USMLE step I

[adam64897]

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For all of you that have taken it, is the USMLE step I exam anything like the MCAT with various passages and questions that follow?

 

[Samoa]

Usually it's one question per passage, and the passages are about the same length as the ones in MCAT science sections.

But it's all clinical vignettes, and consequently is a very different kind of test. You can do well on the MCAT with a modest amount of knowledge and excellent critical thinking skills, whereas on Step 1, the converse is true.

 

[adam64897]

Usually it's one question per passage, and the passages are about the same length as the ones in MCAT science sections.

But it's all clinical vignettes, and consequently is a very different kind of test. You can do well on the MCAT with a modest amount of knowledge and excellent critical thinking skills, whereas on Step 1, the converse is true.

so are you saying that for step 1 I just need to know everything I've learned from my first two years applied to various situations described on the test?

 

[Law2Doc]

so are you saying that for step 1 I just need to know everything I've learned from my first two years applied to various situations described on the test?

It's harder than it sounds.🙄

 

[Samoa]

so are you saying that for step 1 I just need to know everything I've learned from my first two years applied to various situations described on the test?

Yes, that's all you need to know. What a cakewalk, huh? 🙄

Come back afterward and let us know how it went.

 

[adam64897]

Yes, that's all you need to know. What a cakewalk, huh? 🙄

Come back afterward and let us know how it went.

lol...I am not saying that it is going to be easy...I just wanted to know if it's going to be as F'ed up as the MCAT where you need rely heavily on your speed reading skills and critical thinking skills.

 

[SoCuteMD]

lol...I am not saying that it is going to be easy...I just wanted to know if it's going to be as F'ed up as the MCAT where you need rely heavily on your speed reading skills and critical thinking skills.

No. Not as f'ed up.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Way way more.

 

[Samoa]

Way way more.

Agreed.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Testing critical thinking is f'ed up? 😕

 

[VPDcurt]

Testing critical thinking is f'ed up? 😕

Yes, actually, it is.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Yes, actually, it is.

Duly noted.

Thanks.

 

[Sophie]

You can do well on the MCAT with a modest amount of knowledge and excellent critical thinking skills, whereas on Step 1, the converse is true.

I'm one of those people who thrive on little memorization and excellent critical thinking skills, and it hasn't let me down yet, but this thread is making me nervous. Does everyone else agree (especially those who have taken Step 1 already) that to do well on Step 1 you need massive amounts of knowledge and can't rely much on critical thinking?

 

[lord_jeebus]

I thought that some subjects seemed to emphasize critical thinking and understanding more than others.

Physiology, for instance, mainly tested reasoning. Path often required both memorization and thinking to answer a given question. Biochem, cell bio, and micro were regurgitation heavy. Pharm involves more thinking than you might expect, although most of it is memorization. Similarly, I was surprised by the extent gross anatomy questions tested spatial relationships of nonobscure structures to each other.

Behavioral tests a lot of common sense, which I suppose is critical reasoning as well.

 

[deleted109597]

Most things are tertiary. Some are rote memorization, but most require you to compile a list of facts, come up with a diagnosis, and then treat it or order a test for it.
Kind of a pain, if you ask me.

 

[Samoa]

I thought that some subjects seemed to emphasize critical thinking and understanding more than others.

Physiology, for instance, mainly tested reasoning. Path often required both memorization and thinking to answer a given question. Biochem, cell bio, and micro were regurgitation heavy. Pharm involves more thinking than you might expect, although most of it is memorization. Similarly, I was surprised by the extent gross anatomy questions tested spatial relationships of nonobscure structures to each other.

Behavioral tests a lot of common sense, which I suppose is critical reasoning as well.

That's a pretty good assessment. However, the more I think about it, it's not so much the level of critical thinking that changes, because I think that stays pretty much the same. Maybe it's a little harder than the MCAT. But there's a whole order of magnitude change between the volume of knowledge required for the MCAT, and that required for Step 1. So any increase in the level of critical thinking skills required is pretty well dwarfed by that.

 

[QuinnB]

yes...in short, to do well on step 1 you have to know a lot, but the difference is you have to be able to apply it very well. Your critical thinking will allow you to use the information that you have learned effectively, but the caveat is that you have to learn it in the first place (which is pretty challenging when 100s of facts are thrown at you daily). You'll learn to sort out the most important concepts.