If I could do it again, I would have worked a bit harder at getting through UWorld and then doing blocks of missed questions and then blocks in tutor mode of all questions including ones answered before. That would have been great review for the test.

I would say that in terms of question difficulty, most questions were around the level of those questions in UWorld that 50 to 60% of people get right. Some I could answer in less than 10 seconds, others took more time, but if your knowledge base is solid then you should be able to answer most questions fairly confidently I would think.

I definitely didn't hit it out of the ballpark but I don't think that I failed either. I'll report back with scores.

For anyone that cares, I used UWorld and FA almost exclusively, with random class notes, textbooks, and Wikipedia thrown in to flesh out information I was having a hard time with. I studied for exactly 4 weeks.

NMBE 4 (1 wk studying): 225
NMBE 5 (2 wks studying): 244
NMBE 6 (3 wks studying): 244
Free 150 (3.5 wks studying): 88%
UWorld: probably around 67% based on unused questions. Last 10 or so blocks timed unused: 70 to 80%.

Good luck to everyone whose test is coming up. 👍 You can do it, take lots of short breaks between each block (I skipped lunch and just took a ten minute break between each block. I actually finished with 20 minutes of break time remaining, so time probably won't be too much of an issue as long as you don't take real long breaks.)

 

[beezel]

Hey everyone, I took my exam yesterday and wanted to share some of the details, so you can all do amazingly well. My first question was on Maple-syrup urine disease and what amino acid would be elevated in the serum, so needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. About 75% of the exam was expected topics and questions: multiple myeloma, hemophilia A, alzheimers, etc. I was surprised by how many questions were almost word-for-word from UWorld. I had 3 murmurs that had an audio and 2 that described the murmur. The stems for the audio questions didn't have much in the stem, but the audio changed so obviously when you moved to different auscultation areas, it wasn't hard to figure out which valve was the problem. I had a ton of radiographic anatomy, at least 3 sagittal brain MRIs, a bunch of CXR and abdomen CTs. All of the micro had the "buzzwords" in the stem, like "hot tub folliculitis" for pseudomonas. Pharm was pretty basic, a few mechanisms of drug resistance. I was pleasantly surprised to find a calculator tool, since I'm not a fan of math, so that made calculations easy, though I only had about 3 questions that required calculation. 98% of the exam is in First Aid, so look over it again in the few days before the test. Most of the exam was straightforward and expected, that being said, expect to see a few zebras.

I spent 6 weeks preparing. I had First Aid unbound, hole-punched and put into 2 binders. I added my notes from Robbins Path and other good class notes I had made into the appropriate sections. I watched a few Kaplan lectures, but not many, I'm a book person. Listened to Goljan and read RR Path and biochem (both by him). I used HY Embryo and Neuroanatomy, Katzung Pharm. BRS cell bio and histo and the Imaging Atlas of Human Anatomy. I did all of UWorld qbank and made notes on it. I did an NBME every week my scores were: 530/229, 550/234, 580/240, 590/242, 620/249, 660/258. I also did the 2 UWSA last week and got a 262 and 264.

All in all it was a fair exam, I think I prepared for it very well given what I was asked. I did the first 2 blocks then took a break after every block thereafter. It was definitely a good strategy, you get more tired than you think and it helps to walk around for a bit to get the blood moving.