I just emailed the official USMLE people about a STUPID COMPUTER-RELATED ERROR I made while taking the STEP2CK (watch out, it can also happen during STEP1, especially if you're conditioned by USMLEWorld/QBank).
I'm just cutting and pasting here so that future test-takers avoid it (tho' perhaps I'm the only ***** who's encountered this):
"...the questions are listed in the left-hand column. You can proceed from question to question either by clicking on the forward (right) arrow at the top of the page, or by clicking on the number directly (in the left hand column). A habit of mine developed from taking practice tests (USMLE World) was to click on the number directly.
During the actual test, clicking on the forward arrow each time advances you to subsequent questions until you reach the "end of block" page. Clicking on individual questions directly, however, requires that you visually identify all 46 questions and manually select each (you only reach the "end of block" page if you click on it directly, and you are not automatically advanced to the end).
In USMLEWorld, all 46 questions are listed plainly on the left in full view (i.e. you do not need to scroll down to see all listed question numbers). During the actual test, however, the list usually ends at 43/44/45 unless you scroll down to reach the remaining questions. I only became aware of this during the 6th block. Consequently, there were 10 or so questions in total (all blocks added together) that I never read, and therefore completely omitted (I'm assuming #45,46 in blocks 1-5).
I only now recall that I almost made the same mistake while taking the USMLE Step 1; but because there were 50 questions per block in the USMLE Step 1, ending on 40-something immediately triggered uncertainty, and I was made aware of the scrolling. The same reaction wasn't experienced today when registering 44 questions instead of 46."
Just thought I'd share...
I'm just cutting and pasting here so that future test-takers avoid it (tho' perhaps I'm the only ***** who's encountered this):
"...the questions are listed in the left-hand column. You can proceed from question to question either by clicking on the forward (right) arrow at the top of the page, or by clicking on the number directly (in the left hand column). A habit of mine developed from taking practice tests (USMLE World) was to click on the number directly.
During the actual test, clicking on the forward arrow each time advances you to subsequent questions until you reach the "end of block" page. Clicking on individual questions directly, however, requires that you visually identify all 46 questions and manually select each (you only reach the "end of block" page if you click on it directly, and you are not automatically advanced to the end).
In USMLEWorld, all 46 questions are listed plainly on the left in full view (i.e. you do not need to scroll down to see all listed question numbers). During the actual test, however, the list usually ends at 43/44/45 unless you scroll down to reach the remaining questions. I only became aware of this during the 6th block. Consequently, there were 10 or so questions in total (all blocks added together) that I never read, and therefore completely omitted (I'm assuming #45,46 in blocks 1-5).
I only now recall that I almost made the same mistake while taking the USMLE Step 1; but because there were 50 questions per block in the USMLE Step 1, ending on 40-something immediately triggered uncertainty, and I was made aware of the scrolling. The same reaction wasn't experienced today when registering 44 questions instead of 46."
Just thought I'd share...
