Official 2010 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Hows my peeps doing?

I've seen July-14 thrown around in this forum to be the DATE. Is this info posted on the USMLE site? anyone have a link to it?

Those who are about to write the exam and those who are waiting for the results. Wish u all best of luck.
 
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Thanks.

Found it:

"Please note that:

Scores on new and old forms will be comparable; the decrease in the number of items per form will be accounted for in scoring the examination results.
The length of the examination day will remain unchanged.
Most score reporting of Step 1 results occurs within four weeks of testing. However, because of the change in timing described above, as well as routine modifications to the test item pool, there will be a delay in score reporting for most Step 1 examinations administered in late May and June. The target date for reporting Step 1 scores for most examinees testing from May 15 through late June will be Wednesday, July 14, 2010."


http://www.usmle.org/general_information/Announcements.aspx?ContentId=45
 
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took the test on 6/25

i don't have a whole lot to add to all of the previous experiences but i will warn you all about one thing that seemed to be emphasized on my exam:

PELVIC ANATOMY!!

most of the test was very predictable and with some questions almost identical to UW

I had a few nearly duplicate questions
 
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Ok guys, I'm back from the exam, it wasn't that bad. Honestly people make it seem way more difficult than it actually is. There were alot of easy questions where you say "damn are they really asking this stuff", leading you to doubt yourself. In general my impression is UW + RR + FA is the master triplet. My exam was pathology heavy, however I did get questions covering everything. Know your Immuno well. The anatomy wasn't that bad if you know whats in FA and UW you could figure it out. I remember reading on here that the exam felt like doing 8 blocks of UW, I second that, however I think UW was a bit more difficult. It actually felt more like the free 150 questions. Lets see, what else? Oh and something I did that kinda helped me out was read all of FA the last 4 days.

Anyway maybe I was lucky and got an easy form, who knows. Good luck to all. Feel free to ask. 👍
 
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MoscowAbe said:
Ok guys, I'm back from the exam, it wasn't that bad. Honestly people make it seem way more difficult than it actually is. There were alot of easy questions where you say "damn are they really asking this stuff", leading you to doubt yourself. In general my impression is UW + RR + FA is the master triplet. My exam was pathology heavy, however I did get questions covering everything. Know your Immuno well. The anatomy wasn't that bad if you know whats in FA and UW you could figure it out. I remember reading on here that the exam felt like doing 8 blocks of UW, I second that, however I think UW was a bit more difficult. It actually felt more like the free 150 questions. Lets see, what else? Oh and something I did that kinda helped me out was read all of FA the last 4 days.

Anyway maybe I was lucky and got an easy form, who knows. Good luck to all. Feel free to ask. 👍
Click to expand...


Thank you very much

How many times did you go through your FA and RR?
When you mentioned that you read all of FA the last 4 days before your test, is that the only book? Did you still do any question or RR?
 
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match2011 said:
Thank you very much

How many times did you go through your FA and RR?
When you mentioned that you read all of FA the last 4 days before your test, is that the only book? Did you still do any question or RR?
Click to expand...

I used to use FA while doing UW questions, meaning I constantly referenced FA, but the last 4 days that's all I did. As for RR i did that things twice. I think that book is worth every letter in it.
 
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MoscowAbe said:
I used to use FA while doing UW questions, meaning I constantly referenced FA, but the last 4 days that's all I did. As for RR i did that things twice. I think that book is worth every letter in it.
Click to expand...

I am a slow reader and only can finish 5~7 pages per hour if I annotate it to FA. But I really understand and get a lot from RR.
 
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match2011 said:
I am a slow reader and only can finish 5~7 pages per hour if I annotate it to FA. But I really understand and get a lot from RR.
Click to expand...

Be able to recognize disease presentations, know associated lab and clinical findings, thats where rapid review comes in. Thats one of the highest yield things to do.
 
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MoscowAbe said:
Ok guys, I'm back from the exam, it wasn't that bad. Honestly people make it seem way more difficult than it actually is. There were alot of easy questions where you say "damn are they really asking this stuff", leading you to doubt yourself. In general my impression is UW + RR + FA is the master triplet. My exam was pathology heavy, however I did get questions covering everything. Know your Immuno well. The anatomy wasn't that bad if you know whats in FA and UW you could figure it out. I remember reading on here that the exam felt like doing 8 blocks of UW, I second that, however I think UW was a bit more difficult. It actually felt more like the free 150 questions. Lets see, what else? Oh and something I did that kinda helped me out was read all of FA the last 4 days.

Anyway maybe I was lucky and got an easy form, who knows. Good luck to all. Feel free to ask. 👍
Click to expand...

you're saying your test was more like the free 150? man i'd be thrilled if my test was like that!
 
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MoscowAbe said:
so are you saying the test is easy but the curve is difficult?
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It depends on the test form. What I heard from someone who talked to a test writer/exec was:

1) The questions for Step 1 are drawn from a bank of ~20,000+ questions.

2) The grading is based on how other students did on the same questions, hard questions help you a lot but don't hurt you too much, easy questions don't help you a lot but hurt you if you get them wrong. This is why it takes until July 14 to get your grades, because they need enough people to take the test to have an adequate sample size for the curve.

3) About 15% of the questions are experimental.
 
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drizzt3117 said:
It depends on the test form. What I heard from someone who talked to a test writer/exec was:

1) The questions for Step 1 are drawn from a bank of ~20,000+ questions.

2) The grading is based on how other students did on the same questions, hard questions help you a lot but don't hurt you too much, easy questions don't help you a lot but hurt you if you get them wrong. This is why it takes until July 14 to get your grades, because they need enough people to take the test to have an adequate sample size for the curve.

3) About 15% of the questions are experimental.
Click to expand...

ok i don't understand how missing an easy question hurts you a lot? isn't it just missing 1 point, just like missing a hard question is missing 1 pt?

the only way i can see it hurting you a lot, is if like questions 80%+ of the ppl get right are worht like 4 pts, and you get it wrong, then you lose 4 points, as opposed to questions only 10% of the ppl get right is only worth 1 pt.
 
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otacon88 said:
ok i don't understand how missing an easy question hurts you a lot? isn't it just missing 1 point, just like missing a hard question is missing 1 pt?

the only way i can see it hurting you a lot, is if like questions 80%+ of the ppl get right are worht like 4 pts, and you get it wrong, then you lose 4 points, as opposed to questions only 10% of the ppl get right is only worth 1 pt.
Click to expand...

Because each question is assigned a relative weight based on how many people got it right.
 
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drizzt3117 said:
Because each question is assigned a relative weight based on how many people got it right.
Click to expand...

wow seriously? shows I know nothing about the exam I just took other than how black your hands get from playing with crappy dry erase markers for 8 hrs
 
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Reading the above threads about how questions are weighted got me doing a little digging. If you look in the preface of FA (before you get to the actual subject material), they say that each individual is given the same proportion of easy, medium, and hard questions (I'm assuming that experimental questions are also represented by a common proportion, although it isn't specifically mentioned). As a result, I'm figuring every question is worth the same value, seeing that everyone gets the same relative proportion. In the eyes of the folks that grade things, it would make things much easier. Anyway, as with anything regarding the test, it's a mystery....but given the aforementioned information, it would seem like a logical and simple way to universalize scores across the board.
 
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NikkiFSU said:
wow seriously? shows I know nothing about the exam I just took other than how black your hands get from playing with crappy dry erase markers for 8 hrs
Click to expand...

I mean, they have to to make it fair... Someone could theoretically get all "what is the largest artery in the body?" questions and someone else could all biochem and anatomy.
 
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that's not my experience in the hundreds of people I've talked to about step 1. Also if that was the case, there'd be no need to wait until July 14 to give people scores.

Dedikated2liftn said:
Reading the above threads about how questions are weighted got me doing a little digging. If you look in the preface of FA (before you get to the actual subject material), they say that each individual is given the same proportion of easy, medium, and hard questions (I'm assuming that experimental questions are also represented by a common proportion, although it isn't specifically mentioned). As a result, I'm figuring every question is worth the same value, seeing that everyone gets the same relative proportion. In the eyes of the folks that grade things, it would make things much easier. Anyway, as with anything regarding the test, it's a mystery....but given the aforementioned information, it would seem like a logical and simple way to universalize scores across the board.
Click to expand...
 
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Read what I posted above. I'm pretty sure it's gotta be the only way they could possibly grade it.

The 3 week delay is for them to review questions to throw out and what not, most likely.
 
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drizzt3117 said:
Because each question is assigned a relative weight based on how many people got it right.
Click to expand...

So, I personally tend to get quite a few of the tough questions right, and then I tend to miss some gimmies. True story. I often get ones right on UWorld that 15% of people got, then I will turn around and miss quite a few that 70% of people got right. So the curve for step 1 is really not in my favor, if what you are saying is true. Dang.
 
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drizzt3117 said:
that's not my experience in the hundreds of people I've talked to about step 1. Also if that was the case, there'd be no need to wait until July 14 to give people scores.
Click to expand...

I bet you are right about individual questions being weighed individually, but does everyone's test contain an equal proportion of easy-medium-hard questions or do they have some strange way of comparing a very hard test overall with an easy test.

I'm curious about all of this because I just took my test today, and I have to say that I thought my test was quite a bit easier than Uworld. I only finished about 65% of Uworld, but by the end I had a 78% (timed, all subjects), so maybe I can't really say if it was easier/harder then the real thing because I didn't finish it. Nevertheless, I am really curious what people think about there being an element of luck in doing well. Let's hypothetically say that everyone receives an equal mix of easy-medium-hard questions (their difficulty having already been decided on before the test taker sat down, from previous administrations of that question). If this is true, everyone's test is equal in value. But, even though they may be equal in value, some people may get more biochem or more anatomy or what have you. If you were a biochem whiz in college and you get a lot of your fav. subject, won't that put you at an advantage? Could this be considered luck?
 
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knuckles said:
Read what I posted above. I'm pretty sure it's gotta be the only way they could possibly grade it.

The 3 week delay is for them to review questions to throw out and what not, most likely.
Click to expand...

Idk, I heard what I did from a writer, so i'm going with that. Believe whatever you want though.
 
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knuckles said:
Read what I posted above. I'm pretty sure it's gotta be the only way they could possibly grade it.

The 3 week delay is for them to review questions to throw out and what not, most likely.
Click to expand...

Like how far above? I just checked page 21 and 22 of this thread and couldn't find it. Ha, I'm too lazy to go back farther than that. My test is on WEDNESDAY!!!
 
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If the grading is as Drizzt says I am screwed. I know of 15 gimmes wrong already that I just made stupid mistakes on....
 
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blackbird11384 said:
But, even though they may be equal in value, some people may get more biochem or more anatomy or what have you. If you were a biochem whiz in college and you get a lot of your fav. subject, won't that put you at an advantage? Could this be considered luck?
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Full Disclosure: I had very very little biochem on my test today. Quite a bit more molecular bio and some very straightforward biochem questions. I was uber happy! 🙂

Full Disclosure #2: I had quite a few histo slides (i would say 12 or so). And since I'm considering path for a career, I was pleasantly surprised.
 
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Ok maybe this will make sense to everyone:

I think they try to make the distribution of qs the same from test to test, but within the category of easy, med, hard, there's still variability, and that's likely where the weighted average comes into play. There's some luck with q draw as well. I got a lot of obscure biochem/mol bio stuff that wasn't in fa/Uw I just happened to know from research. Honestly I think step 1 rewards people who get all the easy qs right and puts themselves in a position to get the hard ones right.
 
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drizzt3117 said:
Ok maybe this will make sense to everyone:

I think they try to make the distribution of qs the same from test to test, but within the category of easy, med, hard, there's still variability, and that's likely where the weighted average comes into play. There's some luck with q draw as well. I got a lot of obscure biochem/mol bio stuff that wasn't in fa/Uw I just happened to know from research. Honestly I think step 1 rewards people who get all the easy qs right and puts themselves in a position to get the hard ones right.
Click to expand...

But see that seems unrealistic. If everyone gets a test with equal number of easy-medium-hard, and then they adjust the value of individual questions after everyone's exams from a certain period have been logged, wouldn't that open up the possibility of people having different max scores on a test? If someone gets lucky (or unlucky I supposed), and gets lots of medium questions that many people actually knew, well oh well now you get less points for that question. if a person has many more easy questions on their test (easy as in your description based on statistical analysis post testing period) they won't be able to score as highly on the test as someone who had many hard questions. Luck of the draw does not make a standardized test.

I think the real question is, why the hell doesn't the NBME just publish this stuff?
 
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drizzt3117 said:
Ok maybe this will make sense to everyone:

I think they try to make the distribution of qs the same from test to test, but within the category of easy, med, hard, there's still variability, and that's likely where the weighted average comes into play. There's some luck with q draw as well. I got a lot of obscure biochem/mol bio stuff that wasn't in fa/Uw I just happened to know from research. Honestly I think step 1 rewards people who get all the easy qs right and puts themselves in a position to get the hard ones right.
Click to expand...

Could it be that those questions were the experimental ones?
 
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blackbird11384 said:
But see that seems unrealistic. If everyone gets a test with equal number of easy-medium-hard, and then they adjust the value of individual questions after everyone's exams from a certain period have been logged, wouldn't that open up the possibility of people having different max scores on a test? If someone gets lucky (or unlucky I supposed), and gets lots of medium questions that many people actually knew, well oh well now you get less points for that question. if a person has many more easy questions on their test (easy as in your description based on statistical analysis post testing period) they won't be able to score as highly on the test as someone who had many hard questions. Luck of the draw does not make a standardized test.

I think the real question is, why the hell doesn't the NBME just publish this stuff?
Click to expand...

Because then they would be opening themselves to direct criticism of specific details in their statistical approach.
 
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I have a novel idea. Since none of you know how it's graded, how about you stop worrying about it and either study for the test if you haven't taken it or just relax until you get your score if you have?
 
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Why do you think they won't publish what the score is out of? Anyways I don't think the difference per point in the questions is a lot. My guess is that it's just to prevent ppl from being totally f-ed by the luck of the draw.

Seriously, if you got some gimmies wrong don't panic, everyone gets some questions wrong, i changed 3 answers from right to wrong 🙁 ultimately you're scored on like 275 questions so a few qs here/there aren't going to kill you.

blackbird11384 said:
But see that seems unrealistic. If everyone gets a test with equal number of easy-medium-hard, and then they adjust the value of individual questions after everyone's exams from a certain period have been logged, wouldn't that open up the possibility of people having different max scores on a test? If someone gets lucky (or unlucky I supposed), and gets lots of medium questions that many people actually knew, well oh well now you get less points for that question. if a person has many more easy questions on their test (easy as in your description based on statistical analysis post testing period) they won't be able to score as highly on the test as someone who had many hard questions. Luck of the draw does not make a standardized test.

I think the real question is, why the hell doesn't the NBME just publish this stuff?
Click to expand...
 
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The idea that certain questions are worth more, weighted more, is wrong. What this 'exam writer' means is the following:

If you get a question wrong that was very hard - almost everyone else got it wrong also. Thus compared to everyone else (since this is how it is graded), you remain even. If you get this question correct, then you jump ahead of a lot of people, hence it can help you!

Now if a question is very easy - and you get it wrong, a lot of people jump ahead of you - so it hurts you a lot. If you get it right, you just stay even. Thus missing an easy question is 'worse' than missing a hard one because you fall behind.

That being said, if you miss an easy one and get a hard one right - they will cancel out and you will be back in the pack.

I hypothesize that if 2 people we to take the exact same exam and both got 75% of the questions right, but person A got ALL the easy ones correct and none of the hard ones, and then person B got a lot of easy ones wrong but nailed some hard ones - that the scores would be identical. I would be SHOCKED if this were not true.

The reason the scores are delayed is the nbme needs enough data to see if the new structure will significantly alter %correct of questions. If for some reason, everyone seems to do 10% better on the new format then the nbme needs to adjust for this discrepancy.

All in all - don't stress about things out of your control. 90% of what people say here is wrong (including me).

-NMN
 
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blackbird11384 said:
I think the real question is, why the hell doesn't the NBME just publish this stuff?
Click to expand...
Because its a computer adaptive test and for some reason they don't want anyone to know it... I guess I would start feeling pretty crappy if all my blocks started getting progressively easier.
 
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rem6775 said:
I have a novel idea. Since none of you know how it's graded, how about you stop worrying about it and either study for the test if you haven't taken it or just relax until you get your score if you have?
Click to expand...

sound like a good idea to me 😉
 
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DocDanny said:
And I am done studying.

Tomorrow morning is it MY turn to slay the beast.
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I'm going to be done studying as well, in a few hours. Going to go to the gym and sit in the steam room to relax. 🙂

Good Luck DocDanny. Hopefully we kill this thing tomorrow. Kill, or be killed.
 
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rem6775 said:
I have a novel idea. Since none of you know how it's graded, how about you stop worrying about it and either study for the test if you haven't taken it or just relax until you get your score if you have?
Click to expand...

But intellectualizing is so much more fun than boring old suppression don't you think? (unless you're yet to take it, in which case suppression is best).

Here's a dilemma if I've ever had one: I take the CS tomorrow at 3pm. What if tomorrow is THE wednesday for some of us (I took step1 on 05/28)? To peek or not to peek 😕

p.s. Good luck to all those taking it soon^
 
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Xtrasystolic said:
But intellectualizing is so much more fun than boring old suppression don't you think? (unless you're yet to take it, in which case suppression is best).

Here's a dilemma if I've ever had one: I take the CS tomorrow at 3pm. What if tomorrow is THE wednesday for some of us (I took step1 on 05/28)? To peek or not to peek 😕

p.s. Good luck to all those taking it soon^
Click to expand...

You took the old format? Taking cs already? 18 mo curric?
 
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Hey Everyone, toook that will not be named today. It felt like a slaughtering to be honest.

Anatomy was EVERYWHERE.
IMMUNO....
FEMALE REPRODUCTION
Autonomic Pharmacology
SKIN pathology

All dominated my exam (I think they honestly picked up the subjects they know Med Students are generally worst at, and put it on one exam).

I will write a full work up once I get my score back.

I took NBME 7 last Sunday and got a 255 and felt like I got wrecked on this exam

Good luck to all still waiting.
 
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