Step 1 disaster zone

[amdub2004]

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Hi, I'm a FMG in Ireland and just got my result back from Step 1. I failed. Got 74. Just 1 off.
Must admit to not being that annoyed with my preparation - I have learnt loads for my finals which are more important anyway but my exam was so awful.
I was getting 65-80% of Q bank correct 1 week before exam when my subscription expired. I also did all of the Board Simulator Series and some of Appleton and Lange question books. Got 85% on practice USMLE CD 2 days before test. Was confident that I had a good chance of passing.
Went through First Aid 4/5 times and BRS Path and Physio 2 times. I also did all the UCV and Lippincott Pharm and Biochem as well as HY Neuro, Anat, Embryo, Cell Mol Bio and Hist and those 100pg Goljan review. Prepared for about 3 months while attending college. I have never failed an exam in my life - you need to 50% to pass our exams here and 60% is an honour. I have only gotten 1 pass in 4 years of medical school.
The vast majority of my exam seemed to be from the "general principles" side of things - couldn't quite identify the subject. Loads of genetics, electrophoresis (3 times!), molecular stuff and pharm literally focused on experimental stuff. Biochem and phsyio also featured heavily but in an obtuse fashion. Got very very little path and anatomy.
About the only thing that was answerable was behav science!
After the exam I really didn't know how to feel - was disappointed that most of the stuff I had learnt were not featured at all. Micro was practically non existent as well. I thought that I had a 50-50 chance of passing. Guess I was wrong....I failed.
Will probably sit it again but not for a while. Couldn't face it - I was getting bored of studying the same stuff towards the end even though I was focusing on my weak subjects.
I heard that you can sit Step 2 before Step 1 - IWA let me apply for it even though I haven't paid yet - thinking about doing step 2 as part of my prep for my finals like most of the Americans in class here in Dublin.
Any ideas or suggestions???

 

[north2southOMFS]

Did you by chance take the NBME #1 or #2 practice tests to see how you would have theoretically done?

 

[El Duderino]

This sounds very odd to me. 65-80 in Qbank is very good (assuming that your average was 72-73), and 85% on the USMLE CD is very good too. There is no reason to believe that you shouldn't pass comfortably with these scores, in fact, many people get 99 with lower test scores than that.

Were there any issues on test day? Time constraints, black-outs etc?

 

[amdub2004]

This sounds very odd to me. 65-80 in Qbank is very good (assuming that your average was 72-73), and 85% on the USMLE CD is very good too. There is no reason to believe that you shouldn't pass comfortably with these scores, in fact, many people get 99 with lower test scores than that.

Were there any issues on test day? Time constraints, black-outs etc?

No issues on test day - was nervous at first but had settled in after the first few questions . Finished each block with a good bit of time left - I tend to do MCQ very quickly anyway.

Didn't do NBME as I felt I had enough questions done. ONly heard about it few days before exam anyway.

I felt I had done the work and learnt the stuff - my test was completely out of my control - so many of the questions were so random and not at all on the common topics which I was expecting. There were some easy questions but there such a heavy bias to molecular/lab type stuff I left the exam feeling that I had done my previous 2 1/2 months study no justice.

I'm obviously disappointed to have failed but am unable to imagine going back to FA for Step I for a while. I would probably have a nervous breakdown after a few pages.

Advice for anyone sitting step 1 soon - FA is NOT enough for genetics/mol bio/hormones/pharm....

Does anyone know if you can take step2 before step1?

 

[Peeshee]

Yes, you can take step 2 before step 1. Studying for step 2 may help you out with step 1 also and take your mind off step 1 for a while. Many FMG's tend to do well on Step 2 bec. of the clinical exposure.
But, you were very,very close to passing! Did you do a recheck on your score? You will def. pass next time. Did you listen to Goljan? If not that may make the difference for you next time.
good luck!

 

[north2southOMFS]

Wow, you have successfully succeded in making me worry like hell. I am only getting around a 60-70% on the qbank and I take the test in 1 1/2 weeks. I am only using FA, BRS physio and Path, HY neuro and Micro for dummies or made simple or something like that.

What type of genetics questions did they ask that weren't covered. Or what types of Molecular bio questions were asked?

just out of curiosity, what was you 3 digit score?

 

[streetdoc]

the thought of a lot of molec bio questions is enough to push me over the edge! I have no clue about that stuff. since it seems to be showing up on exams does anyone have a good resource they could suggest to someone who needs ALL the BASICS plus the important stuff?


streetdoc

 

[amdub2004]

Wow, you have successfully succeded in making me worry like hell. I am only getting around a 60-70% on the qbank and I take the test in 1 1/2 weeks. I am only using FA, BRS physio and Path, HY neuro and Micro for dummies or made simple or something like that.

What type of genetics questions did they ask that weren't covered. Or what types of Molecular bio questions were asked?

just out of curiosity, what was you 3 digit score?

I got 181/74. It's so close to passing I just couldn't face sitting it again so soon. I was aiming for solid 80s but things don't always work out the way you want! Think I'll just go ahead and try for Step II.

The stuff you're using seems really good - the general principles in step up and the FA molecul stuff - if I was doing it again I would make sure I knew this backwards and in my sleep!
Know all the different types of mutations and how they manifest..i was asked about these numerous times.
Hormones/Pharm questions were asked in terms of products and genes and graphs, graphs, graphs.....I knew my adrenergic graphs as per FA and Board Sim Series really well but the questions were different - worked out from graph and then asked another question.
Acid Base, metabolic acidosis/alkalosis were also asked in terms of graphs - know this stuff really really well - the goljan 100pg doc was really useful here.
Renal wasn't featured that much on my exam but the questions were really hard - the pickier end of the Qbank qs. i did crap in it actually.
A lot of the questions I got asked on molecular stuff I couldn't even begin to formulate answers and I had prepared quite comprehensively - knowing the stuff in FA?Step up and High yield are really all that any of us can handle without cracking up a copy of Albert's Molecular Biology of the Cell tome...I don't know of any other books - needless to say I will searching them out when i repeat!
The thing that proves that to me that there is a definite limit to the amount of preparation that our sanity can tolerate is my breakdown - I have asterixes beside Genetics/Renal/histology and cell biology/pharm/micro and immuno (immunology was also biased towards molecular stuff - not a single question about any of the syndromes) which implies that my score is so low in these areas it doesn't all fit on the page. But bizarrely everything else spreads in the higher end of the higher performance area.
It just shows how many of my questions came from the areas I did badly in.

Note on pictures - I got 1 path pic and 1 neuro image, both of which were not neccessary to answer the question - the clinical vignette was more than enough. I did however get several gene sequences (I got 7 in 1 block - I remember becuase I marked them!) and several electrophroesis pictures.

My advice on how to avoid failing would be to keep calm in your preparation and spend time ensuring that you understand the anwers to all the molecular related and hard pharm questions in Qbank and knowing those sections of FA and Step Up like the back of your hand.

And keeping a sense of humour about the whole thing. It's not the end of the world. It's an exam that is repeatable and the stuff you learn/cram for it and will remember will always be invaluable to you.

A few people i know have sat it over the last few weeks as well - their exams had nothing like the molec stuff mine had - they had lots of path and physio and clinical scenarios (I actually had very few clinical scenarios) - the content of your exam is totally out of your control - you can only do your best. Cliche but true.

 

[north2southOMFS]

wow, a 181 that is hard to swallow i bet. I think like a 182 or 184 is passing. You seem to be taking it rather well which says more about the quality of your persona than a stupid test. I'm positive you will retake it and do better on round 2. You mentioned putting it off for a while. I think if it were me I would just study the poorer sections i got on the test and take it again right away while most is somewhat fresh in my head....but that is just the way i see it. Anyhow thanks for the tips and for getting me worried now i'm off to get HY molecular bio for a 1 week cram!

 

[usmler]

This is absolutely batshlt insane. Youre freaking me out.

How could ANYONE do QBANK, BSS, A&L, 100 pages of Goljan's path notes, Lippincott Pharm, Lippincott Biochem, 5 rounds of First Aid, 2 rounds of BRS Path and Phys (each), HY Anat, HY Neuro, HY Cell Mol Bio, HY Hist, and then FAIL???? 😱

This is crazy... I almost suspect that youre shltting us just to freak us out.

The question of failing should not even arise with that kind of prep. It's not a question of "181/182 oh it was "so close"... Seriously, if you got 183 and "passed", would you have been happy with that after that kind of prep? I would have died.

Something is seriously wrong here. Get in touch with them and ask for a re-mark. With the prep you say you put in, you should only have to worry about how high above 210 or 220 you get. Not whether you passed or failed. Holy cow.

Ok I'm gonna go and do some serious worrying now. 🙁

 

[usmler]

The stuff you're using seems really good - the general principles in step up and the FA molecul stuff - if I was doing it again I would make sure I knew this backwards and in my sleep!
Know all the different types of mutations and how they manifest..i was asked about these numerous times.
Hormones/Pharm questions were asked in terms of products and genes and graphs, graphs, graphs.....I knew my adrenergic graphs as per FA and Board Sim Series really well but the questions were different - worked out from graph and then asked another question.
Acid Base, metabolic acidosis/alkalosis were also asked in terms of graphs - know this stuff really really well - the goljan 100pg doc was really useful here.
Renal wasn't featured that much on my exam but the questions were really hard - the pickier end of the Qbank qs. i did crap in it actually.
A lot of the questions I got asked on molecular stuff I couldn't even begin to formulate answers and I had prepared quite comprehensively - knowing the stuff in FA?Step up and High yield are really all that any of us can handle without cracking up a copy of Albert's Molecular Biology of the Cell tome...I don't know of any other books - needless to say I will searching them out when i repeat!
The thing that proves that to me that there is a definite limit to the amount of preparation that our sanity can tolerate is my breakdown - I have asterixes beside Genetics/Renal/histology and cell biology/pharm/micro and immuno (immunology was also biased towards molecular stuff - not a single question about any of the syndromes) which implies that my score is so low in these areas it doesn't all fit on the page. But bizarrely everything else spreads in the higher end of the higher performance area.
It just shows how many of my questions came from the areas I did badly in.

I just read this. OK,if the score breakdown is congruent with what you felt was difficult for you on the test, the result is likely real, and a recheck would be worthless. I'm so sorry this had to happen.

It sounds to me though that you must have ignored your weaknesses on QBANK. You cannot do Qbank and not get tested on genetics, mol biology, general pharm etc, right? Did you work on those weaknesses? There's also a lot of that stuff in Lippincott Biochem, which you say you did. Did you read those parts? It seems to me that your exam had an unusually severe component of this stuff. Sounds really unfair.

Anyway, you're taking it well. Good for you, and all the best for round 2.
👍

If you've any further insights for us on the basic science stuff, I'd really appreciate it.

 

[amdub2004]

I just read this. OK,if the score breakdown is congruent with what you felt was difficult for you on the test, the result is likely real, and a recheck would be worthless. I'm so sorry this had to happen.

It sounds to me though that you must have ignored your weaknesses on QBANK. You cannot do Qbank and not get tested on genetics, mol biology, general pharm etc, right? Did you work on those weaknesses? There's also a lot of that stuff in Lippincott Biochem, which you say you did. Did you read those parts? It seems to me that your exam had an unusually severe component of this stuff. Sounds really unfair.

Anyway, you're taking it well. Good for you, and all the best for round 2.
👍

If you've any further insights for us on the basic science stuff, I'd really appreciate it.

Well I was getting 60s on these areas in QBank - I did review these topics in the books and all the rest but I guess I just didn't know it/understand it deeply enough to handle the questions I got.

If I had passed with the skin of my teeth to spare I would probably have been annoyed...but with the test I got I would've been really relieved.

Another exam tip - I found that some questions had "info" in it that I had kinda forgotten/confused a little about so I wrote it down on those little wiper boards you get - it actually came in useful for other questions 2 or 3 times.

Trust me, I wish I was just trying to scare you! I'm not - most people seem to really well on the USMLE with preparation and I just wanted to warn you about the areas that I did badly in.
I knew they weren't my strongest areas (Path etc were) but I presumed the test would not weighted so heavily against my strong areas.

 

[raspberry swirl]

good lord in heaven that test is going to kill me

 

[HiddenTruth]

the general principles in step up and the FA molecul stuff - if I was doing it again I would make sure I knew this backwards and in my sleep!
Know all the different types of mutations and how they manifest..i was asked about these numerous times.
Hormones/Pharm questions were asked in terms of products and genes and graphs, graphs, graphs.....I knew my adrenergic graphs as per FA and Board Sim Series really well but the questions were different - worked out from graph and then asked another question.
Acid Base, metabolic acidosis/alkalosis were also asked in terms of graphs - know this stuff really really well - the goljan 100pg doc was really useful here.
Renal wasn't featured that much on my exam but the questions were really hard - the pickier end of the Qbank qs. i did crap in it actually.
A lot of the questions I got asked on molecular stuff I couldn't even begin to formulate answers and I had prepared quite comprehensively - knowing the stuff in FA?Step up and High yield are really all that any of us can handle without cracking up a copy of Albert's Molecular Biology of the Cell tome...I don't know of any other books - needless to say I will searching them out when i repeat!

I did however get several gene sequences (I got 7 in 1 block - I remember becuase I marked them!) and several electrophroesis pictures. QUOTE]


so HY molec bio was NOT enough? Sheesh!
When you talk about the mutations--you don't mean the translocations (knwoing the numbers), do ya? But, we do have to know the genes that are involves (het, ras, etc). Is BRS path enough for this?

And, can you elaborate on the gene sequences? Dang, I absolutely hate moleculor bio--I can't believe this, this is so WORTHLESS! We're becomming MD's./DO's, NOT PhD's. I used to rant about step 1 in general, how more than half that knowledge is forgotten and not used in clinical practice, and that it should not be used as a licensing exam, etc., and now they put tons of molec bio on it--this is so ridiculous. Sorry, for venting, and I know there is nothing we can do about, so I should shutup and study that stuff like no other. But, I'd appreciate some feedback on the questions I pointed out. Thanks a lot. And I am so sorry to hear about your experience-- I am sure you will do well next time and become an awesome doc. Good luck!

 

[chak_de_phatee]

With all the stuff he/she used I say.
TROLL ALERT TROLL ALERT............. 😴

 

[amdub2004]

With all the stuff he/she used I say.
TROLL ALERT TROLL ALERT............. 😴

Yeah Whatever.

I posted here cos I found the info on these boards really useful.
I just wanted to emphasize how the topics I did badly in are important for other people to be aware of. I'm not trying to scaremonger or anything - quite the opposite in fact - I just wanted to pass on my experience.
If you're not interested fair enough, but this was my experience - I worked hard and it just didn't pay off on the day. It happens. And maybe other people reading this might focus in on the stuff I did badly in in their preparation and hopefully have a more joyous step 1 experience.

 

[automaton]

Yeah Whatever.

I posted here cos I found the info on these boards really useful.
I just wanted to emphasize how the topics I did badly in are important for other people to be aware of. I'm not trying to scaremonger or anything - quite the opposite in fact - I just wanted to pass on my experience.
If you're not interested fair enough, but this was my experience - I worked hard and it just didn't pay off on the day. It happens. And maybe other people reading this might focus in on the stuff I did badly in in their preparation and hopefully have a more joyous step 1 experience.

i think amdub2004 brings up important points. i've heard from many that the molecular bio questions can get picky. you really have to know this material well. like all the molecular pathways you should know very well or else you can run into trouble. and another thing is that you really can't afford to not study everything.

the stuff he says he saw on the test are very believable from accounts i've gotten from other people. tons of graphs with different presentation, detailed molecular bio and biochem, etc. i think there's a lot of valuable info in his post if you don't get rattled by the failure thing.

 

[chak_de_phatee]

i think amdub2004 brings up important points. i've heard from many that the molecular bio questions can get picky. you really have to know this material well. like all the molecular pathways you should know very well or else you can run into trouble. and another thing is that you really can't afford to not study everything.

the stuff he says he saw on the test are very believable from accounts i've gotten from other people. tons of graphs with different presentation, detailed molecular bio and biochem, etc. i think there's a lot of valuable info in his post if you don't get rattled by the failure thing.

I could not agree with you more automaton. I have heard anecdotal stories of this also. But to sum up his message he states that there was no path or clinical stuff on the boards just MCB etc and not path.
That does not help SDN much because no one here is going to forget path and put most of their effort into biochem. That is all I am saying. Also I would not put too much stock into what a newbie FMG says. I still believe what the elders(idio,BF and galby) said that STEP1 will seek out your weak areas. So lets say you suck at micro you will end up thinking most of the test was about micro.

P.S. I still think he is a troll.

 

[usmler]

I could not agree with you more automaton.

I have heard anecdotal stories of this also. But to sum up his message he states that there was no path or clinical stuff on the boards just MCB etc and not path.
That does not help SDN much because no one here is going to forget path and put most of their effort into biochem. That is all I am saying. Also I would not put too much stock into what a newbie FMG says. I still believe what the elders(idio,BF and galby) said that STEP1 will seek out your weak areas. So lets say you suck at micro you will end up thinking most of the test was about micro.

P.S. I still think he is a troll.

1. I mean this in the very best possible way: you're an idiot.

Some rules of logic: If you agreed with everything automaton had to say, you're agreeing with amdub. For you to agree with someone but then insist he's a troll, is a classic symptom of a sloppy thinking.

2. He did not say there was no path or clinical stuff on the exam. He said there was far less of it than he expected. That is a believable statement. Remember that if someone gets a score of 181 or so, that essentially means he got about 70% of the questions right, IIRC. That 70% had to come from somewhere. Since he says his grasp of molecular bio, genetics, histology etc were not the best, and his graph breakdown says he scored off-the-charts terribly on them, the logical conclusion is that he made up by doing very well on everything else. And guess what, that appears to be exactly what happened (he seems to claim the scores of his other subjects were at the other extreme).

How could that have happened if the only things he was tested on were "just MCB" ?

Think before you BS.

Incidentally, details like that (the shape of his subject graphs) which appear to line up with his story lead me to believe he's not trolling. I can't know that for sure, of course, but I wouldn't accuse him of it just to feel better, like an idiot.

 

[chak_de_phatee]

1. I mean this in the very best possible way: you're an idiot.

Now now chump don't get your panties in a twist and please dont take it out on me just because that chancroid is making life difficult. You made it to med school I am sure you can come up with a better insult than name calling.

Dont distort my statement I never said "I agree with everything autaomaton said". When I said I agree with automaton I was specifically talking about his statement that "you really can't afford to not study everything".

The OP stated that "The vast majority of my exam seemed to be from the "general principles" side of things...........................Got very very little path and anatomy". So he did state there was very little path.

The gist of my argument is that the STEP1 tests everything and path being one of the biggest components. I have a hard time basing my preparation on FB from a FMG newbie and will rely more on what BF, galby and idio have posted. Everyone is free to choose whats best for them.

P.S. 85% on the CD, finished most of the practice question out there and failed by 1 point how poetic. TROLL

 

[north2southOMFS]

Now now chump don't get your panties in a twist and please dont take it out on me just because that chancroid is making life difficult.

Haemophilus Ducreyi! Yes!... I remember something!!

 

[DHMO]

Remember that if someone gets a score of 181 or so, that essentially means he got about 70% of the questions right, IIRC. That 70% had to come from somewhere.

Where did you get this 70% number from? Someone who writes step1 questions gave a talk to my class and he said that passing if probably somewhere between 50-60% correct (depending on which test you get), with "the best amoung you getting about 80% correct.

 

[north2southOMFS]

Ya, you kinda made me nervous with that 70% number. Glad you were FOS with that number.

 

[Idiopathic]

The OP's preparation is remarkebly similar to mine, in scope. I find it hard to believe that score, based on the prep.

If you believe the OP's score, then you have to believe that his test was just insanely ridiculous. I mean, I thought mine was hard, but not that bad. Or, you could assume that something is wrong with his methods, but his QBank score is in line with plenty of 220+ scores out there.

Take home message: With the exception of a few outliers, if you study the right sources, do as many questions as you can, stay focused, and dont freak out during the test, everyone should do fine.

 

[Idiopathic]

Where did you get this 70% number from? Someone who writes step1 questions gave a talk to my class and he said that passing if probably somewhere between 50-60% correct (depending on which test you get), with "the best amoung you getting about 80% correct.

The best analogy I have heard about this (which was on this board) estimates that your 3-digit score can be estimated based on multiplying the percent correct by 3. so, 55-60% or so would give you about a 180 and a passing score...70% or so would give you a 210, 80% a 240...I think that is fairly reasonable, even if its off somewhat. With that said, I would bet that noone who gets 60% correct will fail.

 

[usmler]

Dont distort my statement I never said "I agree with everything autaomaton said". When I said I agree with automaton I was specifically talking about his statement that "you really can't afford to not study everything".

You're even worse than I thought. This is what you said to automaton:
"I could not agree with you more automaton."
Since you're severely cerebrally challenged, I'll spell it out for you: if you simply cannot agree more with someone, you completely agree with whatever it was he said. Now, wipe that spittle from your mouth, and read that again s-l-o-w-l-y. You get a cookie when you understand it.

The OP stated that "The vast majority of my exam seemed to be from the "general principles" side of things...........................Got very very little path and anatomy". So he did state there was very little path.

Uuhhh, yes. That's what all of us have been saying. He got much fewer path questions than expected, and a lot more MB/genetics/histo than he hoped for. Which is not at all unusual. But what YOU said was he got no questions at all:
"But to sum up his message he states that there was no path or clinical stuff on the boards just MCB etc and not path."

You're simply being extraordinarily stupid there. That's not what he said at all. The basic point is that if you happen to get an exam weighted more heavily than usual on subject X, and you don't know anything about subject X, you can concievably fail the exam despite knowing and doing very well on the bits that tested Subject Y. Why is this so difficult for you to understand?

 

[usmler]

Where did you get this 70% number from? Someone who writes step1 questions gave a talk to my class and he said that passing if probably somewhere between 50-60% correct (depending on which test you get), with "the best amoung you getting about 80% correct.

Hi DMHO, I'm not precisely sure what the % of correct responses is that will hand you a pass. I do believe that the figure is ~ 70%; I think I read that in the BOI. However I'm not positive. In so far as my argument above is concerned, the precise figure was not critical.

 

[carrigallen]

Anyone who uses his first post(s) to start a controversal, provocative thread is difficult to believe. The same is true for the other inflammatory posts in this thread.

 

[amdub2004]

Anyone who uses his first post(s) to start a controversal, provocative thread is difficult to believe. The same is true for the other inflammatory posts in this thread.

Few points -
I'm a she.
I don't post to boards even though I've been reading this one for 2 or 3 years at this stage - I was following the advice of people like bigfrank who did really well.
I didn't intend for this post to be controversial - I just wanted to emphasise that I got a huge amount of questions that I really had no clue of because my preparation of them was less than optimal - I had concentrated on the "big topics". I had given the smaller molec/genetic stuff a cursory enough going over a few times and this was not enough. I did this on advice from friends who sat step 1 few months before me. I am not trying to say anything other than I worked hard, was doing well on practice tests etc but when it came to my weaker subjects the exam punished me.
I'll get over it. I've gotten over most of the failure shame at this stage anyway.
I just wanted to post my experience and my advice for what it's worth - one girl's experience of step 1.
Given the reaction my observations caused, I think I'll stick to my Bridget Jones type Dear Diary calorie counting, Kaplan % chronicling, and alcohol tally in a cute pink notebook in future.

 

[desiree]

Hi
I don't understand why some people on this site are being harsh with amdub. she isn't trying to frighten anyone with her experience, she is just sharing with us what happened to her. afterall this site is meant for sharing info and venting sometimes so please give her a break. its hard enough studying so hard for a test like that and then failing. it doesn't make it easier when everyone is blaming her for starting some kind of panic about the mobio/immum/genetics. by the way amdub girl i am an american studying in ireland as well and am preparing to sit the exam, hopefully, by the end of next month. if anything, your horrible experience will help people like me to focus a little more on those subjects that i was hoping i could skip.
thanks for sharing your experience, and best of luck to you next time. your attitude about the whole thing is very admirable. 😉

 

[chak_de_phatee]

Since you're severely cerebrally challenged, I'll spell it out for you: if you simply cannot agree more with someone, you completely agree with whatever it was he said. Now, wipe that spittle from your mouth, and read that again s-l-o-w-l-y. You get a cookie when you understand it.

Ooooooh you are getting a little better at the insults I especially liked the cookie part. Don't believe what other people say because mommy said you are special and its true. Even though the doctor told your mother that you have a risk of developing Alzheimers in the 4th decade. Aside from the chancroid you are doing great Corky.

You're simply being extraordinarily stupid there.

Tsk Tsk.........you were doing so good with the cookie and all but then you fall back to name calling again.

Uuhhh, yes. That's what all of us have been saying. He got much fewer path questions than expected, and a lot more MB/genetics/histo than he hoped for. Which is not at all unusual.

Wow you must have been writing the complete STEP1 exam for a while now. Since you know that its not unusual for the exam to be heavily weighted to one subject or the other. Along with your excellent knowledge of the 70% correct required to pass. 😉

 

[chak_de_phatee]

Few points -
Given the reaction my observations caused, I think I'll stick to my Bridget Jones type Dear Diary calorie counting, Kaplan % chronicling, and alcohol tally in a cute pink notebook in future.

I was drinking a coke and it made me almost spill the coke.......it was funny...............if your story is true I wish you all the luck on the second attempt, I know STEP1 can be a very difficult exam. Good Luck!

 

[berkeleyboy]

I thought I had done horribly. I called nbme and they said:
a pass would require about 55-65% of the Qs right. The discrepancy between 55-65% depends on the difficulty of the exam. A person with a hard exam would need to get less Qs right to get the same 2/3 digit score as someone with an easy exam. Suffice to say, the difficulty of the exam is scaled appropriately. This is what I got from nbme.

In my particular exam, I had about 50% path/pathophys but the rest of my exam was split evenly between behavioral, pharm, micro, immuno, molecular, metabolism, and neuro. But there was a heavy emphasis on neuro and molecular. I must of had like 30-40 neuro Qs and another 30-40 mclecular Qs. In total I prolly had like 25 histo/gross/embryo Qs. SOOO It is true that your exam will have a slant to it. My path/pathphys was mostly cardio and renal, I had very little endocrine. A good friend of mine said his path was mostly endocrine.
since this irish girl....didn't take nbme, we can't really say what she was suppossed to get whether pass or not since correlations b/n usmle cd and qbank and the actual usmle are not entirely accurate. I know personally of someone who got a 250 and had a 66% cumulative in qbank. I know another person with 77% and got a 226. There just isn't a linear correlation with qbank and the actual thing. And usmle cd? that thing is so ridiculously easy when compared to real exam, its impossible to make any type of correlation with actual scores using the cd.

I hope this helps. GL irish girl on your future prep! I'm actually in dublin right now for the rest of the week, just visiting but enjoying temple bar. So I found this post and wanted to add my thoughts,
All the best,
BERK