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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Alrighty then...seems weird to be posting here, but here is my experience:
PREPARATION
Going into medical school, I knew that I was one of those people that had to see stuff over and over and over again for it to stick. I am not one of those people that has a reliable long-term memory. I posted in the NBME thread that I forgot the direction of DNA replication!
So when I came upon Gunner Training (GT), I knew I had found at least somewhat of a cure for my ills. I think people on here are at least familiar with the program so I won't go into all that, but I started doing GT in June of last year, slowly adding in material from first year. I kept up with it every day and added in material as we covered it in 2nd year. This was by the far the most important part of my studying, especially given my proclivity to forget the simplest, most rudimentary basic science facts.
Another thing, GT is essentially First Aid in flash card/spaced learning format, and one of the "pillars" to my studying for Step 1 was to be as familiar with this book as possible. Hence my use of USMLERx and DIT throughout the 2nd half of my 2nd year, to keep First Aid as fresh as possible.
And of course, I went into 2nd year with the approach of being as hardcore as possible about classwork, because I knew how high yield this stuff was. So I studied my caucasian derriere off. I would head up to school at about 7 every morning and study in the learning resources unit/library until about 5. I started off every day by doing my assigned GT and doing so as quickly as possible, because I didn't think that lingering over things I got wrong in GT served its purpose well. I wanted multiple succinct reviews, and that's what I got. I also made it a point to become as familiar with medium Robbins as possible, and I made it a goal to nail pathology in every block, as I knew this was the core of what would be on Step 1 (and you know all that third year crap too 😉) I made time almost every day to work out, if at least for 20 minutes. Once I came home, I was done and I spent time with my wife, read, watched TV, whatever. I can't stress enough how important I think it is to find balance throughout this whole process. I also took every Sunday off from studying, because I may be a weakling, but I can't keep up 10 hour days 7 days a week.
TIMELINE
-June before 2nd year: started GT, this was the only studying I did. Maybe took me 30 minutes a day.
-2nd year: kept up with GT, tried to own pathology, and listened to Goljan lectures as many times as possible with the according system. I would maybe use FA as a quick review before our exams, but that's it. Also I used Robbins Review questions, because they were much harder than necessary, and I wanted to "over train," as it were.
-January of 2nd year: started doing USMLERx to again solidify what was in FA, and to get used to doing boards-style questions. I started doing 48 random, timed questions on tutor mode. Towards the end of February, I started doing 96 questions every morning just to get through them quickly, as I was anxious to move on to UW.
-March-May of 2nd year: Still stayed dedicated to class stuff, but I was doing 48 blocks of UW on random, timed mode and would annotate in as necessary. This was a crucial part of my learning. UW is so tough but I wanted again to "over train" for the exam by using materials that were typically more difficult than the real thing, so that when I took the exam it actually felt easier. I also trained myself to start flying through questions, which I'm usually a pretty fast test taker, but I wanted to get through a block of 48 with at least 15 minutes left, because I knew on test day some people were a lot slower.
-May (dedicated prep time): I started doing DIT the day after our neuro final. Every AM I did my GT, then would watch DIT lectures from 8-2, and afterwards I tried to do UW and study that days material in FA. If you do DIT I really recommend being pretty comfortable with FA, or else it'll get frustrating and anxiety-producing because he constantly drills you over stuff that, at least I wouldn't have been able to recall had I not been doing GT and RX to familiarize myself with FA.
On weekends I took practice exams. I heard that NBME 4 and the UWSA's were tough, so I did those. I did NBME 5 in the middle because I wanted a bit of a confidence boost, I know that's weird and kinda goes against my whole "harder than the real thing" philosophy, but whateva, whateva, I do what I want! 😛 Here is my breakdown:
CBSE (school-mandated, given in April): 240
NBME 4 (3 weeks out): 244
NBME 5 (2 weeks out): 255 - It was at this point I decided to move up my test another week. I was already in "I'd crap myself if I scored this" goal range and still had another 2 weeks, even after moving up my test.
UWSA 2 (1 week out): 258
Free 150 (1 week out, taken after UWSA 2 so as to simulate a full-length exam): 255
USMLERx: 72% with 100% completed
UW: 75% with 100% completed, last few blocks were 100%, 89%, 85%, 85%, 83%
TEST DAY
Had a great night's sleep the night before, stayed in a hotel as the testing center was 45 minutes from where I live, but I didn't want to take any chances. The place I checked in was quiet and since I had already done my finger printing for the MCAT in 2007, I didn't need to go through that again. The proctors were laid back and didn't waste my time every time I checked out, I just had to sign in on a piece of paper every time. It was fine. And for some reason, I really wasn't that nervous. I usually get bad test-day anxiety (I did for the MCAT and it really cost me), but I didn't on Monday. Strange.
So, I sat down and flew through the tutorial, only checking to make sure the headphones worked (they did, but only in one ear, but I wasn't going to waste time trying to get it fixed).
I started and FLEW through the first block, I was finished in 30 minutes. I knew I had a propensity to go too fast and make dumb mistakes, so I went back and rechecked everything, especially the ones I marked. Didn't find any dumb mistakes, so I went on and still banked like 15 minutes of break time. I finished the 2nd block with about 12 minutes left, so I took a break afterwards. I ate a protein bar and chugged a sugar-free red bull and went back in after 10 minutes. I powered through the next 2 blocks and then took a 20 minute lunch. I ate a chicken sandwich with some fruit, not wanting to stuff myself and crash 30 minutes later. The proctors let me go outside and get some fresh air, which was nice. After the 5th and 6th block, I also took 20 minute breaks just so I could splash some water on my face, grab a red bull, and rest my mind. This was crucial as I didn't feel exhausted on any block, not even the 7th. I finished the exam with almost an hour of break time remaining. I know that some people would say I'm going too fast, but it worked for me on UW, and I didn't want to hem and haw over questions I was unsure of, because I usually ended up over thinking and changing my answer to an incorrect one.
EXAM BREAKDOWN
Overall, this was a very fair and balanced (Fox News
) kind of test. Very well-written questions. Though one thing they like to do is ask you straight-forward concepts in the most jacked-up of ways. You have to filter through the bull crap, but if you can, those kinds of questions become simple. I think this is where doing a crap ton of questions helped me, because I could read the stem and usually understand exactly what they wanted from me.
PATH: Very balanced, and very straightforward for the most part. There were quite a few 2nd order questions, but most weren't as challenging as UW questions. It seems like there was a lot of Derm on there, but I'm just having some selective recall, I think. I don't really remember a lot of out of the blue questions here. Oh, and EVERY OTHER PT was preggers. I swear! It was ridiculous. Know your repro path, COLD.
PHARM: Cake compared to UWorld. I don't recall having ANY autonomic pharm. I had some anti-virals and abx questions, as well as some CV pharm, but overall I don't remember anything too weird, except for one asking for the MOA of an alcohol-abuse drug, and there were 2 right answers! 😕 Fortunately I picked one of them, but still. Yikes! Also I had 2 questions on competitive inhibition, one of which was a lineweaver-burke plot. Overall, pretty straightforward. Most of the questions had to do with MOA rather than random side effects.
PHYS: Renal seemed heavy, with some cardiac and endo stuff. UNDERSTAND the whole afferent/efferent arteriole business with renal, they love to ask you questions on that.
IMMUNO: Had lots of immuno questions. They love to ask what cell is responsible for what kind of reaction, so that's important (e.g. which cell is responsible for type 4 HS rxn?) Also know the immunodeficiencies (I had one on Job syndrome and Wiskott-Aldrich). I had no immunosuppressant questions.
Out of the blue: MOA of papain on immunoglobulin? I looked it up and I guessed right, but yikes.
MICRO: Pretty good mix. I have but one piece of advice here: READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THE BUG. I have a tendency to, when I see buzzwords, click on the appropriate answer choice and not even read the frickin question. They used the word "honey-crusted lesions" in one stem, and I wanted to pick S. pyogenes, but the description of the bug was "gram positive in groups and clusters." As well, pt has a fever and indwelling venous catheter, I wanted to pick Staph epidermidis, but no, the bug described was "gram positive in chains and pairs." They're onto us and our Jedi mind tricks, so read the stem carefully!
Random stuff I had: mecA gene, tx for scabes, aeromonas hydrophila
BIOCHEM: Overall, not as bad as it could have been, given that this is my weakness. Basically they just asked about enzymes gone wrong in diseases. G6PD, NADPH oxidase, Hurler's syndrome, and a glycolysis questions (got that one wrong, I think). I definitely had a random throwback to first year biochem, I don't know how I remembered, but understand how your body buffers pH and when certain things do their buffering.
BEHAVIORAL: Lots of "what would you say next" questions, probably 1 or 2 per block. I laughed when I saw one, because it was a repeat from NBME 7! (You mistake a male pt for a girl, what do you do?). Another random one had to do with a pt who quit smoking for a month before an operation, what complications would most likely be decreased? 😕 One psych personality d/o question, and I think that was it. Overall, not too bad. UW prepares you well for these.
ANATOMY: Definitely the most random crap on here. No way I would have known some of this stuff if I had studied another week. They love the brachial plexus and stuff taht can be damaged during surgery (PDA repair, thyroid surgery, just as examples). Also, know what artery/nerve can be injured when a certain bone is broken, and don't forget the lower extremity! And don't forget the blood supply to the genitals (middle cerebral wasn't an answer).
NEURO: Not too bad, had one brain stem slice that I probably got wrong (I'm terrible at those) and a REALLY simple spinal cord lesion that had the same answer on it at least twice. I would recommend being comfortable with correlating clinical sx with MRIs of the brain and being able to point out where the lesion should be. Standard stuff, nothing too crazy.
MEDIA: Had 3, all were heart sounds. 2 were the same thing, and 1 was just a variant of normal. You could have figured 2 of them out from the stem (the two that were the same thing), probably, but the heart sound really helped.
Overall, I walked out feeling kinda good about the exam, but I don't want to get my hopes up. Thanks to everyone who posts on here for your insight and contribution. Any time I was feeling a lack of motivation, I just read Pollux's post from last year, or imagined myself on match day opening up the letter and being disappointed. Sounds lame I know, but whatever works!
PM me if you have more questions.
PREPARATION
Going into medical school, I knew that I was one of those people that had to see stuff over and over and over again for it to stick. I am not one of those people that has a reliable long-term memory. I posted in the NBME thread that I forgot the direction of DNA replication!
So when I came upon Gunner Training (GT), I knew I had found at least somewhat of a cure for my ills. I think people on here are at least familiar with the program so I won't go into all that, but I started doing GT in June of last year, slowly adding in material from first year. I kept up with it every day and added in material as we covered it in 2nd year. This was by the far the most important part of my studying, especially given my proclivity to forget the simplest, most rudimentary basic science facts.
Another thing, GT is essentially First Aid in flash card/spaced learning format, and one of the "pillars" to my studying for Step 1 was to be as familiar with this book as possible. Hence my use of USMLERx and DIT throughout the 2nd half of my 2nd year, to keep First Aid as fresh as possible.
And of course, I went into 2nd year with the approach of being as hardcore as possible about classwork, because I knew how high yield this stuff was. So I studied my caucasian derriere off. I would head up to school at about 7 every morning and study in the learning resources unit/library until about 5. I started off every day by doing my assigned GT and doing so as quickly as possible, because I didn't think that lingering over things I got wrong in GT served its purpose well. I wanted multiple succinct reviews, and that's what I got. I also made it a point to become as familiar with medium Robbins as possible, and I made it a goal to nail pathology in every block, as I knew this was the core of what would be on Step 1 (and you know all that third year crap too 😉) I made time almost every day to work out, if at least for 20 minutes. Once I came home, I was done and I spent time with my wife, read, watched TV, whatever. I can't stress enough how important I think it is to find balance throughout this whole process. I also took every Sunday off from studying, because I may be a weakling, but I can't keep up 10 hour days 7 days a week.
TIMELINE
-June before 2nd year: started GT, this was the only studying I did. Maybe took me 30 minutes a day.
-2nd year: kept up with GT, tried to own pathology, and listened to Goljan lectures as many times as possible with the according system. I would maybe use FA as a quick review before our exams, but that's it. Also I used Robbins Review questions, because they were much harder than necessary, and I wanted to "over train," as it were.
-January of 2nd year: started doing USMLERx to again solidify what was in FA, and to get used to doing boards-style questions. I started doing 48 random, timed questions on tutor mode. Towards the end of February, I started doing 96 questions every morning just to get through them quickly, as I was anxious to move on to UW.
-March-May of 2nd year: Still stayed dedicated to class stuff, but I was doing 48 blocks of UW on random, timed mode and would annotate in as necessary. This was a crucial part of my learning. UW is so tough but I wanted again to "over train" for the exam by using materials that were typically more difficult than the real thing, so that when I took the exam it actually felt easier. I also trained myself to start flying through questions, which I'm usually a pretty fast test taker, but I wanted to get through a block of 48 with at least 15 minutes left, because I knew on test day some people were a lot slower.
-May (dedicated prep time): I started doing DIT the day after our neuro final. Every AM I did my GT, then would watch DIT lectures from 8-2, and afterwards I tried to do UW and study that days material in FA. If you do DIT I really recommend being pretty comfortable with FA, or else it'll get frustrating and anxiety-producing because he constantly drills you over stuff that, at least I wouldn't have been able to recall had I not been doing GT and RX to familiarize myself with FA.
On weekends I took practice exams. I heard that NBME 4 and the UWSA's were tough, so I did those. I did NBME 5 in the middle because I wanted a bit of a confidence boost, I know that's weird and kinda goes against my whole "harder than the real thing" philosophy, but whateva, whateva, I do what I want! 😛 Here is my breakdown:
CBSE (school-mandated, given in April): 240
NBME 4 (3 weeks out): 244
NBME 5 (2 weeks out): 255 - It was at this point I decided to move up my test another week. I was already in "I'd crap myself if I scored this" goal range and still had another 2 weeks, even after moving up my test.
UWSA 2 (1 week out): 258
Free 150 (1 week out, taken after UWSA 2 so as to simulate a full-length exam): 255
USMLERx: 72% with 100% completed
UW: 75% with 100% completed, last few blocks were 100%, 89%, 85%, 85%, 83%
TEST DAY
Had a great night's sleep the night before, stayed in a hotel as the testing center was 45 minutes from where I live, but I didn't want to take any chances. The place I checked in was quiet and since I had already done my finger printing for the MCAT in 2007, I didn't need to go through that again. The proctors were laid back and didn't waste my time every time I checked out, I just had to sign in on a piece of paper every time. It was fine. And for some reason, I really wasn't that nervous. I usually get bad test-day anxiety (I did for the MCAT and it really cost me), but I didn't on Monday. Strange.
So, I sat down and flew through the tutorial, only checking to make sure the headphones worked (they did, but only in one ear, but I wasn't going to waste time trying to get it fixed).
I started and FLEW through the first block, I was finished in 30 minutes. I knew I had a propensity to go too fast and make dumb mistakes, so I went back and rechecked everything, especially the ones I marked. Didn't find any dumb mistakes, so I went on and still banked like 15 minutes of break time. I finished the 2nd block with about 12 minutes left, so I took a break afterwards. I ate a protein bar and chugged a sugar-free red bull and went back in after 10 minutes. I powered through the next 2 blocks and then took a 20 minute lunch. I ate a chicken sandwich with some fruit, not wanting to stuff myself and crash 30 minutes later. The proctors let me go outside and get some fresh air, which was nice. After the 5th and 6th block, I also took 20 minute breaks just so I could splash some water on my face, grab a red bull, and rest my mind. This was crucial as I didn't feel exhausted on any block, not even the 7th. I finished the exam with almost an hour of break time remaining. I know that some people would say I'm going too fast, but it worked for me on UW, and I didn't want to hem and haw over questions I was unsure of, because I usually ended up over thinking and changing my answer to an incorrect one.
EXAM BREAKDOWN
Overall, this was a very fair and balanced (Fox News
) kind of test. Very well-written questions. Though one thing they like to do is ask you straight-forward concepts in the most jacked-up of ways. You have to filter through the bull crap, but if you can, those kinds of questions become simple. I think this is where doing a crap ton of questions helped me, because I could read the stem and usually understand exactly what they wanted from me. PATH: Very balanced, and very straightforward for the most part. There were quite a few 2nd order questions, but most weren't as challenging as UW questions. It seems like there was a lot of Derm on there, but I'm just having some selective recall, I think. I don't really remember a lot of out of the blue questions here. Oh, and EVERY OTHER PT was preggers. I swear! It was ridiculous. Know your repro path, COLD.
PHARM: Cake compared to UWorld. I don't recall having ANY autonomic pharm. I had some anti-virals and abx questions, as well as some CV pharm, but overall I don't remember anything too weird, except for one asking for the MOA of an alcohol-abuse drug, and there were 2 right answers! 😕 Fortunately I picked one of them, but still. Yikes! Also I had 2 questions on competitive inhibition, one of which was a lineweaver-burke plot. Overall, pretty straightforward. Most of the questions had to do with MOA rather than random side effects.
PHYS: Renal seemed heavy, with some cardiac and endo stuff. UNDERSTAND the whole afferent/efferent arteriole business with renal, they love to ask you questions on that.
IMMUNO: Had lots of immuno questions. They love to ask what cell is responsible for what kind of reaction, so that's important (e.g. which cell is responsible for type 4 HS rxn?) Also know the immunodeficiencies (I had one on Job syndrome and Wiskott-Aldrich). I had no immunosuppressant questions.
Out of the blue: MOA of papain on immunoglobulin? I looked it up and I guessed right, but yikes.
MICRO: Pretty good mix. I have but one piece of advice here: READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THE BUG. I have a tendency to, when I see buzzwords, click on the appropriate answer choice and not even read the frickin question. They used the word "honey-crusted lesions" in one stem, and I wanted to pick S. pyogenes, but the description of the bug was "gram positive in groups and clusters." As well, pt has a fever and indwelling venous catheter, I wanted to pick Staph epidermidis, but no, the bug described was "gram positive in chains and pairs." They're onto us and our Jedi mind tricks, so read the stem carefully!
Random stuff I had: mecA gene, tx for scabes, aeromonas hydrophila
BIOCHEM: Overall, not as bad as it could have been, given that this is my weakness. Basically they just asked about enzymes gone wrong in diseases. G6PD, NADPH oxidase, Hurler's syndrome, and a glycolysis questions (got that one wrong, I think). I definitely had a random throwback to first year biochem, I don't know how I remembered, but understand how your body buffers pH and when certain things do their buffering.
BEHAVIORAL: Lots of "what would you say next" questions, probably 1 or 2 per block. I laughed when I saw one, because it was a repeat from NBME 7! (You mistake a male pt for a girl, what do you do?). Another random one had to do with a pt who quit smoking for a month before an operation, what complications would most likely be decreased? 😕 One psych personality d/o question, and I think that was it. Overall, not too bad. UW prepares you well for these.
ANATOMY: Definitely the most random crap on here. No way I would have known some of this stuff if I had studied another week. They love the brachial plexus and stuff taht can be damaged during surgery (PDA repair, thyroid surgery, just as examples). Also, know what artery/nerve can be injured when a certain bone is broken, and don't forget the lower extremity! And don't forget the blood supply to the genitals (middle cerebral wasn't an answer).
NEURO: Not too bad, had one brain stem slice that I probably got wrong (I'm terrible at those) and a REALLY simple spinal cord lesion that had the same answer on it at least twice. I would recommend being comfortable with correlating clinical sx with MRIs of the brain and being able to point out where the lesion should be. Standard stuff, nothing too crazy.
MEDIA: Had 3, all were heart sounds. 2 were the same thing, and 1 was just a variant of normal. You could have figured 2 of them out from the stem (the two that were the same thing), probably, but the heart sound really helped.
Overall, I walked out feeling kinda good about the exam, but I don't want to get my hopes up. Thanks to everyone who posts on here for your insight and contribution. Any time I was feeling a lack of motivation, I just read Pollux's post from last year, or imagined myself on match day opening up the letter and being disappointed. Sounds lame I know, but whatever works!
PM me if you have more questions.
Last edited:
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Congrats on being done! Thanks for that great update. Sounds like you rocked the test! Did you have the new 46q format with the longer vignettes?
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I did not. I had the old format with 48 questions per block.
By the way, does this mean I should hear back in 3 weeks? I kinda hope so!
Okay I got my score back today: 243/99. My goal originally was 230-250, then I changed it to 240 after taking most of the NBMEs and the 2 USMLEW self assessments and getting scores of 240-255 and 75%+ toward the end of my studying, so overall I'm happy I beat my goal. But it's weird because my weakest point on the exam was Heme which I had felt so comfortable with going into the test, and some of my strong points were physio, reproductive/endocrine, CV, and resp, which I wouldn't have guessed would be asterisks for me, so u really never know with this test...I know I'm rambling, but later on I'll come back and post more details as to my scores and exam as I know this forum had helped me so much in prepping and staying on point during my studying. Good luck to all those prepping hard right now...as so many posters have said, this test is definitely doable and as long as u know FA and USMLEW well and worked hard the 1st 2 yrs of med school, u can def kick this test's butt and get a 99.
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I have a question, but first, this is my report so far (I am scheduled to take the real test in 2 weeks)
CBSE: 233 (in February)
CBSE: 265+ (in May)
UWorld 1: 260/740 (2 weeks ago)
Old free 144: 272?!? (Med friends) (1 week ago)
NBME 7: 260/670 (today)
I am not sure what to do now. I am just hovering on the 260, and I know this sounds like whining. I am not sure if I should move my test date up or keep it the same. I don't know what else I can do to get my score higher because it is just hovering at 260, which I know I should be pleased with. Any thoughts?
CBSE: 233 (in February)
CBSE: 265+ (in May)
UWorld 1: 260/740 (2 weeks ago)
Old free 144: 272?!? (Med friends) (1 week ago)
NBME 7: 260/670 (today)
I am not sure what to do now. I am just hovering on the 260, and I know this sounds like whining. I am not sure if I should move my test date up or keep it the same. I don't know what else I can do to get my score higher because it is just hovering at 260, which I know I should be pleased with. Any thoughts?
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I think you've answered your own question. Is there some residency a 270 would get you that a 260 wouldn't? Dude, take that thing tomorrow and you'll kill it and enjoy the extra time off.
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Dude man. Move your test up to like.... tomorrow. Just take it and be done with it. A 260, is a 260. Seriously beyond 245+ scores it doesn't really matter anymore. Take it early and take a break before you start rotations!
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Finally finished,
I studied for 6.5 weeks. The only preparation I did beforehand was read MicroRidiculous the week before, which helped a great deal. I would suggest anyone preparing for the boards to do a preview of either Micro, Biochem, or Pharm.
I only used First Aid. I didn't listen to goljan or use his book. I may have peeked at BRS anatomy for a couple of hours but thats it. You don't need anything more than First Aid as long as you understand every word that is written in there. I did use MicroCards (thats the exact name) and made some of my own flashcards using flashcardexchange.com
I did a bunch of questions. More than 2500 of USMLERx and around 1700 of USMLEWorld.
Practice Tests:
Free 150 (2 weeks before test): 90% ~ 260
UBME 7 (1 week before test): 258
Ok the real actual test:
The first thing i noticed was the new way of listen to heart sounds. They give you heart sounds from all 4 locations , so you have to determine yourself where its loudest.
I got multiple questions that asked the same thing twice. I did not get a lot of biochem questions, more cell and molecular bio. I got many pulmonary and "what would you say to patient" questions. My take on the test is that it was easier than UW but harder than UBME 7. I felt like I either knew the answer within 30 secs or have never seen the material they are asking about. So, I felt like there weren't that many steps of thinking, more info regurg. They definitely threw some very odd questions in there like tattoo removal, restless leg syndrome etc.
I'll let you guys know my score when I get it
I studied for 6.5 weeks. The only preparation I did beforehand was read MicroRidiculous the week before, which helped a great deal. I would suggest anyone preparing for the boards to do a preview of either Micro, Biochem, or Pharm.
I only used First Aid. I didn't listen to goljan or use his book. I may have peeked at BRS anatomy for a couple of hours but thats it. You don't need anything more than First Aid as long as you understand every word that is written in there. I did use MicroCards (thats the exact name) and made some of my own flashcards using flashcardexchange.com
I did a bunch of questions. More than 2500 of USMLERx and around 1700 of USMLEWorld.
Practice Tests:
Free 150 (2 weeks before test): 90% ~ 260
UBME 7 (1 week before test): 258
Ok the real actual test:
The first thing i noticed was the new way of listen to heart sounds. They give you heart sounds from all 4 locations , so you have to determine yourself where its loudest.
I got multiple questions that asked the same thing twice. I did not get a lot of biochem questions, more cell and molecular bio. I got many pulmonary and "what would you say to patient" questions. My take on the test is that it was easier than UW but harder than UBME 7. I felt like I either knew the answer within 30 secs or have never seen the material they are asking about. So, I felt like there weren't that many steps of thinking, more info regurg. They definitely threw some very odd questions in there like tattoo removal, restless leg syndrome etc.
I'll let you guys know my score when I get it
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wow...just took the exam...I feel like I failed seriously. To all those who haven't taken yet, you should know that the questions stems are at least 3-4 sentences long. I had a handful of 1-2 liners asking simple, direct questions. In my form, there were also quite a few questions with lab values separating 2 paragraphs worth of information. I did not have time trouble during my practice tests, but today I ran into time trouble every single block. Let's just hope I passed...july 14 (or whatever the date is supposed to be) can't come fast enough...ughhh
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"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. "
My interpretation is that "most" applies to the people taking the new 46 question vignettes, with the rest being people that take the old style 48 question vignettes at centers that have not transitioned yet (ie you). This implies that tests taken at centers that have not transitioned should follow the traditional 4 weeks/3wednesdays after. But who knows, gotta love the ambiguity of these NBME statements
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Oh my... here's hoping my little rural site hasn't transitioned yet by Saturday!
Although this would make it such that I get my score back right smack in the middle of the vacation I have planned...
And thank you for the detailed run down, AggieSean. I myself have gotten similar numbers to you in UW/NBME/UWSA... let's hope we ace it!
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ssup everybody
I am wondering about my progress, my scheduled date is in two weeks. I have been given a total of six weeks to study for the beast. Have only been doing FA + RR + Uworld (70%) (did not get time to do other qbanks)
Here are my scores..
1 week into studying NBME6 = 225
3 weeks into studying UWSA 1 = 252
4 weeks into studying NBME7 = 250
I have absolutely no confidence in myself, my last two scores surprised the heck out of me. First I thought UWSA 1 was over predicting. While I was doing NBME 7 I thought I was going to bomb it. Anyone else feel that way while doing the test but end up doing superb.
My weakest subjects are pharm and micro (cannot memorize-vomit🙁). I would be very happy with a 245+. Would I be able to pull it off if I write it next week. I am sick and tired of first aid and studying.
I am wondering about my progress, my scheduled date is in two weeks. I have been given a total of six weeks to study for the beast. Have only been doing FA + RR + Uworld (70%) (did not get time to do other qbanks)
Here are my scores..
1 week into studying NBME6 = 225
3 weeks into studying UWSA 1 = 252
4 weeks into studying NBME7 = 250
I have absolutely no confidence in myself, my last two scores surprised the heck out of me. First I thought UWSA 1 was over predicting. While I was doing NBME 7 I thought I was going to bomb it. Anyone else feel that way while doing the test but end up doing superb.
My weakest subjects are pharm and micro (cannot memorize-vomit🙁). I would be very happy with a 245+. Would I be able to pull it off if I write it next week. I am sick and tired of first aid and studying.
255/99
Here's my story:
So I'm not a person that can pick up information and (re)learn it quickly, so I began preparation in January. (I tried to work last semester but was really unmotivated and anything that I did get done last semester wasn't helpful.) I'll be honest; I had an ambitious plan to do a complete first-pass before my "intense study period. Truth be told, I didn't accomplish that plan but I did hit some of the major areas: microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, basic physiology and pharmacology. I really spent a lot of time with this (major sources = Kaplan Lecture Notes Biochemistry + Microbiology + Pharmacology; BRS Physiology), and I learned this inside and out. To be honest, once I started my 6-week period, I didn't touch this material until the last week because I felt pretty confident about how well I knew it -- but only because I went through it fairly methodically the first time.
I had 6 weeks to study, and while I worked hard for the first 2 weeks, I didn't feel the same sense of urgency that I had for the final month. I spent the first 2 weeks on anatomy, embryology, neurology, psychiatry, behavioral sciences, musculoskeletal and connective tissue, and reproductive. (There really was no rhyme or reason, as I didnt have a predetermined schedule planned. I told myself that by the end of the week, I want to get X done, and that helped me stay on top of my studying while still giving myself flexibility.) I spent the next two weeks finishing the remaining subject areas, and I used the final two weeks to memorize and solidify fuzzy areas. My major sources were BRS Physiology, Kaplan Lecture Notes Pharmacology, Goljan Rapid Review. As my study period progressed, I relied on First Aid more and more. I also used Robbins Review of Pathology (question book), the Kaplan Qbook, and BRS questions. I occasionally referenced the UCV series.
So I was a little cheap and only bought UW for one month. I finished about 75% of my questions, and I only did USMLE World on random 48 question blocks. My scores started about 68 75% and I ended up with a 79 85%, but there were plenty of fluctuations (I had a 91% early on in my study period but I had a 62% towards the end of my study period. I think this goes to underscore the fact that you have to appreciate the randomness of the Qbank and by extension, of the actual test.) I dont remember the dates that I did the various NBMEs, but I started with NBME 1 (prediction=236), NBME 2 (prediction=240), NBME 7 (prediction=253), NBME 4 (prediction=244), NBME 3 (prediction=255). I took 7, 4, and 3 within 10 days of my actual exam, and I took 1 and 2 sometime the week before.
Ill be honest I also thought I was going to work really hard during the last week and I lost a lot of steam. The day after I took a double NBME, I took the day off because my brain was fried. I definitely felt like I was several days behind where I would have liked to be, and felt a lot of guilt about not working as hard. I think I probably worked about 4 or 5 out of the last 7 days, which in retrospect doesnt seem bad (when youre in the moment, you feel very differently, however!). I spent the last week reviewing and memorizing First Aid, and going over any weak areas. I think that by the day of the test, I had actually memorized a good deal of First Aid and that was a confidence booster!
So day of the test arrives. (Im feeling a little groggy because I was so nervous the night before and I couldnt get to bed. I probably only slept about 5 hours that night, but the adrenaline rush overpowers any drowsiness you may feel when you get to your computer!) I didnt realize that Fred looks EXACTLY like UW that was a pleasant surprise. It put me at ease, because it felt like I was doing practice UW blocks (something that I had grown accustomed to by now). The test day was long and draining, and while I had a lot of worries about my stamina going into the exam, I felt surprisingly alert up until block 7 (I got a little bleary-eyed at this point and had to really pull it together!). The breaks were rejuvenating because I brought my favorite foods and I had an iPod of my favorite music. Im not going to go into the details as to what was covered on my exam, because as Ive learned from reading posts on here and comparing prior experiences to mine, the exam is COMPLETELY randomized. Some areas that were overrepresented on mine were underrepresented on others' exams, and vice versa. The motto of this story is that you SHOULD NOT listen to someone who said I had no rheumatology on my exam because you could very well have several rheumatology questions.
I felt like the exam was really hard, and I remember feeling like I screwed up bad. If this is any consolation, I felt the exact same way about each of my NBMEs, and I think I ended up doing fairly well on those. At times, some of the questions seemed like they were so out-of-left-field, and I felt like it was a trivia game or something. On my exam, I felt like they really asked me to apply information that I had learned into new or different contexts this was challenging! The images and the media were straightforward. I felt like the difficulty was 20% easier than NBME, 50% NBME 7, 30% UW.
So I left the exam feeling really dejected and like I had screwed up. One bad thing that I did was carry my doubts and negative energy from an earlier block to a later block. You have to learn to let go! Once you finish a question or a block and lock in your final answer, dont perseverate! Move on. I didnt do this well, and I think it really impacted my perception of how the day went.
So Im ecstatic about my score because I was shooting for a 250 and I was able to replicate my NBME 3 score. Im pretty confident that I made many stupid mistakes. While Im sure identifying and correcting those mistakes would have boosted my score, beggars cant be choosers, and Im elated. And I need to move on to third year!
A few final key things I learned from this process:
1. Questions, questions, questions. NBME. UW. Other sources you think are valuable. DO QUESTIONS! I cannot reiterate this enough. I did plenty of questions and there were some questions that I either recognized verbatim, or were very similar to questions that I had done in the past. HOWEVER, only do questions if you will have time to review them! Use questions as the means to an end, not as the end itself. (If I had an extra week, I would have finished my UW.)
2. I really believe in Kaplan Lecture Notes, Rapid Review Goljan, and First Aid.
3. Sleep. I got eight hours of sleep a night, every night (except for the night before how ironic!). I worked really hard during the day, but I got some well-deserved sleep at night. Remember, you do a lot of learning and processing while asleep so do not shortchange yourself on that.
Good luck to everyone! Its a roller coaster that can leave you emotionally and physically drained at times. To get through this, have faith, and trust in yourself. Zero in on what motivates you, and have some clear goals set in your mind. (And if that doesnt work, put some motivational signs up in your home that helped me.)
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
Here's my story:
So I'm not a person that can pick up information and (re)learn it quickly, so I began preparation in January. (I tried to work last semester but was really unmotivated and anything that I did get done last semester wasn't helpful.) I'll be honest; I had an ambitious plan to do a complete first-pass before my "intense study period. Truth be told, I didn't accomplish that plan but I did hit some of the major areas: microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, basic physiology and pharmacology. I really spent a lot of time with this (major sources = Kaplan Lecture Notes Biochemistry + Microbiology + Pharmacology; BRS Physiology), and I learned this inside and out. To be honest, once I started my 6-week period, I didn't touch this material until the last week because I felt pretty confident about how well I knew it -- but only because I went through it fairly methodically the first time.
I had 6 weeks to study, and while I worked hard for the first 2 weeks, I didn't feel the same sense of urgency that I had for the final month. I spent the first 2 weeks on anatomy, embryology, neurology, psychiatry, behavioral sciences, musculoskeletal and connective tissue, and reproductive. (There really was no rhyme or reason, as I didnt have a predetermined schedule planned. I told myself that by the end of the week, I want to get X done, and that helped me stay on top of my studying while still giving myself flexibility.) I spent the next two weeks finishing the remaining subject areas, and I used the final two weeks to memorize and solidify fuzzy areas. My major sources were BRS Physiology, Kaplan Lecture Notes Pharmacology, Goljan Rapid Review. As my study period progressed, I relied on First Aid more and more. I also used Robbins Review of Pathology (question book), the Kaplan Qbook, and BRS questions. I occasionally referenced the UCV series.
So I was a little cheap and only bought UW for one month. I finished about 75% of my questions, and I only did USMLE World on random 48 question blocks. My scores started about 68 75% and I ended up with a 79 85%, but there were plenty of fluctuations (I had a 91% early on in my study period but I had a 62% towards the end of my study period. I think this goes to underscore the fact that you have to appreciate the randomness of the Qbank and by extension, of the actual test.) I dont remember the dates that I did the various NBMEs, but I started with NBME 1 (prediction=236), NBME 2 (prediction=240), NBME 7 (prediction=253), NBME 4 (prediction=244), NBME 3 (prediction=255). I took 7, 4, and 3 within 10 days of my actual exam, and I took 1 and 2 sometime the week before.
Ill be honest I also thought I was going to work really hard during the last week and I lost a lot of steam. The day after I took a double NBME, I took the day off because my brain was fried. I definitely felt like I was several days behind where I would have liked to be, and felt a lot of guilt about not working as hard. I think I probably worked about 4 or 5 out of the last 7 days, which in retrospect doesnt seem bad (when youre in the moment, you feel very differently, however!). I spent the last week reviewing and memorizing First Aid, and going over any weak areas. I think that by the day of the test, I had actually memorized a good deal of First Aid and that was a confidence booster!
So day of the test arrives. (Im feeling a little groggy because I was so nervous the night before and I couldnt get to bed. I probably only slept about 5 hours that night, but the adrenaline rush overpowers any drowsiness you may feel when you get to your computer!) I didnt realize that Fred looks EXACTLY like UW that was a pleasant surprise. It put me at ease, because it felt like I was doing practice UW blocks (something that I had grown accustomed to by now). The test day was long and draining, and while I had a lot of worries about my stamina going into the exam, I felt surprisingly alert up until block 7 (I got a little bleary-eyed at this point and had to really pull it together!). The breaks were rejuvenating because I brought my favorite foods and I had an iPod of my favorite music. Im not going to go into the details as to what was covered on my exam, because as Ive learned from reading posts on here and comparing prior experiences to mine, the exam is COMPLETELY randomized. Some areas that were overrepresented on mine were underrepresented on others' exams, and vice versa. The motto of this story is that you SHOULD NOT listen to someone who said I had no rheumatology on my exam because you could very well have several rheumatology questions.
I felt like the exam was really hard, and I remember feeling like I screwed up bad. If this is any consolation, I felt the exact same way about each of my NBMEs, and I think I ended up doing fairly well on those. At times, some of the questions seemed like they were so out-of-left-field, and I felt like it was a trivia game or something. On my exam, I felt like they really asked me to apply information that I had learned into new or different contexts this was challenging! The images and the media were straightforward. I felt like the difficulty was 20% easier than NBME, 50% NBME 7, 30% UW.
So I left the exam feeling really dejected and like I had screwed up. One bad thing that I did was carry my doubts and negative energy from an earlier block to a later block. You have to learn to let go! Once you finish a question or a block and lock in your final answer, dont perseverate! Move on. I didnt do this well, and I think it really impacted my perception of how the day went.
So Im ecstatic about my score because I was shooting for a 250 and I was able to replicate my NBME 3 score. Im pretty confident that I made many stupid mistakes. While Im sure identifying and correcting those mistakes would have boosted my score, beggars cant be choosers, and Im elated. And I need to move on to third year!
A few final key things I learned from this process:
1. Questions, questions, questions. NBME. UW. Other sources you think are valuable. DO QUESTIONS! I cannot reiterate this enough. I did plenty of questions and there were some questions that I either recognized verbatim, or were very similar to questions that I had done in the past. HOWEVER, only do questions if you will have time to review them! Use questions as the means to an end, not as the end itself. (If I had an extra week, I would have finished my UW.)
2. I really believe in Kaplan Lecture Notes, Rapid Review Goljan, and First Aid.
3. Sleep. I got eight hours of sleep a night, every night (except for the night before how ironic!). I worked really hard during the day, but I got some well-deserved sleep at night. Remember, you do a lot of learning and processing while asleep so do not shortchange yourself on that.
Good luck to everyone! Its a roller coaster that can leave you emotionally and physically drained at times. To get through this, have faith, and trust in yourself. Zero in on what motivates you, and have some clear goals set in your mind. (And if that doesnt work, put some motivational signs up in your home that helped me.)
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
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am guessing pacing yourself, not spending too much time on questions you dont know, being able to eliminate obviously wrong choices, answering what you are being asked and not what you wanted to be asked, taking good breaks, etc
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i see you in every thread here... Focus more on studying less on posting.
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Just got back from the exam...
Here's my impression. First off I could barely get any sleep last night...slept for 4 hours and took an Advil in the morning...got to the exam site on time and it took a while to get me started. Exam went from 9:15 to 5:15.
The exam is VERY DOABLE....and when I mean doable I mean that close to 75% of the questions are gimmes. You will have no problem with them...I literally didn't even read half of the questions...just scanned the stem...saw two or three keywords and picked my choice.
Each block I finished with probably 25 minutes left and I used all the time going over ones I wasn't so sure about.
Now that being said, the 25% non-gimme questions are TOUGH. Some are way out of left field and there's no chance that you could have prepared for them...some require a lot of thoughtful guessing. I was unlucky enough to have 10% of my exam be anatomy (no joke) and for that I had to make an educated guess an move (know your nerves for anatomy)
Do not be freaked out by the NEW format...it's nothing special. Do not spend your time pouring over the details...Always read the question stem first and then read the rest...Hopefully I did well and I wish all of you the best of luck..Get sleep the night before (even if you have to overdose of trazadone and wake up with priapism 🙂 )
...now it's time to enjoy life again.
Here's my impression. First off I could barely get any sleep last night...slept for 4 hours and took an Advil in the morning...got to the exam site on time and it took a while to get me started. Exam went from 9:15 to 5:15.
The exam is VERY DOABLE....and when I mean doable I mean that close to 75% of the questions are gimmes. You will have no problem with them...I literally didn't even read half of the questions...just scanned the stem...saw two or three keywords and picked my choice.
Each block I finished with probably 25 minutes left and I used all the time going over ones I wasn't so sure about.
Now that being said, the 25% non-gimme questions are TOUGH. Some are way out of left field and there's no chance that you could have prepared for them...some require a lot of thoughtful guessing. I was unlucky enough to have 10% of my exam be anatomy (no joke) and for that I had to make an educated guess an move (know your nerves for anatomy)
Do not be freaked out by the NEW format...it's nothing special. Do not spend your time pouring over the details...Always read the question stem first and then read the rest...Hopefully I did well and I wish all of you the best of luck..Get sleep the night before (even if you have to overdose of trazadone and wake up with priapism 🙂 )
...now it's time to enjoy life again.
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- May 27, 2008
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Just took my test today. In the spirit of passing along all the help I received from this (and the 2009 and 2008) threads, I thought I'd put in my own 2 cents down in case it is helpful to anyone else.
In general, I was a fairly good student in med school. Worked hard to try to undo poor performance in undergrad, et all. But Med school clicked a lot better and felt a lot more purposeful.
Here's a rundown of various scores:
MCAT - 31
NBME CBSE 1 (March 2010) - 84 (~235)
NBME CBSE 2 (April 2010) - 85 (~238)
NBME 4 (April 23 2010) - 590 (~242) - first real diagnostic taken at start of studying)
UWSA 1 (May 8 2010) - 630 (~245)
NBME 6 (May 15 2010) - 620 (~247)
UWSA 2 (May 25 2010) - 730 (~259)
UWorld - 80% finished - 81% avg, timed, random 48 Q blocks
(I finished about 50% of the Qbank before I reset it and did another 80%... felt kinda bad about not finishing this but I was happy with my average and severely burnt out near the end so I couldn't blow through 300 Qs a day like I wanted to)
Test day (May 29 2010) - *Awaiting*
Study:
My study began around April 19 a few days after my second year ended. I followed a plan very similar to the Taus plan including 3 runs through the material using various sources.
In general, my first run through consisted of using more narrow review books. I especially made use of Med Micro MRS and HY Behavioral as those were two classes I was weaker in during med school. I also used Kaplan Biochem and found it to be quite helpful in clarifying a lot of topics I had long since forgotten.
The second run through was almost completely Goljan. I took a pure systems based approach going from what I considered highest yield to lowest yield. Every system I did, I used FA Anatomy, Goljan Path, BRS/FA Physio, and FA Pharm. The Physio/Anatomy and Pharm actually go by quick... getting through Goljan was the toughest aspect of this segment and I ended up skipping a few chapters in the end (Skin, genetics, environmental).
The third run through was basically a series of reviews with special focus on FA Pharm, Biochem, and Goljan blue margins (which are extremely helpful, by the way). A big part of this third run through was also doing as much USMLEWorld as I could which I ultimately did not finish (see above).
On average, I did 7-9 hours a day. I had a strict plan worked out, that was probably a little too ambitious. But I felt like I aimed high and still finished reviewing a very sizable amount of material in the time I had set myself so I am not too worked up about this.
Test Day:
I got the new version (46 Qs, longer stems). I did not, however, think it was that bad. Started at 8. I finished each block with about 5-10 mins to go (the time left over gets added to your break) and I took a 5-10 minute break after every single block but no long breaks. So I finished the whole thing in 7ish hours. I made it a point to not take any books with me and resisted the temptation to look up answers to old questions on my iphone. There would've been no point, to be honest. I just cleared my mind during breaks, basically.
I am happy to say that I don't think I had any "WTF" moments with respect to what questions were asking. There were a few that were somewhat vague that I wished there were more clues on, although that may just be holes in my knowledge base speaking.
Although on average, the stems were long-ish, there were a fair few that had *really* short stems (as in 1 line) and I happened across at least a couple of questions that weren't even clinical vignettes. So I am really not sure what was different... to me, it really felt like doing a lot of UW.
As for subject matter - I'm really still kind of hazy at the moment. Maybe I will have more epiphanies worth sharing later, but for now I thought it is worth mentioning that the Goljan blue margins are gold. I can't say for sure how much the Goljan text itself helped (although I'm sure it did) but I'll elaborate on that when I get my score. The Pharm was surprisingly easy - at least compared to UW. Many places I finished reading the question thinking I already knew what secondary/tertiary question they were going to ask and instead it just ended up being a primary question. FA was definitely enough on this. Path was probably representative of the bulk of secondary/tertiary questions. The Biochem was extremely high yield stuff... I probably could've done without reading Kaplan Biochem at all, but taking shortcuts probably isn't such a good idea with something so important - this is just hindsight speaking.
Over all, though, my impression was "not bad"... although that either means I did really well or so bad I don't even know it... let's hope it's the former.
Happy to answer queries, but I should probably keep away from elaborating on specific questions. Will update this if I think of anything significant and if not - when July 14th rolls around.
Cheers!
In general, I was a fairly good student in med school. Worked hard to try to undo poor performance in undergrad, et all. But Med school clicked a lot better and felt a lot more purposeful.
Here's a rundown of various scores:
MCAT - 31
NBME CBSE 1 (March 2010) - 84 (~235)
NBME CBSE 2 (April 2010) - 85 (~238)
NBME 4 (April 23 2010) - 590 (~242) - first real diagnostic taken at start of studying)
UWSA 1 (May 8 2010) - 630 (~245)
NBME 6 (May 15 2010) - 620 (~247)
UWSA 2 (May 25 2010) - 730 (~259)
UWorld - 80% finished - 81% avg, timed, random 48 Q blocks
(I finished about 50% of the Qbank before I reset it and did another 80%... felt kinda bad about not finishing this but I was happy with my average and severely burnt out near the end so I couldn't blow through 300 Qs a day like I wanted to)
Test day (May 29 2010) - *Awaiting*
Study:
My study began around April 19 a few days after my second year ended. I followed a plan very similar to the Taus plan including 3 runs through the material using various sources.
In general, my first run through consisted of using more narrow review books. I especially made use of Med Micro MRS and HY Behavioral as those were two classes I was weaker in during med school. I also used Kaplan Biochem and found it to be quite helpful in clarifying a lot of topics I had long since forgotten.
The second run through was almost completely Goljan. I took a pure systems based approach going from what I considered highest yield to lowest yield. Every system I did, I used FA Anatomy, Goljan Path, BRS/FA Physio, and FA Pharm. The Physio/Anatomy and Pharm actually go by quick... getting through Goljan was the toughest aspect of this segment and I ended up skipping a few chapters in the end (Skin, genetics, environmental).
The third run through was basically a series of reviews with special focus on FA Pharm, Biochem, and Goljan blue margins (which are extremely helpful, by the way). A big part of this third run through was also doing as much USMLEWorld as I could which I ultimately did not finish (see above).
On average, I did 7-9 hours a day. I had a strict plan worked out, that was probably a little too ambitious. But I felt like I aimed high and still finished reviewing a very sizable amount of material in the time I had set myself so I am not too worked up about this.
Test Day:
I got the new version (46 Qs, longer stems). I did not, however, think it was that bad. Started at 8. I finished each block with about 5-10 mins to go (the time left over gets added to your break) and I took a 5-10 minute break after every single block but no long breaks. So I finished the whole thing in 7ish hours. I made it a point to not take any books with me and resisted the temptation to look up answers to old questions on my iphone. There would've been no point, to be honest. I just cleared my mind during breaks, basically.
I am happy to say that I don't think I had any "WTF" moments with respect to what questions were asking. There were a few that were somewhat vague that I wished there were more clues on, although that may just be holes in my knowledge base speaking.
Although on average, the stems were long-ish, there were a fair few that had *really* short stems (as in 1 line) and I happened across at least a couple of questions that weren't even clinical vignettes. So I am really not sure what was different... to me, it really felt like doing a lot of UW.
As for subject matter - I'm really still kind of hazy at the moment. Maybe I will have more epiphanies worth sharing later, but for now I thought it is worth mentioning that the Goljan blue margins are gold. I can't say for sure how much the Goljan text itself helped (although I'm sure it did) but I'll elaborate on that when I get my score. The Pharm was surprisingly easy - at least compared to UW. Many places I finished reading the question thinking I already knew what secondary/tertiary question they were going to ask and instead it just ended up being a primary question. FA was definitely enough on this. Path was probably representative of the bulk of secondary/tertiary questions. The Biochem was extremely high yield stuff... I probably could've done without reading Kaplan Biochem at all, but taking shortcuts probably isn't such a good idea with something so important - this is just hindsight speaking.
Over all, though, my impression was "not bad"... although that either means I did really well or so bad I don't even know it... let's hope it's the former.
Happy to answer queries, but I should probably keep away from elaborating on specific questions. Will update this if I think of anything significant and if not - when July 14th rolls around.
Cheers!
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Hmm, not that I recall, actually. There were definitely a few words I had never heard before as answer choices. But in general, I can't remember any totally "off the wall" questions so to speak.
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There are several things you can do to increase your score that have little to do with the actual knowledge you have on test day. For example, if you do not have the stamina to maintain focus for all 7 blocks, then your score will go down, because of stupid mistakes and wasted time. If your diet is off on the day of the exam, your blood will be in your GI instead of your brain after lunch. I'll write up the full list later on. I am finishing up the updated Taus method (with current NBME's and more current test breakdowns).
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For those of you with TAUS-ish know how:
The fabled final 2 week plan: do the goljan aspects of it cover just the margin notes and tables? I mean c'mon , finishing up 5 chapters in 4 hours?!!
Just wanna make sure.Thanks
The fabled final 2 week plan: do the goljan aspects of it cover just the margin notes and tables? I mean c'mon , finishing up 5 chapters in 4 hours?!!
Just wanna make sure.Thanks
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atleast as hard as NBME 7 ( 194)
too many Qs that required knowing details to arrive at final answer from narrowed 2 choices.
good # of hypothetical Qs.
Physio was hard. Required good grasp of concept to answer.
not much pharm . few Neuro Qs. few CTs. few anatomy Qs.
Overall, FA is enough.
If not made stupid mistakes, will do good otherwise barely pass.
Pressed on time. 8-9 liners take time to read. finished right on time so no chance to look at marked Qs.
now comlex time.
too many Qs that required knowing details to arrive at final answer from narrowed 2 choices.
good # of hypothetical Qs.
Physio was hard. Required good grasp of concept to answer.
not much pharm . few Neuro Qs. few CTs. few anatomy Qs.
Overall, FA is enough.
If not made stupid mistakes, will do good otherwise barely pass.
Pressed on time. 8-9 liners take time to read. finished right on time so no chance to look at marked Qs.
now comlex time.
Last edited:
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BRS physio would be gold for the physio I guess.Gonna give that a quick run through next week. Which subject were those nit picky questions from?
Yeah,its just FA and UW mostly here on.Congrats on getting it done and good luck with comlex!👍
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I don't remember much now, sorry. I bet as I go thru FA for COMLEX, I will be recalling some of those and will post it.
Don't just know concepts but know how concepts are related and how they differ. Its easier said than done when we have to keep in mind so many concepts and facts.
Also, Stress of getting done under limited time causes memory lapse and makes u read Qs more than once.
W/ respect to BRS, I was so pressed for studying time that i did not use BRS physio much. Used it to understand unexplained charts, fig. from FA.
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Step 1 is over with, and it feels great.
Someone above said this, but the test in general was a very fair one. If you have put in the hours on FA and gone through UW there aren't too many surprises.
I had the 46 Q / block exam. I am a horribly slow test taker and it tends to be my main issue (killed me on the MCAT). That being said there was only 1 block out of the 7 that I almost ran out of time on, but I still had a couple minutes left. Every other block I had about 8-10 minutes left. I did 3 blocks, 30 min break, 2 more, 30 min, then finished and I felt pretty good about that. I had planned on finishing up straight through after the first break but on my 5th block (the one I ran close on) I was feeling a little discouraged and made myself take a step back and clear my head. I would highly recommend doing that if you feel similar in any blocks because I felt great on the last 2.
I didnt see any "new" info on this test, most of the things that I will call "different" were just hypothetical situations applied to concepts that are in FA.
Anatomy definitely went beyond FA on a couple questions, but not beyond what we were taught in class. Most of this applies to innervations I just hadnt thought of since anatomy was over (rotator cuff), nerve roots of the different leg nerves, etc. Also the usual neuroanatomy (the typical FA tract stuff), and a decent amount or cross sections were there (spinal cord and regular anatomy CT's).
Pharm: much much much easier than what I had prepared for. After Uworld and FA I was ready for atypical everythings, and the "fringe" examples of a lot of the classes of drugs, but didnt see much. Were talking bread and butter autonomics, steroids, NSAIDS, benzos. A couple side effects threw me but I think I was able to figure them out (thrombosis for an estrogen receptor modulator, not really too much of a stretch).
Path: Of course a very wide range of path. Its hard to comment on anything specific because of it. Nothing stood out as being "focused on"
Biochem: Easier than Uworld step-wise, but I definitely got a couple right based on a random detail from FA I didnt think was too important, but popped into my head last minute. One thing that was really awesome: THREE questions on I cell disease. Honestly, you could do a quick word association about I cell disease and have had them all correct in seconds. That made me happy.
Im trying to think of more but in general it was very medium. If you have done NBME's and Uworld this will not be anything new. LOTS, LOTS, LOTS of gimmes.
Have confidence everyone, this is definitely something you can all rock.
Someone above said this, but the test in general was a very fair one. If you have put in the hours on FA and gone through UW there aren't too many surprises.
I had the 46 Q / block exam. I am a horribly slow test taker and it tends to be my main issue (killed me on the MCAT). That being said there was only 1 block out of the 7 that I almost ran out of time on, but I still had a couple minutes left. Every other block I had about 8-10 minutes left. I did 3 blocks, 30 min break, 2 more, 30 min, then finished and I felt pretty good about that. I had planned on finishing up straight through after the first break but on my 5th block (the one I ran close on) I was feeling a little discouraged and made myself take a step back and clear my head. I would highly recommend doing that if you feel similar in any blocks because I felt great on the last 2.
I didnt see any "new" info on this test, most of the things that I will call "different" were just hypothetical situations applied to concepts that are in FA.
Anatomy definitely went beyond FA on a couple questions, but not beyond what we were taught in class. Most of this applies to innervations I just hadnt thought of since anatomy was over (rotator cuff), nerve roots of the different leg nerves, etc. Also the usual neuroanatomy (the typical FA tract stuff), and a decent amount or cross sections were there (spinal cord and regular anatomy CT's).
Pharm: much much much easier than what I had prepared for. After Uworld and FA I was ready for atypical everythings, and the "fringe" examples of a lot of the classes of drugs, but didnt see much. Were talking bread and butter autonomics, steroids, NSAIDS, benzos. A couple side effects threw me but I think I was able to figure them out (thrombosis for an estrogen receptor modulator, not really too much of a stretch).
Path: Of course a very wide range of path. Its hard to comment on anything specific because of it. Nothing stood out as being "focused on"
Biochem: Easier than Uworld step-wise, but I definitely got a couple right based on a random detail from FA I didnt think was too important, but popped into my head last minute. One thing that was really awesome: THREE questions on I cell disease. Honestly, you could do a quick word association about I cell disease and have had them all correct in seconds. That made me happy.
Im trying to think of more but in general it was very medium. If you have done NBME's and Uworld this will not be anything new. LOTS, LOTS, LOTS of gimmes.
Have confidence everyone, this is definitely something you can all rock.
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congrats on being done! enjoy the freedom.
while its still fresh in your mind, how you compare the exam to NBME #6 (assuming you took it). im sure this has been asked to death, but im too lazy to go thru this thread. i only ask because my score was close to my goal and it would be nice if it was ~ in difficulty
while its still fresh in your mind, how you compare the exam to NBME #6 (assuming you took it). im sure this has been asked to death, but im too lazy to go thru this thread. i only ask because my score was close to my goal and it would be nice if it was ~ in difficulty
How does everyone feel about the "reading last sentence first" method.. Ive been trying that for USMLEworld lately and I feel like it has helped especially bc sometimes there will be a huge paragraph and the question will be "Which of the following side effects does drug cause?"..
For the ppl that have already taken the test.. is it plausible to use this during the real test?
For the ppl that have already taken the test.. is it plausible to use this during the real test?
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I found it very helpful myself. It gives you an idea about what to focus on while reading the stem, avoiding the fillers/distractors that are aplenty in those long stems. Another thing I tried was to go through the answer choices quickly, giving me an idea of what organ-system was being tested, but that's just me.
That being said, do not neglect to read the entire stem before you pick your answer.
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Scores are in!!!
258/99!!!!!!!
258/99!!!!!!!
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I usually just lurk. I'm an IMG, so I spend most of my time on valuemd. But I found this forum while I was studying and really enjoyed it. I posted a few weeks back with my NBME and UW stats. Sheesh, can't a fella join in a conversation and be excited about a score? 😀
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Congrats on being done! It must be a feel good...So I have a question. You didnt mention physio in your post...Can you remember how the physio questions were? Straight up physio questions or more like patho-phys?
Would appreciate any insight.
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TheFranchise and lsmith55uf, can you guys comment on how the UWorld Assessments compared to the real thing? How about the practice NBME's, in terms of difficulty compared to the real deal?
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Have been an observer in this forum... I have my exam on monday 7th of june.. Hope to do well... Thank you everyone...
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I'd say mine was most like UW, maybe 70/30 UW/NBME as far as the question feel. The UWSA's both underestimated my real score. NBME 6 was dead on for me at 258. Overall, it pretty much felt like a UW exam, and looks the same.
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Pay no mind to the dorks that feel the need to question any high score they see. This is a defense mechanism all in itself. Maybe we can come up with a name for it and petition to have it put in the psych section of First Aid. Congrats on a killer score! Must feel nice, that hard work paying off. Hopefully I get my score in 2 weeks.
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Unless he's just trolling!😱 Look at that post count!
Seriously, do you not realize that SDN is an extreme version of self-selection bias?
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I took mine May 11th, and I got my score this morning.
Of course SDN self-selects first by the people that know about the site, second by the people that actually create an account and then that post, and third by the people that divulge details about how they do.
That being said, I got my scores back today. I've been busy with rotations but I never really wrote out everything exactly I did to study. I didn't study any USMLE in first and second year up until february(5-6 weeks before last day of school.) That's not counting christmas break(prob did 4-5 hours of work most days then) but otherwise I just did my regular work for school, mine's not too stressful or time consuming, pass/fail so I didn't need to study super hard for tests but it was small group so you had to learn it all well enough to explain it to other people, also meant not much class. I did get a year kaplan qbank plus subscription through my school last october but never really used it much except I did 500 questions over christmas break. I just did a block of 50 every day or two and looking back it was helpful to get an idea of what questions would be like several months before the test. I also listened to goljan when running or at the gym when I could stand it in first/second year, maybe 2/3 of the audio I'd heard once.
Around the middle of Feb. I started putting some time in and I just wanted to know all of path cause I figured the weird detailed stuff I would get on the test would be path. So I went through robbins, I highlighted a chapter each day(~3 hrs) and then did the robbins review questions(~1-1.5 hr) and robbins flashcard(0.5-1 hr) for the previous day's chapter. Long chapters might take longer or just have an off day with less work after it. I just did that in the afternoon(5ish hours) after morning classes and relaxed at night, stopped studying for school last 5 weeks. This work was pretty much to prepare me for a class final though that I was taking in the middle of march that had the last 20 ch of Robbins as required reading(I took a class 1st yr that did first 10 chapters). You'll notice it was something like 30-something days for 20 chapters, I also did kaplan path as a break on off days to give me some of it in video form.
After that, I had 7.5-8 weeks of completely free study time from mid-march until test day May 12. I don't like to just read, surprisingly I made it through robbins(I had to pace myself big time, 10 pages an hour, 1 page every 5 minutes(built-in buffer)) but that seemed enjoyable because everything I read was new to me(in the end though I don't think I retained alot of the details with robbins, and a couple of the really specific chapters like the eye I barely understood what they were talking about. It helped me realize what we know about medicine is finite and which things are more important. Also just made me feel comfortable knowing it had all "passed through my mind" once.) I don't like reading things over and over. So I started with kaplan, i dont have any of the books, my brother had a bunch of the old videos so i just watched them, i typed them all(short-hand in own words) so that all the important points had to go through my mind once. I had it printed and bound after finishing and looked at it a couple times but prob no more than 5 hours with it, writing it helped though. Didn't do many questions but I did also use RR biochem and the UCV series, never made it around to UCV micro or CMMRS, didn't have much micro on the exam either and all softballs. Kaplan took about 3 weeks(8-10 hrs/day), i didn't do kaplan's anatomy or first half of behavioral until last week and had already done their path so didnt redo it. Moved fast when I felt I should, no hesitation in watching large portions at 4x if I was keeping up and typing everything I thought was important.
Then I did goljan, I followed along with RR path and I'd try to preread or postread the RR path so I had read the thing at least once. I meant to go back and read the blue bars before test day but never did. I did goljan at 2-3x this was easier to go fast because i followed on transcript rather than typing but wrote things in etc so 4 days for goljan/rr path about 9-10 hrs each day.
After that I did 2.5 weeks of DIT and UWorld. I usually started every day at 9:30 and worked till 2. DIT always on fast speed(then I could rewind and not feel bad and keep more focused), I filled out the quizzes hurriedly and towards the end skipped over rewriting charts if i'd done it or felt it unnecessary, the repetition is so much with this program it didn't matter. From 2 till 8-8:30 I did 3 UW blocks, again moved quickly questions in 40 min, explanations in 1 hr 20, doing this with DIT helped because I was learning FA like back of my hand because DIT has you flipping through it all in the morning and I'd constantly be flipping to make sure the important UW details were in FA and writing them in if not for 3 blocks in afternoon. At that time I called it quits for the day. Always mentally drained on these days but my uw score on average slowly improved over these 15 days from low 70s to high 80s.
While doing kaplan, goljan and DIT 9-12/1(or later on weekends) was always for relaxation/recreation. After finished that had like 10 days at end of DIT, every other day I did an NBME or UW, on the other 5 days one day i did anatomy/epi with kaplan another I went through all my DIT notes, another I did all the missed Uworld questions, another I went through the USMLE step 1 secrets book, and day before I flipped through my annotated FA for 6 hours, then went and saw cavs blow the series.
I tried to be really general with my plans, but it didnt matter because I ended up just getting through things as quick as I could and then moving to the next thing. I didn't end up reviewing much even though originally I planned to be constantly going back through my kaplan notes, and to RR path, goljan notes etc. but its okay because I hit everything from multiple angles and did get through my main sources once. I read through some of my highlighted transcripts once, never got around to flipping through highlighted robbins or looking at missed robbins path or any of the accumulated "high-yield" documents I had, but there's too many things that can be looked at. Probably took 3-4 off days(completely off) and 4-5 half days over 8 weeks.
UWorld 100% complete, 81% average, timed 48s.
Kaplan 40ish% complete, 70-something %.
Near beginning of the 8 week study period; NBME 3: 240
5 weeks pre-exam. Pre- DIT. NBME 4: 238 (Felt myself I'd been slacking those past 3 weeks and pulling more 8 hour days then 10 hours).
Little over halfway through DIT
Post- DIT, 05/02 UWSA 1: 256
05/04: Kaplan 337 question full-length: 81% (80-something, feel like that was it.)
05/06: NBME 6/NBME 1: 258/244
05/08: UWSA 2/Free 150: 263/265
05/10: NBME 7: 255. The plan was for me to do NBME 2 here as well to get another full day sim like the last 3 but I started to feel the brain drain and like I'd already peaked so I stopped stressing and called it quits. Flipped through a little DIT and was out late that night. Woke up late then on day before test and had to make a cavs game at night so spent 6ish hours flipping through FA and made it home by midnight to get a good 6 hours of sleep before test.
05/12: Real Exam: 263/99 I walked out thinking I had an easier exam, I had only marked 5ish questions a block. It's easy to get into a syndrome of hope in the waiting period and constantly thinking there's a chance you maybe made the 270. And then to overthink your score once you've had it like you could've actually hit it with harder questions or a couple in another direction. Best to manage expectations early on from the first practice score so you don't stress while studying and then to stop thinking about it after having taken it. If you look the UWSA's 1 and 2 and NBME's 6 and 7 were all equally good and predictive. The free 150 overpredicted by 2. There's always the argument that I took all the tests towards the end though and it's hard to make higher than 260s on some of the practice tests. My scores on NBME 1-5 shouldn't really be interpreted since I scored them offline, so its tough to say that I had a 240 baseline since initial tests were scored that way, I learned alot in my 8 week study period but I am also a good test taker.
It's hard to remember for me what topics I was heavy on and whether the questions were more like NBME or USMLE, it was a mix of both, there was the long passages and thinking and also quick questions. I felt like studying all the high-yield materials does leave you well prepared, and then just use your head for the ones you haven't seen before, you start to develop a basic intuition about how to answer a question after you do alot. My opinion is not to use more than 40 minutes of your break time, taking frequent breaks is great and should be done to get away for a few minutes but I tried not to stay away from the computer for more than 10 minutes except for lunch(20 minutes) so that I didn't shift out of test-taking/"in the zone" mode and also so I could get done earlier(out by 3, probably 3:30 if you need to use all your block time).
That being said, I got my scores back today. I've been busy with rotations but I never really wrote out everything exactly I did to study. I didn't study any USMLE in first and second year up until february(5-6 weeks before last day of school.) That's not counting christmas break(prob did 4-5 hours of work most days then) but otherwise I just did my regular work for school, mine's not too stressful or time consuming, pass/fail so I didn't need to study super hard for tests but it was small group so you had to learn it all well enough to explain it to other people, also meant not much class. I did get a year kaplan qbank plus subscription through my school last october but never really used it much except I did 500 questions over christmas break. I just did a block of 50 every day or two and looking back it was helpful to get an idea of what questions would be like several months before the test. I also listened to goljan when running or at the gym when I could stand it in first/second year, maybe 2/3 of the audio I'd heard once.
Around the middle of Feb. I started putting some time in and I just wanted to know all of path cause I figured the weird detailed stuff I would get on the test would be path. So I went through robbins, I highlighted a chapter each day(~3 hrs) and then did the robbins review questions(~1-1.5 hr) and robbins flashcard(0.5-1 hr) for the previous day's chapter. Long chapters might take longer or just have an off day with less work after it. I just did that in the afternoon(5ish hours) after morning classes and relaxed at night, stopped studying for school last 5 weeks. This work was pretty much to prepare me for a class final though that I was taking in the middle of march that had the last 20 ch of Robbins as required reading(I took a class 1st yr that did first 10 chapters). You'll notice it was something like 30-something days for 20 chapters, I also did kaplan path as a break on off days to give me some of it in video form.
After that, I had 7.5-8 weeks of completely free study time from mid-march until test day May 12. I don't like to just read, surprisingly I made it through robbins(I had to pace myself big time, 10 pages an hour, 1 page every 5 minutes(built-in buffer)) but that seemed enjoyable because everything I read was new to me(in the end though I don't think I retained alot of the details with robbins, and a couple of the really specific chapters like the eye I barely understood what they were talking about. It helped me realize what we know about medicine is finite and which things are more important. Also just made me feel comfortable knowing it had all "passed through my mind" once.) I don't like reading things over and over. So I started with kaplan, i dont have any of the books, my brother had a bunch of the old videos so i just watched them, i typed them all(short-hand in own words) so that all the important points had to go through my mind once. I had it printed and bound after finishing and looked at it a couple times but prob no more than 5 hours with it, writing it helped though. Didn't do many questions but I did also use RR biochem and the UCV series, never made it around to UCV micro or CMMRS, didn't have much micro on the exam either and all softballs. Kaplan took about 3 weeks(8-10 hrs/day), i didn't do kaplan's anatomy or first half of behavioral until last week and had already done their path so didnt redo it. Moved fast when I felt I should, no hesitation in watching large portions at 4x if I was keeping up and typing everything I thought was important.
Then I did goljan, I followed along with RR path and I'd try to preread or postread the RR path so I had read the thing at least once. I meant to go back and read the blue bars before test day but never did. I did goljan at 2-3x this was easier to go fast because i followed on transcript rather than typing but wrote things in etc so 4 days for goljan/rr path about 9-10 hrs each day.
After that I did 2.5 weeks of DIT and UWorld. I usually started every day at 9:30 and worked till 2. DIT always on fast speed(then I could rewind and not feel bad and keep more focused), I filled out the quizzes hurriedly and towards the end skipped over rewriting charts if i'd done it or felt it unnecessary, the repetition is so much with this program it didn't matter. From 2 till 8-8:30 I did 3 UW blocks, again moved quickly questions in 40 min, explanations in 1 hr 20, doing this with DIT helped because I was learning FA like back of my hand because DIT has you flipping through it all in the morning and I'd constantly be flipping to make sure the important UW details were in FA and writing them in if not for 3 blocks in afternoon. At that time I called it quits for the day. Always mentally drained on these days but my uw score on average slowly improved over these 15 days from low 70s to high 80s.
While doing kaplan, goljan and DIT 9-12/1(or later on weekends) was always for relaxation/recreation. After finished that had like 10 days at end of DIT, every other day I did an NBME or UW, on the other 5 days one day i did anatomy/epi with kaplan another I went through all my DIT notes, another I did all the missed Uworld questions, another I went through the USMLE step 1 secrets book, and day before I flipped through my annotated FA for 6 hours, then went and saw cavs blow the series.
I tried to be really general with my plans, but it didnt matter because I ended up just getting through things as quick as I could and then moving to the next thing. I didn't end up reviewing much even though originally I planned to be constantly going back through my kaplan notes, and to RR path, goljan notes etc. but its okay because I hit everything from multiple angles and did get through my main sources once. I read through some of my highlighted transcripts once, never got around to flipping through highlighted robbins or looking at missed robbins path or any of the accumulated "high-yield" documents I had, but there's too many things that can be looked at. Probably took 3-4 off days(completely off) and 4-5 half days over 8 weeks.
UWorld 100% complete, 81% average, timed 48s.
Kaplan 40ish% complete, 70-something %.
Near beginning of the 8 week study period; NBME 3: 240
5 weeks pre-exam. Pre- DIT. NBME 4: 238 (Felt myself I'd been slacking those past 3 weeks and pulling more 8 hour days then 10 hours).
Little over halfway through DIT
Post- DIT, 05/02 UWSA 1: 256
05/04: Kaplan 337 question full-length: 81% (80-something, feel like that was it.)
05/06: NBME 6/NBME 1: 258/244
05/08: UWSA 2/Free 150: 263/265
05/10: NBME 7: 255. The plan was for me to do NBME 2 here as well to get another full day sim like the last 3 but I started to feel the brain drain and like I'd already peaked so I stopped stressing and called it quits. Flipped through a little DIT and was out late that night. Woke up late then on day before test and had to make a cavs game at night so spent 6ish hours flipping through FA and made it home by midnight to get a good 6 hours of sleep before test.
05/12: Real Exam: 263/99 I walked out thinking I had an easier exam, I had only marked 5ish questions a block. It's easy to get into a syndrome of hope in the waiting period and constantly thinking there's a chance you maybe made the 270. And then to overthink your score once you've had it like you could've actually hit it with harder questions or a couple in another direction. Best to manage expectations early on from the first practice score so you don't stress while studying and then to stop thinking about it after having taken it. If you look the UWSA's 1 and 2 and NBME's 6 and 7 were all equally good and predictive. The free 150 overpredicted by 2. There's always the argument that I took all the tests towards the end though and it's hard to make higher than 260s on some of the practice tests. My scores on NBME 1-5 shouldn't really be interpreted since I scored them offline, so its tough to say that I had a 240 baseline since initial tests were scored that way, I learned alot in my 8 week study period but I am also a good test taker.
It's hard to remember for me what topics I was heavy on and whether the questions were more like NBME or USMLE, it was a mix of both, there was the long passages and thinking and also quick questions. I felt like studying all the high-yield materials does leave you well prepared, and then just use your head for the ones you haven't seen before, you start to develop a basic intuition about how to answer a question after you do alot. My opinion is not to use more than 40 minutes of your break time, taking frequent breaks is great and should be done to get away for a few minutes but I tried not to stay away from the computer for more than 10 minutes except for lunch(20 minutes) so that I didn't shift out of test-taking/"in the zone" mode and also so I could get done earlier(out by 3, probably 3:30 if you need to use all your block time).
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I definitely left feeling that way too. I hope my results are similar! Congratulations, that's an amazing score. ,,,,,,Though, could you provide a screen shot?,,,, I'm doubting your claim. 😍😍
Just kidding. BTW, could you send Lebron the Mavs' way? That'd be grrreat.
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Illixir congrats on your score! We had very similar experiences (and the same score!) but I was not hopeful for a 270...instead I was worried that I walked into all their traps when I came out thinking it wasn't that bad. For 3 weeks I went through phases where I thought it was adaptive and then I was really screwed, and tried talking myself out of it, etc etc. Relieved when I found out but its a harrowing wait.
Boys calm down people'd be more worried about getting some good advice for test taking and time management etc, rather than doubting the claims and asking for screenshots.........oh did someone ask for it?
Illixir congrats man, reading posts like yours somehow encourages me to get done with this crap as well
Illixir congrats man, reading posts like yours somehow encourages me to get done with this crap as well
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This thread is for USMLE Step 1 experiences and scores. Stay on topic. If your post is in all caps, that's a sign that you're off topic.
I have begun to delete off-topic posts. If your recent post is missing, don't take it personally. If many of your posts are missing, perhaps you should stay away from this thread.
I have begun to delete off-topic posts. If your recent post is missing, don't take it personally. If many of your posts are missing, perhaps you should stay away from this thread.
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Thanks jeebus.
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I did take NBME 6 and 7, and I thought it was similar to 7 more so. I felt similar coming out of the test as I did on 7, and hopefully the score comes back the exact same way (269 please please please)
I would highly recommend doing that on the longer paragraphs. In fact I had to because I am a slow reader. If there are 2 paragraphs with lab values in between, scan the lab values, figure out whats going on, look at the stem, and then confirm the answer with quick details from the paragraph.
There were a decent amount of world type here's the situation, you tell me whether substance X Y Z go up down or remain unchanged. I guess I consider that straight up physio. There were a few harder pathophys questions of the actual Uworld nature with multiple steps, but by no means was the test dense with that sort of question. Maybe 15%ish.
