USMLE Official 2018 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Foot Fetish]

I've always wanted to start one of these...So here we go!

My stats:

M2
Test time: June 2018
Goal score: 270

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[831929]

Today NBME 19 today ~196
Dedicated starts now and goal is 240+ (was really hoping I can hit 250)
So far just pathoma, BB and sketchy along with classes
Dedicated is ~ 7 weeks
Honored half of class and high passed half so was a bit discouraged by the first NBME, was hoping to at least hit 200-210

 

[idkididk]

guys. blood flow question asking the correlation with radius.

I selected an answer based on F=A*V where area is pi*r^2

so a flow dec 16 fold means a 75% reduction in r.

but it wanted me to use V=IR with V= delta P, and R= 8nl/pi*r^4

which of course gives you the answer of 50%

How do I know which one to use. Is F=AV wrong because I cannot assume constant velocity?

I know this is a dumb easy physics thing but I cannot remember for the life of me how to decide to use F=AV or V=IR.

S.O.S (should say S.T.I for save this idiot)

Yea, so when you change the radius, the velocity also changes with respect to r^2, so you get (r^2) * (r^2)

Source: past engineering major

 

[coldcase331]

Cardio was also my weakest section! I think Cardio depends really heavily on physiology, which at least for me is what makes it difficult. I'm planning on watching Physeo. Normally I'm not a huge fan of Physeo but I think it might be helpful for Cardio specifically.

Surprisingly cardio is my strongest out of all the organ systems:
What helps me is to "visualize" what exactly is going on with the system, and approach each question in a step by step progression. For example:
"Something something blah blah overly wordy prompt trying to get you to realize that this person has HOCM. Which of the following would DECREASE the sound of the murmur?"

Step1: what causes the murmur in HOCM? The murmur is caused by decreased volume in the ventricle, leading to the ventricular wall getting too close to the AV valve.
Step 2: how would I decrease the sound of the murmur? Increase the distance between the ventricular wall/AV valve, do this by increasing volume in the ventricle.
Step 3: How would I increase volume in the ventricle? Increase Preload/Afterload
Step 4: which of the following choices will cause me to have increased preload/afterload?
Step 5: Acquire currency

In terms of how to learn the fundamentals so that it can be applied in this manner, Dr. Ryan (Sattar 2.0) will be your bae.

 

[Nephronlearner]

I am a FMG and I took Step 1 this week. This forum has helped me a great deal so I hope my experience can be helpful to others.
As someone who has already finished med school in Europe, it was quite a daunting task to go back to pre-clinical sciences. The overall prep time for me was about 3 months full time. The first month was really about quickly going through actual review books for subjects I haven't seen in 6 or so years (such as anatomy and biochemistry) and used UsmleRx for those subjects. After that I used UW (random, timed) and FA. Finished UW with 73%. (Did about a third of second pass with ~90%)
Took practice tests in following order:
Diagnostic NBME 13: 219
UWSA 1: 239
NBME 15: 236
NBME 16: 246
NBME 17: 255
NBME 19: 236 (found it really strange)
UWSA 2: 254 and Free 120 on the same day: 93%
NBME 18: 261

Actual exam experience:
First of all, I found the question quality to be significantly lower than UWorld. Question length was similar to UW.
About 50% of the questions were rather easy. Most of them would be comparable to NBME or "easier" (>70% correct) questions on UW. Some even ridiculously so, to the point where I made a few mistakes by missing the obvious thinking "there just had to be a catch somewhere".
To give you an idea (obviously not an actual question), imagine being asked:
"A patient comes in - what do you do:
a) hug the nurse and make a silly face
b) play the piano for them
c) take a history"
And you end up thinking... perhaps you should ensure the patient is comfortable instead of jumping straight to questions about health so... maybe... piano?!

Maybe 5% of the questions were just bizarre. There is no other way to put it. Obviously I cannot write actual questions but just be prepared for some truly bizarre ones and do not feel discouraged when you see them. In order to answer such questions you would need literal PhD-level knowledge of a very peculiar subtopic.
To give you an idea imagine being asked:
What percentage of rats in Finland have lost more than 40% of their body weight in the last 7 months
a) 13%
b) 14%
c) 15%
(again, clearly, not an actual question - but the real ones were just as answerable and appeared equally shocking)

Another 10% of questions were just extremely picky details that you will not find in any of the usual resources and unless you read Moore's anatomy or Robbin's Pathologic Basis of Disease as bedtime reading religiously (I do not recommend doing that, btw), you are unlikely to be able to do much about them unless you remember the exact detail from when you took the module in med school.

The rest of the questions were answerable, but difficult. Not many required deep thinking. Many were comparable to average (~50% correct) UW questions or the more difficult NBME questions.
Some were a bit vague and made familiar topics seem quite discouragingly difficult.
"What do most Italian restaurants offer?
a) pizza
b) lasagne
c) pasta
d) shipyards (okay I know this one is wrong... as for the rest... don't they offer them all?!)"

Another thing worth mentioning is that it felt like an incredibly large number of topics I was absolutely expecting to see - never came up, while some other, significantly "smaller" topics showed up repeatedly.
Overall, I have absolutely no idea how I did. I really felt significantly worse than while doing NBME 17 and 18 and I am well aware of many errors I should not have made. I marked a lot of questions, probably 10 per block, if not more. I don't think I will get anywhere near 90% correct so I would imagine the curve has to be significantly gentler than on NBMEs. I do expect to get more than my UW 73% so overall I guess one could say it's easier than UW.


Advice for those taking the exam soon:
I strongly believe that by far the most important resource is UWorld. Much more so than First Aid. In fact, I found FA to be quite low yield. Sure, many of the things that ended up showing on the exam can be found in FA - but that is really because it is a really detailed book. UWorld has helped me answer more questions correctly than all the other resources combined. I would STRONGLY advise you to do UW twice. You will NOT remember everything and some of those things you forget as they seem "picky" WILL show up on the exam.
I believe knowing "everything" from UW will do a lot more for your score than knowing "all of FA".
I do not believe UsmleRX has helped me much.

Also, very importantly, do not disregard the images. Whether it's a histo slide, a gram stain or a specimen from an autopsy - spend a day going through those things, it may well be worth it (I do not recommend either UW or FA for those).
The best thing about FA are some of the tables (genes associated with diseases, antibodies, HLA, tumor suppressors, oncogenes, second messengers, etc - each chapter has a few of those) - learn them if you are aiming high!

Test centre advice: do not underestimate how long it can take to get in and out of the computer room (due to all the security procedures) every time you want to take a break. I have always been a fast test taker and I would easily finish UW blocks in 45 min but on the real test most of the blocks I finished at 57-58 minutes. I did, however, take a break after every single block to freshen up and I used up all of my break time. Once the test is done, the relief is huge and you may just end up wanting to go to that restaurant while playing the piano and laughing about rats losing weight... as there will not be much more you can do at that point.

Anyway, this is just my experience. I expect many will disagree but if it helps even one of you, I am glad it does.


PS: the wait is even worse than the test

 

[Krabbeman]

Yea, so when you change the radius, the velocity also changes with respect to r^2, so you get (r^2) * (r^2)

Source: past engineering major

Mind blown. Thank you sir. you are a genius

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

So today I found out I will not be able to return home for step 1. Turns out my grandma (who recently moved in with my parents) is deathly allergic to my 2 cats. With my lease ending in 2 weeks and test in June, my only solution is to go do dedicated in my family’s fishing cabin out in the middle of the Everglades for 6 weeks. Literally not a soul within 10+ miles.

Wish me luck. I’ll either be remarkably productive, go insane, or become the inspiration for a B-Grade horror movie.

 

[coldcase331]

So today I found out I will not be able to return home for step 1. Turns out my grandma (who recently moved in with my parents) is deathly allergic to my 2 cats. With my lease ending in 2 weeks and test in June, my only solution is to go do dedicated in my family’s fishing cabin out in the middle of the Everglades for 6 weeks. Literally not a soul within 10+ miles.

Wish me luck. I’ll either be remarkably productive, go insane, or become the inspiration for a B-Grade horror movie.

Or...4th option, you realize this medicine thing is stupid and become the next crocodile hunter.

 

[Krabbeman]

So today I found out I will not be able to return home for step 1. Turns out my grandma (who recently moved in with my parents) is deathly allergic to my 2 cats. With my lease ending in 2 weeks and test in June, my only solution is to go do dedicated in my family’s fishing cabin out in the middle of the Everglades for 6 weeks. Literally not a soul within 10+ miles.

Wish me luck. I’ll either be remarkably productive, go insane, or become the inspiration for a B-Grade horror movie.

or all 3

 

[Lannister]

So today I found out I will not be able to return home for step 1. Turns out my grandma (who recently moved in with my parents) is deathly allergic to my 2 cats. With my lease ending in 2 weeks and test in June, my only solution is to go do dedicated in my family’s fishing cabin out in the middle of the Everglades for 6 weeks. Literally not a soul within 10+ miles.

Wish me luck. I’ll either be remarkably productive, go insane, or become the inspiration for a B-Grade horror movie.

Wait this actually sounds awesome.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Wait this actually sounds awesome.

Yea I’m actually kinda excited. It’s one of those “it’s just crazy enough to work” type situations.

Will report back on how many alligators I see while studying.

 

[DubbiDoctor]

Yea I’m actually kinda excited. It’s one of those “it’s just crazy enough to work” type situations.

Will report back on how many alligators I see while studying.

Can you not find someone to take in your cats or send them for the vet for six weeks?

 

[sharkbyte]

Can you not find someone to take in your cats or send them for the vet for six weeks?

Was going to ask this too. While the cabin thing sounds cool, it also sounds like a recipe for going insane lol. What will you do about food and social contact? I know you'll be studying, but still..

 

[just_SAIYAN]

Thanks! If you are an MS1/MS2, I would watch all of the videos as a primary resource. If you are in dedicated time, I would watch only the ones that you are weak in. I thought all of his videos were great to be honest, can't think of one subject that stood out more than the other.


UWorld. It was pretty much the only thing I did during dedicated (3 blocks/day with review) as well as anki.

How long did 3 sets of U world take to do and review. Im trying to gauge how much time I’ll have left in the day to do Anki/ sketchy/ pathoma?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[starlite911]

< — me taking my exam today

 

[coldcase331]

< — me taking my exam today

Was it really that bad?

 

[KH7780]

I am IMG and started my prep on Oct 2017.

I went through FA/Pathoma 3 times, watched some videos and did some flashcards, did UW 2 times (89% for the second pass)

Then in Feb - March I did USMLERx (all questions are done as a simulated tests) = 86% correct in the 1st pass.

Then went through FA/Pathoma one more time in 12 days but there was 10 days gap because I was sick and admitted to the hospital.

In April I started doing NBMEs
NBME18 (4/11): 246
NBME16 (4/13): 240
NBME17 (4/15): 252
NBME19 (4/20): 223

I am not sure If I should take the exam on Tuesday 4/24 or postpone the test and do one last quick FA/pathoma revision in 8 days. I think I have forgotten some topics because of the gap and may need an intensive recap to be in the good shape but I am afraid of getting burned out.

I am really disappointed and do not know why that happens to me. I reached the point that I can't give up nor taking the test. Please advise guys I need your input so badly.

Thanks

 

[DubbiDoctor]

I am IMG and started my prep on Oct 2017.

I went through FA/Pathoma 3 times, watched some videos and did some flashcards, did UW 2 times (89% for the second pass)

Then in Feb - March I did USMLERx (all questions are done as a simulated tests) = 86% correct in the 1st pass.

Then went through FA/Pathoma one more time in 12 days but there was 10 days gap because I was sick and admitted to the hospital.

In April I started doing NBMEs
NBME18 (4/11): 246
NBME16 (4/13): 240
NBME17 (4/15): 252
NBME19 (4/20): 223

I am not sure If I should take the exam on Tuesday 4/24 or postpone the test and do one last quick FA/pathoma revision in 8 days. I think I have forgotten some topics because of the gap and may need an intensive recap to be in the good shape but I am afraid of getting burned out.

I am really disappointed and do not know why that happens to me. I reached the point that I can't give up nor taking the test. Please advise guys I need your input so badly.

Thanks

NBME 19 is known to underpredict by a large margin, and it is recommended to not take it last. Did you take either of the Uworld exams? Doing well on one may boost your confidence going into test day. Doing poorly may encourage you to post-pone.

 

[DubbiDoctor]

I have quite a few friends it has actually overpredicted for.

Recommended by who? Aren't you a pre-med? Not sure why you are inundating our thread.

Just reporting what I've read. I've heard that a number of times.

I have quite a few friends it has actually overpredicted for.

Recommended by who? Aren't you a pre-med? Not sure why you are inundating our thread.

I've heard a lot of medical students say that on reddit and SDN. Reddit did a pretty big survery. And yeah it definitely doesn't underpredict for everyone!

 

[starlite911]

Was it really that bad?

It was not what I’d call good. I’ll elaborate more when I’m sober. I mean, more well rested

 

[Nephronlearner]

I have quite a few friends it has actually overpredicted for.

Recommended by who? Aren't you a pre-med? Not sure why you are inundating our thread.

I follow . Just seen quite a few quirky real life experiences. Lots of "luck" involved for the real deal, imo-- i.e. what you draw on exam day.

I've seen those graphs before. I take issue with self-reporting but its not a bad graph to fawn over

Compared to all the other NBMEs and UWSAs I got a much lower score on NBME 19. Obviously, as I only took the test this week, I believe I have 3 or so weeks till I get the score back so I cannot comment on the correlation yet.
However, regardless of the score, NBME 19 felt the most realistic in a sense that the same kind of "gut feeling" I had while doing that - I had on the real test too. And compared to all the other NBME's the question style seemed the most "realistic".

There is definitely quite a bit of luck involved because the "topic distribution" may not exactly be as any of us would expect after doing QBanks.

 

[Nephronlearner]

I am IMG and started my prep on Oct 2017.

I went through FA/Pathoma 3 times, watched some videos and did some flashcards, did UW 2 times (89% for the second pass)

Then in Feb - March I did USMLERx (all questions are done as a simulated tests) = 86% correct in the 1st pass.

Then went through FA/Pathoma one more time in 12 days but there was 10 days gap because I was sick and admitted to the hospital.

In April I started doing NBMEs
NBME18 (4/11): 246
NBME16 (4/13): 240
NBME17 (4/15): 252
NBME19 (4/20): 223

I am not sure If I should take the exam on Tuesday 4/24 or postpone the test and do one last quick FA/pathoma revision in 8 days. I think I have forgotten some topics because of the gap and may need an intensive recap to be in the good shape but I am afraid of getting burned out.

I am really disappointed and do not know why that happens to me. I reached the point that I can't give up nor taking the test. Please advise guys I need your input so badly.

Thanks

As someone who has recently been there, I would strongly advise you not to postpone the test. I took the test slightly later than originally planned to "get through FA one last time" and it turned out to be a BAD idea. At least for me, it felt like I started forgetting far more than I was actually learning, especially by just going through FA. If you feel confident in UW material, I think you are ready for the test. My score on NBME 19 was also by 20 or so lower than on the rest of the tests.
I think the question style was the most "realistic" compared to the rest of the NBMEs but I sincerely hope the actual scoring is much more generous on the real test (as after having taken it - I don't see a way for pretty much anyone anyone to get like 95% correct on the real test). The graph from last year looks encouraging!

 

[Dr. Death]

Just reporting what I've read. I've heard that a number of times.

I've heard a lot of medical students say that on reddit and SDN. Reddit did a pretty big survery. And yeah it definitely doesn't underpredict for everyone!

Everyone below the line, NBME 19 overpredicted. Everyone above the line, NBME underpredicted

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Everyone below the line, NBME 19 overpredicted. Everyone above the line, NBME underpredicted
View attachment 232443

This confirms a suspicion of mine that NBME 19 acts as a kind of “Floor” on your score.

Basically NBME 19 predicts your minimum possible score on the real exam.

 

[Doxorubicin]

This confirms a suspicion of mine that NBME 19 acts as a kind of “Floor” on your score.

Basically NBME 19 predicts your minimum possible score on the real exam.

After taking the exam yesterday, I will be shocked if 19 underpredicted for me. Looking back, I know I made so many stupid errors on easy questions that there seem to be exceedingly slim odds that I scored even close to what my NBMEs were predicting (~250).

I’m hoping it’s just post-test jitters, but yikes. I felt like I was tested on all of my weaknesses!

 

[bananafish94]

I don't know how much I want to trust those Reddit correlations, but they do all give me a predicted score within a pretty tight range. I'm sure there's a selection bias for people who did well, but I do definitely think there's something there.

 

[bananafish94]

I am IMG and started my prep on Oct 2017.

I went through FA/Pathoma 3 times, watched some videos and did some flashcards, did UW 2 times (89% for the second pass)

Then in Feb - March I did USMLERx (all questions are done as a simulated tests) = 86% correct in the 1st pass.

Then went through FA/Pathoma one more time in 12 days but there was 10 days gap because I was sick and admitted to the hospital.

In April I started doing NBMEs
NBME18 (4/11): 246
NBME16 (4/13): 240
NBME17 (4/15): 252
NBME19 (4/20): 223

I am not sure If I should take the exam on Tuesday 4/24 or postpone the test and do one last quick FA/pathoma revision in 8 days. I think I have forgotten some topics because of the gap and may need an intensive recap to be in the good shape but I am afraid of getting burned out.

I am really disappointed and do not know why that happens to me. I reached the point that I can't give up nor taking the test. Please advise guys I need your input so badly.

Thanks

Don't postpone. 8 days will do nothing except burn you out and NBME 19 is not accurate.

 

[Lannister]

The fact that I am still in class is absolute torture. It's so hard to sit here and memorize a million irrelevant facts about lupus when I memorized the lupus page in First Aid months ago.

I don't know how much I want to trust those Reddit correlations, but they do all give me a predicted score within a pretty tight range. I'm sure there's a selection bias for people who did well, but I do definitely think there's something there.

Is there a specific Reddit thread where all these graphs are posted together?

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Can you not find someone to take in your cats or send them for the vet for six weeks?

Well its not just the cats its that my grandma is also now sleeping in my bedroom. And as fun as crashing on a living room futon was in college, I'm not sure it'd be conducive to 6 weeks of step studying haha.

Was going to ask this too. While the cabin thing sounds cool, it also sounds like a recipe for going insane lol. What will you do about food and social contact? I know you'll be studying, but still..

Well I'll still need to go back into civilization to buy groceries and stuff, so thats SOME social contact. Also I need to fly to New Orleans for my brothers college graduation in the middle of dedicated so that'll probably be more than enough "excitement" to get me through.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

The fact that I am still in class is absolute torture. It's so hard to sit here and memorize a million irrelevant facts about lupus when I memorized the lupus page in First Aid months ago.



Is there a specific Reddit thread where all these graphs are posted together?

 

[bananafish94]

The fact that I am still in class is absolute torture. It's so hard to sit here and memorize a million irrelevant facts about lupus when I memorized the lupus page in First Aid months ago.



Is there a specific Reddit thread where all these graphs are posted together?

Yes'm, it's the pinned post on r/step1.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I don't know how much I want to trust those Reddit correlations, but they do all give me a predicted score within a pretty tight range. I'm sure there's a selection bias for people who did well, but I do definitely think there's something there.

Yea the reddit graphs, both predictor equations, and the old “you gain 30 points from your CBSE score” adage all put me within 10 points of each other which makes me think there’s something at least a little predictive about the process.

 

[Krabbeman]

Yea the reddit graphs, both predictor equations, and the old “you gain 30 points from your CBSE score” adage all put me within 10 points of each other which makes me think there’s something at least a little predictive about the process.

both predictor equations?

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

both predictor equations?

Yea they're both floating around on SDN somewhere, should've clarified for people who hadn't come across them

Theres the simple one:

(UWorld Avg * 2.4) + 80 = STEP 1


And this more complex (although slightly dubious) one:

140.625 + (0.319*CBSE) - (3.817*A) + (5.845*N) + (0.452*U) = STEP 1

"where A=1 if straight As and 2 if no straight As and where N=1 if receiving need-based scholarship and 2 if not, U=UWorld percentage and CBSE=the three-digit translated score of the CBSE taken prior to the dedicated study period."

The I believe the simple one is the basis for the classic score correlation chart (USMLE SCORE CORRELATION), and the complex one comes from a study done at UCF's med school (A Predictive Model for USMLE Step 1 Scores)

 

[Foramenlacerum]

Just reporting what I've read. I've heard that a number of times.

I've heard a lot of medical students say that on reddit and SDN. Reddit did a pretty big survery. And yeah it definitely doesn't underpredict for everyone!

Two things, 1. NBME 19 over-predicts for a few people, but I did not se anyone on this graph who scored a 250 on NBME 19 and then managed to get a 210 in the real thing. It looks like the majority of people who it over predicted for scored within an acceptable range of their score on NBME 19 (of course there will always be outliers). 2. I would not focus on the NBMEs as strongly as everyone does for multiple reasons. (side note, there is one person on these graphs who seems to perform extremely well on the NBMEs and then scores significantly lower on the real deal. Clearly something is going on there, so we can't base any theories on that, even though its really easy to focus on the person who keeps scoring in the 250s+ and then scores in the low 200s on the real deal.)
1. People take these NBMEs differently. Some people "cheat" on those NBMEs. There are numerous boards where people talk about looking up multiple answers while taking the practice NBMEs. I am sure they are aware, but Step 1 isn't open book or open Google. Additionally, there are some people who look up the NBME answers or go to quizlet and find decks for the NBMEs, study the decks and then take the practice exam. This is a very bad idea, don't do this. I saw one poster who did this and was scoring 260+ on the practice tests and then scored in the low 200's on the real deal (shocker). Then there are people like me, who genuinely took them in testing conditions, did not look up answers and did not study from decks made from the practice exams. The NBMEs should be most predictive for people who take the exams like that, but even still there is some luck involved.
2. People take these NBMEs at different times in their studying. That will throw off the curve. If everyone takes the first available NBME at the beginning of their studying and everyone takes the last NBME at the end, that is obviously going to sway the curve. For NBME 19 this is especially true because A LOT of people take it last as they believe it to be most predictive and have the strongest resemblance to the real exam. But, people also take NBME 19 first so that also messes with the curve or your personal score, because if you take NBME 19 first while the majority are taking it last, you are obviously going to score much lower. Maybe that is why it is believed to under-predict so much. My school made us take an NBME like eight months prior to our exam date as some sort of bizarre tactic to scare us into studying. So obviously that exam will under predict for me, I hope lol.

My suggestion with the NBMEs is to take no more than 1 per week, or every 2 weeks during dedicated, up to you. The questions on my exam were nothing like the NBME questions and I don't really feel as though they helped me much at all. I knew someone who only took one NBME and got a 240+ on the real deal. I know someone who took them all, never scored above a 250 and got a 265+ on the real deal. So there is no right answer, but I think it is safe to say if you are consistently scoring 230+ on the NBMEs while taking them under real conditions, you are in pretty good shape. If you are all over the place like 210, 250, 220, 265 you probably need to look at the types of questions you are missing or the topics that are consistently your trouble areas. Do not assume that since you got a 265 on one exam that you're prepared for a 265 on the real deal. I still don't have my score and felt pretty terrible after my exam, but I took all of the NBMEs and my scores were within 2 points of each other during dedicated. What I can say is that my NBME scores did not go up that much during dedicated, 11 points was about my max. But I went from scoring 75-77% correct on UW to scoring 85-90% consistently. I also took my consistency on the NBMEs to indicate that I was in a pretty solid place, because they obviously do not ask the same questions on each NBME, so I felt like I was prepared to handle any conglomeration of questions they handed me. Also be sure to look at your bar graphs on the NBMEs and number missed. At the end of dedicated I was missing 10-15 fewer questions and my bars had shifted to the far right of the graph from the middle even though the SD of my exams = 2 points. Theoretically, all of this pointed toward a pretty solid score for me regardless of which exam I was handed. And then they handed me an exam that was clearly written by satan himself and I freaked. This would be a perfect example of how you can consistently earn solid scores on the NBMEs and then find that they over predicted by quite a lot, because on test day you find yourself wishing you had an adult diaper and a change of pants.

 

[sahell]

Everyone below the line, NBME 19 overpredicted. Everyone above the line, NBME underpredicted
View attachment 232443

I'd be the rightmost point on the graph, but under the line lol. Someone should keep collecting data and make a good algorithm.

(UWorld Avg * 2.4) + 80 = STEP 1

Simple one overpredicts my actual score by 14 points. That's worse than UWSA 1 but better than Rx score prediction.

 

[starlite911]

Okay now that I've calmed down some and rested up...the exam was a wild ride. These are the types of questions that stood out the most:

1). Direct factual recall questions. Great if you happen to remember the fact, bad if it's not something you stumbled upon in your studies, and THE WORST when it's right on the tip of your brain and you know you should know it but you don't and then google it after the exam and realize you got it wrong.

2). Super vague questions Type A

Along the lines of "A 40-year-old brunnette goes to the salon. Her favorite color is blue. She's going to get her hair and nails done. Her husband has always preferred blondes, but she's always wanted to see what she'd look like as a redhead. What color does she pick?"

A). Blonde
B). Red
C). Pink
D). Blue

Are they asking about hair or nails? How would you know? You wouldn't, unless you wrote the exam so you flip flop between two answer choices until the last second and let fate decide which one was clicked when the timer ran out.

3). Super vague questions Type B

Another made-up example: Parents bring in a child for a 2-year-old well check visit. Child will not stop crying. Everything is normal on physical exam. Which of the following test findings would you expect?

A). Low testosterone
B). High FSH
C). High ALP
D). Cranial mass
E). Elevated PTT

....how deeply am I supposed to read into this question?

4). Questions that required you to actually be able to interpret images with no context

5). Weird epidemeology type questions I NEVER came across anywhere else. Not hard, just very unexpected.

All in all, I don't think there's anything I could/would have done to prepare differently than I did with the time scale I had decided upon. Falling asleep earlier the night before the exam would've been helpful. If I had taken more time to study, I don't think doing 20,000 flash cards to remember maybe 3 more facts (because 2 of the 5 I for sure missed didn't appear in first aid) would have been a great ROI. So, we'll see what happens in 3-4 weeks!

 

[QueenJames]

Uworld is by far the stupidest goddamn qbank in the effing world.

Who the eff pays these are-***** to write such ******* questions with answers that support the first answer choice but it is STILL wrong.

ARE YOU KIDDNG ME?

GTFOH.

My stupid percentages are stuck at 63-64% and it's pissing me off because most of my mistakes are coming from dumb little details that I have NEVER come across in my 3 passes of first aid!!!

JESUS FRICKIN' CHRIST.

I guess I gotta continue reading this ******* book 5 more times.

Wanna be over with this Sh it already!

 

[Foot Fetish]

Can you guys stop the fear-mongering about "forgetting more than you're learning" or whatever. That has got to be the dumbest medical student myth I have ever heard. Knowledge doesn't just seep out of your mind like that if you learned it well in the first place.

 

[DubbiDoctor]

I don't think doing 20,000 flash cards to remember maybe 3 more facts (because 2 of the 5 I for sure missed didn't appear in first aid) would have been a great ROI. So, we'll see what happens in 3-4 weeks!

If you're only sure that you missed 5, that's reason to be very optimistic! I spoke to someone with a verified 272, who said he believed he missed around 5 questions.

 

[Krabbeman]

Can you guys stop the fear-mongering about "forgetting more than you're learning" or whatever. That has got to be the dumbest medical student myth I have ever heard. Knowledge doesn't just seep out of your mind like that if you learned it well in the first place.

Agreed. If you really take the time and memorize it, then practice it, its in there for a good while.

But detail facts with no real rationalizations to memorize them with.... for me they go in as fast as they're coming out lmao. Thats why I'm honestly not focusing on stuff thats blatant memorization and just trying to big picture conceptulize stuff. last week or so I'll cram all the anatomy/immuno/random gene and chromosome stuff

 

[Krabbeman]

If you're only sure that you missed 5, that's reason to be very optimistic! I spoke to someone with a verified 272, who said he believed he missed around 5 questions.

Class of 2022? wait... what? are you an MD/PhD just finishing up your PhD part?

 

[starlite911]

If you're only sure that you missed 5, that's reason to be very optimistic! I spoke to someone with a verified 272, who said he believed he missed around 5 questions.

I mean, I'm sure I missed more than 5 -- those were just the specific fact ones enough that were easy to verify after. Some of the questions were literally so vague I have no clue how to even begin to look up if I got them correct or not

 

[DubbiDoctor]

Class of 2022? wait... what? are you an MD/PhD just finishing up your PhD part?

Nope just curious. Don't plan on preparing for step 1 until after my first year of med school. Need to develop a foundation first!

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

If you're only sure that you missed 5, that's reason to be very optimistic! I spoke to someone with a verified 272, who said he believed he missed around 5 questions.

Damn only 5 including those oddball experimental questions?

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Can you guys stop the fear-mongering about "forgetting more than you're learning" or whatever. That has got to be the dumbest medical student myth I have ever heard. Knowledge doesn't just seep out of your mind like that if you learned it well in the first place.

If you’re not using spaced repetition this absolutely happens. However I’d imagine most of us are using anki so yes in theory you’re right.

Although I think the more general problem with long dedicated periods is burnout. I don’t know about you but personally I can’t go 110% for more than a few weeks. If your efficiency goes to **** at week 6 and suddenly you suddenly don’t have the bandwidth to maintain the large knowledge base while still adding new material then you’re gonna start net losing information.

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

Damn only 5 including those oddball experimental questions?

But also, I have seen someone in one of the past couple of years say they missed ~35 and got a 260 (although that might have been when there were 308 questions total, I will see if I can find the post). Didn't someone say they missed 20 and got a 265 this year?

 

[DubbiDoctor]

Damn only 5 including those oddball experimental questions?

All inclusive, wasn't sure whether the ones he knows he got wrong were experimental or not. Got a 278 on step 2 and 100% on the MCAT, so probably a genius.

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

All inclusive, wasn't sure whether the ones he knows he got wrong were experimental or not. Got a 278 on step 2 and 100% on the MCAT, so probably a genius.

Yeah that's very impressive! But I wonder how much of his test he remembered. A buddy of mine got drunk right after his test and doesn't really remember anything lmao- not sure what his score will be.

 

[mr.mkitty]

Can you guys stop the fear-mongering about "forgetting more than you're learning" or whatever. That has got to be the dumbest medical student myth I have ever heard. Knowledge doesn't just seep out of your mind like that if you learned it well in the first place.

I mean, it's pretty real.. I think there is a peak point that students should definitely try to take the exam at. If you've altered the anki settings to where cards can't extend farther than every 3 months, then maybe forgetting little details isn't as hard. However, if you're a student that can't do 500-700 anki cards a day in addition to your other studies (and thus have the regular anki settings) you may forget a silly detail like what cancer tumor marker CA19-9 is for, etc.
We're humans, not robots lol, it's easy to forget insignificant details that require strict memorization versus something like how heart failure runs it's course.

 

[Lannister]

A buddy of mine got drunk right after his test and doesn't really remember anything lmao- not sure what his score will be.

This is a great idea. Can't look up questions afterwards if you don't remember anything because you blacked out!