Official 2012 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[amavir281]

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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. 👍

 

[rocketbooster]

Will post details later. But wasn't too bad. In between nbme and uworld. Questions were probably 33% longer on the real test tho than even Uworld. >95% was in FA. That doesn't mean I knew everything tho since I forgot some stuff. FA + Uworld to teach how to think when you read the questions will do it. If you knew FA flawlessly you would probably ace it. Easier said than tho. Anyways more details later.

 

[Phlame217]

What did you think of DIT? BTW, congrats on OKC

I think DIT was great. There were certain things not sticking or minutia here and there that I hadn't solidified and it certainly will make the difference for me.

As far as the Thunder, we've been treated like we're inferior all season (especially barkley) so I can only hope we bring it home to continue rattling some cages.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I think DIT was great. There were certain things not sticking or minutia here and there that I hadn't solidified and it certainly will make the difference for me.

As far as the Thunder, we've been treated like we're inferior all season (especially barkley) so I can only hope we bring it home to continue rattling some cages.

I have not seen a single game since the lakers lost. It hurts way too much. I think Heat vs OKC will a great matchup. Would love to see lebron win a title so everyone can let him be.

 

[DroptheBop]

I have not seen a single game since the lakers lost. It hurts way too much. I think Heat vs OKC will a great matchup. Would love to see lebron win a title so everyone can let him be.

As a Knicks fan, anybody but the Heat!
I hope LeFraud, Dwyane "pay me to play in the olympics" Wade, and Chris Bostrich lose tonight.


Also, apologies for going off topic.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

As a Knicks fan, anybody but the Heat!
I hope LeFraud, Dwyane "pay me to play in the olympics" Wade, and Chris Bostrich lose tonight.


Also, apologies for going off topic.

But as a knick fan i am SURE you would rather have "LeFraud" than Amare and or melo. Don't even try to kid yourself.

BTW, Melo is BEYOND OVERRATED!

 

[DroptheBop]

But as a knick fan i am SURE you would rather have "LeFraud" than Amare and or melo. Don't even try to kid yourself.

BTW, Melo is BEYOND OVERRATED!

You are correct on all accounts. I have never tried to kid myself in that regard. I am mainly bitter that he chose to squander his talents in South Beach playing alongside one of the NBA players that could actually compete with him in a market where nobody really cares about basketball. He chose that over the Garden where games sell out during 20 win seasons and the crowds are still louder than Miami fans are during playoff game 7s. I'll stop talking about basketball on this thread now.

 

[Phloston]

UW: 1 pass, 46Q random timed = 83% (started at low 70's, my last 1000 questions were consistently 84-93%)
School CBSSA = 240
NBME 12 = 252
NBME 6, 7, 11, 13 = 260-275
UWSA 1 & 2 = 265+
Free 150 = 94%

Aiming for a 250 bc I want to go into a competitive specialty. I worked my butt off so I really hope I hit it.

You broke 260 (maybe even 270).

Congrats on making it to the other side.

 

[tigress]

I have not taken the free 150 yet but i will for sure. I think UWSA's seem to contain more medium to difficult questions and very few easy/buzzword questions. Anyone else seems to think that way?

I don't personally think the free 150 are worth it because they're too easy. I got 91% on them and I was only aiming for a 230 on the test. And yes, I actually found the UWSAs to be quite a bit harder than the NBMEs, but that seems to be a minority opinion. For me, order of difficulty: Free 150 <<< NMBE 11 < real thing < UWSAs

Question: anybody still having nightmares days after the test? Not just about the test, though some are. Just nightmares in general. Also I wake up night remembering some super easy question I got wrong because I wasn't thinking clearly or something. So silly.

 

[umean2tellme]

OK so I took the test on May 11, 2012. Studied a lot of sources but mostly First Aid and Pathoma.

UW qbank 65% first pass and 80% second pass
UWSA 1: 256
UWSA 2: 254
NBME 7: 247
NBME 13: 252 (four days before the test)
Actual Score: 252/87

Applying to IM so a 252 is pretty good. Happy it's over

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

Woot!!!!! congrats

 

[lrkoehle]

OK so I took the test on May 11, 2012. Studied a lot of sources but mostly First Aid and Pathoma.

UW qbank 65% first pass and 80% second pass
UWSA 1: 256
UWSA 2: 254
NBME 7: 247
NBME 13: 252 (four days before the test)
Actual Score: 252/87

Applying to IM so a 252 is pretty good. Happy it's over

Congrats on the great score. I am just about to take NBME 13 and I'm just a couple days out from the real deal like you were. I hope it goes well and corresponds as closely to my real score as it did for you.

 

[Alvarez13]

OK so I took the test on May 11, 2012. Studied a lot of sources but mostly First Aid and Pathoma.

UW qbank 65% first pass and 80% second pass
UWSA 1: 256
UWSA 2: 254
NBME 7: 247
NBME 13: 252 (four days before the test)
Actual Score: 252/87

Applying to IM so a 252 is pretty good. Happy it's over

That's an amazing score for IM. Residency programs will probably offer you a signing bonus and a free scooter with those stats.

 

[metallica81788]

Does anybody (especially those who have taken the test) have any insight into what kind of questions are asked about healthcare/infrastructure stuff? I really don't care about that kind of thing and don't want to get blindsided.

 

[rocketbooster]

Just took the test yesterday. Here's my official contribution.

My goal is/was to get a score competitive for any field (i.e. good enough to match into an ortho residency and less concerned with it being the #1 ortho program). Set my goal at 240+.

Resources:
Goljan audio (1x 6 months ago)
First Aid (~1.3-1.5x, first time very in depth, took 3 weeks nonstop studying)
UWorld (80% completion)
Pathoma (1x &#8211; full videos and book, 1/3rd review and looked at rest of pics day before test)
BRS Physiology (1x)

Study schedule: 5 weeks total (excluding Goljan audio done like 6 months before)
First 3 weeks: First Aid 1x in crazy detail, annotating the **** out of it, etc; 60% of BRS physiology; 25% of Pathoma, 33% of UW
Week 4: Last 75% of Pathoma, Last 40% of BRS physiology, a lot more UW
Week 5: Tons of UWorld, focused on reviewing weak areas-> ended up going over probably half of FA->reviewed micro, biochem, genetics, behavioral, psych, neuroanatomy + msk anatomy
2 days before test: spent all day reviewing neuroanatomy and msk in FA, went through neuroanatomy on Webpath
1 day before test: tried going through Pathoma book again - only completely reviewed the first 6 sections - just looked at the images of the last 2/3rds; Webpath radiology correlation 50 questions (some of these were pretty hard haha, but definitely worth familiarizing myself with different levels of the body right before the test->helped me get a few questions for sure); behavioral sciences + psych in FA
Morning before test: I always get some insomnia before a big test-> I left myself 11:30-7:00 for sleep but I didn't get to sleep until 1:00 and woke up at 6:00. Studied for 1.5 hours in the morning...went through heart murmurs, AV blocks, genetics (lysosomal storage diseases, NF1+2, VHL, etc. etc.-> FA has a nice list of them in the biochem section), vasculitis. I wanted to do go over some pharm, too, but didn't have time. I was worried about this since I didn't review any pharm during the last week...more later. I was definitely glad I went over these things that morning. Every topic I listed appeared on the test. I always studied for an hour or so before school tests, too. Helps me get in the mindset + fresh on stupid details.

NBME Scores:
CBSSE (school given 8 weeks before): 195
Next 3 weeks were finishing our pharm module->much harder than Step 1 pharm so was well prepared. Got 85-90th percentile on the required NBME subject pharm test at end of module after our final
Full 5 weeks studying starts:
NBME 12 (after 3 weeks) - 210 - first NBME test and ran out of time on 2/4 sections->wanted to take another the next day to see how I'd actually do when I finished the test haha.
NBME 11 - 220 (day after NBME 12) - worked faster and didn't run out of time on anything. So this was more realistically my score at this point.
NBME 3 - 230 (After week 4) - seemed similar to NBME11+12 to me, don't know why ppl think the various NBMEs are so much different than one another. Every test is standardized so you should get about the same score on any test.

UWorld scores:
Week 1: started in low 50%s, ended in high 50%s
Week 2: started high 50%s, ended low 60%s
Week 3: low to mid 60%s
Week 4: High 60%s, started to break into early 70%s
Week 5: high 70%s, broke into low 80%s a few times
Average: ~70%, may have been slightly higher if I had finished the last 20% of UW

I didn't have time to take another NBME right before my test. Thought it would be better to mainly review small details during the last few days. My school requires us to take NBME 3 1-week before our test. They said most of our students go up 10-15s on the real thing. So with a 230 on that, I figured I at least had a shot of 240+. My Uworld scores jumped during the last week, so that may be evidence that my Step 1 score jumped another 10 pts like it did in Week 4. No way to know for sure, though.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Actual test:
It's somewhere in between NBMEs and UWorld. I thought it was a little more straightforward like the NBMEs but also had a lot more 2nd and 3rd tier questions like UW. The only thing "harder" on the real test was the vignette length. The questions were definitely ~33% longer than NBME and even UWorld questions. UW has some longer questions too that are equal in length, but the real test had a lot more longer questions than UW. This didn't really make the individual questions harder because the extra information was just garbage. It seemed they gave the vitals for nearly every patient. It was only relevant half of the time. They also liked to give a lot of garbage lab values. On many questions you could figure out the answer by reading the first paragraph, but then they would add on like 5-10 lab values in a chart below that were unnecessary. Also, when lab values were necessary, they still gave many irrelevant lab values (unlike UW in which they usually only gave you relevant lab values). It was because of all the irrelevant info that made the questions longer.

I'm a very slow test taker and, even on my super speed mode, only had 4-5 minutes remaining on UWorld blocks. On this test, I would only have like 30 seconds left when on my super speed mode. So that kinda sucked because didn't have much time to review anything...usually just 1 or 2 questions. Fortunately, I at least finished every section and had adequate time to thoroughly think about every question. Because I was in super speed mode the entire test, though, it drained me faster than UW.

I took 5 min breaks between every section, 20 min lunch after 3rd section, did 4th and 5th sections and it was half way through the 5th section that I was super drained (from having to work at a fast pace constantly and the 5 hours of sleep). 5th section may have been hurt a little because of this haha but no clue for sure. I took a 10-15 min break after that and had a bag of chips + powerade. That revived me and did 6th + 7th sections with good energy overall.


Subjects:
Pathology: A bit trickier than I expected. There weren't too many 1st tier give-me's. Almost every question asked a 2nd/3rd tier question about the mechanism, physio, complications/associations. There were more histo pics than I expected. There were a few times where I would assume one diagnosis based on the vignette, but then the histo image showed a completely different kind of organ cancer/damage. I couldn't justify choosing an answer based only on the vignette when the picture obviously shows X. I think they just threw stuff in the vignette to trick you so you'd make assumptions without actually looking at the histo. Everything was more or less in FA, but some of the ways they depicted the complication was more conceptual. For example, FA might list X as a complication of this disease, while on Step 1 they show a picture/radiology of that complication instead of flat out saying it in the vignette (I assume so ppl can't rely on trigger words).
Physiology: Definitely glad I did BRS physiology. All the physio questions are increase/decrease (up/down arrows) questions, usually mixed in with some path but occasionally a free standing physio question. BRS physiology really drills how hormone, blood levels change in respect to different things. Having that practice is good here because you can always logically deduce the answer. Even if the vignette has extra garbage to throw you off, it shouldn't bother you if you actually understand the pathways since you find the answer through process of elimination.
Pharmacology: Almost all straightforward. I think there were only 2 pharm questions I had no clue on. The other ones I knew without hesitation. Those 2 drugs were super rare and I think were in FA, but they were mentioned more in passing under a path section (not in the more in depth pharm section at the end of chapters). I was generally happy when a pharm question came up because they were somewhat of a break from some of more the conceptually challenging questions that really make you think.
Anatomy: Most was in FA. Definitely glad I reviewed neuro/msk anatomy right before the test again. There was one I can remember that was not in FA, but I fortunately randomly knew it from school anatomy.
Embryology: This annoyed me bit. Not too much on the test, but the embryology that was there was pretty nitpicky. Again, it was in FA, but there were tiny details you'll easily forget. This was one topic I did not review again within the last week of the test. Probably would have saved me 2 questions.
Biochem: you either knew it or you didn't. Everything's in FA. If you memorize that section cold, you should get nearly all the biochem. I did review this again the week before and definitely paid off. I was surprised at some of the repeats. Considering how much material they can test you on, it seemed a little ridiculous to me to have 3 questions on the same lysosomal storage disease. Each question was a different concept about the disease, but still, pretty ridiculous they used the same one. Makes more sense to have 3 separate lysosomal storage disease question IMO. Also, they were pretty big on vitamins. One thing I wish I had paid more attention to were vitamin toxicities&#8230;I was good on the deficiencies at least. Also, the night before it's good to review which vitamins are used as cofactors in the different pathways. That came up over and over&#8230;got most of them but missed at least 1. Wish I had reviewed that the night before&#8230;would have taken a few minutes.
Micro: I thought it was all fair. Reviewed all micro the week before. Very glad I did this. Know the main virulence factors and especially lab tests/cultures. Also, the most common microbe causes of diseases based on age group. Those lab charts and age group microbe incidence lists in FA micro section are very very high yield. As everyone has mentioned, know all the fungal, parasites, worms too. A decent amount of histo images associated with the microbes, too. I was usually happy when micro came up since it was stuff you knew right off the bat without hesitation due to the key lab tests.
Immuno: Pathoma immune is definitely worth reviewing for this. He's better at explaining the mechanisms than FA. And when he tells you to memorize certain ILs, chemoattractants, etc, listen to him. There were actually countless questions on these stupid details&#8230;and obviously on these you either know them or you don't. There's no reasoning through it.
Behavioral: pretty straight forward. Everything is definitely in the FA chapter. Easier than the UWorld behavioral questions for sure. Do UWorld questions and you're good. Some of the ethical questions were a bit odd, but I just did what I learned from UW, go with the most open-ended, patient sensitive answer. I think I got these correct for the most part.

So, overall, the test is definitely doable. Definitely not harder than UW so if you do those questions you'll be well prepared. Read every UW answer explanation. Random things I read on UW helped me get several questions correct.
The big difference on the real test was the longer question stems and definitely a bit more conceptual. A few more fake experiments set up, but you still had to use your knowledge to answer them. The answers were not written in the question or anything. As for the "impossible" questions, I can only recall maybe 2 questions that were not really doable. They were both very nitpicky cell bio/biochem pathway questions. Definitely not in FA but one of them sounded very familiar from a school lecture at one point.

Btw, even tho ppl say the test is more conceptual than expected, the test still tests you on tons of tiny memorization details (biochem, cell bio, vitamins). The test is at least definitely 90+% knowledge-based. They really make sure you understand the concepts of that knowledge, though...i.e. they'll sometimes give you 10 answer choices so you definitely won't be able to guess it. No crazy long graphs or whatever as some ppl claimed. These ppl may have been referring to CO/BP graphs I'm guessing, but these are things you should have seen in your school pharm module anyway. If not, then definitely do BRS physiology.

Because it was a bit more conceptual than expected and I was more stressed for time (which generally creates stupid errors), I just hope I broke a 230. A 240 might be possible, but I really have no idea what the real curve is like. If it's like the NBME tests (as you in need like a 90% for a 240), then I don't see that happening. If it's more like 80-85% for a 240, then maybe. Just glad it's over!! 1 week of summer now before 3rd year starts!!

 

[stevekelsey]

Long time reader...short time contributor. Thanks for all the advice and comments.

Take my test this Tuesday. Been studying for a while and have gotten good scores on my practice tests (2 UWSA--1: 252, 2: 263, 2 NBMEs--Form 7: 247, Form 13: 261 ) and the UW qbank (66% first time through, got about 3/4 finished with it a 2nd time and my average is 85%). I'm aiming for a 250+, but I'm starting to feel like I'm forgetting a lot of things...especially small details. Is that a normal feeling in the last few days leading up to the test?

I'm not going to be one of those people who asks if I'm ready to take the test, because I feel like I am and I'm happy with my practice tests. I'm just wondering if I have a really good chance of meeting my goal or is it a crapshoot no matter what happens on practice tests and qbanks. Thanks.

 

[Alvarez13]

Just took the test yesterday. Here's my official contribution.

My goal is/was to get a score competitive for any field (i.e. good enough to match into an ortho residency and less concerned with it being the #1 ortho program). Set my goal at 240+.

Resources:
Goljan audio (1x 6 months ago)
First Aid (~1.3-1.5x, first time very in depth, took 3 weeks nonstop studying)
UWorld (80% completion)
Pathoma (1x – full videos and book, 1/3rd review and looked at rest of pics day before test)
BRS Physiology (1x)

Study schedule: 5 weeks total (excluding Goljan audio done like 6 months before)
First 3 weeks: First Aid 1x in crazy detail, annotating the **** out of it, etc; 60% of BRS physiology; 25% of Pathoma, 33% of UW
Week 4: Last 75% of Pathoma, Last 40% of BRS physiology, a lot more UW
Week 5: Tons of UWorld, focused on reviewing weak areas-> ended up going over probably half of FA->reviewed micro, biochem, genetics, behavioral, psych, neuroanatomy + msk anatomy
2 days before test: spent all day reviewing neuroanatomy and msk in FA, went through neuroanatomy on Webpath
1 day before test: tried going through Pathoma book again - only completely reviewed the first 6 sections - just looked at the images of the last 2/3rds; Webpath radiology correlation 50 questions (some of these were pretty hard haha, but definitely worth familiarizing myself with different levels of the body right before the test->helped me get a few questions for sure); behavioral sciences + psych in FA
Morning before test: I always get some insomnia before a big test-> I left myself 11:30-7:00 for sleep but I didn't get to sleep until 1:00 and woke up at 6:00. Studied for 1.5 hours in the morning...went through heart murmurs, AV blocks, genetics (lysosomal storage diseases, NF1+2, VHL, etc. etc.-> FA has a nice list of them in the biochem section), vasculitis. I wanted to do go over some pharm, too, but didn't have time. I was worried about this since I didn't review any pharm during the last week...more later. I was definitely glad I went over these things that morning. Every topic I listed appeared on the test. I always studied for an hour or so before school tests, too. Helps me get in the mindset + fresh on stupid details.

NBME Scores:
CBSSE (school given 8 weeks before): 195
Next 3 weeks were finishing our pharm module->much harder than Step 1 pharm so was well prepared. Got 85-90th percentile on the required NBME subject pharm test at end of module after our final
Full 5 weeks studying starts:
NBME 12 (after 3 weeks) - 210 - first NBME test and ran out of time on 2/4 sections->wanted to take another the next day to see how I'd actually do when I finished the test haha.
NBME 11 - 220 (day after NBME 12) - worked faster and didn't run out of time on anything. So this was more realistically my score at this point.
NBME 3 - 230 (After week 4) - seemed similar to NBME11+12 to me, don't know why ppl think the various NBMEs are so much different than one another. Every test is standardized so you should get about the same score on any test.

UWorld scores:
Week 1: started in low 50%s, ended in high 50%s
Week 2: started high 50%s, ended low 60%s
Week 3: low to mid 60%s
Week 4: High 60%s, started to break into early 70%s
Week 5: high 70%s, broke into low 80%s a few times
Average: ~70%, may have been slightly higher if I had finished the last 20% of UW

I didn't have time to take another NBME right before my test. Thought it would be better to mainly review small details during the last few days. My school requires us to take NBME 3 1-week before our test. They said most of our students go up 10-15s on the real thing. So with a 230 on that, I figured I at least had a shot of 240+. My Uworld scores jumped during the last week, so that may be evidence that my Step 1 score jumped another 10 pts like it did in Week 4. No way to know for sure, though.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Actual test:
It's somewhere in between NBMEs and UWorld. I thought it was a little more straightforward like the NBMEs but also had a lot more 2nd and 3rd tier questions like UW. The only thing "harder" on the real test was the vignette length. The questions were definitely ~33% longer than NBME and even UWorld questions. UW has some longer questions too that are equal in length, but the real test had a lot more longer questions than UW. This didn't really make the individual questions harder because the extra information was just garbage. It seemed they gave the vitals for nearly every patient. It was only relevant half of the time. They also liked to give a lot of garbage lab values. On many questions you could figure out the answer by reading the first paragraph, but then they would add on like 5-10 lab values in a chart below that were unnecessary. Also, when lab values were necessary, they still gave many irrelevant lab values (unlike UW in which they usually only gave you relevant lab values). It was because of all the irrelevant info that made the questions longer.

I'm a very slow test taker and, even on my super speed mode, only had 4-5 minutes remaining on UWorld blocks. On this test, I would only have like 30 seconds left when on my super speed mode. So that kinda sucked because didn't have much time to review anything...usually just 1 or 2 questions. Fortunately, I at least finished every section and had adequate time to thoroughly think about every question. Because I was in super speed mode the entire test, though, it drained me faster than UW.

I took 5 min breaks between every section, 20 min lunch after 3rd section, did 4th and 5th sections and it was half way through the 5th section that I was super drained (from having to work at a fast pace constantly and the 5 hours of sleep). 5th section may have been hurt a little because of this haha but no clue for sure. I took a 10-15 min break after that and had a bag of chips + powerade. That revived me and did 6th + 7th sections with good energy overall.


Subjects:
Pathology: A bit trickier than I expected. There weren’t too many 1st tier give-me’s. Almost every question asked a 2nd/3rd tier question about the mechanism, physio, complications/associations. There were more histo pics than I expected. There were a few times where I would assume one diagnosis based on the vignette, but then the histo image showed a completely different kind of organ cancer/damage. I couldn’t justify choosing an answer based only on the vignette when the picture obviously shows X. I think they just threw stuff in the vignette to trick you so you’d make assumptions without actually looking at the histo. Everything was more or less in FA, but some of the ways they depicted the complication was more conceptual. For example, FA might list X as a complication of this disease, while on Step 1 they show a picture/radiology of that complication instead of flat out saying it in the vignette (I assume so ppl can’t rely on trigger words).
Physiology: Definitely glad I did BRS physiology. All the physio questions are increase/decrease (up/down arrows) questions, usually mixed in with some path but occasionally a free standing physio question. BRS physiology really drills how hormone, blood levels change in respect to different things. Having that practice is good here because you can always logically deduce the answer. Even if the vignette has extra garbage to throw you off, it shouldn’t bother you if you actually understand the pathways since you find the answer through process of elimination.
Pharmacology: Almost all straightforward. I think there were only 2 pharm questions I had no clue on. The other ones I knew without hesitation. Those 2 drugs were super rare and I think were in FA, but they were mentioned more in passing under a path section (not in the more in depth pharm section at the end of chapters). I was generally happy when a pharm question came up because they were somewhat of a break from some of more the conceptually challenging questions that really make you think.
Anatomy: Most was in FA. Definitely glad I reviewed neuro/msk anatomy right before the test again. There was one I can remember that was not in FA, but I fortunately randomly knew it from school anatomy.
Embryology: This annoyed me bit. Not too much on the test, but the embryology that was there was pretty nitpicky. Again, it was in FA, but there were tiny details you’ll easily forget. This was one topic I did not review again within the last week of the test. Probably would have saved me 2 questions.
Biochem: you either knew it or you didn’t. Everything’s in FA. If you memorize that section cold, you should get nearly all the biochem. I did review this again the week before and definitely paid off. I was surprised at some of the repeats. Considering how much material they can test you on, it seemed a little ridiculous to me to have 3 questions on the same lysosomal storage disease. Each question was a different concept about the disease, but still, pretty ridiculous they used the same one. Makes more sense to have 3 separate lysosomal storage disease question IMO. Also, they were pretty big on vitamins. One thing I wish I had paid more attention to were vitamin toxicities…I was good on the deficiencies at least. Also, the night before it’s good to review which vitamins are used as cofactors in the different pathways. That came up over and over…got most of them but missed at least 1. Wish I had reviewed that the night before…would have taken a few minutes.
Micro: I thought it was all fair. Reviewed all micro the week before. Very glad I did this. Know the main virulence factors and especially lab tests/cultures. Also, the most common microbe causes of diseases based on age group. Those lab charts and age group microbe incidence lists in FA micro section are very very high yield. As everyone has mentioned, know all the fungal, parasites, worms too. A decent amount of histo images associated with the microbes, too. I was usually happy when micro came up since it was stuff you knew right off the bat without hesitation due to the key lab tests.
Immuno: Pathoma immune is definitely worth reviewing for this. He’s better at explaining the mechanisms than FA. And when he tells you to memorize certain ILs, chemoattractants, etc, listen to him. There were actually countless questions on these stupid details…and obviously on these you either know them or you don’t. There’s no reasoning through it.
Behavioral: pretty straight forward. Everything is definitely in the FA chapter. Easier than the UWorld behavioral questions for sure. Do UWorld questions and you’re good. Some of the ethical questions were a bit odd, but I just did what I learned from UW, go with the most open-ended, patient sensitive answer. I think I got these correct for the most part.

So, overall, the test is definitely doable. Definitely not harder than UW so if you do those questions you’ll be well prepared. Read every UW answer explanation. Random things I read on UW helped me get several questions correct.
The big difference on the real test was the longer question stems and definitely a bit more conceptual. A few more fake experiments set up, but you still had to use your knowledge to answer them. The answers were not written in the question or anything. As for the “impossible” questions, I can only recall maybe 2 questions that were not really doable. They were both very nitpicky cell bio/biochem pathway questions. Definitely not in FA but one of them sounded very familiar from a school lecture at one point.

Btw, even tho ppl say the test is more conceptual than expected, the test still tests you on tons of tiny memorization details (biochem, cell bio, vitamins). The test is at least definitely 90+% knowledge-based. They really make sure you understand the concepts of that knowledge, though...i.e. they'll sometimes give you 10 answer choices so you definitely won't be able to guess it. No crazy long graphs or whatever as some ppl claimed. These ppl may have been referring to CO/BP graphs I'm guessing, but these are things you should have seen in your school pharm module anyway. If not, then definitely do BRS physiology.

Because it was a bit more conceptual than expected and I was more stressed for time (which generally creates stupid errors), I just hope I broke a 230. A 240 might be possible, but I really have no idea what the real curve is like. If it’s like the NBME tests (as you in need like a 90% for a 240), then I don’t see that happening. If it’s more like 80-85% for a 240, then maybe. Just glad it’s over!! 1 week of summer now before 3rd year starts!!

I'm tired from reading this. 7 blocks is going to destroy my soul...

Go have a drink 😀

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

Really appreciate this detailed post.

 

[MDD DO2014]

....

 

[lakerfan38]

x

 

[metallica81788]

Does anybody (especially those who have taken the test) have any insight into what kind of questions are asked about healthcare/infrastructure stuff? I really don't care about that kind of thing and don't want to get blindsided.

I'm going to bump this question since the recent novels have pushed it out of relevance.

Seriously, any insight here?

 

[MrBeauregard]

This is back to the terrifying posts in the past pages

Yeah, but it's one test. I have two friends who took it within the last 4 days. One said it was easier than both UW and NBME 13, while the other said it was easier than UW and NBME 12. They both said they had many more first order questions than expected and that the test was actually much more straightforward than they had imagined (or heard) it would be. But those are also two individual accounts.

Bottom line: I think we should all just study as hard as we can and feel confident in what we know.

 

[Aclamity]

Yeah, but it's one test. I have two friends who took it within the last 4 days. One said it was easier than both UW and NBME 13, while the other said it was easier than UW and NBME 12. They both said they had many more first order questions than expected and that the test was actually much more straightforward than they had imagined (or heard) it would be. But those are also two individual accounts.

Bottom line: I think we should all just study as hard as we can and feel confident in what we know.

Agreed. Like I mentioned earlier, myself and 9 friends took it on 6/9 and we all had tests of varying difficulty. I thought mine was a lot like NBME 7 or 13 in terms of length. There were definitely some LONG vignettes, but the overwhelming majority were reasonable. The types of questions you get are completely random; some of my friends had a biochem-heavy test, others had an MSK-heavy test, and others had an endocrine-heavy test... take all these post-exam posts with a grain of salt.

However, I think we all agreed on the insane amount of lab values. They gave vitals for every single patient and there were many lab values (but you usually know which ones to look for based on the question stem). Familiarize yourself with the NBMEs and there shouldn't be any surprises

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

Agreed. Like I mentioned earlier, myself and 9 friends took it on 6/9 and we all had tests of varying difficulty. I thought mine was a lot like NBME 7 or 13 in terms of length. There were definitely some LONG vignettes, but the overwhelming majority were reasonable. The types of questions you get are completely random; some of my friends had a biochem-heavy test, others had an MSK-heavy test, and others had an endocrine-heavy test... take all these post-exam posts with a grain of salt.

However, I think we all agreed on the insane amount of lab values. They gave vitals for every single patient and there were many lab values (but you usually know which ones to look for based on the question stem). Familiarize yourself with the NBMEs and there shouldn't be any surprises

I would shoot myself if the test was anatomy heavy

 

[osumc2014]

How much of the test is experimental? Lot's of those weird questions could be experimental I guess/hope

 

[karker]

This forum has helped me immensely in reducing my anxieties and now its time to do the same for future test takers.

Background: Honors in most pre-clinical courses
School sponsored CBSSA: 220
UWSA1&2: >260
NBME 7,11,12,13: b/w 250-260
Real deal: 249
Study sources: FA (~3x), Uworld (2x), RR path (1x), some online resources for path and radiology images.

Study sources: Not much to add, I just felt more comfortable with the above resources and decided that I wouldnt overload myself with books. I think repetition is the key, even with uworld. You would be surprised how much new stuff you can pick up when reading the explanations the second time around. RR was clutch as well. And FA...well, its FA, nothing more to say lol.

Actual test: A lot of physio (up and down arrow type questions). Wish I had done better to prepare for this section. Path: mostly straightforward, with a couple of WTF questions. Pharm was pretty easy except a couple of interpretation type questions. Micro was all classic presentations. Embryo was a killer, got questions on material that I frankly hadnt seen before. Anatomy: Mostly straightforward, few lung anatomy questions which threw me offguard. Behavioral: Bunch of tricky ones; going in i felt pretty good about this section, but the answer choices tripped me up. Genetics: The hardest questions were these ones. A lot questions requiring expt interpretations.

Post-test feeling: Felt like crap. A couple of blocks were ridiculously hard, was marking every other question. Barely had time to review the marked questions. There were 3-4 blocks that were relatively easy. However, I was not used to guessing on so many questions; on the practice NBMEs, I actually knew mostly every question and the mistakes I made were either due to just minor recall failure or misreading of questions. On the actual test, there were a lot of questions that I flat out had no idea about. This is what scared me the most. Honestly, after the test I felt like I would end up somewhere in the high 220s-mid-230s. So in a sense I am happy with my score, but also a bit disappointed since it is lower than my practice ones. I think the hard sections freaked me out a little bit and that affected my performance on the other sections.

Overall, pretty happy with the score!

 

[Alvarez13]

How do you guys approach most questions? Do you read the last line first, scan the answers, and then read the full question?

 

[MDD DO2014]

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[MDD DO2014]

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[MDD DO2014]

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[tigress]

Oh and I only had ONE healthcare policy/law/reform question. Just one. And it wasnt hard. Lotttttts of ethics but no way to prepare for those. I just always picked answers that involved asking te patient how "it makes them feel..." type stuff haha. I was an ethics concentration undergrad so I would have loved to debate some of those. I think it's kind of silly that they give us multiple choice ethics questions... Seems like stuffing profound ethics questions into a multiple choice time crunch exam is the kind of thing a bunch of clueless science-people might think up.

I didn't have any healthcare policy or reform questions at all.

It's generally a good rule of thumb with behavioral science questions to never choose an answer that has you referring the patient out to somebody else. Or at least that's what I was always told; I had one question on my test that I'm almost certain had referring the patient as the right answer.

As far as it being silly to have multiple choice ethics questions, I feel the same way about some of the pediatrics/parenting questions. I had one question that was asking what you should tell a parent who comes in with a toddler behaving a certain way, and I knew the answer they wanted involved giving consequences for bad behavior, but it also fundamentally opposed my opinions on parenting. Of course I chose that answer, but it annoys me when there are questions that are not about actual medicine, but about something that is more of an opinion.

 

[MDD DO2014]

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[tigress]

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[rocketbooster]

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[MDD DO2014]

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[rocketbooster]

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[Untraditional]

Well all you kids talking about your 260s and how this was the hardest test ever are psyching me out.

Good luck to everyone taking the exam this week.

 

[futuredoctor10]

Interesting to hear people's thoughts on the exams.

I know in a standardized exam, especially one with so many questions, there must be some element of random variability in the questions. However it seems like it would be a more fair assessment to try and have a minimum of X % of questions for each subject, for example... normalize the distribution across subjects. Rather than having a mostly renal exam (as some folks did) or a test with no biochem, etc.

 

[MCsoundt]

Interesting to hear people's thoughts on the exams.

I know in a standardized exam, especially one with so many questions, there must be some element of random variability in the questions. However it seems like it would be a more fair assessment to try and have a minimum of X % of questions for each subject, for example... normalize the distribution across subjects. Rather than having a mostly renal exam (as some folks did) or a test with no biochem, etc.

Seriously! I think I'm very strong in most of the systems and I've been hammering in all the biochem/genetics, but I've barely had time to touch any anatomy beyond FA. It would blow to have an anatomy-heavy test and not be able to showcase my strengths. I suppose this is why you can't let yourself have any weak points. Well, my test is in 2 days. C'est la vie

 

[MoistHands]

Hey Guys..

I have been reading that people have been getting loads of molecular bio on the test... Well. what do you suggest would be a good resource?

HY or BRS cell/molecular OR the First few chapters of Robins as suggested by DIT?

Will appreciate your replies.

Thanks

 

[red10]

Interesting to hear people's thoughts on the exams.

I know in a standardized exam, especially one with so many questions, there must be some element of random variability in the questions. However it seems like it would be a more fair assessment to try and have a minimum of X % of questions for each subject, for example... normalize the distribution across subjects. Rather than having a mostly renal exam (as some folks did) or a test with no biochem, etc.

What i can't figure out is with all the variability that exists between tests and between people's personal strengths and weaknesses, why people keep bothering to ask whats on the test and if it was hard...

 

[KNE]

Took the exam Friday-

I used:
Pathoma 1x, FA 2x, Goljan 1x
UWorld 1x, average 76% (Average last 7 blocks, timed random= 81%)
NBME12, 2 weeks out- 245
NBME13, 1 week out- 252

Random thoughts on the test-
-It was similar to NBME13.
-I thought the questions were very long, so I chose to ignore a lot of lab values to speed up a little. If you have a hunch of the Dx after reading the clinical presentation, scan to that lab value and see if it confirms it.
-Some questions were so obvious that you have to re-check yourself to make sure you aren't missing something.
-For heart sounds (I had 3-4 with headsets), think about what you expect the murmur to sound like after reading the question. Use headphones as confirmatory.

So I could go on a lot more, but basically my strategy was to find a 'gut feeling' while reading the question, or taking a few seconds to think about the answer before reading the choices. [Example- if you have a question pointing to strep viridans and asking which is true about culturing, recite "OVRPS" to yourself before reading the answer choices- it saves a lot of time and helps to organize your thoughts]

Embryo/Biochem-metabolism/Physio/Behavioral were surprisingly easy.
Genetics/molecular- much to getting these correct is how well you can understand what they are asking, because the concept is basic but the wording was complex.
Anatomy- Learn what's in FA and hope that you remember random facts from your school's anatomy course

Finally, some blocks will seem a lot harder than others. I had 2 blocks where I marked 8-10 questions, and others where I marked 0-1. Not sure if it was the question set or my mindset... but hoping for the best.

PM for questions, I'll post again July 11

 

[metallica81788]

What i can't figure out is with all the variability that exists between tests and between people's personal strengths and weaknesses, why people keep bothering to ask whats on the test and if it was hard...

I agree.

The whole purpose of my prep is to be able to do well even if given the worst possible test for me. Expect the most lopsided test toward your weaknesses and hopefully you'll get something better.

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

What i can't figure out is with all the variability that exists between tests and between people's personal strengths and weaknesses, why people keep bothering to ask whats on the test and if it was hard...

Then why are you in this section of the thread anyway? if not to look at other people's experiences.

 

[osumc2014]

How much of the test contains images? 5-10 per section? And how many of those questions don't give you any hint besides the images?

 

[deleted103644]

How much of the test contains images? 5-10 per section? And how many of those questions don't give you any hint besides the images?

Only a few will have images. And those images will invariably be full color, full page screens of diseased human genitalia.

I think it's intended to shock anyone looking over your shoulder.

 

[zebalong]

Well all you kids talking about your 260s and how this was the hardest test ever are psyching me out.

Good luck to everyone taking the exam this week.

On the flip side there are a lot of people who also feel the exam was what they expected.. myself included. So try and just be confident in what you know and in the way you prepared.

I kind of freaked myself out the day before the test reading a review of someone's test experience, the real day was much more what I expected. There are left fielders in every form but they aren't numerous if you've done a lot of questions.

 

[red10]

Then why are you in this section of the thread anyway? if not to look at other people's experiences.

Because I wanted to see if the Q style was similar, see the resources other people used, and see if, in general, practice test scores line up with actual results. But I'm not in here trying to find out if there were 7 behavioral Qs, 5 Xrays and a partridge in a pear tree.

 

[MDD DO2014]

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[metallica81788]

x

 

[osumc2014]

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