Official 2013 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[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.

Cheers to 2013

 

[cpufreak3]

I took the exam on the 15th, my thoughts:

First off, my resources: FA, Uworld, and Lange pharm cards. Pathoma and BRS physio during the school year (things stuck so I didn't look at them again). Took NBME 11 and 12.

The exam had some gimme questions, and some questions, no matter how long you studied, were out of no where.

Difficulty of questions: Uworld > step 1 > NBME. Only reason why I say UW was more difficult was because the questions on the boards give you more info to narrow choices, or the answer choices won't be as tricky.

There were a few questions where I thought 2 answers were practically equivalent.

Heart sounds - I had 2. They were hard. Muffled and not clear at all.

I hate pharm and I think there was only one question that I wasn't sure of - good sign. Some were a single sentence, ie Drug X acts like penicillin, what is the mech. of Drug X?

I had some fungi questions that weren't in FA. Didn't feel like micro was representative of how well I knew it.

I had a lot of neuro questions (anat [radiology and gross] and path). This is one of my strengths, so it wasn't too bad.

The behav sci questions had ethics answer choices that I couldn't narrow down. Calculations were fine however.

Honestly, anat (except neuro) and embryo had very few questions but I basically had to guess. Little from FA/UW.

I had some questions that were practically identical to the NBMEs I took... I wonder how many other questions I would have got right if I did all the other NBMEs, but no one has the time or money for that.

Bottom line - I'm sure the curve isn't as difficult as the NBME. I wouldn't change how I studied or the resources I used. Hard to gauge how I did but I felt prepared overall.

 

[RichieVallens]

it's not necessarily that you're reading to slow, but not reading fast enough. Big difference there.

 

[RichieVallens]

gonna go smoke some of that wacky tobacky are ya eh? Ladies and gentlemen, a future healthcare professional.

 

[chutzpah]

Well today's the big day. T-2 hours.

 

[Stingarov]

Good luck chutzpah!

 

[MDSlacker]

.

 

[RichieVallens]

It wasn't that bad. There were a few I didn't know. I also missed a few on purpose because a lot of the good residencies out there aren't looking for a gunner. They like to see a broad range of grades and indicators that the applicant isn't a perfectionist and is real and personable; not someone who's had there nose buried in a question bank the whole summer of their second year.

 

[hardee17]

I also missed a few on purpose because a lot of the good residencies out there aren't looking for a gunner

good call bro, thanks for the heads up

 

[Doctordad86]

It wasn't that bad. There were a few I didn't know. I also missed a few on purpose because a lot of the good residencies out there aren't looking for a gunner. They like to see a broad range of grades and indicators that the applicant isn't a perfectionist and is real and personable; not someone who's had there nose buried in a question bank the whole summer of their second year.

Sound strategy. 👍

 

[g8orlife]

It wasn't that bad. There were a few I didn't know. I also missed a few on purpose because a lot of the good residencies out there aren't looking for a gunner. They like to see a broad range of grades and indicators that the applicant isn't a perfectionist and is real and personable; not someone who's had there nose buried in a question bank the whole summer of their second year.

😕

:troll:

 

[Asklepian]

I take Step 1 tomorrow. Note to self: miss questions on purpose so as not to look like you would be a competent physician. Thanks, SDN forums!

 

[Transposony]

It wasn't that bad. There were a few I didn't know. I also missed a few on purpose because a lot of the good residencies out there aren't looking for a gunner. They like to see a broad range of grades and indicators that the applicant isn't a perfectionist and is real and personable; not someone who's had there nose buried in a question bank the whole summer of their second year.

😕

 

[Brain Bucket]

It wasn't that bad. There were a few I didn't know. I also missed a few on purpose because a lot of the good residencies out there aren't looking for a gunner. They like to see a broad range of grades and indicators that the applicant isn't a perfectionist and is real and personable; not someone who's had there nose buried in a question bank the whole summer of their second year.

Thanks for the lol. It's been awhile.

 

[startswithb]

Took it today.

What was good: lots of very simple questions >50% that I knew from UWorld, FA. Plenty of buzzwords. Very broad subject matter. Lots of micro and pharm. Straightforward genetics.

What was hard: Incredibly long stems and numerous lab values. TONS of past medical history. I definitely had to resort to reading the last sentence, then if that wasn't enough, skimming the passage for important points. If I had to read every vignette word for word I would not have finished. I was uncharacteristically pressed for time.

The other 50% of the test involved extrapolating some concept and applying it to their question. "This happened...based on what you know about x...what will happen to y." A solid understanding of physiology and path will get you to the answer.

What I wished I was stronger on: histology. Probably not a problem for most people, but at my school we blew off histo so hard.

 

[beatsbydre]

I have done NBME 15 already...looking to take one more NBME (a week from exam). What do y'all recommend? I've been thinking 13 since that's the next number but any other suggestions/tips?

 

[Phloston]

the curve will allow you to get more questions incorrect and get the same score. based on the number of people that have expressed the test is magnitudes times harder than any other prep resource, I would venture to guess that the curve will be more forgiving. also, the difficult questions cause you to get flustered and will inevitably cause careless errors. I think the nbme takes all of this into account. if you look at phloston's posts you'll see that he did make the same kind of errors you are alluding to and still scored well. and it seems like he didn't get a form as difficult as ours, either.

Funny enough, I actually thought I had a hard form. There's also a person on SDN who had the same exact test as I (at least ten of the same questions appearing at the same locations throughout the test), and we both agreed that it was a difficult version, meaning there were quite a few ambiguous questions that we could imagine may appear to a lesser extent on some other Step1 versions; for example, NBME12 has ambiguous genetics, but NBME5 is extremely easy. I'd say my test closely matched an average of NBMEs11-13 in terms of structure and difficulty.

I'm aware of five crushing errors I had made and still pulled a 262. But honestly, this is fair, because I hadn't made any errors on NBME12 and had a 266 on that one, and on NBMEs6+7 I made a surfeit of errors and only got 252/254 on those.

That being said, the lesson to be learned is that if you make genuine errors on the NBMEs and still score well, know that that will reflect your real exam, and if you make errors, you'll still be okay.

 

[Stingarov]

I have done NBME 15 already...looking to take one more NBME (a week from exam). What do y'all recommend? I've been thinking 13 since that's the next number but any other suggestions/tips?

13 is a good plan. I took NBME 15 and was at an all-time high in confidence afterward, then 13 brought me back to down earth a little (though the impression i've gotten is that 13 is easier than 15, I really feel it's just a somewhat different focus).

 

[chutzpah]

Damn I thought it was really rough. I've been getting 245 250 247 on my last 3 NBMEs and I felt like the exam was really difficult in comparison. Ended up with 79% first pass on UWorld random, timed.

I marked on average 15 per block that I wasn't too sure on. Hopefully the curve is much more generous. I'll be ecstatic if I break 240.

I didn't have many buzzwords on my exam, it felt like a lot of question stems had a lot of dis-tractors with a final answer choice that could be deduced based on either a final lab finding or answer choice elimination. Lots of biochem methods which I'm pretty good at but way more than I anticipated. Also vitamins are heavily tested. There was a ton of basic fundamental physiology concepts which I wasn't anticipating and I ran low on time on 2 of the blocks (no time to look over marked questions)

I think I may have missed upwards of 70-80 questions which shouldn't bode well for me. (I know I missed 15 for sure)

Edit: Looking at some previous posts I seem to have had the same experience as ssdk (except my harder blocks were in the beginning)

 

[Sloo0]

Damn I thought it was really rough. I've been getting 245 250 247 on my last 3 NBMEs and I felt like the exam was really difficult in comparison. Ended up with 79% first pass on UWorld random, timed.

I marked on average 15 per block that I wasn't too sure on. Hopefully the curve is much more generous. I'll be ecstatic if I break 240.

I didn't have many buzzwords on my exam, it felt like a lot of question stems had a lot of dis-tractors with a final answer choice that could be deduced based on either a final lab finding or answer choice elimination. Lots of biochem methods which I'm pretty good at but way more than I anticipated. Also vitamins are heavily tested. There was a ton of basic fundamental physiology concepts which I wasn't anticipating and I ran low on time on 2 of the blocks (no time to look over marked questions)

I think I may have missed upwards of 70-80 questions which shouldn't bode well for me. (I know I missed 15 for sure)

Edit: Looking at some previous posts I seem to have had the same experience as ssdk (except my harder blocks were in the beginning)

I am in negotiations with McDonalds, they told me that my chances of being hired will double if I am able to bring in a second applicant, you in?

 

[rodmichael82]

It wasn't that bad. There were a few I didn't know. I also missed a few on purpose because a lot of the good residencies out there aren't looking for a gunner. They like to see a broad range of grades and indicators that the applicant isn't a perfectionist and is real and personable; not someone who's had there nose buried in a question bank the whole summer of their second year.

Trolololol

 

[AvocadoLover]

Damn I thought it was really rough. I've been getting 245 250 247 on my last 3 NBMEs and I felt like the exam was really difficult in comparison. Ended up with 79% first pass on UWorld random, timed.

I marked on average 15 per block that I wasn't too sure on. Hopefully the curve is much more generous. I'll be ecstatic if I break 240.

I didn't have many buzzwords on my exam, it felt like a lot of question stems had a lot of dis-tractors with a final answer choice that could be deduced based on either a final lab finding or answer choice elimination. Lots of biochem methods which I'm pretty good at but way more than I anticipated. Also vitamins are heavily tested. There was a ton of basic fundamental physiology concepts which I wasn't anticipating and I ran low on time on 2 of the blocks (no time to look over marked questions)

I think I may have missed upwards of 70-80 questions which shouldn't bode well for me. (I know I missed 15 for sure)

Edit: Looking at some previous posts I seem to have had the same experience as ssdk (except my harder blocks were in the beginning)

Agree, I took it yesterday as well and found it super hard. Took NBME 13 and 15 (>240) and I thought it was much harder than those. Totally bummed. Never have issues with time as I am a fast reader but definitely had time issues during 2 blocks. Stems were extremely long and sometimes started to point you towards a certain diagnosis but then labs and other data would definitely show a different diagnosis. Would certainly read the questions first before answering if you have a long stem, because at times the question could be answered without even reading the stem. Didn't have much ethics/behavioral (maybe 1-2 questions/block) which is a bummer because I usually get all of those right. Had the typical neuro syndromes but then some super hard neuroanatomy - like identify an area on a gross brain photo but very nit picky like the exact spot on the gyrus not just like the general area. Lots of pharmacokinetics graphs (can't complain about that one!), a few stats, difficult physio - mostly the arrows type. Anyhow, I guess the difficulty of these exams really does vary greatly depending on when you take it... Just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Good luck to everyone taking the exam soon!

 

[rodmichael82]

Anyhow, I guess the difficulty of these exams really does vary greatly depending on when you take it... Just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Good luck to everyone taking the exam soon!

This might sounds like a dumb questions but lol do you feel like there's a predictable pattern of when to take it?

Is it better or "easier" to take it early or late?

 

[doctoring2015]

Agree, I took it yesterday as well and found it super hard. Took NBME 13 and 15 (>240) and I thought it was much harder than those. Totally bummed. Never have issues with time as I am a fast reader but definitely had time issues during 2 blocks. Stems were extremely long and sometimes started to point you towards a certain diagnosis but then labs and other data would definitely show a different diagnosis. Would certainly read the questions first before answering if you have a long stem, because at times the question could be answered without even reading the stem. Didn't have much ethics/behavioral (maybe 1-2 questions/block) which is a bummer because I usually get all of those right. Had the typical neuro syndromes but then some super hard neuroanatomy - like identify an area on a gross brain photo but very nit picky like the exact spot on the gyrus not just like the general area. Lots of pharmacokinetics graphs (can't complain about that one!), a few stats, difficult physio - mostly the arrows type. Anyhow, I guess the difficulty of these exams really does vary greatly depending on when you take it... Just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Good luck to everyone taking the exam soon!

I wasn't going to post, but I was too much in a similar boat. I took the test on tuesday and also ran out of time for a bunch of questions. I'd say I had to blindly guess on ~15 questions(5 on the last block...) and had to rush on a bunch of others. I thought it was just because I have to meticulously read the questions stems until I feel pressed for time. I was marking 15 questions a block too, but it was nice to take a educated guess shot at those; it's just frustrating not even being able to give questions a shot. Let it be a lesson to you future test takers, especially the ones that are pressed on time on the practice NBME's like I was, adjust!
-also agree with the neuroanatomy questions
-Also, for anyone who has yet to take the test, it's not that bad, make sure you go into a more relaxed studying mode 5-6 days out(i did this to ensure better sleep and not risk one of those sleepless nights) and make it a point not to study anything the day before, it'll just freak you out and taking that day off will do wonders for you're ability to think through questions on test day, I don't know how the brain does it, but I was remembering **** from all over the place.

-got a 228 on NBME13 3 weeks out, and a 230 on NBME15 one week out. But I know I perform better on the real thing, so will probably be pretty disappointed if I don't break 240.

 

[stronghold]

I did some Kaplan Qbank questions on drug resistance. I don't feel very comfortable. Sometimes they state multi-drug resistance is coded by transpososn, sometimes vancomycin resistance is through bacteriophage. Is there a good reference to understand and memorize all that crazy resistance stuff?

 

[BP87]

My roommate and I were talking about this last night (we r both preparing for the usmle) and we were wondering if anyone here thought about how the curve this time will be based on the performance of those that took it recently (ie may-july). The vast majority of test takers around this time of the year are AMGs who are known to score higher than IMGs(nothing against imgs, ive met some brilliant ones). In fact there's a rumour that imgs specifically avoid these months. So my question here is will the curve be very forgiving this time that we dont have ppl that normally "bring the average down"? I know it sounds bad and egocentric but just wanted to hear your thoughts.

 

[Stingarov]

All those who are about to dodge time limits, anatomy questions, and arrows, we salute you! Good luck!

As to the curve variance per month, if that were the case then that is a vitiation of the test's internal validity. It's moving the goalposts, and would be a biased test if I ever saw one.

 

[BP87]

All those who are about to dodge time limits, anatomy questions, and arrows, we salute you! Good luck!

As to the curve variance per month, if that were the case then that is a vitiation of the test's internal validity. It's moving the goalposts, and would be a biased test if I ever saw one.

But the test has changed recently and we've all been hearing that it is a lot harder now. Some ppl going as far as saying harder than uworld (which is tricky as is imho) So that tells me that the curve has to change because the questions are different now. We cant be grades based on preAprils tests (if what ppl are saying about e difficulty is not an exaggeration).
The data has to come from somewhere. Stats is not my cup of tea so id b more than happy to listen to a logical explanation if u have one

 

[Stingarov]

But the test has changed recently and we've all been hearing that it is a lot harder now. Some ppl going as far as saying harder than uworld (which is tricky as is imho) So that tells me that the curve has to change because the questions are different now. We cant be grades based on preAprils tests (if what ppl are saying about e difficulty is not an exaggeration).
The data has to come from somewhere. Stats is not my cup of tea so id b more than happy to listen to a logical explanation if u have one

I do not regarding test changes, that's a good point. I thought you had meant in general as a standard. Sorry, that's what happens when you're trying to adapt to skim material because people keep telling you you'll run out of time, lol; missed the May-July part (also trying to do questions and study simultaneously since my exam is Saturday, good times). You raise an interesting question.

 

[beatsbydre]

13 is a good plan. I took NBME 15 and was at an all-time high in confidence afterward, then 13 brought me back to down earth a little (though the impression i've gotten is that 13 is easier than 15, I really feel it's just a somewhat different focus).

I didn't do as well as I hoped on NBME 15 (233). I am hoping for a 5+ point increase on NBME 13 after 10 days.

 

[beatsbydre]

Damn I thought it was really rough. I've been getting 245 250 247 on my last 3 NBMEs and I felt like the exam was really difficult in comparison. Ended up with 79% first pass on UWorld random, timed.

I marked on average 15 per block that I wasn't too sure on. Hopefully the curve is much more generous. I'll be ecstatic if I break 240.

I didn't have many buzzwords on my exam, it felt like a lot of question stems had a lot of dis-tractors with a final answer choice that could be deduced based on either a final lab finding or answer choice elimination. Lots of biochem methods which I'm pretty good at but way more than I anticipated. Also vitamins are heavily tested. There was a ton of basic fundamental physiology concepts which I wasn't anticipating and I ran low on time on 2 of the blocks (no time to look over marked questions)

I think I may have missed upwards of 70-80 questions which shouldn't bode well for me. (I know I missed 15 for sure)

Edit: Looking at some previous posts I seem to have had the same experience as ssdk (except my harder blocks were in the beginning)

What was the average of your last 5-10 blocks on UWorld?

 

[GyroProtagonist]

Damn I thought it was really rough. I've been getting 245 250 247 on my last 3 NBMEs and I felt like the exam was really difficult in comparison. Ended up with 79% first pass on UWorld random, timed.

I marked on average 15 per block that I wasn't too sure on. Hopefully the curve is much more generous. I'll be ecstatic if I break 240.

I didn't have many buzzwords on my exam, it felt like a lot of question stems had a lot of dis-tractors with a final answer choice that could be deduced based on either a final lab finding or answer choice elimination. Lots of biochem methods which I'm pretty good at but way more than I anticipated. Also vitamins are heavily tested. There was a ton of basic fundamental physiology concepts which I wasn't anticipating and I ran low on time on 2 of the blocks (no time to look over marked questions)

I think I may have missed upwards of 70-80 questions which shouldn't bode well for me. (I know I missed 15 for sure)

Edit: Looking at some previous posts I seem to have had the same experience as ssdk (except my harder blocks were in the beginning)

Don't panic. I was also sure that I had missed tons of questions when I walked out of the exam. It's totally normal to overanalyze and just feel like crap walking out of the test.

Go do something totally non-med related for a bit, take your mind off it for at least two weeks, and trust in the predictive power of the NBMEs. Your predicted scores were grouped tightly and I'd be surprised if you didn't score within 5 points either direction of a 247. Good luck!

 

[chutzpah]

beatsbydre: I reset Uworld and was getting 90+% and only got through 60% on the second pass.

GyroProtagonist: My only concern is that I was one of those people who was super buzzword dependent for my NBMEs, classic triad type questions, translocation, etc.

Oh well, time to forget about this exam and SDN until I get my score back.

 

[FIREitUP]

But the test has changed recently and we've all been hearing that it is a lot harder now. Some ppl going as far as saying harder than uworld (which is tricky as is imho) So that tells me that the curve has to change because the questions are different now. We cant be grades based on preAprils tests (if what ppl are saying about e difficulty is not an exaggeration).
The data has to come from somewhere. Stats is not my cup of tea so id b more than happy to listen to a logical explanation if u have one

the test has evolved. micro was one of my best subjects going in and they found a way to make it one of my worst. the nbme is adding more and more distractors and asking questions in a more roundabout way. add to that the 10 paragraph long vignettes and they got you on the run the entire test. my test was undoubtedly harder than uworld

 

[beatsbydre]

the test has evolved. micro was one of my best subjects going in and they found a way to make it one of my worst. the nbme is adding more and more distractors and asking questions in a more roundabout way. add to that the 10 paragraph long vignettes and they got you on the run the entire test. my test was undoubtedly harder than uworld

What about the difficulty of the real test vs. NBME 15?

 

[FIREitUP]

What about the difficulty of the real test vs. NBME 15?

unfortunately i didn't have time to take nbme 15. i would expect it was harder than 15, though.

 

[BP87]

the test has evolved. micro was one of my best subjects going in and they found a way to make it one of my worst. the nbme is adding more and more distractors and asking questions in a more roundabout way. add to that the 10 paragraph long vignettes and they got you on the run the entire test. my test was undoubtedly harder than uworld

So its only fair for the curve to change as well. And if it does change, the changes will have to reflect the scores of those who have recently taken the test (AMGs) meaning that the curve wont be as forgiving as it was say prior to the changes as the average now will be based on AMGs' performance (most IMGs dont take it now)
I think thats why NBME is taking their sweet time scoring the test. They're trying to come up with a curve. Man this is sounfair. I really hope im wrong

 

[FIREitUP]

So its only fair for the curve to change as well. And if it does change, the changes will have to reflect the scores of those who have recently taken the test (AMGs) meaning that the curve wont be as forgiving as it was say prior to the changes as the average now will be based on AMGs' performance (most IMGs dont take it now)
I think thats why NBME is taking their sweet time scoring the test. They're trying to come up with a curve. Man this is sounfair. I really hope im wrong

i think you're overthinking this. many IMG's are taking it now and lots of AMG's take it in winter due to 1.5 yr curriculum.

 

[BP87]

i think you're overthinking this. many IMG's are taking it now and lots of AMG's take it in winter due to 1.5 yr curriculum.

I hope I am. But i also know that the MAJORITY of imgs purposely avoid may-july. In fact i read on a usmle prep powerpoint by PASS (i wish i could find it now) that the majority take it around sept-april 🙂

 

[hardee17]

The whole timing rumor/issue has been debunked and even officially refuted.

http://www.nbme.org/students/Urban-Legends/index.html

 

[thehealer]

Sorry if this has already been discussed at length, but I have already wasted an hour searching, so I'll just ask! What are you guys doing in terms of reviewing your NBME's after you take them. Assuming that I have the "extended feedback" versions and a copy of the answers (or even if I didn't have a copy), is it worth it to go back through and make sure you understand the ones you got wrong? Or do you think it's better to use that time to just do more UWorld questions since there are of course thorough explanations? What have people been doing?

 

[Jonari]

Sorry if this has already been discussed at length, but I have already wasted an hour searching, so I'll just ask! What are you guys doing in terms of reviewing your NBME's after you take them. Assuming that I have the "extended feedback" versions and a copy of the answers (or even if I didn't have a copy), is it worth it to go back through and make sure you understand the ones you got wrong? Or do you think it's better to use that time to just do more UWorld questions since there are of course thorough explanations? What have people been doing?

Not looking up the correct answers as to why you got the questions wrong, shortly after finishing your NBME imo is pretty bad. I know you're tired after the 4 hours, but it helps with retaining and understanding why you got the question wrong.

After doing so many NBMEs you'll have enough stamina to do the 4 blocks back-2-back at ease. You can finish it, and immediately review the wrong questions.

 

[Jonari]

It would be nice to know how the scoring for the exam goes. Read a few pages earlier how somebody was pretty close to figuring out how the scoring for the NBMEs worked...but nothing etched in stone

 

[aidama]

Today's form wasn't so bad. A couple tricky questions that left me wondering what the hell was wrong with the person in the question stem, but not bad. Didn't have the test form claiming an abundance of anatomy/neuroanatomy or heavy on one subject. I do remember a lot of weird-ass genetics questions though. I'm hoping for a 210-220. Such a better test than the COMLEX so I'm glad I took it.

 

[Jonari]

Today's form wasn't so bad. A couple tricky questions that left me wondering what the hell was wrong with the person in the question stem, but not bad. Didn't have the test form claiming an abundance of anatomy/neuroanatomy or heavy on one subject. I do remember a lot of weird-ass genetics questions though. I'm hoping for a 210-220. Such a better test than the COMLEX so I'm glad I took it.

congrats on finishing. did you take any practice exams or anything?

 

[Asklepian]

Just took the exam today!
To those who did really well on Step 1: how did you feel coming out of the exam? Did you have any gauge on how you did?

I ask because I feel pretty good, but that actually makes me nervous =\

 

[aidama]

congrats on finishing. did you take any practice exams or anything?

All of UWorld, 3NMBE's (do we count all of COMBANK and 3 COMSAE's 😉).... so I hope I get what I wanted! If I could go back in time I would have done more if not all the NMBE's because like, I want to say 3+ or more questions were similar if not identical to ones that I had seen on those practice tests. I didn't actually do my first NMBE until 3 or 2 weeks out from the USMLE - definitely would have done more and earlier.

 

[IkeBoy18]

I didnt have such a great time yesterday. My exam was definitely neuroanatomy heavy. I probably had 20+ questions with sections asking about different correlations. It was nothing, I mean absolutely nothing like the practice exams. I always finish the NBME practice exams with lots of confidence and lots of time. But this exam was ridiculous. I ran out of time on every single block and had to rush through lots of questions. I would say 85 -90% of my question stems were super super long. Basically the longest ones you would see on NBMEs except instead of maybe 10.. it was like 38 of the 46 questions would have long backgrounds coupled with long list of labs.

I feel like i guess on 50% of the questions and I am very "mark" lenient if I dont know the answer for sure..and I had 130 checked by the end!

I have no clue what I walked in on yesterday but I hope the curve is generous.

 

[beatsbydre]

I didnt have such a great time yesterday. My exam was definitely neuroanatomy heavy. I probably had 20+ questions with sections asking about different correlations. It was nothing, I mean absolutely nothing like the practice exams. I always finish the NBME practice exams with lots of confidence and lots of time. But this exam was ridiculous. I ran out of time on every single block and had to rush through lots of questions. I would say 85 -90% of my question stems were super super long. Basically the longest ones you would see on NBMEs except instead of maybe 10.. it was like 38 of the 46 questions would have long backgrounds coupled with long list of labs.

I feel like i guess on 50% of the questions and I am very "mark" lenient if I dont know the answer for sure..and I had 130 checked by the end!

I have no clue what I walked in on yesterday but I hope the curve is generous.

for the long question stems, were most of the information in there important? or is it just a lot of irrelevant stuff?

 

[FIREitUP]

for the long question stems, were most of the information in there important? or is it just a lot of irrelevant stuff?

there are pertinent positives and negatives in the stem, but also some distractors, but there's really no way to distinguish the two.

 

[startswithb]

I definitely don't think it's realistic to expect the real exam to be as simple as the NBMEs. I did forms 6-15 and they are 75% really simple and 15% thinking and 10% really difficult. Real exam is more 50% simple 40% thinking and 10% crazy. As long as the scoring works out similarly in the end it'll be fine. Just don't get freaked out and expect to breeze through the actual exam like the NBMEs.