Official 2011 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[ProtossCarrier]

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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[je355804]

Thank you so much for your feedback!
Is there any updated version of Goljan audios? I have the ones from 2005 or something

Nope... that was an unofficial "bootleg" goljan recording. Just use that one though... there's so much good info on those recordings. If you're knowledge of pathophys doesn't GREATLY improve you probably didn't listen to them enough

 

[235009]

Nope... that was an unofficial "bootleg" goljan recording.

all goljan recordings are "unofficial" and "bootleg"

 

[Munchen]

@ je: So Goljan audio without the RR book is good enough? I haven't read the RR book even once although I do have it. I have five months to go and need to cover other subjects too and RR looks dense. It's why I was planning to use Pathoma with the Goljan audios.

I suppose you used RR along with your classes so it was easy to go through it again during your prepaprations..

 

[jfgavina]

Hi guys, long time no see. Many people taking examination on the next few weeks? hope you're well with your studies

I did step 1 on november 7th, yesterday it completed 3 weeks. Can I expect my score this wednesday? How is the score report going, many people receiving scores on time?

thanks

 

[Torquer]

Hi guys, long time no see. Many people taking examination on the next few weeks? hope you're well with your studies

I did step 1 on november 7th, yesterday it completed 3 weeks. Can I expect my score this wednesday? How is the score report going, many people receiving scores on time?

thanks

hey jfg! welcome back! enjoying your post-exam period? im loving it. good luck to you for your result. mine comes next week!

 

[jfgavina]

hey jfg! welcome back! enjoying your post-exam period? im loving it. good luck to you for your result. mine comes next week!

hey yeah, it is good to be back to life. I am finally enjoying life with going to classes as well but I guess that is part of life lol

I look back to my study and I can't understand how I managed to study for so long and I don't see me studying for so long alone again. For my domestic examination I will study with my friends which will be a lot better.

Saturday we had a conference with nbme vice-president peter scholes, they want to change our examination here to something very similar to step 2. I hope they change.

Now I am thinking again about the exam because my score was supposed to be released today, let's see if they deliver it today.

I am confused right now. Situation here in europe gets worse everyday but after studying for so long I don't even know if I want to go to U.S. no matter the score. At least I'll do a clinical rotation over there to see how things work. Then I can choose to go if I like things over there. Meanwhile I'm going for a semester in rio de janeiro to see how things are in brazil. Going on february, it will be good I hope eheh


regarding the score, do you think I can expect it today?

 

[naseeha]

Hi guys, long time no see. Many people taking examination on the next few weeks? hope you're well with your studies

I did step 1 on november 7th, yesterday it completed 3 weeks. Can I expect my score this wednesday? How is the score report going, many people receiving scores on time?

thanks

Yes jfgavina you should be getting your score today. Keep checking your e-mail and I hope you get your 230.

 

[jfgavina]

Great naseeah. For the first time in 3 weeks I feel that anxiety that followed me for more than 2 months LOL As soon as I have my score I will post it with a detailed study experience. GL

 

[jfgavina]

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I still can't believe this. Or either the examination is too easy or I'm too smart. I don't know how this was possible. really. weird. I studied a lot, but this was too much. Thanks everyone without you I couldn't do it. and the worst part is that I don't even know what to do with a score like this.

I will write a detailed study experience for this in this week. Thanks again.

 

[mtwop]

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I still can't believe this. Or either the examination is too easy or I'm too smart. I don't know how this was possible. really. weird. I studied a lot, but this was too much. Thanks everyone without you I couldn't do it. and the worst part is that I don't even know what to do with a score like this.

I will write a detailed study experience for this in this week. Thanks again.

Congrats on the great score! However, don't forget to keep the perspective that most U.S students get 4 weeks, while other students have the luxury of studying for as long as they please (ie months or years). But anyway, go celebrate!

 

[jdmd1student]

Congrats, jfgavina. Great score. I knew that you were gonna do great.

 

[jfgavina]

I studied for this during vacations, classes and shelf examinations. I did get more time to study than most of you but also keep in mind im a 5th year student and i dont have your preparation for this from school. Either way lets say i got about 6 weeks w/o classes for this!

 

[Chirurg]

I studied for this during vacations, classes and shelf examinations. I did get more time to study than most of you but also keep in mind im a 5th year student and i dont have your preparation for this from school. Either way lets say i got about 6 weeks w/o classes for this!

great score man!!
absolutely deserved!

 

[stepvictory]

I studied for this during vacations, classes and shelf examinations. I did get more time to study than most of you but also keep in mind im a 5th year student and i dont have your preparation for this from school. Either way lets say i got about 6 weeks w/o classes for this!

awesome score.congrats.
u totally deserved it read ure experience u worked really hard for it.
well i m in similar boat as you were
i m an img.my exam in 25 jan.
got 60 score in uworld (i think its less ) and planning to usmlerx and uworld again.
i hope i get a score like u .
but thx for posting ure experience i also believe uworld and FA has got almost everything what exam need.but don know why some ppl scare everybody in this forum by saying exam is very hard .all the qs like uworld.even harder
i will take first nbme in 10 days.very scared for it .
well congrats once agian .enjoy

 

[islandCrazy]

jfgavina- Hey I have been following all your posts and you do deserve that score. You worked very hard.
Congrats!!

 

[jfgavina]

Thank you all!! Any doubts you can send me PM I'll be happy to help good luck to everyone!

One more thing I'd like to add: all the american students in this forum were absolutely awesome to me. I'd like to dedicate my victory to AMG because they could just be stupid and treat an international student like me as **** but they didn't. Moreover, they made me believe that this was possible with their positive atitude. I know that it may be difficult to regard IMGs as competition, believe me here in my country they're everywhere (from east europe, spain) and they are selected to residency in equal rights to us. At least in US you are preferred. And I absolutely agree with this.

F**** the crappy atitude I saw in many IMGs forums that scared the **** out of me. That's why I said no to those forums and went to this one. I think IMGs should change their atitude, specially those from arab countries. We are all from the same species so we must be united for all. AMGs, IMGs whatever, same thing. If I'll go to U.S. I will talk to everyone equally and not create bubbles like those guys do in forums. If they do it in forums I can't predict any good in real life. There are neurotransmitters in your brain that allow you to establish contact and empathy with everyone, don't look at religions, races or nationalities.

 

[WonderBoy]

Thank you all!! Any doubts you can send me PM I'll be happy to help good luck to everyone!

One more thing I'd like to add: all the american students in this forum were absolutely awesome to me. I'd like to dedicate my victory to AMG because they could just be stupid and treat an international student like me as **** but they didn't. Moreover, they made me believe that this was possible with their positive atitude. I know that it may be difficult to regard IMGs as competition, believe me here in my country they're everywhere (from east europe, spain) and they are selected to residency in equal rights to us. At least in US you are preferred. And I absolutely agree with this.

F**** the crappy atitude I saw in many IMGs forums that scared the **** out of me. That's why I said no to those forums and went to this one. I think IMGs should change their atitude, specially those from arab countries. We are all from the same species so we must be united for all. AMGs, IMGs whatever, same thing. If I'll go to U.S. I will talk to everyone equally and not create bubbles like those guys do in forums. If they do it in forums I can't predict any good in real life. There are neurotransmitters in your brain that allow you to establish contact and empathy with everyone, don't look at religions, races or nationalities.

Congrats on the great score, been following your postings for a while, glad to know everything worked out well for you! I am taking it june so it gives me some hope

 

[thepoopologist]

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I still can't believe this. Or either the examination is too easy or I'm too smart. I don't know how this was possible. really. weird. I studied a lot, but this was too much. Thanks everyone without you I couldn't do it. and the worst part is that I don't even know what to do with a score like this.

I will write a detailed study experience for this in this week. Thanks again.

Congratulations. Quite a jump from your practice scores.

 

[zuddha]

Good job, jfgavina! Have fun in Brazil .

 

[pbnj003]

CONGRATS JFGAVINA!!! thats great great score! u deserved it All you "needed was a 230"

 

[je355804]

Congrats on the great score! However, don't forget to keep the perspective that most U.S students get 4 weeks, while other students have the luxury of studying for as long as they please (ie months or years). But anyway, go celebrate!

Ughhh don't be a party pooper.

Awesome job JFG!

 

[jfgavina]

Ughhh don't be a party pooper.

Awesome job JFG!

Thank you Je! I can understand him, it is not fair that some students take an year off just for studying to usmle. But I'm a student like you, all AMGs. I have classes, presentations, medical school work to do and shelf examinations! I did my study during this. It was my option but I didn't have more time than AMGs to study for this exam..

CONGRATS JFGAVINA!!! thats great great score! u deserved it All you "needed was a 230"

Thanks But maybe I needed a 245 to go where I want! I don't know what an IMG can expect with a score like this! Hopefully an university residency.. But I don't know. I will try to get in touch w/ someone in the us.

Good job, jfgavina! Have fun in Brazil .

yes I will! and I will try to return alive eheh only 5 months, it will be cool to see how things work in Brazil. I think I will learn a lot.

 

[Torquer]

JFGGG MANY CONGRATULATIONS! i actually came to this thread with the objective of seeing if you posted your score or not good going. you deserved it well!

Two other people in my class got their score yesterday, 242 and a 259! and with your 245 im very intimidated bout my own result in 5 days!

Cheers!

 

[mtwop]

I guess I was just a little off put by the comment "Either I'm too smart or this test is too easy." Obviously JFG worked very hard and did very well on the exam (and he knows this). He earned it and it's a great accomplishment! I just didn't want his ego to explode like all the other students that do so well......just thought I would bring him back to earth, and I would expect anybody else to do the same for me

 

[jfgavina]

thanks mtwop I know that I will not be a good doctor just by scoring high on a test. It is a very hard path and goes much further than reading books and doing qs. and put that phrase in the context of a minute after receiving the score LOL ego peaked but now is at baseline levels (but baseline levels after this are more elevated LOL)

 

[mtwop]

As they should be! Congrats and I wish you the best

 

[absolutjag9]

congrats jfg on GREAT score-good luck to all still waiting-i'll hopefully know my score on dec 15th (took it nov 22nd).

 

[jfgavina]

ok guys as promised and because you've been calling for it I'll write down my study experience. background: way below average student from the best medical school in portugal. struggled in my first year to pass LOL nowadays I'm an average student.

I started in mid april by reading:

-rapid review pathology
-CMMRS
-RR Bioch
-BRS physio
-review of microbiology (only for the immuno part)
-HY cell bio 1999 edition
-HY neuro anatomy


had more hy anatomy and hy behavioural which I didn't use.

after reading these books I went to FA. I'd read a section of FA and do the corresponding questions in UW. I did this using timed tutor mode. I red all of UW. even the options I was sure that were wrong. there is always some little detail to learn

So I was having classes during this time, so I could manage to study about 4/5 hours a day in this period. I did those books + FA + UW from mid april to mid june when my shelf examinations started. I stopped after doing UWSA 1 in which I had 214. I ended UW with 54% which I knew that wasn't good.

From mid june to the end of july I only studied for medical school examinations which had nothing to do with step 1 subjects. then I took 20 day vacation to go to some rock festivals and beach which are both very good here in Portugal.

I started again in august 25. by this time while all of the people kept going to beach I closed myself at home for studying. I took kaplan diagnostic in which I had 45%, I must have forgotten a lot of stuff during medical school examinations and my vacations but I started with faith.

I'd read 30-40 pages of FA a day and do a block or 2 of kaplan qbank which I hated. I was getting about 60% of the questions correct. I did this FA reading + kaplan until mid september. 15-20th of september I can't remember it well I started DIT. my score in kaplan went up and I decided to stop kaplan and start UW again. did about 65% of kaplan. after a week doing DIT in my first UW block I had 80% which I found great. I kept doing 2 DIT lessons per day with writing up all of the exercises. and I did a block of UW each day as well with annotations.

after ending DIT in the beggining of october I kept doing FA+UW religiously everyday. about 1 or 2 blocks and about 50-60 pages of FA. meanwhile my classes started in october and I needed to go to school. in this period I was sticking to FA+UW with annotations. I think that in this period I did my first nbme which was 6 and got 214. started goljan audio as well as soon as I finished DIT. would listen to 1 lesson everyday while going to bed.

after 10 days I did 11 and got 231. after 2 weeks going to school I ended UW and decided to close myself at my weekend home. in this sick week I would do nothing more than read FA very loud and try to memorize it. I walked in the house with FA in my hands reading and memorizing the god damn book. I ate only junk food. LOL one more week and one more read in FA. Also red my UW notes. after this I had about 2 weeks left which I used to read FA again and my UW notes again.

By this time I must have red FA about 5 or 6 times including DIT and my UW notes one time. in the last week red FA once more and kept doing nbmes and UWSA. in my last UWSA I had 260 or so lol

went to london to do the examination, my apartment was right in front of the prometric center. in my 3 days in london I saw CT images, neuro images, RR images and red my UW notes once more.


so it was FA 7 times UW 2 times w/ annotations and reading UW notes 2 times. one or 2 extra sources. you must find what works better to you. this worked for me. my only advice in this is to do as much nbmes as you can I did more than 1000 nbmes questions and that helped me to get more than used to the actual exam. used webpath here and then and of course wikipedia all the time.

good luck, I know it is messy but these were messy times I wasn't in myself I was this terrible person which wouldn't talk to anyone and was a working machine. I was a machine. Also, I drank about 2 red bulls a day that helps a lot. and cigarrettes of course LOL but that I don't recommend if you don't smoke.

 

[je355804]

I guess I was just a little off put by the comment "Either I'm too smart or this test is too easy." Obviously JFG worked very hard and did very well on the exam (and he knows this). He earned it and it's a great accomplishment! I just didn't want his ego to explode like all the other students that do so well......just thought I would bring him back to earth, and I would expect anybody else to do the same for me

Why would he want to come back to earth??? He just ROCKED step 1. His ego should be through the f***ing roof!

Edit:

Just in case his ego wasn't through the roof, maybe this will help!

(In my best "thousands of people chanting voice") JFG! JFG! JFG! JFG!

 

[pbnj003]

Ok so I thought I would share my "exam experience" WARNING: take this with a grain of salt since I have not received my score

I went to an offshore medical school so my pre-step preparation wasnt anything like medical students from US schools.

I used a lot of resources, I have been preparing for this for a while, had a lot of things going on personally for which I had to take official time off from school so I couldnt dedicate proper studying time for it until the last month and a half before the exam.

Took the exam yesterday in the States. Surprisingly I was the only one taking the exam at this center. I thought most students take their step 1 around this time.

Resources:
Pathoma ( great great great)
Kaplan Biochem, Physio, some Pharm, Kaplan immuno/micro
some Goljan audio and book.
UWorld (GOLD)
Some Kaplan Qbank
FA of course! saved me especially towards the end.

Prep:
Now during my "long" prep I did kaplan phys, biochem extensively because I really needed some serious gap filling in those subjects because my school severely lacked in those departments.
I will honestly say that I needed to do it only ONCE but a thorough review of those subjects to really get it. And this was almost a year ago when I had done this. A month or two before the exam I referred to those kaplan notes for physio and biochem here and there for the tid bits that I was forgetting, but thats it.

Kaplan Pharm I gotta say is GREAT! I wish I had more time for it or had started it sooner because pharm was a weak point for me. Obviously noone can help you memorize the pharm, but the guy puts a little more logic into it so it makes it easier but you still have to do the main memorizing bit which is usually the more harder, tedious part of doing pharm.

I had done Kaplan micro immuno but towards the end when I was only doing FA I realized FA micro is more than enough if you can memorize every tid bit of it. I honestly think thats all you need.

These are the subjects I felt I needed working on so I focused more on that. The rest of the subjects I guess people use their own resources as and how they need, depending on your weakness and strength.

I loved pathoma! My regret would be that I found out about it a little late. But had I known about pathoma I wouldv done all of it and multiple times. I think the guy does a great job of explaining things "mechanisms" He elaborates more on some and not so much on others which I hope he changes and goes more in depth with all of the topics because hes actually really good. I had tried goljan the book, but for me it was just way too dense I wasted SO much time trying to get through the book but for some reason I just couldnt digest. Audio is a different story of course. its great.

Exam:

Honestly I gotta say I dont know what all the fuss is about this exam being so hard that some people make it out to be the most non-doable out of the world exam. Its DOABLE! By all means! if you know your stuff its DEF doable! Kind of sounds obvious but I went into this exam thinking the absolute worst things about it, I thought I was going to go in not even understanding the language of this exam. I thought the exam would ask me questions so difficult that itd be in a whole another language or something, crazy I know, but after reading the things I had on online forums I was really expecting the worst possible type of questions. Let me just say it wasnt anything like that.

There were some questions that were extremely difficult and there were some questions that were so simple I seriously had to mark it to make sure that It was in fact asking me something this simple. For example I had a question telling me some lady taking meds she comes to your office with orange colored tears. I was thinking like really am I taking a step 1 exam or some practice test or something.

Anyways, so the exam again is DOABLE! Ya just had to repeat that. When I sat down to start my first block, EXACTLY like UWorld. I felt like I did any other doing while I was practicing questions on UWorld nothing different. The questions were of similar length and to a certain degree the same difficulty as UWorld. There were some questions that were completely out of this world. But MOST of these questions were UWorld-esque.

I cant really sift through to say what was tested more or less. I thought the questions were pretty evenly distributed. I got all sorts of questions. I did get a few repeats, almost verbatim from UWorld or NBME 1 and 6. At a certain point things just get a lil blurred cant remember where you have seen the questions but you know you have.

I really liked the fact that the exam was just like UWorld down to where the calculator pops up on the bottom right hand side corner ( so annoying I hated that) But anyways it really helped me relax a little bit just the familiarity of it all.

Everyone on here kept talking about how you can skip the tutorial but apparantely you cant "skip" it but you can just go through it really fast where you arent actually spending time reading through everything but you do have to go through it. The only thing I used it for was to check my headphones to make sure they were working but other than that I just "went through" the tutorial to start my blocks. But yes going through it fast does add time to your break time which I used all up so I would really suggest doing that.

I thought I wouldnt need to take a break exactly after every block but honestly just the anxiety of taking the exam gets you so its always a good idea to take even a few minutes after each block to freshen up its so important, even if you feel you dont need it. This is a big exam so staying fresh is important dont take any chances by trying to "push through" its not worth it ( just my opinion)

I gotta agree with most students on here when they say dont waste your time with trying to read up on all the behavioral patient-physician relationship stuff because honestly its not worth your time trying to remember all of that stuff and then trying to put it into context of the question. The best thing to do is go with the most cheesy and what seems like the most ridiculously impractical response and go with that becuase thats probably what you "should" say over what you would say. I honestly dont understand how these people expect to answer these questions sometimes. I think more than us I think current physicians in practice should have to learn about these physician-patient responses because none of my physicians sit there and take their time out to say those types of things ( ok just venting it was really annoying though those questions)

I finished almost all blocks with at least 15 minutes to spare, so once I was done with the block I would just sit and rest for a couple of a minutes and then go back and try to go over the questions I marked. One thing I did get a chance to do was read up on some test taking tips day before the exam, because I am the most anxiety prone test taker in the world. One thing that stuck was that there will be questions on these types of exams that you really just arent meant to answer, as in you just wont know the answer. At that point it snot worth even trying to figure the answer out. Go with your gut (statistically that gives you more chances of answering correctly apparantely) and just move on. Dont get stuck on that one question get freaked out and then mess up all the other questions you would get right.

I had maybe 2 or 3 calculation questions. Easy stuff, one was a basic 2X2 table asked you to calculate PPV. They didnt try to trick me by messing up the labels on the table or something, I went back to make sure that they didnt hehe.

Pharm was pretty straightforward as well. I think the "general principles" of pharm are more testable than drugs themselves I feel.

Now this thing about general principles, I think its so so so sooo important that people have their "basics" down. I feel like MOST of the questions on here were testing me about the general knowledge of a certain topic. The question would start out all complicated and intense, but at the end all they want is to know whether you know that basics behind that questions. Like what went wrong with what tumor supressor but by what mechanism. Thats like a foundational thing rather than being able to diagnose the patient with the symptoms listed. There were questions there listed EVERYTHING about the disease. The question would start out saying patient came in with something, had x y z symptoms diagnosis was X, pharm given was Y etc etc. but then they would ask something again about the MECHANISM behind symptom Y. So again as Goljan puts it "mechanism" is so much more important than being able to just spit out the what you would "see" Granted there were questions that would ask you about what you would expect to see but that was more for Pharm than the other questions. General principles was my weakest and I worked very hard to figure out what this was and came to realize it all basic foundation stuff that we tend to sometimes not pay too much attention to because we are too caught up trying to cram our brains with signgs and symptoms.

Ok thats all I can remember right now. If I remember anything extra I will post later. Still trying to get a grip on life after this exam, dont know what to do with my life! haha.

Gluck to all who are studying and remember not to make this exam bigger than it is. In the end it JUST AN EXAM! yes it opens or closes a lot of doors but it doesnt ALL doors. Its a doable exam. Key is to stay calm and confidence. People say confidence is winning half the battle and its so true.

Onwards and upwards to Step 2 now!

 

[1badvette]

Glad it went good budd , I'm taking mine on the 16th of jan .. You recommend doing few more passes of pathoma or goljan audios ? also did you feel that 1st was good to go for biochem ? i'm also weak in neurology , was the qs hard for neuro ? thanks

 

[Torquer]

Good for you pbnj! theres no beating the feeling you're about to experience in the next week

 

[stepvictory]

hey pbnj003 hope u get great score.nice post btw

well u told exam is doable but u told exam is just like uworld.i find uwolrd qs hard.so can u specify.

thanks in advance and best of luck

 

[jfgavina]

I dont agree. For me the exam looks like nbme 5 6 or 7 and the hardest questions look like uw or 11. But these.are about 15 per block.

And pnjb I'm pretty sure you'll get at least 230 after finding the exam easy as I did. It is good to know that the exam is going well for the people that took it near my date!!

 

[pbnj003]

Glad it went good budd , I’m taking mine on the 16th of jan .. You recommend doing few more passes of pathoma or goljan audios ? also did you feel that 1st was good to go for biochem ? i'm also weak in neurology , was the qs hard for neuro ? thanks

I would most def recommend doing a few passes of pathoma and goljan audio together.

I mainly used Kaplan biochem and even towards the end I just used the book and my notes because I was so familiar with the format etc. and I was very intimidated by the subject because I was getting killed on UWorld biochem questions so I just decided to stick with Kaplan. The only thing I used FA biochem section was for the genetics section to memorize the diseases etc. and maybe the nutrition vitamin stuff. As everyone else has mentioned the exam doesnt test as much on the metabolism stuff compared to the DNA things and then Vitamins/Nutrition. I think reading about Vitaminosis is really important. We all tend to focus on the deficiencies and now they focus on the opposite. I had one question on Vitamins and of course it had to be a Vitaminosis question.

Gluck

 

[pbnj003]

hey pbnj003 hope u get great score.nice post btw

well u told exam is doable but u told exam is just like uworld.i find uwolrd qs hard.so can u specify.

thanks in advance and best of luck

Yes UWorld is hard but thats what you have to keep practicing and get past. The only way to get past the "hard questions" is to do more questions because it allows you to see how the examiners think etc. The more questions you get wrong, take it as an opportunity to learn even more, get inside the examiners head. Dont get intimidated by UWorld they are supposed to be hard, as everyone says use it as a learning tool thats way more important.

gluck

 

[pbnj003]

I dont agree. For me the exam looks like nbme 5 6 or 7 and the hardest questions look like uw or 11. But these.are about 15 per block.

And pnjb I'm pretty sure you'll get at least 230 after finding the exam easy as I did. It is good to know that the exam is going well for the people that took it near my date!!

I hope the exam does go well for me! I only did NBME 6 1 and UWSA 1 a month or two before my exam. I did feel that the exam did have questions from NBME 6 and others I felt were from UWorld. If not verbatim pretty close.

 

[colonelmustard]

I am confused right now. Situation here in europe gets worse everyday but after studying for so long I don't even know if I want to go to U.S. no matter the score. At least I'll do a clinical rotation over there to see how things work. Then I can choose to go if I like things over there.

Just curious, have you gotten in touch with any residency programs in the states? My father is a cardiologist here in Chicago, and he told me, along with a friend who is a trauma surgeon in Philadelphia, that residency programs no longer take foreigners who don't already have a visa. Have you heard about this?

 

[jfgavina]

I red something about this in some other forum but don't forget ecfmg sponsors J-1 visa so the programs don't need to do it. and yes, I'm in touch with residency programs in the states they're talking about H-1 visa which is provided by the program, if you show up with a J-1 which is provided by ecfmg itself you have a visa.

 

[Torquer]

I red something about this in some other forum but don't forget ecfmg sponsors J-1 visa so the programs don't need to do it. and yes, I'm in touch with residency programs in the states they're talking about H-1 visa which is provided by the program, if you show up with a J-1 which is provided by ecfmg itself you have a visa.

yup JFGs right, its only like a handful (around 20%) of the residency programs that offer H-1 visas if you've cleared Step3 before residency starts.

How's the celebrating going Jfg??

 

[1badvette]

I would most def recommend doing a few passes of pathoma and goljan audio together.

I mainly used Kaplan biochem and even towards the end I just used the book and my notes because I was so familiar with the format etc. and I was very intimidated by the subject because I was getting killed on UWorld biochem questions so I just decided to stick with Kaplan. The only thing I used FA biochem section was for the genetics section to memorize the diseases etc. and maybe the nutrition vitamin stuff. As everyone else has mentioned the exam doesnt test as much on the metabolism stuff compared to the DNA things and then Vitamins/Nutrition. I think reading about Vitaminosis is really important. We all tend to focus on the deficiencies and now they focus on the opposite. I had one question on Vitamins and of course it had to be a Vitaminosis question.

Gluck

Thanks budd , hope you get the score you want .. god bless

 

[stepvictory]

Yes UWorld is hard but thats what you have to keep practicing and get past. The only way to get past the "hard questions" is to do more questions because it allows you to see how the examiners think etc. The more questions you get wrong, take it as an opportunity to learn even more, get inside the examiners head. Dont get intimidated by UWorld they are supposed to be hard, as everyone says use it as a learning tool thats way more important.

gluck

yes i m beginning to realize uworld practicing is vital to the exam.

thanks for advice.

best wishes for your result.hope you score great.

 

[Alvarez13]

I red something about this in some other forum but don't forget ecfmg sponsors J-1 visa so the programs don't need to do it. and yes, I'm in touch with residency programs in the states they're talking about H-1 visa which is provided by the program, if you show up with a J-1 which is provided by ecfmg itself you have a visa.

jfg, I've been reading your posts in USMLE section for quite some time and am very happy to see how you did on the exam. Very inspirational story that I hope to copy. Go out and have a big meal with lots of EtOH and relax.

 

[yazz]

hi everyone im actually new here i just wanted to take advice from u all well im preparing for step 1 just finished brs physio kaplan physio +videos kaplan anatomy +hy neuroanatomy and im halfway in rapid review goljan although its taking for ever compare to the books i read before but i love it to be honest i was planing the following first aid as a book consists of 17 chapters i noticed that 13 out of 17 are anatomy . physiology . pathology plus pharma and since RR path correlates much in pharma i thought why waste my time i would like to read your judgements on that ?
the second is is first aid enough for micro too or should go through the 400 pg of MMRS ?
the third im planing to start post path kaplan QBANK as a subject wise revision then once im finished start with first aid + usmlerx is it a good idea?
what is the best starting NBME forum do u advice me ?
thanks all hope everyone ace it and good luck

 

[quique2]

Congrats to jfgavina, whose progress I have been following closely because I always felt we were very close to one another in terms of performance! I think we were doing pretty similarly on qbanks/etc

I took my fourth and final NBME today and set my date for Monday, three days from now.

My NBME scores were surprisingly consistent, which actually scares me a bit - my scores didn't increase at all in two months? I haven't done too much hardcore studying in the meantime (just doing Qbank which I finished a few days ago and trying to fill in gaps)

- NBME 6: 590/242 (9 weeks before exam)
- NBME 7: 570/238 (8 weeks before exam)
- NBME 11: 590/242 (6 weeks before exam)
- NBME 12: 590/242 (3 days before exam)

I'm shooting for >240, but of course, the higher the better. Who knows - I might even do a lot better... after I take the exam and/or get my score I'll post back here with details on my preparation and scores on qbank and the like.

Tomorrow I will do my remaining Qbank full length simulation and go over it, and on Sunday maybe do a few of my Qbank marked questions and look over FA... but I don't have much time for all that (I have about 600 marked+incorrect questions on Qbank that I haven't gone over!)

 

[colonelmustard]

Hi guys,

This site has helped me a lot, so like most people on here, I thought I'd give some feedback. First off, I'm an IMG and US citizen. Here's the breakdown of my progress:

Never reviewed anything prior to NBME #11.
NBME #11: 185 (9/15)
Started DIT and Pathoma.
UWorld: ~60% (10/20)
UWSA1: 206 (10/29)
NBME #12: 220 (11/7)
UWorld: ~70% (11/10)
USMLE Step 1: 231 (11/15)
I couldn't believe my score when I saw it.

Preparation:

My prep consisted of four sources: First-Aid, Pathoma, DIT, and UWorld. I finished about 60% of UWorld and was averging about 70% around the time I took Step 1. Although it's great to see how questions are presented, DO NOT sacrifice valuable studying time before the exam just to finish UWorld. Also, before doing UWorld, make sure you have a strong foundation and a good understanding of the material. UWorld sells itself as a "learning tool," but it can be an inefficient one at that.

I dabbled in Kaplan Q Bank, and in my opinion, it is not as good of a source as UWorld. The reason is that UWorld tests your problem solving abilities by forcing you to link patterns and concepts. That's exactly what the USMLE does. Kaplan's idea of a tough question is to make it too detailed. In my opinion, that's not good practice for Step 1.

Test Day:

When I got to the prometric center, there were a few people also taking Step 1. I brought two cans of coke, a redbull, some trail mix, and a sandwich. I was pleasantly surprised with the center, in that the room temperature was perfect and the facilities were well kept. There was even a fridge for us to put our stuff. If you're experiencing test anxiety, I suggest going to your local prometric center before your exam and having a look around. During each break, I would get up, take a few sips of redbull and coke, munch on some trail mix, and go to the bathroom. This pattern kept me energized throughout the exam and only took about 7 minutes every break.

Exam:

Behavioral Sciences: Nothing you haven't seen before. The statistics questions were more conceptual than mathematical. The ethics questions were tricky, as you've probably heard before. Just do your best in narrowing these down to two answer choices.

Biochemistry: Very straightforward. The pathologies/pathways were straight out of First-Aid.

Genetics: They tend to make genetics questions into experiment-type questions. Once you figure out what they're talking about, it's pretty straight forward. First-Aid is all you need.

Gross Anatomy & Embryo: Some of the gross anatomy was hit or miss. There were things that you would never have thought to have studied before your exam. Stick to the high yield anatomy material, and you'll be fine. Use whatever resource you feel comfortable with for Anatomy. The embryo wasn't bad at all, as First-Aid was very sufficient.

Microbiology: First-Aid covered micro adequately, and the presentations were classic. Most questions asked what bug was causing the problem, and most answer choices were very easy to rule out.

Immunology: I suggest getting a good, concise immuno source and knowing it well. First-Aid doesn't delve into immuno all that well. I reread a few chapters of Lippincott two weeks before my exam and added notes from it into First-Aid; it helped.

Pathology: Pathoma all the way. It was a great resource and helped with histological and cellular details. You could read the first seven chapters of Robbins or do Goljan, but Pathoma puts all the important details into only a few pages. This makes Pathoma's review time saving, and it's easier to reread all the important concepts if you need to. The Pathoma videos also do a great job explaining the finer points.

Pharmacology: It wasn't too bad. I was expecting this to be tougher, but most questions were about high-yield mechanisms of action or side effects. They were mostly ANS, neuroleptic, and cardiovascular drug questions. There were, however, a few questions which were very detail oriented, as in down to the molecular level. They were so detail oriented, that I don't believe anyone studying for this exam would have read that specific material. These may have been experimental questions or questions to test your problem solving abilities.

Physiology: Most of the physiology questions were either reproductive, endocrinology, or cardiovascular questions. I had a few "arrow questions," where you have to state which direction specific arrows should face. Some of the questions were tougher than I expected, but just make sure you don't spend too much time on these questions.

Cardiovascular: As stated above, most cardio questions were cardiovascular physiology questions. You don't need to spend too much time studying for these. Understand the concepts and practice them on UWorld. They're not too difficult. As for cardio pathology, Pathoma adequately covered it.

Gastrointestinal: GI was tested via its anatomy, pathology, and a few questions on the physiology. The pathology questions were not too bad. First-Aid covered it all. Some of the GI anatomy and physiology quesitons were very detail oriented, beyond the scope of most Step 1 preparation.

Nervous System: Lots of neuro on my exam. I practically memorized First-Aid's neuro section. That alone, however, is not adequate. Pathoma and DIT helped with details that were not in First-Aid, but there were still neuro questions on topics I had never seen before. It's tough, but study as much neuro as you can. I spent an entire day the week before my exam on just neuro, and I don't regret it.

Reproductive & Endocrine: There were plenty of questions on these systems, but as long as you understood their physiology and pathology, you could almost always narrow it down to two. The questions tested to see if you understood underlying mechanisms.

Renal: The questions were about renal physio and renal pathology, and First-Aid, believe it or not, covered everything. However, First-Aid's renal pathology section is all over the place. Pathoma and DIT helped clear up these concepts.

Respiratory: These questions were mostly about respiratory pathology. Again, Pathoma helped knock this out of the ballpark.

All in all, the exam is easier than you may expect, especially if you have been practicing with UWorld. You can almost always narrow the answer choices down to two. Anyway, I hope this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

[quique2]

Took my test today. Was a bit anxious yesterday, so I just had a nice dinner, had a glass of wine and eventually went to sleep. I got a surprisingly good night's sleep, although I kept waking up and going back to sleep a while before my alarm went off.

Got to the center way earlier than expected, so I had to wait a while. Started at 9am sharp. I did two blocks, took a break, three blocks, took another break, and then finished the last two blocks.

My breaks were only about 10min long, it was all I needed to go to the bathroom and have a bite.

I packed a little bag with a couple of sandwiches, some chips, some chocolate wafer-cookie-things, a juice box and a bottle of water, which was just enough. I cannot work while hungry (ate it all except the chocolate wafers)

Emergency stuff I packed: loperamide tablet (hey, who knows? Anxiety can cause increased intestinal motility! luckily, did not need it), ibuprofen and calcium carbonate antacid tablets (I have reflux)

I felt the test was extremely easy for me. Of course there were hard and hard-ish questions, but I felt that even the harder ones that tested obscure details (mostly immuno, genetics and biochem on the extremely molecular level) were coincidentially about things I mostly knew. There was a particular question on the genetic basis of polycythemia vera (this isn't in FA, I think). I almost laughed out loud because I happened to know the mutation (Janus kinase 2-very obscure and probably clinically useless). Other weird possibly experimental questions were thrown in there, but I think they were all doable if you really understand molecular stuff and also if you have a good solid fund of knowledge, such as from reading from textbooks or using Step 2 level stuff (I listen to MKSAP, an audio companion for Step 2/IM boards which helped me on a few questions)

For me, the test was similar in difficulty to NBME 12 which I took three days ago. Mostly easy, but with perfectly answerable tougher questions. I got a 590/242 on that one, and I'm fairly positive I'll get above 245 on this one, but I won't assume anything until I get my score in January.

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to this thread. I will post back here eventually when I get my score as well as my unorthodox preparation (quite different from most other preps)

 

[MrBeauregard]

There was a particular question on the genetic basis of polycythemia vera (this isn't in FA, I think). I almost laughed out loud because I happened to know the mutation (Janus kinase 2-very obscure and probably clinically useless).

Just FYI this is in FA 2011 page 361, top right corner. Crazy to know that they test tiny little details like that. That definitely means that to score in the upper echelon you really have to know every single detail of FA.

Anyways congratulations on those who just finished the exam. I'll be starting on my prep this January so if anyone has any advice on what they wish they had done differently now that they've seen the exam, feel free to let us know.

 

[Nicotinic]

To colonelmustard and quique2, thanks for sharing your experiences! I have a few questions if you guys don't mind. Are the question stems longer than those in uworld? How does the test compare to uworld in terms of difficulty? Also, how many times did you guys go through First Aid?

 

[lpaul]

Congrats to everyone who did well.