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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.
Official 2011 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
- Thread starter ProtossCarrier
- Start date
C
colonelmustard
No, I don't mind at all. I got plenty of help from this site, so it's the least I can do. The question stems are, on average, about the same length as you would see in UWorld. That said, some questions on Step 1 are two to three sentences long while others are twice the length as UWorld questions. Most of the UWorld question stems, on the other hand, tend to be around the same length. The longest questions I had on Step 1 were probably 6 or 7 sentences long. There weren't many. The lengthy questions on Step 1 are often chock full of useless information, so you just need to get the important information and quickly answer the question. It should be noted, however, that I am a pretty quick reader, and yet I felt as though I was more rushed on Step 1 than in UWorld. After finishing a UWorld block, it was not uncommon for me to have 15-20 minutes left. On Step 1, I often had about 5 or 6 minutes left after a block. Also, some of the shorter question stems on Step 1 are time consuming, because you may have to analyze a graph or something, or sometimes the question being asked is difficult, so you may just have to sit there and think about it. Other shorter question stems can be answered in seconds. I actually had a lot of short questions like that on my exam.
In terms of difficulty, Step 1 is easier than UWorld. Step 1 questions, however, are often tricky and designed to trip you up. If you don't notice a particular detail in the question stem, you may come up with an incorrect diagnosis. Step 1 answer choices are often very different from one another, so they're much easier to rule out. If you're leaning towards the right diagnosis, you can eliminate most of the answer choices. That was a major difference I noticed compared to UWorld.
As for First-Aid, I never read it front to back like a normal book; I read it out of order, rereading certain topics more than others. Considering this, I probably read most sections 6 or 7 times and read high-yield tables/topics 10 or 11 times.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
First of all, congratulations coronelmustard! I just came in and started selfishly posting with no regard to anyone else. 
Oh, you're right. I didn't even remember this was in FA! In any case, it was presented as "Janus kinase" and not JAK, further reinforcing that you have to make sure you understand what you're reading in FA and not just purely memorize it.
In terms of what I would have done differently - I think nothing. I would have liked to go through FA a bit more and that's it. More on that below. I messed up on some very specific details: night terrors in stage 3-4 sleep (answered stage 2), orexin produced in the hypothalamus (answered hippocampus), stuff on interleukins, etc. Mostly just the very specific things. Also would have liked to go over more anatomy.
I think they were pretty much the same length, or actually a tiny bit shorter. I heard stories about some questions being really long. Most of my questions were just a few sentences long. Some were actually a single line. But then again, there were some "normal length" questions that were very convoluted that I needed to reread about 3 times, especially the ones about molecular bio/biochem.
Like coronelmustard I also consider myself to be a very quick reader. I finished blocks on the test with about 20 minutes left, and I was actually taking my time. The most time I spent on questions was maybe 3 minutes max, trying to figure out some mathematical stuff (but most of it was not too hard). The rest was mostly straightforward. Questions that had many answer choices might scare some people, but they are designed either to quickly point out the answer if you know it (eg. hexosaminidase in a list of about 20 enzymes) or to let you rule out everything else (the answer choices with all the combinations of arrows pointing up and down usually had some stupid choices that you could rule out).
I know this isn't the case for most people. Most people feel pressured and have little time to spare, so the only advice I have is to practice with lots and lots of questions so your reading improves, and always keep an eye on the clock. This is what UW/Qbank Timed mode is for. (also, do NBMEs)
In terms of difficulty compared with banks: I did not officially do Uworld. I did the entire Kaplan Qbank (online) and I did all of the offline Uworld from 2007. The questions were similar in length, much easier in difficulty than Qbank. Can't really compare to the UW I've seen because it's a few years old and pretty easy IMO. These banks prepare you for the worst and try to give you complex questions. Many people criticize Qbank for being "too hard" or "too specific" but this actually helped me a lot on the exam. If I wanted easy questions I would have done the First Aid Q&A book or something.
As for FA, I used it inconsistently during my prep. I only used it as an overview/summary before I studied a system from other books, and immediately after. That way I would get the general feel of a system before studying it, and also emphatize the most important points when I was done. Nearing the end of my studying I probably had checked out the entire book once or twice, simply out of order, but I wasn't sure I had checked everything. In any case, I went over it front-to-back only once. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I have it on my computer, and I took screenshots of specific tables or facts that I didn't know, or that I wanted to emphatize. Unfortunately, I did not have time to go over all these homemade screenshot-flashcards and only re-read about 1/3 of them nervously the day before. There were only about 1-2 questions max that I got correct because of the nervous final cramming session the night before.
Good luck to everyone - this is doable, just study hard and make sure you are understanding what you are studying!
Oh, you're right. I didn't even remember this was in FA! In any case, it was presented as "Janus kinase" and not JAK, further reinforcing that you have to make sure you understand what you're reading in FA and not just purely memorize it.
In terms of what I would have done differently - I think nothing. I would have liked to go through FA a bit more and that's it. More on that below. I messed up on some very specific details: night terrors in stage 3-4 sleep (answered stage 2), orexin produced in the hypothalamus (answered hippocampus), stuff on interleukins, etc. Mostly just the very specific things. Also would have liked to go over more anatomy.
I think they were pretty much the same length, or actually a tiny bit shorter. I heard stories about some questions being really long. Most of my questions were just a few sentences long. Some were actually a single line. But then again, there were some "normal length" questions that were very convoluted that I needed to reread about 3 times, especially the ones about molecular bio/biochem.
Like coronelmustard I also consider myself to be a very quick reader. I finished blocks on the test with about 20 minutes left, and I was actually taking my time. The most time I spent on questions was maybe 3 minutes max, trying to figure out some mathematical stuff (but most of it was not too hard). The rest was mostly straightforward. Questions that had many answer choices might scare some people, but they are designed either to quickly point out the answer if you know it (eg. hexosaminidase in a list of about 20 enzymes) or to let you rule out everything else (the answer choices with all the combinations of arrows pointing up and down usually had some stupid choices that you could rule out).
I know this isn't the case for most people. Most people feel pressured and have little time to spare, so the only advice I have is to practice with lots and lots of questions so your reading improves, and always keep an eye on the clock. This is what UW/Qbank Timed mode is for. (also, do NBMEs)
In terms of difficulty compared with banks: I did not officially do Uworld. I did the entire Kaplan Qbank (online) and I did all of the offline Uworld from 2007. The questions were similar in length, much easier in difficulty than Qbank. Can't really compare to the UW I've seen because it's a few years old and pretty easy IMO. These banks prepare you for the worst and try to give you complex questions. Many people criticize Qbank for being "too hard" or "too specific" but this actually helped me a lot on the exam. If I wanted easy questions I would have done the First Aid Q&A book or something.
As for FA, I used it inconsistently during my prep. I only used it as an overview/summary before I studied a system from other books, and immediately after. That way I would get the general feel of a system before studying it, and also emphatize the most important points when I was done. Nearing the end of my studying I probably had checked out the entire book once or twice, simply out of order, but I wasn't sure I had checked everything. In any case, I went over it front-to-back only once. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I have it on my computer, and I took screenshots of specific tables or facts that I didn't know, or that I wanted to emphatize. Unfortunately, I did not have time to go over all these homemade screenshot-flashcards and only re-read about 1/3 of them nervously the day before. There were only about 1-2 questions max that I got correct because of the nervous final cramming session the night before.
Good luck to everyone - this is doable, just study hard and make sure you are understanding what you are studying!
C
colonelmustard
Thanks, quique2. I'm sure you did great as well. Gotta love how they let you marinate in suspense for three weeks! By the way, congratulations to jfgavina on her great score; I just saw it now.
I would not have done anything drastically different in preparing for Step 1. Having a sound and logical study strategy is very important, and I think your strategy can make or break you. Understand what your goals are for Step 1 preparation and construct a study plan that will allow you to achieve those goals in the allotted preparation time you have planned out for yourself. Some people think that finishing a specific question bank will assure them a high score on Step 1. There is no logic to that. So just make sure you can identify what your goals are by taking an NBME early on to see your weaknesses and being able to identify high-yield information.
I also just want to say that the exam, as you may have heard, is very broad. There will be questions asking you things you will not have studied for and questions that will require you to remember things from the first two years of medical school. There will be questions that will simply test your common sense. Although you may not be able to study for these things, the vast majority of the exam you will be able to study for. So that's where you will rack up the majority of your points, while the other "random" questions will either by experimental questions or questions that can increase or decrease your score slightly.
Those questions didn't really trip me up in that I was fooled by them. I think, for the most part, I was able to see that they were intended to be tricky. This made me think that I was on the right track by not falling for their "trap." Just read all the details in the question stem. It's not as bad as it sounds. I would say about 15% of the questions on my exam were along those lines. Practice with a question bank, and you will periodically come across these types of questions.
On a side note, as quique2 pointed out, if time is an issue for you, definitely practice question blocks in timed mode. Get good at reading questions quickly, and be able to know how you're doing on time throughout the block by periodically glancing at the timer.
I would not have done anything drastically different in preparing for Step 1. Having a sound and logical study strategy is very important, and I think your strategy can make or break you. Understand what your goals are for Step 1 preparation and construct a study plan that will allow you to achieve those goals in the allotted preparation time you have planned out for yourself. Some people think that finishing a specific question bank will assure them a high score on Step 1. There is no logic to that. So just make sure you can identify what your goals are by taking an NBME early on to see your weaknesses and being able to identify high-yield information.
I also just want to say that the exam, as you may have heard, is very broad. There will be questions asking you things you will not have studied for and questions that will require you to remember things from the first two years of medical school. There will be questions that will simply test your common sense. Although you may not be able to study for these things, the vast majority of the exam you will be able to study for. So that's where you will rack up the majority of your points, while the other "random" questions will either by experimental questions or questions that can increase or decrease your score slightly.
Those questions didn't really trip me up in that I was fooled by them. I think, for the most part, I was able to see that they were intended to be tricky. This made me think that I was on the right track by not falling for their "trap." Just read all the details in the question stem. It's not as bad as it sounds. I would say about 15% of the questions on my exam were along those lines. Practice with a question bank, and you will periodically come across these types of questions.
On a side note, as quique2 pointed out, if time is an issue for you, definitely practice question blocks in timed mode. Get good at reading questions quickly, and be able to know how you're doing on time throughout the block by periodically glancing at the timer.
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Whoa, its actually 6 now. 24 hours! woohoo
Anyhoo, the EXAM itself. Without going into specifics which may get me into trouble, if i had to rate difficulty levels:
-------------- UWSA1
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------------- UWorld Qbank
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------------- UWSA2/NBME
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------------ 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
Cheers. And please say a prayer for my scores.
Real deal: 220. Was quite disappoining but ive come to terms with it. Thing is its pretty much on the borderline between a good and a bad score. But no regrets! i put in my utter maximum. NBME 11 (221) three days before the exam was SHOCKINGLY predictive
, i had hoped i could beat it. Oh well Step 2 all the way.Things, in retrospect, that would've gotten me a 230+ :
-Anticipating the bad math questions, practising more false positive ratio/false negative ratio questions.
-Maybe, being better at murmurs. Although im pretty sure the four murmurs i got were all correctly answered.
Oh and a BIG CONGRATS TO THE COLONEL
welldone!!
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Real deal: 220. Was quite disappoining but ive come to terms with it. Thing is its pretty much on the borderline between a good and a bad score. But no regrets! i put in my utter maximum. NBME 11 (221) three days before the exam was SHOCKINGLY predictive
Things, in retrospect, that would've gotten me a 230+ :
-Anticipating the bad math questions, practising more false positive ratio/false negative ratio questions.
-Maybe, being better at murmurs. Although im pretty sure the four murmurs i got were all correctly answered.
Oh and a BIG CONGRATS TO THE COLONEL
MQRaza, congratulations on the score! I think mine will come next Weds. Would you mind telling me what you scored on UWSA #2? Thanks so much.
Real deal: 220. Was quite disappoining but ive come to terms with it. Thing is its pretty much on the borderline between a good and a bad score. But no regrets! i put in my utter maximum. NBME 11 (221) three days before the exam was SHOCKINGLY predictive
Things, in retrospect, that would've gotten me a 230+ :
-Anticipating the bad math questions, practising more false positive ratio/false negative ratio questions.
-Maybe, being better at murmurs. Although im pretty sure the four murmurs i got were all correctly answered.
Oh and a BIG CONGRATS TO THE COLONEL
Congrats on that good score!
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Took it today. Holy **** that was a long test.
I skipped the tutorial and took a 5-10 minute break after every block. It helped a lot.
I skipped the tutorial and took a 5-10 minute break after every block. It helped a lot.
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And I confirm the existence of some very direct questions
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Maybe?
Or maybe not?
I'm not the strongest student, time will tell.
I had questions on everything by the way, with a fairly even distribution. I even got one on Gibb's Free Energy, not ****ing joking.
I'd say the majority of them are first aid concepts wrapped up in fancy wording.
For every question, I read the last line first, skimmed the answer choices and then skimmed through the paragraph. This totally saved me time. One extreme example, there was one question that was a long paragraph. The last line was something along the lines of "What is this disease?" Picture showed smudge cells.
I stumbled in Neuro and Biochem for sure, they're not my strongest subjects, regardless of how many times I go over them.
We'll see. I keep my expectations low. I'd like to pass, and then I'll go from there.
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congrats indsha008.........time for you to party
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Congratulations on the great score but would be so kind to explain how DIT in particular helped you prepare,
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Got my result today, and wanted to chip in a few pointers, which I will mark in bold.
I took the test halfway into my 3rd year because I wasnt satisfied with my COMLEX result and felt I could somewhat redeem myself. Admittedly, I didnt study very hard in my first two years, and havent gotten through half my textbooks, but I did buckle down in the several months between the COMLEX and USMLE. I got through most of FA, and got through about 40% of UWorld primarily the topics I was weak in or was learning for the first time.
The breakdown of my exam was approximately this:
- Anatomy: all neuro, with questions hinging on the ability to identify neurological structures on MRI (identify structure knocked out in someone who cant store new memories), and conceptual questions (MRI shows lesion in Wernickes region of temporal lobe -> degeneration of medial geniculate body). Outside of neuro, I dont recall any pure anatomy questions; the ones I do recall tied into embryo or path.
- Embryo: had four or five questions, but all could be answered with information in FA.
- Behavioral science: four or five what would you say next? questions, an anxiety and a pseudodementia question, and several questions dealing with statistics, including the ability to pick out a case-control study from five scenarios, calculate the odds ratio, and know how prevalence of a disease in a population would affect PPV and NPV.
- Biochem: biochem was prominent, but mostly in the form of biochemical-based disorders. All of it could be found in FA, although its probably prudent to get a slightly broader clinical picture of each metabolic disease from Wikipedia or your textbook. This paid off for me, as I never would have known that a sick-looking kid with octanoyl-carnitines in his blood is acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, described merely as up dicarboxylic acids; down glucose and ketones in FA.
- Genetics: know the mode of inheritance for major diseases (FA 2011 pages 86-87) and youll get half a dozen questions right. The two pedigrees I had were mitochondrial and XLR.
- Micro: surprisingly little micro, although it often tied into other subjects, including behavioral what would you say next? questions, hinging on both the ability to identify the bacterial agent in question and the most ethical way to approach the patient. Of the few micro questions I had, I answered about four questions with meningococcemia and meningococcal meningitis, so be familiar with N. meningitidis and what it does.
- Path: although I had general and systemic pathology questions, with every system getting its share of questions, its fair to say this was damn-near an endocrinology exam. Walking out, I felt like two-thirds of the questions were endocrine in some shape or form. Almost every major endocrine hormone and disease in FA was on the exam. Though I did okay on the pathology portion, I would kill it if I reviewed the endocrine section closer to exam time. But cest la vie.
- Phys: again, endocrinology across the board, with several arrow questions. Having done UWorld endocrine, I expected each question to have one tricky wild-card variable (reverse-T3 on thyroid panel), but the board questions were pretty straightforward. On the downside, there were several heavy-duty renal physiology calculation questions, that required three or four logical steps, followed by three or four steps mathematical steps to solve. I strongly suggest looking at FA renal phys in the days before the exam.
- Pharm: I thought this was my strongest card, but ultimately this proved to be the hardest part of the test. Half the reason was because the questions simply side-stepped my knowledge, asking instead about monoclonal antibody drugs, specific HIV drug side-effects, and the like. The other half was the way questions were worded. Even though the drugs tested were familiar to me, the way the question was asked led me astray. This was the only subject on the test I daresay was poorly worded. My advice is to know HIV drugs and, from everything I have read on this thread and heard from classmates, to know autonomic pharm cold, even though it did not make an appearance on my test.
- Experimental: I didnt have any obscure genes or obscene genetic experiments, but I did have histological questions that went right over my head (and the answers to which I still cannot find), so if every USMLE exam, in fact, has experimental questions, this was it for me.
I didn't take any simulated exams or NBMEs except for one administered by my school back in April, which I made a 187 on.
Real deal: 248
I took the test halfway into my 3rd year because I wasnt satisfied with my COMLEX result and felt I could somewhat redeem myself. Admittedly, I didnt study very hard in my first two years, and havent gotten through half my textbooks, but I did buckle down in the several months between the COMLEX and USMLE. I got through most of FA, and got through about 40% of UWorld primarily the topics I was weak in or was learning for the first time.
The breakdown of my exam was approximately this:
- Anatomy: all neuro, with questions hinging on the ability to identify neurological structures on MRI (identify structure knocked out in someone who cant store new memories), and conceptual questions (MRI shows lesion in Wernickes region of temporal lobe -> degeneration of medial geniculate body). Outside of neuro, I dont recall any pure anatomy questions; the ones I do recall tied into embryo or path.
- Embryo: had four or five questions, but all could be answered with information in FA.
- Behavioral science: four or five what would you say next? questions, an anxiety and a pseudodementia question, and several questions dealing with statistics, including the ability to pick out a case-control study from five scenarios, calculate the odds ratio, and know how prevalence of a disease in a population would affect PPV and NPV.
- Biochem: biochem was prominent, but mostly in the form of biochemical-based disorders. All of it could be found in FA, although its probably prudent to get a slightly broader clinical picture of each metabolic disease from Wikipedia or your textbook. This paid off for me, as I never would have known that a sick-looking kid with octanoyl-carnitines in his blood is acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, described merely as up dicarboxylic acids; down glucose and ketones in FA.
- Genetics: know the mode of inheritance for major diseases (FA 2011 pages 86-87) and youll get half a dozen questions right. The two pedigrees I had were mitochondrial and XLR.
- Micro: surprisingly little micro, although it often tied into other subjects, including behavioral what would you say next? questions, hinging on both the ability to identify the bacterial agent in question and the most ethical way to approach the patient. Of the few micro questions I had, I answered about four questions with meningococcemia and meningococcal meningitis, so be familiar with N. meningitidis and what it does.
- Path: although I had general and systemic pathology questions, with every system getting its share of questions, its fair to say this was damn-near an endocrinology exam. Walking out, I felt like two-thirds of the questions were endocrine in some shape or form. Almost every major endocrine hormone and disease in FA was on the exam. Though I did okay on the pathology portion, I would kill it if I reviewed the endocrine section closer to exam time. But cest la vie.
- Phys: again, endocrinology across the board, with several arrow questions. Having done UWorld endocrine, I expected each question to have one tricky wild-card variable (reverse-T3 on thyroid panel), but the board questions were pretty straightforward. On the downside, there were several heavy-duty renal physiology calculation questions, that required three or four logical steps, followed by three or four steps mathematical steps to solve. I strongly suggest looking at FA renal phys in the days before the exam.
- Pharm: I thought this was my strongest card, but ultimately this proved to be the hardest part of the test. Half the reason was because the questions simply side-stepped my knowledge, asking instead about monoclonal antibody drugs, specific HIV drug side-effects, and the like. The other half was the way questions were worded. Even though the drugs tested were familiar to me, the way the question was asked led me astray. This was the only subject on the test I daresay was poorly worded. My advice is to know HIV drugs and, from everything I have read on this thread and heard from classmates, to know autonomic pharm cold, even though it did not make an appearance on my test.
- Experimental: I didnt have any obscure genes or obscene genetic experiments, but I did have histological questions that went right over my head (and the answers to which I still cannot find), so if every USMLE exam, in fact, has experimental questions, this was it for me.
I didn't take any simulated exams or NBMEs except for one administered by my school back in April, which I made a 187 on.
Real deal: 248
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Wow, good job.
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congratulations AndyRSC
and thank you for the awesome post.
and thank you for the awesome post.
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Well... probably time to begin board prep in earnest. I'm in the middle of my 2nd year of med school and I've basically just goofed around with FA and I've done about 700 UW questions.
Just read through a lot of stuff on this thread and it gave me a lot of ideas so thanks everyone for their input!
I'll keep ya'll updated.
:I <<-- serious face
Just read through a lot of stuff on this thread and it gave me a lot of ideas so thanks everyone for their input!
I'll keep ya'll updated.
:I <<-- serious face
Just wondering if anyone on this forum got their scores today. My exam was on Dec 12th and I was expecting my results today (at the earliest) but apparently I will probably have to wait until next week.
Plus, my permit is still up on ECFMG's OASIS (IMG), although I don't know whether it HAS to disappear the week your score will come out.
I told myself I would patiently wait and not be one of the people who are constantly wondering aloud whether their scores will be sent that day, but it's a lot tougher to do in practice...
Plus, my permit is still up on ECFMG's OASIS (IMG), although I don't know whether it HAS to disappear the week your score will come out.
I told myself I would patiently wait and not be one of the people who are constantly wondering aloud whether their scores will be sent that day, but it's a lot tougher to do in practice...
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I took it the 16 and my results are not yet out. I'm guessing that we are gonna have to wait another week. The waiting is killing me :-(
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took my exam yesterday,
some background info :
Materials used : Kaplan lecture notes 2011 (newest ones), kaplan liveprep, UW, etc.
UWSA 1 - 244
UWSA 2 - 263
NBME 5 - 244
NBME 6 - 240
NBME 7 - 260
NBME 3 - 255
NBME 4 - 263
NBME 2 - 253
Yeah, i like donating money to the NBME.
To Psychforme - can you predict my score please???!!!
Length - Killer, much longer than NBMEs, granted there were single liners here and there but I missed like 3 questions at the end of the second block due to lack of time.....just had to pick something before time ran out.
Personally, i felt the clock on the real exam was bugged and was running faster than normal!!!
Difficulty of exam - seemed fair, nowhere near as hard as UWorld, but similar concepts tested. The material tested isnt hard/impossible, its just hard because of the time factor, gimme another 10 minutes for each block and i probably would have left the center with a sardonic smile
Resource Ranking:
1. Uworld - this qbank probably has the most exam-like content, although it may seem vague at first, stick to it, it will pay off in the exam. The question length is much much longer than uworld though, so you should be doing them in like 60percent of the time. Without Uworld, i can imagine how the exam would have been for me.
2. Kaplan notes - worth their weight in gold, memorize their tables and you should be in the money, i have heard Kaplan MEd essentials is basically all the tables, so look into that if you dont got time.
3. FA 2010- not so much, i flipped through it the days before the exam, seemed full of facts, but the exam didnt test facts, in fact 95% of the questions are application application application.
Learn to guess - there were situations in the exam when i had it narrowed to like 2 choices and had to guess, this was hard for me, but it helps to be able to just make good guesses FAST, i would dwell on a question for a few minutes and timing is everything in this exam.
How do i feel? i feel like i could be anywhere on that score distribution, its hard to tell, no instant score gratification like in the nbmes..
good luck to anyone preparing.
Thanks DrBD! this was very helpful. I'm a MS1 and Im considering prepping for the boards earlier (starting in May) and i wanted to get a gauge as to what I need to begin to look at and this helped a lot... I purchased the new FA 2011 since it was in color. would you recommend that I do not focus on this book?
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which books did you use to give you a good foundation before using UWorld?
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Score had better be up tomorrow
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I guess not
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Can you do a writeup of what books you used your overall study methods etc. Thanks and CONGRATS!
Thank you! I'm extremely happy and relieved. I'm going to re-post something I posted in another forum. My actual preparation is very complex (because it was so disorganized it's hard to put into words) but I summarized it into a few lines.
quique2 said:
I will also add the following:
Materials I used at some point:
- Goljan (the first chapters - before the systemic patho) + BRS Path (quite a while ago)
- BRS Physio for most systems
- Kaplan pharm videos, 2008
- Kaplan biochem videos + notes, 2010
- 1x front to back read of FA but I used it sporadically during my prep, mostly as an outline/quick review
- Kaplan Qbank at the end, paid $200 for a year and used it three months
- Old pirated UW from 2007
- Shared a usmleRX account with a friend in early 2010 - did not like it, thought it was terrible
- Secrets for Step 1 about 1.5 years ago, not very complete but nice for light reading
- Goljan audio about a year ago
- Other audio sources such as MKSAP (actually meant for IM boards but still good) and Surgical Recall. Other not-so-good resources: Step 1 Recall: Buzzwords for the Boards, Gold Standard Step 1...
- Other random books like the Pre-Test question books very early in my prep
The rest I either picked up in class and just reviewed using questions, or studied it from random non mainstream books. Like I said, my prep was extremely unorthodox. I've come to learn that I have very good retention, and I say that as humbly as possible. For example, I did not have to review things that I studied two years ago, as long as I knew them well at some point.
Oh, I'm an IMG. Most of this will probably not apply to US students, who are usually a lot more prepared than IMGs at baseline before starting formal studying.
I'm willing to answer any specific questions. Hope this helps!
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NBMEs 6, 7, 11 and 12 = 590, 570, 590 and 590 respectively
UW I did "offline", so I can't really calculate my average, but I did do about 800 questions (subject wise and tutorial mode, unfortunately) and got somewhere around a 72% (I didn't count repeated questions. I counted as "wrong" those questions that I only answered correctly because of another question's explanation.) So I guess that 72 isn't really representative. I only kept track of the questions because of pure curiosity
Kaplan's qbank I finished with an average of 74% and somewhere around 76-77% on the final 8-10 blocks
UW I did "offline", so I can't really calculate my average, but I did do about 800 questions (subject wise and tutorial mode, unfortunately) and got somewhere around a 72% (I didn't count repeated questions. I counted as "wrong" those questions that I only answered correctly because of another question's explanation.) So I guess that 72 isn't really representative. I only kept track of the questions because of pure curiosity
Kaplan's qbank I finished with an average of 74% and somewhere around 76-77% on the final 8-10 blocks
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Hi guys,
I've benefited from this forum and so I wanted to share my experience. I sat USMLE STEP 1 just two days ago- I really don't know how I did as I tend to be the ones who follow an unexpected pattern of achievement in exams.
Regarding the ACTUAL difficulty of the test, it was not so bad. The interface was exactly like UWorld which made me feel very relaxed during the seven hours, and there was enough time to complete each block and have the remaining 8-10 minutes to go through all my answers. I marked around 10 - 15 questions per block or less; these were answers which I wasn't 100% sure whether I got it right or wrong. But of course that doesn't mean that the questions I didn't mark were all right
There was one thing I REALLY REALLY wanted to stress to all of you guys. I'm studying at an international medical school and did not know ANYONE around me who actually has written the test in real life. I knew people who knew someone who took the test, and whenever I asked them "so what's the real exam like?" they would just say "oh dont worry about it it's not too bad. just cram for two months and it's do-able." ERRRR if anyone is in the same shoes as me, and heard of these useless advices, PLEASE don't take it seriously. The chances are, they just don't wanna admit it if anything felt difficult / after it's been done you just feel like it wasn't too difficult.
Let me tell you the real deal. Preparation ALL depends on how much prior knowledge you have. So go and get a Qbank- I recommend doing TWO question banks: Kaplan followed by UWorld. You should seriously plan ahead so that you can actually finish these question banks. Kaplan is great when you are just starting off as you can choose the level of 'difficulty' of questions you'd like to do. And do them, and see how you perform. If you feel that you have no idea of 50%+ of the stuff that were asked from an 'easy level', then you've got sooo much work to do I cannot stress enough on that. That was ME. except that I didn't realise these things until few weeks before the exam. Ha-ha-ha what a joke. But I did know that my understanding in medicine, in general, was quite weak so I bought all the basic textbooks eg. BRS physiology, Goljan pathology and all these books. And just read them.. read them.. please don't underestimate the importance of PHYSIOLOGY, PHARMACOLOGY, iMMUNOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY/CELLULAR BIOLOGY. Seriously guys, you NEED to get these four subjects under your belt. I don't mean for you to memorise every single little detail when you learn it but you just HAVE to have a solid, solid understanding of these subjects. Anatomy is important too, but there's not enough time to study every single anatomy of the human body and have it completely memorised up there. Just mark every single clinical 'anatomy' you come across with while studying for other areas, always ask yourself questions and you will be fine. I found that the Lippincott anatomy Q&A book was IMMENSELY helpful. I seriuosly did not have the time to finish going through the Q&A, so I focused on the thorax/abdomen/neuroanatomy which were my weak points & most anatomy questions on my exam you could find a relatively similar case in this book. A real gem for anatomy. Those of you who wasn't taught well in your medical school on embryology/neuroanatomy/anatomy I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU TO GO THROUGH THE KAPLAN ANATOMY VIDEOS. I listened to all videos of the kaplan anatomy series and that was the best tool I ever used to study this topic. Same applies for BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE. Behavioural science videos are amazing. I was able to answer 5+ questions on the STEP 1 exam simply because I watched these videos. Whenever the lecturer said "this will BE ON YOUR EXAM", I thought to myself "as if.." as I never came across practice questions on UWorld in such scenario. But WOW, they did appear on my exam. And tell you what, I'd never have known these things if I had not watched Kaplan videos. Maybe I just got lucky, but they just help you soooo much especially if you're not from USA.
Sorry I'm just blabbing!!!! But my main points are, get your foundations right - the real step 1 questions are NOTHING LIKE what my NBMEs were like. Maybe it is the user interface of NBME practice exams which made me feel so uncomfrotable and confused, or maybe it's the weird nervousness I had when I took them before my exam- I scored really realy really low on these NBME (12, 11, 7) around 200 and 210. This was ONE WEEK before the exam. Guys, do not take the NBME too late. I guess people who know how to study for this test would all tell you that these are used to identify your weakest performance areas & not really to get used to the test interface / experience what the test is like A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE EXAM! I had a mental breakdown a few days before my exam because of these NBMEs. You can totally ace the exam without having taken the NBME. I can swear on that. Why? I only came across a few questions from my test which I thought were similar to the ones I saw on the NBME (I only took 3 of them though). UWorld was the CLOSEST, in fact there were 8 questions which I associated from the UWorld qbank (Remember, I only completed 50% of the UW qbank as I only had 1-2 months to prepare EVERYTHING for this test including starting from scratch) and about 5-10 from Kaplan. Kaplan qbank, in my opinion, was slightly more similar to the real Step 1 questions... is it just me who feels that way? UWorld is the gold standard, HOWEVER, kaplan does help you immensely- far out, Kaplan has these unbelievably kind features that UWorld doesn't- QUESTIONS EXPLAINED TO YOU IN VIDEOS. You guys, I've never seen someone write about this, but these 'video-ed questions' were the HIGHEST YIELD of all high yield materials. It's not even funny. I almost laughed in my exam because of this. I kpet on thinking, "LOL OMG I CAN HEAR THE LADY EXPLAINING THE STEM OF THIS QUESTION". So do me a favour, and don't discard Kaplan. Their explanations are great too. But don't get too caught up on the 'details' of Kaplan =)
Goljan, Goljan, Goljan. Ok. You can't not study Goljan and aim to get a high mark. End of the story!
The real questions I got on my STEP1?
- The first two blocks were soooo easy I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I had a hard time deciding on the answer because I just felt like they were all trying to deceive me.. yeah.. paranoia was kicking in. VERY simple questions. Oh, another point- the test is very graphic, as mentioned by many others. Make sure you've seen the Goljan slides. Make sure you've seen the images on webpath. They really help.
- The rest of the test - they got increasingly more difficult! The difference between the first two blocks and the rest ... w0o0o0o0w. These questions resembled a cross between Uworld, Kaplan and some NBME questions. Hahaha that's not very helpful, sorry. They made it look so complicated but really you have to 'decode' the questions and not come to a conclusion after seeing some KEYWORDS. That's so important. For example, they asked me about a SIMPLE, SIMPLE question:
What is a hormone that is secreted in response to increasing acidity in the stomach?
But oh dear lord the boards are so smart. They wanted to ask this simple question however they had to make it into a question with 4-5 lines. Instead of saying this, they went on to describe a proton inhibitor without referring exactly to one- this took around 2 sentences- THEN they asked- what hormone will show the GREATEST level of DECREASE after taking this drug for a week. HA-ha-ha-! Dude, how many times did I see the board trying to trick you by stating the opposite? GREATEST and DECREASE blah blah.. when you are nervous racing against the ticking clock, these simple things really mock you. So be careful!
Oh, one more thing, I realised why I performed so so so poorly on my NBME. Literally I was guessing everything and after doing each block I felt like I didn't know anything. Hopefully I did better on my step 1 because I felt the OPPOSITE as I took the test- I felt perfectly in control, I was actually surprised at myself for feeling that way because I thought it'd be exactly like the NBME takes. Guess why I felt this? Because when I took my NBME, I didn't have any pen or paper- I wasn't thinking - I was using my reflex to make a choice. LOL. Maybe that's just me!! But anyway, the point is, in the exam you get to use a laminated paper and white board marker. The best tip, whenever you're confused, is to start jotting down key points "STEM" of the question. That way you'll neverh ave to re-read and get more confused. MAKE USE OF THE ELIMINATION RULE. One of the key difference between NBME and step 1 / other question banks was that ELIMINATING QUESTION OPTIONS - were soo much easier. Like you can just eliminate at least 2 choices by simply looking at it, beacuse their statements are indeed wrong. and OBVIOUSLY wrong. Do the elimination step on the sheet of paper you're given. I wrote A,B,C,D,E/F for most of my questions which I wasn't able to give an answer to the moment I read the question, and then eliminated. This approach must have been hte difference between my NBME and how I felt on my real exam. I haven't really seen anyone mention this, but maybe because it's a golden standard and I was too stupid to realise until the day of the exam. Haha!
I'll let you know once I get my score- ARGH, what a painful process. Can someone tell me if people end up failing/doing poorly when they felt like they did well? What do you reckon.. when I did my NBME and scored 200-210 (3 digit score) I'd finish it and get teary and upset for how stupid I was- I literally didn't feel confident with any of the answers. But in my exam I felt the opposite - maybe I can hope for a little bit of a higher score?
I've benefited from this forum and so I wanted to share my experience. I sat USMLE STEP 1 just two days ago- I really don't know how I did as I tend to be the ones who follow an unexpected pattern of achievement in exams.
Regarding the ACTUAL difficulty of the test, it was not so bad. The interface was exactly like UWorld which made me feel very relaxed during the seven hours, and there was enough time to complete each block and have the remaining 8-10 minutes to go through all my answers. I marked around 10 - 15 questions per block or less; these were answers which I wasn't 100% sure whether I got it right or wrong. But of course that doesn't mean that the questions I didn't mark were all right
There was one thing I REALLY REALLY wanted to stress to all of you guys. I'm studying at an international medical school and did not know ANYONE around me who actually has written the test in real life. I knew people who knew someone who took the test, and whenever I asked them "so what's the real exam like?" they would just say "oh dont worry about it it's not too bad. just cram for two months and it's do-able." ERRRR if anyone is in the same shoes as me, and heard of these useless advices, PLEASE don't take it seriously. The chances are, they just don't wanna admit it if anything felt difficult / after it's been done you just feel like it wasn't too difficult.
Let me tell you the real deal. Preparation ALL depends on how much prior knowledge you have. So go and get a Qbank- I recommend doing TWO question banks: Kaplan followed by UWorld. You should seriously plan ahead so that you can actually finish these question banks. Kaplan is great when you are just starting off as you can choose the level of 'difficulty' of questions you'd like to do. And do them, and see how you perform. If you feel that you have no idea of 50%+ of the stuff that were asked from an 'easy level', then you've got sooo much work to do I cannot stress enough on that. That was ME. except that I didn't realise these things until few weeks before the exam. Ha-ha-ha what a joke. But I did know that my understanding in medicine, in general, was quite weak so I bought all the basic textbooks eg. BRS physiology, Goljan pathology and all these books. And just read them.. read them.. please don't underestimate the importance of PHYSIOLOGY, PHARMACOLOGY, iMMUNOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY/CELLULAR BIOLOGY. Seriously guys, you NEED to get these four subjects under your belt. I don't mean for you to memorise every single little detail when you learn it but you just HAVE to have a solid, solid understanding of these subjects. Anatomy is important too, but there's not enough time to study every single anatomy of the human body and have it completely memorised up there. Just mark every single clinical 'anatomy' you come across with while studying for other areas, always ask yourself questions and you will be fine. I found that the Lippincott anatomy Q&A book was IMMENSELY helpful. I seriuosly did not have the time to finish going through the Q&A, so I focused on the thorax/abdomen/neuroanatomy which were my weak points & most anatomy questions on my exam you could find a relatively similar case in this book. A real gem for anatomy. Those of you who wasn't taught well in your medical school on embryology/neuroanatomy/anatomy I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU TO GO THROUGH THE KAPLAN ANATOMY VIDEOS. I listened to all videos of the kaplan anatomy series and that was the best tool I ever used to study this topic. Same applies for BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE. Behavioural science videos are amazing. I was able to answer 5+ questions on the STEP 1 exam simply because I watched these videos. Whenever the lecturer said "this will BE ON YOUR EXAM", I thought to myself "as if.." as I never came across practice questions on UWorld in such scenario. But WOW, they did appear on my exam. And tell you what, I'd never have known these things if I had not watched Kaplan videos. Maybe I just got lucky, but they just help you soooo much especially if you're not from USA.
Sorry I'm just blabbing!!!! But my main points are, get your foundations right - the real step 1 questions are NOTHING LIKE what my NBMEs were like. Maybe it is the user interface of NBME practice exams which made me feel so uncomfrotable and confused, or maybe it's the weird nervousness I had when I took them before my exam- I scored really realy really low on these NBME (12, 11, 7) around 200 and 210. This was ONE WEEK before the exam. Guys, do not take the NBME too late. I guess people who know how to study for this test would all tell you that these are used to identify your weakest performance areas & not really to get used to the test interface / experience what the test is like A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE EXAM! I had a mental breakdown a few days before my exam because of these NBMEs. You can totally ace the exam without having taken the NBME. I can swear on that. Why? I only came across a few questions from my test which I thought were similar to the ones I saw on the NBME (I only took 3 of them though). UWorld was the CLOSEST, in fact there were 8 questions which I associated from the UWorld qbank (Remember, I only completed 50% of the UW qbank as I only had 1-2 months to prepare EVERYTHING for this test including starting from scratch) and about 5-10 from Kaplan. Kaplan qbank, in my opinion, was slightly more similar to the real Step 1 questions... is it just me who feels that way? UWorld is the gold standard, HOWEVER, kaplan does help you immensely- far out, Kaplan has these unbelievably kind features that UWorld doesn't- QUESTIONS EXPLAINED TO YOU IN VIDEOS. You guys, I've never seen someone write about this, but these 'video-ed questions' were the HIGHEST YIELD of all high yield materials. It's not even funny. I almost laughed in my exam because of this. I kpet on thinking, "LOL OMG I CAN HEAR THE LADY EXPLAINING THE STEM OF THIS QUESTION". So do me a favour, and don't discard Kaplan. Their explanations are great too. But don't get too caught up on the 'details' of Kaplan =)
Goljan, Goljan, Goljan. Ok. You can't not study Goljan and aim to get a high mark. End of the story!
The real questions I got on my STEP1?
- The first two blocks were soooo easy I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I had a hard time deciding on the answer because I just felt like they were all trying to deceive me.. yeah.. paranoia was kicking in. VERY simple questions. Oh, another point- the test is very graphic, as mentioned by many others. Make sure you've seen the Goljan slides. Make sure you've seen the images on webpath. They really help.
- The rest of the test - they got increasingly more difficult! The difference between the first two blocks and the rest ... w0o0o0o0w. These questions resembled a cross between Uworld, Kaplan and some NBME questions. Hahaha that's not very helpful, sorry. They made it look so complicated but really you have to 'decode' the questions and not come to a conclusion after seeing some KEYWORDS. That's so important. For example, they asked me about a SIMPLE, SIMPLE question:
What is a hormone that is secreted in response to increasing acidity in the stomach?
But oh dear lord the boards are so smart. They wanted to ask this simple question however they had to make it into a question with 4-5 lines. Instead of saying this, they went on to describe a proton inhibitor without referring exactly to one- this took around 2 sentences- THEN they asked- what hormone will show the GREATEST level of DECREASE after taking this drug for a week. HA-ha-ha-! Dude, how many times did I see the board trying to trick you by stating the opposite? GREATEST and DECREASE blah blah.. when you are nervous racing against the ticking clock, these simple things really mock you. So be careful!
Oh, one more thing, I realised why I performed so so so poorly on my NBME. Literally I was guessing everything and after doing each block I felt like I didn't know anything. Hopefully I did better on my step 1 because I felt the OPPOSITE as I took the test- I felt perfectly in control, I was actually surprised at myself for feeling that way because I thought it'd be exactly like the NBME takes. Guess why I felt this? Because when I took my NBME, I didn't have any pen or paper- I wasn't thinking - I was using my reflex to make a choice. LOL. Maybe that's just me!! But anyway, the point is, in the exam you get to use a laminated paper and white board marker. The best tip, whenever you're confused, is to start jotting down key points "STEM" of the question. That way you'll neverh ave to re-read and get more confused. MAKE USE OF THE ELIMINATION RULE. One of the key difference between NBME and step 1 / other question banks was that ELIMINATING QUESTION OPTIONS - were soo much easier. Like you can just eliminate at least 2 choices by simply looking at it, beacuse their statements are indeed wrong. and OBVIOUSLY wrong. Do the elimination step on the sheet of paper you're given. I wrote A,B,C,D,E/F for most of my questions which I wasn't able to give an answer to the moment I read the question, and then eliminated. This approach must have been hte difference between my NBME and how I felt on my real exam. I haven't really seen anyone mention this, but maybe because it's a golden standard and I was too stupid to realise until the day of the exam. Haha!
I'll let you know once I get my score- ARGH, what a painful process. Can someone tell me if people end up failing/doing poorly when they felt like they did well? What do you reckon.. when I did my NBME and scored 200-210 (3 digit score) I'd finish it and get teary and upset for how stupid I was- I literally didn't feel confident with any of the answers. But in my exam I felt the opposite - maybe I can hope for a little bit of a higher score?
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So I wasn't quite finished. I also wanted to stress to you -
They say the questions are completely randomised. Does NOT mean that you won't be asked several questions on the exact same topic. I was so freaked out by this - I had at least 4 questions related to the effects of angiotensin II on the efferent arterioles. If I didn't know this, I'd have lost all 4 questions. KNOW YOUR THINGS! It's okay to not know little specific details, like the impossible ones to know such as crazy translocations. I had one of them on my exam- can't really remember- but I thought I had memorised all possible translocations/genes. Apparently not- saw one that was completely out of my reach and I was only able to find some weird journal articles on these genes. Pretty sure that was experimental ;P Hopefully!
I'll post again when I can think of a burning advice
They say the questions are completely randomised. Does NOT mean that you won't be asked several questions on the exact same topic. I was so freaked out by this - I had at least 4 questions related to the effects of angiotensin II on the efferent arterioles. If I didn't know this, I'd have lost all 4 questions. KNOW YOUR THINGS! It's okay to not know little specific details, like the impossible ones to know such as crazy translocations. I had one of them on my exam- can't really remember- but I thought I had memorised all possible translocations/genes. Apparently not- saw one that was completely out of my reach and I was only able to find some weird journal articles on these genes. Pretty sure that was experimental ;P Hopefully!
I'll post again when I can think of a burning advice
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Thanks for the detailed feedback. I am sure you will score very well.
I have heard this before that the blocks get tougher as you proceed in this test. Although it is said to be an urban myth but it appears that the software assesses your strong & weak areas in first two blocks and then sorts out the questions according to the topics you could not answer very well on the first few blocks for the rest of the test.
I have few questions though:
Which section of the Behavioral science videos did you find most useful?
Did you use First Aid at all and if you did how useful was it?
What about Goljan- are Audio & HY Notes enough or you recommend the RR.
Thanks
I have heard this before that the blocks get tougher as you proceed in this test. Although it is said to be an urban myth but it appears that the software assesses your strong & weak areas in first two blocks and then sorts out the questions according to the topics you could not answer very well on the first few blocks for the rest of the test.
I have few questions though:
Which section of the Behavioral science videos did you find most useful?
Did you use First Aid at all and if you did how useful was it?
What about Goljan- are Audio & HY Notes enough or you recommend the RR.
Thanks
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it's a myth. the exam is a CBT (computer based test), not a CAT (computer adaptive test) where what questions you get later in the exam depend on how well you did on the earlier ones. everyone has the same number of questions, some hard, some not: but the mean difficulty of the questions in every individual test form is the same, so that two people with the same raw score will have the same scaled score.
people think it's harder toward the end because they are exhausted after eight weeks of cramming and eight hours of the most important exam they will ever write.
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Well I'm pretty sure that it doesn't assess your strong & weak areas because I got my super strong areas =P Hopefully that's not a misperception! My test didn't get INCREASINGLY difficult it was more like- my 3rd block was the hardest out of the entire exam. For example, they gave me two hypothetical drugs- one presumably was a non-specific alpha agonist and the other being a non-specific beta agonist. That, you had to work out from a graph. Then they gave you 8 options which required you to follow the qiss qiq siq sqs rule and choose what levels would increase while translating these rules into IP3/cAMP level increase or decrease. I was surprised to see this kind of question because it required you to process the given information in more than three steps. And the whole block was full of these- it was the only block I didn't have more than 5 minutes to spare at the end to reflect back at my answers. My 4th one was as hard but slightly easier.. then my last block was easy again ;P
Well just took the beast.... it wasn't not too bad, but it was kind of weird. I didn't have any questions on MI's, cystic fibrosis and had shiz load of stupid laboratory techniques and genetics and i feel like i missed most of them … Ps they do ask about translocations.
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How was the path? Do you think Pathoma prepared you well?
What book can we used for lab techniques and genetics? Thats a big weakness for me and I have heard of other people having similar experiences
Thanks and Good luck with your score!
Pathoma was GOLD, every time a path Q would pop up on the screen, I would get all happy.. lol not sure what you could use , there was a lot of mice that got injected with stuff on my exam .
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lol feel the same way when I see uworld path question. I hate those mice experiments, guess I should start working on it, taking the test in june. Remember to gives us a write up here once you get your score
take care
take care
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By translocations, you mean t14,18 = follicular lymphoma, robertsonian = trisomy 21, etc? How in depth did they go.
Er, I'm not asking that well. I guess what I mean, were they questions that you would've seen in FA or Uworld?
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STUDY TIME 6 WEEKS
materials:
FIRST AID
GOLJAN AUDIO - KIDNEY LECTURE
USMLEWORLD
USMLERx
JAMES FIX - NEURO
Scores
USMLERx predicted score: 248
UWORLD percent: overall 69%, started 55%, last 10 blocks 72%, low: 55%, high 82%
FORM 7: 224 (2 weeks until exam)
FORM 12: 242 (6 days until exam)
ACTUAL Score: 247
materials:
FIRST AID
GOLJAN AUDIO - KIDNEY LECTURE
USMLEWORLD
USMLERx
JAMES FIX - NEURO
Scores
USMLERx predicted score: 248
UWORLD percent: overall 69%, started 55%, last 10 blocks 72%, low: 55%, high 82%
FORM 7: 224 (2 weeks until exam)
FORM 12: 242 (6 days until exam)
ACTUAL Score: 247
Congrats on finishing the exam. How many histo/gross/mri/ct/ekgs questions did you get in total?
PS, most of those lab questions will probably not count so don't worry about them.
Thanks , i hope so budd..Every neuro q had an MRI or a gross pic of the brain , like I knew what the answer was and I missed a few of the q because I could not label where in the brain or brain stem it's located ... i also had Few X-rays and EM . Anatomy was not bad , and the only anatomy i studied was the posters at my Gym .. lol
