Stupid Mistakes on Exam

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MoscowAbe

MoscowAbe

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Thinking of some of the stupid mistakes I made on the test gives me a headache. Was hoping to compare with fellow test-takers how many mistakes they usually recall after testing.
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i think it's inevitable

I missed a q on how to treat MRSA .... granted it didn't say "How do you treat MRSA" ... but I still didn't put it together and say, Hey this is MRSA and this is how I should treat it. I also was on a block where I blanked on direct/indirect bilirubin ... for the life of me I could not remember which one was conjugated and which was unconj ... it was the most frustrating thing of my life!!!! I seriously wanted to shoot myself .... I had never ever even had to think about that before and there I was in the test completely blanking ...


Botottom line is I think it is inevitable ... banking on other people making the same careless errors on other things!
 
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I'm amazed you guys can remember that many mistakes. I'd be lucky to remember 15 questions since the exam was so long and fatiguing, let alone 15 mistakes.
 
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I missed one question that plain asked what you could see if you had a camera at the level of the laryngopharynx. I also missed another asking what drug would be contraindicated in glaucoma.
 
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I remember how out of no where I wasn't able to reproduce the mnemonic in FA for the G receptors while before I was able to do it asleep. I guess its a good thing that other people experience this. At least it gives some relief. The problem is these mistakes occur on the easiest questions and some are saying you get penalized heavily for missing easy ones. The more I think about it the less sleep I get.
 
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MoscowAbe said:
I remember how out of no where I wasn't able to reproduce the mnemonic in FA for the G receptors while before I was able to do it asleep.
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That's why I don't understand why people were replying to that older whiteboard thread with "well if you can remember the mnemonic before the exam you'll obviously be able to remember it during the exam when someone asked about writing down the G receptor one.

First of all, even if you have it down cold, it'd probably take a little longer to dig it out of your memory than to just look at your board quickly. Second of all, and more importantly, when you're riding high on adrenaline or whatever during the exam, you tend to forget simple things like this, especially if you're remotely flustered.

I didn't write anything beforehand on the thing just because I'm lazy, but I certainly don't see why it would be a bad idea if there's a mnemonic or two that you're pretty sure will come in handy, and you don't enjoy wasting time during the exam.

Also, I made several idiotic mistakes on questions I thought were trying to trick me, but in retrospect definitely weren't. It sucks and will obviously keep me from getting that 300 I wanted, but hopefully the good guesses on tough questions that I made will help attenuate the penalty.
 
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I think its natural to only remember the questions you screwed up on and never the ones you got right.. thats why everyone feels like crap when theyre done
 
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it's horrible

I relive that bilirubin question almost every hour ... I can see myself sitting there in front of the screen and just blanking ... direct vs. indirect ... i think the people around me thought i was having a heart attack ... i was pulling my hair out of my head (literally) ...

I think my mini-freak out session really really didn't help ... wish I would have just moved on and come back to the q later ... was planning to review it, but didn't have enough time on that block. I don't know ... I would really suggest when you get a mental block on something like that to flag, move on, and make sure you can come back.
 
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i've been hurting (sometimes crying) on the inside thinking about the mistakes that i made on my exam. i've made peace with family medicine.

I wish u all the best.
 
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MilkmanAl said:
That makes me feel a little better, at least. It sure sounded like one of those "I can tell this is a gimme, but I don't know the answer" questions at the time.
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Well the epiglottis is the most superior structure in the laryngiopharynx, it separates it from the oropharnyx, so I would guess the answer would be false or true vocal folds or trachea depending on the choices, did it show a picture of where you were? Doesn't seem like a gimme.
 
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like i said before, dont worry about it.. it was an experimental question anyway :xf::luck:

you are done, you have no idea how envious of you I am.. I got 72 hrs left of this crap.. I wish I could just take it right now. I've peaked
 
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We all made stupid mistakes on the exam. Hell, I definitely had those that I knew before but blanked on (ex: what antibiotics deal with gram-(+), gram-(-), anaerobes, etc.).

There were those also that came from left field... definitely had to be experimental questions.

I've tried to not to think about the test for a week now. Life is significantly better when I keep myself occupied with other things.
 
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GuyWhoDoesStuff said:
That's why I don't understand why people were replying to that older whiteboard thread with "well if you can remember the mnemonic before the exam you'll obviously be able to remember it during the exam when someone asked about writing down the G receptor one.
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Well what if you don't use mnemonics to study :meanie:
 
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Pretty sure i got a simple questions on Primary Hypothyroidism wrong, unless i mis-remembering how the question was worded, i put hypothalmus for site of the defect and one question on newborn physiologic jaundice put something about temporary decrease in conjugation enzymes.
 
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Phenytoin said:
I can remember over 15 stupid mistakes already and I haven't thought very hard about it either....
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I am in the exact same boat. I don't feel bad about missing tough ones... but it was all those ones I SHOULD have known... that I'm sure everyone ELSE got... those will haunt me for a long time! And I am pretty sure I've thought of at least 15, as well... probably more. It's actually a bit consoling to know that other people had this experience, and I wasn't the only person to miss questions I should have known. 🙁

I think what's even harder for some of us (I think you're in a similar situation, Phenytoin) is that we wouldn't be moving from a 250 down to a 240. We might be moving from a 225 or 230 down to a 215, essentially removing us from competitive specialties we may have enjoyed. I don't care about the actual score, per se... there is no glory for me in the actual accomplishment of the score... it is the doors of opportunity that open or close with that score that are the most important. So I'm just praying that I get whatever I NEED to get the residency I want when the time comes.
 
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Just because you get a 215 doesn't mean you can't get into a competitive specialty. You need some perspective.
 
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I took the exam today..... I made so many stupid mistakes..... I feel I am also doomed to be WELLLLL below my practice tests.... F UUUU CCC KKKK UUUUUUU USMLE
 
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FutureDoc4 said:
I took the exam today..... I made so many stupid mistakes..... I feel I am also doomed to be WELLLLL below my practice tests.... F UUUU CCC KKKK UUUUUUU USMLE
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Don't worry too much, most people feel bad when they finish the step because you're remembering all the ones you got wrong, not the ones you got right...
 
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drizzt3117 said:
Don't worry too much, most people feel bad when they finish the step because you're remembering all the ones you got wrong, not the ones you got right...
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It is for this reason that after my exam tomorrow, I will forbid myself from looking up answers from the test. Hopefully I will forget them quickly.

I will come back to SDN to write my report when I get my score. I know that if I start writing about my test I will remember a lot of my mistakes and it will make for a miserable few weeks waiting. I will give a detailed report when I come back though. Sorry, just need my sanity.
 
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Do that golfman. I didn't.
The ones that you miss because you KIND of know but just didn't know it well enough by a tiny bit sticks with you. Ah sad.
I feel like these tests are too easy and it the difference between a 250 and a 230 may come down to 5-10 questions.
I assume a 90% is a good score on any block based on NBME practice tests (UWorld is crazy and doesn't count). That means I can miss about 32 mistakes overall.

I usually miss about 2-5% on just stupid mistakes. That leaves 5% for error. I guessed on about 12-15% of each block of 46. That means with some bad luck, I can easily fall to missing 19% of the test. Holy mother of god.

That is too much. I am going out drinking.
 
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littlealex said:
Do that golfman. I didn't.
The ones that you miss because you KIND of know but just didn't know it well enough by a tiny bit sticks with you. Ah sad.
I feel like these tests are too easy and it the difference between a 250 and a 230 may come down to 5-10 questions.
I assume a 90% is a good score on any block based on NBME practice tests (UWorld is crazy and doesn't count). That means I can miss about 32 mistakes overall.

I usually miss about 2-5% on just stupid mistakes. That leaves 5% for error. I guessed on about 12-15% of each block of 46. That means with some bad luck, I can easily fall to missing 19% of the test. Holy mother of god.

That is too much. I am going out drinking.
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If you got 80% on the test I think you would be in great shape.

And we will see if I have the will power to not come home and analyze the questions I can remember. I know I will go insane if I do, though.
 
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littlealex said:
Do that golfman. I didn't.
The ones that you miss because you KIND of know but just didn't know it well enough by a tiny bit sticks with you. Ah sad.
I feel like these tests are too easy and it the difference between a 250 and a 230 may come down to 5-10 questions.
I assume a 90% is a good score on any block based on NBME practice tests (UWorld is crazy and doesn't count). That means I can miss about 32 mistakes overall.

I usually miss about 2-5% on just stupid mistakes. That leaves 5% for error. I guessed on about 12-15% of each block of 46. That means with some bad luck, I can easily fall to missing 19% of the test. Holy mother of god.

That is too much. I am going out drinking.
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I think you're overestimating how high raw scores are. Also, there's experimental questions. There's a big difference between a 230 and a 250 in terms of number of questions answered. This isn't the MCAT, where a few questions can change your score a lot. My guess is the curve will be somewhere between UW and the NBMEs.
 
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golfman said:
It is for this reason that after my exam tomorrow, I will forbid myself from looking up answers from the test. Hopefully I will forget them quickly.

I will come back to SDN to write my report when I get my score. I know that if I start writing about my test I will remember a lot of my mistakes and it will make for a miserable few weeks waiting. I will give a detailed report when I come back though. Sorry, just need my sanity.
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same as me man.. If i didnt have to drive myself home id already have a bottle of jack waiting for me in the car.


GOOD LUCK!
 
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DivCurlZero said:
I definitely missed a few that were straight up out of First Aid. What's sad is that for at least two of them, I originally had the correct answer and then changed it to the wrong one after psyching myself out.
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Happened to me. I'm so pissed. I started to dose off on the 4th block and unfortunately thats the block which had paragraphs for stems.

How many questions are we allowed to miss in each block?
 
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MoscowAbe said:
Happened to me. I'm so pissed. I started to dose off on the 4th block and unfortunately thats the block which had paragraphs for stems.

How many questions are we allowed to miss in each block?
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yea i wanna know how many qs are we allowed to miss per block, and still get 220+
 
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doc29 said:
yea i wanna know how many qs are we allowed to miss per block, and still get 220+
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Given that supposedly you need 55-65% to pass, you probably need to get at least 70% right to get a 220, but with the experimental questions, you don't know what questions actually count. I think if you're fairly confident that you're getting 2/3 of the questions right, you're probably in good shape for 220+ and you'll probably do better depending on how the other questions shake out and which ones are experimental.
 
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thats what I hate about these tests.. and the grading system.. one % really changes your grade

it was like that on the MCAT

what if one question meant a 29 vs a 30. I got a 29 on my first time on the MCAT and to this day i wonder if I missed that 30 by one question.
 
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Yes. I think I counted somewhere around 20+ stupid mistakes after the exam which also made me reconsider family medicine... and this thread is quite comforting. I was scoring 250's beforehand and cannot imagine reaching that score on the real thing.
 
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i made a stupid mistake on sickle cell. REALLY! everyone knows sickle cell. >.<

and the specific site of action of tetracyclines arghh
 
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rem6775 said:
Just because you get a 215 doesn't mean you can't get into a competitive specialty. You need some perspective.
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:laugh::laugh::laugh: I will refrain from putting you in your place, young man, since I see by your previous posts that you are "blunt" by nature. Though I realize that a 215 may not necessarily completely keep someone out of a competitive specialty, golfman is right is saying that it makes it very difficult to obtain a spot! And it very well COULD keep someone out of fields like derm and plastics (at least without outstanding circumstances like a former PhD in the field, years of research, etc.)

Golfman... if you can keep from torturing yourself... more power to you!!! I wish I had not remembered all my mistakes because this two weeks is like torture! Be strong!!! 😀
 
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AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I CANNOT WAIT 2 WEEKS TO GET MY SCORE

i remem sooooooooo many stupid mistakes ... i hate hate hate hate this

I was doing well on my practices .... but am so discouraged by all the stupid stupid mistakes I made ......

like other people said it's better just to not think about it

problem is I have nothing else to think about!!
 
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OMG. This thread makes me feel so much better. I feel bad for saying this (because I'm very sorry you're all suffering with the same thing) but, thank God I'm not alone.
 
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pottymouth said:
i've been hurting (sometimes crying) on the inside thinking about the mistakes that i made on my exam. i've made peace with family medicine.

I wish u all the best.
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I feel exactly the same way if it makes you feel any better. Out of about the 20 questions I have researched since I came out, I got maybe 3 right. I wake up every morning and my first thought is how I left so many questions on the table. Some of the ridic hard questions I can chalk up to being experimental, but there were some gimmes that I def talked myself out of, or switched at the last second (thinking: "this couldn't possibly be that easy")

Anyway, I know the prevailing wisdom is to say, "hey, you never know" and move on.... but I'm finding it difficult. Also, I'm at a Caribbean school, so the Step means more to me than it does to many of you 🙁. Whiskey worked the first night, but I'm not sure how to dull my pain otherwise.
 
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Everyday I keep remembering stupid mistakes I've made as well, as well as other questions which I thought were hard which I got wrong. I've counted at least 25 I've gotten wrong, of which a good 8-10 were really dumb mistakes that I'm sure most other people got right...I just overthought the questions. And I there's a ton more questions that I can remember being unsure about and basically guessing between two answers. These next two weeks waiting for my score are gonna be brutal, because I was getting between 240-250 on every practice I took, and now I feel like I got slaughtered.

Does anyone who has already gotten their score have a success story regarding knowing they missed a ton of questions, but still getting a good score? Because I think that would really boost our spirits.
 
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I forgot the equation for cardiac output!! AHHHHHHHHHH
thats all though that I can think of
 
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