Racing against the clock in Step 1?

[melvindo]

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Question for those who have taken Step 1,
how was the time component? Was there plenty of it or were you racing. I finish most Qbank blocks in about 35-40 mins, but i have heard that boards have a lot longer stem for the questions. A friend of mine said you should be done with Qbank blocks in 30 mins or you would be racing to get done on the real deal.
Any info would be great.

 

[Solace]

I was finishing Qbank with about 15-20 minutes to spare but almost ran out of time on a few of my blocks on step 1. I think mainly because I had abandoned my strategy for if I didn't know the answer right away, mark the question and come back to it later. Anyway, I was surprised that I found myself using every second in a block. Maybe it was because I knew it was the real deal.

 

[tega]

I was finishing Qbank with about 15-20 minutes to spare but almost ran out of time and a few of my blocks on step 1. I think mainly because I had abandoned my strategy for if I didn't know the answer right away, mark the question and come back to it later. Anyway, I was surprised that I found myself using very second in a block. Maybe it was because I knew it was the real deal.

yeah , i am so afraid i am going to lose my discipline and waste time on futile questions during the exam...I m trying so hard in QB now to skip anything i dont know.?..its working so far?..but i don?t know if i will be able to maintain this strategy during the real deal ?.. ...its like boxing??.they say u have a plan until u get hit once...

 

[scootad.]

Yes, there is a difference. I finished Qbank typically with 15-20 min. to spare and on the real exam I used up all my time on every section. I did finish all the sections, but had to use all the time allotted. I think its because the real exam has questions with an entirely different feel than Qbank, there is less detail oriented questions where you either know it or you dont, and more general, multistep questions that require more time to figure out.

 

[sunflower2020]

So the best way is to mark an answer on the ones that you know right off and go back to your marked ones?

For anyone who used this strategy,
on the average how many questions did you have to go back to if you did?


Also, Solace you mentioned that you liked Kaplan for biochem the molecular and genetics part. For the metabolic functions FA was enough right?

 

[Jaded Soul]

I remember taking 35-40 minutes per block on Qbank. On the real thing, it was about 40-45 minutes per block. The difference was that the real test has longer question stems than Qbank. You'll also have to choose from more than 5 answer choices a few times.

 

[melvindo]

thanks for all your replies. I was afraid of the real blocks taking more time. Now that I know iI can be adjusting my test atking time in advance.
Again thanks for the advice.

 

[melvindo]

thanks for all your replies. I was afraid of the real blocks taking more time. Now that I know I can be adjusting my test taking time in advance.
Again thanks for the advice.

 

[Solace]

Also, Solace you mentioned that you liked Kaplan for biochem the molecular and genetics part. For the metabolic functions FA was enough right?

Well, looking back into the book now, I like all of the sections in the Kaplan Biochem book.

If you are good remembering those FA biochem facts out of context then maybe so. I heard quite a few people who said FA was enough for this section but I was given a test that was just too heavy in this area for FA alone so I can't say it will be enough. You can definitely answer a nice chunk of the metabolic ones with FA alone but some enzymes I was asked about was not covered or covered well in FA. Maybe FA along with Qbank would be satisfactory coverage. Like I say,I feel that I din't get enough out of the Qbank biochem answers because I only used FA for review and didn't remember the details of metabolic pathways well from first year.


I really wanted to read that Kaplan book and thought about pushing my exam date back a few days in order to read it and do questions in that area but they say it is a good idea to take the test at your peak performance. It got to a point where I was forgetting some of the earlier material I had reviewed during the first couple of weeks of my studying so I was concerned that my performance was beginning to decline..