questions about usmle test procedure

[littledoc2be]

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1) if you take a break after every section does it come off of your time? (does the time stop?)

2) when is the lunch break, how long is it and does it come off of your time?

3) how is it divided? how many sections in the morning and how many sections after lunch?

thanks for the help everyone 🙂

 

[littledoc2be]

1) if you take a break after every section does it come off of your time? (does the time stop?)

2) when is the lunch break, how long is it and does it come off of your time?

3) how is it divided? how many sections in the morning and how many sections after lunch?

thanks for the help everyone 🙂

bump, please I am taking it on tuesday, would really appreciate some quick replies.

 

[bolisol007]

bump, please I am taking it on tuesday, would really appreciate some quick replies.

Okay. Hopefully, you're taking the USMLE, because i know nothing about COMLEX. For USMLE, the test has 7 blocks of questions (each block is 50 questions long and you get an hour, you can finish early if you want and the extra time will be added to you break time). You get 45 mins for break time plus 15 mins for tutorial (so by skipping tutorial, you can extend your break time to an hour). You can take your breaks however you want (.e.g. after every two blocks or whatever). I recommend planning it out before you go. Look at people's step 1 experiences on here to see how they did theirs. Hope this helps.

 

[littledoc2be]

Okay. Hopefully, you're taking the USMLE, because i know nothing about COMLEX. For USMLE, the test has 7 blocks of questions (each block is 50 questions long and you get an hour, you can finish early if you want and the extra time will be added to you break time). You get 45 mins for break time plus 15 mins for tutorial (so by skipping tutorial, you can extend your break time to an hour). You can take your breaks however you want (.e.g. after every two blocks or whatever). I recommend planning it out before you go. Look at people's step 1 experiences on here to see how they did theirs. Hope this helps.

yes, usmle.

first, do you know if the tutorial is available online to view before I go?

also, if you dont take the 45 minutes for lunch, do you get more time for the test?

If you decide to take a break after 2 sections, to go to the restroom, is the clock still counting? are you allowed to do this?

 

[ddmo]

yes, usmle.

first, do you know if the tutorial is available online to view before I go?

also, if you dont take the 45 minutes for lunch, do you get more time for the test?

If you decide to take a break after 2 sections, to go to the restroom, is the clock still counting? are you allowed to do this?

If you download the 150 practice questions off of the NBME website it contains the tutorial and is the same exact program that the actual exam uses. You basically have two countdown timers, one that starts at 8 hours, and another that starts at 60min every time you open a block. Each block will shut down at 60 minutes regardless, and the entire test will shut down when the 8 hour timer runs down. The clock keeps going on breaks. So, if you finish a section early, it only gives you extra break time.

 

[Duchenne's]

So let's say I skip the tutorial. I now have 1 hour of break time, right?

If I finish the first block in 30 minutes (instead of the given 1 hour time block), I have now increased my break time to 1 1/2 hours, right?

 

[ddmo]

So let's say I skip the tutorial. I now have 1 hour of break time, right?

If I finish the first block in 30 minutes (instead of the given 1 hour time block), I have now increased my break time to 1 1/2 hours, right?

Exactly.

 

[littledoc2be]

Exactly.

so you could potentially take a 5 minute break after each block to go to the bathroom instead of going to lunch?

 

[DRDARIA]

so you could potentially take a 5 minute break after each block to go to the bathroom instead of going to lunch?

Correct. But they must log you in and out of the room each time, so allow a minute or so for that. Also, it is tempting, especially near the end, to skip breaks and just keeping going, because you want to be done. I would recommend making yourself take some breaks to stay fresh. On Step II, I made myself take a break in the afternoon, even though I didn't want to, because I could feel that I was starting to rush just to get out of there. I think it really paid off, as my brain stayed much clearer on the last two sections.

 

[mamitch4]

Every time you leave the testing room to take a break you have to check in and out. This only takes a few minutes, but I found it to be a better use of my break time if I took a break every 2 blocks. I would use the bathroom, drink some water, walk outside to give my eyes a break, and have a small snack. I think I ended up taking 2 10-15 minute breaks after the 2nd and 6th blocks and a 30 minute break after the 4th block. I took lunch/snack stuff with me, which worked out well because there wasn't anywhere close to my testing center to get anything to eat.
Good luck.

 

[Mr. Peanut]

I took a break between each section just to get up, walk around and go to the bathroom and eat a snack bar. I went as quick as I could and each one still took 7-8 mins with check out/in etc. That didn't leave any real time for lunch.

Anyway... watch the breaks or plan on not having a long lunch.

BTW, I never got the NBME download tutorial to work like the test actually did. Not sure if I got the wrong FRED software or what. But, I wouldn't fool with the tutorial either way since the set up for the test is intuitive and pretty much just like Qbank in all of the ways I used.

 

[RustNeverSleeps]

I took a break between each section just to get up, walk around and go to the bathroom and eat a snack bar. I went as quick as I could and each one still took 7-8 mins with check out/in etc. That didn't leave any real time for lunch.

Anyway... watch the breaks or plan on not having a long lunch.

I think it all depends on how fast you are at taking the test. I took a 10-15 minute break after each section starting at the second section, to walk around, go to the bathroom, and have some grapes and Diet Dr. Pepper. 🙂 I also took a pretty length lunch (probably about 30-40 minutes) after the fourth section. I had plenty of break time left -- about an hour remaining at the end of the day. During the actual exam time, my "schedule" was to take the questions and then review them all once, and marked ones more if needed. This allowed me to do a thorough job on the test without driving myself crazy by rechecking it over and over.

 

[Duchenne's]

Did you guys bring first aid or something else to study on your breaks?

 

[Duchenne's]

Did you guys bring first aid or something else to study on your breaks?

You *ARE* allowed to look over notes during breaks, right???

 

[RustNeverSleeps]

You *ARE* allowed to look over notes during breaks, right???

You are, but I personally feel that the time is much better used for relaxing and regrouping than studying. The test is loooong, and I can't imagine how much longer the day would have felt (and how many questions I would have needlessly missed due to decreased concentration and alertness) if I had been studying rather than relaxing during my breaks.

 

[Duchenne's]

You are, but I personally feel that the time is much better used for relaxing and regrouping than studying. The test is loooong, and I can't imagine how much longer the day would have felt (and how many questions I would have needlessly missed due to decreased concentration and alertness) if I had been studying rather than relaxing during my breaks.

Agreed! But at least it will put my mind at ease knowing that I have the option to study, if I *need* to.

🙂