Skip tutorial or check headphones/visuals?

[calespine]

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I know skipping the tutorial will give you an extra 15 minutes, but is anyone worried about the slight chance there is a problem with their headphones/screen that you wouldn't find out until you're actually taking the test? I was thinking about taking <5 minutes to check the A/V.

 

[Depakote]

I know skipping the tutorial will give you an extra 15 minutes, but is anyone worried about the slight chance there is a problem with their headphones/screen that you wouldn't find out until you're actually taking the test? I was thinking about taking <5 minutes to check the A/V.

I'm planning on making sure the photo shows up, clicking to the headphone check... doing that, and moving on. I don't see that taking more than a min or two leaving me with the majority of the time for breaks.

 

[calespine]

Thanks depakote- it's funny how my questions get more anal/nit picky as the test approaches 😳

 

[Deferoxamine]

Wow, am I really the only loser who was going to read through all 72 pages of this on test day?

"Each question will provide you with Choices A-E. Please select the SINGLE best answer to each question. You may change your answer before submitting, but only your final chosen answer will be counted.

Example question:
Who was the 1st President of the United States?
A. Michael Douglas
B. George Washington
C. George Washington Carver
D. Orville Reddenbacher
E. Scooby Doo

In the question above, you would choose the SINGLE best correctest most rightest answer. That's why it's called a multiple choice exam.

Please click NEXT so that we can explain to you how to use the mouse on your computer."

 

[Knicks]

I'm planning on making sure the photo shows up, clicking to the headphone check... doing that, and moving on. I don't see that taking more than a min or two leaving me with the majority of the time for breaks.

Silly question, but how are you going to do that? Do you mean you're going to quickly go through the tutorial on test day and just see if any photos show up?

 

[Depakote]

Silly question, but how are you going to do that? Do you mean you're going to quickly go through the tutorial on test day and just see if any photos show up?

If it's like the tutorial in the CBSA exams and the free 150 one, the clock starts when you start the tutorial... one question has a for monitor adjustment, if it loads, I'm good.

One question has an AV file, adjust the volume/etc then I'm good. I've already read the tutorial stuff, I know about the linked quesitons so I'm going to skip the other questions and not read the tutorial parts... getting straight to the test.

 

[sebsvenmdc]

If it's like the tutorial in the CBSA exams and the free 150 one, the clock starts when you start the tutorial... one question has a for monitor adjustment, if it loads, I'm good.

One question has an AV file, adjust the volume/etc then I'm good. I've already read the tutorial stuff, I know about the linked quesitons so I'm going to skip the other questions and not read the tutorial parts... getting straight to the test.

Ok, this question might sound dumb...but where are you reading all of the stuff necessary for the tutorial...before the actual practice exam within the software...or is there a website we should be reading?

 

[Depakote]

If you download the free 150 practice questions, it includes the tutorial. The tutorial in the free 150 practice questions should be identical to that which you'll see on test day so if you read it now, all you need to do is do the photo and headphone check.

 

[calespine]

You download the whole practice package from nbme- it includes the tutorial plus the 150 qs. There is a menu where you can just select to go through the tutorial.

 

[sebsvenmdc]

Hey, thanks for the help, guys! 👍

 

[Knicks]

If it's like the tutorial in the CBSA exams and the free 150 one, the clock starts when you start the tutorial... one question has a for monitor adjustment, if it loads, I'm good.

One question has an AV file, adjust the volume/etc then I'm good. I've already read the tutorial stuff, I know about the linked quesitons so I'm going to skip the other questions and not read the tutorial parts... getting straight to the test.

Thanks, pretty nice approach. When you say, "the clock starts when you start the tutorial", you mean at that point you've officially started the exam? So you're just going to quickly skip to those 2 screens (monitor adjustment/volume adjustment), and after that you'll be "done with that block"?

Another question. Is the interface/software used in the free 150 similar to the fred1 or fred2 software? (Side question: Same question about USMLE World interface/software).

 

[Depakote]

Thanks, pretty nice approach. When you say, "the clock starts when you start the tutorial", you mean at that point you've officially started the exam? So you're just going to quickly skip to those 2 screens (monitor adjustment/volume adjustment), and after that you'll be "done with that block"?

Another question. Is the interface/software used in the free 150 similar to the fred1 or fred2 software? (Side question: Same question about USMLE World interface/software).

When I said time starts, I'm talking about your whole day time and your break time. You get 8 hours to take the test, 7 blocks (1hr each) and 1 hour of break/tutorial/survey time. If you can minimize the amount of time you spend in the tutorial, that leaves the rest for your breaks. Any break time left over when you finish block 7 goes to the time you have to work on the survey... no break time, no survey.


The free 150 is available in Fred 1 and Fred 2 flavors, IIRC. Whenever I've posted the link, it's been to the Fred 2 version, but you can find Fred 1 on the USMLE website.

UWorld does a decent job matching the aesthetic of Fred 2, but there are some Fred 2 nuances like linked questions and the AV things that you'll want to see in the Free 150 before test day.

 

[Knicks]

When I said time starts, I'm talking about your whole day time and your break time. You get 8 hours to take the test, 7 blocks (1hr each) and 1 hour of break/tutorial/survey time. If you can minimize the amount of time you spend in the tutorial, that leaves the rest for your breaks. Any break time left over when you finish block 7 goes to the time you have to work on the survey... no break time, no survey.


The free 150 is available in Fred 1 and Fred 2 flavors, IIRC. Whenever I've posted the link, it's been to the Fred 2 version, but you can find Fred 1 on the USMLE website.

UWorld does a decent job matching the aesthetic of Fred 2, but there are some Fred 2 nuances like linked questions and the AV things that you'll want to see in the Free 150 before test day.

Hey, thanks for the informative responses. 👍

One other question I was going to make a new thread about but decided to just ask here:

Can you use your USMLE World account on more than 1 computer? or does it HAVE TO be always on the same computer?

 

[chaostheory]

Hey, thanks for the informative responses. 👍

One other question I was going to make a new thread about but decided to just ask here:

Can you use your USMLE World account on more than 1 computer? or does it HAVE TO be always on the same computer?

You can use it anywhere. You just have to install the software on each computer, then you can log in like normal. I've mainly used mine, but sometimes if i have trouble understanding a concept on a specific question, I've gone over to my roommate's room and logged in on her comp so she can explain it to me (she already took the exam last month and did really well, so she's like my personal advisor lol).

 

[kdburton]

What kind of multimedia stuff is on the test that you need headphones for besides heart sounds? Anyone heard of anything other than heart sounds so far?

 

[spospo]

i had nothing but heart sounds, but one of the examples they gave was a video clip of a patient who had parkinsons...i think. i didn't actually watch it.

in terms of break time, don't stress too much. I was slower than usual on the blocks (as in finished with less than 5 minutes on 6 out of 7) and still took 4 breaks (one being lunch). i still managed to have over 20 minutes of break time left. g'luck all

 

[kdburton]

i had nothing but heart sounds, but one of the examples they gave was a video clip of a patient who had parkinsons...i think. i didn't actually watch it.

in terms of break time, don't stress too much. I was slower than usual on the blocks (as in finished with less than 5 minutes on 6 out of 7) and still took 4 breaks (one being lunch). i still managed to have over 20 minutes of break time left. g'luck all

How much time do you usually finish with? I'm getting done with around 10-12 minutes left in each block on average, but that usually means that I have 5-6 questions I'm planning on going back to and really reading closely. Were you significantly slower than usual?

 

[lala83]

Is there a tutorial available for COMLEX like there is for USMLE that I can do before I go in to take the test?