Official 2012 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[amavir281]

I saw that there was a similar thread for 2011 that had plenty of useful info so I figured its best to start one for 2012.

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[Old Style Nanny]

The bold is not what I've said. FA may have covered ~60% +/- 10% of my exam, but that doesn't mean the remainder was minutiae. There are quite a few questions that require your external knowledge integrated with strong problem-solving skills.

FA does not build your pathology. You need BRS Path, Webpath and many QBank Qs to cover this area. FA's coverage of path is mere cursory.

I say I had a lot of minutiae on my exam. Probably about 20 questions fell into this category. They either required you know some small factoid, or you had to know what you were looking at without the help of the vignette. I'd say two of the hardest questions on my entire exam included images. Other difficult questions had patients with presentations I had never seen before. In fact, one of the most challenging questions on my exam had to do with a vitamin.

Oh okay that makes sense. I guess I misunderstood. And I agree FA pathology borders on awful. Thanks.

 

[Zzmed]

I still can't believe that you actually found almost 30% of your test difficult. After all of this studying.
I 've heard people characterizing their exams as having 50% easy, 30% medium and 20% difficult questions with almost half of your preparation... And as you said you did not face tough MRI questions (except for one)...
Dunno. With almost 9 months till the real thing, the exam seems a mystery...

 

[Old Style Nanny]

I still can't believe that you actually found almost 30% of your test difficult. After all of this studying.

Where did you get that from? His post says he marked only 2-4 questions a block. That's an average of 6%.

Kaplan QBank is definitely not 95% FA. KQB was the hardest of any resource I had used while prepping for this exam, and it had a ton of low-yield info. It definitely helped with my molecular biology, which interestingly was very high-yield on my exam.

A quick follow-up. What, in your opinion, are the essential sections of Kaplan QBank? Stuff that is not covered as well in UWorld - like the molecular biology that you have mentioned for example.

 

[Zzmed]

The bold is not what I've said. FA may have covered ~60% +/- 10% of my exam, but that doesn't mean the remainder was minutiae. There are quite a few questions that require your external knowledge integrated with strong problem-solving skills.

From that...

I don't want to be misunderstood. I'm just saying that he was expected to find the test more straightforward. By difficult i don't mean ''i can't figure it out'' difficult. Just ''i need more time to figure it out'' difficult. Question marking has nothing to do with what i am saying.

Maybe he is being more honest than some people in forums that say ''my exam was way too easy... nailed it'' or ''my exam was a nightmare...failed''. And he wants to give us the real feeiling.

Anyways, Phloston, i believe, nailed the thing. And his score will be solid.

 

[Phloston]

If I mention anything related to difficulty and this exam, it's completely objective, not subjective.

When I said that, for me, "the real deal was mostly middle-ground difficulty, with a handful of gimmies and a handful of hard ones," that is how I see it in relation to what I think the % of people answering each question correctly was.

Some QBank questions you do literally have 85+% answering correctly (e.g. here's a drug causing orange tears/sweat, which one is it?); I just don't feel these were a humongous portion of my test. I'd say the bulk of the questions fell into what felt like the "50-65% answered correctly" category.

I probably encountered ~25 questions that were thoughtlessly easy (>80% answering correctly), but there were also ~25 that were in the <25-30% answering correctly category. I think I may have seen ~5 that were for sure <20%-type questions.

 

[rocketbooster]

The bold is not what I've said. FA may have covered ~60% +/- 10% of my exam, but that doesn't mean the remainder was minutiae. There are quite a few questions that require your external knowledge integrated with strong problem-solving skills.

FA does not build your pathology. You need BRS Path, Webpath and many QBank Qs to cover this area. FA's coverage of path is mere cursory.

I say I had a lot of minutiae on my exam. Probably about 20 questions fell into this category. They either required you know some small factoid, or you had to know what you were looking at without the help of the vignette. I'd say two of the hardest questions on my entire exam included images. Other difficult questions had patients with presentations I had never seen before. In fact, one of the most challenging questions on my exam had to do with a vitamin.

This is incorrect. You don't need all those sources to cover path. ALL you need on top of FA for path is Pathoma. I can't believe you didn't use Pathoma during your 10 months of studying. Dude, seriously?? lol, I'm honestly in shock you never used Pathoma. *bangs head over and over and over* Pathoma was amazing. It honestly is just as important to use as FA and UWorld qbank. Ugggghhh

 

[doctoritis]

Phloston, in retrospect, would you still say UsmleRx over Kaplan Qbank?

For all recent test takers, assuming you have tried both because I don't know how you can know otherwise (unless you do with a reason .. then that's fair), UsmleRx or Kaplan Qbank?

Also - I'm doing GT, not sure if that changes anything but perhaps GT is similar enough to UsmleRx....

 

[MCAT guy]

This is incorrect. You don't need all those sources to cover path. ALL you need on top of FA for path is Pathoma. I can't believe you didn't use Pathoma during your 10 months of studying. Dude, seriously?? lol, I'm honestly in shock you never used Pathoma. *bangs head over and over and over* Pathoma was amazing. It honestly is just as important to use as FA and UWorld qbank. Ugggghhh

I was going g to ask how BRS path compares to patjoma and if one is more dense or better. I'm trying to avoid goljan.

 

[cage92]

hey phloston really wish you the higest scoree
what do you recomend for the hardest question ?

 

[Old Style Nanny]

Just tried out Kaplan's free trial. The interface is very irritating. The right scroll bar doesn't seem to work half the time. Not only am I not able to view the explanations completely, I am also not able to read some of the answers to questions with graphs! Is this normal? What's the solution? Tried zooming out with a cmd and - key when this happened but the whole flash portion of the window is becoming smaller.

Also, some questions take like 15 seconds to load. Is this how the real test will be?

And, previous step takers (which now includes you as well, Phloston ), if you had only a few days to spare for Kaplan, which sections would do from the QBank given you have already completed UWorld?

 

[socrates89]

The bold is not what I've said. FA may have covered ~60% +/- 10% of my exam, but that doesn't mean the remainder was minutiae. There are quite a few questions that require your external knowledge integrated with strong problem-solving skills.

FA does not build your pathology. You need BRS Path, Webpath and many QBank Qs to cover this area. FA's coverage of path is mere cursory.

I say I had a lot of minutiae on my exam. Probably about 20 questions fell into this category. They either required you know some small factoid, or you had to know what you were looking at without the help of the vignette. I'd say two of the hardest questions on my entire exam included images. Other difficult questions had patients with presentations I had never seen before. In fact, one of the most challenging questions on my exam had to do with a vitamin.

would you say that uworld covers most >85% of the pathology on the exam not seen in FA, since everyone claims it to be hi-yield

 

[jpudge12]

@Phloston, would you say that understanding and knowing ALL the info in the UW explanations w a good thorough understanding of FA would be enough for 220?

 

[Jonari]

Phloston, congrats homie on taking the exam. Was Neuroanatomy really that high yield? How many questions would you say were on your exam?

 

[Phloston]

Phloston, in retrospect, would you still say UsmleRx over Kaplan Qbank?

For all recent test takers, assuming you have tried both because I don't know how you can know otherwise (unless you do with a reason .. then that's fair), UsmleRx or Kaplan Qbank?

Also - I'm doing GT, not sure if that changes anything but perhaps GT is similar enough to UsmleRx....

As I've said before, each QBank has different strengths. Rx was better for reinforcing FA. Kaplan is good for building your micro and molecular biology. Here's a post I made about Kaplan a while ago. I mention a bit about it in comparison to Rx as well: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=12986874

I was going g to ask how BRS path compares to patjoma and if one is more dense or better. I'm trying to avoid goljan.

I never touched Pathoma. I thought BRS was perfect for learning stuff during MS2. It's basically the FA of path. It's a skeleton to get you started and isn't too overwhelming (like big Robbins).

I own Goljan RR, but had only used it to look at p.57 (I think that's the p.#) on occasion, which has really good volume vs osmolarity boxes. None of this stuff ended up showing up on my exam, but the topic was high-yield in the QBanks.

I had spent no more than 10 minutes at different times flipping through random sections of the Goljan RR, but I could tell that it would have been a great text during MS2, not something to use approaching the exam. I would recommend BRS Path + Webpath + tons of QBank Qs as top priority.

Phloston ), if you had only a few days to spare for Kaplan, which sections would do from the QBank given you have already completed UWorld?

I recommend the whole QBank, but if you absolutely need to crunch, get through the biostats and molecular bio. I would also suggest doing neuro if you can. Neuroanatomy was one of the highest-yield topics on my exam.

would you say that uworld covers most >85% of the pathology on the exam not seen in FA, since everyone claims it to be hi-yield

UWorld asks questions well within the context of the topics that it does cover, but overall, it does not nearly cover the breadth of path that could show up on your exam. Path is one of the most extensive subjects. They can show you any picture in a patient with any type of presentation. UWorld covers the highest-yield topics well (e.g. Marfan's, phakomatoses), but the lower-yield stuff can come out of nowhere. Make sure you know BRS Path, and try to do Rx and Kaplan QBank in addition to just UWorld; if you don't have time, just try and fly through BRS Path so you at least know everything in there.

@Phloston, would you say that understanding and knowing ALL the info in the UW explanations w a good thorough understanding of FA would be enough for 220?

If you spend the time to learn all of UWorld, you'll do very well. FA is your foundation, then from there, your score is somewhat directly tied into the # of practice questions you do. This begins to plateau around 6-7000 questions, but from there, you are more so just developing rapid recall skills and the ability to manipulate experimental models than actual raw score augmentation.

Phloston, congrats homie on taking the exam. Was Neuroanatomy really that high yield? How many questions would you say were on your exam?

I had a ventral brainstem pic (identify the nerve based on the vignette), gross haematoma pic, several MRIs, brainstem transverse cross-section, spinal cord cross-section, and at least 30 vignettes (without images) that relied on you making a diagnosis or being able to identify the location of a lesion based on the information given. I'd say ~40 questions on my exam were neuro.

Two of the hardest questions on my exam were neuro. And a third question was of the pure factoid, esoteria-type; you either knew it or you didn't, and FA didn't cover it.

One of them had a very abstruse image with a relatively simple vignette. I had never seen an image like that before. Of the conclusion that I was able to draw, the vignette just didn't seem to relate whatsoever to the image. I believe they were trying to pull some sort of trick. Based on what I've encountered through practice questions in this type of situation, it's important to go with your conclusion of the image more so than getting pulled into the vignette. So in the end, I answered this question based on the image alone. I have no idea whether I got it right.

 

[piviti]

Phloston, why do you recommend BRS path? I don't think I've heard of anyone recommending it.

 

[JasonE]

pathoma is by far the best resource. stuff ive learned from that book has even helped on shelf exams.

 

[rocketbooster]

pathoma is by far the best resource. stuff ive learned from that book has even helped on shelf exams.

Agreed. Phloston is a good guy and all and gives great advice, but his failure to use Pathoma shows a huge flaw in his study methods. He used 3 different sources instead for path that are way more time consuming and therefore insufficient for Step 1 studying. I'm sure he did well on Step 1, but he had 10 months.

I just think on every post Pholston writes about Step 1 studying now, he should also include a disclaimer that he had 10 months to study. The average med student has 4-6 weeks, which means efficiency and time management are of the utmost importance. Trying to follow his study plan and use the resources he used would be more completely foolish for most students. Only IMGs have 10 months to study for that test so of course they can go through all the resources available. The typical student needs to find a few main resources and stick with them. Most ppl generally agree those sources are FA, Pathoma, UWorld Qbank, and maybe another supplement for an area you're weak in. For example, many suggest BRS Physiology. Goljian audio is great too but only if you do it earlier in the year.

 

[jpudge12]

If you spend the time to learn all of UWorld, you'll do very well. FA is your foundation, then from there, your score is somewhat directly tied into the # of practice questions you do. This begins to plateau around 6-7000 questions, but from there, you are more so just developing rapid recall skills and the ability to manipulate experimental models than actual raw score augmentation.


thanks man!

 

[usmlefighter]

@Phloston

please recommend 1-2 books for step-1 preparation for 6 months time along with Q banks.But don't tell to do every q bank like rx,kaplan, uw and other stuff with above 10,000qs.

Sometimes when i read your posts i get a feeling that you are recommending everything in this universe. and not possible practically and we get mad and get confused if we go for all these sources :cry::cry:

I wish you good luck and hopefully you get 290+

Now its time for me to my books

Conclusion Needed from you: What are the best things needed for Step-1 in your point of view as an experienced step-1 taker?

 

[chillax9]

Good job Phloston. Congrats on all your hard work.

Now that you are done with the test, what do you think is the highest value for time in last two weeks ?

Do you still think FA, UW and NBME or would you include anything else as well ?

 

[CassieBagley]

Pholston's so hot right now.

Good job Phloston. Congrats on all your hard work.

Now that you are done with the test, what do you think is the highest value for time in last two weeks ?

Do you still think FA, UW and NBME or would you include anything else as well ?

 

[Old Style Nanny]

I think people would read your posts if you don't use as many smileys.

 

[usmlefighter]

I think people would read your posts if you don't use as many smileys.

what is your problem if i use so many smiles. I think phloston is your friend but don't forget that he is also my friend..hehhe.. What about you using so many smiles.I am not forcing your head to read my post. My intention of so many smilies is to avoid routine dry post and tried few smiles. I think you are not charged $$$$ for those smiles...hehehh....Post something useful to usmle students.

My smiles are situational unlike yours...go to bed and sleep baby Just post something about usmle preparation and books etc...

 

[busy08]

You nailed the exam. What do you suggest for images CT , MRI

 

[NeoAnderson]

Phloston, you say neuroanatomy was heavy on the exam. What is on your opinion the best resource to study neuroanatomy from for someone with not the best background?
Thanks

 

[MCAT guy]

Hey phloston, sorry to barrage you with questions.

I heard you say micro cards were good and I did go through them once. Do you think they are useful to keep using in the final few months of prep or did you just use FA?

 

[usmlefighter]

I think phloston got tired. We know that step exams are lengthy and suucks our brain like anything...let him take some rest. He will guide us once gets refreshed.Congrats for finishing great exam Mr.phloston

 

[gulmohr]

Pholston's so hot right now.

So hot right now. Phloston.

 

[MrBeauregard]

I think phloston got tired. We know that step exams are lengthy and suucks our brain like anything...let him take some rest. He will guide us once gets refreshed.Congrats for finishing great exam Mr.phloston

Is Phloston like the Messiah to IMGs?

 

[Phloston]

Phloston, why do you recommend BRS path? I don't think I've heard of anyone recommending it.

During MS2, I would read the chapter in BRS Path over the weekend before that corresponding topic was covered in PBL. That way, I went into class with a good foundation, versus just seeing the material for the first time. This helped me lead the class discussions. I thought BRS Path was absolutely platinum for building my path. It's mainly bullet points and is super well-consolidated.

Agreed. Phloston is a good guy and all and gives great advice, but his failure to use Pathoma shows a huge flaw in his study methods. He used 3 different sources instead for path that are way more time consuming and therefore insufficient for Step 1 studying. I'm sure he did well on Step 1, but he had 10 months.

I don't want to come off the wrong way by saying this, but I was fortunate that my UWorld percentile was 97 for pathology after the first pass. I only say that because people should know that BRS Path, Webpath and USMLE Rx/Kaplan QBank Qs made that happen. I went through BRS Path and Webpath during MS2, and I think any MS2 student should get through those resources as a must.

Rocketbooster, I'm also not sure if you're aware that in each one of your last four or five posts, you have mentioned my prep-time. I think that's interesting because if there's anyone on this forum who should have learned by now how the IMG vs AMG timelines differ, it would be you.

The AMG MS1/2 curriculum is heavily basic sciences-oriented and thereby geared toward this exam. The Australian curriculum doesn't focus on a fraction of the material covered in FA (let alone the fact that FA is only a fraction of what needs to be known for this exam). Therefore, I believe "the 10 months of study" that you're claiming is excessive is in actuality no more than the equivalent of an AMG prepping during his or her MS2.

For example, many suggest BRS Physiology. Goljian audio is great too but only if you do it earlier in the year.

I read BRS Physio about 5-months-out. I only purchased it because everyone raved about it, but it was way overkill for Step1. This text earned me zero questions correct on both the NBMEs and on my real deal. I would recommend this text for someone in MS1 who wants to build his or her foundation in physiology. However if you're within 6 months of the exam, this book should be essentially nill on the priority list. Practice questions and reading the explanations is pretty much all you have to do for physio. And don't touch physio in the last two weeks. Just focus on biochem, micro, embryo and pharm.

Good job Phloston. Congrats on all your hard work.

Now that you are done with the test, what do you think is the highest value for time in last two weeks ?

Do you still think FA, UW and NBME or would you include anything else as well ?

The highest valued thing you can do during the last two weeks is to sleep as much as you can at night. If that means getting 9.5 hrs every single night leading up to the exam, do that. I wore ear plugs and a blindfold and didn't let anyone wake me. You'll need all of your energy when you enter the real deal. But don't nap during the day. Just push through your study days and sleep long at night. You need max REM for your memory.

In terms of resources, the last two weeks should be making sure you've finished UWorld, doing all of the NBMEs and touching up on the HY subjects in FA. That's it. I finished my second pass of UWorld right around the two-week-mark from my exam, then spent the final days on the NBMEs and FA at 50% effort.

You nailed the exam. What do you suggest for images CT , MRI

Phloston, you say neuroanatomy was heavy on the exam. What is on your opinion the best resource to study neuroanatomy from for someone with not the best background?
Thanks

To both of you: practice questions. That's it.

I had been most worried about anatomy going in because it's not my strong area and it has been known to be highly variable on people's exams, but practice questions turned out to be sufficient for me.

Interestingly, as much as I hate Kaplan's question-style, the QBank developed my ability to read CTs really well. By the time I sat the real deal, I felt very comfortable with CTs of the thorax and abdomen. This comfort came strictly through practice questions.

I also recommend the neuro sections only of the Kaplan anatomy lecture notes. These saved me on the exam. I wasn't a fan of the lecture notes overall because I feel they're generally too long and overkill, but the neuroanatomy section of the anatomy book is spot-on. I didn't read the notes in this section; I just looked at the images. This helped big-time.

Hey phloston, sorry to barrage you with questions.

I heard you say micro cards were good and I did go through them once. Do you think they are useful to keep using in the final few months of prep or did you just use FA?

Going into the exam, I made sure I had the images of the tree-diagram cards in my head. I had several questions that required you knew the structural characteristics of the organisms. The Microcards were ultra-clutch and pretty much got me all of my Micro points on the exam.

Surprisingly, I only had one question on bacterial toxins on the exam, despite these being very high-yield. It also happened to be one of the trickiest questions on my form because the vignette was nothing I had ever encountered before. I almost got it wrong, but when I went back to think more about it, I was very impressed that they had managed to make such a twisted question out of otherwise very straightforward material. Know your toxins and how they relate to immunology. They know people can memorize toxins, but be sure you understand how the cytokines and receptor pathways factor in.

 

[Aclamity]

Congrats to phloston finishing, but jeez people, just keep in mind he's taken just as many step exams as anyone else who's sat step 1. take everyone's advice with a grain of salt.

Agreed. Phloston is a good guy and all and gives great advice, but his failure to use Pathoma shows a huge flaw in his study methods. He used 3 different sources instead for path that are way more time consuming and therefore insufficient for Step 1 studying. I'm sure he did well on Step 1, but he had 10 months.

I just think on every post Pholston writes about Step 1 studying now, he should also include a disclaimer that he had 10 months to study. The average med student has 4-6 weeks, which means efficiency and time management are of the utmost importance. Trying to follow his study plan and use the resources he used would be more completely foolish for most students. Only IMGs have 10 months to study for that test so of course they can go through all the resources available. The typical student needs to find a few main resources and stick with them. Most ppl generally agree those sources are FA, Pathoma, UWorld Qbank, and maybe another supplement for an area you're weak in. For example, many suggest BRS Physiology. Goljian audio is great too but only if you do it earlier in the year.

Untrue. Pathoma just became popular over the last year or two. You can't expect everyone to start choosing it over the other tried-and-true methods. I didn't use it either and did perfectly fine on the exam. It's a great resource, but you don't HAVE to use it. Honestly I still prefer the goljan BOOK over Pathoma, but again it's a personal preference

 

[ElegantWeapon]

How did you feel about the pharm on the exam-I am 2 weeks out, have finished uworld/FA and some other resources, but not sure how to allocate my time in terms of pharmacology-was it super high yield or focus on other things?

 

[gravitywave]

Congrats to phloston finishing, but jeez people, just keep in mind he's taken just as many step exams as anyone else who's sat step 1. take everyone's advice with a grain of salt.

Untrue. Pathoma just became popular over the last year or two. You can't expect everyone to start choosing it over the other tried-and-true methods. I didn't use it either and did perfectly fine on the exam. It's a great resource, but you don't HAVE to use it. Honestly I still prefer the goljan BOOK over Pathoma, but again it's a personal preference

agree. for example, no one should run back and spend a week studying neuroanatomy simply because Phloston's exam had more of it than perhaps he had expected. nearly everyone leaves the exam with this feeling about some subject or other.

and add me to the list of people who didn't use Pathoma and did very well on the path in this exam.

 

[Phloston]

How did you feel about the pharm on the exam-I am 2 weeks out, have finished uworld/FA and some other resources, but not sure how to allocate my time in terms of pharmacology-was it super high yield or focus on other things?

Pharm was probably the lowest-yield topic on my exam. I literally may have had only 5-8 questions that were drug-related. However three notably stand out as being of hard-level difficulty.

All of that HY stuff at the end of the micro chapter never showed up. I had only one question that involved antibiotics, and it also happened to be one of the most obscure questions I have ever seen. This was one of the five or so questions I had encountered that was in the <20% answering correctly category. My pharm was very strong going in, and I pretty much had no idea what this question was even asking. Firstly, it required making a diagnosis that was very low-yield (i.e. nothing in FA or even the QBanks), and then on top of that, I couldn't believe that they were seriously testing how to treat it. Plainly said, if I had had another year to study, I still never would have covered this treatment. I had only briefly passed upon the condition twice or three times during the past three years, and this was through external reading. There were five drugs listed, and based on the vignette, I was fairly certain four of them just couldn't have been right. The fifth drug I had never heard of before, and this is even after having gone through the low-yield drugs in Brenner and Lange pharm cards. I went with this latter drug. And btw, I'm avoiding looking it up or researching anything from the exam I'm still not entirely sure about. The last thing I want is to prove myself wrong and have to live with that for the next several weeks. But the drug sits in my head, and I just wonder whether it was right.

I also had one (as I had mentioned in an earlier post) that was on a low-yield side-effect of a drug, where they were trying to trick you into selecting something else. So know your side-effects.

The third hard one had to do with drug toxicity. It started off with a straightforward vignette, but then gave a sentence of additional information that just seemed to contradict what I would have expected. Basically I felt four of the drugs listed were blatantly wrong, but the fifth drug, although its toxicity side-effects closely mirrored the first several sentences of the vignette, the last line was just very odd, so I left that question not 100% whether I was right.

But yeah, drugs were minimal on my exam. However, pharmacokinetics presented in about 6 or 7 questions. So in combination with the 5-8 I had in relation to actual drugs, there was a total of only about 15 pharm question on my Step1. The pharmacokinetics questions were all of easy-level difficulty.

--------

In terms of your prep and/or last two weeks, just know the drugs in FA. That's it. A low-yield drug could always present itself, but there's nothing you can really do about that.

 

[g8orlife]

Pholston's so hot right now.

^^Ha! I was just about to say the same thing!!!


Congrats on persevering, Pholston, and staying consistent all year while others kept getting on your case for starting your prep earlier than them!!!

I wish you all the best!

 

[Nesir]

Pharm was probably the lowest-yield topic on my exam. I literally may have had only 5-8 questions that were drug-related. However three notably stand out as being of hard-level difficulty.

All of that HY stuff at the end of the micro chapter never showed up. I had only one question that involved antibiotics, and it also happened to be one of the most obscure questions I have ever seen. This was one of the five or so questions I had encountered that was in the <20% answering correctly category. My pharm was very strong going in, and I pretty much had no idea what this question was even asking. Firstly, it required making a diagnosis that was very low-yield (i.e. nothing in FA or even the QBanks), and then on top of that, I couldn't believe that they were seriously testing how to treat it. Plainly said, if I had had another year to study, I still never would have covered this treatment. I had only briefly passed upon the condition twice or three times during the past three years, and this was through external reading. There were five drugs listed, and based on the vignette, I was fairly certain four of them just couldn't have been right. The fifth drug I had never heard of before, and this is even after having gone through the low-yield drugs in Brenner and Lange pharm cards. I went with this latter drug. And btw, I'm avoiding looking it up or researching anything from the exam I'm still not entirely sure about. The last thing I want is to prove myself wrong and have to live with that for the next several weeks. But the drug sits in my head, and I just wonder whether it was right.

I also had one (as I had mentioned in an earlier post) that was on a low-yield side-effect of a drug, where they were trying to trick you into selecting something else. So know your side-effects.

The third hard one had to do with drug toxicity. It started off with a straightforward vignette, but then gave a sentence of additional information that just seemed to contradict what I would have expected. Basically I felt four of the drugs listed were blatantly wrong, but the fifth drug, although its toxicity side-effects closely mirrored the first several sentences of the vignette, the last line was just very odd, so I left that question not 100% whether I was right.

But yeah, drugs were minimal on my exam. However, pharmacokinetics presented in about 6 or 7 questions. So in combination with the 5-8 I had in relation to actual drugs, there was a total of only about 15 pharm question on my Step1. The pharmacokinetics questions were all of easy-level difficulty.

--------

In terms of your prep and/or last two weeks, just know the drugs in FA. That's it. A low-yield drug could always present itself, but there's nothing you can really do about that.

I think this post and my experience show how variable the Step 1 exam is. I had 4-5 straight up "what drug to use" question per section on my test. With maybe 1 pharm kinetics question. Just want to throw that in there so that people don't get lead down the wrong road.

Essentially my point is, you gotta know both unfortunately.

 

[JasonE]

i wouldnt be too quick to say that us med schools gear their cirriculum towards step1. many, if not most, dont

 

[arollingstone]

what is FA ?

 

[CassieBagley]

what is FA ?

FA stands for Falciparum Analterrortum. It's an archaic parasite originating from the Northeastern Himalayas, known to have high tropism for human neuron cells. If I recall correctly, which I rarely do, symptoms mostly manifest over a 4-5 week time span with anxiety, impending doom, memory loss, lack of a social life, and brief periods of grandeur which quickly subside into a basal state of melancholy. I might be wrong though- check FA to be sure

 

[arollingstone]

that cocky bastard is full of ****; about time somebody calls him out on it.

 

[Old Style Nanny]

I think this post and my experience show how variable the Step 1 exam is. I had 4-5 straight up "what drug to use" question per section on my test. With maybe 1 pharm kinetics question. Just want to throw that in there so that people don't get lead down the wrong road.

And FA and your flash cards were still enough for your pharm as well?

CassieBagley, you capitalized the species name. That's a strict no-no and I'm not even being anal about it.

Phloston, thought you said the important thing was that you learned stuff and not the numerical score. So you should look it up and annotate on to your FA.

 

[thehundredthone]

Hey Phloston, my Step 1 experience was different from yours, do you think I should sue Prometric or the NBME for conning me?

 

[Phloston]

For the mods: arollingstone = sock-puppeting.

Phloston, thought you said the important thing was that you learned stuff and not the numerical score. So you should look it up and annotate on to your FA.

You're absolutely right. I'm just trying my best to suppress particular parts of my exam because I'd rather temporarily remain uncertain than to have incorrect answers hang over my head for the next month.

Hey Phloston, my Step 1 experience was different from yours, do you think I should sue Prometric or the NBME for conning me?

Sent you a PM.

 

[thehundredthone]

Got your PM, hopefully these lawyers are good for the money they're asking.

 

[Old Style Nanny]

Got your PM, hopefully these lawyers are good for the money they're asking.

Have you considered a hunger-strike instead?

 

[phd89]

Have you considered a hunger-strike instead?

What? Am I hearing of an Occupy Prometric center movement on the rise

 

[rocketbooster]

I don't want to come off the wrong way by saying this, but I was fortunate that my UWorld percentile was 97 for pathology after the first pass. I only say that because people should know that BRS Path, Webpath and USMLE Rx/Kaplan QBank Qs made that happen. I went through BRS Path and Webpath during MS2, and I think any MS2 student should get through those resources as a must.

Rocketbooster, I'm also not sure if you're aware that in each one of your last four or five posts, you have mentioned my prep-time. I think that's interesting because if there's anyone on this forum who should have learned by now how the IMG vs AMG timelines differ, it would be you.

The AMG MS1/2 curriculum is heavily basic sciences-oriented and thereby geared toward this exam. The Australian curriculum doesn't focus on a fraction of the material covered in FA (let alone the fact that FA is only a fraction of what needs to be known for this exam). Therefore, I believe "the 10 months of study" that you're claiming is excessive is in actuality no more than the equivalent of an AMG prepping during his or her MS2.

Not necessarily true. I can only speak for my own school, but our curriculum is not very well geared to the boards. There's tons of extra crap, minutiae, that had no relevancy to boards. Everyone in my school complaints about it. It's probably a big reason our school's average is usually below the average national Step 1 score lol. I definitely did not start studying 10 months in advance during my M2 year. I started studying early in the spring before my test, but because I actually had school I only had time to do Goljan audio and 100 pages of FA over 4 months haha.

I'm not saying your path materials were not good. I'm just saying using that many resources is too inefficient for AMGs, who only have 4-6 weeks of dedicated study time. My IMG friends have substantially longer, so in their case I'm sure your methods are great. Since so many ppl are now reading your advice as godsend, I suggested that you include your 10-month study time so they have a better idea what your studying entailed. For the typical AMG, 3 path sources is ridiculous. They should stick with Pathoma, or Goljan's path book if they want to go crazy with it.

 

[da Vincis World]

Not necessarily true. I can only speak for my own school, but our curriculum is not very well geared to the boards. There's tons of extra crap, minutiae, that had no relevancy to boards. Everyone in my school complaints about it. It's probably a big reason our school's average is usually below the average national Step 1 score lol. I definitely did not start studying 10 months in advance during my M2 year. I started studying early in the spring before my test, but because I actually had school I only had time to do Goljan audio and 100 pages of FA over 4 months haha.

I'm not saying your path materials were not good. I'm just saying using that many resources is too inefficient for AMGs, who only have 4-6 weeks of dedicated study time. My IMG friends have substantially longer, so in their case I'm sure your methods are great. Since so many ppl are now reading your advice as godsend, I suggested that you include your 10-month study time so they have a better idea what your studying entailed. For the typical AMG, 3 path sources is ridiculous. They should stick with Pathoma, or Goljan's path book if they want to go crazy with it.

I totally agree. While Phloston may have excellent advice for folks with extremely long dedicated study periods it may be detrimental to those with typical AMG dedicated study periods.

Pathoma is excellent and when combined with FA and uworld is more than sufficient for step 1.

 

[MCAT guy]

Phloston is so hot right now. He can't be argued with.

 

[CassieBagley]

Pholston is an international sensation. So hot right now. That Pholston guy. So hot.