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?

 

[kdburton]

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

Its definitely possible though and I don't think anyone really has anything to gain by lying about their scores. I think more often than not people with "average" scores don't post becuase they have less to show off. People scoring 270+ are certainly outliers, so since not 100% of medical students post on SDN theres not going to be that many of those people posting on here. A guy at my school who graduated a few years ago got a 283, so if thats possible then theres probably many more times the amount of people in the 270 range. One of my friends started out at the same score as me pre-study and got a 269 on his last NBME - which was only after one pass through the material and before his two weeks of review. I'm sure he'll break 270 at the pace he's been going no problem. And he only was using only a few resources as well

 

[TXDO]

Its definitely possible though and I don't think anyone really has anything to gain by lying about their scores. I think more often than not people with "average" scores don't post becuase they have less to show off. People scoring 270+ are certainly outliers, so since not 100% of medical students post on SDN theres not going to be that many of those people posting on here. A guy at my school who graduated a few years ago got a 283, so if thats possible then theres probably many more times the amount of people in the 270 range. One of my friends started out at the same score as me pre-study and got a 269 on his last NBME - which was only after one pass through the material and before his two weeks of review. I'm sure he'll break 270 at the pace he's been going no problem. And he only was using only a few resources as well

😱 you meant 283 for step 1? OMG, 275/283, what do these people eat to make them so genius like that?😀 Please help me so I can be smart like you are.👍

 

[TXDO]

How do I unbound the FA? When I study for 1 subject, I kindda take notes and tape them to the FA, but there is not too much space to put everything in.

Thanks for the help🙂

 

[kdburton]

How do I unbound the FA? When I study for 1 subject, I kindda take notes and tape them to the FA, but there is not too much space to put everything in.

Thanks for the help🙂

Kinko's does it for a few bucks and then 3-hole punch it

 

[beezel]

Kinkos unbinds it and hole punches it for about $8

 

[TXDO]

Kinkos unbinds it and hole punches it for about $8

Oh great, I'll do right away. Just last question, will the paper be ok after unbind and hole punched?

Thanks

 

[beezel]

Oh great, I'll do right away. Just last question, will the paper be ok after unbind and hole punched?

Thanks

The paper is a little flimsy, I had to reinforce the holes on a few of the pages that I used a lot, but for the most part, I think it kept it in better shape and made it easier to get to exactly what topic I wanted since I had dividers labelled. Good luck!

 

[Currantjelly]

Took my test today. The test was nothing that I wasn't expecting. It was very very similar to UWorld/NBMEs in difficulty, but there were a few more "gimme" questions where you just knew the answer right off the bat. Those are really nice 😉

Anyways, the UWSA2 was money. I am very glad I choose to use that, several concepts/pictures were repeated on my exam. Now I just wish I had done UWSA1.

There was really nothing more I could have done in my power to prepare for this exam. It was actually nice how everything worked out pretty much to plan when I made my schedule over 7 weeks ago.

My main resources were (in order): UW, Goljan, and FA.

After 1 week of studying, NBME = 216. After 3 weeks NBME 4 = 236. 3 days out UWSA2 = 252.

I studied for 52 days straight, did UW 2 times, listened to Goljan's audio 4x, read through first aid 2.5 times, read Goljan's book, Micro made simple, HY behavioral and made 750ish notecards.

I was not a very highly ranked student the first 2 years, so I was probably behind the ball a bit (ok, a lot) when I started compared to most, but it was fine. One hell of a med student told me a couple years ago that there isn't enough time to learn the first 2 years when studying for boards. Well, I think I have proven that person wrong, or came at least as close as possible. Other than the stress of studying for boards, it was actually enjoyable to be learning clinically important things, not just useless facts that seem to be tested over and over again on our module exames. Another thing I liked about boards is that I got my competitive edge back. I could only take so many punches to the gut before I fought back and went all out. Anyways, talk is cheap and let's see 6 weeks from now when the score rolls in if I really did perform like I know I was cabable of.

 

[metallo]

Anyways, talk is cheap and let's see 6 weeks from now when the score rolls in if I really did perform like I know I was cabable of.

6 weeks? Isn't it more like 3-4 weeks?

 

[kdburton]

How do I unbound the FA? When I study for 1 subject, I kindda take notes and tape them to the FA, but there is not too much space to put everything in.

Thanks for the help🙂

To be honest with you if you can print your own copy of FA then you'd be better off. When you get the book unbound it automatically makes the paper a little less wide and then when you add in your own pages later it is not going to fit flush. The other thing is that, as others have said, the FA pages are flimsy and will rip out easily (or so my friends said who did this). I printed my own copy and it seemed mor sturdy, but then again I only read the thing once...

 

[PBandJ]

I took the exam yesterday (6/30). It feels fabulous to be done. It's been a long 6 weeks...plus around 2 months beforehand preparing for shelf exams and finals.

My approach:
Books --> First Aid, Goljan RR Path, Goljan Biochem (only had time to look at a few pathways and charts), BRS Physio, and High Yield Neuro. I had a bunch of other books around for reference, but I really only used these 5.
Questions:
UWorld (completed 84%, average 66%, 70% on the last 10 blocks)
Kaplan (completed 45%, avg 69%; most of that was preparing for my path shelf exam)
NBME 1 (beginning of study period): 220
UWSA 1 (3 weeks prior): 232
Free 150 (1 week prior): 84% (medfriends estimates 247)

I mapped out a schedule by introductory topics (biochem, embryo, pharm, micro, immuno) and systems (cardio, resp, ...). I dedicated 3-4 days to each topic (or less if I felt necessary, like musculoskeletal). For my shelf prep, I had already read through Goljan RR Path at least twice, and I had listened to the audio twice too.
Throughout my organ system study time, I incorporated the relevant First Aid sections, read through Goljan again (and listened to the audio again), and read BRS Physio.
I am so glad I listened to the upperclassmen at my school and bought UWorld. I bought Kaplan back in January, and I was kind of unsatisfied by the quality of the explanations. I did a 1 month subscription to UWorld and it was definitely the best thing I could do to prep for this exam. It really got me used to the 2nd and 3rd order question style, and it's a great learning tool (especially for topics not covered in First Aid).

In general, I thought the exam was pretty fair. The questions were significantly shorter and less complex than UWorld, but I still felt like it was really great preparation. The questions were more like NBME 1 and some of the harder questions from the free 150. It might have been worth it to pay for a few more NBME exams, since I'm sure some of the topics were similar, but all in all I really don't feel too bad about it.

If any one has questions, feel free to PM me. Since I don't have to start 3rd year now, I'm on vacation for 3 weeks, woohoo!! 🙂 Good luck to those who have yet to take it. The best advice I got right before the test is that this is all about YOUR hard work and showing what you know, so don't be nervous...just show your stuff!

 

[drgopoos]

Did some one take exam around June 13 have their results out yet ?

 

[sd1984]

took exam may 27th, fred v2, no results yet, anyone in the same boat? 6 weeks wtf, FML

 

[Stalling]

deletion..

 

[muncher]

Took the exam a few days ago.

First things first: I want to make a formal complaint to either the NBME or Prometrics, someone. Because that was incredibly unprofessional and annoying. There were about 4 people taking the USMLE (either Step I or II) when this lady entered the "we're going to watch you on the monitor" room. She starts yapping away to this guy in there for 3 blocks. That's ALL I could hear. I had to put those crappy orange headphones on and press them against my ears just to be able to get through questions.

I constantly stared both of them down during the exam, and they just started laughing it up.

luckily, the guy ended up leaving so she had no one to talk to - but it was beyond ridiculous. Not to mention comments like "I don't know why you people are nervous. It's just an exam. You people are acting like little children." This is NOT something anyone there wanted to hear - because, quite frankly it really isn't just "an exam" - there is SOME weight to this one.

Hah. I actually just took my exam about a week ago and this EXACT same situation happened to me (prometrics, LI, NY). Unlike you though, I got up after about 5 mins and told them to stfu, politely of course, and they did.

 

[FractureFixer]

I took my test at the end of June 25. It was much easier than what everyone on here made it out to be. I expected it to be a super killer test and i ended up knowing most of the answers once I read the question and just looked for that answer in the choices. As long as you study hard you will do fine. Of course I could be wrong and got wrong all the questions i thought were easy. So i may have failed we will see in ~6-8 weeks!!

 

[ENThopeful]

I took my test at the end of June 25. It was much easier than what everyone on here made it out to be. I expected it to be a super killer test and i ended up knowing most of the answers once I read the question and just looked for that answer in the choices. As long as you study hard you will do fine. Of course I could be wrong and got wrong all the questions i thought were easy. So i may have failed we will see in ~6-8 weeks!!

i hope i get a form similar to yours. im seeing less and less of these killer tests so maybe they stopped giving them out, who knows.. i just dont see the point in destroying students in tests, it doesnt quiz your knowledge you are supposed to have as a 2nd yr student or really how you think (well maybe it does).

 

[whatnext86]

Hi everyone! Was one of the people who found valuable information in this thread, so thought I would give back.

I took the test about 1 week ago and went on vacation right after. I thought my test was quite hard and honestly have absolutely no idea how I did. The majority of my test was micro and pharm which were my two weaker subjects to begin with. I had maybe 1-2 physio questions and a handful of anatomy questions (mostly from FA, nothing that was too surprising). I actually had a couple straight histology questions that were not associated with pathology at all that I did my best to guess on well. I felt like I had quite a few bizzare questions that were no where in first aid or brs phys or brs path/RR. Had some drugs that I had a hard time finding the MOA to online.

I had a few straight questions that I felt I got right, but after all those other questions, who really knows haha. For path, I had a ton of resp especially combined with micro, followed by renal and cardio, then derm. Very little of anything else. Had a lot of pictures for the derm ones, which didn't have enough info to ID the disease without the picture. I had been hoping to get enough info in the question stem to do those questions, so had some difficulty with those as well. With all the strange questions and the emphasis on my weaknesses, the test kinda started messing with my head a little and I just couldn't come up with some answers that I knew I had down cold during the test. This added to my frustration a little bit as well.

Time was an issue as many people had mentioned before. I did the best I could while doing each section as I didnt have much time to go back and check. The first section is usually the hardest because you are trying to do every question correctly and I found myself spending extra time on all of the questions in that section. Did better with time later since I had a better idea of how to manage it. I felt I had more than enough time for breaks. The people at the testing center were extremely nice and friendly which was motivating in a way. It's nice to see people with a smile on their faces.

Really felt like I did quite horribly on this test. Was doing well on the practice tests (was in the range I wanted to be 1 week before the test, 230-240s). But honestly, I'm hoping for a 220 at this point. Felt like I worked hard for a test that I could not have really done better on. I went through FA about 3.5 times during step study time after class (had read it once fully before school was done), BRS phys 2 times, BRS path once, had listened to Goljan over the year with path and taken hand written notes from each lecture as I went and went through those at least 2X during step studying and re-listened to all the lectures once. Went through pharm and micro an extra time since I knew that was my weakness, but didn't help me much unfortunately.

What I would say is that this getting through this test is almost 60% mental. Just keeping yourself calm and not letting questions that throw you for a loop get to you while your taking the test. Just do your best. I feel like even though I don't think I did well on that test, I could not have studied any harder. Just give it your all and you will be ok. Don't let the test mess with your head and I feel you will do much better 🙂 Let me know if anyone has any questions. Good luck to all!!!

 

[b2dm]

I took my test yesterday. Overall, I thought it was a very reasonable test. Lots of straightforward questions that pretty much everyone who passed 2nd year would know. I was very surprised at how much immunology there was on my test. I'd say there were at least 7 per block, and most of these were the nit picky ones. But some of these could be experimental qs, so who knows. Immuno was probably the most difficult portion of my test.

FA pharmacology was right on the money when it came to my test. I'm so glad I went over all the FA pharm sections the night before my test. Most of the questinos were straight recall; the others were vignettes that you most likely would have seen in the qbank you're using.

There were also a ton of molecular biology on my test. Many of the questions I had on this subject were the ones where they describe an experiment and then require you to apply a MCB principle. I thought HY MCB was enough to get these answers right.

I'd say I had about 12 biochemistry questions total. Pretty much all of them were in FA.

Micro- know your FA cold, including drug of choice for the major bugs, virulence factor/toxin mechanisms.

As I had expected, most of my test was pathology and physiology. I had a ton of respiratory pathophysiology questions. I had 2 questions that were straight out of UWorld, same question and DIAGRAM (which kinda surprised me). I guess most of you already know that there were also a ton of reproductive questions. I thought some of the repro questions were really difficult. Cardio was pretty much knowing your murmurs. I'd say the amount of questions in terms of systems pathology and physiology goes in the order of respiratory>reproductive>cardio>renal>everything else.

I didn't have time to go through all of HY Neuro so I just focused on FA and went through some diagrams and pictures on HY Neuro. I'd say the neuro was also very reasonable.

My practice scores (certainly nothing in comparison to the Step 1 gods in this forum):
NBME5 (5 weeks b4 test): 234
UWSA1 (1.5 weeks b4 test): 247
NBME6 (4d b4 test) : 247

I really feel like my test was on the easier side of things, and I'm an average student, so I'm guessing I'll get a much lower score than my practice score. I'd be happy with a 220 (I hope nothing lower than this though) but I certainly wouldn't mind a 247 threepeat.

 

[docbill]

I took my test yesterday. Overall, I thought it was a very reasonable test. Lots of straightforward questions that pretty much everyone who passed 2nd year would know. I was very surprised at how much immunology there was on my test. I'd say there were at least 7 per block, and most of these were the nit picky ones. But some of these could be experimental qs, so who knows. Immuno was probably the most difficult portion of my test.

FA pharmacology was right on the money when it came to my test. I'm so glad I went over all the FA pharm sections the night before my test. Most of the questinos were straight recall; the others were vignettes that you most likely would have seen in the qbank you're using.

There were also a ton of molecular biology on my test. Many of the questions I had on this subject were the ones where they describe an experiment and then require you to apply a MCB principle. I thought HY MCB was enough to get these answers right.

I'd say I had about 12 biochemistry questions total. Pretty much all of them were in FA.

Micro- know your FA cold, including drug of choice for the major bugs, virulence factor/toxin mechanisms.

As I had expected, most of my test was pathology and physiology. I had a ton of respiratory pathophysiology questions. I had 2 questions that were straight out of UWorld, same question and DIAGRAM (which kinda surprised me). I guess most of you already know that there were also a ton of reproductive questions. I thought some of the repro questions were really difficult. Cardio was pretty much knowing your murmurs. I'd say the amount of questions in terms of systems pathology and physiology goes in the order of respiratory>reproductive>cardio>renal>everything else.

I didn't have time to go through all of HY Neuro so I just focused on FA and went through some diagrams and pictures on HY Neuro. I'd say the neuro was also very reasonable.

My practice scores (certainly nothing in comparison to the Step 1 gods in this forum):
NBME5 (5 weeks b4 test): 234
UWSA1 (1.5 weeks b4 test): 247
NBME6 (4d b4 test) : 247

I really feel like my test was on the easier side of things, and I'm an average student, so I'm guessing I'll get a much lower score than my practice score. I'd be happy with a 220 (I hope nothing lower than this though) but I certainly wouldn't mind a 247 threepeat.

Oh you scoring right up there with the SDN gods. Considering the average for USMLE is 217. Anything above 230 is great, that is why 237 is 99 two digit score. I will be very happy if I can get in the mid 230s.

 

[Gute]

Oh you scoring right up there with the SDN gods. Considering the average for USMLE is 217. Anything above 230 is great, that is why 237 is 99 percentile. I will be very happy if I can get in the mid 230s.

237 isn't 99th percentile. The test's mean is approx 220 with a std dev of 20.

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

Oh you scoring right up there with the SDN gods. Considering the average for USMLE is 217. Anything above 230 is great, that is why 237 is 99 percentile. I will be very happy if I can get in the mid 230s.

Don't confuse the 2 digit score with percentile. You can receive a 99 two digit score at about the 79th percentile.

 

[docbill]

Yes I am aware of that. Sorry for the wrong wording. 237 = 99 two digit score.
I would still love to have anything in the 230s.

 

[docbill]

237 isn't 99th percentile. The test's mean is approx 220 with a std dev of 20.

Oh its 220 now. For some reason I remember 217, maybe its the old average. Still I would be happy with 230s. I guess we can't all get 250+. I accept my weaknesses.

 

[Whats_up_doc]

Oh its 220 now. For some reason I remember 217, maybe its the old average. Still I would be happy with 230s. I guess we can't all get 250+. I accept my weaknesses.

👍

 

[fergustsi]

👍

👍👍👍👍

 

[sendwich]

Oh its 220 now. For some reason I remember 217, maybe its the old average. Still I would be happy with 230s. I guess we can't all get 250+. I accept my weaknesses.

2007 average was 222. I read somewhere that last year's average was 227 but I hope this is wrong 😱

 

[docbill]

Okay folks. I have a question for all you experts.

The test is 336 Questions right (48 x 7).

So the number you get... if you are SDN god.. say 270. Is that 270/336?

How many experimental questions are there.. anyone knows?

If that is so, I feel better knowing I can get 100 questions wrong and still get my dream score.

 

[docbill]

2007 average was 222. I read somewhere that last year's average was 227 but I hope this is wrong 😱

Ok, on page 8 of first aid, it says mean for step 1 is 217 in 2005... and and... 200 in 1991. So by now your right its probably its probably 239+ ???

 

[cgscribe]

I think the # of experimental questions is probably highly variable, but I think it's a pretty significant amount from non-expert opinions: like almost a full section worth.

 

[sendwich]

Ok, on page 8 of first aid, it says mean for step 1 is 217 in 2005... and and... 200 in 1991. So by now your right its probably its probably 239+ ???

The average probably didnt increase 17 points each year. I'm just saying that the most current (last year's) average everyone speaks of isn't 217....more closer to 222 (which is the most up to date average) or even 227.. I wish I remembered where I saw this stat. You'd think that since this is a standardized test, the average wouldn't really change all that much.

I guess this is just part of the anxiety of seeing my results. 😕

 

[GatorsWearJorts]

I think 222 is mean for american md students only. The 217 is the overall mean for all test-takers.

 

[azmedstud]

Hi everyone! Was one of the people who found valuable information in this thread, so thought I would give back.

I took the test about 1 week ago and went on vacation right after. I thought my test was quite hard and honestly have absolutely no idea how I did. The majority of my test was micro and pharm which were my two weaker subjects to begin with. I had maybe 1-2 physio questions and a handful of anatomy questions (mostly from FA, nothing that was too surprising). I actually had a couple straight histology questions that were not associated with pathology at all that I did my best to guess on well. I felt like I had quite a few bizzare questions that were no where in first aid or brs phys or brs path/RR. Had some drugs that I had a hard time finding the MOA to online.

I had a few straight questions that I felt I got right, but after all those other questions, who really knows haha. For path, I had a ton of resp especially combined with micro, followed by renal and cardio, then derm. Very little of anything else. Had a lot of pictures for the derm ones, which didn't have enough info to ID the disease without the picture. I had been hoping to get enough info in the question stem to do those questions, so had some difficulty with those as well. With all the strange questions and the emphasis on my weaknesses, the test kinda started messing with my head a little and I just couldn't come up with some answers that I knew I had down cold during the test. This added to my frustration a little bit as well.

Time was an issue as many people had mentioned before. I did the best I could while doing each section as I didnt have much time to go back and check. The first section is usually the hardest because you are trying to do every question correctly and I found myself spending extra time on all of the questions in that section. Did better with time later since I had a better idea of how to manage it. I felt I had more than enough time for breaks. The people at the testing center were extremely nice and friendly which was motivating in a way. It's nice to see people with a smile on their faces.

Really felt like I did quite horribly on this test. Was doing well on the practice tests (was in the range I wanted to be 1 week before the test, 230-240s). But honestly, I'm hoping for a 220 at this point. Felt like I worked hard for a test that I could not have really done better on. I went through FA about 3.5 times during step study time after class (had read it once fully before school was done), BRS phys 2 times, BRS path once, had listened to Goljan over the year with path and taken hand written notes from each lecture as I went and went through those at least 2X during step studying and re-listened to all the lectures once. Went through pharm and micro an extra time since I knew that was my weakness, but didn't help me much unfortunately.

What I would say is that this getting through this test is almost 60% mental. Just keeping yourself calm and not letting questions that throw you for a loop get to you while your taking the test. Just do your best. I feel like even though I don't think I did well on that test, I could not have studied any harder. Just give it your all and you will be ok. Don't let the test mess with your head and I feel you will do much better 🙂 Let me know if anyone has any questions. Good luck to all!!!

I am in the EXACT same boat as you! I think we had the same test! It was a crazy bizarre test for me, and I was doing well (where I wanted to be at least) in my practice tests and studying and all that, and this test just floored me, I seriously have no idea how I did. Good luck to you!!!

 

[snowflake83]

I think the # of experimental questions is probably highly variable, but I think it's a pretty significant amount from non-expert opinions: like almost a full section worth.

From what I have heard (from a faculty member at our school), they add about 750 questions to the Step 1 bank every year and the experimental questions are just a random selection of the new questions. They do it so they can get an idea of difficulty before they use them for real.... but they should be a random array of difficulty (not all of the new questions are going to be super hard, some will be super easy). And I think I read somewhere that they add 48 questions. On my test, I noticed a few questions with typos (assuming these were experimental) and they were they weren't the hardest or easiest questions on the test (and they were in different blocks). ... FWIW.

 

[ropeadope1983]

Took it about a week ago. Here's how I prepared:

-Didn't even think about Step 1 until year 2 was over. I studied my lecture notes as long and hard as I could and honored every course.

-At the conclusion of year 2, before even looking at FA I took the NMBE 1 and scored in the mid-220's range.

-Studied FA once through (which is more like at least 3X through because I read through each section at least 3X before moving on...some sections 5-10X depending on whether the material was familiar to me).

-Completed 100% of Kaplan Qbank with an average of 72% (all timed, non-tutor mode, and mostly 48 question blocks). Started listening to some highly recommended lecture audios.

-Completed 100% of USMLEWorld with an average of 72% (all timed, non-tutor mode, all of them in 48 questions blocks). Finished listening to those highly recommended lecture audios for the 3rd time through.

-With just over 2 weeks left I studied nothing but FA again the same way I did before starting my Qbank.

-With just over 1 week left I studied nothing but FA much more rapidly (not quite reading through the whole thing in an entire day...so just reading it once through without re-reading any sections). Doing it this way really was an eye-opener to me (I saw things I didn't notice before, really got the big picture, and consolidated information like you wouldn't believe).

-I'd say in total I read through everything in FA at least 10X.

-Also along the way I used PharmCards by reading them, paraphrasing the information and writing it out on a dry-erase board and then saying my paraphrased information outloud. The next day I would review those drugs again before moving on. (pharmacology was my weekness in my opinion...until I found it to be a strength on test day).

-Really took the last 2.5 days off from studying. Relaxed. Built my confidence up knowing that I am ready and I studied the material enough.

Test Day:

-Only took a few minute break between my first two blocks of questions so I could take more substantial breaks later in the game when I'd actually be hungry and tired (this worked great for me!)

-My first block of questions was a little shaky. Maybe I was a little nervous, but I thought some of the questions in that block were a little strange. The rest of the blocks went pretty smooth. I got through each block with at least 10 minutes to spare and went through all of them again quickly. I'm glad I did this because I know I changed a few to the correct answer for sure, and it also helped change my mindset (I always found that as I'm answering the questions I start telling myself that things aren't going so well as soon as I see 1 or 2 questions I'm not sure about...after going through the whole block and realizing that it is really just those 1 or 2 I'm not sure about, my confidence goes sky high and it helps me for the rest of the exam).

-I personally thought the exam wasn't very difficult at all. I disagree with most people who say it is a lot more like USMLEWorld because I thought plenty of questions were a lot more like Kaplan Qbank (though plenty of questions were also a lot more like USMLEWorld too...glad I did both). I am very confident that I will do even better than my % on my question banks (especially since I turned my pharm weakness into my strength).

I don't remember well enough to give a complete breakdown of the content of my exam (I guess I had better things to do at the time than keep a detailed tally in my head), but here's what I remember for sure:

-Very heavily geared towards Neurology stuff (lots of brain/brainstem/spinal cord images). Pretty much easy stuff for me though because I scored top of the class in my Neuroscience course.

-Pharmacology was really only maybe 5 questions per block (versus about 10 questions per block I was used to seeing in my question banks and getting only 40-50% of them right at the time). Too bad though, because I thought they were very easy and I'm sure I got almost 100% of them right (except for 1 HIV drug question where I didn't recognize the drug and it wasn't in FA...fair enough). Most questions were either 1-step easy ones like: "which antibiotic drug inhibits DNA gyrase?" or graphs that asked you to identify which curve corresponds to the competitive antagonist. This ups my confidence a lot because if not for pharmacology being my weekest subject by far in both of my question banks I would have easily been in the 80's% range.

-Hard to say much else about what else was heavily favored on the exam. I guess I didn't see all that much of embryology (except maybe 1 that I can think of that would have been hard if not for the fact that my embryology teacher in college was nutso about teaching us about HOX genes and I got that one right all because of her). There was plenty of micro, but not as much as I was expecting and hoping for based on the question banks (I love micro...debating whether or not I want to go into IM Infectious Diseases). A fair number of behavioral science "choose your own adventure" types of things. Maybe 2-3 sensitivity/specificity calculation type questions. I'm a little foggy about the representation of biochemistry/genetics questions. I guess I'd say there were a fair number of them, but not as scary as I expected and I think I got most of them right.

That's all I'll say for now. I think I hit a home run with this one. I'd say most of it for me was grinding it out during my 1st two years of medical school (which makes me happy I made that painful investment). I am really glad I stuck to the basics of mostly FA along with lots of questions from the question banks during my study break. I doubt I would have remembered enough of this stuff if I spread myself too thin by trying to tackle RR Pathology, BRS Phys, etc., etc. on top of everything else I already did in only 7.5 weeks. Maybe it would have been good for me to use these other books during the 1st two years, but then I would have been spreading myself too thin for my classes and I wanted to be absolutely sure I would honor all of my classes so I threw all my efforts into those lecture notes (and I think it payed of plent for me on Step 1).

 

[Re3iRtH]

So I took it about 2.5 weeks ago, on June the 17th, so this feedback
may not be as useful if I had wrote it the day after. I was in a time
crunch after the boards, including moving out of my appt, traveling
europe, flying to my first M3 rotations site etc etc etc.

My main sources were:
Goljan RR and audio, UW, FA, and BRB phys
thrown in there on occasion.
I took 4 weeks exactly to study.
Goal: 230+

UW: 63% (some 80+ towards the end).
I was an above average student (which at my school, could mean
something or it could not).

I probably read FA 3 times overall. I read RR completely studying for
my path shelf and chapters 1-10 again during my study period. I can
usually pick things up pretty well from reading it once, and this is good
because i have a major problem with wanting to read anything more than
once (thats why FA took lots of convincing on my part).

The best source for me by far was UW and Goljan audio.
I can still remember 3 questions on lead poisoning, and several other
topics that Goljan mentioned word-for-word (can't recall them now since
its been awhile since the exam).

Neuro: not that crazy on my exam as everyone has been saying.
I had 1-2 brain stem slices that I can recall (one I knew the answer
was hippocampus, classic "Memento" lesion, but 2 arrows pointing in the
region of the hippocampus 😡
Phys: BY FAR the hardest subject on my exam. People say the phys on the
Step is slightly easier than UW, I didn't think so, each question was
up/down arrows with at least 12 choices, much more obscure than
UW even. If you didn't nail phys first year, good luck with these.
Path: Basically pathophys, no surprises if you studied Goljan.
Anatomy: You'll get some UW stuff if you are lucky, otherwise it is
surgical stuff that is hit or miss.
Murmurs: I had 3 interactive audios with murmurs. Not that hard.
Biochem: Unfortunately. not much on my exam. Had even I structure
question (I thought they got rid of those)
Pharm: I thought I was weak in pharm, but I don't remember that much
pharm on my exam at all, some of the charts are tricky though.


I finished each section with about 10-15 mins to spare, and marked about
5-6 per section. The last section I thought was very hard, with much
longer question stems. I was pretty much beat at this point, but I can
definately say the questions were harder. I think if these turn out not
to be experimental I might take a huge hit. I marked about 15-20 on
the last section.
Did anyone else have a similar experience where one section was just
uncharacteristic of the others, and still ended up doing decent? I haven't
thought about the Step until now but I need some major reassurance
thinking about that last section. I wasn't even tired but it seemed like
I couldnt even process most thoughts halfway through the last section.

 

[morriske]

took exam may 27th, fred v2, no results yet, anyone in the same boat? 6 weeks wtf, FML

I called the NBME in Philadelphia last week. They said that there is no chance that the scores will come out earlier than July 15 🙁 I guess we're stuck waiting. I'm just going to have my husband check my e-mail that day. I'll be so nervous that I'll prob pass out in the OR

 

[Re3iRtH]

Whoops, couple more.

Micro: This was straight recall and nothing that wasn't in FA.
Immuno: Fair for the most part, but early on I had a question
on a random CD marker that there would be no way to prep for
anyway.

 

[ENThopeful]

Phys: BY FAR the hardest subject on my exam. People say the phys on the
Step is slightly easier than UW, I didn't think so, each question was
up/down arrows with at least 12 choices, much more obscure than
UW even. If you didn't nail phys first year, good luck with these.

by phys do you mean cell bio phys with sodium and all that or endocrine/renal/cardio phys

 

[NCF145]

Neuro: not that crazy on my exam as everyone has been saying.
I had 1-2 brain stem slices that I can recall (one I knew the answer
was hippocampus, classic "Memento" lesion, but 2 arrows pointing in the
region of the hippocampus 😡

I had that question. There were two arrows in the same general region, but one was pointing more toward the parahippocampal region rather than the hippocampus.

 

[stickshift]

Took the test today. Based on all the "horror stories" on here and from my classmates, I went in thinking that I would get raped by obscure questions, but overall the test wasn't bad at all. The overwhelming majority of questions were 1- or 2-step questions. Clinical vignettes were based on classic presentations, dead giveaways IMO.

Resources used: FA, RR Path, RR Biochem, Microcards, UWorld q-bank
Pretty much everything (except those few random gross anatomy questions, maybe 2-3 in my whole test) could be found in FA, RR Path, and UWorld. The best thing I did in the few days before my exam were cramming in all of FA and the RR Path blue margin notes and tables - this kept all of the knowledge at instant recall, which helped alot during test day because you don't really have the time to sit and mull over an answer by trying to pull out details from your unconscious. There were also a few detail questions that were straight up from UWorld. I also felt I learned alot more from doing UWorld in tutor mode....lots of detail questions that you are more likely to remember if you do the questions in tutor mode. UWorld questions were definitely harder than the actual questions on my form. The triple-step questions were great preparation. They basically made my test's 2-step questions seem like single-step questions. Overall the test difficulty felt very similar to the NBME practice tests.

Micro: My form was heavy on the bugs. Lots of clinical vignettes, with classic symptoms. 2-3 protozoa questions. I'm really glad I spent the day before the exam going over the Micro section in FA.
Phys: tested just the basics, FA and UWorld was more than enough.
Pharm: Very basic. Most/all the drugs were in FA and UWorld. I don't remember getting many questions on side effects.
Neuro: Common diseases, nothing obscure. A few pictures of brain, brainstem, and spinal cord stuff.
Immuno: FA was more than enough.
Pathology: I'm really glad I read RR path. There were a few detail questions that were straight recall from Goljan's book. I listened to a few of his audio lectures and stopped, figured I'd just read the book and get more comprehensive coverage.
Anatomy: For the most part these questions were doable. Had 2 brachial plexus questions and a few off-the-wall ones (no way to prepare for those, really).
Biochem: Straight up from FA. RR Biochem helped to understand the material the first time, but for instant recall on test day, cramming FA was the way to go.
Behavioral science: The biostats questions were very basic and straight up from FA. The ethics questions all had a more obvious answer choice...however I felt that the only way to prepare for those questions is to do well in your medical school's soft-skills course.
Audio questions: 3 murmur ones.
Sequential questions: Only had a group of 2 questions that you had to do in sequence.

Bottom line: The best way to prepare for this test is to do well in your first 2 years of med school (especially M2 year material). FA + RR Path + UWorld was all that I felt was needed, although I think I got a lucky form in that regard.

 

[Flaxmoore]

I called the NBME in Philadelphia last week. They said that there is no chance that the scores will come out earlier than July 15 🙁 I guess we're stuck waiting. I'm just going to have my husband check my e-mail that day. I'll be so nervous that I'll prob pass out in the OR

They're mailed, aren't they?

 

[Deferoxamine]

Took the test today. Based on all the "horror stories" on here and from my classmates, I went in thinking that I would get raped by obscure questions, but overall the test wasn't bad at all. The overwhelming majority of questions were 1- or 2-step questions.

They basically made my test's 2-step questions seem like single-step questions. Overall the test difficulty felt very similar to the NBME practice tests.

Enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling now.

Give it another day or two, and you'll begin remembering other questions you were unsure about, look them up (if you dare), and find out you got a lot of them wrong.

Unless of course you got like a 270.

 

[psammomabody]

They're mailed, aren't they?

No, I'm pretty sure it will show up on the website. You'll need your USMLE ID and password to sign in. Same place you went to print out your test center "ticket."

nbme.org

 

[MountainEM]

Took it today but I am flying at 6am so I will make some notes later.

All in all, I really felt like I screwed it up today.

I did not think the test was that bad, I just felt like I was slow and I never had time to go back to the ?s that I doubted/did not know. I marked about 12-15 each section, and never got to look at them again. I was doing well on practice exams but I totally putzed through it and really sucked. I guessed a lot and did not have time to really think through the complicated questions that required equations, etc. Screw it. Move on.

I will write more later. Dont let this post get you down if you are taking it. It was probably easier than I expected. Just not on my a-game.
d

 

[bluntdissector]

Took it today. I'm not going to post my 'stats' as I don't see the point if I don't have a score to add. But if, for some reason it does add something, just post and I’ll provide! 🙂

Arrived at the test centre an hour early, but sat in my car and pumped some music to get in the mood, then checked in 30 min early. I was very calm, as I knew I had prepared well and was going to give it my all, lol.

But, I think my test was pretty hard. I'll try and give some sort of a breakdown, but so many questions were mixed:
Behavioral science: Only one where you had to actually calculate something, then a few graphs you have to interpret using primary school maths and common sense. Then A LOT of 'what should the doctor do' vibe, and some were pretty damn hard. I thought World and the NBME's would prepare me well enough for these ridiculous Q's, but about 40% of the time I was left with what seemed like two perfectly good options. And I had to guess.
Biochem: I'm pissed about this. My course spends like no time on this, so I spent a lot of time trying to educate myself, but then I started doing NBME's and World and they asked very clinical Q's, whilst I had ignored FA and tried to memorize pathways. So then I shifted to a heavy clinical biochem approach during the month before the test. I had no Q's on PKU or Maple Syrup or Homocystinuria or glycogen storage Dz's or Lysosomal Dz's. Instead I had a bunch of straight recall biochem Q's on enzymes activated by this or that, some amino acids (basic or glucogenic or present in this or that) and then some metabolic pathways with Q's and options from A-M. For the amount of time I ended up devoting to biochem I don’t think I'll do very well.
Molec/Cell/Genet: Hard. But not that many Molec/Cell Q's. But they were hard - the receptor pathways were only in FA about 50% of the time and there were some pretty unknown transcription factors and stuff. But thankfully there weren't that many. I had too many molecular technique Q's though. It seemed that about 3 Q's per block started with 'A researcher is studying the effect of...' and then there are strange graphs or f*cked up looking electrophoresis-vibe things. 🙂 As for genetics, some were SO easy, and some were strange. But the worst were the 'terminology' Q's. That list in FA with Imprinting and Heteroplasy etc etc did not suffice. But I hate Molec/Genet/Cell, so I might be giving the wrong impression.
Micro: Very few - too bad. Mostly these were super easy, with lots of buzzwords. Maybe one that FA didn't cover, but the rest all had the classic stuff. Only one toxin Q. Only two (I think) Q's on antibiotics, which sucks, I knew those really well! 😡
Immuno: Strange. Some things were super easy, classic, straight from world/FA. But about 30% of them had things that were def not in FA, although I think I got some of them from doing Crash Course. And then there had to be some experimentals, cuz there were CD's and IL's and drugs that I was like
Pharm (in general): These were mostly easy. Mostly SE's, but classic stuff. Having said that, there were quite a few drugs I didn't recognize, although they were usually just a distraction. Probably 5% of these were really strange, so not bad.
Anatomy (in general): WAY too much anatomy, and stuff that wasn't in FA. I don't want to say too much (someone warn me if I do) but there were damn hard resp and gastro anatomy with clinical twists (where would cancer spread, which structure must the surgeon, where will blood collect, ect ect) and these things were not in FA and I had to guess. Prob 50:50, These easy 50 are gimme's and the other 50% is like OMG can't you test this in a more practical way??
Phys (in general): Quite little. Some diagrams that seemed straight from world/BRS, and then some up/down arrow Q's that got quite tricky for repro/endo.
Pathology (in general) : Not many straight 'patient presents with these Sx...whats the Dx' Q's. I was hoping for like a LOT of these, as I cane these and they got me my 80% world avg I rate. There were some Q's where you had to be able to see wtf was going on histologically or with gross path. More cause of death/complications/whats next test Q's than the NBME's, but for the most part these were fine, except for the f*ckooad of pregnant women and old peeps. I swear half of the patient wre either pregnant or bloody old. I had to really dig deep with the preg Q's, since FA doesn't have that much and neither does BRS path. I didn't know the pathophys of all the Cx od preg and risk factors and stuff as well as they wanted me to. Too bad. 😀
Repro: The most represented. And my weakest of the lot. Nice. As I said, way to many pregnant women.
Endo: Second most I think. The Tx and Dx were easy, but some of the up/down arrows were just strange (again A- M)
Musculo/Gastro: Next. Musculo was, just like world, mostly recall. Muscles, nerves, anti-bodies. Either know it or you don't. Gastro were pretty much only cancers or alcohol related things. Don't remember a single IBD Q. And the gastro in pregnant women were hard.
Cardio: Would have liked more of this.One of my strengths. I thought they were super easy, except when they were linked with acid-base or repro Q's. Yes they found a way to ruin cardio by linking it to pregnant women. Bastards.
Resp: Basic stuff, except for some difficult acid-base linked stuff and some hard alveolar PaO2 etc up/down arrows.
Haem/Onco: Haems was super easy, all the classic stuff. Onco had some stupidly easy drug S/E's and then some strange receptors that lymphomas/leukemias might or might not express. I'll never know!
Renal: Drugs and acid base. The acid base Q's are hard, and I'm normally good with these. But thankfully I didn't get Q's on the histology of all the nephritic/nephrotic Sd's. I just couldn't get that down!!
Neuro: Damn pissed as this was prob my least represented subject, and the field I want to specialize in. I got world Q's right that only 15% of people got, from reading journal articles and the Bradley's, then they gave me some silly cord lesions, a brainstem and a few degenerative conditions. I think I got all of them right, but they were few and far between.
Audio questions: 3 Murmers, but 2 of them were the same one with similar patient history, and easy to diagnose without listening to it. The other one gave a huge clue by stating it is a congenital dz.
Sequential questions: Don't see the point of these (I had one) but they might as well have been completely separate.
General comment: I felt that many Q's were very different from the NBME's and World. They seemed to mix the things up a lot more, there were more Q's that had 'normal' as an option and more options to choose from in general. Some things that I felt sure they'd ask just didn't feature - like head injury CT's or vasculitis Q's or at least one asbestos/etc question or PKU. But I honestly don't think I could have prepared much better, except for maybe going to med-school in the states - perhaps those behav Q's are better then!

My initial goal was 250+ so I could compete for top/near top Neuro programs, but I'd be surprised if I get that. Again though, I don't feel bad cuz I finished each block with 7-10min left which I could spend on the 10-13 flagged Q's and decide whether I want to change my hunch/guess. Lol. I was very calm - when I did the NBME's I got pissed when I saw what concept they were testing and I knew that I did review it but just couldn't remember/etc. But here I think there were quite a lot of Q's i was like 'that's okay, I've never known that and I didn't review it, so don't sweat it.' Furthermore, the world blocks had questions that made me 'stress' since I have to really think and figure it out whilst time keeps running out, but here I could stay calm cuz it wuz like 'Okay thats A...that's B...never heard of that...wtf is that...I dunno what marker that is...okay that’s G...that’s F...God knows wtf that is referring to....B again...' etc, not that many 'difficult to figure out Q's' in my opinion. I might as well have been

ANYWAY, I might just be bleak cuz I felt confident that I'll get my 250+ and now I am hoping for 240. It felt harder that NBME 5/6 and World SA 1/2. But please ask, maybe I'm just focusing on the negative things! I still think, judging from what others have said, that I got a 'hard' form, even if that was only because it happened to nail me on my weaknesses more than I expected! 😳

Lol, good luck to everyone writing in the near future! I am SO grateful for everyone’s help on this forum, and I will stick around to try and help others, although I might move to Step 2 in the near future. Also, I’d prefer to get my score before I offer too much!

PS - my 'completed' screen said the score will take 6w, wtf, I thought it was like 3-4w?

 

[ENThopeful]

thanks for the feedback bluntdissector,

you can always think of it this way, if you thought the test was hard, so did everyone else.. its standardized afterall

 

[med314]

NBME 2: 253-5/1/2009
NBME 4: 266-5/29/2009
NBME 6: 266-6/1/2009

I studied for the USMLE during my classes and took it before our "study period" began because I wanted to have a summer break...probably a bad idea...

I think I got at least 20 questions wrong... 🙁

My test: 6/4/2009

Biochem: 20qs
Micro: 40qs a lot of antibiotic resistance.
Pharm: 60-80qs
Path: 100 qs about 20% was neuro, very little cardio and renal and respiratory
Phys: They loved asking resp and endo, about 50 qs
behavioral: easy, about 20 qs
Oh yeah, my computer shut down in the middle of my 5th section, I lost about 5 minutes of time...sucks, be ready for anything though

Just waiting till July 15 for the score!

If I get a 240 i'll be satisfied
If I get a 250 i'll be happy
If I get a 260 I'll be very happy
If i get a 270 i'll be excited.

 

[angeladav]

This thread is awesome in

detail

 

[stickshift]

PS - my 'completed' screen said the score will take 6w, wtf, I thought it was like 3-4w?

FREDv2 takes 6-8 weeks.