Official 2013 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Phloston

Phloston

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I figure now is a good time to jump-start this thread.

Even though some of us who had taken the exam in late-2012 are still awaiting our scores (amid the holiday delays) and could technically still post within last year's thread, it is after all mid-January now, so it's probably apposite that we move forward and hope for a great year.

:luck: Cheers to 2013 :luck:
 
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sjm5104 said:
Is there any consensus on when the permit usually disappears? 3 days before? 1 day? I know the site says "late june". I took my exam 6/24 and am hopeful to get my score this wed, however unlikely that may be. My permit is still there.
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From what I've read on here the permit links disappear on the Sunday or Monday before. During last years delay before the 11th release date, permits disappeared on the 6th. People here have reported it gone on the 3rd. I took it on the 21st of June and mine is gone as well. People in other threads who have said that the permit link is still available tend not to receive it on the upcoming Wednesday but usually wait until the following Wednesday.
 
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incubusfanclm said:
Vit E decreases Vit K-dep coagulation factors - RR Goljan
Hyperthyroidism increases cholesterol synthesis - FA
Resorption atelectasis - RR Goljan
U-shaped scar on kidney surface - RR Goljan
Cause of subarachnoid hemorrhage other than berry aneurysm? FA
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mmm...I don't feel comfortable with the second point. UW explanation states that hypOthryrodism what causes hyperlipidemia
 
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stronghold said:
Atelectasis/ pneumonia is classical cause of post-op fever day 1. Period.
No need to look on articles or over-analyze it. You will learn it when you do surgery rotation.

I just wanna the resource of hyperthyroidism and hypercholesterolemia, and vit E def depletes vit K coaug factors
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stronghold said:
mmm...I don't feel comfortable with the second point. UW explanation states that hypOthryrodism what causes hyperlipidemia
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Here is Goljan's audio transcript explanation for the Vit E and the Vit K coag factors. I'm also trying to understand the link for the hypo/hyperlipidemia reasoning seen with thyroid issues. Pathoma talks about it, but doesn't say "why" just says lists it as a clinical finding.

AOyZAHJ.png
 
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Took my last NBME today.

NBME 11 (6 weeks out): 228
NBME 12 (4 weeks out): 240
NBME 13 (2 weeks out): 254
NBME 15 (1 week out) : 242

I'm a little disappointed that my score dropped so much from NBME 13 to NBME 15, but after looking over my answers for NBME 15 I made quite a few careless mistakes that kept me from cracking the 250 barrier. It looks like I actually got most of the trickier questions correct and missed a bunch of the bunnies that were straight regurgitation from FA. Maybe form 13 was a fluke, but I still feel like I have the potential to hit 250 on my real deal next week. Hopefully my score on form 15 will give me enough motivation to make it through this final stretch and come out on the other side with a nice score.

My game plan for the next week is to blast through some of my weak subjects one last time, hit the FA "big 4", and get some R&R. I love you guys, but I'm going to try to stay off SDN until after my exam next week. You have all provided a great deal of insight, and I've undoubtedly gained several points on my future USMLE because of you (Phloston can provide the exact number of points, I'm sure :laugh:).
 
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uggghhhhh... I haven't been phased during this 7/10 wait .. until ALL DAY today.
Phloston was right when he said that the worst part of the wait is after the 2nd/3rd week; b/c, I've counted ~20 Qs that I've gotten wrong and starting to stress 🙁

I wish I could fast forward over these next 4 days.
 
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Do the uworld questions some how get harder as you go through them? I've been averaging about 60-63% my last 10 blocks and for the past 3 I've gotten 50-55%?! I'm getting worried Cruz my exam is in a month!
 
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skyblue2000 said:
Do the uworld questions some how get harder as you go through them? I've been averaging about 60-63% my last 10 blocks and for the past 3 I've gotten 50-55%?! I'm getting worried Cruz my exam is in a month!
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I think it varies for everybody. My hardest time with uworld was in the middle of study period where I dropped a few times to the mid50s. IIRC, even dipped down to a 40s for one exam. Finished with a 68% overall.

Also look at the bottom right and see if they're the new questions from UW. I was blown away when I saw percentage getting the ? correct were in the high-teens and low 20s.
 
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just got done the test. i'll spare you the experience details since everyone else already posted them. it's similar to what they have said. ask me anything about the test (obviously, im not gonna say anything about specific question contents). I'll check back in 4 hours and respond to them.
 
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skyblue2000 said:
Do the uworld questions some how get harder as you go through them? I've been averaging about 60-63% my last 10 blocks and for the past 3 I've gotten 50-55%?! I'm getting worried Cruz my exam is in a month!
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I feel like I learned a lot doing UW, but my average never really improved significantly

beatsbydre said:
just got done the test. i'll spare you the experience details since everyone else already posted them. it's similar to what they have said. ask me anything about the test (obviously, im not gonna say anything about specific question contents). I'll check back in 4 hours and respond to them.
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How'd you feel about the difficulty of the questions where knowledge of an image was required for the questions? What category did most of those types of images fall in?
 
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I have done 3 blocks of UW so far. The scores are: 77%, 66%, and the most recent 80%.
Does this sound good or bad? Do I need to stop it and go thru FA again before doing UW?

I hope you can help me if those results correlate well with my goal! Yes, I am OCD 🙂
 
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stronghold said:
I have done 3 blocks of UW so far. The scores are: 77%, 66%, and the most recent 80%.
Does this sound good or bad? Do I need to stop it and go thru FA again before doing UW?

I hope you can help me if those results correlate well with my goal! Yes, I am OCD 🙂
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The concept of saving qbanks is the dumbest thing ever. As long as you're learning that's all that counts
 
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loveoforganic2 said:
I feel like I learned a lot doing UW, but my average never really improved significantly



How'd you feel about the difficulty of the questions where knowledge of an image was required for the questions? What category did most of those types of images fall in?
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you are gonna get some microbio images, so know what bacteria, fungi, etc. look like. a good chunk of pathology pictures -- they'll show you disease states. histo/cellular stuff as well. if they show you an image, the image is definitely required to come to the conclusion. in a sense, you can probably get to the answer without the text. i would say that the image questions weren't too bad if you know what you're looking at. i actually enjoyed the images -- they're a good break from all that text you'll be reading (very very wordy questions, more so than uworld, nbme, etc.)
 
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beatsbydre said:
you are gonna get some microbio images, so know what bacteria, fungi, etc. look like. a good chunk of pathology pictures -- they'll show you disease states. histo/cellular stuff as well. if they show you an image, the image is definitely required to come to the conclusion. in a sense, you can probably get to the answer without the text. i would say that the image questions weren't too bad if you know what you're looking at. i actually enjoyed the images -- they're a good break from all that text you'll be reading (very very wordy questions, more so than uworld, nbme, etc.)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I don't mind the path stuff, but when it comes to anatomy/neuro, if it's not something fairly obvious/high yield, if the image is essential, I will tend to randomly pick a letter
 
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VCorp said:
I think it varies for everybody. My hardest time with uworld was in the middle of study period where I dropped a few times to the mid50s. IIRC, even dipped down to a 40s for one exam. Finished with a 68% overall.

Also look at the bottom right and see if they're the new questions from UW. I was blown away when I saw percentage getting the ? correct were in the high-teens and low 20s.
Click to expand...

Yea seriously! Every now and then I'll get a question that like 18% got right?!? But I feel like I get a mix of the questions that 30% got right and miss the ones that 70% got right.... I guess it woks out but it's annoying missing things that the greater majority of ppl know.
 
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skyblue2000 said:
Yea seriously! Every now and then I'll get a question that like 18% got right?!? But I feel like I get a mix of the questions that 30% got right and miss the ones that 70% got right.... I guess it woks out but it's annoying missing things that the greater majority of ppl know.
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Yeah it's bound to happen getting those 70%. 80%, 90% population correct questions wrong every once in a while because of careless mistakes of reading too fast or what not.

Remember doing a uworld question and I had just started uw. I told myself to read the questions quick...saw the question stem mention c-anca and quickly jumped to wegners without reading the rest of the q. Got it wrong. 92% got it right...the next word was "negative" after c-anca, lol. Read the vignette and classic goodpasteur's presentation.
 
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One of the five notable errors I made on my exam I am certain was a ">80% answered correctly"-type question. I began telling my girlfriend, who's not even in med, about it and she guessed the correct answer without even hearing the choices.

If you over-think things you'll get questions wrong. When you go in there you can't be high-strung.

You've just gotta remember that pretty much everyone makes errors, so they cancel each other out percentile-wise. Absolutely, it hurts, but relatively, everyone's fairly safe.

And yeah, the >2-week post-exam period is the worst because you're sitting on those errors but don't yet know your result. :laugh:
 
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Phloston said:
One of the five notable errors I made on my exam I am certain was a ">80% answered correctly"-type question. I began telling my girlfriend, who's not even in med, about it and she guessed the correct answer without even hearing the choices.

If you over-think things you'll get questions wrong. When you go in there you can't be high-strung.

You've just gotta remember that pretty much everyone makes errors, so they cancel each other out percentile-wise. Absolutely, it hurts, but relatively, everyone's fairly safe.

And yeah, the >2-week post-exam period is the worst because you're sitting on those errors but don't yet know your result. :laugh:
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This. The first day you remember the tough questions you miss because they were tough. Later on you remember the easier questions you should have gotten because reading up about something reminds you of the question. 3 days left till I'm supposed to hear back, and I currently feel the most anxious I've felt since taking the test. It could also be that I'm back around med students and the nervous energy starts a vicious cycle.
 
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JuliaJulia said:
Who took the exam today - July 6th? What did you guys think?
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Examinations are randomized by section, so someone who took it the same day as you is as likely to have had some of the same sections as someone taking it any other day. Unlike the MCAT for example in which there are specific tests on specific days.
 
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g8orlife said:
uggghhhhh... I haven't been phased during this 7/10 wait .. until ALL DAY today.
Phloston was right when he said that the worst part of the wait is after the 2nd/3rd week; b/c, I've counted ~20 Qs that I've gotten wrong and starting to stress 🙁

I wish I could fast forward over these next 4 days.
Click to expand...

in the same shoes...
gave my exam on 06/03 and today is the worst...
ive gone thru my entire FA again, marking out questions and each time ive spotted a mistake i feel like ive been digging my own grave. got down 13 now, and i think im done looking. i dont know if i want 07/10 to arrive sooner or later at this point. 😕

ive been a silent sdn stalker till date and promised myself i would write up an experience post as my first post if i felt my prep was worth sharing based on my score..the frustration of waiting has finally made me vent here - though i know my first post being a vent makes me a selfish bi*** 🙁

and it really would be great to know how youre doing jonari!!!
 
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What makes me worried that all UW true answers, I reviewed so far, were selected by most other people. Even with this, the block score of mine is higher than the average!

Could anybody elaborate on this discrepancy?
 
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sashen said:
in the same shoes...
gave my exam on 06/03 and today is the worst...
ive gone thru my entire FA again, marking out questions and each time ive spotted a mistake i feel like ive been digging my own grave. got down 13 now, and i think im done looking. i dont know if i want 07/10 to arrive sooner or later at this point. 😕

ive been a silent sdn stalker till date and promised myself i would write up an experience post as my first post if i felt my prep was worth sharing based on my score..the frustration of waiting has finally made me vent here - though i know my first post being a vent makes me a selfish bi*** 🙁

and it really would be great to know how youre doing jonari!!!
Click to expand...

Also took it on 6/3, also feel the same way.

Didnt want to look at the ones I wasn't sure about, but a bunch came up in the following days when studying for COMLEX.

Not feeling good about this at all, and hoping for a somewhat generous curve...........

best of luck on wednesday
 
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Phloston said:
One of the five notable errors I made on my exam I am certain was a ">80% answered correctly"-type question. I began telling my girlfriend, who's not even in med, about it and she guessed the correct answer without even hearing the choices.

If you over-think things you'll get questions wrong. When you go in there you can't be high-strung.

You've just gotta remember that pretty much everyone makes errors, so they cancel each other out percentile-wise. Absolutely, it hurts, but relatively, everyone's fairly safe.

And yeah, the >2-week post-exam period is the worst because you're sitting on those errors but don't yet know your result. :laugh:
Click to expand...

Thanks! Needed To Hear That.
 
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sashen said:
in the same shoes...
gave my exam on 06/03 and today is the worst...
ive gone thru my entire FA again, marking out questions and each time ive spotted a mistake i feel like ive been digging my own grave. got down 13 now, and i think im done looking. i dont know if i want 07/10 to arrive sooner or later at this point. 😕

ive been a silent sdn stalker till date and promised myself i would write up an experience post as my first post if i felt my prep was worth sharing based on my score..the frustration of waiting has finally made me vent here - though i know my first post being a vent makes me a selfish bi*** 🙁

and it really would be great to know how youre doing jonari!!!
Click to expand...

I Actually Did That TOo. I'm Happy I NoW Learned ThoseFacts, ... But ItSure Is Giving A LotTo Stress/Think About Right Now...
 
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Choo said:
From what I've read on here the permit links disappear on the Sunday or Monday before. During last years delay before the 11th release date, permits disappeared on the 6th. People here have reported it gone on the 3rd. I took it on the 21st of June and mine is gone as well. People in other threads who have said that the permit link is still available tend not to receive it on the upcoming Wednesday but usually wait until the following Wednesday.
Click to expand...

Do you know where on the site will our score be posted? I don't see a tab for score. Feeling dumb. 😕
 
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I dont even remember where the permit was... I just printed it the morning of .. where would i find my permit if its there? i took the exam on 6/26.. im guessing I shouldnt expect my score to be available on the 10th
 
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res1cue said:
Man, these last few days before scores come out are killer

dont know how much more my nerves can take
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'Now is not the time for fear ... that comes later.'

Why don't you just go on holiday? Or go have fun with some old college friends...

The wait for the grade is usually my favourite part of the experience. There's nothing you can do about it anymore...so might as well just have all the fun you can, 'cause you'll be busting your behind again soon enough.
 
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Choo said:
https://apps.nbme.org/ciw2/prod/jsp/login.jsp

Under "Check exam status", the permit link was under the "permit available date". The score report - I suppose - should appear under the empty "score report date".
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Thanks..my eligibility period ended on 6/30.. so i guess mine hasnt been "taken away" for any reason other than my eligibility period ending.... Im really needing this score to be available on wednesday....the test was a cluster and I need to know my fate..
 
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Has anyone marked all of UW questions and re-did all the questions that way? I'm wondering if the highlighting I've done in the answers will still be there the second time?
 
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skyblue2000 said:
Has anyone marked all of UW questions and re-did all the questions that way? I'm wondering if the highlighting I've done in the answers will still be there the second time?
Click to expand...

You can redo it without any issues; the prior highlighting and crossing-out will not be present.
 
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