Official 2011 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[ProtossCarrier]

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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.

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

They always include a column that is the one thing you aren't sure which direction it would go. I'm not sure how they do it, they just do!

Dude I"m so gonna die of a freaking aneurysm during the test.

 

[waiting08]

t cruzi is definitely fecal oral...

 

[ThereHeIs]

t cruzi is definitely fecal oral...

Elaborate .. it seems 50/50 blood borne vs fecal-oral and I really have nooo idea

 

[kstreet]

Elaborate .. it seems 50/50 blood borne vs fecal-oral and I really have nooo idea

Pretty sure its not fecal oral because that would imply that it could survive in the gut tube like polio or something.

I think what gets people is that it tends to bite near the mouth and poop there too. We don't eat it though, we rub it into systemic circulation, whether by blood or mucus membranes.

 

[hyrule]

scores were def. released today
People on usmleforum.com have gotten their results

I don't even know what I'm doing on here... I've gotta enjoy post-boards

 

[hrandani]

Pretty sure its not fecal oral because that would imply that it could survive in the gut tube like polio or something.

I think what gets people is that it tends to bite near the mouth and poop there too. We don't eat it though, we rub it into systemic circulation, whether by blood or mucus membranes.

I think everybody understands how it works and that's why they ask questions that make you reason it out. I don't get why it matters. Gunner Training isn't always correct but they expressly state it as being fecal oral transmission. I think they are right based on the fact that since poop is involved, it must live in the gut of the bug.

 

[dude1344]

fecal oral is human feces.

 

[sincity college]

I think everybody understands how it works and that's why they ask questions that make you reason it out. I don't get why it matters. Gunner Training isn't always correct but they expressly state it as being fecal oral transmission. I think they are right based on the fact that since poop is involved, it must live in the gut of the bug.

How in the world could it be fecal-oral? The person that is bit doesn't ingest the feces from the bug, its scratched into the blood... where does the oral part come into play in any of this? Don't really see how/why this is that complicated.

 

[mrmandrake]

I looked this up in UpToDate since the debate here is interesting. It seems the major mode of transmission is via direct inoculation from the bug but oral is also possible. Don't pick fecal oral on the test though. Prob not what they're looking for. Pertinent information from UTD below:

"The major route of transmission of T. cruzi is directly from the reduviid bug or animal reservoirs. However, the infection can also arise from other routes."

"Other important mechanisms of transmission exist in addition to contact with an infected reduviid bug. These include blood transfusion, organ transplantation, congenital transmission, and laboratory accidents"

"Oral transmission*—*Oral transmission occurs by consumption of foods contaminated with triatomines or their feces, or by consumption of raw meat from infected mammalian sylvatic hosts [25-27] . The precise stage of food handling at which contamination occurs is unknown. Two outbreaks were associated with consumption of sugar cane juice with an incubation period of approximately 22 days"

 

[med87]

hey guys, I have my step 1 scheduled 3 days from now, but I don't feel ready.
UW: 65-70% correct; >90% completed throughout second semester and annotated in FA.
FA: about 3x during the school year and then 2x during the last 5 weeks.
Goljan RR >3x throughout school year
Audio: couple of times throughout the school year
NBME from school prior to study period 209.
NBME 6 after 2 weeks 221
NBME 11 after 3 weeks 214
NBME 7 3 days before exam: 242

I'm still really weak in pharmacology and don't really know how to get through it. still gotta go over behavior science. blah 😕 I'm just feeling like I'm not ready. Should I postpone my exam? There are still some things that I want to go over that I haven't had a chance to. I just feel like I don't have a good chance walking into the exam in 3 days. I'm shooting for >230.

thanks!

 

[Sheldor]

hey guys, I have my step 1 scheduled 3 days from now, but I don't feel ready.
UW: 65-70% correct; >90% completed throughout second semester and annotated in FA.
FA: about 3x during the school year and then 2x during the last 5 weeks.
Goljan RR >3x throughout school year
Audio: couple of times throughout the school year
NBME from school prior to study period 209.
NBME 6 after 2 weeks 221
NBME 11 after 3 weeks 214
NBME 7 3 days before exam: 242

I'm still really weak in pharmacology and don't really know how to get through it. still gotta go over behavior science. blah 😕 I'm just feeling like I'm not ready. Should I postpone my exam? There are still some things that I want to go over that I haven't had a chance to. I just feel like I don't have a good chance walking into the exam in 3 days. I'm shooting for >230.

thanks!

For what its worth, I would NOT push back your exam. I studied far less than you and still feel like I studied too much. I'm sure everyones experience will vary, but I feel like I can almost gaurantee you that with your study schedule up above you will know the answers to a ton of questions and some you won't. However, odds are that those questions you don't know you won't learn if you postpone your exam.

I know the nerves get crazy there at the end, but buckle down and do it. You can get through the BS section in First Aid and all the Pharm in one day. There are about 60 pages of Pharm in First aid which includes the 10 pages in the general section and then the other 50 are spread through out. You can master that in one day if you work at it.

Stay strong, and you will do great!

 

[iA-MD2013]

For what its worth, I would NOT push back your exam. I studied far less than you and still feel like I studied too much. I'm sure everyones experience will vary, but I feel like I can almost gaurantee you that with your study schedule up above you will know the answers to a ton of questions and some you won't. However, odds are that those questions you don't know you won't learn if you postpone your exam.

I know the nerves get crazy there at the end, but buckle down and do it. You can get through the BS section in First Aid and all the Pharm in one day. There are about 60 pages of Pharm in First aid which includes the 10 pages in the general section and then the other 50 are spread through out. You can master that in one day if you work at it.

Stay strong, and you will do great!

Totally agree with Sheldor here. No reason at all to move back your test. You're doing great! 👍

 

[xrevision]

Figured since I lurked this thread for the last two months I should finally contribute. Taking the beast tomorrow:

Used FA, RR, UW (75% correct first time through) to prep.

Went through FA about 2.5x (.5 being my weakest subjects)
Went through RR with class and once again for dedicated step 1 study.
UWorld was mostly done in the last two months since all I bought was a 2 month sub.
Haven't taken any practice tests (not enough money).
Took the free 150 yesterday got a 92%.

I'll update again tomorrow with my impressions.

Just took the exam today and here is my subject by subject impression of the exam:

Behavioral Science:
All of my biostats came straight from first aid. One of the questions actually deal with phase IV of a study, which was not in my first aid edition (2009), but I learned it in class and got it right. There were 5-10 of those judgement call type questions on my test, and just one developmental milestone questions. Also had one question about projecting.

Biochemistry:
I don't know if this is a new trend, but it was very straight forward and much, much easier than 90% of the stuff from UW. I had three vitamin deficiency questions, and two enzyme deficiencies. I also had 3-5 second messenger/receptor type questions. I did, however, have 5-10 questions on experimental stuff, like interpreting graphs, dna digestion, electrophoresis, and at least 3 questions that dealt with experimental animal models -- probably more. I also got quite a few questions on heritability/expression so it is a good idea to memorize how each disease is inherited and whether or not it has variable expression (at least for my exam).

Embryology:
First AID embryo is not really sufficient if you are looking to get over 80% in this section. I also thought that I had only about 3-5 embryo questions total.

Microbiology: THANK GOD FOR FIRST AID.
Most of the micro questions were easy, and classical presentations. Luckily, I also felt that the HIV section of micro was lacking so I supplemented this with CMMRS and it turned out to be a great call. I had at least 10 questions that had to do with the pathophysiology of AIDS, pathology, and susceptibility. I never once had to recall any sort of "is this a DNA/RNA virus". I did have two questions as to which CLASS of drugs would be used for a certain bug. I had one dermatophyte question and a couple of protozoal/helminth questions that were fairly obvious.

Immunology:
This did not make up the brunt of my test. I had one question on Bruton's, and a few questions on cytokines/acute phase reactants. Not much more to add here.

Pharmacology:
I did have a one graph with the typical agonist/antagonist at point x/y with HR and BP. They also assumed that I would know a lot of the para/sympathetic drugs and used them in a few question stems. Overall, this section was far easier than my pharmacology course in school and that probably helped my preparation. Mostly mechanism of action questions, and maybe just a couple of side-effects.

Pathology (general):
I'm glad I reviewed the first 2 chapters of goljan a couple of days before the test. This seemed to be high-yield for me. I didn't get a single tumor marker, but I did get a couple of questions on gene mutations. I did also have a handful of questions (about 5) on tumor genesis/invasion like cadherin/basement membrane type stuff.

Systems:
Musculoskeletal/Derm:
Two questions about skin, and three questions on bones. Not high yield for me at all.

Cardiovascular:
This section wasn't as heavily represented as I thought it would be. A few physio interpreted through graphs (pressure-volume, arrows up and down). Path was relatively easy in this section, but it has always been one of my best understood sections. Two questions about the progression of an infarcted area. One question on occluded vessel and its affected area. Two vasculiitis questions. Quite a few, however, on the consequences of athero/arteriolosclerosis.

Pulm: I can't recall a single path question from pulm, but I do remember a lot of up and down arrows for pathophys.

Endocrine: Particularly high yield for both path and phys, but I didn't have a single question on MEN, and just one on a paraneoplastic type of deal that was given away in the question stem (SIADH).

Uhhh I'm getting lazy so I'll think about coming back and finishing up. But good luck to you all who haven't taken it yet, and reply back if you wanna hear more of my general impressions about the test, nothing specific, however.

 

[Day man]

Any comments on anatomy? Overall that doesn't seem nearly as bad an experience as the people from 1-2 weeks ago. Congratulations on finishing, sounds like you nailed it!

 

[pullandbear]

Just took the exam today and here is my subject by subject impression of the exam:

Behavioral Science:
All of my biostats came straight from first aid. One of the questions actually deal with phase IV of a study, which was not in my first aid edition (2009), but I learned it in class and got it right. There were 5-10 of those judgement call type questions on my test, and just one developmental milestone questions. Also had one question about projecting.

Biochemistry:
I don't know if this is a new trend, but it was very straight forward and much, much easier than 90% of the stuff from UW. I had three vitamin deficiency questions, and two enzyme deficiencies. I also had 3-5 second messenger/receptor type questions. I did, however, have 5-10 questions on experimental stuff, like interpreting graphs, dna digestion, electrophoresis, and at least 3 questions that dealt with experimental animal models -- probably more. I also got quite a few questions on heritability/expression so it is a good idea to memorize how each disease is inherited and whether or not it has variable expression (at least for my exam).

Embryology:
First AID embryo is not really sufficient if you are looking to get over 80% in this section. I also thought that I had only about 3-5 embryo questions total.

Microbiology: THANK GOD FOR FIRST AID.
Most of the micro questions were easy, and classical presentations. Luckily, I also felt that the HIV section of micro was lacking so I supplemented this with CMMRS and it turned out to be a great call. I had at least 10 questions that had to do with the pathophysiology of AIDS, pathology, and susceptibility. I never once had to recall any sort of "is this a DNA/RNA virus". I did have two questions as to which CLASS of drugs would be used for a certain bug. I had one dermatophyte question and a couple of protozoal/helminth questions that were fairly obvious.

Immunology:
This did not make up the brunt of my test. I had one question on Bruton's, and a few questions on cytokines/acute phase reactants. Not much more to add here.

Pharmacology:
I did have a one graph with the typical agonist/antagonist at point x/y with HR and BP. They also assumed that I would know a lot of the para/sympathetic drugs and used them in a few question stems. Overall, this section was far easier than my pharmacology course in school and that probably helped my preparation. Mostly mechanism of action questions, and maybe just a couple of side-effects.

Pathology (general):
I'm glad I reviewed the first 2 chapters of goljan a couple of days before the test. This seemed to be high-yield for me. I didn't get a single tumor marker, but I did get a couple of questions on gene mutations. I did also have a handful of questions (about 5) on tumor genesis/invasion like cadherin/basement membrane type stuff.

Systems:
Musculoskeletal/Derm:
Two questions about skin, and three questions on bones. Not high yield for me at all.

Cardiovascular:
This section wasn't as heavily represented as I thought it would be. A few physio interpreted through graphs (pressure-volume, arrows up and down). Path was relatively easy in this section, but it has always been one of my best understood sections. Two questions about the progression of an infarcted area. One question on occluded vessel and its affected area. Two vasculiitis questions. Quite a few, however, on the consequences of athero/arteriolosclerosis.

Pulm: I can't recall a single path question from pulm, but I do remember a lot of up and down arrows for pathophys.

Endocrine: Particularly high yield for both path and phys, but I didn't have a single question on MEN, and just one on a paraneoplastic type of deal that was given away in the question stem (SIADH).

Uhhh I'm getting lazy so I'll think about coming back and finishing up. But good luck to you all who haven't taken it yet, and reply back if you wanna hear more of my general impressions about the test, nothing specific, however.

Great write up! How was the repro on the test and heme onc? Did you feel that FA and UW alone covered what you saw on the test? Or was RR really helpful?

 

[kaleerkalut]

Just took the exam today and here is my subject by subject impression of the exam:

Behavioral Science:
All of my biostats came straight from first aid. One of the questions actually deal with phase IV of a study, which was not in my first aid edition (2009), but I learned it in class and got it right. There were 5-10 of those judgement call type questions on my test, and just one developmental milestone questions. Also had one question about projecting.

Biochemistry:
I don't know if this is a new trend, but it was very straight forward and much, much easier than 90% of the stuff from UW. I had three vitamin deficiency questions, and two enzyme deficiencies. I also had 3-5 second messenger/receptor type questions. I did, however, have 5-10 questions on experimental stuff, like interpreting graphs, dna digestion, electrophoresis, and at least 3 questions that dealt with experimental animal models -- probably more. I also got quite a few questions on heritability/expression so it is a good idea to memorize how each disease is inherited and whether or not it has variable expression (at least for my exam).

Embryology:
First AID embryo is not really sufficient if you are looking to get over 80% in this section. I also thought that I had only about 3-5 embryo questions total.

Microbiology: THANK GOD FOR FIRST AID.
Most of the micro questions were easy, and classical presentations. Luckily, I also felt that the HIV section of micro was lacking so I supplemented this with CMMRS and it turned out to be a great call. I had at least 10 questions that had to do with the pathophysiology of AIDS, pathology, and susceptibility. I never once had to recall any sort of "is this a DNA/RNA virus". I did have two questions as to which CLASS of drugs would be used for a certain bug. I had one dermatophyte question and a couple of protozoal/helminth questions that were fairly obvious.

Immunology:
This did not make up the brunt of my test. I had one question on Bruton's, and a few questions on cytokines/acute phase reactants. Not much more to add here.

Pharmacology:
I did have a one graph with the typical agonist/antagonist at point x/y with HR and BP. They also assumed that I would know a lot of the para/sympathetic drugs and used them in a few question stems. Overall, this section was far easier than my pharmacology course in school and that probably helped my preparation. Mostly mechanism of action questions, and maybe just a couple of side-effects.

Pathology (general):
I'm glad I reviewed the first 2 chapters of goljan a couple of days before the test. This seemed to be high-yield for me. I didn't get a single tumor marker, but I did get a couple of questions on gene mutations. I did also have a handful of questions (about 5) on tumor genesis/invasion like cadherin/basement membrane type stuff.

Systems:
Musculoskeletal/Derm:
Two questions about skin, and three questions on bones. Not high yield for me at all.

Cardiovascular:
This section wasn't as heavily represented as I thought it would be. A few physio interpreted through graphs (pressure-volume, arrows up and down). Path was relatively easy in this section, but it has always been one of my best understood sections. Two questions about the progression of an infarcted area. One question on occluded vessel and its affected area. Two vasculiitis questions. Quite a few, however, on the consequences of athero/arteriolosclerosis.

Pulm: I can't recall a single path question from pulm, but I do remember a lot of up and down arrows for pathophys.

Endocrine: Particularly high yield for both path and phys, but I didn't have a single question on MEN, and just one on a paraneoplastic type of deal that was given away in the question stem (SIADH).

Uhhh I'm getting lazy so I'll think about coming back and finishing up. But good luck to you all who haven't taken it yet, and reply back if you wanna hear more of my general impressions about the test, nothing specific, however.

I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to write that out! Anything else you could add would be immensely appreciated! Congratulations on being done with the beast. Thanks in advance 🙂

 

[Sheldor]

Just wanted to comment on xrevision's post a few up. Great post Xrevision!!

For another data point, I can second what he said for my test from a few of his.

I second everything down through Pharm, so put a x2 by all those, haha

For Path and the Systems section I had almost the opposite experience! IE, a ton of pulm, etc.

So great write up Xrevision, I'm sure it will be immensely helpful!

 

[venousisnearthe]

used sdn almost every day of step 1 prep so i figured i should post briefly.

score today: 240/99

sources: UW, FA, Goljan for reference only, Goljan audio

NBME 7 247
NBME 11 245
NBME 12 240

i pushed my test back a week because i just didn't feel ready. i may have scored higher if i didn't push it back, i think i burned out.

best advice i can give is to limit your sources, take breaks, and sleep/exercise.

 

[ATrim7]

used sdn almost every day of step 1 prep so i figured i should post briefly.

score today: 240/99

sources: UW, FA, Goljan for reference only, Goljan audio

NBME 7 247
NBME 11 245
NBME 12 240

i pushed my test back a week because i just didn't feel ready. i may have scored higher if i didn't push it back, i think i burned out.

best advice i can give is to limit your sources, take breaks, and sleep/exercise.

Great score! Thanks for posting and thanks for the words of wisdom.

 

[Step1Hash]

Just took the exam today and here is my subject by subject impression of the exam:

Behavioral Science:
All of my biostats came straight from first aid. One of the questions actually deal with phase IV of a study, which was not in my first aid edition (2009), but I learned it in class and got it right. There were 5-10 of those judgement call type questions on my test, and just one developmental milestone questions. Also had one question about projecting.

Biochemistry:
I don't know if this is a new trend, but it was very straight forward and much, much easier than 90% of the stuff from UW. I had three vitamin deficiency questions, and two enzyme deficiencies. I also had 3-5 second messenger/receptor type questions. I did, however, have 5-10 questions on experimental stuff, like interpreting graphs, dna digestion, electrophoresis, and at least 3 questions that dealt with experimental animal models -- probably more. I also got quite a few questions on heritability/expression so it is a good idea to memorize how each disease is inherited and whether or not it has variable expression (at least for my exam).

Embryology:
First AID embryo is not really sufficient if you are looking to get over 80% in this section. I also thought that I had only about 3-5 embryo questions total.

Microbiology: THANK GOD FOR FIRST AID.
Most of the micro questions were easy, and classical presentations. Luckily, I also felt that the HIV section of micro was lacking so I supplemented this with CMMRS and it turned out to be a great call. I had at least 10 questions that had to do with the pathophysiology of AIDS, pathology, and susceptibility. I never once had to recall any sort of "is this a DNA/RNA virus". I did have two questions as to which CLASS of drugs would be used for a certain bug. I had one dermatophyte question and a couple of protozoal/helminth questions that were fairly obvious.

Immunology:
This did not make up the brunt of my test. I had one question on Bruton's, and a few questions on cytokines/acute phase reactants. Not much more to add here.

Pharmacology:
I did have a one graph with the typical agonist/antagonist at point x/y with HR and BP. They also assumed that I would know a lot of the para/sympathetic drugs and used them in a few question stems. Overall, this section was far easier than my pharmacology course in school and that probably helped my preparation. Mostly mechanism of action questions, and maybe just a couple of side-effects.

Pathology (general):
I'm glad I reviewed the first 2 chapters of goljan a couple of days before the test. This seemed to be high-yield for me. I didn't get a single tumor marker, but I did get a couple of questions on gene mutations. I did also have a handful of questions (about 5) on tumor genesis/invasion like cadherin/basement membrane type stuff.

Systems:
Musculoskeletal/Derm:
Two questions about skin, and three questions on bones. Not high yield for me at all.

Cardiovascular:
This section wasn't as heavily represented as I thought it would be. A few physio interpreted through graphs (pressure-volume, arrows up and down). Path was relatively easy in this section, but it has always been one of my best understood sections. Two questions about the progression of an infarcted area. One question on occluded vessel and its affected area. Two vasculiitis questions. Quite a few, however, on the consequences of athero/arteriolosclerosis.

Pulm: I can't recall a single path question from pulm, but I do remember a lot of up and down arrows for pathophys.

Endocrine: Particularly high yield for both path and phys, but I didn't have a single question on MEN, and just one on a paraneoplastic type of deal that was given away in the question stem (SIADH).

Uhhh I'm getting lazy so I'll think about coming back and finishing up. But good luck to you all who haven't taken it yet, and reply back if you wanna hear more of my general impressions about the test, nothing specific, however.

Thanks for the phenomenal post! just 1 question -- I was wondering about the genetics inheritance stuff...were all of your questions in that first aid section about Xlinked vs AR vs AD etc... or was it for diseases not in that section that were randomly talked about in first aid? I'm hoping the former lol.
Congrats on being done and thanks again!

 

[Day man]

-Hash: wanna share a list of the 'former' ones encountered throughout FA that are outside the "be wise..." mnemonic? I have added: OTC def, Menekes, Alports. But I think I'm forgetting some...

 

[Step1Hash]

-Hash: wanna share a list of the 'former' ones encountered throughout FA that are outside the "be wise..." mnemonic? I have added: OTC def, Menekes, Alports. But I think I'm forgetting some...

lol man I wish I did. I never made a list...but I have it written in randomly in my FA. All I can think of is Fragile X but that really goes without saying.

 

[iA-MD2013]

-Hash: wanna share a list of the 'former' ones encountered throughout FA that are outside the "be wise..." mnemonic? I have added: OTC def, Menekes, Alports. But I think I'm forgetting some...

Sorry...but what's the be wise mnemonic?

 

[Step1Hash]

Sorry...but what's the be wise mnemonic?

Be Wise Fool's GOLD Heeds Silly Hope

pg 87 FA 2011 for X-linked

 

[Nellyakgo]

haha when you're done with a block, you have 30 seconds to click on "Go to Next Block" or "Take a Break". If you click on the break button, a timer will start counting down from your total time of 45 min. you're free to split up the breaks however you want.

Starts counting down from your total break time of 45mins? What if you finished that block early, say 5 mins early. Will it start counting down from 50 mins? And then add to break time however many minutes early you finish the remaining blocks?

 

[quepatho]

Going in in 10 minutes....wooohoooo.....almost donneeeee....😀

Sheldor if you still read this thread, I watched a Big Bang episode for good luck last night. 😉

 

[winkleweizen]

Going in in 10 minutes....wooohoooo.....almost donneeeee....😀

Sheldor if you still read this thread, I watched a Big Bang episode for good luck last night. 😉

250 foo!

 

[tech2doc]

Starts counting down from your total break time of 45mins? What if you finished that block early, say 5 mins early. Will it start counting down from 50 mins? And then add to break time however many minutes early you finish the remaining blocks?

Yes. Whatever remaining time you have left from finished blocks or the tutorial is added to your break time. I'm a faster test taker and finished most blocks with at least 15 minutes remaining. I think when I finished, I had about 2 hours of break time left over.

 

[Sheldor]

Going in in 10 minutes....wooohoooo.....almost donneeeee....😀

Sheldor if you still read this thread, I watched a Big Bang episode for good luck last night. 😉

I do still read this thread, how else can I pass the time until the scores come out?!

Good luck Quepatho, I am confident you will do great! Can't wait to hear how it goes...

 

[Step1Hash]

Going in in 10 minutes....wooohoooo.....almost donneeeee....😀

Sheldor if you still read this thread, I watched a Big Bang episode for good luck last night. 😉

good luck!

 

[ar2388]

good luck!

 

[NoGutsNoGlory]

Going in in 10 minutes....wooohoooo.....almost donneeeee....😀

Sheldor if you still read this thread, I watched a Big Bang episode for good luck last night. 😉

I know it is kind of late, but Good Luck man. You are probably ripping the test a new one right now.

 

[kac714]

Going in in 10 minutes....wooohoooo.....almost donneeeee....😀

Sheldor if you still read this thread, I watched a Big Bang episode for good luck last night. 😉

good luck! I bet you're rocking it!!

 

[Vulcan]

Going in in 10 minutes....wooohoooo.....almost donneeeee....😀

Sheldor if you still read this thread, I watched a Big Bang episode for good luck last night. 😉

Crush it, you're ready!

 

[Sheldor]

Crush it man, you're ready!

She is going to rock it! I keep checking back to see if she's done! I'm sure it will go well though...

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

You go rock it girlfriend!

 

[HotLikeSauce]

Thanks to everyone so far who has posted their input and comments! Has anyone come across a review book so far that goes into some of the lab techniques? I literally have NO experience with this (wasn't taught or emphasized at ALL in my school, never worked in a lab or anything...), and it seems like people have been saying there were a surprising # of questions on them. If that's the case, I will definitely get slaughtered by those Q on my exam haha.

Anyone know of a good place to look?

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

Thanks to everyone so far who has posted their input and comments! Has anyone come across a review book so far that goes into some of the lab techniques? I literally have NO experience with this (wasn't taught or emphasized at ALL in my school, never worked in a lab or anything...), and it seems like people have been saying there were a surprising # of questions on them. If that's the case, I will definitely get slaughtered by those Q on my exam haha.

Anyone know of a good place to look?

RR Biochem had a good section on this. Helped me beef up my lab techniques.

 

[Step1Hash]

Thanks to everyone so far who has posted their input and comments! Has anyone come across a review book so far that goes into some of the lab techniques? I literally have NO experience with this (wasn't taught or emphasized at ALL in my school, never worked in a lab or anything...), and it seems like people have been saying there were a surprising # of questions on them. If that's the case, I will definitely get slaughtered by those Q on my exam haha.

Anyone know of a good place to look?

HY cell bio has a chapter on it. Its like 10 pages (or more?) I think with a figure and a long caption describing the technique. I havn't looked at it in a while but at the time I recall finding it helpful.

 

[YouFoundMe]

Hey guys, I was wondering why people find qbank helpful for step 1. Is it more a matter of how high yield the content of the questions is, or is it mainly a matter of learning how to answer step 1 questions? When doing qbank, I tend to find myself thinking I should be doing actual studying. Now it's crunch time and I'm deciding what to spend my time on. What do you think?


And, just wondering, does anyone else feel like qbank takes more time than it's worth?

 

[quepatho]

250 foo!

I do still read this thread, how else can I pass the time until the scores come out?!

Good luck Quepatho, I am confident you will do great! Can't wait to hear how it goes...

good luck!

good luck!

I know it is kind of late, but Good Luck man. You are probably ripping the test a new one right now.

good luck! I bet you're rocking it!!

Crush it, you're ready!

You go rock it girlfriend!

Aw thanks guys!! You're the best!

From the test I learned:

(1) The interface is EXACTLY, exactly, EXACTLY like UWorld. When I got to the testing center I actually thought (in my tired haze) "why are they all doing practice questions from UWorld?" Doing UWorld helped in several ways I think - (a) I got used to the question style and (b) I sort of "forgot" I was taking a real exam and just lapsed into UWorld mode and didn't get nervous.

(2) I think I got approximately 75% of questions right (hope I'm not overestimating, too much). I wish I had any idea what that might be. But obviously waiting until July is going to be the key...:-/

(3) The only things that WEREN'T heavily covered were embryo, and GI. Not too much biochem in the traditional sense of pathways. Things that were covered in the biochem section of FA, though.

(4) Where did all the repro come from? Not repro anatomy, just...repro. It was odd.

(5) I didn't get tired at all and I took almost the whole time. I guess taking a 7 hour exam doesn't sound so bad when you've been studying 12 hours a day. Haha.

(6) I had at least two pictures from NBME exams but I don't remember which ones...I think the questions may have had different answer choices? But perhaps not?

(7) Murphy's law, if you haven't had a class you will get a lot of questions on it. Got a ton of pulmonary.

(8) Behavioral science questions were unbelievably straightforward. Either that or I totally got them wrong! Haha.

 

[YouFoundMe]

Wow, you didn't have pulm? Well congrats on being done!! Nice! 🙂

 

[Sheldor]

Aw thanks guys!! You're the best!

From the test I learned:

(1) The interface is EXACTLY, exactly, EXACTLY like UWorld. When I got to the testing center I actually thought (in my tired haze) "why are they all doing practice questions from UWorld?" Doing UWorld helped in several ways I think - (a) I got used to the question style and (b) I sort of "forgot" I was taking a real exam and just lapsed into UWorld mode and didn't get nervous.

(2) I think I got approximately 75% of questions right (hope I'm not overestimating, too much). I wish I had any idea what that might be. But obviously waiting until July is going to be the key...:-/

(3) The only things that WEREN'T heavily covered were embryo, and GI. Not too much biochem in the traditional sense of pathways. Things that were covered in the biochem section of FA, though.

(4) Where did all the repro come from? Not repro anatomy, just...repro. It was odd.

(5) I didn't get tired at all and I took almost the whole time. I guess taking a 7 hour exam doesn't sound so bad when you've been studying 12 hours a day. Haha.

(6) I had at least two pictures from NBME exams but I don't remember which ones...I think the questions may have had different answer choices? But perhaps not?

(7) Murphy's law, if you haven't had a class you will get a lot of questions on it. Got a ton of pulmonary.

(8) Behavioral science questions were unbelievably straightforward. Either that or I totally got them wrong! Haha.

Congrats Quepatho!! Now you can marathon some great TV and relax... You mentioned in the other thread about "questions coming back to you." I thought I'd warn you that they definitely will. I remembered the most questions that first night while I was trying to go to sleep. They just kept popping into my mind from no where!

Well done, I'm sure you did great. Were you getting around 75% on the NBME's too?

 

[kac714]

Aw thanks guys!! You're the best!

From the test I learned:

(1) The interface is EXACTLY, exactly, EXACTLY like UWorld. When I got to the testing center I actually thought (in my tired haze) "why are they all doing practice questions from UWorld?" Doing UWorld helped in several ways I think - (a) I got used to the question style and (b) I sort of "forgot" I was taking a real exam and just lapsed into UWorld mode and didn't get nervous.

(2) I think I got approximately 75% of questions right (hope I'm not overestimating, too much). I wish I had any idea what that might be. But obviously waiting until July is going to be the key...:-/

(3) The only things that WEREN'T heavily covered were embryo, and GI. Not too much biochem in the traditional sense of pathways. Things that were covered in the biochem section of FA, though.

(4) Where did all the repro come from? Not repro anatomy, just...repro. It was odd.

(5) I didn't get tired at all and I took almost the whole time. I guess taking a 7 hour exam doesn't sound so bad when you've been studying 12 hours a day. Haha.

(6) I had at least two pictures from NBME exams but I don't remember which ones...I think the questions may have had different answer choices? But perhaps not?

(7) Murphy's law, if you haven't had a class you will get a lot of questions on it. Got a ton of pulmonary.

(8) Behavioral science questions were unbelievably straightforward. Either that or I totally got them wrong! Haha.

Thanks for the write up, I'm sure you did great!

 

[ATrim7]

Aw thanks guys!! You're the best!

From the test I learned:

(1) The interface is EXACTLY, exactly, EXACTLY like UWorld. When I got to the testing center I actually thought (in my tired haze) "why are they all doing practice questions from UWorld?" Doing UWorld helped in several ways I think - (a) I got used to the question style and (b) I sort of "forgot" I was taking a real exam and just lapsed into UWorld mode and didn't get nervous.

(2) I think I got approximately 75% of questions right (hope I'm not overestimating, too much). I wish I had any idea what that might be. But obviously waiting until July is going to be the key...:-/

(3) The only things that WEREN'T heavily covered were embryo, and GI. Not too much biochem in the traditional sense of pathways. Things that were covered in the biochem section of FA, though.

(4) Where did all the repro come from? Not repro anatomy, just...repro. It was odd.

(5) I didn't get tired at all and I took almost the whole time. I guess taking a 7 hour exam doesn't sound so bad when you've been studying 12 hours a day. Haha.

(6) I had at least two pictures from NBME exams but I don't remember which ones...I think the questions may have had different answer choices? But perhaps not?

(7) Murphy's law, if you haven't had a class you will get a lot of questions on it. Got a ton of pulmonary.

(8) Behavioral science questions were unbelievably straightforward. Either that or I totally got them wrong! Haha.

Thanks for the write-up! How was the length and timing? Did you find you had a similar amount of time at the end of sections to review answers as when you took the NBMEs?

Hopefully you are relaxing now - you deserve it!

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

Aw thanks guys!! You're the best!

From the test I learned:

(1) The interface is EXACTLY, exactly, EXACTLY like UWorld. When I got to the testing center I actually thought (in my tired haze) "why are they all doing practice questions from UWorld?" Doing UWorld helped in several ways I think - (a) I got used to the question style and (b) I sort of "forgot" I was taking a real exam and just lapsed into UWorld mode and didn't get nervous.

(2) I think I got approximately 75% of questions right (hope I'm not overestimating, too much). I wish I had any idea what that might be. But obviously waiting until July is going to be the key...:-/

(3) The only things that WEREN'T heavily covered were embryo, and GI. Not too much biochem in the traditional sense of pathways. Things that were covered in the biochem section of FA, though.

(4) Where did all the repro come from? Not repro anatomy, just...repro. It was odd.

(5) I didn't get tired at all and I took almost the whole time. I guess taking a 7 hour exam doesn't sound so bad when you've been studying 12 hours a day. Haha.

(6) I had at least two pictures from NBME exams but I don't remember which ones...I think the questions may have had different answer choices? But perhaps not?

(7) Murphy's law, if you haven't had a class you will get a lot of questions on it. Got a ton of pulmonary.

(8) Behavioral science questions were unbelievably straightforward. Either that or I totally got them wrong! Haha.

Way to kill it girl! I don't know why I thought all this time you were a big burly mans man type of guy.

 

[winkleweizen]

Aw thanks guys!! You're the best!

From the test I learned:

(1) The interface is EXACTLY, exactly, EXACTLY like UWorld. When I got to the testing center I actually thought (in my tired haze) "why are they all doing practice questions from UWorld?" Doing UWorld helped in several ways I think - (a) I got used to the question style and (b) I sort of "forgot" I was taking a real exam and just lapsed into UWorld mode and didn't get nervous.

(2) I think I got approximately 75% of questions right (hope I'm not overestimating, too much). I wish I had any idea what that might be. But obviously waiting until July is going to be the key...:-/

(3) The only things that WEREN'T heavily covered were embryo, and GI. Not too much biochem in the traditional sense of pathways. Things that were covered in the biochem section of FA, though.

(4) Where did all the repro come from? Not repro anatomy, just...repro. It was odd.

(5) I didn't get tired at all and I took almost the whole time. I guess taking a 7 hour exam doesn't sound so bad when you've been studying 12 hours a day. Haha.

(6) I had at least two pictures from NBME exams but I don't remember which ones...I think the questions may have had different answer choices? But perhaps not?

(7) Murphy's law, if you haven't had a class you will get a lot of questions on it. Got a ton of pulmonary.

(8) Behavioral science questions were unbelievably straightforward. Either that or I totally got them wrong! Haha.

O hey girl hey o.

So the questions were similar to Uw? Thats a relief.

 

[quepatho]

Wow, you didn't have pulm? Well congrats on being done!! Nice! 🙂

Thanks, yeah. 🙂

Congrats Quepatho!! Now you can marathon some great TV and relax... You mentioned in the other thread about "questions coming back to you." I thought I'd warn you that they definitely will. I remembered the most questions that first night while I was trying to go to sleep. They just kept popping into my mind from no where!

Well done, I'm sure you did great. Were you getting around 75% on the NBME's too?

I got 85% on NBME 12 (which I took two weeks ago). I figure Step 1 is graded somewhere in between an NBME and UW question bank, so maybe it will be in the 230s or something 😛 So far I haven't had any questions pop back into my mind; hope it stays that way! I'm mentally purging as we speak! I'll take whatever I can get since I didn't have that much time and I didn't have pulmonary, haha.

Thanks for the write up, I'm sure you did great!

Yeah, it wasn't so bad. Very similar to UW. I am very glad that I got through the whole thing (even if it took me right up until the last second to finish).

Thanks for the write-up! How was the length and timing? Did you find you had a similar amount of time at the end of sections to review answers as when you took the NBMEs?

Hopefully you are relaxing now - you deserve it!

No, actually, I only had barely enough time to read the question and review all of my answers one full time. One block I didn't have time to review ALL the answers and just did my marked ones. I finished (as in answered all of the questions without checking) with about 10-15 minutes to spare on each block (in general), though.

So I *finished* with enough time, but I didn't have so much time to check as I would have liked.

O hey girl hey o.

So the questions were similar to Uw? Thats a relief.

Yup very similar to UW. Format, content, answer choices. Very similar overall.

 

[quepatho]

Way to kill it girl! I don't know why I thought all this time you were a big burly mans man type of guy.

it's the screenname, isn't it? 😉

 

[abmd]

stupid question ... what is murphy's law