Compiled Step one Experiences

[Jalby]

Hey guys. This is a thread to post individual step 1 experiences. Like what was on it, how you felt going into it, what books you used, what was helpfull, what was not. Basically anything you think would be helpfull to other students. Post your own thread so that you can get the congratulations you deserve and answer any questions, but please just cut and paste that experience onto this thread so it will be around for years. Thank you very much.

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[gunit07]

I took step 1 a few weeks ago and now that it's a month away from getting the score, I have NO clue how to feel...
sometimes i'm like, holy crap i think i failed. but then ill be like, how could i have failed? i mean, such a small % of people fail...
talk about emotional rollercoaster

I honestly didnt find FA very helpful:-/ I learned the whole book, but I felt that there were some questions that werent even in FA (i had some CRAZY embryo questions - let's hope they were experimental)
I thought that StepUp was a good book for looking at things in a different way... but definitely no replacement for FA.

I found the first two or three sections to be much harder than the last ones...
and even for the really hard questions I was able to narrow it down to 2 - one of which was definitely right... but of course, there were questions that i had NO clue... there was a question where the answer choices were 5 drugs, only one of which I had heard of - the other ones werent in first aid, and they werent drugs with common roots (-pril, -statin, -azole, etc), so i just picked the one i had heard of

Like I said, embryo was incredibly difficult. Unfortunately, I was one of the people who got many embryo questions, relatively. I think I had 3 or 4. One of them showed what I could only assume was a neural tube and was pointing to two sections, X and Y, and asked what products of genes from the different sections would do... if anyone else had that question - what the HECK was that?!
I had a bunch of other difficult questions that I dont even remember anymore.
I had a few funny ethics questions, and actually had to keep from laughing out loud during the test
The neuro wasnt too bad - and that is one of my weaker subjects, so I was relieved.
Oddly enough, I didnt have any questions on cardiac phys, pulmonary fibrosis 2/2 amiodarone, toxoplasmosis in HIV patients, cat scratch fever, cat/dog bites, ricketsia, lyme disease... basically all the micro i studied hard for but lots of staph/strep.. lots of it..
I had a LOT of COPD on my test - WAY more than what was covered in FA... and it was odd, cause I was thinking about that during the test and was thinking "how can this be another copd question?" so i took extra time on those questions, and i thought of everythign else it could be, but when it came down to picking an answer it was either emphysema or chronic bronchitis... very eerie.

Anyway, let's just hope it went well

July 19th/20th are going to be very nervewracking days

 

[Chandler]

I will post a more detailed experience later. A couple things that struck me on the exam. One, my test measured peripheral knowledge. For example, if it was a common bug such as staph aureus, it would ask minutiae such as what is the molecular basis for this bug to evade host immunity. On the other hand, if the disease is obscure such as charcot marie tooth (you have to tease out this diagnosis from the clinical presentation), the question is to point to the spinal cord cross section (in first aid BTW). In both cases the exam is measuring peripheral knowledge. It is a good design by the test makers if you think about it. Why waste a question on something they should know? Let's see if they can answer a peripheral question, this also indirectly proves if they have the core knowledge. You have to have the core knowledge to get to the periphery.

On the whole, the exam is very challenging however it is very just. It rewards the active learners that constantly asked, "how does this work", "why does this work", "is this disease associated with another disease". You will see things on the exam that will be unfamilar to you if you didn't have the academic curiousity to learn more on your own. This is justice to me. Reward the active learners. A physician should be a SELF MOTIVATED lifelong learner so why not reward the students that took the extra steps in the 1st two years of medical school to learn more than what was presented in the coursework.

Also, my exam would have hammered people that memorized only buzzwords. I had questions that had buzzwords that would lead you to a deadend. I remember a question that had "clue cells" in the presentation, and one of the answer choices was Gardenella Vaginalis. However, the question asked the ABSENCE of which bacteria is likely for this disease. I missed this question because when I studied Gardenella Vaginalis, I didn't take that extra step (not found in review books) to find this information. This is what they are measuring on this exam. That extra step. Did you have the academic curiosity to learn more?

One more thing, there were many problem solving questions. I like that too. Even if I didn't get a question right, I like the fact an exam rewards the thinkers. This is very fair.

 

[RLMD]

I will post a more detailed experience later. A couple things that struck me on the exam. One, my test measured peripheral knowledge. For example, if it was a common bug such as staph aureus, it would ask minutiae such as what is the molecular basis for this bug to evade host immunity. On the other hand, if the disease is obscure such as charcot marie tooth (you have to tease out this diagnosis from the clinical presentation), the question is to point to the spinal cord cross section (in first aid BTW). In both cases the exam is measuring peripheral knowledge. It is a good design by the test makers if you think about it. Why waste a question on something they should know? Let's see if they can answer a peripheral question, this also indirectly proves if they have the core knowledge. You have to have the core knowledge to get to the periphery.

On the whole, the exam is very challenging however it is very just. It rewards the active learners that constantly asked, "how does this work", "why does this work", "is this disease associated with another disease". You will see things on the exam that will be unfamilar to you if you didn't have the academic curiousity to learn more on your own. This is justice to me. Reward the active learners. A physician should be a SELF MOTIVATED lifelong learner so why not reward the students that took the extra steps in the 1st two years of medical school to learn more than what was presented in the coursework.

Also, my exam would have hammered people that memorized only buzzwords. I had questions that had buzzwords that would lead you to a deadend. I remember a question that had "clue cells" in the presentation, and one of the answer choices was Gardenella Vaginalis. However, the question asked the ABSENCE of which bacteria is likely for this disease. I missed this question because when I studied Gardenella Vaginalis, I didn't take that extra step (not found in review books) to find this information. This is what they are measuring on this exam. That extra step. Did you have the academic curiosity to learn more?

One more thing, there were many problem solving questions. I like that too. Even if I didn't get a question right, I like the fact an exam rewards the thinkers. This is very fair.

Was one of the answer choices to the clue cell question lactobacillus? In Goljan's RR book, he has Gardnerella vaginosis is seen when pH is > 5, so i would assume that the pH is altered by loss of the acidic environment created by lactobacillus, maybe due to broad spectrum antibiotic use.

 

[Pox in a box]

I will post a more detailed experience later. A couple things that struck me on the exam. One, my test measured peripheral knowledge. For example, if it was a common bug such as staph aureus, it would ask minutiae such as what is the molecular basis for this bug to evade host immunity. On the other hand, if the disease is obscure such as charcot marie tooth (you have to tease out this diagnosis from the clinical presentation), the question is to point to the spinal cord cross section (in first aid BTW). In both cases the exam is measuring peripheral knowledge. It is a good design by the test makers if you think about it. Why waste a question on something they should know? Let's see if they can answer a peripheral question, this also indirectly proves if they have the core knowledge. You have to have the core knowledge to get to the periphery.

On the whole, the exam is very challenging however it is very just. It rewards the active learners that constantly asked, "how does this work", "why does this work", "is this disease associated with another disease". You will see things on the exam that will be unfamilar to you if you didn't have the academic curiousity to learn more on your own. This is justice to me. Reward the active learners. A physician should be a SELF MOTIVATED lifelong learner so why not reward the students that took the extra steps in the 1st two years of medical school to learn more than what was presented in the coursework.

Also, my exam would have hammered people that memorized only buzzwords. I had questions that had buzzwords that would lead you to a deadend. I remember a question that had "clue cells" in the presentation, and one of the answer choices was Gardenella Vaginalis. However, the question asked the ABSENCE of which bacteria is likely for this disease. I missed this question because when I studied Gardenella Vaginalis, I didn't take that extra step (not found in review books) to find this information. This is what they are measuring on this exam. That extra step. Did you have the academic curiosity to learn more?

One more thing, there were many problem solving questions. I like that too. Even if I didn't get a question right, I like the fact an exam rewards the thinkers. This is very fair.

Don't worry. I'm sure you did well considering you told us earlier that you scored very high (the highest known SDN score at the time) on the NBME Form 2. Glad to see you're done. Go celebrate!

 

[carrigallen]

I took the exam today too.

I was fairly confident on maybe 33%, and uncertain on about 33%, and guessing on 33%. Very few gross anatomy or embryo questions (~2 per block), I was glad since this was my greatest weakness.

As Chandler posted, many of the questions were just problem-solving. Even many of the behavioral science questions could be reasoned out.

Interestingly, I had a few questions that were almost identical. Experimental maybe?

Overall my exam seemed slightly weighted towards GI/Abdomen. A number of cases of acute abdomen/acute pelvis. Only real surprise was relatively little pharmacology. My gi path knowledge is decent, so I was ok with this.

The fun part was getting several things that would I never expected to see on the Step exam, ie a couple of african parasites (I didn't think the parasites would be tested, and at our school we spent about 3 weeks learning them all and their life cycles), an unusual property of british licorice I knew about, and a micro question whose only hint was the culture medium. A sizable fraction them were 'classic' boards questions - neural crest cells, turner's, pheochromo, that almost everyone must get right. That said, there were probably a lot I missed just because the clues just didn't click.

Many of the questions read very similiar to Robbins Review of Pathology and Qbank. BTW: the end of Katzung and Trevor Pharm has a section on "How to be a good test taker" or something to this effect. I thought that this was helpful.

 

[bigfrank]

Chandler: glad to see that you're finished. I'm pullin' for you and am excited to hear your amazing score.

 

[Chandler]

Thanks guys. I don't hold too much stock in the NBME form exam because I used the NBME exam as a learning tool rather than a simulator. There were many people that scored higher than me with scores of 750, 760, 770, and 800 from last year's exam experience thread. The 800 score is amazing. Regardless, the score only means something if you use it during the last week in test mode. Any score above 600+ in the simulator trumps my score because I wanted to get the concept tight.

Yeah, the answer choice was lactobacillus. I narrowed it down to two (lacto and pepto), and picked peptobacillus (doh!!!). If anyone is taking the exam in July, the chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8 are very high yield in the NEW Robbins Q book. If you run out of time definitely do the infectious diseases, inflammation, and immunopathology chapters.

I am not too confident about this. 1/3 of the time I narrowed it down to two and ended up guessing between the two. It always comes down to two!! The other questions might have appeared easy because of my ignorance. For example if I memorized that clue cells are Gardenlla Vaginalis, in my mind that question would have appeared easy, but I would have missed it.

 

[Doc Ivy]

On the whole, the exam is very challenging however it is very just. It rewards the active learners that constantly asked, "how does this work", "why does this work", "is this disease associated with another disease". You will see things on the exam that will be unfamilar to you if you didn't have the academic curiousity to learn more on your own. This is justice to me. Reward the active learners. A physician should be a SELF MOTIVATED lifelong learner so why not reward the students that took the extra steps in the 1st two years of medical school to learn more than what was presented in the coursework.

Chandler, this is sooo true. So many times over the past 2 years I've found myself randomly looking up facts, making associations etc. that didn't show up on school exams, but if you love to learn, it's hard to just digest facts at face value. Before exams during cram time most of my classmates would say "stop wasting your time just memorize it, whatever". Yes, there is a time and a place for that but going the extra mile really pays of when you take step 1. You'll know things you don't remember ever reading in FA or Qbank, because you took the time to figure out how it all works. If you learn the why, you don't tax the memorization part of your brain so much. When you've been asking yourself "what is the concept" all the way through, it won't seem so weird to do it on test day. You'll be able to maneuvre through questions that seem unfamiliar to you by going back to first priniciples. So I agree, for the most part the test is hard, but fair. Hopefully the USMLE gods smile on me scorewise.

 

[adoctortobe]

Took step I today.

Got to the test center an hour early and got to start immediately (just wanted to be done with the damn thing)

I thought the the exam tested basic concepts with some more challenging questions. Got a couple of questions that were almost identical to qbank. Had two repeated questions twice (maybe one word was changed) on the same block. Honestly, you really have to understand the basics not just facts. If you just passed your first and second year courses like me. Concentrate on learning about the mechanisms of the major diseases.

I really don't have a good feeling about this test, then again I'm your average medical student. I'll give advice on resources once I get my score. Make sure to know your path/physio renal and hormones

BTW is it try true that during the exam, the questions generated are based on your performance thus far. For example if you are struggling with a certain subject then they will give you less of those questions.

 

[bizcuit241]

No, they had plans to implement that and I think had a trial run in '99. But currently no, the test is not that format. Some other test do use that format like the GRE.

 

[2TIM4:7]

No, they had plans to implement that and I think had a trial run in '99. But currently no, the test is not that format. Some other test do use that format like the GRE.

true that. The GRE has limited subject areas whereas the USMLE step I has how many subject areas ~10 or so. No wonder they abandoned that test format.

 

[pillowhead]

Just took the exam yesterday, and for those of you read my thread on prometric center problems, well, unfortunately I can add to the list.

The power went out towards the end of our exam. I was actually on a break between the 6th and 7th block. Why on earth they don't have some kind of generator system just to make sure that everything gets saved even if it's not enough power to finish the exam is beyond me. But the power came back on in about 45 minutes thankfully. However prometric couldn't get the server back up and it was questionable whether or not they could retrieve our exams. One woman constantly kept telling us we could reschedule and take the exam later...but of course when we mentioned that there were no spots available in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, or Tennessee for the rest of the month, she just kind of ignored us. To make a long story short, they finally got the server up after about two hours and retrieved our tests. I was so shaken though at the thought of having to take the exam two weeks later again, it definitely threw off my testing groove. I managed to focus okay for the last block, but it's just not the same once you've been thrown out of that testing mode, you know? I'm just glad it's done, but still, no one should have to go through that.

Anyway, I didn't feel like one particular subject dominated my exam although I seemed to have very little biochemistry overall and perhaps a lot of behavioral science oddly enough. Systems wise, my exam was heavy on renal which is unfortunately my weakest system and also heavy on hematology which I tend to be strong with, so it's a mixed bag. The anatomy was so random and I got not one but two repeat questions for gross anatomy alone which kind of pissed me off. While I wouldn't recommend throwing out qbank, I don't think it's super helpful either. Qbank focuses much more on memorizing while step 1 is definitely more conceptual as other testers pointed out. First aid was moderately helpful but I totally disagree with people who say you can memorize first aid and make a 240. If there was one thing I would change about my studying, it would be to shorten it from 6 weeks to 5 weeks (honestly, just get it done--studying beyond five weeks seems pointless in retrosepct unless you did very poorly in your first two years) and to add pathophysiology for the boards and wards. I feel like I needed more integration between my physiology and pathology knowledge for the boards.

I made a 240 on the nbme practice exam 1 and a 248 on the second practice exam, so I was really hoping I would break that 240 mark. After the first six blocks, I felt moderately confident I was could be on the way, but the seventh block was just very rough to get through after what happened. I had a pharm question where none of the choices seemed right, and I'm just sittting there like "come on, I know this!" but couldn't think it through. so we'll see what happens. I'm still convinced this exam needs to be pencil and paper and administered directly by the national board instead of being outsourced to some for-profit testing company that clearly can't consistently provide an adequate testing environment. The fact that it still takes six weeks to get your score when it's all electronic now only adds insult to injury

 

[peach4me]

Can you give a breakdown of types / numbers of questions for each sections and how you approached studying for them?

 

[joker333]

i had been lurking here for week or so, but finally took the test the other day and figure I'd post.

first off, the computer locked up, and I had to wait on Prometric to wait on the NBME/USMLE people, who apparently have no one at the desk at tech help. there were definitely less buzzwords, some description of them, but much less direct questions from them. "worst HA of my life", you're an ER, so what tests would you run? stuff like that. some AIDS q's about new stuff we never talked about in class. clue cells? yes, but Kaplan's Rapid review would have been no help here.

biochem, immuno felt like they were written by PhD's (no offense to them I guess). picky crap.

some of the behavioral q's sucked and some i just laughed at. 3 or 4 of the 5 choices would have insulted me even!

there was one chem 101 question that I also laughed at, but then it tossed out a series of harder physio/path stuff that made me USMLE's little bitch. the crossing out thing on FRED helped with the physio q's i got with like 8 choices and tons of arrows.

i think by the end of the day, I was definitely tired of sick little kids, older obese men with their ED, heart dz, and the like.

i think I'm going to be nervous until 7/20th.

 

[Pursuing MD]

Which one of these sources has qs that are more like the path questions on the USMLE I (i.e. which one mimics the path qs on USMLE I more) ? ...

Qbank's OR Robbins' Review of Pathology ?

Thanks!

 

[Arnold Chiari]

Which one of these sources has qs that are more like the path questions on the USMLE I (i.e. which one mimics the path qs on USMLE I more) ? ...

Qbank's OR Robbins' Review of Pathology ?

Thanks!

Robbins has hard a$$ questions compared to STEP I. I think q-bank, might be better practice, because the format is about the same, and you can go through lots of questioins quickly on q-bank, whereas Robbins takes forever to do a section.

 

[Bounty]

Took it today.. I have a bone to pick. The survey at the end of the new FRED software does not work. Any question that has check more than one option is not recognized and left as incomplete no matter what you do. I told the prometric people and they said not to worry since survey is optional. Made me think about the rest of the exam. That was a little uncomforting to see that happen. Other than that, ill wait for the result, but overall very equally distributed test without much low yield material. FA is definitely the book to memorize once you go through your other sources. Anyone else have a problem with the survey??

I was never asked to do a survey...is that weird? I just got the prometric screen when i was done and thats it...hopefully everything went through okay!

 

[xaelia]

I was never asked to do a survey...is that weird? I just got the prometric screen when i was done and thats it...hopefully everything went through okay!

I had Prometric software and completed a survey based upon it at the end. Thank goodness we didn't have any "technical issues" that plagued anyone else....

 

[Pox in a box]

Which one of these sources has qs that are more like the path questions on the USMLE I (i.e. which one mimics the path qs on USMLE I more) ? ...

Qbank's OR Robbins' Review of Pathology ?

Thanks!

Neither. I bet I had 5 strictly path questions on the Step 1. Robbins has better pure pathology questions but Qbank is also good for learning the material. If you do both, you won't be thrown off by the pathology on Step 1. They integrate bigtime on Step 1 (pathophysiology, pathoimmunology, pathopharmacology, etc.).

 

[SkidRow]

I was never asked to do a survey...is that weird? I just got the prometric screen when i was done and thats it...hopefully everything went through okay!

Yeah my survey was there but it didn't work. it just said block incomplete, fortunately it is optional. i just hope the rest of the test was functional.

 

[AnnulusOfZinn]

I took my Step1 exam today...

I had my @$$ handed to me by the test makers.

It's dissappointing really. On the two NBME form exams I took, I did exceptionally well scoring a 690 on form 1 and a 710 on form 2. And I knew I did well because I felt good about it too.

But on today's exam, the questions were just weird; totally out of the blue. I guess a lot of it depends on the luck of your draw.

There were a few curveball questions; questions where they threw facts that were meant to be complete distractors the fundamental issue at hand. The important thing is to pay attention to the core presentation and don't be thrown off by something like herbal medicines and the like.

I'd have to say most of the questions on the exam were two step questions where it wasn't just enough to know what the test-makers were talking about; the answer choices had less to do with diagnoses than with identifying additional characterics of the disease in question or suggesting the appropriate therapies.

There was one question where the question stem made reference to a chart that wasn't displayed on the exam screen. That came near the end; about the time when I was already extraordinarily pissed with the strange stuff I was getting. At that point, I was ready to pick up the computer and toss it outta the window of the 20th story of the building I was taking it in. Of course I complained about it to the proctor but his response was hardly satisfying or reassuring.

All in all, I had a bunch of HARD pharm questions asking about the most obscure side effects, A few really difficult micro questions, your typical batch of path questions, like 10 anatomy and 2 embryo questions, and your run-of-the-mill behavioral questions.

Overall, it was very frustrating...

 

[joker333]

my survey didn't work either. clicking on the button didn't do anything, so I just quit.

I actually made a tally embryo questions. many people said that they didn't get many embryo q's, i averaged 2 per block. SHH gene!

 

[DoctorDoogie4]

Took my step I yesterday. There were some questions, actually I take that back...a lot of the questions, where I was thinking to myself "What the hell? Where did they pull this from?" Pharm questions were hard and I had my fair share of anatomy questions, which is my weakest subject. The rest I would narrow down to two answer choices and go with whatever worked with the question they were asking. I just hope I passed the damn thing when July 20th comes around. Pray for all of us!!!

 

[ucbdancn00]

alright peoples...

so after a plane ride hungover, and some much needed sleep...i'm throwing my 2 cents down on this exam.

I took it on 22nd of June in SF, CA

it's hard for me to comment on any particular subject because i didn't think that there wasn't a lot of any one subject.

the test felt a lot more straightforward than qbank; it wasn't as detail oriented and there were one liners. Like qbank, i def had alot of buzzwords.

Anatomy/embryo was minimal; most images were neuro based.

there were my share of what the heck questions, but again it's hard to say what was experimental and what was just plane a weird normal question.

All in all, it was definitely fair...we'll see how it goes in a couple of weeks

A note to all; take what anyone says with a grain of salt because how people study varies from person to person and the test itself varies from person to person.

Qbank more than anything else, is a learning tool and you should use it to get used to the style of questions and material that you should have under your belt.

hope this helps and g'luck! if you have any more questions, feel free to PM me...i'll hit you all back in like 3 weeks..

ucb

 

[pharmer]

I took mine back on June 9th. I had a 26 day study schedule w/o any breaks in between. I didn't do any preperation for step 1 during the school year or summer before 2nd year other than my schools curriculumn. My NBME score were predicting >240 and I was getting around 75% right on Q bank. I felt my step 1 was much more difficult than anything I had used to help prepare for it. Q-bank was absolutely worthless in my opinion as it was so loaded w/ buzzwords that I didn't even have to read the passage to answer the question other than looking for a couple of words. The NBME were also very non-representative of my exam as they were also loaded w/ buzzwords and just regurgitating memorized info. I also used Robbin's question book which I felt was also not very representative of my test as it was also packed w/ buzzwords. If you see a pattern here, its that I felt my Step 1 had no buzzwords and there isn't really a helpful source of practice questions that are representative of the USLME. Like some previous posters I would say I had about 25-30% pathology only, fair amount of pathophysiology, heavy biochem/molecular biology/immunology (I think I had at least 3 electrophoresis gel/DNA hybridization type things per question block). Behavioral science wasn't bad but I did have several calculations that were not in FA (like attributable risk, confidence intervals) and some bizzare questions dealing w/ health promotion (ie what's the best marketing method to promote wearing bicycle helmets in 4th graders). I also had a fair amount of straight anatomy questions dealing the essoteric joints and their intricacies. No bread and butter question dealing w/ pheochromocytomas, glioblastomas, Marfans. I did have a fair amount of straight physiology calculations dealing w/ pulmnory function and renal function. Not much pharm (unfortunately as this was my strongest area). I was shooting for >240 but after walking out of that damn test I have no idea. I would have 15-20 questions marked per block to go back and look at b/c I wasn't 100% sure which was a very eary feeling for me (like the majority of people on this web site I'm at the top of my class and I'm not used to taking a test where I'm not 100% sure of my answers on 9/10 questions on average). All in all I felt my step was very difficult and q-bank and the NBMEs were much easier and poor prep material.

 

[Pursuing MD]

It seems as if neither Qbank questions nor Robbins' Review of Pathology questions mimic the path qs on USMLE I...but I guess Qbank may be a little better since it is more integrative.

???

 

[xaelia]

very eary feeling

"eerie"

(like the majority of people on this web site I'm at the top of my class and I'm not used to taking a test where I'm not 100% sure of my answers on 9/10 questions on average)

Everyone here is at the top of their class? So is this what the top of my class is doing when the rest of us are out drinking? Huh....

 

[idq1i]

It seems as if neither Qbank questions nor Robbins' Review of Pathology questions mimic the path qs on USMLE I...but I guess Qbank may be a little better since it is more integrative.

???

Qbank puts you in the right state of mind. As for similarities between qbank and the real thing, I had 4 questions that were virtually identical to qbank's. 10 more were quite similar

 

[pharmer]

"eerie"



Everyone here is at the top of their class? So is this what the top of my class is doing when the rest of us are out drinking? Huh....

I will be throwing down a couple tonight during my softball game along w/ people from my class who I play on a team with. Although we will have to take it easy since we start clinics bright and early tommorow. I took step one back on June 9th and have been keeping my BAC pretty high and level since then w/ a trip to Napa Valley, weddings, and bar hopping back home since then....not everyone who does well in med school is a social *****. Thankyou four the coreckshun on "erie"

 

[AnnulusOfZinn]

Qbank puts you in the right state of mind. As for similarities between qbank and the real thing, I had 4 questions that were virtually identical to qbank's. 10 more were quite similar

I too had a similar experience. Something like 5-6 of my questions seemed like they were outta qbank. In fact, I'm sure I would've gotten them wrong had I not encountered them in Qbank, because I never saw the information anywhere else.

 

[surfdevl02]

Was it just me or did anyone else have to check around 15-20 questions in most of the blocks because they seemed way out of the blue and/or you could only narrow them down to 2-3 answers??? Can you still pass this exam with that many questions that you're unsure about....it seems like most people pass but damn did i feel like i got my ass handed to me today...at least it's over....i just hope i passed!

 

[Bikini Princess]

i took the exam June 15, and I am waiting until july to see if I passed. I studied using qbank and first aid, I agree that the qbank covered many of the question styles on my exam. Still, many questions I had almost no clue on - especially the genetics-biochem questions. Not nearly as many micro questions as I was hoping for. Hoping for good news!

 

[surfdevl02]

I didn't think it was anything like qbank and felt like it tested 1% of the material i knew in First Aid...had a grand total of 2 pharm questions, 10-15 anatomy, 1 embryo, and a grande total of 3 genetics/biochem questions. Basically 90% path questions.... was my strong area but the questions were really tough...just hoping there's a sweet curve on this one....it's discouraging when all your classmates are saying their tests were 'easy'...oh well....just don't want to have to do this again.

 

[AnnulusOfZinn]

Was it just me or did anyone else have to check around 15-20 questions in most of the blocks because they seemed way out of the blue and/or you could only narrow them down to 2-3 answers??? Can you still pass this exam with that many questions that you're unsure about....it seems like most people pass but damn did i feel like i got my ass handed to me today...at least it's over....i just hope i passed!

I felt the exact same way after the exam. On the practice tests, I felt like I was doing soooo good, and then bam! I get rocked on this friggin' test. So, so disheartening... Can't wait to actually get my score and see how I did.

 

[kaos]

Was it just me or did anyone else have to check around 15-20 questions in most of the blocks because they seemed way out of the blue and/or you could only narrow them down to 2-3 answers??? Can you still pass this exam with that many questions that you're unsure about....it seems like most people pass but damn did i feel like i got my ass handed to me today...at least it's over....i just hope i passed!

No, I definitely did the same thing. I just hope that I picked the right answers, for the most part.

 

[Trajan]

I didn't think it was anything like qbank and felt like it tested 1% of the material i knew in First Aid...had a grand total of 2 pharm questions, 10-15 anatomy, 1 embryo, and a grande total of 3 genetics/biochem questions. Basically 90% path questions.... was my strong area but the questions were really tough...just hoping there's a sweet curve on this one....it's discouraging when all your classmates are saying their tests were 'easy'...oh well....just don't want to have to do this again.

Relax. Two pharmacology questions? No, my friend, you only remember two of the pharm questions. Reminds me of a fellow at my school who was going around claiming that his test was 60% biochemistry. You are fine. Now go lie on the beach for a little while.

 

[Discobolus]

Just got through taking this bad boy, and I'm just feeling relieved that it's over.

I got to Prometric early and they opened the doors at about 7:15 and let us get started. I finished at 12:45.

I can't do like some people and give a detailed breakdown of what I had with the number of questions in each subject (because I don't remember), but I will say the test was pretty balanced and a lot like the CBSSA Forms.

There were a fair number of questions that you would get right if you didn't sleep through the first 2 years of med school, and whole lot more that could go either way depending on if you understood the concept or remembered some factoid. Then there were a few that asked about things I've never heard of before.

Time wasn't an issue for me (it never is on exams), and I didn't think the stems were as long as some let on, they are still pretty similar to the 150 released questions. I finished most blocks in 30-40 minutes.

I really have no idea how I did, I guess I kind of feel like I failed the thing, but I'll probably end up with a score around the National average.

I'm so ready to list all my review books on half.com and make some bank, as well as free up some much needed bookshelf space.

Now I need to go get some sleep and relax.

 

[surfdevl02]

If i were to do it all over again....

1. I would study for 4 instead of 6 weeks...more studying does not equal better score on this test.

2. I would only do First Aid (or Step Up), Qbank,the Path review questions, and HY Cell Biology book....nothing more...reading all the review books for all those classes did nothing for me. Total waste of time...and by the time you read most of them, you won't remember them anyways.

3. Not expect Qbank to be anything like the real questions...Kaplan really needs to do more R&D on their questions...they're so outdated...the style is nothing like the real questions....if you've taken it, you know what i mean.

 

[Pursuing MD]

If i were to do it all over again....

1. I would study for 4 instead of 6 weeks...more studying does not equal better score on this test.

2. I would only do First Aid (or Step Up), Qbank,the Path review questions, and HY Cell Biology book....nothing more...reading all the review books for all those classes did nothing for me. Total waste of time...and by the time you read most of them, you won't remember them anyways.

3. Not expect Qbank to be anything like the real questions...Kaplan really needs to do more R&D on their questions...they're so outdated...the style is nothing like the real questions....if you've taken it, you know what i mean.

Which "Path review questions"? Robbins' Review of Pathology? Please clarify...thanks.

 

[saiyagirl]

i took it today, it's so over and i am SOOOOO HAPPY! (that it's over).

all in all, i definitely thought it was harder than QBank, with the exception of the last block...the last block was exactly like QBank and the 150 released questions. In fact, i had one question that was almost EXACTLY like one of the released questions...same picture, same answer choices, just a slightly different question.

Pharm questions were very straightfoward (the few that were not usually were conquerable "thinking" questions). Pathology questions were generally straightfoward, but there were not as many as I was hoping. I had a paucity of Micro questions, which I was sad about. Esp because several of the ones I had asked me questions about organisms thriving in very small corners of the world.

Biochem questions tended to be right out of FA and QBank (why is the alcoholic hypoglycemic...kiddo has a cherry red spot on macula....things that change the o2 sat curve). Many of the anatomy questions, however, were ridiculously tough. Even the neuroanatomy ones tended to be supertough, and neuroanat is one of my best subjects! Lots of guesswork.

I had loads of molecular/cell biology (esp molecular) that i was not prepared well enough for. I had a ton of immunology questions that I thought I was prepared for, but ended up only narrowing down to two or three. I also had way more behavioral sciences questions than i expected, many of which were epidemiology/statistics. I think I had like 5-10 behavioral sciences questions per block....i guess i felt like that was a lot. No surprises anyway with the content of the BehSci questions.

Only two or three questions required me to use pre-learned equations. An additional three questions were really about addition and subtraction, not science.

There were definitely a whole slew of questions where I would read the stem and be like "oh yeah, this is definitely CO poisoining," or "yes!! I know I need to treat this OD with N-acetylcysteine!" And then then last sentence would be like, "Given that this is CO poisoining, when will the patient recover if xxx" or "The doctor decides to treat the patient with N-acetylcysteine...and then ask me some minute detail about the mechanism of n-acetylcysteine." Which of course i had barely a memory, if any at all.

Anyway, whatever. I passed. (I hope). We all did. Now, the pleasures of partying.

 

[bluebirdie]

Anyhoo, took the exam on 29th, of june. As far as it's comparison to Q-bank, I would say some were easier, some were harder, some were the same. I think someone posted this earlier, but I felt that I was fairly confident on 33% of the questions, was kinda sure on 33% and had no clue on 33%. I think the majority of my test was path...which I thought would be great, but there were some really random path questions on this exam. There was a ton of immuno, or maybe it seemed that way because I hate immuno with a passion. Not as much pharm as I thought there would and it was quite straightforward. Fair amount of behavioral, maybe 4 biostats q's. I don't know what else I could've done differently or where I would find the answers to some of the questions I encountered. I hope I passed, but who knows. I guess if I didn't I can just take the stupid thing again. Good luck to anyone taking it soon.

 

[Kluver_Bucy]

I took the exam this week and there is a 50/50 chance that I flunked the exam. There were tons of questions that I had no idea about. Most of my questions were in pathology, physiology, and immunology. Lots of graphs that were confusing. Overall, the questions were tougher than Qbank. My goal is just to pass since I am not that smart. Wish me luck.

MCAT 27P
NBME 390
Released Questions 102/150
Kaplan Qbank 61% (Didn't do 115 questions)
USMLE ????

 

[Trajan]

Sat for the exam today. As for difficulty, I'd say it broke down like this, from hardest to easiest

Kaplan CD > Q book > STEP I ~ Q bank > 150 released items

I felt confident on 70% and was unsure/guessing on 30%. That's better than I felt walking out of most second year exams. Hopefully, my instincts were on the mark. We'll see. I'm not your typical SDN'er; a pass will be fine, >200 a relief, and >220 would make my summer.

The Emperor Trajan

 

[momoco way]

I took my Step 1 a few weeks ago and just want to thank everyone who provided advice on this forum.

I must say I found the exam difficult but still manageable.

Memorize FIRST AID (quiz yourself with stepprep.com), listen to Goljian lectures, do lots of practice exams. And remember it's just a small exam in the grand scheme of things.

Good luck!

 

[Pursuing MD]

To anyone who took the USMLE I in the past 6 months...

Did you see lots of HIV/AIDS, parasitology, toxicology, molecular biology, sleep (e.g. sleep apnea, narcolepsy, sleep stages/patterns, etc.) &/or headache questions?

I have heard that these topics are more commonly tested than before ... is this true??

THANKS!

 

[dcpark74]

To anyone who took the USMLE I in the past 6 months...

Did you see lots of HIV/AIDS, infectious disease, toxicology, molecular biology, and/or headache questions?

I have heard that these topics are more commonly tested than before ... is this true??

THANKS!

no headache questions for me...i think

a fair number of molecular bio ~10 or so

i had a HIV/AIDS epidemiology ?

a decent number of infectious diseases...as to be expected

maybe 1 or 2 on toxicology...pharmacology i suspect

 

[Bun]

so i finally took the exam yesterday.

let me tell you, it was really really hard. my advice is to quit studying b/c it is just a bunch of random stuff. basically impossible to study for. i got ZERO arm/brachial plexus questions. lotsa embryo, some rediculous pharm questions. basically a bunch of random stuff.

it sucked ass, im now hung over, last night was good. white castle, mmm. cheesy chicken rings and a crave case is the only way to go.

 

[ispic]

To anyone who took the USMLE I in the past 6 months...

Did you see lots of HIV/AIDS, parasitology, toxicology, molecular biology, sleep (e.g. sleep apnea, narcolepsy, sleep stages/patterns, etc.) &/or headache questions?

I have heard that these topics are more commonly tested than before ... is this true??

THANKS!

I'd check the forums for those posts from students that have taken it within the past few months, but on my test, I had a decent amount of molecular (~10-15q), one parasitology (easy from the FA), nothing on sleep, one pharm question dealing with AIDS Tx, otherwise, not much from the list you provided. If it really worries you, I'd check out the HY Histo (3rd ed.), it covers many molec bio concepts in a cell bio context that can put it into perspective, otherwise, the HY Molec Bio works great. I'll post my experiences with my results when I get them this week. Good Luck

 

[kcumbDO]

MCAT=25Q (v7 ps8 bs10)
SAT=1120
USMLE step 1= 246/99 (June 1, 2005)
NBME 1=610
NBME2=630
Kaplan Simulated USMLE step1=74%
Kaplan Q bank 100% completed=71%
NBME 150 Released Items=81%
Robings Pathology Question Book 100% percent completed= avg. 75%
Books USED
-Robins Review of Pathology Question Book
-BRS Path
-BRS Phys
-Kaplan Books(Entire Set)
-Brs Anatomy
-HY Neuro
-Pretest Books (Biochem, Path, Phys, Micro, Pharm)
-Step-UP
-Micro Made Ridiculously Simple
-First Aid for USMLE step 1

 

[BlueJayBill]

Took the 8 hour beast yesterday. I thought it was easier than qbank. Pharm was either straight up or insane. Micro was insigificant. I wish really I didnt buy Microcards or pharm cards, it was a complete waste of money. First Aid, BRS Phys and Path were more than enough. A lot of things were stright up first aid facts, some anatomy, little embryo. most images were decent; some were grainy as hell.

oh well. I feel like i got around 77-85% of it right at best. does anyone know approximately what this translates into?

-Bill