Recent Test Takers...

[docjohn101]

Everyone knows about the "addition" of new questions to the exam, I was wondering what you guys thought of the exam in terms of content and how well First Aid and UWORLD prepared you for it...

Recent test takers (in the last week or so) or people who know people who took the exam in the last week, please reply...THANKS!

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[weightlifter911]

Took it Tuesday and it was fine. U world and FA were good as long as you understood the concepts. My friends that took it today said they had a completely rough exam with 30% of material not seen before. So not sure when they changed the bank but it may have been today or yesterday.

 

[lakerfan38]

Took it Tuesday and it was fine. U world and FA were good as long as you understood the concepts. My friends that took it today said they had a completely rough exam with 30% of material not seen before. So not sure when they changed the bank but it may have been today or yesterday.

What do you mean changing banks? can anyone else confirm that the NBME people do this?

 

[colts]

http://www.usmle.org/announcements/?ContentId=92

"Most score reporting of Step 1 results occurs within four weeks of testing. However, because of necessary modifications to the test item pool, there will be a delay in reporting for some examinees testing beginning in mid-May 2012. The target date for reporting Step 1 scores for most examinees testing from mid-May through late June will be Wednesday, July 11, 2012."

 

[VisionaryTics]

http://www.usmle.org/announcements/?ContentId=92

"Most score reporting of Step 1 results occurs within four weeks of testing. However, because of necessary modifications to the test item pool, there will be a delay in reporting for some examinees testing beginning in mid-May 2012. The target date for reporting Step 1 scores for most examinees testing from mid-May through late June will be Wednesday, July 11, 2012."

They do this every year. It doesn't mean that they added a section on interpretive dance.

 

[weightlifter911]

Yah my buddy called them and they updated the Q bank released on the 14th, but they said it takes a couple days for the pro metric centers to update their own place with the software so it happened some time this week, my guess wed. or today

 

[Convalaria]

the more I read this the more I become nervous...

 

[ijn]

You're graded relative to how people perform on those questions. If they're new, then less people will get them right because the answers can't be easily found in review books. You have to get less right to do well relative to the mean when questions are hard.

 

[johndoe3344]

What do you mean changing banks? can anyone else confirm that the NBME people do this?

This is actually a joint effort by the NBME and AMA to alleviate the shortage of primary care physicians in the less populated states. Any students taking the exam in these next few months have a projected average of around 200. Thus, most of the students in this group will only be able to match into family medicine in Idaho, or some equivalent state.

And I'm only half kidding.

Seriously, testing on information not in FA + UW just pretty much explicitly favors those people that have been able to retain information from their first two years, i.e. those students that did gunner training or are otherwise unbelievably gifted, while everyone else gets shafted and gets stuck with a 200. Even if you don't get a 200, you probably got 20 points lower than you could have gotten if only you took the exam 2 weeks earlier. At least if they added a section on interpretive dance, everyone would get questions wrong. But not in this case.

You're graded relative to how people perform on those questions. If they're new, then less people will get them right because the answers can't be easily found in review books. You have to get less right to do well relative to the mean when questions are hard.

I'm pretty sure they state somewhere that you're NOT being graded on how well other people are doing. They standardize each test to some pre-determined scale, so that scores across all examinations are comparable, but not based on other people taking the exam at that time. Think about it. If everyone gets a zero for whatever reason, does that mean if I only solved 1 question correctly, my score would magically be a passing score? Of course not. This was the way they scored the MCATs as well.

 

[Convalaria]

I understand this. I'm just afraid that I'll freak out when I see those unexpected questions and mess up the rest ones

 

[mdeast]

I understand this. I'm just afraid that I'll freak out when I see those unexpected questions and mess up the rest ones

They do this every year though. It's more a matter of adding new questions to the pool. I doubt the new questions are meant to be any different than the old ones.

 

[ijn]

I'm pretty sure they state somewhere that you're NOT being graded on how well other people are doing. They standardize each test to some pre-determined scale, so that scores across all examinations are comparable, but not based on other people taking the exam at that time. Think about it. If everyone gets a zero for whatever reason, does that mean if I only solved 1 question correctly, my score would magically be a passing score? Of course not. This was the way they scored the MCATs as well.

I think you're trying to make a distinction without a difference. Why do you think the testing score release is delayed when new questions are introduced to the pool? It's because they're accumulating data on student performance so they know how to properly weight the questions. You're graded relative to how people do on the questions. I don't mean the exact people who took it on that exact day, I mean a general second year medical student who has just finished their first two years of basic science courses.

 

[ipizzy]

Seriously, testing on information not in FA + UW just pretty much explicitly favors those people that have been able to retain information from their first two years, i.e. those students that did gunner training or are otherwise unbelievably gifted, while everyone else gets shafted and gets stuck with a 200. Even if you don't get a 200, you probably got 20 points lower than you could have gotten if only you took the exam 2 weeks earlier. At least if they added a section on interpretive dance, everyone would get questions wrong. But not in this case.

Do you have any evidence to back up these claims? From what I've seen around SDN, I haven't noticed a trend of May-June test takers doing substantially worse than their NBMEs would have predicted...Plus, it's not like FA or UWorld are updated immediately after these new questions are added, so by your logic people who take the test from May through early winter (when test prep companies catch up) would be screwed because the companies haven't published the most up-to-date question styles. I doubt this is the case, but by all means I welcome any stats you or others might have to the contrary.

I'm not trying to provoke, but I dislike seeing this type of speculation when the only purpose it seems to serve is to scare people.

 

[newdoc2013]

The NBME can't make big shifts in the exam in short periods of time because it would no longer compare students accurately; they know this so they won't do it. Don't worry too hard!

 

[ijn]

Do you have any evidence to back up these claims? From what I've seen around SDN, I haven't noticed a trend of May-June test takers doing substantially worse than their NBMEs would have predicted...Plus, it's not like FA or UWorld are updated immediately after these new questions are added, so by your logic people who take the test from May through early winter (when test prep companies catch up) would be screwed because the companies haven't published the most up-to-date question styles. I doubt this is the case, but by all means I welcome any stats you or others might have to the contrary.

I'm not trying to provoke, but I dislike seeing this type of speculation when the only purpose it seems to serve is to scare people.

The entire test prep industry thrives on students leaking information when they aren't supposed to be doing that. I do think there's a higher than non-zero advantage to taking the exam after the newest Kaplan video series or First Aid is released and before new question items are added. The effect is probably more pronounced with drugs where it's a complete crap shoot as to what new market drugs are fair game. One day the TNF alpha inhibitors suddenly appeared on the test from nowhere. The test takers who took the test after that was in First Aid / Kaplan would do better on such questions than the test takers who took it before such knowledge was common place.

 

[MrBeauregard]

Seriously, testing on information not in FA + UW just pretty much explicitly favors those people that have been able to retain information from their first two years, i.e. those students that did gunner training or are otherwise unbelievably gifted, while everyone else gets shafted and gets stuck with a 200. Even if you don't get a 200, you probably got 20 points lower than you could have gotten if only you took the exam 2 weeks earlier. At least if they added a section on interpretive dance, everyone would get questions wrong. But not in this case.

Do you have any evidence to back up these claims? From what I've seen around SDN, I haven't noticed a trend of May-June test takers doing substantially worse than their NBMEs would have predicted...Plus, it's not like FA or UWorld are updated immediately after these new questions are added, so by your logic people who take the test from May through early winter (when test prep companies catch up) would be screwed because the companies haven't published the most up-to-date question styles. I doubt this is the case, but by all means I welcome any stats you or others might have to the contrary.

I'm not trying to provoke, but I dislike seeing this type of speculation when the only purpose it seems to serve is to scare people.

Agreed. People who take the test in May-June-July have just as good of a chance at scoring a 250+ as those who took it earlier in the year. Why would the exam suddenly be more difficult in the coming months? That makes it more difficult to adequately evaluate and stratify students and compare them to previous test takers.

 

[ipizzy]

The entire test prep industry thrives on students leaking information when they aren't supposed to be doing that. I do think there's a higher than non-zero advantage to taking the exam after the newest Kaplan video series or First Aid is released and before new question items are added. The effect is probably more pronounced with drugs where it's a complete crap shoot as to what new market drugs are fair game. One day the TNF alpha inhibitors suddenly appeared out of the test from nowhere. The test takers who took the test after that was in First Aid / Kaplan knew of this would do better on such questions than the test takers who took it before such knowledge was common place.

Again, even if this advantage exists, I doubt it amounts to "20 points" (or even 2 points). As someone who has gone through both FA2011 and 2012 (and annotated all the new content additions from 2012 into the 2011 book), the differences between editions, at least for these two most recent years, are minor. I have to think that the test designers are aware of how students prepare and that their complicated score scaling system is as standardized as it can be.

 

[ijn]

Again, even if this advantage exists, I doubt it amounts to "20 points" (or even 2 points). As someone who has gone through both FA2011 and 2012 (and annotated all the new content additions from 2012 into the 2011 book), the differences between editions, at least for these two most recent years, are minor. I have to think that the test designers are aware of how students prepare and that their complicated score scaling system is as standardized as it can be.

I never put a point value on it. I just think there is an advantage that is non-zero. Say this May the NBME decided that tolaprevir and boceprevir are fair game and included them in the question bank update. How many people are going to get that right now versus when it's in First Aid 2013 or if Raymond in his new Kaplan pharmacology video mentions he has heard so much student feedback about some new Hepatitis C drug. If you look at the 2010 Kaplan videos he basically does the same thing when it comes to the TNF alpha drugs or HIV fusion inhibitors (which appeared on the exam the same year they hit the market).

 

[ipizzy]

I never put a point value on it. I just think there is an advantage that is non-zero. Say this May the NBME decided that tolaprevir and boceprevir are fair game and included them in the question bank update. How many people are going to get that right now versus when it's in First Aid 2013 or if Raymond in his new Kaplan pharmacology video mentions he has heard so much student feedback about some new Hepatitis C drug.

Sorry to have implied you attached a point value; I was using the number from johndoe's post. Yes, I agree that specific questions like this would likely be answered correctly by more students later on after they become part of test prep canon, but I'm not sure I would say that these students would score higher because of these few questions. (Clearly it would depend on where these students were scoring; a few extra correct answers would likely have the relatively larger impact of a point or two at the score extremes, and may not make a difference for those scoring near the average). Point I was trying to make = I don't think people should be scared or worried that they are at a disadvantage for taking the test now.

 

[mdeast]

Sorry to have implied you attached a point value; I was using the number from johndoe's post. Yes, I agree that specific questions like this would likely be answered correctly by more students later on after they become part of test prep canon, but I'm not sure I would say that these students would score higher because of these few questions. (Clearly it would depend on where these students were scoring; a few extra correct answers would likely have the relatively larger impact of a point or two at the score extremes, and may not make a difference for those scoring near the average). Point I was trying to make = I don't think people should be scared or worried that they are at a disadvantage for taking the test now.

Also..I doubt the new questions are majority new concepts. They're more likely just rephrasing of the same concepts they've been testing for the last few decades. Also, it's possible to think that any "new information" questions (i.e. new drugs, etc.) may themselves be unscored the first round they are introduced on the test for the very reason that many students haven't prepared to study them. This could be why they reserve the possibility of "experimental questions"- i.e. set priorities for the growing knowledge that new doctors need to know, but give students time to figure out that they need to know it before it's scored.

 

[pipe dream]

They do this every year though. It's more a matter of adding new questions to the pool. I doubt the new questions are meant to be any different than the old ones.

How do you know they're doing what they do every year? I don't remember any kind of delay in score reporting with last year's test-takers. I was under the impression that they update the test bank every few years and that's why there's such a delay. If they were just tweaking here and there, then why are people who took the test this week not going to have scores until mid-July? That didn't happen last year.

I think we have to wait to get feedback from more test-takers. Some of the ones who took the exam on Thursday and posted here said they had a lot of material they hadn't seen before (and yes, I realize that every exam has experimental questions). It'll be interesting to see what people say going into the next few weeks. I think that's the only way we'll know for sure what updating the test bank truly means.

 

[colts]

So I realized that the NBME posted literally the same announcement last year about changing the test pool and score delays, which probably means we're reading way too much into this.

If you look at a few of the posts in the 2011 step 1 experience thread around this time (when the item pool/score delay occurred), people were scoring right around their practice test scores and some people were actually doing significantly better than their practice scores

 

[mdeast]

How do you know they're doing what they do every year? I don't remember any kind of delay in score reporting with last year's test-takers. I was under the impression that they update the test bank every few years and that's why there's such a delay. If they were just tweaking here and there, then why are people who took the test this week not going to have scores until mid-July? That didn't happen last year.

I think we have to wait to get feedback from more test-takers. Some of the ones who took the exam on Thursday and posted here said they had a lot of material they hadn't seen before (and yes, I realize that every exam has experimental questions). It'll be interesting to see what people say going into the next few weeks. I think that's the only way we'll know for sure what updating the test bank truly means.

Yes. They did the same thing last year. Happened to the class above me. Don't think it had any effect on them as most of them took it after the change anyway. Doesn't it make sense that every 12 months they update the bank with new questions (both changes to old concepts and new ones)? I think every medical college invariably has a professor that contributes to Step 1 boards questions. Where do you think all the new questions they write every year go? lol.

 

[DroptheBop]

How do you know they're doing what they do every year? I don't remember any kind of delay in score reporting with last year's test-takers. I was under the impression that they update the test bank every few years and that's why there's such a delay. If they were just tweaking here and there, then why are people who took the test this week not going to have scores until mid-July? That didn't happen last year.

I think we have to wait to get feedback from more test-takers. Some of the ones who took the exam on Thursday and posted here said they had a lot of material they hadn't seen before (and yes, I realize that every exam has experimental questions). It'll be interesting to see what people say going into the next few weeks. I think that's the only way we'll know for sure what updating the test bank truly means.

Similar thread from last year with the "necessary changes" and score reporting delays. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=814481
I think we'll be okay.

 

[dr seuss]

Yes. They did the same thing last year. Happened to the class above me. Don't think it had any effect on them as most of them took it after the change anyway. Doesn't it make sense that every 12 months they update the bank with new questions (both changes to old concepts and new ones)? I think every medical college invariably has a professor that contributes to Step 1 boards questions. Where do you think all the new questions they write every year go? lol.

Do you know if people who took it mid-late May last year had to wait until July to get their scores?

 

[mdeast]

Do you know if people who took it mid-late May last year had to wait until July to get their scores?

Yes.

 

[Aclamity]

Also..I doubt the new questions are majority new concepts. They're more likely just rephrasing of the same concepts they've been testing for the last few decades. Also, it's possible to think that any "new information" questions (i.e. new drugs, etc.) may themselves be unscored the first round they are introduced on the test for the very reason that many students haven't prepared to study them. This could be why they reserve the possibility of "experimental questions"- i.e. set priorities for the growing knowledge that new doctors need to know, but give students time to figure out that they need to know it before it's scored.

This. I just posted something like this in the step1 experiences thread before seeing this one, but basically the impression I was under was that the experimental questions were used to assess what students are learning or not learning in school. The new questions added every year would be based on the data from the year before. Obviously I have no evidence to back this up, but I see no other point to the experimental questions than data-fishing.

 

[shan564]

I took it today. It was about what I expected. I don't think they really changed anything significant beyond what they change every year.

 

[buccsmf1]

did we ever get confirmation for the EXACT cut off date for the delay? I know last year it was the 17th. I took my exam on the 16th, so I'm really hoping I made it just in time.

 

[shan564]

I took mine on the 17th... I'll be slightly annoyed if I find out that I missed the cut-off by one day.

 

[ja12391]

I took the exam on May 17th. It was extremely hard. I have taken Step 1 before and I truly thought it was easier the first time I took it... I really wish I would have passed it then. I was only one point off. Now I just don't think I have a chance with the recent exam. It was really hard for me. When I took it the first time, the questions in general tended to be easier. The exam I had on May 17th did not compare to any exam I have ever taken, nbme, uworld assessments, etc.... I don't think anything could have prepared me for this exam. I just hope and pray I passed!

 

[johndoe3344]

I took the exam on May 17th. It was extremely hard. I have taken Step 1 before and I truly thought it was easier the first time I took it... I really wish I would have passed it then. I was only one point off. Now I just don't think I have a chance with the recent exam. It was really hard for me. When I took it the first time, the questions in general tended to be easier. The exam I had on May 17th did not compare to any exam I have ever taken, nbme, uworld assessments, etc.... I don't think anything could have prepared me for this exam. I just hope and pray I passed!

I'm going to stick my fingers in my ears and assume that the NBME people know what they're doing, and that a 240 before will still be a 240 now.

 

[colts]

I took the exam on May 17th. It was extremely hard. I have taken Step 1 before and I truly thought it was easier the first time I took it... I really wish I would have passed it then. I was only one point off. Now I just don't think I have a chance with the recent exam. It was really hard for me. When I took it the first time, the questions in general tended to be easier. The exam I had on May 17th did not compare to any exam I have ever taken, nbme, uworld assessments, etc.... I don't think anything could have prepared me for this exam. I just hope and pray I passed!

Can you elaborate on why you thought the exam was a lot harder?

What did you do for your prep and what were your NBME practice scores like?

 

[lakerfan38]

Can you elaborate on why you thought the exam was a lot harder?

What did you do for your prep and what were your NBME practice scores like?

Shan, you took the exam on the same day, did you have the same reaction as the poster above?

 

[johndoe3344]

Shan detailed his experience here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=890004&page=14

 

[ja12391]

Hey Guys,
I am not trying to scare u guys, however; my exam was very difficult because most of the information on my exam was not in the material I used to study for my exam. I used DIT, First Aid, a few Kaplan videos, and a couple others... The information was just really difficult and was not representative of NBMEs or UWorld questions really. This is only my opinion. You guys do whatever you think is necessary... I guess I will know how I done in a few weeks... Until then, I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying that I at least passed.....that's all I care about at this point. I will let keep you guys updated....

 

[docjohn101]

Hey Guys,
I am not trying to scare u guys, however; my exam was very difficult because most of the information on my exam was not in the material I used to study for my exam. I used DIT, First Aid, a few Kaplan videos, and a couple others... The information was just really difficult and was not representative of NBMEs or UWorld questions really. This is only my opinion. You guys do whatever you think is necessary... I guess I will know how I done in a few weeks... Until then, I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying that I at least passed.....that's all I care about at this point. I will let keep you guys updated....

What were you NBME and Uworld scores like?

 

[grotto]

There is a lot of fear mongering going on here...I can't believe people who have gone through 2 years of taking NBME shelf exams are still worried that they are radically changing Step 1 - which is basically a cumulative shelf exam - before they take the test.

Sounds like premed's talking about the MCAT here...

 

[Aclamity]

it's a little scary to read these posts, but perhaps people are honing in on the experimental questions and saying that the test was hard? In any case everyone uses the same prep books. Unless you're reading a mol bio textbook or something we're all going to have the same amount of pre-exam knowledge. All those wtf questions are going to be wtf for everyone, and you'll likely see the same answer distribution as on any of the wtf UW questions (you know, the ones where only 22% of people get it correct).

Now my question is what are they using the extra score-reporting time for? Are they data mining and developing the curve based on the most recent months'-worth of testtakers? If so, then I wonder if they'll omit such questions from the scoring or make them experimental or something

 

[kayakjack]

I took the test yesterday. I studied using First Aid, UWorld, and DIT. I really felt I knew the material covered by those resources pretty well and felt confident going into the real deal. I took NBME 13 Friday and made a 240. Well, the actual test was awful. There were many questions where I absolutely had no clue and had never seen the information presented in the question. My initial impression is that First Aid, UWorld, and DIT didn't really prepare me very well for the test I was given. What could I have done differently? Besides reading obscure research papers I really have no idea. I'd also add that the questions asked weren't difficult questions because they required critical thinking skills. The questions were pretty straight forward, but they presented facts that I had never seen before in any review materials. This is by no means meant to scare anyone. Like someone else mentioned previously, everyone pretty much uses the same study materials so if you get a question you've never seen before odds are almost no one else has seen it either. Keep working hard and you'll be fine.

 

[colts]

I took the test yesterday. I studied using First Aid, UWorld, and DIT. I really felt I knew the material covered by those resources pretty well and felt confident going into the real deal. I took NBME 13 Friday and made a 240. Well, the actual test was awful. There were many questions where I absolutely had no clue and had never seen the information presented in the question. My initial impression is that First Aid, UWorld, and DIT didn't really prepare me very well for the test I was given. What could I have done differently? Besides reading obscure research papers I really have no idea. I'd also add that the questions asked weren't difficult questions because they required critical thinking skills. The questions were pretty straight forward, but they presented facts that I had never seen before in any review materials. This is by no means meant to scare anyone. Like someone else mentioned previously, everyone pretty much uses the same study materials so if you get a question you've never seen before odds are almost no one else has seen it either. Keep working hard and you'll be fine.

To be honest, i am now more freaked out then ever...I dont get what they could possibly asking you, can you give an example?

I understand that not everything could be covered in First Aid and Uworld, but I got the general impression that around 80% would be.

 

[saalik786]

Hey Guys,
I am not trying to scare u guys, however; my exam was very difficult because most of the information on my exam was not in the material I used to study for my exam. I used DIT, First Aid, a few Kaplan videos, and a couple others... The information was just really difficult and was not representative of NBMEs or UWorld questions really. This is only my opinion. You guys do whatever you think is necessary... I guess I will know how I done in a few weeks... Until then, I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying that I at least passed.....that's all I care about at this point. I will let keep you guys updated....

Can you please post your score (especially along with your post of your experience) once you receive it. Hopefully you did well and it'll also help calm people down.

Perhaps the other individuals who felt their exam was very difficult and not representative of the general study resources (e.g. FA, UWorld, Pathoma) can also post their scores once they receive them. I think it will certainly help and comfort people at least a bit.

 

[kayakjack]

I don't think we're allowed to post specific questions. I'm terrible at remembering actual questions after a test but there was one in my last block that I remembered. I went home and looked for the answer in First Aid and couldn't find it anywhere. After about 10 minutes of searching online I found the answer. There seemed to be a good many questions like that on the test. How do you prepare for that? I don't think that you really can. That's why I WOULD NOT worry about it too much. If you've worked hard and used the same study materials as everyone else then you should know what everyone else knows for the most part. I also don't mean to make it sound like First Aid is worthless. There were definitely some very easy questions that could be answered with only knowledge from First Aid. There were also a couple of questions (things like embryology) that I got right only because of DIT. But the real test was just a lot different from the NBMEs in my case. When I took the NBMEs and missed a question I felt like I could easily find the answer in First Aid. That wasn't the case with the real thing. Like I said this isn't meant to scare anyone. I'm just giving my opinion. I wish that I had been a little more prepared to see something so different from the NBMEs that I took because I found myself getting very frustrated while taking the test. Hopefully this info will at least allow others to go in knowing that there's a chance that they will get a test not very comparable to the practice tests and maybe they won't be as caught off guard as I was.

 

[colts]

Has anyone who has taken the test in the last few days felt comfortable with saying that using only First Aid and Uworld was good enough?

 

[thinkenergy]

I don't think we're allowed to post specific questions. I'm terrible at remembering actual questions after a test but there was one in my last block that I remembered. I went home and looked for the answer in First Aid and couldn't find it anywhere. After about 10 minutes of searching online I found the answer. There seemed to be a good many questions like that on the test. How do you prepare for that? I don't think that you really can. That's why I WOULD NOT worry about it too much. If you've worked hard and used the same study materials as everyone else then you should know what everyone else knows for the most part. I also don't mean to make it sound like First Aid is worthless. There were definitely some very easy questions that could be answered with only knowledge from First Aid. There were also a couple of questions (things like embryology) that I got right only because of DIT. But the real test was just a lot different from the NBMEs in my case. When I took the NBMEs and missed a question I felt like I could easily find the answer in First Aid. That wasn't the case with the real thing. Like I said this isn't meant to scare anyone. I'm just giving my opinion. I wish that I had been a little more prepared to see something so different from the NBMEs that I took because I found myself getting very frustrated while taking the test. Hopefully this info will at least allow others to go in knowing that there's a chance that they will get a test not very comparable to the practice tests and maybe they won't be as caught off guard as I was.

Is the actual exam mirroring more closely to UWORLD SA than to NBME in terms of question style and content? Are the questions phrased in a very cryptic way as trying to hide all possible clues that may give away answers easily? What do you think of the physiology questions on your exam?

 

[Aclamity]

come on, everyone, this same thing happened last year. Read the 2011 Step 1 Experiences thread (pgs ~16 onwards). Lots of people had the same reaction. In fact, here's the "countdown to 7/13 scores thread" that people posted their scores on and many got very good scores, so I'm sure the curve will level itself out: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=827980&page=14

I didn't thoroughly read through the 2011 Step 1 experiences thread, but it seemed to me that there was a little blip of extremely hard tests around 5/17-5/20ish and then by june it was all back to normal. If anyone wants to confirm or refute that, be my guest.

 

[ja12391]

Guys, i am not sure what you want us who recently took it to tell you. It was a very hard exam is all I can say. A lot of the material on my exam I had never seen before. This is a fact. I am not posting my nbme scores on here. I think most of you guys want to compare yourself to others and that's not going to help you pass this exam. I was very disappointed after and during the exam so I do not remember questions... Sorry. I am just praying that I passed this exam and I wish each of you the best of luck!!!

 

[hotchik]

This is actually a joint effort by the NBME and AMA to alleviate the shortage of primary care physicians in the less populated states. Any students taking the exam in these next few months have a projected average of around 200. Thus, most of the students in this group will only be able to match into family medicine in Idaho, or some equivalent state.

And I'm only half kidding.

Seriously, testing on information not in FA + UW just pretty much explicitly favors those people that have been able to retain information from their first two years, i.e. those students that did gunner training or are otherwise unbelievably gifted, while everyone else gets shafted and gets stuck with a 200. Even if you don't get a 200, you probably got 20 points lower than you could have gotten if only you took the exam 2 weeks earlier. At least if they added a section on interpretive dance, everyone would get questions wrong. But not in this case.




I'm pretty sure they state somewhere that you're NOT being graded on how well other people are doing. They standardize each test to some pre-determined scale, so that scores across all examinations are comparable, but not based on other people taking the exam at that time. Think about it. If everyone gets a zero for whatever reason, does that mean if I only solved 1 question correctly, my score would magically be a passing score? Of course not. This was the way they scored the MCATs as well.

Loved this post...thumbs up!!! lol

 

[shan564]

Shan, you took the exam on the same day, did you have the same reaction as the poster above?

Not really. I thought the exam was about what I expected. It was more difficult than the NBMEs, but not quite as difficult as UWorld. That's what everybody says to expect.

There were no major changes to the testing pool. I think they just made the same change as they made last year. And if the questions were more difficult for some of us, then the curve will also be more generous.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Loved this post...thumbs up!!! lol

Hotchik, not sure if I agree with your account name because there aren't any hot chiks in medicine. If they are hot then they are probably not hetero. Just kidding. Lol