Step I UW and Pictures

[emlopez2]

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So ive ran across alot of very vague questions in USMLEWorld that barely give you any info and then expect you to answer the question with basically the gross pic or histo biopsy. I took an NBME and never ran across straight picture type questions like this. So does the USMLE have many obscure questions or is it just UW? They're really starting to annoy the **** out of me.

 

[osli]

Dunno. Since people say the NBME's are the closest to the USMLE, I'd assume there would at least be fewer stand alone pictures than you find in UW. But that's how our path practicals were structured... we'd get a picture, maybe two, and if lucky we'd get a caption like "liver," and then be asked either diagnosis or a related question such as "what killed this person" (i.e., complication of the primary diagnosis most likely responsible for death).

 

[TheEleventhReel]

I had a few pics on my USMLE where you had to know it based solely on the picture. One was a woman with back pain and they showed you a malignant plasma cell (coincidentally, it was the same pic from RR Path) and asked you the diagnosis. Another was a pic of menigomyelecele (sp?) and a pic of medullary herniation through the foramen magnum and asked the diagnosis. That, and pretty much all the neuro questions you had to know the pics to answer the question. I'd say probably 25 total pictures on my test. Honestly, I think you had to know what each picture was to answer the question.

 

[emlopez2]

Well hopefully its not nearly as bad as UW. I mean its pretty obvious when they describe multiple myeloma in brief then put a bone tap of a bunch of plasma cells, but their liver pics to me look all the same. I just hope they 're not expecting us to be pathologists or anything.

 

[jackspar]

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[45408]

Well hopefully its not nearly as bad as UW. I mean its pretty obvious when they describe multiple myeloma in brief then put a bone tap of a bunch of plasma cells, but their liver pics to me look all the same. I just hope they 're not expecting us to be pathologists or anything.

Yeah, I got a macro liver pic of some parasitic infection, and I didn't know if it was an bacterial abscess or what...

 

[Mediculous]

Yeah, I got a macro liver pic of some parasitic infection, and I didn't know if it was an bacterial abscess or what...

I think I got that same question last night. I squinted at it for a while, couldn't figure out what the hell it was, and answered based on the question stem---which was something like what was the likely fatal complication if the mass was accidentally damaged by the surgeon. If it would have been straight up "what is this?", I would have spun my wheel and picked whatever it landed on.

 

[Lany]

So ive ran across alot of very vague questions in USMLEWorld that barely give you any info and then expect you to answer the question with basically the gross pic or histo biopsy. I took an NBME and never ran across straight picture type questions like this. So does the USMLE have many obscure questions or is it just UW? They're really starting to annoy the **** out of me.

lol.. im with you on this one. some are just too vague with hardly any info on the stem. I think it would be a good idea to turn to webpath for some of the HY stuff in addition to whats on FA. eg. being hematology (leukemia/lymphomas), and gross pics of cancer of renal/heart/liver and the lung histo slides. some abdominal MRI are jus nuts but then again, its probably my weakness. Micro ones are ok though.. 😉

 

[jbuck824]

So ive ran across alot of very vague questions in USMLEWorld that barely give you any info and then expect you to answer the question with basically the gross pic or histo biopsy. I took an NBME and never ran across straight picture type questions like this. So does the USMLE have many obscure questions or is it just UW? They're really starting to annoy the **** out of me.

im really getting pissed off at the number of pics with auer rods....i swear half of them you cant even see any resemblance of an auer rod...i had one that i knew was either ALL or AML and there was no auer rod..then the explanation said there were auer rods so it was AML..pissing me off..

 

[agranulocytosis]

im really getting pissed off at the number of pics with auer rods....i swear half of them you cant even see any resemblance of an auer rod...i had one that i knew was either ALL or AML and there was no auer rod..then the explanation said there were auer rods so it was AML..pissing me off..

The worst is when there's a blood smear and the object of focus is somewhere in the top left corner and you're sitting there staring at perfectly normal looking RBC. I'm a big fan of arrows.

 

[MSKalltheway]

im really getting pissed off at the number of pics with auer rods....i swear half of them you cant even see any resemblance of an auer rod...i had one that i knew was either ALL or AML and there was no auer rod..then the explanation said there were auer rods so it was AML..pissing me off..

I just did that question you were talking about, and got it wrong for the same reason you did...picked ALL instead of AML. Ain't no Auer rods in that pic!!!

 

[45408]

lol.. im with you on this one. some are just too vague with hardly any info on the stem. I think it would be a good idea to turn to webpath for some of the HY stuff in addition to whats on FA. eg. being hematology (leukemia/lymphomas), and gross pics of cancer of renal/heart/liver and the lung histo slides. some abdominal MRI are jus nuts but then again, its probably my weakness. Micro ones are ok though.. 😉

I'm starting to nail all the CT scan questions (well, maybe just a lucky streak), but the micro questions are an Achilles heel right now.

 

[TheEleventhReel]

Well hopefully its not nearly as bad as UW. I mean its pretty obvious when they describe multiple myeloma in brief then put a bone tap of a bunch of plasma cells, but their liver pics to me look all the same. I just hope they 're not expecting us to be pathologists or anything.

I thought the same thing, except the stem only said "a woman has back pain." No other hints.

I also had another question where they described a person with knee pain and said the joint aspirate looked like this. What they didn't say is that the aspirate had been gram stained. Turned out it was easy if you knew what strep looks like.

 

[LUBDUBB]

I hate, absolutely hate the picture questions. For my path class, we had lab practical exams, and I am sick and tired of looking at slides and gross specimens. UW annoys the s*&% out of me with those questions!! I put a check mark next to all the pic questions...then i'll rapid fire them right before the real deal.

But you know what, If they are that desparate to take a point away from me, if they are that desparate that they need to show some obscure low quality photo of some spongiform dz affecting the basal ganglia of the south-american eel, if they are that desparate - I'll give them the point; I won't even answer the question

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

I just did that question you were talking about, and got it wrong for the same reason you did...picked ALL instead of AML. Ain't no Auer rods in that pic!!!

I may have done the same one..I think I saw ONE on the entire thing and it looked like a little nuclear remnant or something.

 

[Hayat]

The worst is when there's a blood smear and the object of focus is somewhere in the top left corner and you're sitting there staring at perfectly normal looking RBC. I'm a big fan of arrows.

lol ... that sound so familiar. I wish all the pictures in all our books have arrows.