- Joined
- Sep 21, 2010
- Messages
- 243
- Reaction score
- 0
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.
Official 2011 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
- Thread starter ProtossCarrier
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2008
- Messages
- 52
- Reaction score
- 0
ack: Chagas disease...I know the reduviid bug defecates on the face while they feed, and the disease is spread through feces...BUT if you rub your face and the feces just happens to contact a mucous membrane or an open wound then it infects the human body....so yea Im guessing its blood borne? But fecal oral is totally possible...
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2008
- Messages
- 147
- Reaction score
- 2
Took it today. I felt good going in, had stuck to my study plan well, did 5-6 weeks of FA, UW, and lots of NBME's. I saw a lot of questions. Supplemented with Goljan/RR. Was getting low 70's in random timed UW blocks, 230-240 on "predictive" "assessments" and was happy about that.
Anyway, the test itself. I was all a blur, really. I felt very focused as I was taking it, did not notice anything outside of the screen, but couldn't really tell you much about it even if I wanted to. I don't really remember much from it other than it was pretty balanced in terms of subjects, nothing seemed like a "theme" or a "focus" of the exam. I was surprised by the paucity of really in-depth biochemistry. Also, most of the questions did not require a great deal of thought. Either you know it or you don't type of thing.
I did feel that it was definitely more like an NBME style exam than UW. I felt myself questioning how well UW even prepared me during some portions of the exam, but I know I'm ignoring all the little bits of knowledge I currently take for granted that I probably learned from it. Also, lots of stuff that was not in FA. Kind of gave it my best guess and moved along.
There is one question, and an easy one at that, that I absolutely knew the right answer to, clicked it, and then for some reason changed my mind. Now I feel like an idiot. It's the only thing I remember about the test. But at least it's only one.
All in all, I'm very glad it's over and by the time I get my score this will all just be memories of a distant past and I'll be working my tail off as an MSIII
Anyway, the test itself. I was all a blur, really. I felt very focused as I was taking it, did not notice anything outside of the screen, but couldn't really tell you much about it even if I wanted to. I don't really remember much from it other than it was pretty balanced in terms of subjects, nothing seemed like a "theme" or a "focus" of the exam. I was surprised by the paucity of really in-depth biochemistry. Also, most of the questions did not require a great deal of thought. Either you know it or you don't type of thing.
I did feel that it was definitely more like an NBME style exam than UW. I felt myself questioning how well UW even prepared me during some portions of the exam, but I know I'm ignoring all the little bits of knowledge I currently take for granted that I probably learned from it. Also, lots of stuff that was not in FA. Kind of gave it my best guess and moved along.
There is one question, and an easy one at that, that I absolutely knew the right answer to, clicked it, and then for some reason changed my mind. Now I feel like an idiot. It's the only thing I remember about the test. But at least it's only one.
All in all, I'm very glad it's over and by the time I get my score this will all just be memories of a distant past and I'll be working my tail off as an MSIII
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2011
- Messages
- 801
- Reaction score
- 46
http://phc.amedd.army.mil/phc resource library/chagasdisease-jan2010.pdf
this seems to agree with you haha. o well.
Took it today. I felt good going in, had stuck to my study plan well, did 5-6 weeks of FA, UW, and lots of NBME's. I saw a lot of questions. Supplemented with Goljan/RR. Was getting low 70's in random timed UW blocks, 230-240 on "predictive" "assessments" and was happy about that.
Anyway, the test itself. I was all a blur, really. I felt very focused as I was taking it, did not notice anything outside of the screen, but couldn't really tell you much about it even if I wanted to. I don't really remember much from it other than it was pretty balanced in terms of subjects, nothing seemed like a "theme" or a "focus" of the exam. I was surprised by the paucity of really in-depth biochemistry. Also, most of the questions did not require a great deal of thought. Either you know it or you don't type of thing.
I did feel that it was definitely more like an NBME style exam than UW. I felt myself questioning how well UW even prepared me during some portions of the exam, but I know I'm ignoring all the little bits of knowledge I currently take for granted that I probably learned from it. Also, lots of stuff that was not in FA. Kind of gave it my best guess and moved along.
There is one question, and an easy one at that, that I absolutely knew the right answer to, clicked it, and then for some reason changed my mind. Now I feel like an idiot. It's the only thing I remember about the test. But at least it's only one.
All in all, I'm very glad it's over and by the time I get my score this will all just be memories of a distant past and I'll be working my tail off as an MSIII
Congrats on being done 🙂
D
da8s0859q
And... done. First of all, you guys:
... are awesome. Thanks. 👍
Secondly, a few thoughts:
1. I realize that questions vary, but I definitely think that Step is easier than UW. No question about it. I left feeling like all the questions I was unsure about -- and there were many -- were still very reasonable, and that they weren't insanely nth order questions or just really tough like UW sometimes is.
2. The NBME self-assessments and shelf exams we've taken up to now are, imo, a very good approximation of the sort of question you'll be dealing with. No big surprise there.
3. The whole thing about everyone leaving the test having no clue how they did, or feeling kind of crappy about it, is definitely the case for me. I have no idea other than that I don't feel too great about it, though my last NBME had me in the mid-230s something like 3 weeks before the test. I just feel like I wouldn't be surprised with anything in the 220s or 230s; 2-teens or 240s would be a little surprising. No idea. Really hard to tell when you've just answered 320+ questions, remember mostly only the ones you didn't know or weren't sure about, and are just generally tired.
4. Possibly experimental, or "... wait, what?" questions: I had a few. What can I say.
5. My exam was pretty balanced. I didn't have much of a "theme" and felt it was pretty evenly distributed, as did many other previous posters. Had a few slightly repetitive questions, but not enough to make me think of it as a common thread through the blocks.
6. Random anatomy questions: had a few, but I don't recall it being in FA at all, and I don't think it's worth going through a billion Netter plates trying to prep for one or two questions you may remember from first year.
Will wait on my score to post my approach to Step so that it's a little more meaningful.
good luck!!!!
Knock it outta the park!
... are awesome. Thanks. 👍
Secondly, a few thoughts:
1. I realize that questions vary, but I definitely think that Step is easier than UW. No question about it. I left feeling like all the questions I was unsure about -- and there were many -- were still very reasonable, and that they weren't insanely nth order questions or just really tough like UW sometimes is.
2. The NBME self-assessments and shelf exams we've taken up to now are, imo, a very good approximation of the sort of question you'll be dealing with. No big surprise there.
3. The whole thing about everyone leaving the test having no clue how they did, or feeling kind of crappy about it, is definitely the case for me. I have no idea other than that I don't feel too great about it, though my last NBME had me in the mid-230s something like 3 weeks before the test. I just feel like I wouldn't be surprised with anything in the 220s or 230s; 2-teens or 240s would be a little surprising. No idea. Really hard to tell when you've just answered 320+ questions, remember mostly only the ones you didn't know or weren't sure about, and are just generally tired.
4. Possibly experimental, or "... wait, what?" questions: I had a few. What can I say.
5. My exam was pretty balanced. I didn't have much of a "theme" and felt it was pretty evenly distributed, as did many other previous posters. Had a few slightly repetitive questions, but not enough to make me think of it as a common thread through the blocks.
6. Random anatomy questions: had a few, but I don't recall it being in FA at all, and I don't think it's worth going through a billion Netter plates trying to prep for one or two questions you may remember from first year.
Will wait on my score to post my approach to Step so that it's a little more meaningful.
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2008
- Messages
- 109
- Reaction score
- 1
Secondly, a few thoughts:
1. I realize that questions vary, but I definitely think that Step is easier than UW. No question about it. I left feeling like all the questions I was unsure about -- and there were many -- were still very reasonable, and that they weren't insanely nth order questions or just really tough like UW sometimes is.
2. The NBME self-assessments and shelf exams we've taken up to now are, imo, a very good approximation of the sort of question you'll be dealing with. No big surprise there.
3. The whole thing about everyone leaving the test having no clue how they did, or feeling kind of crappy about it, is definitely the case for me. I have no idea other than that I don't feel too great about it, though my last NBME had me in the mid-230s something like 3 weeks before the test. I just feel like I wouldn't be surprised with anything in the 220s or 230s; 2-teens or 240s would be a little surprising. No idea. Really hard to tell when you've just answered 320+ questions, remember mostly only the ones you didn't know or weren't sure about, and are just generally tired.
4. Possibly experimental, or "... wait, what?" questions: I had a few. What can I say.
5. My exam was pretty balanced. I didn't have much of a "theme" and felt it was pretty evenly distributed, as did many other previous posters. Had a few slightly repetitive questions, but not enough to make me think of it as a common thread through the blocks.
6. Random anatomy questions: had a few, but I don't recall it being in FA at all, and I don't think it's worth going through a billion Netter plates trying to prep for one or two questions you may remember from first year.
Will wait on my score to post my approach to Step so that it's a little more meaningful.
Congrats on tackling the beast! Did you feel that FA prepared you well for those questions or did you have to call on other sources for a lot of them?
D
da8s0859q
Thanks much. FA+UW is definitely the way to go. Goljan is great, but I definitely agree with the people who took it earlier when they say that his stuff is great only if used before you hit dedicated Step prep.
Had a few questions which I didn't remember from UW or FA, but I guess that's bound to happen. Definitely the minority though.
- Joined
- May 8, 2007
- Messages
- 1,229
- Reaction score
- 170
I second that.
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2008
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 0
Hey guys,
Thanks again for all the posts about difficult concepts on your exam. It's really helped me broaden my studies (and forced me to review some anatomy for this beast).
I'm taking the exam on Monday, but I was wondering if you had any specifics on difficult anatomy and/or cell biology questions. I've heard, in general, that there are some pretty specific cell biology questions on the exam. Any advice on how to prepare for these.
What about anatomy? Is it fairly clinical, like where is the most likely lesion of the ureter in a pelvic fracture, or is it pretty basic like which muscle inserts within the glenoid fossa?
Thanks!
Thanks again for all the posts about difficult concepts on your exam. It's really helped me broaden my studies (and forced me to review some anatomy for this beast).
I'm taking the exam on Monday, but I was wondering if you had any specifics on difficult anatomy and/or cell biology questions. I've heard, in general, that there are some pretty specific cell biology questions on the exam. Any advice on how to prepare for these.
What about anatomy? Is it fairly clinical, like where is the most likely lesion of the ureter in a pelvic fracture, or is it pretty basic like which muscle inserts within the glenoid fossa?
Thanks!
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2008
- Messages
- 431
- Reaction score
- 8
For some reason this kept bugging me, and then I remembered something from this "Step 1 facts" page from uworld:
http://www.usmleworld.com/Step1/step1_facts.aspx
If you look under the "How much basic science material..." heading, they talk about a few things dealing with how much of this stuff you're going to remember (from my own experience just over a week after the exam, not a whole lot) and then link to a paper described thusly:
"A 2008 study examined the results of including unscored Step 1 questions on the Step 2 CK exam."
Now yes, I realize, that's talking about Step 2, but I looked at the paper, and this is straight from that paper's intro:
"Use of unscored material is a common practice in standardized testing, and examinees are told in USMLE information materials that some items are unscored."
That didn't ring a bell to me, so then I looked back at the Bulletin of Information on the USMLE.org website:
"Some examination materials are included in the USMLE to enhance the examination system and to investigate the measurement properties of the examinations. Such materials are not scored."
from http://www.usmle.org/General_Information/bulletin/2011/score.html
So... looks like the SDN common wisdom was right, in this case. Which is good, because I'm counting on the fact that those unscored "experimental questions" were the ones I got wrong.
For some reason this kept bugging me, and then I remembered something from this "Step 1 facts" page from uworld:
http://www.usmleworld.com/Step1/step1_facts.aspx
If you look under the "How much basic science material..." heading, they talk about a few things dealing with how much of this stuff you're going to remember (from my own experience just over a week after the exam, not a whole lot) and then link to a paper described thusly:
"A 2008 study examined the results of including unscored Step 1 questions on the Step 2 CK exam."
Now yes, I realize, that's talking about Step 2, but I looked at the paper, and this is straight from that paper's intro:
"Use of unscored material is a common practice in standardized testing, and examinees are told in USMLE information materials that some items are unscored."
That didn't ring a bell to me, so then I looked back at the Bulletin of Information on the USMLE.org website:
"Some examination materials are included in the USMLE to enhance the examination system and to investigate the measurement properties of the examinations. Such materials are not scored."
from http://www.usmle.org/General_Information/bulletin/2011/score.html
So... looks like the SDN common wisdom was right, in this case. Which is good, because I'm counting on the fact that those unscored "experimental questions" were the ones I got wrong.
Thank you for making me feel better about life and the questions I will miss on Thursday.
to you.
- Joined
- May 21, 2011
- Messages
- 1,214
- Reaction score
- 398
For some reason this kept bugging me, and then I remembered something from this "Step 1 facts" page from uworld:
http://www.usmleworld.com/Step1/step1_facts.aspx
If you look under the "How much basic science material..." heading, they talk about a few things dealing with how much of this stuff you're going to remember (from my own experience just over a week after the exam, not a whole lot) and then link to a paper described thusly:
"A 2008 study examined the results of including unscored Step 1 questions on the Step 2 CK exam."
Now yes, I realize, that's talking about Step 2, but I looked at the paper, and this is straight from that paper's intro:
"Use of unscored material is a common practice in standardized testing, and examinees are told in USMLE information materials that some items are unscored."
That didn't ring a bell to me, so then I looked back at the Bulletin of Information on the USMLE.org website:
"Some examination materials are included in the USMLE to enhance the examination system and to investigate the measurement properties of the examinations. Such materials are not scored."
from http://www.usmle.org/General_Information/bulletin/2011/score.html
So... looks like the SDN common wisdom was right, in this case. Which is good, because I'm counting on the fact that those unscored "experimental questions" were the ones I got wrong.
Wow good work, nice to have a source with that info!
- Joined
- May 8, 2007
- Messages
- 1,229
- Reaction score
- 170
For some reason this kept bugging me, and then I remembered something from this "Step 1 facts" page from uworld:
http://www.usmleworld.com/Step1/step1_facts.aspx
If you look under the "How much basic science material..." heading, they talk about a few things dealing with how much of this stuff you're going to remember (from my own experience just over a week after the exam, not a whole lot) and then link to a paper described thusly:
"A 2008 study examined the results of including unscored Step 1 questions on the Step 2 CK exam."
Now yes, I realize, that's talking about Step 2, but I looked at the paper, and this is straight from that paper's intro:
"Use of unscored material is a common practice in standardized testing, and examinees are told in USMLE information materials that some items are unscored."
That didn't ring a bell to me, so then I looked back at the Bulletin of Information on the USMLE.org website:
"Some examination materials are included in the USMLE to enhance the examination system and to investigate the measurement properties of the examinations. Such materials are not scored."
from http://www.usmle.org/General_Information/bulletin/2011/score.html
So... looks like the SDN common wisdom was right, in this case. Which is good, because I'm counting on the fact that those unscored "experimental questions" were the ones I got wrong.
Dang!!! We just got schooled! Good job in finding this. Now I feel good too. I hope my who test isn't graded except for the question where they ask me my name.
- Joined
- May 8, 2011
- Messages
- 26
- Reaction score
- 0
For some reason this kept bugging me, and then I remembered something from this "Step 1 facts" page from uworld:
http://www.usmleworld.com/Step1/step1_facts.aspx
If you look under the "How much basic science material..." heading, they talk about a few things dealing with how much of this stuff you're going to remember (from my own experience just over a week after the exam, not a whole lot) and then link to a paper described thusly:
"A 2008 study examined the results of including unscored Step 1 questions on the Step 2 CK exam."
Now yes, I realize, that's talking about Step 2, but I looked at the paper, and this is straight from that paper's intro:
"Use of unscored material is a common practice in standardized testing, and examinees are told in USMLE information materials that some items are unscored."
That didn't ring a bell to me, so then I looked back at the Bulletin of Information on the USMLE.org website:
"Some examination materials are included in the USMLE to enhance the examination system and to investigate the measurement properties of the examinations. Such materials are not scored."
from http://www.usmle.org/General_Information/bulletin/2011/score.html
So... looks like the SDN common wisdom was right, in this case. Which is good, because I'm counting on the fact that those unscored "experimental questions" were the ones I got wrong.
Experimental questions should be easy medium and hard I believe? Does anyone know, sigh if they're only hard questions then I am at a loss for sure.
D
deleted387928
Hey everyone I just took my Step today. Here's a little background:
Class rank: somewhere around 85-90th percentile
UWSA2: 242 (6 weeks out)
NBME7: 254 (3 weeks out)
UWSA1: 263 (2 weeks out)
I read most Goljan chapters 2-3 times, starting in December. I made my final run through of the book 1.5 weeks out.
I made first aid flashcards as I went along. So I probably got around 6-8 run throughs of first aid material due to the speed of using flashcards vs. reading.
I finished UW and did the incorrect questions again. I finished at 73% the first time through.
My test felt like a mixture of NBME style questions and UW questions. There were tons of classic presentations which could be answered easily from FA, UW, or basic class knowledge. There were intermediate-difficult level questions that I felt I had a good idea about from reading Goljan or remembering something I learned in class.
The hard questions were random xrays pointing at stuff or asking obscure anatomy questions. I definitely couldn't answer some of the anatomy questions on the test from FA or UW, but I doubt that I would have gotten those questions right from spending more time studying anatomy.
I also had some tricky physio questions that I could narrow down to 2 choices, but I couldn't decide between an up/down arrow for a random lab value that I had never thought about in association with the presented case. They weren't in first aid, by the way.
I know that sounds a little scary, so let me just say I don't want to scare people away from first aid & UW. They are definitely THE BEST use of your time as you get closer to the test. I don't think it's worth it to prepare for the difficult questions (especially if you're going to miss easy questions in the process). I focused my study on understanding Goljan and memorizing FA + UW. Which this approach I breezed through the majority of questions and marked 6-10 questions per block (I usually get around half of my marked questions correct & rarely miss ones that I didn't mark).
TL;DR FA/UW/Goljan are king
Class rank: somewhere around 85-90th percentile
UWSA2: 242 (6 weeks out)
NBME7: 254 (3 weeks out)
UWSA1: 263 (2 weeks out)
I read most Goljan chapters 2-3 times, starting in December. I made my final run through of the book 1.5 weeks out.
I made first aid flashcards as I went along. So I probably got around 6-8 run throughs of first aid material due to the speed of using flashcards vs. reading.
I finished UW and did the incorrect questions again. I finished at 73% the first time through.
My test felt like a mixture of NBME style questions and UW questions. There were tons of classic presentations which could be answered easily from FA, UW, or basic class knowledge. There were intermediate-difficult level questions that I felt I had a good idea about from reading Goljan or remembering something I learned in class.
The hard questions were random xrays pointing at stuff or asking obscure anatomy questions. I definitely couldn't answer some of the anatomy questions on the test from FA or UW, but I doubt that I would have gotten those questions right from spending more time studying anatomy.
I also had some tricky physio questions that I could narrow down to 2 choices, but I couldn't decide between an up/down arrow for a random lab value that I had never thought about in association with the presented case. They weren't in first aid, by the way.
I know that sounds a little scary, so let me just say I don't want to scare people away from first aid & UW. They are definitely THE BEST use of your time as you get closer to the test. I don't think it's worth it to prepare for the difficult questions (especially if you're going to miss easy questions in the process). I focused my study on understanding Goljan and memorizing FA + UW. Which this approach I breezed through the majority of questions and marked 6-10 questions per block (I usually get around half of my marked questions correct & rarely miss ones that I didn't mark).
TL;DR FA/UW/Goljan are king
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2010
- Messages
- 253
- Reaction score
- 1
nice write up...and congrats to your future 263.
- Joined
- May 8, 2011
- Messages
- 334
- Reaction score
- 1
Delete
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2008
- Messages
- 617
- Reaction score
- 49
Huh, anyone one else wondering about the recent change in opinions regarding Step 1 difficulty? It seems as though the first week after D-day (May 17th) were followed by horror stories, while more recent test takers (caveat: SDNers) have expressed quite different situations.....I'd like to juxtapose that this may be, at least in part, due to recent posters being perhaps "more prepared" (if thats possible), but I also remember some pretty reliable and well-scoring folks agonizing over the test so....who knows.....thoughts?
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2007
- Messages
- 709
- Reaction score
- 17
This is another one of those questions that can be answered on first principles. Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma. Where are Trypanosoma? They are swimming around in your blood. Are they found in human feces? Nope. How does Trypanosoma get from person to person? By mixing of blood via bugs. How else can they get transmitted? By blood transfusion or very rarely, sexual contact (but I think this is from open sores and mixing blood too).
Fecal-oral always refers to the human feces and the human mouth. Bugs don't count.
Bonus question: what factor is produced by Yersinia pestis that makes fleas hungry? I don't know if this has ever been asked by it seems like one of those fun trivia questions that is just waiting to show up on step 1.
Last edited:
- Joined
- May 8, 2011
- Messages
- 334
- Reaction score
- 1
Moreover, fecal oral implies ingesting feces contamined food that contains the eggs of the parasite in question. These tend to stay in the GI tract and cause disease
MOreover, trypanosomes are classifed as HEMO flagellates... so there you go.
THe only gripe I have with that question is that blood borne transmission specifically means via transfusion products.
T.cruzi is technically "vector borne transmission"
But one best answer...
MOreover, trypanosomes are classifed as HEMO flagellates... so there you go.
THe only gripe I have with that question is that blood borne transmission specifically means via transfusion products.
T.cruzi is technically "vector borne transmission"
But one best answer...
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2004
- Messages
- 833
- Reaction score
- 1
Took mine yesterday. Felt like a glass of urine afterwards, but after a good night sleep I'm up to just feeling terrible about it.
I will agree that outside of the weird questions, I can't remember much. My test seemed to lean heavily towards Immuno, hematology and micro. Most of my anatomy was in the form of pictures/x-rays/CTs.
A ton of WTHeck type questions. I would say I had one block with typical style questions. Most of my test was not similar in style to your typical question banks. A few questions were similar to NBMEs but not most (I did them all). I guess that depends on your luck that day.
I felt that a ton of the "high yield" stuff emphasized in review books was not on my test. I would say I had whole subjects without questions at all, but I'm sure they found a way to sneak them in.
Try not to leave any stone unturned. When I was hit with a high yield question, it didn't come from the typical stuff you would focus on, but from something easy to overlook(those questions on Uworld with 13-20% correctly answered).
My NBMEs were never really consistent. I was shooting for 230+, but I ended up around 217 on 12. My uworld averages bounced around between 65-70% toward end of my first run through. I'm more of a think through the question with what I know, than buzzword guy. You need both to get 240+ that's why I wasn't aiming that high.
Try not to expect anything in particular. It will save you stress on test day. You may get something similar to the NBMEs, but you may get a whole new style altogether.
Good luck and I guess I'll report how I did sometime in May since they are delaying scores for post May folks.
I will agree that outside of the weird questions, I can't remember much. My test seemed to lean heavily towards Immuno, hematology and micro. Most of my anatomy was in the form of pictures/x-rays/CTs.
A ton of WTHeck type questions. I would say I had one block with typical style questions. Most of my test was not similar in style to your typical question banks. A few questions were similar to NBMEs but not most (I did them all). I guess that depends on your luck that day.
I felt that a ton of the "high yield" stuff emphasized in review books was not on my test. I would say I had whole subjects without questions at all, but I'm sure they found a way to sneak them in.
Try not to leave any stone unturned. When I was hit with a high yield question, it didn't come from the typical stuff you would focus on, but from something easy to overlook(those questions on Uworld with 13-20% correctly answered).
My NBMEs were never really consistent. I was shooting for 230+, but I ended up around 217 on 12. My uworld averages bounced around between 65-70% toward end of my first run through. I'm more of a think through the question with what I know, than buzzword guy. You need both to get 240+ that's why I wasn't aiming that high.
Try not to expect anything in particular. It will save you stress on test day. You may get something similar to the NBMEs, but you may get a whole new style altogether.
Good luck and I guess I'll report how I did sometime in May since they are delaying scores for post May folks.
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2007
- Messages
- 3,941
- Reaction score
- 4
you mean july? july 13th is going to be a fun fun day on SDN....
There will be a delay in reporting for some examinees testing beginning in mid-May 2011. The target date for reporting Step 1 scores for most examinees testing from May 17 through late June will be Wednesday, July 13, 2011
hmmmmm, some of us may get the score beforehand
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2006
- Messages
- 7,984
- Reaction score
- 50
People are usually pretty poor judges of their performance. It is much like interviewing. We tend to remember the really tough or weird questions and then magnify that quantity in our head. It takes an extra step in thinking to go, "Ok, I had 20 questions that I had NO clue about and another 40 that I was 50/50 about but that was out of 322" or whatever the number is.
I think it is more personality and preparation dependent than the actual test. Some people just freak out when they see a question with stuff they don't know. Others are able to stay calm and figure out that the random gene is just mentioned and they are actually seeing how you can apply knowledge.
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2008
- Messages
- 52
- Reaction score
- 0
well im signing out till i get my score after i take this mess tomorrow...but thank you to everyone for their experiences and helpful advice on studying....good luck to you all!
- Joined
- May 27, 2008
- Messages
- 62
- Reaction score
- 0
For those who took the exam, in the final few days would you suggest going over UW incorrects or try to get through FA in 3 days?
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2009
- Messages
- 269
- Reaction score
- 6
I managed to do a bit of both in my last few days. However, I'm not sure going over my incorrects was all that helpful. I did very well my second time through on incorrect questions, usually doubling my previous score, but I found I had mostly just memorized the answer from seeing it before.
If you haven't made another pass through FA outside your initial study period then I would prioritize that. Or maybe just his the incorrects from your weaker subjects. I definitely got a lot of little details to stick as I went through FA the last few days before the test.
If you haven't made another pass through FA outside your initial study period then I would prioritize that. Or maybe just his the incorrects from your weaker subjects. I definitely got a lot of little details to stick as I went through FA the last few days before the test.
- Joined
- May 8, 2011
- Messages
- 334
- Reaction score
- 1
Comment deleted by the moderator.
- Joined
- May 21, 2011
- Messages
- 1,214
- Reaction score
- 398
Just took this today, man does it feel good to have that over. As far as how I feel, I feel completely confused actually, haha It felt both good, bad, easy and hard. This essentially means I have no idea how I did. I will with hold my study schedule for now because with out knowing how I did it will be quasi useless.
My seemingly random thoughts about the test:
- Random. Multiple questions on specific areas and complete organ systems almost entirely left out. Wasn't expecting that.
- It often felt as if the question writers have copies of First Aid and specifically make questions that are "just" beyond what is in the book. Like you'll recognize the topic, remember the page in FA, and know that the answer isn't on there, haha
- They really do love questions with arrows in the answer stems...
- Had a few repeats from the NBME's. I think mostly 11 and 12. They weren't exact repeats, but very, very close.
- I was FREAKING out about Gross Anatomy. I am so thankful that I didn't spend more time on this. There were definitely Gross questions on there, but a good portion of them you could get just by having attended medical school, and the rest were so random that you'd never have seen them even if you studied Gross for weeks.
- Everyone on these boards really pushes pelvis anatomy and CTs. I completely believe them, but I also had no CT's of the pelvis, and no pelvic anatomy to speak of in general.
- I guess the real point of the above post is that every test truly is different. So do your best to learn it all, and try not to focus in on anyone topic that you hear is important.
- Some questions were so easy that I'd mark them just to make sure I wasn't reading them wrong. Anybody else get these?
- While there were a bunch I didn't know and had to guess on, I am also fairly confident that no amount of studying would have prepared me for them.
I'm not sure if any of this helps those who are yet to take it. I will say this, it felt like a mix of difficulty between the NBME's and Uworld. Now that I think about it, the difficulty actually felt very, very similar to 11 and 12. There were some blocks that I'd finish and feel like a rock star, and others that I'd finish and truly have no clue how it went.
I'm not very good at waiting for things (thus the reason I already created a score countdown thread), so hopefully this next month will pass quickly. Hopefully it went well. For those of you who scored 240+ how'd you feel when you were done?
Good luck to those who are yet to take it. If the results are good I will happily share my study experience!
My seemingly random thoughts about the test:
- Random. Multiple questions on specific areas and complete organ systems almost entirely left out. Wasn't expecting that.
- It often felt as if the question writers have copies of First Aid and specifically make questions that are "just" beyond what is in the book. Like you'll recognize the topic, remember the page in FA, and know that the answer isn't on there, haha
- They really do love questions with arrows in the answer stems...
- Had a few repeats from the NBME's. I think mostly 11 and 12. They weren't exact repeats, but very, very close.
- I was FREAKING out about Gross Anatomy. I am so thankful that I didn't spend more time on this. There were definitely Gross questions on there, but a good portion of them you could get just by having attended medical school, and the rest were so random that you'd never have seen them even if you studied Gross for weeks.
- Everyone on these boards really pushes pelvis anatomy and CTs. I completely believe them, but I also had no CT's of the pelvis, and no pelvic anatomy to speak of in general.
- I guess the real point of the above post is that every test truly is different. So do your best to learn it all, and try not to focus in on anyone topic that you hear is important.
- Some questions were so easy that I'd mark them just to make sure I wasn't reading them wrong. Anybody else get these?
- While there were a bunch I didn't know and had to guess on, I am also fairly confident that no amount of studying would have prepared me for them.
I'm not sure if any of this helps those who are yet to take it. I will say this, it felt like a mix of difficulty between the NBME's and Uworld. Now that I think about it, the difficulty actually felt very, very similar to 11 and 12. There were some blocks that I'd finish and feel like a rock star, and others that I'd finish and truly have no clue how it went.
I'm not very good at waiting for things (thus the reason I already created a score countdown thread), so hopefully this next month will pass quickly. Hopefully it went well. For those of you who scored 240+ how'd you feel when you were done?
Good luck to those who are yet to take it. If the results are good I will happily share my study experience!
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2008
- Messages
- 16,027
- Reaction score
- 2
Yay! Congratulations on finishing, Sheldor! Sounds like you did well 🙂
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2008
- Messages
- 656
- Reaction score
- 1
thanks for sharing! I'm sure you did great 🙂 I'm planning on doing 2 tests back to back this week to simulate a real thing- would you recommend doing nbme 11 and 12? I was going to do one of them plus the 2nd UW but it sounds like they were both good?
- Joined
- May 21, 2011
- Messages
- 1,214
- Reaction score
- 398
They were both great representations of what you will face on the real thing. I'm very glad I took both of them!
- Joined
- May 21, 2011
- Messages
- 1,214
- Reaction score
- 398
Thanks iA! I hope so, but I truly have no clue...
Did anybody else who took it then find a handful of questions that they got wrong when they got home and looked up a few they had to guess on? Demoralizing!
- Joined
- May 8, 2007
- Messages
- 1,229
- Reaction score
- 170
Congrats Sheldor. You rocked that mofo, you know you did!
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2008
- Messages
- 16,027
- Reaction score
- 2
Don't look them up! Resist the urge!
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2008
- Messages
- 324
- Reaction score
- 1
haha i can't even remember that many of them anyway, it went by so much faster than i thought.
there were definitely some questions that DIT said would be on there. for some reason i felt like i also got a lot of anatomy (arterial supply, in particular) - or maybe i just paid attention more because it wasn't covered that much in UW or FA. lots of diabetes insipidus questions. not too many biochem, thank god. i got some word for word questions from NBME exams, i think 2 of them. one of them was def from NBME 11. the random questions were seriously... random. no idea how i would have studied for them. hopefully i guessed correctly on some.
overall i thought the difficulty level was more in line with the NBME practice exams. the UW qbank was harder, but i was definitely thankful since it prepared me for pretty much anything.
i can't believe it's done already! such a weird feeling.. i hope i did well :\
