Official 2014 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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this might be a dumb q, but does non-classic galactosemia (galactokinase deficiency) result in "reducing sugar in the urine"? i know galactose leaks out in the urine right?

"reducing sugars" are technically lac, glu, and fru. FA makes it sound like only fructose intolerance (def. of aldolase B) has reducing sugar. while we're at it, wouldn't fructokinase def. (essential fructosuria) def. have "reducing sugar" in the urine?
 
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Anybody supplement their neuro with High Yield Neuro? It's a perceived weak point, although Im actually doing better than I thought with FA and Pathoma. Don't wanna get killed with cross sections on the real deal though. How long does HYN take to get through?
 
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Do not worry about dsm 4 v 5. FA psych section is more than enough for step 1 and actually covers most of what you need for your psych shelf as well
 
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Jemeni said:
Anybody supplement their neuro with High Yield Neuro? It's a perceived weak point, although Im actually doing better than I thought with FA and Pathoma. Don't wanna get killed with cross sections on the real deal though. How long does HYN take to get through?
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Not long. It might take you 2-3 days to go through the 24 chapters. The cerebellum and basal nuclei chs aren't really good though. Read that from Kaplan notes if you have the time.
 
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BlueArc said:
Not long. It might take you 2-3 days to go through the 24 chapters. The cerebellum and basal nuclei chs aren't really good though. Read that from Kaplan notes if you have the time.
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When did you read it? I was hoping to get through the first aid neuro section as well as HY Neuro during my neuro block in a few weeks, but I don't know if that's being overly ambitious.
 
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reading HY neuro now, just did the 1st 7 chapters, mostly review. it is a nice and easy read
damn guys, iam almost 3 weeks out and loosing steam/getting nervous. Did uwsa2 yesterday and got 265; but I feel like always happens, I score well then get too excited/ambitions then the real deal destroys me! I need motivation as well as my concentration is dipping and FAST!
 
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Bancrofti said:
When did you read it? I was hoping to get through the first aid neuro section as well as HY Neuro during my neuro block in a few weeks, but I don't know if that's being overly ambitious.
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Did it this month. No it's not overly ambitious, you can cover FA with HY neuro together if you know basics.
 
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Jemeni said:
Anybody supplement their neuro with High Yield Neuro? It's a perceived weak point, although Im actually doing better than I thought with FA and Pathoma. Don't wanna get killed with cross sections on the real deal though. How long does HYN take to get through?
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During my neuro course, I found The Human Brain by Nolte to be EXTREMELY helpful. However, it likely is too much for Step 1. After going through the question banks, FA+HY Neuro seems to be more than enough.

Also, I was hoping that someone could give me some insight. I have being doing blocks of questions on Kaplan QBank and I have been averaging around 75-80%. I have reviewed Neuro, MSK, some GI, and some microbiology at this point. My test is in early June. Seeing 75% is disconcerting and I was wondering if I should be concerned/if missing a quarter of the questions is normal for someone at this point in their studying.
 
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Jemeni said:
Anybody supplement their neuro with High Yield Neuro? It's a perceived weak point, although Im actually doing better than I thought with FA and Pathoma. Don't wanna get killed with cross sections on the real deal though. How long does HYN take to get through?
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High yield is pretty good.
My pal swears by Najeeb videos too.
 
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Acetabulous said:
Also, I was hoping that someone could give me some insight. I have being doing blocks of questions on Kaplan QBank and I have been averaging around 75-80%. I have reviewed Neuro, MSK, some GI, and some microbiology at this point. My test is in early June. Seeing 75% is disconcerting and I was wondering if I should be concerned/if missing a quarter of the questions is normal for someone at this point in their studying.
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A 75-80% cumulative average is great for your first pass of Kaplan, especially if you haven't even reviewed everything yet. It tends to be the lower of the averages out of the 3 major banks, even for people that do well on the others.
 
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http://pn.bmj.com/content/11/3/167.full.pdf
I liked Brainstem rules of 4.
Also clinical neuroanatomy made ridiculously simple brainstem chapter.
I think the trickiest questions have to do with CN 5,7,9,10 as they are the mixed nerves and different functions are a/w different nuclei. If you take a few hours to understand what nuclei is responsible for what functions of each, where they are in the brainstem, and are able to integrate that info with the branchial arches info in embryo of FA 2014, you are able to make sense of 2 difficult topics without just brute force memorization (starting with Arch 1,2,3,4,and 6 correlate with V2/V3, 7, 9, 10 (swallowing muscle + superior laryngeal n) and 10 (speaking muscles and recurrent laryngeal n) respectively). You can go further and make connections with the aortic arches. Is it low yield? Probably. These questions are probably over represented in UW. But being able to relate development with final product makes the info stick better and makes learning it less painful IMO because they way things start out and the way things end up almost kind of makes sense a little bit, and it also helps you solidify testable anatomy (ex recurrent laryngeal innervates all muscles of larynx except cricothyroid, Anterior 2/3 tongue taste and somatosensory is CN7 and V3 respectively via the shared lingual n, while posterior 1/3 taste and somatosensory is CN9, etc). Reviewing these things together (ie not in the order in FA) made it seem less like random, futile cramming of facts and more like I was actually learning something.
 
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what is everyone's take on the kaplan qbank?
It is really detailed orientated.
I am getting in the low to mid 70s on random timed 1st pass but for UW i am getting in the mid 80s with Rx being in between the two. Is the kaplan qbank just a harder bank in terms of asking details? Any insight would be appreciated!
 
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Like usmleRX asks questions from FA, kaplan qbank asks a lot of questions from their lecture notes and med essentials. I just finished kaplan and I thought it was harder than usmlerx. Usmlerx was good because it reinforced FA but kaplan was good for picking apart details to come to a solution. In some aspects there were probably 20-30 wtf questions in terms of details I have never seen, and some of the graph-type asking questions were off the wall, but I am glad I did it.
 
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Bought NBME 5 and 6 right before the deadline and realized that I had very little free time in the next 3 weeks, so ran through 5 in less that 2 hours yesterday after studying. Felt decent about it, although I only got a 310. No biochem since first semester of MS1 paired with no GI/Endocrine yet really hurt. I also came away thinking that menstrual cycle/hormonal regulation is particularly high yield.
 
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Petypet said:
Like usmleRX asks questions from FA, kaplan qbank asks a lot of questions from their lecture notes and med essentials. I just finished kaplan and I thought it was harder than usmlerx. Usmlerx was good because it reinforced FA but kaplan was good for picking apart details to come to a solution. In some aspects there were probably 20-30 wtf questions in terms of details I have never seen, and some of the graph-type asking questions were off the wall, but I am glad I did it.
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so do you recimmend kaplan or rx first?
Petypet said:
Like usmleRX asks questions from FA, kaplan qbank asks a lot of questions from their lecture notes and med essentials. I just finished kaplan and I thought it was harder than usmlerx. Usmlerx was good because it reinforced FA but kaplan was good for picking apart details to come to a solution. In some aspects there were probably 20-30 wtf questions in terms of details I have never seen, and some of the graph-type asking questions were off the wall, but I am glad I did it.
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Having done both would you recommend Kaplan or Rx first if you were before your dedicated study period just doing practice questions and why?
 
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With Kaplan, about 10% of the questions are such n
mybubbles627 said:
so do you recimmend kaplan or rx first?


Having done both would you recommend Kaplan or Rx first if you were before your dedicated study period just doing practice questions and why?
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I'd do Rx before doing Kaplan. Kaplan has a lot of questions that either give you too much info, like lab values that basically steer you into an answer, or ask about low-yield minutiae. Rx questions are a lot more like the questions on the USMLE practice exam, and, from prior students, are a lot more like the real Step exam. However, Rx questions are usually more straight-forward than UWorld questions, which are probably the fullest test of knowledge.
 
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I'm going to disagree with the above and say that if you're entertaining the idea of doing 1-3 qbanks, then do Kaplan before Rx. As always the priority is Uworld and there are varying opinions on whether you should do that first or last.

Rx emphasizes 1st aid material, so I think it is the more high yield of the other 2 qbanks. That being said, in my opinion, as you get closer to exam day you will want to be using sources that are more relevant to your prep. I actually find Kaplan to be a great qbank at making you think to answer the questions (usually) and drilling home different concepts. But obviously since something that is so heavily based on 1st aid makes it easy to test your knowledge of it, it would make more sense to me to build a solid base 1st (through Kaplan), then to fine tune and see what you don't know from what's most important (Rx). Even the longer questions from Rx tend to 1st order level type thinking so it's usually a you know it or you don't type bank to me.

I also never really got the whole minutiae thing with Kaplan either. More than 50% done with Kaplan qbank and any question I've gotten wrong or when reviewing first perceived as a "wtf, why did I need to know this" type question... that detail is always in 1st aid either directly or in another form.
 
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ArmyTiger said:
With Kaplan, about 10% of the questions are such n

I'd do Rx before doing Kaplan. Kaplan has a lot of questions that either give you too much info, like lab values that basically steer you into an answer, or ask about low-yield minutiae. Rx questions are a lot more like the questions on the USMLE practice exam, and, from prior students, are a lot more like the real Step exam. However, Rx questions are usually more straight-forward than UWorld questions, which are probably the fullest test of knowledge.
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I would do Rx, then kaplan and finish with uworld. I liked that I could use Rx to learn FA, whereas kaplan reinforced what I learned and added to it with minute details.
 
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bucks900 said:
Congrats!!! Mind sharing your study plan @BrainBuff?
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Thanks! And of course! -

We take our exam middle of our junior year and after completing a full year of clinical rotations which i found extremely helpful. I have been using FA all along and I was very familiar with it. I had 8 weeks to prepare. Started with FA, and then I did the USMLERx. Then I went ahead with a second pass at FA. I used Pathoma on and off, but more at the end. I really gunned for the exam. I would wake up at 7 am and studied until about 9 pm every night except on week ends. By the 7th week I was getting a little burned out, and began taking some breaks throughout the day.....but overall I was fairly consistent.

I took two practice tests and scored in the high 240s...After that, I just could not take a look at another exam so I stopped.... So glad it is over!
 
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001100010010011 said:
Random-timed?
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I am doing everything tutor mode, but I think its probably personal preference. I do a few timed during the week and I always end up with 10 minutes to spare, thus I am using the qbanks for learning and reinforcing material. My goal is to do 3 qbanks with 5 weeks left, and at that point build up stamina w/ several practice exams and a 2nd run thru uworld timed.
 
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Hey guys! Quick question. My exam is in 30 days. I'm 60% through uworld with an average of 62%. I'm brushing up on physio since it is one of my weak areas (60% on UW) and I have begun reading BRS Physio; my QUESTION IS.. IS IT WORTH DOING Rx Qbank at this point in time? My last NBME (form 11) was in JANUARY when I was battling a resp virus and I got 170 🙁

PLEASE HELP!
 
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Cali 916 said:
Hey guys! Quick question. My exam is in 30 days. I'm 60% through uworld with an average of 62%. I'm brushing up on physio since it is one of my weak areas (60% on UW) and I have begun reading BRS Physio; my QUESTION IS.. IS IT WORTH DOING Rx Qbank at this point in time? My last NBME (form 11) was in JANUARY when I was battling a resp virus and I got 170 🙁

PLEASE HELP!
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Before getting Rx, try taking another NBME to see where you are. Finishing UWorld is probably a better use of your time than Rx.
 
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BrainBuff said:
Scores out today for the February 21st Exam!

Average for the administration 227. Report states "most scores fall between 140 and 260". A Pass was 192.

I got a 260 - so stoked! Now gotta plan those clerkships!
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Freaking amazing dude!
Congrats!
 
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Cali 916 said:
This is my 3rd full pass of UW w/ FA. I'll be taking an NBME this week, it'll be either 7, 15 or 16. I've taken NBME 6, 11 and 13.
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This is your third full pass of Uworld and your current average now is a 62%?? Have you improved on your NBMEs since the January one you took? It's a learning tool, so a 62% itself isn't an alarm, but the fact that it's your third time and it's still at that % suggests that you may not be learning from it like you're supposed to.
 
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Always do Rx before Kaplan.

QBank % is always lower for Kaplan. 75-80% is high-240s-range. 80% is low-mid-250s.

Doing questions is the unequivocal best use of one's time. It doesn't matter if you blitz it and finish an entire QBank in a week; doing it is better than not doing it, period. The normal distribution of people's memories will determine how much minutiae they can remember, but doing the three major QBanks, at a minimum, ensures that the common things are known really well.
 
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Bancrofti said:
This is your third full pass of Uworld and your current average now is a 62%?? Have you improved on your NBMEs since the January one you took? It's a learning tool, so a 62% itself isn't an alarm, but the fact that it's your third time and it's still at that % suggests that you may not be learning from it like you're supposed to.
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Yes, I started Uworld very early in my studies and my previous averages were in the 50's, and I did them in timed tutor and annotated all the information into FA. My January NBME score jumped 40 points since the last NBME which I took in October '13. I agree that I wasn't learning from UW as I'm supposed too and I've begun to write all my incorrect q's into a notebook, which has helped a lot.

Just FYI I've completed:
Kaplan lecture videos with the lecture notes x1
Pathoma x2
FA x2
Lippincott micro cards + lange pharm cards x1

I have a study partner that I study with 6 days a week for a minimum of 10 hours per day, then I go home and study by myself for a few hours. As of now I'm brushing up on my weak areas all while reviewing FA and going through Uworld for the 3rd time. I'll be taking another NBME this week.
 
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Phloston said:
Always do Rx before Kaplan.

QBank % is always lower for Kaplan. 75-80% is high-240s-range. 80% is low-mid-250s.

Doing questions is the unequivocal best use of one's time. It doesn't matter if you blitz it and finish an entire QBank in a week; doing it is better than not doing it, period. The normal distribution of people's memories will determine how much minutiae they can remember, but doing the three major QBanks, at a minimum, ensures that the common things are known really well.
Click to expand...


Man, please don't perpetuate this nonsense. This to me was "old guard" of preparation when people were using Banks to assess knowledge. I think now most people have learned that it's best to use it as a learning tool. I have friends who just took the Step 1 and were in the 50-60 range on kaplan and got 240+ and others who got 230s with high bank %s.

I do appreciate your insight otherwise, though.
 
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addy said:
Man, please don't perpetuate this nonsense. This to me was "old guard" of preparation when people were using Banks to assess knowledge. I think now most people have learned that it's best to use it as a learning tool. I have friends who just took the Step 1 and were in the 50-60 range on kaplan and got 240+ and others who got 230s with high bank %s.

I do appreciate your insight otherwise, though.
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There are always some outliers.
Also, there are some good test takers and some not so good at taking tests.
 
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addy said:
Man, please don't perpetuate this nonsense. This to me was "old guard" of preparation when people were using Banks to assess knowledge. I think now most people have learned that it's best to use it as a learning tool. I have friends who just took the Step 1 and were in the 50-60 range on kaplan and got 240+ and others who got 230s with high bank %s.

I do appreciate your insight otherwise, though.
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I agree with phloston, my qbank avgs for rx and UW are in the 80s but with kaplan iam happy to break a 70; where I loose points is from stupid calculation questions [so nitty gritty] or just a random detail.
 
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Phloston said:
Always do Rx before Kaplan.

QBank % is always lower for Kaplan. 75-80% is high-240s-range. 80% is low-mid-250s.

Doing questions is the unequivocal best use of one's time. It doesn't matter if you blitz it and finish an entire QBank in a week; doing it is better than not doing it, period. The normal distribution of people's memories will determine how much minutiae they can remember, but doing the three major QBanks, at a minimum, ensures that the common things are known really well.
Click to expand...

Why do you say do Rx before Kaplan?
 
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mybubbles627 said:
Why do you say do Rx before Kaplan?
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i am starting to really get pissed with rx; such stupid questions sometimes "if you dont know the exact first aid line/ agree with what we are thinking [which is not always correct], forget getting this question correct". I have sent in dozens of suggestions/errors to the first aid team...feels like a job sometimes lol
 
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Fatalis said:
i am starting to really get pissed with rx; such stupid questions sometimes "if you dont know the exact first aid line/ agree with what we are thinking [which is not always correct], forget getting this question correct". I have sent in dozens of suggestions/errors to the first aid team...feels like a job sometimes lol
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Seconded. Many of the questions are nonsensical. Not to mention that the page references are often missing, incomplete, or incorrect. Still better than Kaplan though...
 
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RandomHero117 said:
Seconded. Many of the questions are nonsensical. Not to mention that the page references are often missing, incomplete, or incorrect. Still better than Kaplan though...
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at first I hated kaplan, now I am getting used to how they ask stuff; sometimes you get "LOL, who cares " question but I think it helps you develop problem solving/ critical thinking.
If Rx were a book, it would have been thrown out....multiple times lol
 
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1) Is there a good resource for neuroanatomy review-cross section images/lesion/clinical syndromes.
I've seen people recommending HY neuroanatomy. What is HY neuro?
2) Any good resources for radiology?
 
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babydragon said:
1) Is there a good resource for neuroanatomy review-cross section images/lesion/clinical syndromes.
I've seen people recommending HY neuroanatomy. What is HY neuro?
2) Any good resources for radiology?
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I saw 1 neuro question and 0 radiology on mine. But if you have kaplan videos their neuro section is pretty amazing for images/review/etc. FA + Kaplan is more than what you need to know for neuro.
 
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Rx should be done before Kaplan because its questions are higher yield. Still do Kaplan, but only after you've done a pass of Rx. Rx also helps reinforce FA because it's by the FA authors; Kaplan is superfluous most of the time.

I cite those Kaplan %s in relation to Step scores because most people freak out at their lower numbers in Kaplan, but they shouldn't.

I had taken NBME3 five months-out and scored 250 (they retired this exam from the NBME website in 2012), then the next day sat the 150-question Kaplan QBank diagnostic and got 73%. I finished the QBank at 81% and had 80/81% on the full-length exams. I then got 257 on NBME5 following. So I'd say ~80% on Kaplan QBank is low-250s and 75-80% is 240-range. That doesn't mean I'm advocating that people use their Kaplan #s to predict their Step scores; I'm just saying they shouldn't freak out if they're 10% lower than those from Rx, for instance.

I'd say Kaplan is specific but not sensitive; if someone scores well in Kaplan, he or she is ruled-in for doing well on Step1. But not doing well doesn't rule him or her out.

So Kaplan: pretty specific; less sensitive
Rx: sensitive; less specific
UWorld and NBMEs: sensitive and specific; NBMEs higher in both than UWorld.
 
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Phloston said:
Rx should be done before Kaplan because its questions are higher yield. Still do Kaplan, but only after you've done a pass of Rx. Rx also helps reinforce FA because it's by the FA authors; Kaplan is superfluous most of the time.

I cite those Kaplan %s in relation to Step scores because most people freak out at their lower numbers in Kaplan, but they shouldn't.

I had taken NBME3 five months-out and scored 250 (they retired this exam from the NBME website in 2012), then the next day sat the 150-question Kaplan QBank diagnostic and got 73%. I finished the QBank at 81% and had 80/81% on the full-length exams. I then got 257 on NBME5 following. So I'd say ~80% on Kaplan QBank is low-250s and 75-80% is 240-range. That doesn't mean I'm advocating that people use their Kaplan #s to predict their Step scores; I'm just saying they shouldn't freak out if they're 10% lower than those from Rx, for instance.

I'd say Kaplan is specific but not sensitive; if someone scores well in Kaplan, he or she is ruled-in for doing well on Step1. But not doing well doesn't rule him or her out.

So Kaplan: pretty specific; less sensitive
Rx: sensitive; less specific
UWorld and NBMEs: sensitive and specific; NBMEs higher in both than UWorld.
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Rx questions are just poorly written tho.
Iam scoring in the 245-255 range yet can only get 70-80 on rx. The reason being that they have a fixation on an answer choice, they toss random stuff into a question,regardless if it contradicts the answer and they expect you to pick it.
ex: guy that had weakness but improved with use [thinking lambert-eaton]: nope, it was Myasths. gravis. The explanation contradicted the answer
kid with a random seizure, no signs of meningitis or microbe illness, then they asked what the next step was? I put: do ct to rule out tumor. Nope, wrong; you check for underlying bacterial illness.
See its questions like these that take away from the rx qbank. I have since abandoned the bank [got lik 90 questions left]. Learned very little. At this point, give me UW or nothing else lol
 
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