Which day? Which city? To take step 1.

[alpha06]

These might be just fluff, but I was wondering if there was any validity to it...

I was wondering which day of the week was best to take step 1.

A lot of the juniors and seniors at my med school say that the best time to take step 1 or any step exam is during the mid-week (tues-wed-thur). Because there is a high volume of med students taking the exam on Fri or Mon...your questions and score would have been different had you taken it mid-week.

And also the city....say if you take your step 1 exam in a city where there is a major med school, your questions are harder because you have a high volume of med students taking step 1 and hence there is a higher degree of new and fresh questions. And if a lot of your peers perform well on the exam, then the likelihood of you getting harder questions is greater.

Are there any thoughts on this? I wanted to begin to train my mind to taking questions in the morning and was wondering which day was good...

If you took step 1, which day did you take it and how did you do...?

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[RussianJoo]

I heard from a friend the best date to take it is friday the 13th. no one wants to take it on that day so the place will be empty. but then again i think it all depends on the center and location of where it is. if the center is located in a rural area or a suburb it will probably be empty no matter what day of the week. if it's in a major city it will probably be full all the time. Also I heard that scores come out on wednesdays so I thought if you take it early in the week your score will come out a week faster than if you took say on thursday or friday, but that might not be the case. but at any rate aren't you provided with a noise canceling headset like those worn at shooting ranges or construction sites? that's what it says on the prometric website.

 

[lord_jeebus]

It's a national test so it doesn't matter where you take it. You can even take it overseas.

It's also a standardized test so it would not make sense to give an advantage to people who take it on a particular day of the week.

 

[RussianJoo]

I think the person means advantage as in better testing conditions like less people to distract you. prometric centers don't only procter USMLE exams. they also procter any state licensing exam this includes plumbers state exam or electrition or lock smith or manicurist state licensing exams. so the person sitting next to you might be taking a plumbers state exam much less straining than the usmle and can be doing things that might distract you.

 

[lankysudanese]

I think the person means advantage as in better testing conditions

i think you misunderstood the OP's question. he is eluding to some rumors about how your choice of test day and test center affects the type of questions that you get on your step 1. i agree with lord_jeebus, in that I highly doubt the validity of such rumors because is is a standardized test.

 

[alpha06]

RussianJoo, I think you missed what I meant.

Lankysudanese and lord_jeebus hit on the topic I was concerned about.

I was just wondering if there was an advantage to taking the test on a certain day or certain city.

But I guess they are just rumors...

I just figure with that you would have a small advantage by doing these things.

I mean with soo many medical students taking the exam in a certain city on a certain day, I figure the questions would have to be tougher.......'cause everybody could just memorize whats on their exam and their would be a massive rock somewhere....

 

[Blesbok]

It doesn't matter where you take it. You know those little percentages on world. Well the same thing is taken into account during the real thing. If you get all easy questions, you may get more correct but get a worse score than someone who has a very hard test. Albeit it is probably all evened out, so the ratio is equal even if the questions are not.

 

[Blesbok]

RussianJoo, I think you missed what I meant.

Lankysudanese and lord_jeebus hit on the topic I was concerned about.

I was just wondering if there was an advantage to taking the test on a certain day or certain city.

But I guess they are just rumors...

I just figure with that you would have a small advantage by doing these things.

I mean with soo many medical students taking the exam in a certain city on a certain day, I figure the questions would have to be tougher.......'cause everybody could just memorize whats on their exam and their would be a massive rock somewhere....

I would bet my life it is a complete randomization of questions except that the ratio in each subject stays similar.

 

[RussianJoo]

RussianJoo, I think you missed what I meant.

Lankysudanese and lord_jeebus hit on the topic I was concerned about.

I was just wondering if there was an advantage to taking the test on a certain day or certain city.

But I guess they are just rumors...

I just figure with that you would have a small advantage by doing these things.

I mean with soo many medical students taking the exam in a certain city on a certain day, I figure the questions would have to be tougher.......'cause everybody could just memorize whats on their exam and their would be a massive rock somewhere....

ohh sorry, i blame my misunderstanding on all the step1 studying..

but about your theory... I was supposed to take my exam at this one test center, and after my friend who took hers like 2 weeks ago told me about her exam i quickly switched to a different test center.. she had like 5 calculation q's and it just sound very hard the way she talked about so i was like screw this i'll take it somewhere else.. I hope it works out for the best..

 

[alpha06]

ohh sorry, i blame my misunderstanding on all the step1 studying..

but about your theory... I was supposed to take my exam at this one test center, and after my friend who took hers like 2 weeks ago told me about her exam i quickly switched to a different test center.. she had like 5 calculation q's and it just sound very hard the way she talked about so i was like screw this i'll take it somewhere else.. I hope it works out for the best..

No prob. 😀

So does this mean you took step 1 already....? If so, how was the other test center...?

Or are you yet to take it...?

My understanding is shot too!!

 

[SoCuteMD]

RussianJoo, I think you missed what I meant.

Lankysudanese and lord_jeebus hit on the topic I was concerned about.

I was just wondering if there was an advantage to taking the test on a certain day or certain city.

But I guess they are just rumors...

I just figure with that you would have a small advantage by doing these things.

I mean with soo many medical students taking the exam in a certain city on a certain day, I figure the questions would have to be tougher.......'cause everybody could just memorize whats on their exam and their would be a massive rock somewhere....

Everybody taking it that day has a different test. And people don't share information. You are seriously overthinking this.

Actually, I'd rather have a bunch of Step 1 takers in the room with me. Everyone is paranoid and quiet. If you have a bunch of people taking bs tests that last half the day there's going to be lots of turnover and more shuffling around. It'll be louder and people will be less considerate.

My test center was probably 75% Step 1 takers and it was PERFECT. So quiet you could hear a pin drop, with people tiptoeing in and out when they took breaks. It only got difficult when people taking other tests started arriving. Some guy with an "open binder" test beside me kept shuffling through it. I was ready to throttle him as i struggled through my 7th section of questions...

 

[SoCuteMD]

ohh sorry, i blame my misunderstanding on all the step1 studying..

but about your theory... I was supposed to take my exam at this one test center, and after my friend who took hers like 2 weeks ago told me about her exam i quickly switched to a different test center.. she had like 5 calculation q's and it just sound very hard the way she talked about so i was like screw this i'll take it somewhere else.. I hope it works out for the best..

You realize that what questions you get is not dependent on what test center you are at, right? It's completely random.

 

[alpha06]

You realize that what questions you get is not dependent on what test center you are at, right? It's completely random.

Well ok...🙄

But how do you know the test is random...is it because that's what they say...?

Like how would you know for sure unless you work for the NBME...?

Don't mean to be skeptic...I just wonder sometimes...🙄

I know I'm overthinking this...I just can't help but wonder...

 

[medhacker]

Well ok...🙄

But how do you know the test is random...is it because that's what they say...?

Like how would you know for sure unless you work for the NBME...?

Don't mean to be skeptic...I just wonder sometimes...🙄

I know I'm overthinking this...I just can't help but wonder...

Exactly...

In this game nothing is for sure...

 

[lord_jeebus]

Why would they want to write a test that offers easier questions at some centers than others? It would be a lot of trouble with absolutely no benefit.

 

[RussianJoo]

No prob. 😀

So does this mean you took step 1 already....? If so, how was the other test center...?

Or are you yet to take it...?

My understanding is shot too!!

I take it april 16th...

 

[LusuR]

Anybody else think that this thread is satirical and meant to poke fun at the over-worrying SDNers?

 

[alpha06]

Why would they want to write a test that offers easier questions at some centers than others? It would be a lot of trouble with absolutely no benefit.

Because they are the boss and they can do whatever they want....

I take it april 16th...

Good !!

 

[alpha06]

Anybody else think that this thread is satirical and meant to poke fun at the over-worrying SDNers?

No. Not trying to poke fun at anybody. I just wanted to see what everybody else thought about this subject.

This is a forum...made for discussing all things step 1.

And it is just that....a discussion.

You take from it what you like.

I'm not trying to worry anybody or poke fun of ppl. That is not my intention.

My intention is get ppls opinion on the matter....that is all. 🙂

No harm, no foul...

 

[Doctor Bagel]

The only extreme Step 1 strategy I've heard from people at my school is that some people opt to take the test in this dinky town about 2 hours away from where the school is just because they can camp out there and escape from civilization while studying. I have trouble believing anybody actually really does this ...

 

[medhacker]

Because they are the boss and they can do whatever they want....




Good !!

Also, being the devil's (USMLE) advocate, deriving from your original argument one could say they make it harder (not hard to do with their computers) at high volume centers to standardize the possibility of people exchanging questions and what not, just as you suggested... 🙂

 

[alpha06]

Also, being the devil's (USMLE) advocate, deriving from your original argument one could say they make it harder (not hard to do with their computers) at high volume centers to standardize the possibility of people exchanging questions and what not, just as you suggested... 🙂

Exactly my point.

For the people doing well at a particular test center, they would have to make the exam harder to standardize the results.

For the people who do poorly at a particular test center, they make the exam easier in order to standardize the results.

This way they can put everybody on a nice little bell-shaped curve...

 

[mudphudwannabe]

What on earth makes you think they need to standardize it by test center? If the test questions are not distributed in some random and fair way, what makes you think that we puny mortals have any chance of figuring out exactly how to use this to our advantage? My advice is to stop fussing about this and go study. That's the only way you are going to gain an advantage in this test. (and, I hate to say it, but didn't you just post a thread about not having enough time to study?? Stop wasting your time here!)

 

[alpha06]

What on earth makes you think they need to standardize it by test center? If the test questions are not distributed in some random and fair way, what makes you think that we puny mortals have any chance of figuring out exactly how to use this to our advantage? My advice is to stop fussing about this and go study. That's the only way you are going to gain an advantage in this test. (and, I hate to say it, but didn't you just post a thread about not having enough time to study?? Stop wasting your time here!)

Geez...did you have to put it soo harshly. :cry:

Poor time management.....it's a bad flaw of mine...🙁

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I heard prometrics put in a secret backdoor for the benefit of their own family/employees where if you start the test at a certain time on a certain day of the week you get 20 extra points.

 

[medhacker]

I heard prometrics put in a secret backdoor for the benefit of their own family/employees where if you start the test at a certain time on a certain day of the week you get 20 extra points.

There is no way on earth a mere puny mortal like you could know that, now why don't you stop wasting everyone's time with this and go enjoy your rotations and your uberhigh board score, which is the only way you will actually get to honor those rotations.... <------ S.A.R.C.A.S.M.

 

[mudphudwannabe]

Geez...did you have to put it soo harshly. :cry:

Poor time management.....it's a bad flaw of mine...🙁

Sorry, I didn't mean to be so harsh -- only a little. 😉 But I am serious about this - if time management is an issue for you, I highly suggest blocking SDN (and other potentially time wasting websites) on your computer, or only allowing yourself to access them at particular times. If you use Firefox, there's an Add-on called BlockSite that will do this for you. I found SDN to be helpful in the beginning when I was working out my strategy, but as I got closer to the exam I found it was just another source of stress and worry and it was cutting into my study time. At first I blocked SDN and other "fun" sites just while I was studying, then I blocked SDN completely a couple days before the exam. Just a suggestion.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Exactly my point.

For the people doing well at a particular test center, they would have to make the exam harder to standardize the results.

For the people who do poorly at a particular test center, they make the exam easier in order to standardize the results.

This way they can put everybody on a nice little bell-shaped curve...

Well, according to your logic, every school's average step 1 score is simply a product of where their students take the test. Many students take the test near their medical school, so the averages are at the whim of the NBME.

Seriously, I think that you are beginning to border on paranoia here. If what you suspect is true, then how do you know which test center to pick?

Please don't add to the Step 1 hysteria. It's not even May yet, and that's when it becomes full force. There is no great conspiracy of the NBME to make sure that all Harvard Med students get 99s while state medical school students hit average or below.

How do I know that tests vary? As I got up and down for breaks I peeked at people's screens (couldn't help myself) and any graph/figure I saw (they are easiest to pick out from a distance) never appeared on my test. Thus, we didn't all have identical tests.

Your score on the test is not based simply on the scores of the people who took it the same day you did. The questions are assessed for validity prior to being used. I'd guess that this is a big part of the reason that scores for part of May and most/all of June are held before being released in late July - in order to make sure the questions used to assess a student's knowledge are valid. I'd strongly encourage you to put all this strategizing to rest, take it at the test center most convenient to you and most conducive to GOOD TESTING CONDITIONS, and STUDY. That's the only thing that's truly going to help.