2007 USMLE Step I Experiences

[missmod]

I think I'll start the thread, since I just finished Step I today! Boy does it feel good to have it over with. In case you guys are wondering, my med school is on a different schedule, so we do basic sciences in 1.5 years, do one year of clerkships, and then take the boards.

So I started a 6 week study schedule (started after new years). The first five weeks, I studied for about 9-10 hours with a lot of breaks and took weekends off to either have fun or catch up/review. The last week I saved just for review and as many questions as I could fit into my 10 hour day. I have to say, this last week was the worst. Not in the no-sleep-cram-for-a-test kind of way, but in the huge-weight-on-your-shoulders kind of way.

Now for a breakdown of the subjects...

Biochem: There was not a lot of biochem on my exam. A few key enzyme deficiency ones (Lesch Nyhan, Maple Syrup Disease) but all of the questions were very obvious and did not require you to put much thought into it. Don't blow off porphyria and lead poisoning-- for some reason I got so many questions on that!

Molecular Bio: This was a big one! I think the NBME is moving away from the biochem towards questions on molecular bio. Many questions about DNA regulation, transcription, translation, bacterial plasmids, etc. Sometimes these questions look very scary -- they are always so long and use long names for molecules or restriction enzymes that you have never heard of. You need to get used to the question style and realize that what they are asking is very simple. The NBME forms have questions very similar to the molecular bio ones I saw on the exam.

Pharm: Another one I thought would be difficult but not. Big drugs you should know a lot about (like antihypertensives, drugs for hyperlipidemias, cardic drugs, etc.) However, I wouldn't worry too much about the side effects for every tiny drug -- especially the chemo and immunosupressant drugs that kept on tripping me up so much.

Micro/Immuno: I had not a single question on parasites! That huge chart of worms and helminths in First Aid had me worried for a while, but it was not a big part of my exam. If anything, just know the key phrases because if they do test you on it, it would be a really obvious scenario. Mostly bacterial processes and what you would use to treat them... or what was their mechanism of disease (i.e. endotoxn, exotoxin, etc.) Know immunology and cytokines well, as well as the functions of all the cells. Different immune deficiencies were all asked on my exam (there is one page in First Aid that sums them up very well).

Anatomy/Neuroanatomy: Always combined with a pathology question or an imagine. I had a few branchial plexus/lumbar plexus questions. Many questions would give you a clinical scenario, then ask you to identiy the artery/nerve/organ on a CT scan/MRI/angiogram/brain cross section. Again, I think Qbank does not help you much at all because there aren't that many images. All i can say is look through some atlases quickly as you are studying anatomy -- not Netters bc that won't help much, but books that will give you real radiographic images.

Physio: This was almost always combined with Pathology--they would ask the physiology behind some path process. I had so many questions where the question asked "what would be the levels of x, y, and z enzymes/hormones?", answer choices being "increased, decreased, etc"

Pathology: Not as detailed orientated as Kaplan. Very little histology related pathology -- most of the questions though, required you to make a diagnosis and then know something about the pathophys of the disease or the treatment of the disease. There were also a lot of images -- MANY more than Qbank's representation.

All in all, I think the test more manageable than Kaplan's Qbank. Don't let Qbank discourage you -- ! Doing the questions help you to learn, so if you were getting them all right then the questions are too easy and not really helping you much. I do remember many questions that I knew only because I got the question wrong on Kaplan's Qbank. Also, the NBME tests are VERY good and very representative of the real thing. They also help you get used to the wording of the Q's, which can be a LITTLE different from what Qbank is like. I did forms 2, 3, and 4 and I thought 2 and 3 were the best. A few images on those practice exams were repeated on my actual exam.

Goljan's book and lectures were great. He pointed out lots of things that wound up being on the exam and presents them in a way that really sticks. Also, his images are a great resource.

I've been lurking for a while and haven't really posted since applying to med school, but I have to say you guys have really helped me out during my boards studying. Good luck to everyone else getting ready to take this monster.

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[pleaseletmepass]

.

you do realize that this is already a sticky right?

 

[echostation]

my apologies, i just figured i'd ask those who already took the exam in the thread... I'll start it up as a separate thread or find a relevant thread to post in

 

[medhacker]

first of all , i want to thank u everyone in this forum for your support and advice.
well to tell the truth i don't think i have done well, there are lots of things i don't know and some of them i think i knew but screw up anyway.
so i don't want to repeat how i messed up.
just a few points to say.
1. do usmle world. i did kaplan , usmle rx and uw , the first two did not even have the grasp of what the real thing was like.
2. know why? why? why?.esp for those who are still in first or second year , do not satisfied with what was said in FA, the test is heavy on mechanism. if a particular drug have a particular side effect, make sure who know why. the question trend has changed. actually i took FA with me to prometric centre ,and after first break, i flip through it to look up the things i don't know in first block, and guess what' those were not in first aid either. (incidentally i do not recommend to do the same as i did. it can really mess up ur next session. knowing how much u have done wrong)
3. keep cool, the question are asking u pretty basic material , but they were worded in a way that , u don't know what they are asking about.
4. 10-15 % is easy and straight forward, 35% u know after some thinking, 30% u guess one out of 2 answers after some thinking. 15-20% is just pure guess work.
5. , U have to really know ur stuff to pass this exam, this is not an easy one , and there is no short cut.
6. i saw one thread asking if FA, uw and goljan adquate for step i, since i have face the beast , my two piece is barely, just barely.
good luck every one and good bye. (or i hope)

This post made my day

How much of the test would you say is know why vs raw memorization ?

 

[wahoo2009]

Time spent studying 2 weeks.
Texts Used - FA, BRS Path, BRS Phys, HY Gross Anatomy

Q-bank 67% , 99% complete
UW 71%, 49% complete
NBME Form 2 , 620
NBME Form 3 , 580
150 Released Qs, 87%

Score 241/99

Test 40% knee jerk reaction/buzz word questions, either you know it or you don't. 40% integrative/2nd and 3rd order questions. 20% questions that were out of the blue and didn't have enough time to reason through.

If I could do it again, would spend a lot more time on physiology/pathophysiology, microbiology and immunology ( I really underestimated how much micro and immuno would be on the test)

Hope this helps.

 

[goodies]

Time spent studying 2 weeks.
Texts Used - FA, BRS Path, BRS Phys, HY Gross Anatomy

Q-bank 67% , 99% complete
UW 71%, 49% complete
NBME Form 2 , 620
NBME Form 3 , 580
150 Released Qs, 87%

Score 241/99

Test 40% knee jerk reaction/buzz word questions, either you know it or you don't. 40% integrative/2nd and 3rd order questions. 20% questions that were out of the blue and didn't have enough time to reason through.

If I could do it again, would spend a lot more time on physiology/pathophysiology, microbiology and immunology ( I really underestimated how much micro and immuno would be on the test)

Hope this helps.

how did you finish qbank AND 50% of UW in only 2 weeks? you did 500 questions per day?

 

[Teejay]

how did you finish qbank AND 50% of UW in only 2 weeks? you did 500 questions per day?[/QUO
I think she's just bluffing. Hope i've not destroyed the meaning of the word "Albeit" already

 

[wahoo2009]

how did you finish qbank AND 50% of UW in only 2 weeks? you did 500 questions per day?

Hi,

I did 300 to 400 questions per day.
Almost all of my studying was learning by doing questions.
I studied 10-12 hours a day.
I almost always had 15-20 minutes, sometimes more, left at the end of a 50 question block. (By the way this was NOT the case on the real thing. Most blocks on the actual test I only had 3-4 minutes left per block)
I did most of my reading when I really had an issue with a question I would consult FA,BRS Phys., BRS Path or HY Anatomy. I did not read through FA all the way. I did flashcards the day before my exam and did not do any tests.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dr Jboo]

Would you mind giving us an idea of what your grades were like over the last two years? Is this possible for a normal person to do? Thanks

 

[wahoo2009]

Would you mind giving us an idea of what your grades were like over the last two years? Is this possible for a normal person to do? Thanks

Hi,

My school is pass/fail for the first two years. But first year I was quite average getting in low to mid 80s on exams. I did slightly better second year getting upper 80s to low 90s on exams.

Maybe it was misleading to say I only spent 2 weeks studying for boards, because prior to studying for boards my school had final exams of which pharmacology and pathology was cumulative. I spent 3 weeks studying for my finals and I am sure that the proximity of those tests helped my score.

Hope this helps.

 

[likewoh]

hey guys...i thought i'd put in my two cents, since this site has been so helpful..

there was a lot more biochem (lots of genetics) and neuroanatomy than i expected, and a lot less pathology than i was hoping for. i know people have been saying this on here, and well, it's true. it seems perhaps they're trying to evenly distribute questions, so it's not really paricularly heavy in any area, so i guess that's why it seems like it's "heavy" in biochem/neuroanatomy. i guess neuroanatomy falls under the anatomy category for the question writers, so thats prob why that seems overrepresented.

people here have also been raving about the usmleworld q bank. i got it for a month b/c of those rave reviews. it is a great qbank. i learned tons from it. the questions were beautifully constructed. they integrated concepts, made me understand the pathophysiology of disease and pharm and tied concepts together in new and wonderful ways. they were intellectually stimulating and remided me why medicine is such an awesome field. after going through many of the questions, i felt like my medical knowledge--which felt scattered and random before--had been integrated into a big ball of mush. mush, only because i've only had 2 years of medical school and no really significant clinical experience. but i felt like understood things better, made new connections.

but (a big but!), unlike what some people claim here, the questions on the real thing, are not really like usmleworld's qbank. honestly, the real thing is not that clinically oriented. oh sure, they'll have a short clinical vignette, but at the end, it'll just be some totally random question that's more like "do you know this or not". like asking you for some random fact.

the usmleworld questions were thoughtful and well written. the questions on step one simply were not. after taking the practice exams on the nbme website, i noticed the style was quite different from usmleworld's questions. i hoped that maybe, the test had changed, since everyone seemed to be saying that step one is a thinking exam, not a regurgitation exam. but the nbme seemed pretty regurgitationy. well the real thing, for me at least, turned out to be quite similar in style to those practice nbme tests. the question stems were never more than 5-7 lines long (and usually much shorter than that), unlike what some might have you believe.......

 

[bowels]

y'know, while i haven't taken the actual exam, i'd have to agree with you on the test being "regurgitationary." i took a practice exam given by my school and they were definitely not as clinically oriented as usmleworld questions. but the question bank has really helped me bring everything together.
as for your exam - genetics and neuroanatomy? crap, those are my weaker areas. are the genetics questions all probability/calculation questions or more concept oriented?

 

[alphagal]

N/a

 

[VFTW]

Starting off at 65-70% for UW is pretty good. UW is tough, but it is the best approximation of the real exam. Even the interface is exactly the same. I had several questions on the real exam that were exact replicas of UW questions... they must be doing something slightly illegal over there but whatever they're doing, I'm grateful for it. I wouldn't use any other Qbank besides UW - Kaplan is a waste of time and money, considering it is much more expensive than UW and far, FAR LESS ACCURATE in terms of question type, material tested, etc.

Now that I've said all that, I recently took the exam and here are my thoughts.

My goal is >250, my scores have not come back yet.
NBME 1: 550 (in the middle of my study period)
NBME 2: 650
NBME 3: 680 (two nights before exam)

The exam day was pretty good. I felt relaxed. I had had trouble sleeping a little bit the night before, but the actual morning of the test, I felt positive and optimistic. The testing center was very nice, the ladies running it were cool, and I had no problems with my computer, although I did have problems with the guy next to me - he seemed to have some kind of Tourette's and would often sniffle, guffaw, clear his throat, etc, over and over again. Despite my ear muffs, I heard it all. Ah, well. Anyway, so my first block was insanely difficult. That almost took my confidence down, but mostly, I told myself that hey, I have done well on the NBME's, just answer the questions to the best of your ability and move on. The second block was also hard, but 3 and 4 were easy as hell. 5 and 6 were medium, probably due to fatigue, and 7 was a damn joke... really straightforward. Great way to end the day.

As for breakdown, I was disappointed to have hardly any cardio, micro, or renal on my exam. Tons of respiratory physio, which was kinda annoying, and tons of biochem - three questions alone on Maple Syrup Urine disease, two on PKU, a bunch of osteogenesis imperfecta. No musculoskeletal, from what I can recall. TONS of neuroanatomy, a couple of abdominal MRI's. The behavioral science questions were easy for the most part... the little micro I did have was standard stuff (strep, staph, nothing funky.) Honestly, I can hardly remember what else was on there... not much embryo, not much anatomy.

I already know I made two or three really, really stupid mistakes and am trying not to kick myself over that. I also know that I made some good guesses that ended up working out for me, so I am hoping those balance out the three really stupid mistakes I know I made. All I am hoping for is to do somewhere in the neighborhood of my NBME's.

How I studied...
I used FA as a skeleton and added info to it as I studied from other sources. Went in this order with these books:
Biochem: Lippincott's - I'm a huge fan. It's a lot to get through but great for metabolism, and I just like that book. For CMB, I used high-yield. I hate CMB.
Neuroanatomy: Made Ridiculously Simple and BRS to fill in holes
Micro: Mostly just FA and Microcards, which were more than enough. Associated Pharmcards for the antibiotics. Looked up stuff I'm weak on in CMMRS.
Immuno: High Yield, mostly. Some Kaplan and Abbas to clear up concepts I was weak in.
The rest of the material I integrated by organ system.
Embryo: High Yield and Kaplan
Anatomy: High Yield and BRS to fill in holes.
General path: Goljan, of course
General pharm: mostly First-Aid and Lippincott's Pharm to fill in holes
Physio: BRS
Path: Goljan RR and audio. If I could do it all over again, I would base my entire review around Goljan. He integrates so much micro, immuno, physiology and path into his lectures and book that you can really integrate the material in a huge way. Without Goljan I think I would have done much more poorly on this exam. I had BRS Path, but really didn't use it. I also had Pathcards, which had too many errors, but were okay since they had some images included. Good for rote stuff like lysosomal storage diseases and genetic diseases.
Pharm: just pharmcards. More than enough. Way more!
Behavioral: First Aid and BRS

I studied for about 6 weeks, 8-10 hours a day, or as much as I could tolerate until I felt like puking.

score > 245/99

 

[goodies]

Starting off at 65-70% for UW is pretty good. UW is tough, but it is the best approximation of the real exam. Even the interface is exactly the same. I had several questions on the real exam that were exact replicas of UW questions... they must be doing something slightly illegal over there but whatever they're doing, I'm grateful for it. I wouldn't use any other Qbank besides UW - Kaplan is a waste of time and money, considering it is much more expensive than UW and far, FAR LESS ACCURATE in terms of question type, material tested, etc.

Now that I've said all that, I recently took the exam and here are my thoughts.

My goal is >250, my scores have not come back yet.
NBME 1: 550 (in the middle of my study period)
NBME 2: 650
NBME 3: 680 (two nights before exam)

The exam day was pretty good. I felt relaxed. I had had trouble sleeping a little bit the night before, but the actual morning of the test, I felt positive and optimistic. The testing center was very nice, the ladies running it were cool, and I had no problems with my computer, although I did have problems with the guy next to me - he seemed to have some kind of Tourette's and would often sniffle, guffaw, clear his throat, etc, over and over again. Despite my ear muffs, I heard it all. Ah, well. Anyway, so my first block was insanely difficult. That almost took my confidence down, but mostly, I told myself that hey, I have done well on the NBME's, just answer the questions to the best of your ability and move on. The second block was also hard, but 3 and 4 were easy as hell. 5 and 6 were medium, probably due to fatigue, and 7 was a damn joke... really straightforward. Great way to end the day.

As for breakdown, I was disappointed to have hardly any cardio, micro, or renal on my exam. Tons of respiratory physio, which was kinda annoying, and tons of biochem - three questions alone on Maple Syrup Urine disease, two on PKU, a bunch of osteogenesis imperfecta. No musculoskeletal, from what I can recall. TONS of neuroanatomy, a couple of abdominal MRI's. The behavioral science questions were easy for the most part... the little micro I did have was standard stuff (strep, staph, nothing funky.) Honestly, I can hardly remember what else was on there... not much embryo, not much anatomy.

I already know I made two or three really, really stupid mistakes and am trying not to kick myself over that. I also know that I made some good guesses that ended up working out for me, so I am hoping those balance out the three really stupid mistakes I know I made. All I am hoping for is to do somewhere in the neighborhood of my NBME's.

How I studied...
I used FA as a skeleton and added info to it as I studied from other sources. Went in this order with these books:
Biochem: Lippincott's - I'm a huge fan. It's a lot to get through but great for metabolism, and I just like that book. For CMB, I used high-yield. I hate CMB.
Micro: Mostly just FA and Microcards, which were more than enough. Associated Pharmcards for the antibiotics. Looked up stuff I'm weak on in CMMRS.
Immuno: High Yield, mostly. Some Kaplan and Abbas to clear up concepts I was weak in.
The rest of the material I integrated by organ system.
Embryo: High Yield and Kaplan
General path: Goljan, of course
General pharm: mostly First-Aid and Lippincott's Pharm to fill in holes
Physio: BRS
Path: Goljan RR and audio. If I could do it all over again, I would base my entire review around Goljan. He integrates so much micro, immuno, physiology and path into his lectures and book that you can really integrate the material in a huge way. Without Goljan I think I would have done much more poorly on this exam. I had BRS Path, but really didn't use it. I also had Pathcards, which had too many errors, but were okay since they had some images included. Good for rote stuff like lysosomal storage diseases and genetic diseases.
Pharm: just pharmcards. More than enough. Way more!
Behavioral: First Aid and BRS

I studied for about 6 weeks, 8-10 hours a day, or as much as I could tolerate until I felt like puking.

I am worried about all the dumb mistakes I made, but when I get my score I will let you guys know if I achieved my goal with this study plan. I am keeping my fingers crossed and mostly just trying not to think about it.

what would you recommend for anatomy and neuroanatomy??

 

[bigdan]

I did have problems with the guy next to me - he seemed to have some kind of Tourette's and would often sniffle, guffaw, clear his throat, etc, over and over again. Despite my ear muffs, I heard it all. .

Prometrics and the NBME should allow us to use one blowdart, dipped in the agent of our choosing.

Not only would it deter the annoying, but we could also potentially get an extra credit point for correctly identifying the mechanism with which the blowdart poison works.

dc

 

[VFTW]

Sorry - for anatomy, High Yield was plenty. Used BRS for things I was weak on or that were high yield like the BP.
For neuroanatomy I used Made Ridiculously Simple, which had some holes, and filled in with BRS (to look up stuff like the medullary and pontine syndromes.)

 

[ginger60]

I am worried about all the dumb mistakes I made, but when I get my score I will let you guys know if I achieved my goal with this study plan. I am keeping my fingers crossed and mostly just trying not to think about it.

Try not to worry about the mistakes--just be glad its over and find something fun to do. Whatever you do, try not to hang out with or talk too much with people who are still studying because you will only remember more of the mistakes you made. I worried way too much after my test (I even made a list of all the questions I knew I got wrong) and it kind of ruined the experience of being done with step 1, but in the end all of that worrying was for nothing. And, given your final NBME scores, you should do great!

 

[VFTW]

Thanks Ginger - you and I sound alike - I currently have a (growing) list of questions I know I got wrong tacked up on my fridge. I don't know why we torture ourselves like this I am going to try to take your advice and put it out of my mind! I would be very happy to get in the ballpark of my NBME so I'll try to remember that I did well on that and move on Thanks again.

 

[DRJME]

What's UW??? THANKS!

 

[medhacker]

What's UW??? THANKS!

Usmle World

 

[domer621]

I would love to hear your thoughts on my 7 week plan:

This thread is about people's experiences who have taken the exam. Don't clog it up with questions like this, especially if it's a double-post.

 

[Typical]

MAIN QUESTION... AM I CRAZY FOR SPENDING 90% OF MY TIME ON JUST FA AND QB????

I really like your strategy; but, just make sure you choose the right test when registering on the prometirc site. It seems to me that you tend to misread the titles, which can lead to a bad grade on standerdized tests

 

[onemoretime]

232/97

Hey guys,

first of all, thanks for all your help.

what did i study?

i studied stop and go starting about a year before the exam but i really poured it on in the last 6 weeks, studying an average of about 8 hours/day.

Goljan audio (5-10X): i listened to some lectures more than others
Goljan path notes (1-2X): i found heme/lymph and renal particularly useful
First Aid 2006: read it about 3 times, once quickly in the 3 days before exam
Kaplan Q-bank (66%): finished all questions about 1 month before exam
USMLE world (63%):took one month membership and finished all questions a few days before exam.
Used various textbooks to clarify difficult concepts.

NBME 1: 211 (2 months before)
NBME 2: 228 (1 month before)
NBME 3: 232 (2 weeks before)
NBME 4: 242 (1 week before)


My exam experience

i slept only little the night before the exam but an early morning coffee and a couple red bulls sustained me well enough during the day. i was soooo nervous at the beginning even though i took time to do the tutorial. but, after the first few questions i settled down and just went with the attitude that i'd give it my best shot, whatever i know i know, just go with my instincts. i thought it was useful to read the last line of each question first, particularly if the stem was more than a few lines long. sometimes a quick scan of the last line, a scan of the stem, a scan of the image and a scan of the answers virtually gives the answer away without the need for much logical deduction. having said that, i would be careful to take my time reading each question cause they tend to throw in a lot of red herrings, like giving you a country or a race that you associate with disease X but the history and investigations are more consistent with disease Y.

they also know that most of us have read first aid so they'll try to confuse you with the mnemonics you've memorized. for example, they'll give you a condition you could treat with more than one drug and they'll make one option sound like a drug you could use from the mnemonics you memorized but in fact it's a completely different class of drug. bottom line, you really have to know your drug names. speaking of pharm, most of my questions seemed to involve mechanisms, like if you add this drug, then that drug, what is going to be the effect on a particular blood vessel.

anatomy was pretty straightforward, lots of times you had to identify structures on CT scans, MRI's etc. KNOW your NEUROANATOMY!!!

it seemed to me like i had at least 20 embryo questions on my test, lots came straight out of first aid but some i had no clue.

path and physiology were often combined, Goljan helped lots with path but i would take what he has to say with a bit of a grain of salt. the nbme people know what he's selling and i'm sure they've adjusted accordingly. like there's certain things Goljan says they would never test on Step I but sure enough they were there! nonetheless Goljan still helps to organize your thoughts and get a feel for what kind of questions to expect.

behavioral science was tricky. all my readings prepared me to answer about %50 of the questions, the rest i guessed.

biochem/cell bio/genetics was reasonable, just make sure you really understand the basics cause i found they had a tendency to somehow question you on that little bit of a grey area in your mind... i'd take the extra minute or two to sit down with a concept if i'm not entirely clear in my head what exactly is going on. there were some questions in this category that i had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, in fact i felt that way on about %10-15 of the questions on the exam.

i thought i had very little micro/immuno on my test but the little i had wasn't too tricky, i thought USMLE World micro/immuno questions were very similar to the ones i saw on the test.

in general, i found myself referring back to concepts i'd learned throughout my first 2 years in med rather than in review books...i know people have mentioned this before but really having a solid foundation is probably the best preparation you can get for the exam.

that's all for now, don't hesitate to reply to this post if you have any further questions, and i'll do my best to answer in a timely fashion.

all the best!

 

[frankysine]

not to sound too stupid just couple of questions

1) I like to know where i can get these NBME exams (2,3,4) from

2) how would u go about preparing for the radiology aspect of the exam

thanks for you help in advance

 

[drguy22]

ok...so i took my test today...

so i prepped for about 4.5 weeks

I took the Kaplan classes(intense prep) and used the following materials:

Kaplan notes
Qbank ( final avg 68%) 92% completed
UW (final avg 70%) 94% completed
USMLERX ( final avg 78%) 60% completed
NBME 1-4 ill post this if im happy wit my score


RR just for weak topics
BRS Path -excellent book
FA cases for Step 1 - i could remember SEVERAL Q's from this book!!!
and of course FA!!!====> the best book ever..

The night b4 my exam i went through pharm and the rapid review in the back of FA and that got me A LOT!! of questions on the exam. For the rapid review, i didnt just read it, i wrote down all the associations i could think of off the top of my head right next to it, and if i didnt know it i would look it up. 4 of the FA pictures showed up on my exam.

As far as the actual test...

Anatomy was pretty straight forward, i had like 5 median nerve questions in the first block alone

i thought that my test was heavily based on pharm, immuno and biochem, which for me turned out to be very good. The pharm was VERY straightforward. Immuno was a little tricky b/c they would show me the entire pathway and ask which step is inhibited. Micro was very straightforward. A lot of antibiotics on my exam. Virtully NO parasites on my exam.

Path and phys were integrated, again they were somewhat straightforward. some easy some hard, as expected.

Overall i thought the exam was FAIR.....i recognized a good portion of the material, I just hope i picked all of the right answers

we shall see in about 3-4 weeks.....till then

 

[SkylineMD]

how big were MRI and CTs on your exam? Also, if you could just clarify what you mean by straight forward pharm. I was under the impression it was a lot of drug X does this and drug Y does this, what are they? So mostly a lot of drug responses. At the same time, some people have stated it was quite a bit of MOA and side-effects. Lastly, would you say that the test resembled Kaplans Qbank moreso or UW's Qbank?

gl on your results.

 

[drguy22]

how big were MRI and CTs on your exam? Also, if you could just clarify what you mean by straight forward pharm. I was under the impression it was a lot of drug X does this and drug Y does this, what are they? So mostly a lot of drug responses. At the same time, some people have stated it was quite a bit of MOA and side-effects. Lastly, would you say that the test resembled Kaplans Qbank moreso or UW's Qbank?

gl on your results.

ya when i say straightforward..i mean..Drug x and y stuff. there were a few side effects. Just know the MECHANISMS and not worry TOO much about the drug names.

I actually think that it might be on par with NMBE form 4.... mine was filled with biochem, immuno, molec genetics.

as for the CT and MRi, ect they were straightforward. some blurry, but u could answer Q's based off hx.

ill give u an example (it may of may not have been on my test) but:
54 yo male with a CD count of 50....neil zeilhson stain show this...KNEE JERK..
M. intracelluare-avium...

With regards to Q bank and UW world. BOTH are harder. The test is much more straightforwars ( at least i thought)


its a doable test..i just hope i picked the correct choices!!!

 

[medicinehopeful]

ok...so i took my test today...

so i prepped for about 4.5 weeks

I took the Kaplan classes(intense prep) and used the following materials:

Kaplan notes
Qbank ( final avg 68%) 92% completed
UW (final avg 70%) 94% completed
USMLERX ( final avg 78%) 60% completed
NBME 1-4 ill post this if im happy wit my score


RR just for weak topics
BRS Path -excellent book
FA cases for Step 1 - i could remember SEVERAL Q's from this book!!!
and of course FA!!!====> the best book ever..

The night b4 my exam i went through pharm and the rapid review in the back of FA and that got me A LOT!! of questions on the exam. For the rapid review, i didnt just read it, i wrote down all the associations i could think of off the top of my head right next to it, and if i didnt know it i would look it up. 4 of the FA pictures showed up on my exam.

As far as the actual test...

Anatomy was pretty straight forward, i had like 5 median nerve questions in the first block alone

i thought that my test was heavily based on pharm, immuno and biochem, which for me turned out to be very good. The pharm was VERY straightforward. Immuno was a little tricky b/c they would show me the entire pathway and ask which step is inhibited. Micro was very straightforward. A lot of antibiotics on my exam. Virtully NO parasites on my exam.

Path and phys were integrated, again they were somewhat straightforward. some easy some hard, as expected.

Overall i thought the exam was FAIR.....i recognized a good portion of the material, I just hope i picked all of the right answers

we shall see in about 3-4 weeks.....till then

Hi,
with regard to uworld and qbank, which one did you think was a better prep for the exam? also, how did you manage to do all this in 4 weeks? thanks.

 

[ertugrul]

I think there are better threads to discuss qbanks and books etc. Isn't this exam experience thread?

 

[drguy22]

Hi,
with regard to uworld and qbank, which one did you think was a better prep for the exam? also, how did you manage to do all this in 4 weeks? thanks.

UW was the best!!!! hands down.

i dunno if I "managed" to pull anything off....have to wait for the scores

 

[sweatybrain]

Agreed with DrGuy. The real thing was nothing that resembles Q-bank. I can now say with certainty that UW was the single best resource I used during my study.

I thought the exam was tough, but fair. Some easy one liners that I had to double check to make sure I didn't misread. Some questions that were totally out of the left field and you just had to guess on. My form was fairly evenly distributed among the subjects, with perhaps slight emphasis on path and patho-physio. (The rumours that biochem and molecular bio were evolving into major topics were greatly exaggerated; I would have been pleased if that were the case )

One last thing: immunology was extremely high-yield. don't ignore the topic (as I did).

 

[drguy22]

one more thing....if u guys can get a hold of the FA case book, read it 2 days b4 the exam...and ull be surprised i can remeber a LOT of questions from that book!!!!!

and no i dont work for them!

 

[ask1288]

So i bought one of the nbme exams, and they don't give u explanations or answers :-( does anyone know if these are available and how to get them?

thanks

 

[nasdr]

you're right; these arent made available by the nbme folks. the only way to get them is to ask around for a bootleg copy. Use it as an assessment tool of what your weak and strong areas are, maybe alter your time to certain subjects based on the assessment at the end, etc.

Edit: you may be posting in the wrong thread.

 

[ask1288]

oops, i apologize... i should hv been more careful when posting...
plz 4give this sincere mistake...

ps i am semi literate in computers so what is a bootleg, and how do i get it...

 

[ginger60]

oops, i apologize... i should hv been more careful when posting...
plz 4give this sincere mistake...

ps i am semi literate in computers so what is a bootleg, and how do i get it...

First of all, i'm pretty sure sdn does not appreciate people asking for bootlegged things (look it up in a dictionary if you don't know what bootleg means, there's a decent one at dictionary.reference.com).
Second, this has already been discussed in previous threads which I believe were closed because SDN doesn't approve of solicitations for bootlegged things. Try searching for your topic next time in thread titles instead of posting under the wrong thread.
Third, it is hard to 4give someone for a mistake when they repeat the same mistake right after asking for 4giveness. Don't post on this thread again until you have taken Step 1 or have something to say related to someone's Step 1 experience--that is what the thread's title states it is for.

 

[ask1288]

Yikes!!! I apologize, i mean no harm... whatever this boot leg is whether its a boot or its a leg or a leg in a boot , lets just forget abt it and carry on discussing yr experiences... i take my exam on Jun 30 i/a (i started studying seriously on Friday). All the best to all of you (and me

 

[ginger60]

good luck, and post about your experience when you're done if you'd like

 

[nockamura]

First of all, i'm pretty sure sdn does not appreciate people asking for bootlegged things (look it up in a dictionary if you don't know what bootleg means, there's a decent one at dictionary.reference.com).
Second, this has already been discussed in previous threads which I believe were closed because SDN doesn't approve of solicitations for bootlegged things. Try searching for your topic next time in thread titles instead of posting under the wrong thread.
Third, it is hard to 4give someone for a mistake when they repeat the same mistake right after asking for 4giveness. Don't post on this thread again until you have taken Step 1 or have something to say related to someone's Step 1 experience--that is what the thread's title states it is for.

Yikes. Pretty harsh, Ginger. It's understandable that if this poster doesn't understand what the word "bootleg" means that we shouldn't fault him/her for wanting to know how to obtain it if it would help his/her Step 1 score. Also, I don't think the admins would have a problem defining the word for him/her. "Bootleg" means unofficial/not-sanctioned. Thus, bootleg answers would be answers or explanations that NBME has not sanctioned and are unofficial (they are also illegal). Thus, you should not go around asking for them here at SDN.

 

[ginger60]

sorry if it came across as harsh, just trying to direct the poster as to how to find the answer to their question on other threads and return this thread back to its original purpose, which it will hopefully do

 

[EvanD]

Hey Guys. I have been following this thread for some time and want to thank all of those that have posted their experiances;

I took my exam exactly a month ago and got my results today. It was pretty much what I expected as far as difficulty goes; It's a crap-shoot as to what topics your exam will be heavy in tho - I got lots of leg anatomy and bleeding vagina questions, when I would have preferred more pharm, path and neuro. Alas, c'est la'vie.

I studied for 4 weeks from 9a-6p for 6 days a week (any more and I think my head would have exploded). Its been said a million times, but learning the material during the 2nd year is really the best thing you can do for your score. It's just not feesable to teach youself anything "new" during the cram-fest; you can only remind yourself of what you used to know. (I know this doesnt help those of ou who have a few days before the test and 2nd year is long gone, but thought I would say it anyway)

Hot tip: If you are going to use First Aid, get it spiral bound. It's a simple little thing you can do to make your life easier. That being said, First Aid is good for only a few things 1) Pharm - it has all the pharm in all the detail you will need. 2) Acronyms and word-memory tips (like which viruses are single stranded, non-enveloped etc and which a.a.'s are essential blah blah - that being said I didnt get any questions on that stuff) 3) Basic path 4) Quick immunology review. Everything else in FA is so base level that they assume you know it- expect them to test a much deeper, more abstract or tangential concept.

So I'll break it down by subject
General: I read and annotated the crap out of my FA; then re-read it once. Was good to organize my thoughts in one place, but may have been a waste of time.
Path: Goljan's audio all thru the year (about 6 times thru in total) plus his new Rapid Review Path book
Micro: Micro cards by Lange and some of Micro Made Ridiculously Simple
Behavioural Science: HY BS (tho this ended up being my worst score, prob because you can't study for the questions that give you a situation and ask "what do you say/do next" of which I had tons)
Neuro : HY Neuroanatomy
Phys: BRS Physiology
Biochem: FA was okay for pathways, because they were hardly any. Spend more time on 2nd mesengers and cell bio. Not sure which source to use...?
Look at lots of CT's, MRI's graphs, pictures etc. The more the better. I had one question that took no medical knowledge and was basically just asking me to decipher a graph. Easy.

All that being said, I think the best way to prepare (at least for me) was to do tons of questions. I dropped a fair bit of $$$ on my test prep, but you only live once . I can honestly say the USMLE World is the best thing out there. If there is one you do, make sure its that one. And its only $60/month!
The questions are hard (like the boards) and the explainations are excellent, with diagrams, summary charts and a 1-2 line "take home message" for each question. Next best is Qbank, only because there are lots of questions that are very picky and help you learn certain concepts. The actual questions are nothing like Qbank tho, which relies way too much on "buzzwords". USMLERx is way too easy and a waste of cash. USMLEasy is okay - very heavy on neuro and full of random crap that I have never seen since.

Q-bank 79% , 100% complete
UW 84%, 100% complete
USMLERx 87%, 67% complete
USMLEasy 73%, 56% complete
NMBE Form 2 , 720 (=258)
NBME Form 3 , 710 (=257)
NBME Form 4 , 700 (=256)
150 Released Qs, 90%

Score: 262/99

I am very pleased with my score. I worked hard for it all year;
Good luck to all of you who have yet to take it. And dont worry, you will leave the exam feeling like you didn't do so well, but you did better than you thought you did!

 

[SFAJess]

I haven't noticed any scores from the NBME Comprehensive Basic Sciences Shelf and how they correlated with scores.

For the folks that have taken Step 1 and received your scores, did you take the NBME Comp Exam and how well did it correlate?

I got a 235 on the Comprehensive shelf, but I plan on taking the full length NBME exams in a few weeks to see how I do on a full length exam.

 

[sga430]

i think the nbme is quite accurate. it was pretty close in predicting my score.

 

[TN Aaron]

I got my scores back and I am quite pleased. Oddly enough, the NBME told me I would make the exact same score. However, some friends of mine had scores that were both better (some even 20 points better) and worse than their NBMEs. My recommendations:

1. Everyone's test will be completely different. I had a lot of pharm on mine, others didn't. Others had tons of biochem on theirs-I didn't. Don't think you're going to be able to read posts on SDN or listen to the current 3rd year class and extrapolate which subjects are emphasized on the exam. There are no shortcuts when studying for the Step 1.

2. Use FA as a guide, not as a crutch.

3. IMO USMLEWorld is superior to QBank. I completed them both, and I have to say that UW was much closer to the real thing than Kaplan was, both in format and content. Also, the explanations from UW are better. They included diagrams. xrays, CTs, flow charts, etc... whereas Kaplan's explanations are only in paragraph form. I'm a visual learner, and UW caters to visual learners.

4. I studies for 28 days and the books I used per subject were:
Biochem - RR Goljan - very good
Phys - BRS Awesome
Path - BRS + Webpath for pics + Goljan audio. I would have used the Goljan book but I had already been using the BRS for 1/2 the year.
Micro - FA and the Brief Summaries section of the Lange Micro book - All I needed
Immuno - FA and the section in the Lange Micro/Immuno book - More than enough
Pharm - FA and the brief summaries of 100 drugs in the Lange book - Every single pharm question I got was straight out of the FA (Other people I spoke to said that their pharm was impossible. Once again you just never know what you're gonna get asked.)
Anatomy - FA and Case Files (with an emphasis on the anatomical pearls section at the end of each chapter)
Behavioral Science - FA + HY + Kaplan audio lectures. Blowing off BH is like giving away free points on the exam. Please don't neglect it.

5. Keep a list of topics you aren't comfortable with and questions you keep missing. Return to this list periodically just to make sure you see this information multiple times.

6. If you are a runner, listen to a Goljan audio lecture while you run. The Behavioral Science audio lectures from Kaplan are also very good.

Good luck to everyone.

 

[sga430]

i believe it is not accurate to say the "test was all biochem" or it was "all patho" for 2 reasons:

1) the test taker will overemphasize his or her weakness. for example if there were 3 genetics questions i felt i got wrong, i will be more likely to say the test was all genetics.

2) these days a lot of questions r mixed.

with that said, one of the kaplan live lecure professors said that step 1 was 70% patho, pharm, physio and micro. also i believe that anat and biochem take way too long to study when compared to the points. however u can not afford to ignore them

also i feel pharm and micro r great to study last minute and r crammable. this means if u want to study something last minute with a good bang for the buck these to r good.

 

[vtucci]

Took it yesterday and I thought it was pretty bad and have no idea how I did. I would not be surprised with anything between a 200-240.

There was a ton of neuroanatomy on my exam-- i.e., at least 15 CT scans and MRIs of the brain alone. There were a lot of other neuroanatomy questions as well.

The physio questions were very complicated- it had multiple levels and the impact on multiple hormones.

I also had a number of biochem and cell bio problems and a ton of questions regarding signalling pathways but very obscure ones (not just DAG/IP3 etc).

I felt the path and micro/immuno was fair.

Not a lot of embryo on my exam but they were decent. A few histo questions including EM pictures that I had trouble discerning. Not a lot of anatomy thankfully but I still missed some questions that I should have known.

Good luck all.

 

[fakin' the funk]

Took it yesterday and I thought it was pretty bad and have no idea how I did. I would not be surprised with anything between a 200-240.

What'd you get on your last NBME? Go +/- 5 points from there and that's where your score will be, bottom line. Unless you, like, had a stroke mid-exam.

Everyone feels like crap - keep your head up and have a drink or two.

 

[Raja Babu]

Q-bank 74% from 100%complete
4 NBME's ave. 650-700
Q-book 73% on 100% complete
first two years GPA=3.9
Step 1 241/99

I thought the real thing was a lot different than the NBME's and Q-bank. Don't let them give you false hope. Q-bank is nothing like the real thing. USWorld has identical format as the real thing. My test had lots of genetics and molecular biology. I did the worse in Behavioral Science, followed by genetics/molec. sci. All of the other sections were very very good. One piece of advise is to not overlook Behavioral Science. I had many questions about "what would you as a doctor do" or doing math to find something.

 

[SkylineMD]

Just to offer my advice:

Qbank is nothing like the real thing. UsmleWorld resembled the exam in format and style of questioning. Most of the questions ranged from 2liners to 5 liners (considering the screen is pretty small, this isn't a lot) but most avg'd 3lines. The exam didn't seem too bad to me (much easier than they make it sound like when you do qbank and wonder where they find the anal facts from) but at the same time, i marked about 15-20 questions that I had to go back and review. About 30% of the exam was a quick response where you could go right to the answer within seconds... 30% required thought... the rest was just smack dab in the middle where you just THINK you know the answer and then just put down something and move on hoping its right. I think i walked out of the exam thinking "okay that wasn't so bad" only because i was sure of the answers i got right without a doubt and the ones i knew i was iffy on, am just hoping they worked out well. i didn't walk out sayinig i ace'd it and it was really easy but i did think it was easier than I was lead to believe... anyways, here is the breakdown.

Anatomy/embryo --> About 15-20 questions tops on this. 4-5 embryo and suprisingly more anatomy than i expected. A few regarding origins/insertions and some with blood flow... not too many brachial plexus injuries on my exam unfortunately

biochem/molecular --> a decent mix though i think mine was skewed more towards molecular with about 5-8 questions from biochem and 20 or so from molecular. I HAD ABOUT 15 QUESTIONS on VITAMINS!!!! so know these cold (what pathways they play a role in, what do deficiencies cause, etc)

physio --> mixed in with everything (maybe 10 pure physio but a lot were mixed) where you had to figure out if stuff was going up, down, staying the same, etc. You need a good core background to figure out this stuff so goljan is semi-good for this (btw, more arrow questions with reproductive than i thought there would be)

neuro --> like i mentioned, brain stem, ct/mris, some basic pathology (i think FA is good enough for this so know that section well). maybe 20-25 questions on this subject alone

behavioral science/stats --> about 5-8 questions on stats which were straight forward. maybe 10-15 "what would you say" type of questions so once again, not much preparing here. Somewhat disappointed that there weren't too many developmental questions considering i spent a bit of time on it but i guess its good that i didnt have to worry about it.

pharm --> straight forward stuff. about 40 questions from all over the place so not one real focus. i'm glad i spent the previous 3-4 days reviewing pharm because it was by far the easiest section and probably will yield the most return (hopefully)

path --> very little pure path, some here and there but i could have just been in a daze and not noticed how much was really just only path

immunology --> once again a small part of my exam with only 10 questions which were of varying levels of difficulty

micro --> another 15-20 questions (NO PARASITE QUESTIONS!!! NO WORMS!!!) which were somewhat straight forward. Just know toxins, gram+/-, basic lab results for various bacteria which will help you figure out the organism

WHAT I DID THE NIGHT BEFORE THAT WAS A WASTE OF MY TIME: I had heard that the 150q's that were released are often repeated so i quickly went through them hoping some would repeat. I did not see a single question from it ... maybe this was just my own isolated experience but I was told to look over it by someone and it really wasn't worth my time to do so. I would have been better off just memorizing drugs.

now i can go enjoy my 2 weeks of vacation before third year!!!

 

[UCLAstudent]

Hey Skyline, did you take any NBME exams? Do you feel that the exam was comparable to those? Congrats on being done!