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.

 

[SlaveOfTCMC]

So do people generally mean that they would give H&P findings for a disease and ask treatments we don't know?...or would they ask treatments we know, but have to put together from what we know since FA doesn't explicitly say to "treat with X"

Not so much how to treat.

Rather what do you do next?

For instance (I just made this one up, not on my real exam)

A 40 year old woman is fat, has NIDDM, and high cholesterol levels. SHe has RUQ pain that comes and goes. SHe has a poor diet... (fill in 8 line sof physical exam findings and history)

What is the next step?

A) Provide a statin
B) Explain the risks of myocardial infarction
C) Do an ECRP
D) etc...

things like this

 

[Vulcan]

Not so much how to treat.

Rather what do you do next?

For instance (I just made this one up, not on my real exam)

A 40 year old woman is fat, has NIDDM, and high cholesterol levels. SHe has RUQ pain that comes and goes. SHe has a poor diet... (fill in 8 line sof physical exam findings and history)

What is the next step?

A) Provide a statin
B) Explain the risks of myocardial infarction
C) Do an ECRP
D) etc...

things like this

Oh i hate those 🙁

Sounds more like Step 2 no? And these are all over the exam or just a few here and there that make people go 😕

 

[kac714]

Not so much how to treat.

Rather what do you do next?

For instance (I just made this one up, not on my real exam)

A 40 year old woman is fat, has NIDDM, and high cholesterol levels. SHe has RUQ pain that comes and goes. SHe has a poor diet... (fill in 8 line sof physical exam findings and history)

What is the next step?

A) Provide a statin
B) Explain the risks of myocardial infarction
C) Do an ECRP
D) etc...

things like this

so would you recommend looking at those case files books?

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

Not so much how to treat.

Rather what do you do next?

For instance (I just made this one up, not on my real exam)

A 40 year old woman is fat, has NIDDM, and high cholesterol levels. SHe has RUQ pain that comes and goes. SHe has a poor diet... (fill in 8 line sof physical exam findings and history)

What is the next step?

A) Provide a statin
B) Explain the risks of myocardial infarction
C) Do an ECRP
D) etc...

things like this

Is the answer D?

 

[SlaveOfTCMC]

Oh i hate those 🙁

Sounds more like Step 2 no? And these are all over the exam or just a few here and there that make people go 😕

Let's just say, they intermingle the easy chippies alongside with a few really long stemmed questions (think 8-10 UWorld length lines) and sometimes hide a trick to answering the question.

Moreover, some questions often throw a red herring into a familiar picture and then give you several answer choices, with ONE CHOICE that is something that is NOT in any First Aid, QBank, or High Yield book.

In fact, I only read about it on emedicine.com



http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/men/general/080.html

In response to a previous post.... read about boys and gynecomastia.... I find this topic very intriguing because I used to be a boy.

 

[thewendster]

I agree about the anatomy. Like I was saying before, the upper limb/lower limb questions (had maybe 5) were straightforward. the CTs/Xrays looked like stuff out of Uworld. One anatomy question in particular was a "how do you get from point A to point B" type question.. the pathway between A & B had never been even remotely covered in my class/studies.

Oh also I wanted to give a helpful hint for p450 inducers/suppressors. I don't like first Aid's Queen something or other keg party. If you can remember the following relationships, you will get 90%+ of these types of questions>

First category: "health food/alterna medicine"
Inducer: st john wart
suppressor grape fruit juice

Second category: "alcohol"
Inducer: chronic
suppressor acute alcohol

3rd category: fungal stuff
Inducer: griseofulvin and rifampin
Suppressor: ketocanazole and isoniazide

4th category: "other"
Inducer: anti-convulsants
Suppressor: PPIs

5th category: HIV
Inducer: NNRTI
Suppressor: protease inhibitors

 

[SlaveOfTCMC]

If I could go back in time, I would have spent more time on Step 2 First Aid (no I am serious...), some emergency medicine protocol books, and the First Aid Clerkship books...

Seriously, I have perused through them and I realize a great deal of that "20 points above 250" were straight from there.


And of course spend more time with an anatomy atlas.

 

[Step1Hash]

Know your HIV!

when you say know your HIV...do you mean know everything in FA or know everything possible that can be known? Another poster recently said they had alot of HIV questions as well so I'm just wondering if I should consult an external source. Thanks.

 

[ATrim7]

when you say know your HIV...do you mean know everything in FA or know everything possible that can be known? Another poster recently said they had alot of HIV questions as well so I'm just wondering if I should consult an external source. Thanks.

I've heard clinical micro made ridic is good for HIV - and concise might I add.

 

[countthestars]

CMMRS is really good for HIV...I knew HIV cold. Sadly I only got ONE question on HIV and it was a drug question. Not even a hard drug. It was a gimme HIV drug question

 

[thewendster]

Well I would guess I had maybe 5/6 HIV/AIDS questions
2 drug therapy (either prophylaxis for microbes or anti-viral therapy, I wont say which but probably good to know both)
2 infections that are AIDS defining or signs of a weakened immune system (again, i won't say which of these or if both of these or if none of these were on my exam, but I would place them in the same category of importance)
then 1-2 questions relating to mechanism of infection/virology
1 random other or multi system.

I felt First Aid was mostly sufficient but it doesn't emphasize things like gag, pol env, HIV replication. It is good for covering the micro part/pharm.

 

[Step1Hash]

I've heard clinical micro made ridic is good for HIV - and concise might I add.

CMMRS is really good for HIV...I knew HIV cold. Sadly I only got ONE question on HIV and it was a drug question. Not even a hard drug. It was a gimme HIV drug question

Well I would guess I had maybe 5/6 HIV/AIDS questions
2 drug therapy (either prophylaxis for microbes or anti-viral therapy, I wont say which but probably good to know both)
2 infections that are AIDS defining or signs of a weakened immune system (again, i won't say which of these or if both of these or if none of these were on my exam, but I would place them in the same category of importance)
then 1-2 questions relating to mechanism of infection/virology
1 random other or multi system.

I felt First Aid was mostly sufficient but it doesn't emphasize things like gag, pol env, HIV replication. It is good for covering the micro part/pharm.

I'll go and read more about it in cmmrs. I mostly have the FA parts down pretty well so i'll focus on last things you brought up. Thanks!

 

[fahimaz7]

Was the anatomy that bad? You are the second person today to say that? I even got lipincotts Q book just to review my anatomy for this. 15 Qs!! Seems crazy for anatomy.

I had at least 10 anatomy questions on my test. I can only think of 3 of them that weren't a complete joke.

The other 3 were more difficult. Keep in mind that neuroanatomy/neuroscience may present their information with anatomy pictures as well, which wasn't included in my numbers.

 

[fahimaz7]

Thanks Mace. That makes me feel better. I thought there were 15 not in first aid. You just saved me a ton of review time. I had cracked open my HY Anatomy bc of what you said. I got one more week of review. Already did Uworld twice. 3rd pass through FA. Have RR down tight. I just want a 220 to go into IM that's it, I don't even want to be a subspecialist!

You could read HY anatomy, Netter's, and Moore's cover-to-cover, and you still wouldn't be able to confidently answer some of the anatomy questions. As people eluded to earlier, several questions belonged on the surgery shelf exam, and not on the step 1 test.

🙂

 

[Vulcan]

Well I have my exam in a week and I'm hoping that these super hard questions people are mentioning are only a minority on the exam! Hoping that it's selective memory.

 

[speedyk]

Definitely agree with mace about anatomy. How can we prepare fot that? Its frustrating cause some of them i definitely usedto know haha. Also on the step 2 type what would you do/ask first when most options are thibgs you would do. Luckily i obly had 4 or 5 of those

 

[sourgrapes]

did anyone get any questions asking you to recall a specific chromosome or gene?

 

[speedyk]

did anyone get any questions asking you to recall a specific chromosome or gene?

Chromosomes no, genes yes

 

[blizzazeo]

Ok guys, I have been reading everyones' comments for the last few months and just took the test today. I don't think I am as hardcore as some of you guys taking 9823 NBMEs but I figured I would share my 2 cents when it came to my experience. I am not a straight A student by any means. I made a 24 on my MCAT twice and still somehow made it into 4 med schools on Nov 14th 2008 pre-match. Needless to say, I am not a big fan of standardized test. The USMLE, however, was a different story. I suppose since I actually cared about the material (I hated everything minus bio on MCAT) it made the experience a much better one. Our school gave us the cbse right after spring break and I made a 195 on it (68 two digit) without studying. I tried to keep up with what I could as far as FA and Uworld was concerned but toward the end of the year we had 5 finals plus I had a make up exam from december I needed to do on May 9th so it postponed my studying a bit. I only took the free 150 after my first complete pass through first aid after about a week and a half post May 9th (This including what I had read post spring break) and made a 77% on it (according to medfriends this was about a 231). I decided not to take anymore test seeing as how I was about 3 weeks out and since I was a stalker of this website everyone seemed to agree that this score was generally within +-10-15 points of what you normally score on the actual test, my 3d year friends included. My friends, however, seemed to score within 3 points of it taken several days before their test last year. Knowing that I was going to pass, and having finished all my Uworld questions about 4 days after my first pass through FA I decided that I would simply repeat the process of FA times 2 and gave uworld another pass though all the questions I marked and got wrong. I had been annotating my FA with the other questions I had gone through in uworld since about Feb (around 1500). Reading on SDN about 3 days before my test that FA wasnt enough was a bit unsettling but after taking the test I believe that between FA, uworld, knowledge gained during the first two years of med school and rational you should have the tools to reason your way through some of the messy questions they throw at you on test day. One of the most helpful things that I found someone had stated on this website was that if you read a question and they threw out genes and acronyms that you have never heard of, chances are no one else has either. Don't freak out. Nine times out of ten they are using this as a distraction to test your reasoning from a basic concept. Also, when lab values are given...read the sentence below before you go on that quest for the holy grail to decipher if they are high or low. Chances are you wont't need them. This is personal advice from my own test as well as about 5 of my other friends. Honestly I felt that this test, though challenging, is presented differently from uworld in that instead of thinking ten steps forwards and backwards to get the answer, you are to simply think of things "slightly" differently to come to a sometimes simple conclusions. So many people have said it, but if you have a clear mind going into the test, your reasoning will turn a question from "wtf is this??" to "Oh I never really thought about it that way". I felt like my test was a good mix of material. I had only two heart sounds, tons of biostats (which FA was gold), tons of repro (my favsies, everyone was preggo and/or asked embro stuff which i also enjoy) I had a ton of repeated "concept" questions and I knew this because they asked me about 4 genes during my first block I had no idea about, but based on the stem you could guess their function during embryological development....during the NEXT block it mentioned the SAME genes along with the answer I had picked but asked me about some other easy concept that had nothing to do with them anyways lol. If you feel like a diseases comes up multiple times in the same block, chances are you shouldnt second guess yourself and it is the same diseases. They gave me 3 questions in a row about TMJ diseases that were all different but like I said, you could reason you way to it. I know I am giving more test strategies than actual experience but it is what it is. At one point I had answer choices like A. Granulocytes B. Basophils C. Eiosinophils (this happened for reals on my test) ie pay attention to silly things like this that help you navigate your way you the right answer (none of those were the right choice obviously). Overall I felt that the test was challenging but sooooooo doable. I didn't do any NBMEs for actual scores but I did make sure I understood the concepts presented in all the free 150, uworld and FA. concepts seemed ripped from uworld explanations a lot of them time, but on the test it would be much more simpe. Questions 1 on the free 150 was on my test but presented in a different context ( i know this because I bitched to my friends about it for a week and serendipitously it shows up again on my test) I got about 10 questions right because I was a genetics minor in college, about 20 from things I remember being said in my pathophys lectures during the year, and about 20 from the girl I studied with every day for a month who would tell my tid bits here and there about what she thought would be low yield stuff that she thought could be presented in a bitchy way on the test. Apparently she was right, lol. Overall, this test is one big slot machine. You may get lucky or you may not. I chose not to do NBME's because I didn't want to know what my weaknesses were, rather, I treated every subject equally so I wouldnt have been that hot mess that walks in on test day hoping that somthing I didnt know well would show up on the test. Make the things you hated studying your first two year your favorites (cardio, heme, renal, and biochem) and surprisingly they will be the ones you are relieved to see. Sorry I needed to ramble. I just had 40 oz. worth of margarita with a beer bottle placed upside down in each one and felt that writing this buzzed would give me solace after reading everyones opinion after taking their test and how X, Y, and Z worked for who and why. When you choose your resources make them your own, google and wikipedia stupid things you think wont be important because chances are they will be and it helps them stick. Anyways I hope this helps someone in the end even if it is just one of you, the test flys by and it will be surreal when you finish. I apologize for all of the spelling and grammar mistakes as well 🙂

 

[toayoztan]

^from OU and went to the Mont by any chance for those margaritas?

To everyone else...man, post usmle anxiety (awaiting scores) really sucks. Among my peers (whom I haven't talked with much since step1), I feel like I'm the one really thinking about this everyday...wondering if it's just me (thinking I failed), or others just "hiding it/not talking about it" like I do (except talking to you all about it heh)? I don't know, I just hate to think I'm overly anxious with a "failed" feeling b/c I either probably did do bad on it, or it's just a normal feeling.

Man, these scores need to come sooner...July 13th is 4 weeks away!

Yes, I'm ranting, but it's late, and I'm naturally a night owl, and I'm bored.

Bryan

 

[engineeredout]

Ok guys, I have been reading everyones' comments for the last few months and just took the test today. I don't think I am as hardcore as some of you guys taking 9823 NBMEs but I figured I would share my 2 cents when it came to my experience. I am not a straight A student by any means. I made a 24 on my MCAT twice and still somehow made it into 4 med schools on Nov 14th 2008 pre-match. Needless to say, I am not a big fan of standardized test. The USMLE, however, was a different story. I suppose since I actually cared about the material (I hated everything minus bio on MCAT) it made the experience a much better one. Our school gave us the cbse right after spring break and I made a 195 on it (68 two digit) without studying. I tried to keep up with what I could as far as FA and Uworld was concerned but toward the end of the year we had 5 finals plus I had a make up exam from december I needed to do on May 9th so it postponed my studying a bit. I only took the free 150 after my first complete pass through first aid after about a week and a half post May 9th (This including what I had read post spring break) and made a 77% on it (according to medfriends this was about a 231). I decided not to take anymore test seeing as how I was about 3 weeks out and since I was a stalker of this website everyone seemed to agree that this score was generally within +-10-15 points of what you normally score on the actual test, my 3d year friends included. My friends, however, seemed to score within 3 points of it taken several days before their test last year. Knowing that I was going to pass, and having finished all my Uworld questions about 4 days after my first pass through FA I decided that I would simply repeat the process of FA times 2 and gave uworld another pass though all the questions I marked and got wrong. I had been annotating my FA with the other questions I had gone through in uworld since about Feb (around 1500). Reading on SDN about 3 days before my test that FA wasnt enough was a bit unsettling but after taking the test I believe that between FA, uworld, knowledge gained during the first two years of med school and rational you should have the tools to reason your way through some of the messy questions they throw at you on test day. One of the most helpful things that I found someone had stated on this website was that if you read a question and they threw out genes and acronyms that you have never heard of, chances are no one else has either. Don't freak out. Nine times out of ten they are using this as a distraction to test your reasoning from a basic concept. Also, when lab values are given...read the sentence below before you go on that quest for the holy grail to decipher if they are high or low. Chances are you wont't need them. This is personal advice from my own test as well as about 5 of my other friends. Honestly I felt that this test, though challenging, is presented differently from uworld in that instead of thinking ten steps forwards and backwards to get the answer, you are to simply think of things "slightly" differently to come to a sometimes simple conclusions. So many people have said it, but if you have a clear mind going into the test, your reasoning will turn a question from "wtf is this??" to "Oh I never really thought about it that way". I felt like my test was a good mix of material. I had only two heart sounds, tons of biostats (which FA was gold), tons of repro (my favsies, everyone was preggo and/or asked embro stuff which i also enjoy) I had a ton of repeated "concept" questions and I knew this because they asked me about 4 genes during my first block I had no idea about, but based on the stem you could guess their function during embryological development....during the NEXT block it mentioned the SAME genes along with the answer I had picked but asked me about some other easy concept that had nothing to do with them anyways lol. If you feel like a diseases comes up multiple times in the same block, chances are you shouldnt second guess yourself and it is the same diseases. They gave me 3 questions in a row about TMJ diseases that were all different but like I said, you could reason you way to it. I know I am giving more test strategies than actual experience but it is what it is. At one point I had answer choices like A. Granulocytes B. Basophils C. Eiosinophils (this happened for reals on my test) ie pay attention to silly things like this that help you navigate your way you the right answer (none of those were the right choice obviously). Overall I felt that the test was challenging but sooooooo doable. I didn't do any NBMEs for actual scores but I did make sure I understood the concepts presented in all the free 150, uworld and FA. concepts seemed ripped from uworld explanations a lot of them time, but on the test it would be much more simpe. Questions 1 on the free 150 was on my test but presented in a different context ( i know this because I bitched to my friends about it for a week and serendipitously it shows up again on my test) I got about 10 questions right because I was a genetics minor in college, about 20 from things I remember being said in my pathophys lectures during the year, and about 20 from the girl I studied with every day for a month who would tell my tid bits here and there about what she thought would be low yield stuff that she thought could be presented in a bitchy way on the test. Apparently she was right, lol. Overall, this test is one big slot machine. You may get lucky or you may not. I chose not to do NBME's because I didn't want to know what my weaknesses were, rather, I treated every subject equally so I wouldnt have been that hot mess that walks in on test day hoping that somthing I didnt know well would show up on the test. Make the things you hated studying your first two year your favorites (cardio, heme, renal, and biochem) and surprisingly they will be the ones you are relieved to see. Sorry I needed to ramble. I just had 40 oz. worth of margarita with a beer bottle placed upside down in each one and felt that writing this buzzed would give me solace after reading everyones opinion after taking their test and how X, Y, and Z worked for who and why. When you choose your resources make them your own, google and wikipedia stupid things you think wont be important because chances are they will be and it helps them stick. Anyways I hope this helps someone in the end even if it is just one of you, the test flys by and it will be surreal when you finish. I apologize for all of the spelling and grammar mistakes as well 🙂

 

[Sheldor]

^from OU and went to the Mont by any chance for those margaritas?

To everyone else...man, post usmle anxiety (awaiting scores) really sucks. Among my peers (whom I haven't talked with much since step1), I feel like I'm the one really thinking about this everyday...wondering if it's just me (thinking I failed), or others just "hiding it/not talking about it" like I do (except talking to you all about it heh)? I don't know, I just hate to think I'm overly anxious with a "failed" feeling b/c I either probably did do bad on it, or it's just a normal feeling.

Man, these scores need to come sooner...July 13th is 4 weeks away!

Yes, I'm ranting, but it's late, and I'm naturally a night owl, and I'm bored.

Bryan

Feel free to join us in the countdown thread where we are all neurotic enough to think about it every day!

 

[fahimaz7]

Ok guys, I have been reading everyones' comments for the last few months and just took the test today. I don't think I am as hardcore as some of you guys taking 9823 NBMEs but I figured I would share my 2 cents when it came to my experience. I am not a straight A student by any means. I made a 24 on my MCAT twice and still somehow made it into 4 med schools on Nov 14th 2008 pre-match. Needless to say, I am not a big fan of standardized test. The USMLE, however, was a different story. I suppose since I actually cared about the material (I hated everything minus bio on MCAT) it made the experience a much better one.

Our school gave us the cbse right after spring break and I made a 195 on it (68 two digit) without studying. I tried to keep up with what I could as far as FA and Uworld was concerned but toward the end of the year we had 5 finals plus I had a make up exam from december I needed to do on May 9th so it postponed my studying a bit. I only took the free 150 after my first complete pass through first aid after about a week and a half post May 9th (This including what I had read post spring break) and made a 77% on it (according to medfriends this was about a 231). I decided not to take anymore test seeing as how I was about 3 weeks out and since I was a stalker of this website everyone seemed to agree that this score was generally within +-10-15 points of what you normally score on the actual test, my 3d year friends included.

My friends, however, seemed to score within 3 points of it taken several days before their test last year. Knowing that I was going to pass, and having finished all my Uworld questions about 4 days after my first pass through FA I decided that I would simply repeat the process of FA times 2 and gave uworld another pass though all the questions I marked and got wrong. I had been annotating my FA with the other questions I had gone through in uworld since about Feb (around 1500). Reading on SDN about 3 days before my test that FA wasnt enough was a bit unsettling but after taking the test I believe that between FA, uworld, knowledge gained during the first two years of med school and rational you should have the tools to reason your way through some of the messy questions they throw at you on test day.

One of the most helpful things that I found someone had stated on this website was that if you read a question and they threw out genes and acronyms that you have never heard of, chances are no one else has either. Don't freak out. Nine times out of ten they are using this as a distraction to test your reasoning from a basic concept. Also, when lab values are given...read the sentence below before you go on that quest for the holy grail to decipher if they are high or low. Chances are you wont't need them. This is personal advice from my own test as well as about 5 of my other friends.

Honestly I felt that this test, though challenging, is presented differently from uworld in that instead of thinking ten steps forwards and backwards to get the answer, you are to simply think of things "slightly" differently to come to a sometimes simple conclusions. So many people have said it, but if you have a clear mind going into the test, your reasoning will turn a question from "wtf is this??" to "Oh I never really thought about it that way". I felt like my test was a good mix of material. I had only two heart sounds, tons of biostats (which FA was gold), tons of repro (my favsies, everyone was preggo and/or asked embro stuff which i also enjoy) I had a ton of repeated "concept" questions and I knew this because they asked me about 4 genes during my first block I had no idea about, but based on the stem you could guess their function during embryological development....during the NEXT block it mentioned the SAME genes along with the answer I had picked but asked me about some other easy concept that had nothing to do with them anyways lol. If you feel like a diseases comes up multiple times in the same block, chances are you shouldnt second guess yourself and it is the same diseases. They gave me 3 questions in a row about TMJ diseases that were all different but like I said, you could reason you way to it. I know I am giving more test strategies than actual experience but it is what it is. At one point I had answer choices like A. Granulocytes B. Basophils C. Eiosinophils (this happened for reals on my test) ie pay attention to silly things like this that help you navigate your way you the right answer (none of those were the right choice obviously).

Overall I felt that the test was challenging but sooooooo doable. I didn't do any NBMEs for actual scores but I did make sure I understood the concepts presented in all the free 150, uworld and FA. concepts seemed ripped from uworld explanations a lot of them time, but on the test it would be much more simpe. Questions 1 on the free 150 was on my test but presented in a different context ( i know this because I bitched to my friends about it for a week and serendipitously it shows up again on my test) I got about 10 questions right because I was a genetics minor in college, about 20 from things I remember being said in my pathophys lectures during the year, and about 20 from the girl I studied with every day for a month who would tell my tid bits here and there about what she thought would be low yield stuff that she thought could be presented in a bitchy way on the test. Apparently she was right, lol.

Overall, this test is one big slot machine. You may get lucky or you may not. I chose not to do NBME's because I didn't want to know what my weaknesses were, rather, I treated every subject equally so I wouldnt have been that hot mess that walks in on test day hoping that somthing I didnt know well would show up on the test. Make the things you hated studying your first two year your favorites (cardio, heme, renal, and biochem) and surprisingly they will be the ones you are relieved to see. Sorry I needed to ramble. I just had 40 oz. worth of margarita with a beer bottle placed upside down in each one and felt that writing this buzzed would give me solace after reading everyones opinion after taking their test and how X, Y, and Z worked for who and why.

When you choose your resources make them your own, google and wikipedia stupid things you think wont be important because chances are they will be and it helps them stick. Anyways I hope this helps someone in the end even if it is just one of you, the test flys by and it will be surreal when you finish. I apologize for all of the spelling and grammar mistakes as well 🙂

Fixed so I can at least get motivated to read it.

 

[BeardedRunner]

Thanks for the report blizzazeo, it is definitely helpful!

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

Ok guys, I have been reading everyones' comments for the last few months and just took the test today. I don't think I am as hardcore as some of you guys taking 9823 NBMEs but I figured I would share my 2 cents when it came to my experience. I am not a straight A student by any means. I made a 24 on my MCAT twice and still somehow made it into 4 med schools on Nov 14th 2008 pre-match. Needless to say, I am not a big fan of standardized test. The USMLE, however, was a different story. I suppose since I actually cared about the material (I hated everything minus bio on MCAT) it made the experience a much better one. Our school gave us the cbse right after spring break and I made a 195 on it (68 two digit) without studying. I tried to keep up with what I could as far as FA and Uworld was concerned but toward the end of the year we had 5 finals plus I had a make up exam from december I needed to do on May 9th so it postponed my studying a bit. I only took the free 150 after my first complete pass through first aid after about a week and a half post May 9th (This including what I had read post spring break) and made a 77% on it (according to medfriends this was about a 231). I decided not to take anymore test seeing as how I was about 3 weeks out and since I was a stalker of this website everyone seemed to agree that this score was generally within +-10-15 points of what you normally score on the actual test, my 3d year friends included. My friends, however, seemed to score within 3 points of it taken several days before their test last year. Knowing that I was going to pass, and having finished all my Uworld questions about 4 days after my first pass through FA I decided that I would simply repeat the process of FA times 2 and gave uworld another pass though all the questions I marked and got wrong. I had been annotating my FA with the other questions I had gone through in uworld since about Feb (around 1500). Reading on SDN about 3 days before my test that FA wasnt enough was a bit unsettling but after taking the test I believe that between FA, uworld, knowledge gained during the first two years of med school and rational you should have the tools to reason your way through some of the messy questions they throw at you on test day. One of the most helpful things that I found someone had stated on this website was that if you read a question and they threw out genes and acronyms that you have never heard of, chances are no one else has either. Don't freak out. Nine times out of ten they are using this as a distraction to test your reasoning from a basic concept. Also, when lab values are given...read the sentence below before you go on that quest for the holy grail to decipher if they are high or low. Chances are you wont't need them. This is personal advice from my own test as well as about 5 of my other friends. Honestly I felt that this test, though challenging, is presented differently from uworld in that instead of thinking ten steps forwards and backwards to get the answer, you are to simply think of things "slightly" differently to come to a sometimes simple conclusions. So many people have said it, but if you have a clear mind going into the test, your reasoning will turn a question from "wtf is this??" to "Oh I never really thought about it that way". I felt like my test was a good mix of material. I had only two heart sounds, tons of biostats (which FA was gold), tons of repro (my favsies, everyone was preggo and/or asked embro stuff which i also enjoy) I had a ton of repeated "concept" questions and I knew this because they asked me about 4 genes during my first block I had no idea about, but based on the stem you could guess their function during embryological development....during the NEXT block it mentioned the SAME genes along with the answer I had picked but asked me about some other easy concept that had nothing to do with them anyways lol. If you feel like a diseases comes up multiple times in the same block, chances are you shouldnt second guess yourself and it is the same diseases. They gave me 3 questions in a row about TMJ diseases that were all different but like I said, you could reason you way to it. I know I am giving more test strategies than actual experience but it is what it is. At one point I had answer choices like A. Granulocytes B. Basophils C. Eiosinophils (this happened for reals on my test) ie pay attention to silly things like this that help you navigate your way you the right answer (none of those were the right choice obviously). Overall I felt that the test was challenging but sooooooo doable. I didn't do any NBMEs for actual scores but I did make sure I understood the concepts presented in all the free 150, uworld and FA. concepts seemed ripped from uworld explanations a lot of them time, but on the test it would be much more simpe. Questions 1 on the free 150 was on my test but presented in a different context ( i know this because I bitched to my friends about it for a week and serendipitously it shows up again on my test) I got about 10 questions right because I was a genetics minor in college, about 20 from things I remember being said in my pathophys lectures during the year, and about 20 from the girl I studied with every day for a month who would tell my tid bits here and there about what she thought would be low yield stuff that she thought could be presented in a bitchy way on the test. Apparently she was right, lol. Overall, this test is one big slot machine. You may get lucky or you may not. I chose not to do NBME's because I didn't want to know what my weaknesses were, rather, I treated every subject equally so I wouldnt have been that hot mess that walks in on test day hoping that somthing I didnt know well would show up on the test. Make the things you hated studying your first two year your favorites (cardio, heme, renal, and biochem) and surprisingly they will be the ones you are relieved to see. Sorry I needed to ramble. I just had 40 oz. worth of margarita with a beer bottle placed upside down in each one and felt that writing this buzzed would give me solace after reading everyones opinion after taking their test and how X, Y, and Z worked for who and why. When you choose your resources make them your own, google and wikipedia stupid things you think wont be important because chances are they will be and it helps them stick. Anyways I hope this helps someone in the end even if it is just one of you, the test flys by and it will be surreal when you finish. I apologize for all of the spelling and grammar mistakes as well 🙂

Thanks for the write up. I am sure you blew that thing out of the water!

Guys come on he said he was drinking and he still wrote this. Some slack on the writing style please. I would be partying it up if my experience went like this and playing Mass Effect 2!

 

[SlaveOfTCMC]

For those of you who still remember your college biochemistry: Rejoice!

Lineweaver Burke, titration curves, pKa and pKb, and side chain structures will serve you well...

in life.... that is...

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

For those of you who still remember your college biochemistry: Rejoice!

Lineweaver Burke, titration curves, pKa and pKb, and side chain structures will serve you well...

in life.... that is...

Oh man, that sucks. My life is ruined. I like you SlaveOfTCMC, you're funny.

 

[bbydoc]

Guys come on he said he was drinking and he still wrote this. Some slack on the writing style please. I would be partying it up if my experience went like this and playing Mass Effect 2!

👍

 

[Metfan2987]

^from OU and went to the Mont by any chance for those margaritas?

To everyone else...man, post usmle anxiety (awaiting scores) really sucks. Among my peers (whom I haven't talked with much since step1), I feel like I'm the one really thinking about this everyday...wondering if it's just me (thinking I failed), or others just "hiding it/not talking about it" like I do (except talking to you all about it heh)? I don't know, I just hate to think I'm overly anxious with a "failed" feeling b/c I either probably did do bad on it, or it's just a normal feeling.

Man, these scores need to come sooner...July 13th is 4 weeks away!

Yes, I'm ranting, but it's late, and I'm naturally a night owl, and I'm bored.

Bryan

I know it's easy for me to say this considering I haven't taken it yet, but just relax man. There is absolutely NOTHING you can do about your score now. I'm sure you worked your ass off for the month or so before the test, so give yourself a break and just enjoy your down time instead of stressing about something you have no control over right now. Its not like you don't know when the score will come, you know its coming on July 13th. So circle the day on your calendar, and until then have some fun.

 

[thecampuslegend]

I am an osteopathic medical student, and I took this bad boy yesterday at noon. Yes, noon. I'm surprised they offered the test at noon, but since I tend to study till 2 am and wake up late, it was the perfect time. I'm not sure if they decided to punish me because of the late start time, but for the love of goodness, where the hell did they get that anatomy from? I should have torn that section out of first aid, because there was only 1 question out of 10-15 that actually came from the section...and that question gave me a picture of the brachial plexus and told me to label one of the nerves. That was easy, but then they hit me with everything that was not in FA. Or in YouWorld for that matter.

I only got a handful of questions on biochem and micro...which sucked, I was definitely hoping for more. And the micro questions kept having the same 5 organisms, total lack of diversity. I feel like if I had studied for this test for another 3 months, I still wouldn't have learned the material that they questioned.

Apparently, the testmakers really wanted me to be a specialist with the colon...man i got a lot of questions and histology about diarrhea. Oh well, time to study for the comlex. Good luck to all.

 

[ATrim7]

I'm totally pumped to get reemed by anatomy questions on Saturday after all of these posts. I pulled out an anatomy atlas for a half our last night, went through clincal anatomy boxes in Moore for about an hour - and then said screw it.

I'm just gonna keep hammering away at my 3rd pass in FA and doing UW questions every now and then to keep my skills sharp. We can afford to get 65 questions wrong and still get an 80% on this thing. They can have the 14 anatomy questions for all I care 🙄

 

[mixmikeup]

hahah yeah. I got one question that talked about a boy who just got a specific tooth pulled. (like upper left 2nd premolar or something) Then asked if the unnamed nerve that innervated that tooth were damaged while pulling the tooth, which other teeth would be affected. Haha, then it listed combinations of "2nd right incisor, left 1st premolar, etc etc." Ahhh, good times.

Of course, I also got one that described someone with MS, then said a whole paragraph about how she didn't have any other problems at all, then asked which of the following cell/tissue types were most likely affected: is it.... muscle? is it... skin? is it... bone? Or how about... Neurons??? haha. amazing.

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

hahah yeah. I got one question that talked about a boy who just got a specific tooth pulled. (like upper left 2nd premolar or something) Then asked if the unnamed nerve that innervated that tooth were damaged while pulling the tooth, which other teeth would be affected. Haha, then it listed combinations of "2nd right incisor, left 1st premolar, etc etc." Ahhh, good times.

Holy crap! That's nuts!

 

[ATrim7]

This isn't dental school, right? WTF

 

[mixmikeup]

Holy crap! That's nuts!

Yeah! It came up early in my first section and I started wondering if I had accidentally signed up for a dental boards or something.

 

[Vulcan]

hahah yeah. I got one question that talked about a boy who just got a specific tooth pulled. (like upper left 2nd premolar or something) Then asked if the unnamed nerve that innervated that tooth were damaged while pulling the tooth, which other teeth would be affected. Haha, then it listed combinations of "2nd right incisor, left 1st premolar, etc etc." Ahhh, good times.

That HAS to be experimental no?

 

[kac714]

that has to be the kind of question where the answer was like easy OR everyone picks a random answer and it gets thrown out... right? i decided it's not worth it to study anymore anatomy... everyone's posts just make it sound too random.

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

that has to be the kind of question where the answer was like easy OR everyone picks a random answer and it gets thrown out... right? i decided it's not worth it to study anymore anatomy... everyone's posts just make it sound too random.

Good call. I decided the same thing. I am just skimming over the clinical pearls in HY anatomy to have a better understanding of different syndromes but that's about it.

 

[Metfan2987]

Ugh this is so frustrating...My numbers on these UWorld tests have been so good for so long (high 70s, low 80s) and now 3 days before my exam I have dropped into the high 60s for two out of my 3 blocks today. Somebody say something encouraging.

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

Ugh this is so frustrating...My numbers on these UWorld tests have been so good for so long (high 70s, low 80s) and now 3 days before my exam I have dropped into the high 60s for two out of my 3 blocks today. Somebody say something encouraging.

Mine dropped even on my second run through. It's called getting tired of UWorld. Don't overdo World because you might think everything on the test is trying to trick you and you might miss easy questions because you world makes you think of the most outlandish answer.

 

[mixmikeup]

Good call. I decided the same thing. I am just skimming over the clinical pearls in HY anatomy to have a better understanding of different syndromes but that's about it.

Yeah, do NOT worry about learning that random stuff. Honestly my other anatomy questions where straight out of first aid/Uworld. Fracture of the mid humerus damages what nerve, dislocation of shoulder damages what nerve, midsaggital of the brain, cross section thorax, etc. So 9/10 you could prepare for. There is no way I could have ever prepared for the random 1 out of 10 that came from who knows where.

 

[Vulcan]

Mine dropped even on my second run through. It's called getting tired of UWorld. Don't overdo World because you might think everything on the test is trying to trick you and you might miss easy questions because you world makes you think of the most outlandish answer.

Agree 100%👍

My UW has been upper 60's this week after a run of 70-80s

I do remember that people have said there are a fair amount of gimmes on this thing so we need to be careful not to overthink on this test like we do for UW.

 

[mixmikeup]

Ugh this is so frustrating...My numbers on these UWorld tests have been so good for so long (high 70s, low 80s) and now 3 days before my exam I have dropped into the high 60s for two out of my 3 blocks today. Somebody say something encouraging.

You'll do fine! The questions aren't as hard as Uworld (i mean, except for the crazy random few, but don't worry about those). Like, a pharm question on U world would be, "in walks a depressed person, what drug do you give?" Then they would list 5 drugs all used for depression. But on the actual test it would be like:

a) Fluoxetine
b) Propranolol
c) Vancomycin
d) Bromocriptine
e) Carbidopa

You'll be good. 🙂

 

[ATrim7]

You'll do fine! The questions aren't as hard as Uworld (i mean, except for the crazy random few, but don't worry about those). Like, a pharm question on U world would be, "in walks a depressed person, what drug do you give?" Then they would list 5 drugs all used for depression. But on the actual test it would be like:

a) Fluoxetine
b) Propranolol
c) Vancomycin
d) Bromocriptine
e) Carbidopa

You'll be good. 🙂

That would be amazing 👍

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

You'll do fine! The questions aren't as hard as Uworld (i mean, except for the crazy random few, but don't worry about those). Like, a pharm question on U world would be, "in walks a depressed person, what drug do you give?" Then they would list 5 drugs all used for depression. But on the actual test it would be like:

a) Fluoxetine
b) Propranolol
c) Vancomycin
d) Bromocriptine
e) Carbidopa

You'll be good. 🙂

Thanks Mike. You know I was just thinking about it and I am pretty sure UWorld would find a way to make D the write answer because Fluxetine would give the guy sexual dysfunction and you are supposed to assume that he just got a new girlfriend and he is depressed because he is not having sex with her because he needs more Dopamine or some crazy crap like that.

 

[mixmikeup]

Agree 100%👍

My UW has been upper 60's this week after a run of 70-80s

I do remember that people have said there are a fair amount of gimmes on this thing so we need to be careful not to overthink on this test like we do for UW.

That is so true. The day before the test I ran over some questions from the free 150 and from NBME 11 just to get into the NBME test mode and out of U World mode. Don't get me wrong, UWorld rocks to learn all of this stuff, but the real test questions are different. They are not as tricky, and if you overthink it will hurt you. My test was very, very similar to NBME 11 and the free 150. If a kid walks in and his neck is swollen, and they give you a ton of information and complicated labs and all this confusing stuff, just pick Mumps. Its mumps. Not some zebra like Neurocutaneous-musculo-swollen-neck-syndrome.

I had three questions that used the exact same images that were in the free 150. Different questions, but the same images.

 

[mixmikeup]

Thanks Mike. You know I was just thinking about it and I am pretty sure UWorld would find a way to make D the write answer because Fluxetine would give the guy sexual dysfunction and you are supposed to assume that he just got a new girlfriend and he is depressed because he is not having sex with her because he needs more Dopamine or some crazy crap like that.

hahaha yes. Yes Uworld would do something like that. hahaha. But yeah, nothing like that on the real thing. Especially for pharm. I wasn't kidding about that last question, mine was just like that. 🙂

 

[kac714]

That is so true. The day before the test I ran over some questions from the free 150 and from NBME 11 just to get into the NBME test mode and out of U World mode. Don't get me wrong, UWorld rocks to learn all of this stuff, but the real test questions are different. They are not as tricky, and if you overthink it will hurt you. My test was very, very similar to NBME 11 and the free 150. If a kid walks in and his neck is swollen, and they give you a ton of information and complicated labs and all this confusing stuff, just pick Mumps. Its mumps. Not some zebra like Neurocutaneous-musculo-swollen-neck-syndrome.

I had three questions that used the exact same images that were in the free 150. Different questions, but the same images.

so is it impossible to do the free 150 on a mac? i have a netbook that's a pc but i left it at school... didn't think i'd need it for my last days of studying...

 

[mixmikeup]

so is it impossible to do the free 150 on a mac? i have a netbook that's a pc but i left it at school... didn't think i'd need it for my last days of studying...

Now you can download all the free 150 questions as a PDF from the NBME website, it has the images and an answer key. I didn't see that when I looked earlier, but it was there last week.

 

[ScubaStarved]

That HAS to be experimental no?

Based on... what exactly? Having not made it into FA or UWorld yet? You not knowing the answer?

I don't know the answer but would not be surprised by this question in the least. It doesn't seem particularly difficult to guess at, provided you know basic teeth types and about the body's pattern of innervation (and provided they did not list both contiguous teeth as separate answer choices, that would be unrealistic).

When discussing difficult/esoteric test items with classmates who took the exam the previous year, I was surprised to learn that some of the most bizarre/puzzling questions on my exam had shown up last year and, I assume, could not have been experimental this year. I don't honestly think we as test takers can accurately pick them out. If it's esoteric and not in FA, it may have (1) been removed from previous years for being esoteric, (2) nobody has given FA's authors feedback yet, (3) FA's authors decide to pass on the factoid as being too low-yield, etc. Could go on, but you get the idea.