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- Feb 21, 2002
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Hi, I took the real Step I today and have some news to report. This is my breakdown and seems pretty fair in hindsight:
Basically, my exam was very fair and consisted of the following (roughly):
- 10 Gross Anatomy -- with pictures for the most part; always in the form of a clinical vignette/correlation.
- 8+ Neuroanatomy -- know the brainstem lesions (Wallenberg's esp.)
- 8+ Embryology -- trust me, you'd want these questions. Know the differences among deformation/malformation/syndrome/sequence, though.
- 2-3 Histology -- easy
- 5-10 Biochemistry (i.e., Metabolism, Vitamins, etc.) -- it seems to me that these questions are being replaced largely by the Molecular Biology/Genetics questions...
- 20-25 Molecular Biology/Genetics -- some were impossible (Hox genes, etc.) but most were doable if you understood basic genetics and some molecular bio. One block had about 12 of these questions and was obviously brutal. Most of these questions required logic/inferrence to answer. NOT rote memorization.
- 80+ Pathology -- few were as straight-forward as I'd hoped, but they were doable in the end. Most were MUCH LONGER than QBank so be sure to allow plenty of time to read and re-read these.
- 60+ Physiology/Pathophysiology -- I had what seemed like dozens of questions relating to, "if there is ____ disorder, then what are the levels of PTH, PTH-RP, Ca++, Alk. Phos., etc.? Many had 10-12+ options.
- 50 Pharmacology -- all were doable except for a few off-the-wall questions. Tons of Pharmacokinetics but with few calculations (graphs mostly): Mostly deductive reasoning stuff.
- 40+ Behavioral Sciences -- at least 1/4 were of the [ridiculously-hard] patient response questions. In my opinion, the hardest part of the exam. Other topics (psychology, psychiatry, defense mechanisms, biostatistics) were essentially copied from First Aid.
- 20-25 Bacteriology/Virology -- mostly very straight-forward; no questions on worms/fungi/parasites/protozoa
- 20 Immunology -- including basic immunology, inflammation, chemical mediators, etc. Reading the first couple of chapters of BRS Path and *memorizing* them is very high yield.
Take home messages:
-- ***** BUY AND *KNOW* HIGH YIELD MOLECULAR & CELLULAR BIOLOGY---THIS IS AN IMMUTABLE FACT AT THIS POINT FOR ALL TEST-TAKERS. Medical Schools will eventually "catch on" that this point weighs extremely heavy on virtually all exams nowadays, but we have to wing it ourselves.
-- ***** KNOW FIRST AID VERY, VERY WELL; IT'S STILL THE BEST OVERALL SOURCE OUT THERE. IF YOU HAVE THIS BOOK MEMORIZED, ANSWERS WILL SEEM TO "JUMP OUT" AT YOU.
-- DON'T STUDY ANATOMY TOO HARD -- THEY'LL TRIP YOU UP REGARDLESS (AND IT'S LOW-YIELD)
-- DON'T LIVE AND DIE BY Q-BANK; IT'S GOOD BUT NOT GREAT
-- APPLETON & LANGE'S QUESTION BOOK IS PROBABLY JUST AS HIGH YIELD IN THE END.
-- ROBBINS PATHOLOGY QUESTIONS BOOK IS GOOD AND HIGH-YIELD
-- DON'T KNOW "BUZZWORDS;" THEY ARE RARELY TESTED ANYMORE
-- TAKE A BREAK BETWEEN EVERY BLOCK EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO (YOU WILL BY QUESTION #25 ON THE NEXT BLOCK ANYWAYS)
-- A STEADY DOSE OF CAFFEINE IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING
So much of the exam is stuff that you just can't study for. And I believe the exam is written that way. To basically have the majority of the exam be the application of basic science principles. When you're in the 'hot seat,' you'll be just fine though.
About me, I took QBank and got an 80% first time through (no repeats). I went through it entirely again and got my average up to 90%. I got a 700 and 710 on the 2 x $45 NBME 200-q practice exams and a projected 255 on the Comprehensive Basic Sciences 200-q test offered by the NBME that our school paid for. I got a 81% on the Kaplan full-length test. I don't know if these exams/tests are good predictors or not but I hope they are. Who knows? In any case, starting early is (in my opinion) the best way to prepare for this "fly by the seat of your pants" exam.
Basically, my exam was very fair and consisted of the following (roughly):
- 10 Gross Anatomy -- with pictures for the most part; always in the form of a clinical vignette/correlation.
- 8+ Neuroanatomy -- know the brainstem lesions (Wallenberg's esp.)
- 8+ Embryology -- trust me, you'd want these questions. Know the differences among deformation/malformation/syndrome/sequence, though.
- 2-3 Histology -- easy
- 5-10 Biochemistry (i.e., Metabolism, Vitamins, etc.) -- it seems to me that these questions are being replaced largely by the Molecular Biology/Genetics questions...
- 20-25 Molecular Biology/Genetics -- some were impossible (Hox genes, etc.) but most were doable if you understood basic genetics and some molecular bio. One block had about 12 of these questions and was obviously brutal. Most of these questions required logic/inferrence to answer. NOT rote memorization.
- 80+ Pathology -- few were as straight-forward as I'd hoped, but they were doable in the end. Most were MUCH LONGER than QBank so be sure to allow plenty of time to read and re-read these.
- 60+ Physiology/Pathophysiology -- I had what seemed like dozens of questions relating to, "if there is ____ disorder, then what are the levels of PTH, PTH-RP, Ca++, Alk. Phos., etc.? Many had 10-12+ options.
- 50 Pharmacology -- all were doable except for a few off-the-wall questions. Tons of Pharmacokinetics but with few calculations (graphs mostly): Mostly deductive reasoning stuff.
- 40+ Behavioral Sciences -- at least 1/4 were of the [ridiculously-hard] patient response questions. In my opinion, the hardest part of the exam. Other topics (psychology, psychiatry, defense mechanisms, biostatistics) were essentially copied from First Aid.
- 20-25 Bacteriology/Virology -- mostly very straight-forward; no questions on worms/fungi/parasites/protozoa
- 20 Immunology -- including basic immunology, inflammation, chemical mediators, etc. Reading the first couple of chapters of BRS Path and *memorizing* them is very high yield.
Take home messages:
-- ***** BUY AND *KNOW* HIGH YIELD MOLECULAR & CELLULAR BIOLOGY---THIS IS AN IMMUTABLE FACT AT THIS POINT FOR ALL TEST-TAKERS. Medical Schools will eventually "catch on" that this point weighs extremely heavy on virtually all exams nowadays, but we have to wing it ourselves.
-- ***** KNOW FIRST AID VERY, VERY WELL; IT'S STILL THE BEST OVERALL SOURCE OUT THERE. IF YOU HAVE THIS BOOK MEMORIZED, ANSWERS WILL SEEM TO "JUMP OUT" AT YOU.
-- DON'T STUDY ANATOMY TOO HARD -- THEY'LL TRIP YOU UP REGARDLESS (AND IT'S LOW-YIELD)
-- DON'T LIVE AND DIE BY Q-BANK; IT'S GOOD BUT NOT GREAT
-- APPLETON & LANGE'S QUESTION BOOK IS PROBABLY JUST AS HIGH YIELD IN THE END.
-- ROBBINS PATHOLOGY QUESTIONS BOOK IS GOOD AND HIGH-YIELD
-- DON'T KNOW "BUZZWORDS;" THEY ARE RARELY TESTED ANYMORE
-- TAKE A BREAK BETWEEN EVERY BLOCK EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO (YOU WILL BY QUESTION #25 ON THE NEXT BLOCK ANYWAYS)
-- A STEADY DOSE OF CAFFEINE IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING
So much of the exam is stuff that you just can't study for. And I believe the exam is written that way. To basically have the majority of the exam be the application of basic science principles. When you're in the 'hot seat,' you'll be just fine though.
About me, I took QBank and got an 80% first time through (no repeats). I went through it entirely again and got my average up to 90%. I got a 700 and 710 on the 2 x $45 NBME 200-q practice exams and a projected 255 on the Comprehensive Basic Sciences 200-q test offered by the NBME that our school paid for. I got a 81% on the Kaplan full-length test. I don't know if these exams/tests are good predictors or not but I hope they are. Who knows? In any case, starting early is (in my opinion) the best way to prepare for this "fly by the seat of your pants" exam.
