Good luck all. I have my exam end of March and hope to be the 1st one to post here for 2010.
Official 2010 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
- Thread starter FMD212
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Do you think people that take it on June 30th will get it that day?
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Dunno, it says "late June" on the NBME site.
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Ouch... anatomy and skin path... I would've gotten slaughtered. Congrats on finishing though, I'm sure you still killed it.
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Took the beast on Monday and I thought it was rough as well. Had issues with running out of time, but that's a normal issue for me. I felt like I guessed on too many questions.
Pre-exam prep scores:
4 days out:
UWSA2 690 254
NBME7 620 249
1 day out:
Free 150 87% 253
Hopefully I was lucky that day!
Pre-exam prep scores:
4 days out:
UWSA2 690 254
NBME7 620 249
1 day out:
Free 150 87% 253
Hopefully I was lucky that day!
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Took mine today; I must say that I was surprised at how the answer choices were presented. There were obvious wrong answers and a clear right answer. I thought UWorld was much more picky with their answer choices comparatively. A couple set of repeat questions scattered throughout, just rearranged. Only 2 media questions. Overall, I felt like it was not too bad at all.
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just got back from kinda hurting (as opposed to slaying) the beast!
Stats:
USMLEW (only 80% completed) - 68% average, was getting 70%+ on the last couple days
NBME 7 - 560/236 (4 days before the test)
Free 150 - 87%/254 (2 days before the test)
Resources:
USMLEW
Goljan RR and audio
FA
HY Neuro (quick skim through)
Brenner's pharmacology flash cards
BRS Phys
so it wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible. maybe a little bit above fair? i did run out of the time in 2 of the blocks, had to put down an answer on like 2-3 questions, made me really angry. otherwise i finished each block right on time. i'm gonna give a quick rundown, will make a detailed report tomorrow after i recharge and recover from some ethanol damage.
i think the test was a mix of usmlew, the free 150 no brainers, and intermediate questions.
lets stat off with the things i have VERY LITTLE of: 2 biochem questions, maybe 2 female anatomy questions, 1 cell molecular question. so glad i didn't go over my anatomy, bc it would have been a waste of time for me.
mine was very path heavy, along with BIOSTATS. yes if anything killed me, it was definitely biostats. i wish i reviewed it. i had some pretty tough problems on there, which required a lot of integration. there were some easy spec and sens questions too. the ethics questions were a complete joke and gimme. ANYONE can get those right. no need to review HY behavioral for that stuff.
my pharm was super easy. i think had like 2 experimental pharm questions, bc there were some i had no idea what they were talking about.
micro was pretty intermediate. immunology was kinda tricky - know your interleukens and what causes each to be act/inact. def know phys and all the arrows and relations, some were pretty tricky.2 media questions, could be easily answered without the media.
they completely rocked my test out of pituitary adenomas and diabetes insipidus. i mean i had like 5 questions per block on those. i had 2 repeat questions (exact same one), 1 question exactly off of the free 150, and 2 that were straight off of usmlew.
there was a question that didn't have a right answer though. i was very disappointed at the review process - hopefully it was an experimental question. the person had pituitary adenoma (prolactinoma) and they asked me what the eye problem would be. there were two SAME choices for left homonymouse hemianopia when one of the answers clearly should have been bitemporal hemianopia.
on the whole, if you've been studying and doing fine on world, you should be ok. definitely hit usmelw questions hard the days before your test. i can't begin to count how many questions i got right bc i did like 5 blocks a day leading up to the test no need to spend 4 hours a block, a quick overview of why it was right, the wrong answer, and move on.
any questions feel free to ask! remember, don't forget your permit! i had quite the fiasco bc i forgot mine, and had to drive over to fedex and print out another one. just unneeded stress.
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I took it last week and had a ton of anatomy, female reproduction and laboratory science stuff. It was bizarre and as someone who was getting 240+ on all my practice tests I feel like I got slaughtered.
I am seriously not looking forward to July 14...
I am seriously not looking forward to July 14...
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Congrats on completing the test. Hopefully you still slaughtered it.
In your opinion, how much %-wise did UW help you? what about Goljan?
Thx
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that's a tough question to answer. it's really a mix of everything. goljan was my foundation - the first book i read before anything. and i built everything off of that. and UW really helped me get some questions right. just reading the explanations in the last couple days put a lot of stuff on short term memeory it was just like regurgitation on the real thing.
what everyone says is true - integration of FA+UW+RR = gold standard. you really do need all 3, and know if you know all 3 cold i'd be really surprised if you didn't get the score you wanted.
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as a side note - i woke up at 5:30 the morning of my test and reviewed some last minute stuff - some pharm, the rapid review section at the end of FA, and i did half a block of world questions. maybe it might be beneficial to try out? just get in the mode of questions and being confident.
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I took my exam on June 28th. I was curious if anybody know when I can expect my scores. Could it be as soon as July 14th?
Thoughts on my exam, I thought maybe 50-60% were quick gimmes. I had 2 wrist drop questions on the same block, 3 jaundice babies due, what is the defect questions (2 on the same block), and just a bunch of no brainers. The rest were not that difficult. Pharm was very straightforward, I think they asked me more the mechanism, like what receptors, 2nd messengers more so than the actual drug name. I only had like 2 questions regarding what to use for a disease.
UWorld: 64% on 75% completed
UWSA1: 228 three weeks from the exam
hoping for a 230+, 240 would be lovely.
Thoughts on my exam, I thought maybe 50-60% were quick gimmes. I had 2 wrist drop questions on the same block, 3 jaundice babies due, what is the defect questions (2 on the same block), and just a bunch of no brainers. The rest were not that difficult. Pharm was very straightforward, I think they asked me more the mechanism, like what receptors, 2nd messengers more so than the actual drug name. I only had like 2 questions regarding what to use for a disease.
UWorld: 64% on 75% completed
UWSA1: 228 three weeks from the exam
hoping for a 230+, 240 would be lovely.
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Did anybody (who took the newer version of the test) get their results today? I took the 46q version on June 5th and haven't heard anything yet. I'm still hoping they're going to release the results sooner rather than later (ie July 14th).
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I spoke with my school's academic adviser today, and she said that the NBME told them to expect the scores on the 14th of July. She also said that her office will have the scores before my class gets them, possibly a day before but maybe only the morning of...
Two more weeks!!
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So I have finally recovered somewhat from the lack of sleep. My exam was on Monday, so here we go...
Let me preface this all by saying that I am not your typical type-A personality medical student. I'm probably the farthest thing from it. The first two years of medical school were just a vicious cycle of cramming less than a week before an exam, followed by a week or two of being blackout drunk all day long and then another week or two of smoking and playing video games until the urgency to cram for my next exam in less than a week kicks in. Needless to say, it's a miracle I have even gotten to the point where I am allowed to take this exam since I'm pretty sure I haven't learned a heck of a lot.
School administered CBSSA (8 weeks out): 160... this pretty much confirms my aforementioned suspicions.
I spent the next week trying to get through all of Goljan for the path shelf, and failed miserably. Following a few days of some well-deserved intoxication after finals, I decided to dedicate 6 weeks for Step 1 studying.
Studying
NBME 4 (6 weeks out): 194... I guess whatever stuff I got through in Goljan helped?
I spent the next 2 weeks doing DIT. It wasn't bad at first, but I was really getting sick of it after about 5 days. I decided to stick with it, although half-assed, if only to get through all the information in FA from beginning to end. The days were long and I had time for little else since I was reading/annotating other sources into FA (BRS physio, Kaplan biochem, HY neuro and some topics from Goljan)
NBME 5 (4 weeks out): 234... I guess DIT helped more than I thought.
The next 3 weeks were spent doing UWorld. I had originally planned to do 2 UW blocks with explanations during the day and then read some Goljan and FA at night, but that didn't even come close to happening. I would do around 2-3 UW blocks each day and then just chill instead.
UWSA 1 (2 weeks out): 248, NBME 6 (same day): 234... I think this was more of a stamina issue and the fact that NBME 6 was just a poorly written exam (in my mind at least).
NBME 7 (1 week out): 253, UWSA 2 (same day): 244... I reversed the exams and still scored lower on the second one, so probably a stamina issue.
UW cumulative average: 69% with 93% complete (all random, timed blocks)
I spent the last week reading through FA. The day before my exam was spent cramming all of pharmacology, which wound up being invaluable.
Exam
The exam was more or less what I expected in terms of difficulty... it was about the same as the UW self assessments (harder than NBME 7 but not a regular UW block of questions). I think I got quite lucky as well with a draw of questions that favored my strengths.
Anatomy
Not a lot (only about 2-3 questions per block)! Mostly upper/lower extremities and landmarks. A lot of it could be found in FA, but there were a few randoms.
Behavioral/biostatistics
Also less than I had expected. Mostly standard stuff, but some biostats questions threw in extra distractors (either that or I missed something). Ethics and interview questions were straightforward for the most part.
Embryology
Around 10-15 questions total and pretty basic stuff. All except for maybe 1 or 2 questions could be found in FA (wasn't able to find supernumerary kidneys anywhere). Also had omphalocele twice.
Biochemistry
Around 4-5 questions per block. Enzyme deficiencies, genetics and lysosomal/glycogen storage diseases mostly. Not a lot of metabolism. FA is definitely more than enough! Also had a question on Gibbs free energy - I guess the randomness of UW wasn't so useless after all.
Molecular biology
This was some weird stuff. About 2-3 questions per block, but the passages were extremely long, describing some random experiment in excruciating detail and then asking you to interpret the results. I had to read the stem at least 3 times before understanding what exactly was going on, let along even beginning to eliminate some answer choices. The basic knowledge required wasn't difficult, but understanding what the question was asking was very challenging, and quite time consuming!
Microbiology
Soooo much easier than UW! Had about 5 questions per block, almost all were classic (read: unique and buzzword) symptoms or they essentially told you what the bug was. Bacteria and viruses mostly, some protozoa and fungi, no parasites. FA was more than enough, although you might want to read some extra stuff on viruses.
Immunology
I had a lot of this and FA came up real short in terms of content. Lots of cytokines and immunodeficiencies, which was fine, but some questions required detailed knowledge of molecular mechanisms involved in cell-cell interactions. Not cool.
Physiology
Pretty basic stuff. Lots of arrows and graphs. BRS was more than enough!
Pathology
A good amount that I would say was evenly distributed. It was pretty straightforward for the most part, although a few questions asked details that were even beyond what was in FA and Goljan.
Pharmacology
I had a TON of this on my exam - easily 7-10 questions each BLOCK! Looking through all of pharm the day before paid huge dividends! Mostly mechanisms and side effects, a few treatment questions (easy ones you should know, like TB and malaria). FA is enough - only a couple of drugs I didn't recognize and they weren't even the right answer anyways. Had a couple super clinical questions involving the alteration of treatment regimens in response to new symptoms in patients with multiple comorbidities and on a ton of medications. All you can really do is just try and reason through the answer choices and then hope for the best.
Neurology
The total amount was around what I expected, but there were a lot fewer images. No brainstem cross-sections (phew!), one spinal cord cross-section, a couple of CT/MRI/gross images of the brain and one gross brainstem section (had to identify a cranial nerve).
Final Thoughts
Just feels good to be done. It was a long day and an even longer couple of months. I had set a goal of 230 at the beginning of second year (when I had the insane idea in my mind that I would actually work hard and change my habits), and considering from where I started, I would be very happy with anything over a 230. I hope this helps and good luck to all future test takers!!
I'm going back to bed.
Let me preface this all by saying that I am not your typical type-A personality medical student. I'm probably the farthest thing from it. The first two years of medical school were just a vicious cycle of cramming less than a week before an exam, followed by a week or two of being blackout drunk all day long and then another week or two of smoking and playing video games until the urgency to cram for my next exam in less than a week kicks in. Needless to say, it's a miracle I have even gotten to the point where I am allowed to take this exam since I'm pretty sure I haven't learned a heck of a lot.
School administered CBSSA (8 weeks out): 160... this pretty much confirms my aforementioned suspicions.
I spent the next week trying to get through all of Goljan for the path shelf, and failed miserably. Following a few days of some well-deserved intoxication after finals, I decided to dedicate 6 weeks for Step 1 studying.
Studying
NBME 4 (6 weeks out): 194... I guess whatever stuff I got through in Goljan helped?
I spent the next 2 weeks doing DIT. It wasn't bad at first, but I was really getting sick of it after about 5 days. I decided to stick with it, although half-assed, if only to get through all the information in FA from beginning to end. The days were long and I had time for little else since I was reading/annotating other sources into FA (BRS physio, Kaplan biochem, HY neuro and some topics from Goljan)
NBME 5 (4 weeks out): 234... I guess DIT helped more than I thought.
The next 3 weeks were spent doing UWorld. I had originally planned to do 2 UW blocks with explanations during the day and then read some Goljan and FA at night, but that didn't even come close to happening. I would do around 2-3 UW blocks each day and then just chill instead.
UWSA 1 (2 weeks out): 248, NBME 6 (same day): 234... I think this was more of a stamina issue and the fact that NBME 6 was just a poorly written exam (in my mind at least).
NBME 7 (1 week out): 253, UWSA 2 (same day): 244... I reversed the exams and still scored lower on the second one, so probably a stamina issue.
UW cumulative average: 69% with 93% complete (all random, timed blocks)
I spent the last week reading through FA. The day before my exam was spent cramming all of pharmacology, which wound up being invaluable.
Exam
The exam was more or less what I expected in terms of difficulty... it was about the same as the UW self assessments (harder than NBME 7 but not a regular UW block of questions). I think I got quite lucky as well with a draw of questions that favored my strengths.
Anatomy
Not a lot (only about 2-3 questions per block)! Mostly upper/lower extremities and landmarks. A lot of it could be found in FA, but there were a few randoms.
Behavioral/biostatistics
Also less than I had expected. Mostly standard stuff, but some biostats questions threw in extra distractors (either that or I missed something). Ethics and interview questions were straightforward for the most part.
Embryology
Around 10-15 questions total and pretty basic stuff. All except for maybe 1 or 2 questions could be found in FA (wasn't able to find supernumerary kidneys anywhere). Also had omphalocele twice.
Biochemistry
Around 4-5 questions per block. Enzyme deficiencies, genetics and lysosomal/glycogen storage diseases mostly. Not a lot of metabolism. FA is definitely more than enough! Also had a question on Gibbs free energy - I guess the randomness of UW wasn't so useless after all.
Molecular biology
This was some weird stuff. About 2-3 questions per block, but the passages were extremely long, describing some random experiment in excruciating detail and then asking you to interpret the results. I had to read the stem at least 3 times before understanding what exactly was going on, let along even beginning to eliminate some answer choices. The basic knowledge required wasn't difficult, but understanding what the question was asking was very challenging, and quite time consuming!
Microbiology
Soooo much easier than UW! Had about 5 questions per block, almost all were classic (read: unique and buzzword) symptoms or they essentially told you what the bug was. Bacteria and viruses mostly, some protozoa and fungi, no parasites. FA was more than enough, although you might want to read some extra stuff on viruses.
Immunology
I had a lot of this and FA came up real short in terms of content. Lots of cytokines and immunodeficiencies, which was fine, but some questions required detailed knowledge of molecular mechanisms involved in cell-cell interactions. Not cool.
Physiology
Pretty basic stuff. Lots of arrows and graphs. BRS was more than enough!
Pathology
A good amount that I would say was evenly distributed. It was pretty straightforward for the most part, although a few questions asked details that were even beyond what was in FA and Goljan.
Pharmacology
I had a TON of this on my exam - easily 7-10 questions each BLOCK! Looking through all of pharm the day before paid huge dividends! Mostly mechanisms and side effects, a few treatment questions (easy ones you should know, like TB and malaria). FA is enough - only a couple of drugs I didn't recognize and they weren't even the right answer anyways. Had a couple super clinical questions involving the alteration of treatment regimens in response to new symptoms in patients with multiple comorbidities and on a ton of medications. All you can really do is just try and reason through the answer choices and then hope for the best.
Neurology
The total amount was around what I expected, but there were a lot fewer images. No brainstem cross-sections (phew!), one spinal cord cross-section, a couple of CT/MRI/gross images of the brain and one gross brainstem section (had to identify a cranial nerve).
Final Thoughts
Just feels good to be done. It was a long day and an even longer couple of months. I had set a goal of 230 at the beginning of second year (when I had the insane idea in my mind that I would actually work hard and change my habits), and considering from where I started, I would be very happy with anything over a 230. I hope this helps and good luck to all future test takers!!
I'm going back to bed.
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I did it! I am not going to be cocky and say I know I passed. And I'm not going to be falsely humble and say that I know I failed because I'm so dumb, even though I was scoring over 210 on all my practice tests. I made some stupid mistakes. But there was also some hard stuff I knew because I am very smart.
Some questions were very easy. Some were much harder. A good mix. I know I got some hard ones right. And I missed a few easy ones. Including one I said was Babesia instead of Malaria because I thought "There is no way they are just giving me a malaria question that easy".
Here is what it was like:
My test was VERY heavy on Biostatistics and Genetics. I must have had 6 lineages and 7 formulas to do.
BIOSTATS
I had a double question about Specificity and PPV where they made it challenging to build the table, as well as another 2 questions that were easier. And I had a question RRR about had another formula on Attributable Risk. I had a question on Phase IV Clinical trials, one on point prevalance, a question on biases, 2 questions on SD, and on Chi Square analysis. (12)
GENETICS
Xeroderma pigmentosum, silencers, tRNA, Collagen Synthesis, PCR, Heteroplasmy (I think I got this one right!), about 5 family trees of variouss sizes. I had my easiest question on one. A lady had an family history of an AD disease, and her husband had it. But SHE didn't. So what were the odds of new new husband, who was disease free and her having kids with the disease (0%). Also questions on Osler-Weber-Rendu, Spherocytosis, Familial Hypercholesterolemia, Von Hippel-Lindau, NF-1, CF, and Down Syndrome. (18)
Nutrition was a mixed bag. I got a question on SAM and Biotin wrong, but I knew Vitamin C and K.
BIOCHEM
Hahahaha! I hated this, but got a few right. Hopefully enough.
PHYSIOLOGY
Lots of those little tables where the arrows go up or down. Including one I remembered from World! And a VERY easy chart where it was FSH and LH and Inhibin, but the words were removed. And which one was FSH.
PHARMACOLOGY
Some of it was very easy, such as knowing which of the choices is a fungal drug, or what ACE-Is do to Aldosterone, or that SSRIs cause anorgasmia. Or what COX Inhibition does, or easy questions on Statins and Fibrates. Abciximab and Clopidogrel I think I mixed up. Ritalin for ADHD. And some harder ones.
I was worried about Anti Arrythmics. There was ONE, and all it asked was what ion channel lidocaine worked on (Na)
And others that were really rough. Like cancer/immune drugs. Two of those.
ANATOMY
Lots of this. Some of it was really rough. Some of it was easy.
PATHOLOGY
Obviously lots of this, including 3 questions that were almost identical to UW, and 3 I got right from Goljan (Hem/Onc mostly). I got a good question about epidural hemotomas, osteoporosis and corticosteroids, and lots and lots of other stuff.
WHAT I DIDN'T HAVE
Nothing AT ALL on Digoxin, even as an option. Very little antibiotics. No Optic lesions, no H pylori, Huntingtons, no antidotes, and no embryological arches. No Clearance equations, and I don't remember anything on brian cancer.
=============================================
FINAL THOUGHTS
I feel confident going forward. I believe I passed with a high enough score to get into IM. Having so many questions with those formulas and Genetics will help my score, I think.
I predict a 210.
Some questions were very easy. Some were much harder. A good mix. I know I got some hard ones right. And I missed a few easy ones. Including one I said was Babesia instead of Malaria because I thought "There is no way they are just giving me a malaria question that easy".
Here is what it was like:
My test was VERY heavy on Biostatistics and Genetics. I must have had 6 lineages and 7 formulas to do.
BIOSTATS
I had a double question about Specificity and PPV where they made it challenging to build the table, as well as another 2 questions that were easier. And I had a question RRR about had another formula on Attributable Risk. I had a question on Phase IV Clinical trials, one on point prevalance, a question on biases, 2 questions on SD, and on Chi Square analysis. (12)
GENETICS
Xeroderma pigmentosum, silencers, tRNA, Collagen Synthesis, PCR, Heteroplasmy (I think I got this one right!), about 5 family trees of variouss sizes. I had my easiest question on one. A lady had an family history of an AD disease, and her husband had it. But SHE didn't. So what were the odds of new new husband, who was disease free and her having kids with the disease (0%). Also questions on Osler-Weber-Rendu, Spherocytosis, Familial Hypercholesterolemia, Von Hippel-Lindau, NF-1, CF, and Down Syndrome. (18)
Nutrition was a mixed bag. I got a question on SAM and Biotin wrong, but I knew Vitamin C and K.
BIOCHEM
Hahahaha! I hated this, but got a few right. Hopefully enough.
PHYSIOLOGY
Lots of those little tables where the arrows go up or down. Including one I remembered from World! And a VERY easy chart where it was FSH and LH and Inhibin, but the words were removed. And which one was FSH.
PHARMACOLOGY
Some of it was very easy, such as knowing which of the choices is a fungal drug, or what ACE-Is do to Aldosterone, or that SSRIs cause anorgasmia. Or what COX Inhibition does, or easy questions on Statins and Fibrates. Abciximab and Clopidogrel I think I mixed up. Ritalin for ADHD. And some harder ones.
I was worried about Anti Arrythmics. There was ONE, and all it asked was what ion channel lidocaine worked on (Na)
And others that were really rough. Like cancer/immune drugs. Two of those.
ANATOMY
Lots of this. Some of it was really rough. Some of it was easy.
PATHOLOGY
Obviously lots of this, including 3 questions that were almost identical to UW, and 3 I got right from Goljan (Hem/Onc mostly). I got a good question about epidural hemotomas, osteoporosis and corticosteroids, and lots and lots of other stuff.
WHAT I DIDN'T HAVE
Nothing AT ALL on Digoxin, even as an option. Very little antibiotics. No Optic lesions, no H pylori, Huntingtons, no antidotes, and no embryological arches. No Clearance equations, and I don't remember anything on brian cancer.
=============================================
FINAL THOUGHTS
I feel confident going forward. I believe I passed with a high enough score to get into IM. Having so many questions with those formulas and Genetics will help my score, I think.
I predict a 210.
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🙁
I wonder if we had the same exam (doubtful obviously), I had tons of anatomy and lots of clinical female repro as well, I felt like it was very difficult.
and I agree, there were lab tests on my exam that I could only find used in relatively obscure basic science journals. At least three tests mentioned in stems were not in FA or CMMRS. Just very weird. Seemed like questions you would ask a phD student about lab technique.
Damn I can't wait for July 14th when all of us would be (well not quite fighting each other) to finally get to see our results. DAMN! Till that moment, the FIFA world cup would effectively keep my mind off the result. 👍 FOOTBALL FTW! I have watched each and every single match and minute (defense mechanism of suppression maybe?)
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I had the same test you did. One thing i noticed was that the questions were all really long. On UWorld and the NBME practice tests i would usually finish with tons of extra time. Im usually a super fast test taker but today i only finished 1 block with extra time today. The questions were longer than UWorld and even the new NBME's. The only thing i would have done different was study less. Most of the stuff i didnt know were things that were either asked in a really strange way or they were things that i wouldnt have known anyway because they werent in First Aid. Hopefully alot of the things i got killed on were experimental questions. For some reason the micro seemed really vague. Alot of HIV/AIDS questions. Alot of chest x-rays and CT's which im really bad at in general. I have no idea what to expect when i get my test scores back. I was in the 245-255 range on practice tests but i think I will be lucky with a 235.
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I feel the same way. I took the same test, and felt like there was a lot of stuff on there that more reading FA/Golj/Uworld wouldn't have helped. I was also in the 240-250 range and would be happy with 230+. I know it's normal not to feel confident after a test, but after taking 6 practice tests I know when I feel like I didn't do as well compared to my other practice scores. Today felt like a 230 for me.
I still haven't looked up any answers though! Trying to keep my sanity!
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I'd previously thought (and was told) that everyone got different exams, but one of my friends got every single question I talked about plus a few that I remembered and even had a couple in the same order. Weird.
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If you finish blocks early, does it add to your break time?
Also, is the new free 150 still an accurate predictor of step 1 score?
That medfriends website is saying an 86% is a 251 +/- 11. That can't be right.
Also, is the new free 150 still an accurate predictor of step 1 score?
That medfriends website is saying an 86% is a 251 +/- 11. That can't be right.
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I dunno, 86% being a 251 doesn't sound that incorrect. I mean, I'd guess that's probably in the mid 240's or so, but Free 150's real issues come from how easy the questions are. There are plenty of questions on the real thing that are just as easy, but most are more like UW.
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I have 3 weeks remaining, after getting that. Still haven't taken an NBME or USMLEworld practice test yet. I've done all of Usmle RX with 74% and have done half of UWorld, with a 73% average. What do you guys think I should focus on for the last 3 weeks?
Practice test every 5 days and just read through First Aid (2-3 times) and Finish Uworld? Thanks for the advice.
Practice test every 5 days and just read through First Aid (2-3 times) and Finish Uworld? Thanks for the advice.
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FYI with a UW average that high, 251 sounds just about right.
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If you're basing your figures off of practice NBMEs, close to 90% was a 247 on NBME 6. 3 Wrong was a 275 on NBME 7.
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I just think the nbmes are more balanced and have less ridiculous qs than the real thing.
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I think it's about 5-8 pts too high.
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Still, I feel like the Free 150 covered such a narrow range of information. There were only a few drug questions and they were all really common stuff. I don't think any of the questions were UWorld esque. Maybe this is a good thing?
Is the real thing mostly easy with just a few really hard UWorld questions and a few really random questions that <25% get right? Thanks again guys.
Is the real thing mostly easy with just a few really hard UWorld questions and a few really random questions that <25% get right? Thanks again guys.
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I'd say it's about half easy qs and half uworld qs.
One tip I can give is not to second guess yourself.
If something seems too obvious, its probably because it is supposed to be.
This got me on the actual exam. I can't believe that I missed a question about malaria. There were like, only two parasite options for an obvious parasitic infection. I chose Babesia.
If something seems too obvious, its probably because it is supposed to be.
This got me on the actual exam. I can't believe that I missed a question about malaria. There were like, only two parasite options for an obvious parasitic infection. I chose Babesia.
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Even though I really thought the test was fair, I was surprised to remember some of the really dumb mistakes I made. Its painful to think about it. Now I'm starting to freak out thinking I may have committed even more stupid mistakes. God I don't know how that happened. I'm hoping that its common for this to happen, otherwise I'm screwed.
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Well I did it, its over.. history. I am about to hit the road for 3 and 1/2 hrs to visit my family for the holiday on the beach so I have to keep this short. but my comments in general:
-My test for some reason seemed easy. Like TOO easy.. I am actually nervous my curve is going to be a lousy one because there were no hard questions. i literally only got like 5-6 per block where I just flat out didnt know and then the rest I felt like I a good answer for.
-Very repro, cardio, pulm heavy exam, also steady diet of behavioral sciences
-I think I got lucky.. FOUR biochem questions on the ENTIRE test.... FOUR. They asked me NOTHING.
-I'm pretty sure I didnt get a single obscure drug, they were all obvious.. the hardest one I got was what anti-psychotic caused aplastic anemia.
-I had one question with no correct answer.. must have been experimental. it had two of the same answer choices, when both were results on lesions on the wrong side of the brain. .I think one of them was supposed to show the other side of the brain but instead they gave 2 of the same answer and 3 garbage wrong answers.
-I thought NBME 7 was way way way way harder than my real exam and i only took that last friday. But then again I also thought NBME 7 was harder than the UWSAs so it probably just hit areas I sucked at.
-my conclusion is that FA and UW alone were more than enough, but I clearly got an easier exam than the people around me. The guy behind me didnt look too happy with his.
-The female version of the cardio media question has boobs.. and then I laughed when I saw it.. I am 5 years old.
thats all for now, just gotta wait for the scores I guess. I hope I did alright, there was definitely stuff I didnt know and on block 6 I sort of sputtered and ran out of time having to do 4 questions in 2 min. So I went outside after that block and ran around for a bit to wake up for the last block. There is a HUGE difference between 4 blocks and 7 blocks.
-timing was not an issue and I definitely did not notice 'long vignettes' like everyone else did.. they felt just like UW. Nothing longer. maybe like 10 questions on the entire test had anything more than 6-7 lines.
-My test for some reason seemed easy. Like TOO easy.. I am actually nervous my curve is going to be a lousy one because there were no hard questions. i literally only got like 5-6 per block where I just flat out didnt know and then the rest I felt like I a good answer for.
-Very repro, cardio, pulm heavy exam, also steady diet of behavioral sciences
-I think I got lucky.. FOUR biochem questions on the ENTIRE test.... FOUR. They asked me NOTHING.
-I'm pretty sure I didnt get a single obscure drug, they were all obvious.. the hardest one I got was what anti-psychotic caused aplastic anemia.
-I had one question with no correct answer.. must have been experimental. it had two of the same answer choices, when both were results on lesions on the wrong side of the brain. .I think one of them was supposed to show the other side of the brain but instead they gave 2 of the same answer and 3 garbage wrong answers.
-I thought NBME 7 was way way way way harder than my real exam and i only took that last friday. But then again I also thought NBME 7 was harder than the UWSAs so it probably just hit areas I sucked at.
-my conclusion is that FA and UW alone were more than enough, but I clearly got an easier exam than the people around me. The guy behind me didnt look too happy with his.
-The female version of the cardio media question has boobs.. and then I laughed when I saw it.. I am 5 years old.
thats all for now, just gotta wait for the scores I guess. I hope I did alright, there was definitely stuff I didnt know and on block 6 I sort of sputtered and ran out of time having to do 4 questions in 2 min. So I went outside after that block and ran around for a bit to wake up for the last block. There is a HUGE difference between 4 blocks and 7 blocks.
-timing was not an issue and I definitely did not notice 'long vignettes' like everyone else did.. they felt just like UW. Nothing longer. maybe like 10 questions on the entire test had anything more than 6-7 lines.
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Thatta boy! How much did DIT factor in to your performance, do you think? Also, the guy behind you probably didn't study as hard as you, nor was he a studentdoctor.net member. Meh, I guess some people gotta make this test have a 220 average. 😛
Enjoy yourself!
Enjoy yourself!
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between 10-20 questions.. I say between because 10 I can count came straight out of his mouth, and the other 10 i possibly could have gotten without him but I cant say for sure
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Me too!!! Especially when they moved up and down in a life-like manner during inspiration/expiration.
I also giggled at a question where a lady masturbated in the back seat of a police car, and one where you prescribe the "vertical-only position for intercourse." A nice break.
Hello guys,
IMG here (University of Bristol, UK). I took the exam in Prometric London.
Really pleased with myself today. I just took the exam so you can understand why. It came as a pleasant but odd surprise to me that one block only consisted of 46 Questions instead of the 48 Questions that I was so accustomed to in USMLE World.
A few things about my exam:
1. There were so many bait and switch questions in the day that at the end of it I felt like I needed to double, triple, quadruple check each read to make sure I wasn't being 'bait and switched'. It was getting annoying because I never had so many bait and switch questions. Also, there were way too many questions with long scenarios totally unrelated to the question stem, which is very much unlike UWSA or NBME6/7 papers. In the practice test, there are a few, but my exam had plenty of these. Too many in fact, that the fear of being bait + switched together with these long questions weren't doing me any favour towards the end of the day.
2. There were a couple of carbon copy questions right out of NBME 6/7 + UWSA 1/2 so it's definitely worth doing those. I didn't gain much from going through UWorld questions 2 days before exams. I did however, finish my first run very early. I did also do second runs of UWorld questions (about 100 a day) for 2 weeks before exam. Didn't really spot many questions that reappear. There were a handful of questions that were NEW TO ME, and NOT IN FA.
3. Like someone else posted before, it was possibly the most fair exam I have taken. There was only one question I felt a bit baffled about, as there wasn't really an answer to it, so I approximated the best answer, which I hope is correct. On an overall, I made quite a significant number of educated guesses that turned out to be right.
4. If it's relevant to anyone in UK, the place in London is pretty easy to find. Bring your own food and water. There's a Starbucks down the road but there is no time. Toilets are less than 10 seconds away from break area. There are many exams going on in Prometric so BE PREPARED FOR THAT. There were other people typing away a long essay for a separate exam which really broke my concentration as I was wearing thin as the day went on. I was the ONLY ONE taking USMLE STEP1, there were 2 other students taking USMLE STEP2. There are a lot of Engineering exams. People also take driving license exams in Prometric. So just a small heads up.
They provide some earmuff kinda thing to block out sound. Really uncomfortable but works when you need it. Bring your own earplugs, the computers are really noisy. Everyone's there really friendly even to my silly questions. If you need some first hand advice on how it's like in London feel free to drop me a PM.
5. If it's useful to anyone, my food/drinks/drugs that day was: Brands Essence of Chicken to start the day. ProPlus tablets (2 in the morning, 1 on 4th block, 1 on 5th block), 2 salmon sandwiches (I only ate one), 2 peanut butter sandwiches, 2L bottle of water, 3 Lucozade/Gatorade (only drank 2) and a pack of mints.
Also in my bag were Cetirizine tablets, Rizatriptan tablets (I get clusters once a year), Panadol, moisturiser.
Also worth mentioning, I came prepared for temperature fluctuations (i.e. too cold or too warm in exam room), but they said if I wore a hoodie in I can't take it off in exam hall. No watches allowed either.
That's it. I'm glad it's over. For now..
IMG here (University of Bristol, UK). I took the exam in Prometric London.
Really pleased with myself today. I just took the exam so you can understand why. It came as a pleasant but odd surprise to me that one block only consisted of 46 Questions instead of the 48 Questions that I was so accustomed to in USMLE World.
A few things about my exam:
1. There were so many bait and switch questions in the day that at the end of it I felt like I needed to double, triple, quadruple check each read to make sure I wasn't being 'bait and switched'. It was getting annoying because I never had so many bait and switch questions. Also, there were way too many questions with long scenarios totally unrelated to the question stem, which is very much unlike UWSA or NBME6/7 papers. In the practice test, there are a few, but my exam had plenty of these. Too many in fact, that the fear of being bait + switched together with these long questions weren't doing me any favour towards the end of the day.
2. There were a couple of carbon copy questions right out of NBME 6/7 + UWSA 1/2 so it's definitely worth doing those. I didn't gain much from going through UWorld questions 2 days before exams. I did however, finish my first run very early. I did also do second runs of UWorld questions (about 100 a day) for 2 weeks before exam. Didn't really spot many questions that reappear. There were a handful of questions that were NEW TO ME, and NOT IN FA.
3. Like someone else posted before, it was possibly the most fair exam I have taken. There was only one question I felt a bit baffled about, as there wasn't really an answer to it, so I approximated the best answer, which I hope is correct. On an overall, I made quite a significant number of educated guesses that turned out to be right.
4. If it's relevant to anyone in UK, the place in London is pretty easy to find. Bring your own food and water. There's a Starbucks down the road but there is no time. Toilets are less than 10 seconds away from break area. There are many exams going on in Prometric so BE PREPARED FOR THAT. There were other people typing away a long essay for a separate exam which really broke my concentration as I was wearing thin as the day went on. I was the ONLY ONE taking USMLE STEP1, there were 2 other students taking USMLE STEP2. There are a lot of Engineering exams. People also take driving license exams in Prometric. So just a small heads up.
They provide some earmuff kinda thing to block out sound. Really uncomfortable but works when you need it. Bring your own earplugs, the computers are really noisy. Everyone's there really friendly even to my silly questions. If you need some first hand advice on how it's like in London feel free to drop me a PM.
5. If it's useful to anyone, my food/drinks/drugs that day was: Brands Essence of Chicken to start the day. ProPlus tablets (2 in the morning, 1 on 4th block, 1 on 5th block), 2 salmon sandwiches (I only ate one), 2 peanut butter sandwiches, 2L bottle of water, 3 Lucozade/Gatorade (only drank 2) and a pack of mints.
Also in my bag were Cetirizine tablets, Rizatriptan tablets (I get clusters once a year), Panadol, moisturiser.
Also worth mentioning, I came prepared for temperature fluctuations (i.e. too cold or too warm in exam room), but they said if I wore a hoodie in I can't take it off in exam hall. No watches allowed either.
That's it. I'm glad it's over. For now..
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11 more days until scores!!
- Joined
- May 12, 2008
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10 more days!
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9 days 20 hours 54 minutes and 2 seconds.
Anyone else have a countdown utility? lol
