Official 2011 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Hello everyone. I am a second year who will write the exam in June 2011. Meanwhile let this be a good thread where everyone share their study progress and recent trend of the exam.
 
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Thanks everyone for all the feedback on here, its been great!

I take mine on saturday :scared: Trying not to have an anxiety attack between now and then. I probably could use a benzo, lol

Good luck to everyone taking it tomorrow or saturday! It seemed like there were a decent amount taking it on saturday. I just can't wait for it to be done!! 🙂
 
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I feel like I'm missing something....what's with the guy and the ice pick? Is he stabbing somebody with it?
 
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ATrim7 said:
Several posters have mentioned him but with no context. I really hope I get that question to find out what he's doing.
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He stabs you places. Like right above the eye is a common place. And you need to know what is most likely to be damaged. I have no idea where the NBME has him being stab happy yet though, I'm sure someone used their imagination.
 
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justaregularmed said:
He stabs you places. Like right above the eye is a common place. And you need to know what is most likely to be damaged. I have no idea where the NBME has him being stab happy yet though, I'm sure someone used their imagination.
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His Brain!!! Duh, lol. I hope that was the level of depth on the answer choices.
 
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Talking about interesting questions...

I had a dentistry question too involving tooth anatomy and cranial nerves. You could reason it out if you know your neuroanatomy well. I doubt it were "experimental."
I also had ~3 Biochem-ish questions relating to ingredients in different international cuisines. Something you either knew or didn't. Thankfully I did. I was pretty surprised because if you didn't know a certain factoid, you woulda gotten all 3 wrong.
 
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hyrule said:
Talking about interesting questions...

I had a dentistry question too involving tooth anatomy and cranial nerves. You could reason it out if you know your neuroanatomy well. I doubt it were "experimental."
I also had ~3 Biochem-ish questions relating to ingredients in different international cuisines. Something you either knew or didn't. Thankfully I did. I was pretty surprised because if you didn't know a certain factoid, you woulda gotten all 3 wrong.
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I have to guess at this. MSG?
 
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SeekerOfTheTree said:
I have to guess at this. MSG?
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nope ... can't give any more info without revealing the answer lol, basically... it was just a random fact and appeared multiple times in different forms and had barely anything to do with medicine/anything you'd ever learn in med school
 
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The guy with the ice pick is just a classic introduction to any strategically placed wound that happens to hit one structure and one structure only. Guy gets stabbed and has trouble supinating his forearm. Junk like that.

4537764245.jpg


Just like the fact that every black female with a cough has sarcoidosis in a vignette. Every male lifter does steroids. Just funny little random things that always seem to pop up.
 
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what have people used for images? i've been flipping through HY gross for CTs and Xrays, and I've been using webpath... is there anything else that's useful? test is tomorrow
 
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Don't freak out too much. Scan over first aid, maybe some weaker areas in rapid review, the webpath stuff is a good primer. Very few questions relied strictly on the image.
 
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Hello all,
Long time reader, long time fan. I have a question for you good people here on sdn. Does anybody know where I can find a score conversion table for the kaplan diagnostic test? All they give you is a percentage.
Thanks
 
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ChelseaFC said:
Hello all,
Long time reader, long time fan. I have a question for you good people here on sdn. Does anybody know where I can find a score conversion table for the kaplan diagnostic test? All they give you is a percentage.
Thanks
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i dont think one exists...i remember searching a few months ago when i took it but couldn't find anything
 
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MossPoh said:
That just turned it to a behavioral science question.
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You are friggin hilarious! I'm dying over here...

I didn't get an ice pick question, but I wish I had now.

Yeah...what I've learned from these past few months of doing UW and NBMEs is that a black female with a cough always = sarcoidosis, a homeless guy with a murmur = IVDU-induced endocarditis, a cranky newborn with a runny nose = mom-induced opiate withdrawal. Crazy how they really try to hammer these associations in.

Now I'm wondering, are those even feasible to actually put on a differential when we start clerkships soon? I really don't want to look like a total dumba** here.
 
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ChelseaFC said:
Hello all,
Long time reader, long time fan. I have a question for you good people here on sdn. Does anybody know where I can find a score conversion table for the kaplan diagnostic test? All they give you is a percentage.
Thanks
Click to expand...
i figured out there wasn't one like halfway through and stopped doing it lol... i thought it was similar difficulty to the q bank though, so maybe enter your percent into the score conversion thing.
 
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medgirl13 said:
You are friggin hilarious! I'm dying over here...

I didn't get an ice pick question, but I wish I had now.

Yeah...what I've learned from these past few months of doing UW and NBMEs is that a black female with a cough always = sarcoidosis, a homeless guy with a murmur = IVDU-induced endocarditis, a cranky newborn with a runny nose = mom-induced opiate withdrawal. Crazy how they really try to hammer these associations in.

Now I'm wondering, are those even feasible to actually put on a differential when we start clerkships soon? I really don't want to look like a total dumba** here.
Click to expand...

One of the Profs at my school just said to put TB in if you have no clue, because it is almost always SOMEWHERE in the differential. That and Lupus. Remember, it is always lupus...until it isn't lupus. Then you just look like a *****. I've accepted the fact that I will be slightly above the functionality of a cinder block door stop during rotations and am going to embrace it whole heartedly. If my patient doesn't have Chagas, AIDS, Mucor, CGD, Cryptococcus (PIGEONS!), or anything along those lines..they are absolutely hosed. Hypertension? Bye bye. Can't help you. Little boy scratching his arse? Hand over the scotch tape. I got this.
 
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MossPoh said:
One of the Profs at my school just said to put TB in if you have no clue, because it is almost always SOMEWHERE in the differential. That and Lupus. Remember, it is always lupus...until it isn't lupus. Then you just look like a *****. I've accepted the fact that I will be slightly above the functionality of a cinder block door stop during rotations and am going to embrace it whole heartedly. If my patient doesn't have Chagas, AIDS, Mucor, CGD, Cryptococcus (PIGEONS!), or anything along those lines..they are absolutely hosed. Hypertension? Bye bye. Can't help you. Little boy scratching his arse? Hand over the scotch tape. I got this.
Click to expand...
:laugh:
 
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MossPoh said:
One of the Profs at my school just said to put TB in if you have no clue, because it is almost always SOMEWHERE in the differential. That and Lupus. Remember, it is always lupus...until it isn't lupus. Then you just look like a *****. I've accepted the fact that I will be slightly above the functionality of a cinder block door stop during rotations and am going to embrace it whole heartedly. If my patient doesn't have Chagas, AIDS, Mucor, CGD, Cryptococcus (PIGEONS!), or anything along those lines..they are absolutely hosed. Hypertension? Bye bye. Can't help you. Little boy scratching his arse? Hand over the scotch tape. I got this.
Click to expand...


:laugh:👍
 
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MossPoh said:
One of the Profs at my school just said to put TB in if you have no clue, because it is almost always SOMEWHERE in the differential. That and Lupus. Remember, it is always lupus...until it isn't lupus. Then you just look like a *****. I've accepted the fact that I will be slightly above the functionality of a cinder block door stop during rotations and am going to embrace it whole heartedly. If my patient doesn't have Chagas, AIDS, Mucor, CGD, Cryptococcus (PIGEONS!), or anything along those lines..they are absolutely hosed. Hypertension? Bye bye. Can't help you. Little boy scratching his arse? Hand over the scotch tape. I got this.
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OMG...I just died. You are the only poster whose made me literally laugh out loud. Seriously, what are you doing Friday night? Hahaha...
 
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So...my plan for tomorrow is to do a little light studying and I was also planning on listening to heart sounds. Other than blaufuss.com, does anyone have any other suggestions for a website to listen to heart sounds?
 
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toayoztan said:
Yep, you aren't alone, a lot of us feel this way. I also feel like my studying didn't mean much, and I studied pretty hard.

I also ran out of time on half the blocks and had to take educated guesses on the last 2-3 questions...this has never ever happened on UWorld for me on running out of time. I also had a bunch of the questions like you with long stems, tons of lab values for a good handful of the questions that took up my time.

At this point, I'm not sure what's going to happen either...I'm also interested in Rads, and am wondering about that future road too lol.

It's a waiting game from here on out...there's literally nothing you can do to change the outcome of your test, so try to relax, and get out and do something, take a mini vacation!

Bryan
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yea.. i felt the same way... i took it may 19.. also interested in rads hahaha we'll see in a month..
 
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medgirl13 said:
OMG...I just died. You are the only poster whose made me literally laugh out loud. Seriously, what are you doing Friday night? Hahaha...
Click to expand...

I was thinking a movie night. Maybe a walk on the beach. Candles. Smooth jazz. The standard Friday night dude stuff.

You're always invited. You know, because everyone is beautiful on the internet and they all are attracted to you and you alone.
 
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ar2388 said:
yea.. i felt the same way... i took it may 19.. also interested in rads hahaha we'll see in a month..
Click to expand...

A few of my classmates struggled with timing a bit. The thing that helped me a lot was doing some blocks of Step 2 and internal medicine board questions. Also, our doctoring exam questions were all as long or longer than anything on that exam. We routinely had questions with 3 paragraph stems.

The key (for the people who haven't taken it yet) is to learn to read through the BS. Just kind of set certain triggers in your head for things as you skim. Memorizing the basic lab values helps too. Don't need to know everything, but the most common stuff should be locked down. I finished with enough time to review over my marked questions and submit with 5ish minutes left usually while consciously going slower than uworld.

One often doesn't realize that they are a little more cavalier when doing question banks. The answers aren't scrutinized as much because we know they don't hold any true value and we will get the answers in 20 or 30 minutes. The game changes with the real thing, unless you consistently practice like it is the real thing as well.
 
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MossPoh said:
I was thinking a movie night. Maybe a walk on the beach. Candles. Smooth jazz. The standard Friday night dude stuff.

You're always invited. You know, because everyone is beautiful on the internet and they all are attracted to you and you alone.
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Ok, sounds great. I'll be there. You won't be disappointed. And don't let my screen name deceive you. I promise I'm over the age of 13. Lol...

*Disclaimer: just make sure we go somewhere where i can bring a big bag with an extra change of clothes. You know, for just in case I pee my pants a couple times.
 
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hmmmmm... not sure what to make of this....

June 11 - NBME 12: 228 (530)
June 16 - UWSA1: 232 (560)

90% through UWorld and a lil over 60% correct.

Not sure where to go from here, test date is the 28th. My goal is 230+, but not sure if I should go back through FA or what, or redo more problems, or both.
 
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ericL said:
hmmmmm... not sure what to make of this....

June 11 - NBME 12: 228 (530)
June 16 - UWSA1: 232 (560)

90% through UWorld and a lil over 60% correct.

Not sure where to go from here, test date is the 28th. My goal is 230+, but not sure if I should go back through FA or what, or redo more problems, or both.
Click to expand...

I say it's pretty solid. Personally, if i had a choice with limited time, i'd choose to go over FA once more or so instead of doing more practice problems. If you're ontop of your game, keen, and keeping your mind sharp, you shouldn't have a hard time recognizing what the question is realy asking (which is the benefit i feel practice questions provide, is simply a different way that information can be presented).

Bryan
 
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ericL said:
hmmmmm... not sure what to make of this....

June 11 - NBME 12: 228 (530)
June 16 - UWSA1: 232 (560)

90% through UWorld and a lil over 60% correct.

Not sure where to go from here, test date is the 28th. My goal is 230+, but not sure if I should go back through FA or what, or redo more problems, or both.
Click to expand...
Both..you have time..finish it out...then 8 hours a day of First aid and 4-5 of questions.
 
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medgirl13 said:
Ok, sounds great. I'll be there. You won't be disappointed. And don't let my screen name deceive you. I promise I'm over the age of 13. Lol...

*Disclaimer: just make sure we go somewhere where i can bring a big bag with an extra change of clothes. You know, for just in case I pee my pants a couple times.
Click to expand...

Don't worry. I know people who may be into that. We can always pick up a couple bags of "Oops, I crapped my pants" as well.
 
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I took the test on Wednesday. I was going to write an epic poem to chronicle my experiences, but that seemed hard, so here are some bulleted lists instead.

I used UWorld, a 2009 FA, and Goljan Path. Generally, I think these are pretty good sources. I wouldn't recommend actually reading through Goljan, but it's great for looking stuff up, because it will have the facts you need about whatever disease you have a question about, whereas in FA it probably won't be indexed, and when you do find it, it will just be part of a rhyme with some letters boldfaced. Otherwise, I went through FA ~2 times, and did UWorld blocks of 46 unused and timed.

As for the preparation v. the actual test:

  • UWorld often (and repeatedly) hits subjects like Trisomy 21, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, and TB drugs. I didn't have a question on any of these things.
  • (In fairness, I think rifampin did come up once, but not as a treatment for TB)
  • UWorld also loooooves Cardiovascular Pathology - which I agree, can be tricky. But it was not sooo heavily represented on the actual test.
  • Bottom line on UWorld - I think it's a good learning resource, but as is often said, it is not meant to be an exact replica of a Step 1 test.
Subject wise:

  • I agree with the above posters who mentioned there being plenty of micro. Luckily, I consider it to be a stong(er) subject, but you definitely don't want to skimp on the micro prep. I think I got two questions right because I knew about the different growth media.
  • If you don't already know how BUN/Cr ratio works; I would learn that. It's not that hard to figure out, and it made 3-4 questions completely trivial, rather than me having to muck around with a bunch of lab values / pictures / figuring stuff out. It's explained better in the Goljan book than in FA, in my opinion.
  • Generally speaking, test fatigue was a greater nemesis than any particular subject area. It is easy to do your best work for the first block, but by early afternoon, I was hitting the wall. I still got through all the questions in time, but I definitely had less time to go back to my marked answers, or prove to myself that answers were absolutely correct. I think that's a big factor in people's 'unsure feeling' walking out. C'est la vie.
On logistics:

  • The people at the Prometric Center were really nice.
  • However - the computer froze during my check in and my headphones didn't work. Make sure you test those headphones! I almost didn't.
  • But - we got those problems solved, and it didn't affect my performance, just make sure you stay calm and roll with Murphy's Law.
  • If you're like me, you're not going to want to sit down and eat for half an hour. I took a break after every single block and just had a bag of snacks that I could go to and have a little soda and a granola bar or something. I never felt hungry, and I think I would go with this plan again.
Now... I just wish we had scores a little sooner than July 13. We get bonus points for being guinea pigs, right?
 
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MossPoh said:
One of the Profs at my school just said to put TB in if you have no clue, because it is almost always SOMEWHERE in the differential. That and Lupus. Remember, it is always lupus...until it isn't lupus. Then you just look like a *****. I've accepted the fact that I will be slightly above the functionality of a cinder block door stop during rotations and am going to embrace it whole heartedly. If my patient doesn't have Chagas, AIDS, Mucor, CGD, Cryptococcus (PIGEONS!), or anything along those lines..they are absolutely hosed. Hypertension? Bye bye. Can't help you. Little boy scratching his arse? Hand over the scotch tape. I got this.
Click to expand...

Honestly, that last line is one of the funniest things I have ever read in my life. Well done.
 
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Taking the damn thing tomorrow!! Studying some high yield stuff until like 3-4, then I am putting down the books and relaxing the rest of the night. Maybe playing some video games, then my pops is gonna cook me some veal parm (my favorite) and we are gonna watch the Mets game together (can't remember the last time I watched a full game with sound on and everything, lol). I'm nervous!!
 
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My biggest weapon against test fatigue were those stupid 5 hour energy type things. They are about 1 cup of coffee worth of caffeine in them, but it limited my fluid intake so I didn't have to pee really bad during a block.

Using one's break periods to their fullest extent is also useful. I put eye drops in, listened to a few minutes of music and recharged in the sun, as well as did some pushups and consumed more caffeine.

The 2nd half of my 5th block was where I started to feel that wall. Luckily, I got an extra surge that really pushed me through till the end...mostly because of the energy drink, protein bar and a megadose of caffeine.
 
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Metfan2987 said:
Taking the damn thing tomorrow!! Studying some high yield stuff until like 3-4, then I am putting down the books and relaxing the rest of the night. Maybe playing some video games, then my pops is gonna cook me some veal parm (my favorite) and we are gonna watch the Mets game together (can't remember the last time I watched a full game with sound on and everything, lol). I'm nervous!!
Click to expand...

What games you got in mind?
 
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