Good luck all. I have my exam end of March and hope to be the 1st one to post here for 2010.
i took my test last friday and am starting to freak out. i didnt have a single set of grouped questions. did anyone else notice that they didnt have any? i'm starting to think that i just hit the "next" button and missed them. or maybe im just paranoid.
i took my test last friday and am starting to freak out. i didnt have a single set of grouped questions. did anyone else notice that they didnt have any? i'm starting to think that i just hit the "next" button and missed them. or maybe im just paranoid.
what did you improve from? How many weeks are we talking until your exam?-My USMLE World Scores have improved to about a 45% (I've only been studying a week and a half)
Took the test today.
Someone I remember asked if any side effects of drugs WITHIN groups were asked. Most definitely. I had a one to pick out a protease inhibitor that had a specific side effect. I guessed that one.
ssup guys
have my exam tomorrow. Wish me luck. I am having the day before exam panic attack, I feel like ive forgotten a lot of stuff.
what did you improve from? How many weeks are we talking until your exam?
So as I said before, my school only gives us a couple of weeks between the end of class and the final deadline to take Boards. So it has been a mad dash.
The dash continues. But my strategy has changed. ALOT. And some things have not.
-I realized that DIT was worthless to me. So I dropped it.
-I am going to listen to all the Goljan audio.
-My USMLE World Scores have improved to about a 45% (I've only been studying a week and a half)
-I've gone through First Aid once, and am keeping the pace I wanted.
-Pharm is going ok.
-Taking an NBME on the 17th.
-Real thing on June 30.
My question is this. With the time I have remaining, after I finish my second run through of First Aid, should I take a couple of days to read my Biochem Review book?
Basically, I hate my school for giving us so little time to study. Some of you are talking about taking months to study for the exam and brush up on weak points, and we only have a few weeks. Has anyone else had a schedule like this?
What else should I be doing or NOT be doing?
Holy...You deserve a medal just for making it this far through med school...unless you started with 4 or more kids...I'm a single mom with three kids... so I KNOW how tough it is to squeeze it all into a month!!!
...unless you started with 4 or more kids...
...and thanks...
Back to Biochem...
Are you who I think you are?
Good luck, regardless!
Hahaha... uh... ya, Ryan!!! So much for anonymity!!! I guess there aren't that many single mom's with a tribe of little monkeys on SDN!
Love the profile pic, by the way!!! Hope you killed the beast, my friend!!! Do you have any words of wisdom for me?
1) What was your % correct in UW (or whatever Qbank you used)? 92% on last 500 questions, random/timed/unused.
2) What was your board score (if you know)? (will fill in later)
3) What was your UWSA estimated score (if applicable)? UWSA 1 and 2 were both 800/265.
4) What was/were your NBME score(s) (if applicable)? NBME 6 and 7 were both 262.
I'm considering taking the free 150 at the test site. I've read that they overestimate the score but Id like to know by how much, and how closely they predict the real score.
I am glad to finally have my score & post.
I hope my experience helps/encourages those who have yet to take on Step 1...
I studied for 5 weeks, didn't crack a review book throughout my 1st 2 years. I used FA & UWorld only. If there was something in FA that I didn't quite understand/remember the details to, I looked it up quickly on Wikipedia or (rarely) in BRS physio or path. I did NOT add in/annotate things from those books into FA. I just read a little explanation if I was confused. I did annotate UWorld into FA. I wanted to complete UWorld, but I am super slow to study, so in 5 weeks, I studied probably 99% of FA & only 37% complete in UWorld. I had 61% correct cumulative. I took 1 practice test - 1 week before the big day - 226.
When I took the real test, I felt like the questions took me way more time than the practice test. With NBME 7 - I had time at the end of each section to write down the questions I was unsure about and wanted to look the answers up to. Sometimes 10 min extra. But, on the exam, I would almost RUN OUT of time in every single section. I feel as if I had more time, I could have done better. If I saw a Q that took calcs or longer reasoning, I just quickly picked something and moved on. I was marking ~ 1/2 of the questions as well. I would have liked to review them, but no time. I took a RR break btwn every section to have some water & try to chill out. I was a bit flustered over the whole timing thing.
Got my score today: 239/99. Woo-hoo! Praise God!!
Some interesting facts - made a 27 on my MCAT. Also, I think the strategy of studying as hard as possible for your classes helps. I'm glad I didn't skimp out at the end of the year with my class exams by trying to fit in Step 1 study early. Also, I did study for 2 wks of finals (NBMEs) before the 5 weeks of Step 1 study, but it was half-a**. I took several days of that off and never finished 30% of each subject in FA. I am super slow when studying! But, I'm sure it added something.
OK! Happy to contribute! Blessed it turned out so amazing!
I am glad to finally have my score & post.
I hope my experience helps/encourages those who have yet to take on Step 1...
I studied for 5 weeks, didn't crack a review book throughout my 1st 2 years. I used FA & UWorld only. If there was something in FA that I didn't quite understand/remember the details to, I looked it up quickly on Wikipedia or (rarely) in BRS physio or path. I did NOT add in/annotate things from those books into FA. I just read a little explanation if I was confused. I did annotate UWorld into FA. I wanted to complete UWorld, but I am super slow to study, so in 5 weeks, I studied probably 99% of FA & only 37% complete in UWorld. I had 61% correct cumulative. I took 1 practice test - 1 week before the big day - 226.
When I took the real test, I felt like the questions took me way more time than the practice test. With NBME 7 - I had time at the end of each section to write down the questions I was unsure about and wanted to look the answers up to. Sometimes 10 min extra. But, on the exam, I would almost RUN OUT of time in every single section. I feel as if I had more time, I could have done better. If I saw a Q that took calcs or longer reasoning, I just quickly picked something and moved on. I was marking ~ 1/2 of the questions as well. I would have liked to review them, but no time. I took a RR break btwn every section to have some water & try to chill out. I was a bit flustered over the whole timing thing.
Got my score today: 239/99. Woo-hoo! Praise God!!
Some interesting facts - made a 27 on my MCAT. Also, I think the strategy of studying as hard as possible for your classes helps. I'm glad I didn't skimp out at the end of the year with my class exams by trying to fit in Step 1 study early. Also, I did study for 2 wks of finals (NBMEs) before the 5 weeks of Step 1 study, but it was half-a**. I took several days of that off and never finished 30% of each subject in FA. I am super slow when studying! But, I'm sure it added something.
OK! Happy to contribute! Blessed it turned out so amazing!
I am glad to finally have my score & post.
I hope my experience helps/encourages those who have yet to take on Step 1...
I studied for 5 weeks, didn't crack a review book throughout my 1st 2 years. I used FA & UWorld only. If there was something in FA that I didn't quite understand/remember the details to, I looked it up quickly on Wikipedia or (rarely) in BRS physio or path. I did NOT add in/annotate things from those books into FA. I just read a little explanation if I was confused. I did annotate UWorld into FA. I wanted to complete UWorld, but I am super slow to study, so in 5 weeks, I studied probably 99% of FA & only 37% complete in UWorld. I had 61% correct cumulative. I took 1 practice test - 1 week before the big day - 226.
When I took the real test, I felt like the questions took me way more time than the practice test. With NBME 7 - I had time at the end of each section to write down the questions I was unsure about and wanted to look the answers up to. Sometimes 10 min extra. But, on the exam, I would almost RUN OUT of time in every single section. I feel as if I had more time, I could have done better. If I saw a Q that took calcs or longer reasoning, I just quickly picked something and moved on. I was marking ~ 1/2 of the questions as well. I would have liked to review them, but no time. I took a RR break btwn every section to have some water & try to chill out. I was a bit flustered over the whole timing thing.
Got my score today: 239/99. Woo-hoo! Praise God!!
Some interesting facts - made a 27 on my MCAT. Also, I think the strategy of studying as hard as possible for your classes helps. I'm glad I didn't skimp out at the end of the year with my class exams by trying to fit in Step 1 study early. Also, I did study for 2 wks of finals (NBMEs) before the 5 weeks of Step 1 study, but it was half-a**. I took several days of that off and never finished 30% of each subject in FA. I am super slow when studying! But, I'm sure it added something.
OK! Happy to contribute! Blessed it turned out so amazing!
Step 1 Score : 278
world 79
kaplan 79
usmlerx 91
I only used First Aid and then these 3 Qbanks. Its really all you need. Our school gave us 5 weeks to study and so thats all I studied. Congrats to all who are done and keep pressing on to those that aren't. You can do it. Thousands have done it before us.
I've seen posts from people who are in their first year or even pre-med. Don't worry about Step 1. Just stud for your classes. If you learn it well the first time then it comes back very quickly.
I should add, I listened to Goljan lectures when I was working out too. It was a nice study break. I can't stress how important it is to just keep calm, exercise daily, go to bed early and wake up at a regular time.
I would let somebody cut off both my pinky toes for a 278.
I would let somebody cut off both my pinky toes for a 278.
i m doubting it
I'm glad you didn't commit your left nut. Pinky toes aren't so bad.
Step 1 Score : 278
world 79
kaplan 79
usmlerx 91
I only used First Aid and then these 3 Qbanks. Its really all you need. Our school gave us 5 weeks to study and so thats all I studied. Congrats to all who are done and keep pressing on to those that aren't. You can do it. Thousands have done it before us.
I've seen posts from people who are in their first year or even pre-med. Don't worry about Step 1. Just stud for your classes. If you learn it well the first time then it comes back very quickly.
I should add, I listened to Goljan lectures when I was working out too. It was a nice study break. I can't stress how important it is to just keep calm, exercise daily, go to bed early and wake up at a regular time.
Step 1 Score : 278
world 79
kaplan 79
usmlerx 91
I only used First Aid and then these 3 Qbanks. Its really all you need. Our school gave us 5 weeks to study and so thats all I studied. Congrats to all who are done and keep pressing on to those that aren't. You can do it. Thousands have done it before us.
I've seen posts from people who are in their first year or even pre-med. Don't worry about Step 1. Just stud for your classes. If you learn it well the first time then it comes back very quickly.
I should add, I listened to Goljan lectures when I was working out too. It was a nice study break. I can't stress how important it is to just keep calm, exercise daily, go to bed early and wake up at a regular time.
You almost beat my record of 279!
Slayed the beast today.
A brief synopsis:
The best way I can describe the test is in reference to a UWORLD random block. I would say that most of my blocks consisted of about 35 70-80% (ie the % answered correctly on uw), 5-8 40-50% and 4-6 10%.
Most of the questions I had were very, very easy. Some were totally impossible and ridiculous. I really didn't feel like there was that much in between. In the end I felt very, very good when I walked out of there.
For prep:
We had a cumulative final that I studied about 10 days for using Goljan, and basically pharm and micro class notes/charts that were passed down from years past.
After my final, I did 1st year subjects for about 10-12 days using FA, followed by 2nd year stuff again for another 10-12 days using FA and skimming Goljan again. Throughout the final 3-4 weeks I was doing 2-3 random timed blocks of Uworld. I spent my last 3-4 days redoing my marked Qs from Uworld.
Uworld, as everyone says, was by far and away the best resource. FA was next. Goljan is good, but not the most high yield and takes a long time to skim even. You really, really could get by on going through FA twice and Uworld alone.
I took a school sponsored NBME basic science comprehensive before studying, UWSA 1 after going over 1st year stuff, and UWSA 2 plus the free 150 on the same day after the second year stuff 4 days before the real deal.
Will post more once I get my score on the 14th. (Or sooner)
You almost beat my record of 279!
Done today
Exam was very tough. And now I'm feeling depressed. NBME examiners REALLY, and I meant it, REALLY can pull out stuff you may never have imagined.
Maybe it's because I just didn't do as well as I wanted to. I'd write a detailed overview when I have recovered from this shell shock. And in 7-8 months, I'd be giving Step2
Sorry to hear that you don't feel good about it. Keep in mind that the exam is curved and that some of these off the wall questions you mentioned may very well have been experimental. Now go try to have fun and put this thing behind you!
Pathetic. Don't bother posting until one of you hits at least 300. n00bs.