Usmle I

[med stu slacker]

In deciding how much time to spend on each topic on the USMLE I, I thought it would be very useful to know about what composition each section of the test comprises. Would anyone like to give me their estimates as to the percent composition of the USMLE I by subject, i.e. anatomy, biochem, histo, etc.? Thanks.

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[ckent]

Very little anatomy, biochem, histo, and pharm on my test. Moderate amounts of pathophysiology, and behavioral science questions. First Aid does an excellent job in telling you how much time you ought to be spending in each subject. If a section on anatomy is 5 pages in First Aid, and a section on physio covers 10 pages, you should be spending 2 times the amount of time studying that 10 page physio subject then you do on the anatomy topic. I will move your post to the USMLE forum where you might get some more responses. You can also search through some of their older threads for additional tips too.

 

[Sessamoid]

Take everybody else's opinion about Step I with a grain of salt.

When I took it, in between sessions, the talk inevitably came up about how hard we thought the test was so far. The opinions varied amazingly. What became evident to me was that each person felt that the test was especially heavy in whatever subject that he was weakest at. That is, if a person wasn't very strong in histology, the questions that stood out in his mind would be histology. The end result is that everybody had a different opinion of what the test stressed.

The materials provided by the NBME and the First Aid books was pretty accurate as to the objective percentage of questions in each subject, I thought.

 

[Amy]

Also keep in mind that everyone's test is different. One person may have a ton of pharm, while the person sitting next to him only gets a few pharm questions. Just try to learn the stuff in the review books as best you can (after all, that's what they're written for), and be sure to do a lot of practice questions.

 

[med stu slacker]

In the introduction part of the first aid book, it describes how some sections, i.e. anatomy and pathology, form larger review books because of the nature of the discipline, not because of how many questions are devoted to them on the USMLE I. Therefore, the sections on the first aid probably dedicate more pages to these sections although they form a smaller and disporportionate part of the boards than the number of pages the first aid book dedicates to them.

Even though I know each USMLE I's may be different from another, it would help me tremendously to see actual number percentages (guesses) as to how many questions some people had on their USMLE I's. It will also be interesting to see the variation in question type, based on different responses by different medical students. Also, could you put the year you took the USMLE I, along with the composition (%) of each of the disciples. If I remember right, they were anatomy, pathology, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology, behavioral science, and pharmacology. Thank you for your help!!!