Official 2011 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[ProtossCarrier]

Hello everyone. I am a second year who will write the exam in June 2011. Meanwhile let this be a good thread where everyone share their study progress and recent trend of the exam.

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[Aislinn]

Okay, so I could have left out my stats, and I probably should have. I certainly did not mean to come off as a person who thinks that I already know everything. In fact, I feel the exact opposite. I frequently find myself feeling overwhelmed at the amount of material that I have left to learn and the amount of material I seem to forget on a daily basis. All I want to do is gain insight from other people who have done well so that I can do well.

Just so you know, jfgavina, I'm not at a top school. I don't think that I'm some boy wonder who is killing classes and will thus do well on USMLE. I'm at a small, no-name school and just trying to do my best and be the best physician that I can. All I want is to do well and get my choice of residency, just like everyone else.

I apologize for coming off that way.

You have nothing to apologize for.

 

[notarealname]

congrats for your 90 not a real name great score

Don't get confused here... I haven't taken the step 1 yet... that guy's name is norealname not notarealname haha

Although I also had Engineering background I didn't work nearly as hard as this guy in med school. Looks like I have a lot catch up to do

 

[jfgavina]

last update:

nbme 6 sep 27: 214

nbme 11 oct 10: 231

nbme 12 oct 21: 231

nbme 7 oct 27: 231

ANOTHER 231 I'M GETTING CRAZY WITH THIS!!

what does this mean? that I will score higher on the usmle or that I will score lower? I don't know what more to do, I reviewed my uworld notes, will read FA again but I feel like I'm not learning nothing new so the best scenario is getting a 231 on the actual exam but as I will feel nervousness and tireness of course I'll score lower than this although I'd like to hear an experienced user opinion about this!

 

[1badvette]

it means your ready to kick this exams a** ... just relax man keep doing what u been doing and you should see a 230+ on your the real deal ..

 

[jfgavina]

thanks badvette but I just can't chillax.. I feel like if my exam gets hard in bioch and anatomy I'm screwed. I'll continue to study hard.

 

[1badvette]

Biochem and anatomy are my 2 weak subj .. so i know the feeling

 

[jfgavina]

I guess it isn't only an european union problem then LOL

btw, bern is an excellent city

 

[1badvette]

I guess it isn't only an european union problem then LOL

btw, bern is an excellent city

naa it's world wide just like the economy .. lol

 

[jfgavina]

ask brazilians if there is any world economic crisis

or macau, or singapura, or australia!

but every rule has an exception of course

 

[notarealname]

You may want to decide why you are not scoring higher.

Here are a few possibilities:
1. Not knowing enough material. Solution: depends on how much time you have, study for weakness and consolidate strength.
2. Don't know how to answer certain question type. Solution: Figure out if there is a particular question type you keep missing and try to use the correct approach.
3. Making a lot stupid mistakes: Solution: Concentrate more, take short 10 seconds breaks after several questions, take breaks between blocks, eat right, exercise.

A little more concentration will always get you better scores, you need to push yourself pass your limitations.

 

[Aislinn]

I'm trying to figure out why people are posting their practice exam scores and seeking advice on what to study pre-exam date on a Step 1 experiences thread. I thought this thread was for the purpose of reading about test-takers' experiences once they were done with the exam.

 

[jfgavina]

You may want to decide why you are not scoring higher.

Here are a few possibilities:
1. Not knowing enough material. Solution: depends on how much time you have, study for weakness and consolidate strength.
2. Don't know how to answer certain question type. Solution: Figure out if there is a particular question type you keep missing and try to use the correct approach.
3. Making a lot stupid mistakes: Solution: Concentrate more, take short 10 seconds breaks after several questions, take breaks between blocks, eat right, exercise.

A little more concentration will always get you better scores, you need to push yourself pass your limitations.

I'm doing exclusively FA+ UW notes + DIT notes

I will review my nbme questions to see where I failed more. I

 

[colonelmustard]

Hello everyone,

I have a question for those of you who did USMLE World and took Step 1:

I get the average on USMLE World nearly every time I do a block. I get +/- 1 or 2 points of the average score consistently, which usually means a score in the low 60s. Would you say that getting the average consistently is approximately a passing score on Step 1? I'll be taking an NBME soon, but I'm just curious.

Thanks for your time.

 

[jfgavina]

yes

 

[je355804]

NBME 6 - 194 ( 2 Months ago)

NBME 12 - 217 (4 Weeks ago)

NBME 11 - 219 (4 Days ago)

NBME 7 - 242 (Tonight, after reviewing all the things I didn't review between 12 and 11)

Ohhh man, I hope NBME 7 is still somewhat predictive. My test is in 4 days.

 

[jfgavina]

NBME 6 - 194 ( 2 Months ago)

NBME 12 - 217 (4 Weeks ago)

NBME 11 - 219 (4 Days ago)

NBME 7 - 242 (Tonight, after reviewing all the things I didn't review between 12 and 11)

Ohhh man, I hope NBME 7 is still somewhat predictive. My test is in 4 days.

congrats man! I'm having my exam november the 7th! I got 231 on both 11, 12 and 7 and I didn't improve anything in 3 weeks. if you could please tell me what you did in these 4 days I'd greatly appreciate!

 

[quique2]

Contributing to the thread since it has helped me a lot so far!

- NBME 6 (3 weeks ago) 590 (242)
- NBME 7 (2 weeks ago) 570 (238)
- NBME 11 (2 days ago) 590 (242)
- Kaplan qbank 74% average, 80% of questions done.

A bit disappointed at the lack of improvement, but very happy at the results nonetheless. TBH, I haven't been studying that much in the last month (only 1-2 blocks every few days, going over FA in the meantime).

Still waiting for my permit, but my exam will be as soon as I can schedule a date for it, probably around early December.

 

[je355804]

congrats man! I'm having my exam november the 7th! I got 231 on both 11, 12 and 7 and I didn't improve anything in 3 weeks. if you could please tell me what you did in these 4 days I'd greatly appreciate!

Well JFG to move up to the original 220 I studied endo and neuro.... because those were my weaknesses, and I did amazing in them on NBME 12 but poorly in a lot of other things.

Then for NBME 11 I didn't study Endo and neuro at all because I thought I knew them cold. I did poorly on them again, and got stars in everything else.

So for those 4 days I reviewed those two weak subjects and went and took NBME 7. On 7 I got stars in almost everything.

I will say... NBME 7s questions were much easier than those on 11 and 12 in my opinion. NBME 11 was by far the hardest... it wasn't even close to any of the others.

 

[MedicalDestiny]

Random question, but for those that took Step 1 already, did you think the question style/difficulty was more like NBMEs 11 and 12 or still like NBMEs 6 and 7?
Just wondering if indeed immuno was more on the test, and if the newer versions of NBMEs are truly reflecting newer concepts/styles of thinking they want us to be doing.
Thanks a lot!

 

[norealname]

Random question, but for those that took Step 1 already, did you think the question style/difficulty was more like NBMEs 11 and 12 or still like NBMEs 6 and 7?
Thanks a lot!

My exam was definitely closer to 11/12 than 6/7, especially with regards to behavioral sciences and anatomy topics.

 

[kaleerkalut]

My exam was definitely closer to 11/12 than 6/7, especially with regards to behavioral sciences and anatomy topics.

What would you recommend for Anatomy and Embryology?

 

[je355804]

My exam was definitely closer to 11/12 than 6/7, especially with regards to behavioral sciences and anatomy topics.

I guess I posted in the wrong thread already but...

Mine was:

Much closer to UWorld than 11/12 than 6/7.

6/7 are nothing like the real deal. UWorld was by far the closest to my personal exam.

 

[colonelmustard]

I guess I posted in the wrong thread already but...

Mine was:

Much closer to UWorld than 11/12 than 6/7.

6/7 are nothing like the real deal. UWorld was by far the closest to my personal exam.

When you say UWorld, are you referring to UWSA1? What made the exam similar to it... was it difficultly or material covered?

 

[je355804]

When you say UWorld, are you referring to UWSA1? What made the exam similar to it... was it difficultly or material covered?

Well I personally never did the UWSA. I'm referring to the actual UWorld questions. I did my entire UWorld on random/timed finished with a 72%. Which I was relatively happy with.

The test was similar to UWorld in that there were a lot of obscure topics covered. There wasn't a ton of testing of the basic material, such that would be found in first aid... and when the basics were tested, the answer choices made it extremely difficult to be confident that you were selecting the right answer.

I'm not saying that the test was like "out of this world impossible" but I will say that the percentage of the questions that were asking about tiny detail information was rather high. Higher than I feel should have been asked, although my feelings are entirely irrelevant.

Also something that kind of upset me, was that when they did test a basic topic, the answer choices were SO EASY that it made me feel like an idiot for hammering down that concept. Then they would ask some off the wall question, with ridiculously hard answer choices.

Like I said... my friend who took the test 4 days prior did not have a similar experience. Maybe I just got unlucky, or maybe I'm only recalling the hard questions. I just know that I usually don't mark many questions and on this test I would say I marked approximately 10-15 per section... Not a good sign.

 

[colonelmustard]

Well I personally never did the UWSA. I'm referring to the actual UWorld questions. I did my entire UWorld on random/timed finished with a 72%. Which I was relatively happy with.

The test was similar to UWorld in that there were a lot of obscure topics covered. There wasn't a ton of testing of the basic material, such that would be found in first aid... and when the basics were tested, the answer choices made it extremely difficult to be confident that you were selecting the right answer.

I'm not saying that the test was like "out of this world impossible" but I will say that the percentage of the questions that were asking about tiny detail information was rather high. Higher than I feel should have been asked, although my feelings are entirely irrelevant.

Also something that kind of upset me, was that when they did test a basic topic, the answer choices were SO EASY that it made me feel like an idiot for hammering down that concept. Then they would ask some off the wall question, with ridiculously hard answer choices.

Like I said... my friend who took the test 4 days prior did not have a similar experience. Maybe I just got unlucky, or maybe I'm only recalling the hard questions. I just know that I usually don't mark many questions and on this test I would say I marked approximately 10-15 per section... Not a good sign.

Many people I've spoken to who recently took the exam also said they marked several questions per block, more so than they did in their question banks. I wouldn't worry about that; I'm sure you rocked it. So for those detailed questions, were you able to answer them because you saw those details in UWorld?

I haven't been doing World all that much, because with 2 weeks to go, I feel as though it's better for me to have a strong foundation, so I'm focusing more on First-Aid/Path BRS/Goljan and only doing a block every night. What do you think of this strategy?

 

[je355804]

Many people I've spoken to who recently took the exam also said they marked several questions per block, more so than they did in their question banks. I wouldn't worry about that; I'm sure you rocked it. So for those detailed questions, were you able to answer them because you saw those details in UWorld?

I haven't been doing World all that much, because with 2 weeks to go, I feel as though it's better for me to have a strong foundation, so I'm focusing more on First-Aid/Path BRS/Goljan and only doing a block every night. What do you think of this strategy?

Like it 100%. You're NOT going to make huge improvements by doing a question bank for 2 weeks... but YOU CAN make a big jump by just seeing all that info in FA and Goljan one more time before you go in there. It's great to have it all fresh and easy to recall while your in there on test day, because time is very limited.

 

[colonelmustard]

Like it 100%. You're NOT going to make huge improvements by doing a question bank for 2 weeks... but YOU CAN make a big jump by just seeing all that info in FA and Goljan one more time before you go in there. It's great to have it all fresh and easy to recall while your in there on test day, because time is very limited.

Good call. Thanks for the advice. I appreciate people like you posting your thoughts on the exam and its strategy. Good luck to you. Let us know how you did!

 

[CanIMakeIt]

Many people I've spoken to who recently took the exam also said they marked several questions per block, more so than they did in their question banks. I wouldn't worry about that; I'm sure you rocked it. So for those detailed questions, were you able to answer them because you saw those details in UWorld?

I haven't been doing World all that much, because with 2 weeks to go, I feel as though it's better for me to have a strong foundation, so I'm focusing more on First-Aid/Path BRS/Goljan and only doing a block every night. What do you think of this strategy?

I humbly disagree. USMLE is not just about what you know. They can present information that you already know in a way that you may not be able to recognize. Also remember that the key concepts can only be tested in only a finite number of ways and you can at least see many variations of same theme on QBanks. Going through FA/Path/Goljan is definitely going to help build a great foundation but if you are not able to recognize what is being tested then that knowledge is not going to be of any use.

Moral of the rant is that you need to do more questions before you take the real deal and even if you do 3 blocks per day (just going through the explanation and not taking extensive notes), you can still go through about 2000 questions.

Just my $0.02

 

[colonelmustard]

I humbly disagree. USMLE is not just about what you know. They can present information that you already know in a way that you may not be able to recognize. Also remember that the key concepts can only be tested in only a finite number of ways and you can at least see many variations of same theme on QBanks. Going through FA/Path/Goljan is definitely going to help build a great foundation but if you are not able to recognize what is being tested then that knowledge is not going to be of any use.

Moral of the rant is that you need to do more questions before you take the real deal and even if you do 3 blocks per day (just going through the explanation and not taking extensive notes), you can still go through about 2000 questions.

Just my $0.02

I see your point. Thanks for the advice.

 

[je355804]

I humbly disagree. USMLE is not just about what you know. They can present information that you already know in a way that you may not be able to recognize. Also remember that the key concepts can only be tested in only a finite number of ways and you can at least see many variations of same theme on QBanks. Going through FA/Path/Goljan is definitely going to help build a great foundation but if you are not able to recognize what is being tested then that knowledge is not going to be of any use.

Moral of the rant is that you need to do more questions before you take the real deal and even if you do 3 blocks per day (just going through the explanation and not taking extensive notes), you can still go through about 2000 questions.

Just my $0.02

I humbly disagree to your disagreement

The bottom line is (for me) it was good to see all of that information one last time. Who knows if I would have remembered the fine differences between say... comedo carcinoma of the breast and lobular carcinoma etc etc. It's little things like these that got me extra points. I literally saw everything there was to see again right before the exam.

~Just edited out a question subject. Don't want to get in trouble

Something I surely wouldn't have gotten by trying to do 2000 questions in a week.

EDIT: One last thing I'm really noticing. The people who took the step 9 months + ago all say their step was just like NBME 7... Do NOT get fooled into thinking this is what it's like. Those questions are childs play compared to the real deal. This beast is evolving and evolving. I pity the fools who have to take it 5 years from now lol. Their going to have to do surgical procedures on the computer by then.

 

[jfgavina]

Ok guys so here is my experience, first of all I didn't want to comeback to forum after my exam but since everyone has been cool and helpful and I benefited from other's experiences I'll post mine, with some limitations because I red the warning message at the end of the exam and I have my real name in the nickname.

All I want to say to those who are taking the exam in the next couple of weeks is to not freak out!! There's no absolute need about freaking out, the exam is well written, the vast majority of the concepts tested you've already seen it on UW or FA (almost has it all) and the answer choices are honey compared to uworld. cmon, some of them were really easy. about 3/4 very hard questions per block but it time and patience you could realize. those you don't have any idea try to see if it related to something in FA, I'm sure it will, and this is made by UW. even if it isn't clear UW makes you reason questions and tries to get you there.

All I can say is that there wasn't a single question that I wouldn't fight till the end to reason the correct answer and I could always narrow to 2 answers.

I might get a lot of them wrong although, but that's because sometimes you just perform worse at the exam than at home at nbmes. don't freak out, you can reason the answers!! that's what they want you to do, I got about 2 or 3 direct questions..

Not so many neuro and anatomy, biochemistry questions very easy and pathology of course was the vast majority of my exam, I'd say it was about 70% (don't know if it is possible though)

for resources and after doing the examination my perfect schedule would be doing Rx to help memorize FA instead of kaplan and do UW about 3 times. UW has more than it all and will help you to answer almost all the questions on the actual exam.

comparing with the nbmes I'd say that it was something between 11 (for the most difficult questions) 7 for the majority of the questions and 5 for the easier ones. I think the examination went well, definitely much better than nbme 11 at home. But let's see. I'd say I will get a score somewhere between 225-245 but less or more is possible of course (lool)

good luck to everyone

 

[CW3469]

Ok guys so here is my experience, first of all I didn't want to comeback to forum after my exam but since everyone has been cool and helpful and I benefited from other's experiences I'll post mine, with some limitations because I red the warning message at the end of the exam and I have my real name in the nickname.

All I want to say to those who are taking the exam in the next couple of weeks is to not freak out!! There's no absolute need about freaking out, the exam is well written, the vast majority of the concepts tested you've already seen it on UW or FA (almost has it all) and the answer choices are honey compared to uworld. cmon, some of them were really easy. about 3/4 very hard questions per block but it time and patience you could realize. those you don't have any idea try to see if it related to something in FA, I'm sure it will, and this is made by UW. even if it isn't clear UW makes you reason questions and tries to get you there.

All I can say is that there wasn't a single question that I wouldn't fight till the end to reason the correct answer and I could always narrow to 2 answers.

I might get a lot of them wrong although, but that's because sometimes you just perform worse at the exam than at home at nbmes. don't freak out, you can reason the answers!! that's what they want you to do, I got about 2 or 3 direct questions..

Not so many neuro and anatomy, biochemistry questions very easy and pathology of course was the vast majority of my exam, I'd say it was about 70% (don't know if it is possible though)

for resources and after doing the examination my perfect schedule would be doing Rx to help memorize FA instead of kaplan and do UW about 3 times. UW has more than it all and will help you to answer almost all the questions on the actual exam.

comparing with the nbmes I'd say that it was something between 11 (for the most difficult questions) 7 for the majority of the questions and 5 for the easier ones. I think the examination went well, definitely much better than nbme 11 at home. But let's see. I'd say I will get a score somewhere between 225-245 but less or more is possible of course (lool)

good luck to everyone

Thanks for posting! I'm so glad to hear it went well for you and you thought the test was manageable. How was anatomy and embryolog? In your opinion, is First Aid enough for those subjects as well as pharmacology? (Goal is a 230, like you)

 

[jfgavina]

embryology thyroglossal duct cyst and something about an omphalocele pharmacology FA is more than enough, much more than enough, only got one tricky question on that. Got a lot of questions on chlamydia and breast pathology! also for pharm don't forget the michaelis and lineweaver curves, partial agonists (2 or 3 questions on this or at least I thought they were on this) and epinephrine w/ phentolamine or other agonists kind of graphs. nothing new to us.

 

[colonelmustard]

embryology thyroglossal duct cyst and something about an omphalocele pharmacology FA is more than enough, much more than enough, only got one tricky question on that. Got a lot of questions on chlamydia and breast pathology! also for pharm don't forget the michaelis and lineweaver curves, partial agonists (2 or 3 questions on this or at least I thought they were on this) and epinephrine w/ phentolamine or other agonists kind of graphs. nothing new to us.

Nice to see everything went smoothly. You mentioned it was heavy on breast pathology. What other pathology was heavily tested? Also, how detailed/in depth was the immuno? And was the exam big on micro? Sorry for all the questions lol Thanks for your input.

 

[je355804]

Nice to see everything went smoothly. You mentioned it was heavy on breast pathology. What other pathology was heavily tested? Also, how detailed/in depth was the immuno? And was the exam big on micro? Sorry for all the questions lol Thanks for your input.

I'm realizing right now... don't take anyone else's test experience and think yours will relate. I took it 4 days after my friend and 4 days before JFG, and all our experiences seem different from his personal account.

You can get questions from ANY topic of ANY type... you just have to be ready for all of it.

 

[Transposony]

I humbly disagree. USMLE is not just about what you know. They can present information that you already know in a way that you may not be able to recognize.
Just my $0.02

Exactly my situation.........I have been doing UW questions and still answer wrong sometimes even on topics think I have actually mastered........IMHO it is very important to "have a look" at a topic from "different angles" AFTER you have done the basics of fully reading/understanding the particular topic.

 

[colonelmustard]

Exactly my situation.........I have been doing UW questions and still answer wrong sometimes even on topics think I have actually mastered........IMHO it is very important to "have a look" at a topic from "different angles" AFTER you have done the basics of fully reading/understanding the particular topic.

It's important to see those different angles, but not at the sacrifice of basic knowledge. Like you mentioned, one should do several questions after mastering the fundamentals. Learning 46 facts in 2+ hours is not an efficient way to learn/memorize the vast amount of information needed to get a good score. Using UWorld to see the way questions can be presented is the right way to use UWorld. Leading up to the exam, I believe it's imperative to work on the knowledge base rather than solely doing UWorld blocks.

 

[applesurg]

It's important to see those different angles, but not at the sacrifice of basic knowledge. Like you mentioned, one should do several questions after mastering the fundamentals. Learning 46 facts in 2+ hours is not an efficient way to learn/memorize the vast amount of information needed to get a good score. Using UWorld to see the way questions can be presented is the right way to use UWorld. Leading up to the exam, I believe it's imperative to work on the knowledge base rather than solely doing UWorld blocks.

100% agree with above. Base knowledge is the most important, spend your last week memorizing FA facts like: tumor markers, chromosome related to specific diseases and cd markers.

 

[Torquer]

2 years of stalking this forum and im FINALLY ready to tackle this be-itch myself. Exam is day after tomorrow! Dont feel like studying another word. Going to sleep early tonight, wake early tomorrow, flip through some pictures/ct scans/MRIs etc and maybe glance through pharma biochem and those GODFORSAKEN viruses.

Please say a prayer for me when you read this! Be back soon to post my prep and experience.. hopefuly in a happy mood

Cheers.

Aaannnddd here goes.

First off, its 5 in the morning, I woke at 6am yesterday, got through the exam, got back, and am still high on epi. i do NOT want to sleep. been 23 hours.

Alright i've missed being able to write so this is going to be a long one. and hopefuly a helpful one too. For those in a hurry or just skimming through, i put a little summary near the end too.

Preparation:

So starting with a little background, i'm an IMG and i had to balance studying for this exam with my clinics, rotations, other college exams etc. so the prep time has been quite prolonged and drawn out. Initially went through two passes of the Kaplan series to get a grasp on concepts and then hit First Aid 2011 hard. Edit: Also skipped kaplan patho to do 2 passes of Goljan RR.

The first read through of FA i coupled together with USMLERx, took me about 28 days - went through about 59% of the bank which I think is a considerable amount considering it contains 3000 or so questions. Did it topically/subject-wise with every FA chapter. At this point i'd like to mention i was HIGHLY disappointed with the question bank. The explanations were quite unsatisfying and mostly they used to give some details about the correct answer, whereas all the incorrect answers were stated as incorrect 'because theyre not correct'. For example, if an answer for a diuretic causing hypocalcemia was stated to be a loop diuretic, all other answers were incorrect because they werent loop diuretics. This is sharply in contrast to UWorld which not only specified the ionic gradient loss due to loops that causes hypocalcemia, but also tells why thiazides do NOT cause hypocalcemia, additionally explaining why they cause hypERcalcemia.
BUT, what Rx team lacks in the question bank, it MORE than makes up with its book, the mighty first aid. More on that later.

Right, post-first pass of FA and Rx, i had to take a break because of my visa interview and finals coming up and what not. Had to essentially do all of FA again, but took me lesser time.

Then came the daddy of all banks, UW. I managed to do 2 blocks, timed, random, with explanations per day. Started of with a 63% in my first ever block, scored within a range of 56-80%, ended with an avg of 65% (That big blue average score bar gets Goddamn stubborn near the end). But more than the average i focused on UW as a LEARNING TOOL not an assessmeent tool - more on that later too. While going through UW explanations I looked at every questions explanation as a whole page of info and didnt just focus on the answer, or just the educational objectives. Tried to note down any new points that i found, even in the incorrect answers. **I'd like to advise everyone to make notes IN FIRST AID. Do NOT make notes on separated pieces of paper, and heres why:
1) UW has 70% questions from FA based stuff. Fact. And when you open up your book to note down something you supposedly didnt know and then you SEE it in FA, it sticks to you like gum in hair.
2) The amount of note taking is greatly reduced, again because most of the stuff is already there
3) At the time of the final review, you will have one solid FA to go through - note a MASSIVE pile of notes (4-5 pages of notes per test with 45 tests - you do the math) that I still have, untouched, on my table. There just isnt that sort of time near the end.

Alright coming back, finished UW 100% in 24 days@ 2blocks a day, gave FA a final read in 10 days and did UWSA2. Scored a 238, was decent enough for me. 'WAS' ready for the exam but this is where things got interesting: the prometric center in my city had technical issues and shut down for the entire month of October! Essentially delaying my exam to be held on 27th October to 3rd November.
No issues really, 6 more days - Skimmed through FA one more time, did UWSA1 - scored a 232. SA1 is supposed to be the harder one so i was ok with that too. Lo and behold, I accidentally open a mail while printing my ECFMG Scheduling Permit on the evening of 2nd Nov which says my exam has been delayed to 17th NOV! 2 more weeks! Spent 4 days hardly doing anything. Got back to doing FA and finished another pass in 10 days.

2 days before 17th, gave Nbme form 11 - which sort of disappointed me with a 221. I hadnt yet revised pharma and biochem and those two subjects let me down. Oh well, tied up the loose ends, went through some images online, and wrapped up everything by 6pm on 16th Nov. Was in bed by 930.

ON the day of the exam:

Let me be clear when I say: the exam can actually be fun. I had decided to go in relaxed, and thats what I did. **Skipped the tutorial, and after every block took a 5 minute break, had some water, went to my locker and took a few bites of kitkat, had a sip of juice, took a leak and went back in.

Near the end of my 3rd block i was feeling a little tired and that when i had a cup of coffee with my other stuff.
After the 4th block took a longer, 15 minute break, had a sandwich with redbull, said a little prayer, washed my face n back inside.
The break after my 6th block (before the last block) was most crucial because i was feeling an oncoming headache and fatigure - had more redbull, and took two tylenols.
During my last block i kept drifting off thinking how my exam was almost over

With that i marked my last answer and.. that was about it!

In summary:
-2 passes of Kaplan series + Rapid Review Goljan
-FA first pass with USMLERx topical (Rx not recommended)
-FA second pass followed by UW
-UW completed 100% with 65% avg (AWESOME bank - must do)
-Another pass through FA followed by UWSA2 - 238
-UWSA1 - 232
-NBME11 - 221 (read above as to why)


Continuing .... exam details

 

[Torquer]

Whoa, its actually 6 now. 24 hours! woohoo all my friends said you literally pass out after the exam you're that exhausted. hah.

Anyhoo, the EXAM itself. Without going into specifics which may get me into trouble, if i had to rate difficulty levels:

-------------- UWSA1
.
.
------------- UWorld Qbank
.
.
.
------------- UWSA2/NBME
.
------------ Real Deal

Atleast thats what I thought and felt. There were a LOT of direct questions. A couple were so simple I actually spent over a minute thinking what else was the question asking for.

Micro: surprisingly not much! Nor that difficult.
Immuno: quite a lot. again doable.
Embryo: some, but mostly clinical
Pharma: substantial. nothing more that UW level
Anatomy: oh boy.. heavy. felt like i was giving an anatomy final. thinking bout those questions still freaks me out a bit. but whats done is done. but the questions were such that you cant really remember that stuff - its like they want you to get those wrong
Physio: was also a bit twisty. must have very clear-cut concepts and READ the questions very carefuly
Biochem: again, the hardcore cycles etc hardly a couple of questions, simple ones. Some molecular, which went whoosh past me.
Patho and Pathophys: naturally the major chunk.
Behavioral: sheesh.. some questions were just irritating. responses were such that no sobre doctor would say ANY of those things. The math was pretty complex too.. that worried me a bit.

Overall, I think FA and UW are AMPLE resources for this exam. The sharper your knowledge, the quicker you pick clues, the more questions you do - the better you score.

Im off to Step2 forums as a newbie but i'll be regular here. Any questions are more than welcome. must give back to the forum what ive received

Cheers. And please say a prayer for my scores.

 

[naseeha]

Whoa, its actually 6 now. 24 hours! woohoo all my friends said you literally pass out after the exam you're that exhausted. hah.

Anyhoo, the EXAM itself. Without going into specifics which may get me into trouble, if i had to rate difficulty levels:

-------------- UWSA1
.
.
------------- UWorld Qbank
.
.
.
------------- UWSA2/NBME
.
------------ Real Deal

Atleast thats what I thought and felt. There were a LOT of direct questions. A couple were so simple I actually spent over a minute thinking what else was the question asking for.

Micro: surprisingly not much! Nor that difficult.
Immuno: quite a lot. again doable.
Embryo: some, but mostly clinical
Pharma: substantial. nothing more that UW level
Anatomy: oh boy.. heavy. felt like i was giving an anatomy final. thinking bout those questions still freaks me out a bit. but whats done is done. but the questions were such that you cant really remember that stuff - its like they want you to get those wrong
Physio: was also a bit twisty. must have very clear-cut concepts and READ the questions very carefuly
Biochem: again, the hardcore cycles etc hardly a couple of questions, simple ones. Some molecular, which went whoosh past me.
Patho and Pathophys: naturally the major chunk.
Behavioral: sheesh.. some questions were just irritating. responses were such that no sobre doctor would say ANY of those things. The math was pretty complex too.. that worried me a bit.

Overall, I think FA and UW are AMPLE resources for this exam. The sharper your knowledge, the quicker you pick clues, the more questions you do - the better you score.

Im off to Step2 forums as a newbie but i'll be regular here. Any questions are more than welcome. must give back to the forum what ive received

Cheers. And please say a prayer for my scores.

Congrats on finishing the exam!

What was your goal going into the exam? And that 221 on nbme 11 is a solid score. Seems like that exam under predicts for the majority of people so you probably did better on the real deal.

 

[Torquer]

thanks a lot naseeha. and really nbme11 underpredicts?? i HOPE so! im aiming for anything above 230. Please pray!

 

[Transposony]

What do you think about just using the USMLERx to go through the FA..............although Kaplan QBank also gives page reference to FA in addition to Kaplan medEssential.......Which one do you think be better since I only have time (and inclination) for only one of these.?
Also, what is your opinion about Kaplan medEssential.....
Thanks
P.S> I am pretty sure that you will get over 230...........................everyone I have seen seems to underestimate their score after the exam.

 

[Torquer]

Thank you! I HOPE you're right!

i did use Rx to get through FA. Faced two problems:
1) really prolonged my read which shouldve lasted 10-11 days to a whole month
2) the questions had very pointless explanations at times. I cant believe i wasted time writing down stuff like ann-harbour lymphoma staging thinking 'hey if the FA team thinks i need to know this, i should!'

My friends who did Kaplan qbank patho/pathophysio/pharma were doing much better in UW that i was after Rx.

Sorry dont know much bout MedEssentials!

 

[glykon]

Hi MQRaza,

Thanks so much for posting ur experience. I hope you get a great score!
Could you please tell me:
1. if you were to start all over again, would you go through Kaplan LN?
2. you said anatomy was hard- what exactly was so hard about it?
3. did kaplan anato help?
4. how much of ur test could u answer with FA+UW only?
Thanks again and good luck with Step 2!

 

[Torquer]

Hi MQRaza,

Thanks so much for posting ur experience. I hope you get a great score!
Could you please tell me:
1. if you were to start all over again, would you go through Kaplan LN?
2. you said anatomy was hard- what exactly was so hard about it?
3. did kaplan anato help?
4. how much of ur test could u answer with FA+UW only?
Thanks again and good luck with Step 2!

Thanks! please pray! the flashbacks of questions are a pain.
Alright so here's what i can say regarding your issues:

1) I would go through Kaplan LN because as an IMG, I needed a strong conceptual base. Kaplan does that very well. I would reconsider doing two passes though, and would recommend doing ONE good solid read, with a few selected Kaplan videos, coupled together with chapter by chapter First Aid.
I suggest involving FA with first read of Kaplan so that if there's anything you dont get in FA, you can spend time understanding/annotating it.

2) I suppose I found it difficult because a few concepts/facts were - simply - not mentioned in FA ; at the end of the day you remember FA details for the most part and magically recall bits and pieces of info from years past. So questions which tested obscure arterial supplies or coupled together minor nerve injuries with radiographs tended to be difficult to guess through.

3) Well anatomy is a very volatile subject. I did kaplan, but by the time I was near my exam, mostly what i remembered was what i had learned from FA.

4) I suppose a good 70-80% was doable with FA knowledge/concepts; another 5% from UW knowledge/answering skills/educated guesses. 10ish% were questions which went whoosshh right over my head. Annoyingly one such questions was in the behavioral sciences category and keeps haunting me. BUT at this point i'd like to emphasize there ARE different versions of this exam. some people DO tend to get questions which arent very straightforward and majority are of UW calibre. so be prepared and do not underestimate this exam.

hope this helps!

 

[glykon]

Hi MQRaza,

Thank you so much for your valuable input and advice. I will pray for you and hope you get a great score
Could you please tell me:
1. Did you use the Goljan audio with the book? (my understanding is that those are pretty old so I was wondering if they are still helpful)
2. Did you have any odd images/ heart sounds on the real deal?
3. What did you use to prepare for those?

 

[Torquer]

Hi MQRaza,

Thank you so much for your valuable input and advice. I will pray for you and hope you get a great score
Could you please tell me:
1. Did you use the Goljan audio with the book? (my understanding is that those are pretty old so I was wondering if they are still helpful)
2. Did you have any odd images/ heart sounds on the real deal?
3. What did you use to prepare for those?

Yup i heard Goljan audio but not with the book. He doesnt cover the entire chapter and goes from one part of a chapter to another. so its kind of difficult to keep track that way. But i did listen to it. They're old, yes, but i guess the concepts remain the same. I personally dont recall them helping me in the exam but a few of my friends say they managed a question here and there cos of it. Probly also depends how near the exam you listen to it

Images.. were doable. Some helped with spot diagnoses. One, again with reference to anatomy, was not of very good quality or maybe the monitor brightness wasnt adjusted so i literally had to guess.
Got two heart sounds which i couldnt make head or toe out of. Only thing i managed to figure out was WHERE the heart sound was loudest, as in which area, and then that put together with the history was enough to get to the answer. Generally the history is ample to reach a conclusion.
But i did flip through a lot of pictures before my exam and got a few similar ones too. I went through those at the back of FA, then through the Kaplan slide review video. Saw some basic abdominal/chest/pelvis MRIs online. Other resources i had but didnt use were ofcourse Goljan pictures, and an Atlas of Pathology i got from the school library.

 

[je355804]

Yup i heard Goljan audio but not with the book. He doesnt cover the entire chapter and goes from one part of a chapter to another. so its kind of difficult to keep track that way. But i did listen to it. They're old, yes, but i guess the concepts remain the same. I personally dont recall them helping me in the exam but a few of my friends say they managed a question here and there cos of it. Probly also depends how near the exam you listen to it

Images.. were doable. Some helped with spot diagnoses. One, again with reference to anatomy, was not of very good quality or maybe the monitor brightness wasnt adjusted so i literally had to guess.
Got two heart sounds which i couldnt make head or toe out of. Only thing i managed to figure out was WHERE the heart sound was loudest, as in which area, and then that put together with the history was enough to get to the answer. Generally the history is ample to reach a conclusion.
But i did flip through a lot of pictures before my exam and got a few similar ones too. I went through those at the back of FA, then through the Kaplan slide review video. Saw some basic abdominal/chest/pelvis MRIs online. Other resources i had but didnt use were ofcourse Goljan pictures, and an Atlas of Pathology i got from the school library.

I haven't really read this entire post or the prior posts... but I'll say one thing. Goljan is the reason I went from an average student, to an above average student, bottom line.

 

[glykon]

Thank you so much for your feedback!
Is there any updated version of Goljan audios? I have the ones from 2005 or something