Good luck all. I have my exam end of March and hope to be the 1st one to post here for 2010.
Is there any logic to the two-digit scoring at all, though? That seems a lot like trying to tell a schizophrenic there's no reason he should be hearing voices. If there's no logic to the system in the first place, how can a perceived change in the system be logical?
Alright, time to follow up.
Actual Score: 254/99.
The only logic I can cite is the 99 hovering around 235-236 in the past 5-10 years. Then again, if a 221 is a 93, then who knows. All I am saying is that a 5-6 point swing in less than 6 months (to land a 99) is hard to swallow.
lol same here😀you guys are giving me heart palpitations looking at the format of the score report.. lol. congrats to everybody passing boards so far... 👍
I am an IMG ,got my score today ,242/99 ,ecstatic!!
I would like to thank the forum ,i learned a lot from the regular posters here.Studied for 5 months ,on and off .learned about the Taus method about 2 month in the study, din `t annotate all in to first aid ,but one thing that i learned from Taus was to study first aid with the book you are using, in my case Kaplan`s step 1 books. Watched Kaplan DVD of behavioral science ,didn`t watch the rest ,as they were too lengthy and of course i am lazy..
on exam day ,felt a lot of them questions were new ,some from Qbanks like Kaplan and UW ,but u could count them on fingers,regretted not studying enough pictures ,some of the slides didn `t make sense at all .But Kaplan books covered enough ,i mean there were lot of questions that was asked from the text itself .Questions were in many case clinical scenario,and topics like poisoning were killer .
What would i have done differently ?? I felt the initial study period where i was studying and conceptualizing was from where i could answer the questions ,i think what i would have done differently would be to read the text and think about the possible questions from the text ,just running over was suicidal ,they will manage to confuse in the exam!!!and last but not the least NBME ,u will be surprised to see some of the questions word for word from there !!
thanks a lot everyone !!
👍 Congrats man! words of advice?229/99
Hey DoctorPardi, how long did you have for prep? Did you go through all that in a month?
Psychotropic: As a previous poster asked, what are your thoughts about the Biochem. section of FA and how did you supplement it (if any) with Lippincott's?
How about for Micro, if you had to do it all over again would you use MMRS again?
Thanks!
I ended up reading through MMRS once during year 2 prior to doing any boards studying (just to supplement my coursework in micro) and again during the start of my dedicated boards study period. Other than that, the majority of micro studying focused on MicroCards (amazing resource, probably has more than what you need to know, but it's good). I used FA for pneumonics. Use Goljan ID images to supplement your studies (they're floating around on the internet somewhere).
I think what helped me with micro and biochem was making it both the first and last things I studied during my 5 weeks. In fact, I spent one whole week during just micro (total pain, I know, but it's high yield). I only spent 2 days on biochem.
I took the test wednesday. I think doing the NBME's and UWSA's helped me. Endurance wasn't a problem, and I definately thought the test was alot easier than UWorld and the UWSA's. I marked about 5 questions a block and probably another 5 I had to think a bit to get my answer(so i could've made errors), the rest was pretty straightforward. Alot of people agree that the test questions are easier than UWorld but apparently alot of people leave test day thinking they did awful, that doesn't really add up to me unless those people didn't get through all of UWorld. I thought the difficulty was pretty similar to NBME6/7, I marked a similar amount to those tests.
I felt like the stuff I saw and possibly missed that I didn't know on the test was stuff I wouldn't have seen no matter how much I studied. I remember I was planning in the last few days to do all this studying and put in long days the last couple before. I meant to flip through my big robbins and look at pics and read stuff I highlighted(I had the whole book highlighted... lol) and to go through all the margins in goljan and to go through my annotated FA and some flashcards I had. I didn't get around to any of that really. I got a haircut monday night from one of my friends and then ended up staying out late. I put in a good 6 hours on tuesday day before test just flipping through my annotated FA which helped my confidence. I woke up late like at 11 because I knew I wanted as much rest as possible(I hadn't gotten to bed until like 3). Night before the test I relaxed, as much as I could, I went to see game 5 cavs-celtics night before and then had to emotionally distance myself from the proceedings. I got to bed by midnight and woke up at 6 am(meant to sleep till 630 but once i was up i was too wired knowing i had the exam). I think keeping a good pace and taking a break every 2 blocks having good simple food is important. I didnt use up much of my break time at all(2 10 min breaks and a 20 min lunch break). I followed the same pace I had on Uworld and NBME's(about 40 min to get through the questions, 10 min to ruminate on a select few) and usually gained an extra 5-10 min of breaktime every block. Obviously I didn't need all of it and ended the day around 2:45 with like 40-50 min of breaktime left. It felt good and not like a full day(got out over 3 hours earlier than when I took the MCAT). I think doing 8 blocks of 48 questions is best for practice and always try to finish 10 minutes early so you're not pushed for time. In the last block I knew I was going to spend an extra 10 minutes second guessing myself so I just ended the block with 18 min left after making myself confident about the ones I marked. Hopefully I didn't just get an easy exam(might mean it's scored harder), but I thought the brunt of the material is all covered fine in FA/Uworld/DIT(several questions that were only in DIT and no where else), plenty of repeats, and I had several topics that I was questioned twice on.
Any other questions feel free to ask or pm, now to wait 3 long weeks...
I took the test wednesday. I think doing the NBME's and UWSA's helped me. Endurance wasn't a problem, and I definately thought the test was alot easier than UWorld and the UWSA's. I marked about 5 questions a block and probably another 5 I had to think a bit to get my answer(so i could've made errors), the rest was pretty straightforward. Alot of people agree that the test questions are easier than UWorld but apparently alot of people leave test day thinking they did awful, that doesn't really add up to me unless those people didn't get through all of UWorld. I thought the difficulty was pretty similar to NBME6/7, I marked a similar amount to those tests.
I felt like the stuff I saw and possibly missed that I didn't know on the test was stuff I wouldn't have seen no matter how much I studied. I remember I was planning in the last few days to do all this studying and put in long days the last couple before. I meant to flip through my big robbins and look at pics and read stuff I highlighted(I had the whole book highlighted... lol) and to go through all the margins in goljan and to go through my annotated FA and some flashcards I had. I didn't get around to any of that really. I got a haircut monday night from one of my friends and then ended up staying out late. I put in a good 6 hours on tuesday day before test just flipping through my annotated FA which helped my confidence. I woke up late like at 11 because I knew I wanted as much rest as possible(I hadn't gotten to bed until like 3). Night before the test I relaxed, as much as I could, I went to see game 5 cavs-celtics night before and then had to emotionally distance myself from the proceedings. I got to bed by midnight and woke up at 6 am(meant to sleep till 630 but once i was up i was too wired knowing i had the exam). I think keeping a good pace and taking a break every 2 blocks having good simple food is important. I didnt use up much of my break time at all(2 10 min breaks and a 20 min lunch break). I followed the same pace I had on Uworld and NBME's(about 40 min to get through the questions, 10 min to ruminate on a select few) and usually gained an extra 5-10 min of breaktime every block. Obviously I didn't need all of it and ended the day around 2:45 with like 40-50 min of breaktime left. It felt good and not like a full day(got out over 3 hours earlier than when I took the MCAT). I think doing 8 blocks of 48 questions is best for practice and always try to finish 10 minutes early so you're not pushed for time. In the last block I knew I was going to spend an extra 10 minutes second guessing myself so I just ended the block with 18 min left after making myself confident about the ones I marked. Hopefully I didn't just get an easy exam(might mean it's scored harder), but I thought the brunt of the material is all covered fine in FA/Uworld/DIT(several questions that were only in DIT and no where else), plenty of repeats, and I had several topics that I was questioned twice on.
Any other questions feel free to ask or pm, now to wait 3 long weeks...
I wanna know how much was Mole and cell bio representation on the exam? How bout biochem? That's kinda my weak point and I was looking for ways to improve.
GL!
Wow, you sound like you killed this thing dude!👍
I wanna know how much was Mole and cell bio representation on the exam? How bout biochem? That's kinda my weak point and I was looking for ways to improve.
GL!
To summarize again: U World + FA + Goljan RR/Audio + BRS Phys = a score >250.
The more people say this, the harder it is to argue with it [given the results floating around this site]
And that is all I am going to use and go through 100%. Everything else is just secondary reference type of stuff, ie. HY neuro for pictures, etc.
Same here. I started out a few months ago trying to do the Taus thing and even with only a couple extra books it seemed like a real chore. I've got HY Neuro and both RR and Kaplan Biochem, but I'm really only gonna try to use them if I need to clarify stuff (which I'm sure I will, I hate biochem). Other than that, it's FA/RR Path/UW/BRS Phys for me. Oh and the Goljan audio, too, which I've been listening to all year, but never having actually sat down to listen attentively. I may just go through the transcripts floating around, but it seems more useful to hear someone saying it, corny jokes and all.
i just came across this in a uw question. i figured i put that out there for anyone whose sphincter violently contracted like mine did when they first saw that protein 😀. question topic in uw is "RANK and Osteoclasts" if anyone wants to read on it uw q id # 640
I took the test wednesday. I think doing the NBME's and UWSA's helped me. Endurance wasn't a problem, and I definately thought the test was alot easier than UWorld and the UWSA's. I marked about 5 questions a block and probably another 5 I had to think a bit to get my answer(so i could've made errors), the rest was pretty straightforward. Alot of people agree that the test questions are easier than UWorld but apparently alot of people leave test day thinking they did awful, that doesn't really add up to me unless those people didn't get through all of UWorld. I thought the difficulty was pretty similar to NBME6/7, I marked a similar amount to those tests.
I felt like the stuff I saw and possibly missed that I didn't know on the test was stuff I wouldn't have seen no matter how much I studied. I remember I was planning in the last few days to do all this studying and put in long days the last couple before. I meant to flip through my big robbins and look at pics and read stuff I highlighted(I had the whole book highlighted... lol) and to go through all the margins in goljan and to go through my annotated FA and some flashcards I had. I didn't get around to any of that really. I got a haircut monday night from one of my friends and then ended up staying out late. I put in a good 6 hours on tuesday day before test just flipping through my annotated FA which helped my confidence. I woke up late like at 11 because I knew I wanted as much rest as possible(I hadn't gotten to bed until like 3). Night before the test I relaxed, as much as I could, I went to see game 5 cavs-celtics night before and then had to emotionally distance myself from the proceedings. I got to bed by midnight and woke up at 6 am(meant to sleep till 630 but once i was up i was too wired knowing i had the exam). I think keeping a good pace and taking a break every 2 blocks having good simple food is important. I didnt use up much of my break time at all(2 10 min breaks and a 20 min lunch break). I followed the same pace I had on Uworld and NBME's(about 40 min to get through the questions, 10 min to ruminate on a select few) and usually gained an extra 5-10 min of breaktime every block. Obviously I didn't need all of it and ended the day around 2:45 with like 40-50 min of breaktime left. It felt good and not like a full day(got out over 3 hours earlier than when I took the MCAT). I think doing 8 blocks of 48 questions is best for practice and always try to finish 10 minutes early so you're not pushed for time. In the last block I knew I was going to spend an extra 10 minutes second guessing myself so I just ended the block with 18 min left after making myself confident about the ones I marked. Hopefully I didn't just get an easy exam(might mean it's scored harder), but I thought the brunt of the material is all covered fine in FA/Uworld/DIT(several questions that were only in DIT and no where else), plenty of repeats, and I had several topics that I was questioned twice on.
Any other questions feel free to ask or pm, now to wait 3 long weeks...
Those links are correct, there are old copies of usmleworld floating around but you should buy the subscription as its updated and you can accurately track your performance and get a good feedback. The nbme cost ~$45 each, there are 7 of them, i think you should take at least two if you can, you will not get the answer key to them after, just your score. Another alternative is the usmleworld self assessments you can buy from the usmleworld website, that gives you the answer key and explanations.Please confirm if I have the right links for usmleworld q bank and nbme tests. Are these the ones you have been using?
https://nsas.nbme.org/nsasweb/servlet/mesa_main
http://www.usmleworld.com/Step1/step1_qbank.aspx?gclid=CLmTheLZ0aECFcFR6wodRlysIg
http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Qbank.html
The q banks turn out to be expensive in my currency (9K bucks, each) so I was looking for cheaper alternatives. I saw some rapidshare files-free downloads (usmleworld) on google search and was wondering these are a complete package/safe. Any idea? Also, how much does an NBME test cost and how many should you take? I have started from scratch and have some 2.5 months left.
PS: only the first link is httpS; the other two are http. Is it OK?
Everyone has a different test, even if they take it on the same day. It's not like the MCAT where they get lazy and toss out the same exam to all takers.
r u sure??? I thought that a curve was made with all the people who took the exam the same day and depending on that u get a higher o lower score.
Also wanted to know what the 3 digit score means? it means the number of correct answers over the total number of questions?
thanxxxxxxxx
Those links are correct, there are old copies of usmleworld floating around but you should buy the subscription as its updated and you can accurately track your performance and get a good feedback. The nbme cost ~$45 each, there are 7 of them, i think you should take at least two if you can, you will not get the answer key to them after, just your score. Another alternative is the usmleworld self assessments you can buy from the usmleworld website, that gives you the answer key and explanations.
Correct, the usmleworld self assessments (UWSA) are a fresh set of questions, there are 2 of them, both can be purchased on their site.Thanks a lot kryptic. That clarified some doubts. I was wondering where the UWorld scores came from when people posted them and thought that they were part of 2000 uworld qbank questions that they took in timed mode. I guess they were these self-assessment packages. So, I'm assuming these are fresh questions and not picked from those 2K qbank Qs.
[Referring to the 231/99 above]
After the passing score increase from 185-188... Wasn't there a handful of posters here who "definitively" stated that the new 99 is a 236+? They even went so far as to call someone out for "lying" about a 230/99, if I remember right.
I don't think this matters at all, but I remember the conviction (and condescension?) with which they repeated this claim was a little strong, even for SDN. Goes to show that we (or at least those posters) have little clue how NBME comes up with the 2 digit score.
2 months ago, a 99 was a 236+. With the changes in the test recently (# of q's changed), they might have lowered the cut off. The trend has been that the 3 digit equivalent of a 99 is getting lower and lower.