More than 1/3 of my questions dealt with neuroanatomy, neuropathology, and anatomy. Had at least 35 scans/cross sections of the brain, about 15 x-rays, and 4 arteriograms. Less than 10 cardiology questions, less than 10 renal questions, less than 10 hemeonc questions. Judging from most people's experiences, this is unusual. Rocked my NBMEs (250+) - hoping to get the mean on the actual exam. Would you call this unfair?
When (if ever) would you call a test unfair?
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Yes its unfair. Even on my test I had a lot of embryo and molecular biology.....2 subjects which i hadnt prepared well. The questions must be given in a proportion
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Without knowledge of how questions are used to generate a score, it is hard to say that a test is unfair, even if it seems to be unbalanced by the proportions of subjects seen. This is especially true given the known presence of experimental questions on the test.
I would wait for your score before judging the fairness of the test.
I would wait for your score before judging the fairness of the test.
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Just like most other people on this forum, I have no idea how the exams are actually generated. I will say that they don't really proofread each one since I got 3 questions on the same specific (non-prevalent) disease and so many "WTF?!?" questions. They must have some way of standardizing scores based on the questions you get, and only a few people who may have done extensive molecular research or who fell in love with embryology would end up getting flung up to really high scores on the forms that emphasize the lower yield and obscure topics. I will not for one second believe that people who took a pathology-intensive form and who got the vast majority of questions correct are going to score well above those of us who got the not-so-nice forms that by default would generate lower percentages of correct answers. They must somehow even the scoring field.
Well, I sat for step 1 in a small cramped room, filled with a dozen test takers practically sitting on top of each other. The temperature fluctutated from stifling oppressive heat to bone chilling cold as the a/c kicked on and off. The air quality was also worsened by a farter.
Only a couple of us were actually taking step 1, and I wound up having to sit next to someone who was taking an exam that involved alot of typing..on an old keyboard...I HATE listening to typing. To add insult to injury we were given earmuffs which could only fit your head if you were a martian and were completely useless. Yeah..that was kinda unfair. I'll be complaining to NBME...after my scores come in of course
Only a couple of us were actually taking step 1, and I wound up having to sit next to someone who was taking an exam that involved alot of typing..on an old keyboard...I HATE listening to typing. To add insult to injury we were given earmuffs which could only fit your head if you were a martian and were completely useless. Yeah..that was kinda unfair. I'll be complaining to NBME...after my scores come in of course
