Step 1 "Orientation" Matierals similar to real thing?

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alwaysaangel

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Hey I haven't gotten around to doing the paid NBMEs yet but I did the free orientation/practice materials that they give.

And I was wondering if anyone knows. Are those similar to the real thing like the paid NBMEs are? Or are they too easy? I see tons of threads about comparability of NBME 1-6 to the real thing, but nothing about those free practice materials.
 
How does one go about getting these free practice materials?

They're on the main NBME site, go to USMLE Step 1 and it has a link to "Orientation Materials." There are 2 now because they're changing software around May 15th.
 
Although you may see exact copies of those questions on your test, they are much much easier that the majority of the questions you will get on step 1. My advice would be to buy UW and learn the explanations. Honestly there are no q-banks that exactly resemble step 1 questions. The step 1 writters probably buy all of them to make sure of that👎.
 
I don't have info for step 1 specifically yet, but our school gave us 20 NBME practice path questions from their site. I got 20/20 pretty easily, they were just very basic questions. Ya, so basing off that I scanned over path not going for details but just looking for a basic recognition / refresher. Today I took the NBME path shelf and, wow, I still feel violated. Not even close to the same thing. I'm not trusting their practice materials as being anything similar to exam materials again.
 
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