Timing/Breaks on real exam

[usmlesuccess]

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I am just wondering how the whole break/timing situation works on the step 1. When can we take breaks and for how long? Is there a penalty if we are like 1 minute late?

 

[tigress]

You can take breaks any time between blocks for as long as you want. You have 45 minutes of break time, plus the 15 minutes you get from skipping the tutorial. So 60 minutes total to use how you want. Plus if you end a block early, that time is added to break time. If for some reason you went over your total break time, the amount of time you went over will be deducted from your block time.

It's more than enough time for break. The only reason I even came close to using all mine is because signing out and fingerprinting takes forever (the computer at my site was super slow and there was only 1 bathroom so I had to wait for 5 minutes outside the bathroom once).

 

[Siggy]

For USMLE you have 7 blocks of 46 questions. Each block has a time limit of 1 hour. There's also a 15 minute block at the beginning that contains basic instructions for taking the exam. Overall you have 8 hours to complete all 8 (7 test blocks + instruction block). You can take a break between every block for how ever long you want, and any time left over when you complete a block is added to your break time. When you take a break, your remaining break time left is displayed on the computer.

If you enter the last block with, say, 55 minutes left in your total time because you took too long on breaks, then you only get 55 minutes to complete the last block and the computer will warn you about that when you start the block.

 

[Siggy]

It's more than enough time for break. The only reason I even came close to using all mine is because signing out and fingerprinting takes forever (the computer at my site was super slow and there was only 1 bathroom so I had to wait for 5 minutes outside the bathroom once).

The only reason I came close to running out of break time was because I spent 10 minutes chatting with the other people taking Step 1 prior to starting my last block, and that's with taking a 40 minute lunch break and a water break between each block.

 

[Girfaroo]

For USMLE you have 7 blocks of 46 questions. Each block has a time limit of 1 hour. There's also a 15 minute block at the beginning that contains basic instructions for taking the exam. Overall you have 8 hours to complete all 8 (7 test blocks + instruction block). You can take a break between every block for how ever long you want, and any time left over when you complete a block is added to your break time. When you take a break, your remaining break time left is displayed on the computer.

If you enter the last block with, say, 55 minutes left in your total time because you took too long on breaks, then you only get 55 minutes to complete the last block and the computer will warn you about that when you start the block.

Is this really true? I've been wondering about it, but couldn't find this anywhere else. I have a tendency to finish blocks with time to spare, but I get burned out pretty quickly, so extra break time would be amazing.

 

[ijn]

Is this really true? I've been wondering about it, but couldn't find this anywhere else. I have a tendency to finish blocks with time to spare, but I get burned out pretty quickly, so extra break time would be amazing.

Yes it's true.

 

[Siggy]

Is this really true? I've been wondering about it, but couldn't find this anywhere else. I have a tendency to finish blocks with time to spare, but I get burned out pretty quickly, so extra break time would be amazing.

For USMLE? Yes. For COMLEX? Not so much. :-(

 

[lrkoehle]

There is plenty of break time, even if you use the full hour for every block like I did. I did the first and second blocks back to back, then took a short break after every other block. I figured I don't get extra points for having break time left over, so I used all but 33 seconds of my break time...I even closed my eyes and just cleared my mind for like 90 seconds heading into my last block.

 

[secants]

Hmm if signing in and out takes so long maybe I shouldn't chug down 2-3 cans of monster then ><

 

[ijn]

It depends on your center. Signing in and out for me took literally 2 minutes.

 

[Siggy]

It depends on your center. Signing in and out for me took literally 2 minutes.

Pretty much this. The finger scanner was broken at mine, so it was check the pocket, get scanned with a hand held metal detector, and sign back in. A minute... at most.

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

There is plenty of break time, even if you use the full hour for every block like I did. I did the first and second blocks back to back, then took a short break after every other block. I figured I don't get extra points for having break time left over, so I used all but 33 seconds of my break time...I even closed my eyes and just cleared my mind for like 90 seconds heading into my last block.

Totally agree.