Official 2023 APMLE Part 2 Thread

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drbeebee

drbeebee

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That sucked. Let’s dish about it.
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drbeebee said:
That sucked. Let’s dish about it.
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Hey grats on finishing the exam. A lot of people feel like they didn't do well on boards, but end up passing.

Did you feel like you had the knowledge to answer most of the questions or was it more random than you thought?

In any case you should go eat something delicious and rest!
 
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Bored Snorlax said:
Hey grats on finishing the exam. A lot of people feel like they didn't do well on boards, but end up passing.

Did you feel like you had the knowledge to answer most of the questions or was it more random than you thought?

In any case you should go eat something delicious and rest!
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Thanks. There were a lot of random facts, and it felt heavy on the biomechanics. Hoping those were just pilot questions. Otherwise, I felt fairly well-prepared. Maybe I didn’t do as bad as I think I did.

I think I’ll go eat my weight in nachos now.
 
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drbeebee said:
There were a lot of random facts, and it felt heavy on the biomechanics.
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Agreed! So many random questions that I had no clue. Not sure how we can prepare for those types of questions. My exam was biomechanics heavy as well. This exam was full of questions that I either knew or had zero clue what it was asking!

If only we knew how the exam is graded.... Overall, it sucked!
 
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AdrenalineJockie said:
Agreed! So many random questions that I had no clue. Not sure how we can prepare for those types of questions. My exam was biomechanics heavy as well. This exam was full of questions that I either knew or had zero clue what it was asking!

If only we knew how the exam is graded.... Overall, it sucked!
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drbeebee said:
Thanks. There were a lot of random facts, and it felt heavy on the biomechanics. Hoping those were just pilot questions. Otherwise, I felt fairly well-prepared. Maybe I didn’t do as bad as I think I did.

I think I’ll go eat my weight in nachos now.
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I read somewhere that there are a decent amount of experimental questions. If everyone is taught the same material and miss the same questions, there’s a good chance those questions are pilot questions.

You guys made it this far so give yourself some credits. Im sure both of you will pass.
 
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drbeebee said:
There were a lot of random facts, and it felt heavy on the biomechanics.
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SAMEEEEE for my exam too! Also a lot of questions on parathyroid stuff but definitely fewer than biomechanics. I pray that the curve is in our favor because part 1 gave me PTSD.
 
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I literally had like 0 medicine questions lol. Lots of biomechanics… and at least 3 questions that I changed from correct to incorrect when reviewing my exam at the end 😫 I swear I should just hit submit rather than going back and overthinking things!
 
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Harder than expected, and harder than any of the practice exams imo. Hoping we all did enough to pass and move on from this test!

Also, I heard Prometric canceled the exam for a bunch of students due to weather, so not sure when they'll take it. Prob next week? Or maybe after interviews? Not sure if that changes anything for score release.
 
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CAPoddy said:
Harder than expected, and harder than any of the practice exams imo. Hoping we all did enough to pass and move on from this test!

Also, I heard Prometric canceled the exam for a bunch of students due to weather, so not sure when they'll take it. Prob next week? Or maybe after interviews? Not sure if that changes anything for score release.
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How were the questions formatted? Was it what you anticipated on practice exams/boardvitals or was it more integrative clinical vignette styled?
 
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drbeebee said:
That sucked. Let’s dish about it.
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I hate Prometric for charging $1000, faculty who write trick questions, etc.

Can anyone settle a debate between friends? Do the ~50 pilot questions get completely dropped from your score, even if you get them right? Why are these people so secretive about how this exam is scored? Makes it feel like such a scam.
 
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I went through Board vitals twice, read Watkins and did lots of practice questions but none of them made me ready for this test. 1/3 of exam was biomechanics and peds. Then there were detailed radiology questions. I would same only about 10 first order questions. 1/2 of the questions were written in a way it’s either you know it or you don’t. But God will be good to us and we will all be fine.
 
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LebronJrsFutureDoc said:
I hate Prometric for charging $1000, faculty who write trick questions, etc.

Can anyone settle a debate between friends? Do the ~50 pilot questions get completely dropped from your score, even if you get them right? Why are these people so secretive about how this exam is scored? Makes it feel like such a scam.
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The experimental questions are not graded, afaik. Depending on the number of corrects you have, the score is scaled to the nearest SD, and if you are above the passing % for this exam, then you pass. Otherwise, you get a 74 or lower.

Regardless, you guys are done for now, Congrats! Go out, eat, meet people and prepare for interviews.
 
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I used Watkins, Prism, and BoardVitals. I think I passed, but most of it comes down to luck. I had at least 10 questions that were repeated or asked the same thing. No matter how much I study for these tests, I feel like I'm not using my podiatry knowledge as much as my ability to eliminate wrong answers.
 
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Is there a certain section where there is generally more experimental questions, and likewise a section where there is likely the least amount of experimental questions?
 
Biomechanics.jpg
 
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Robin-jay said:
Is there a certain section where there is generally more experimental questions, and likewise a section where there is likely the least amount of experimental questions?
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It changes every year, just like any other standardized board exam. I can see them going hard on Biomechanics this year...there has been a lot of talk about the schools not preparing students enough in the area.

IMO, for biomechanics and its clinical aspects, all you need is Dr. Richie's book.
 
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Does anyone know when the results come out?
 
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blessed.pod said:
How did you feel about the exam??
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I feel the same way I felt about part 1. felt like I did horrible but passed the first round on part 1 so hopefully the same for part 2. The stats are in our favor. I felt like I should have studied ossification centers more and biomechanics better but I did my best and if I have to retest ill know what to focus on. hopefully everyone passes
 
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Less than a week. I hope we all pass so I can keep watching my Netflix series and movies.
 
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Had a lot of BMX on my exam and Radiology dense...do you know if there are 50 trial questions and they are automatically dropped from the score? Also is it true there are multiple versions of the exam on the same date?.. how do they compare students and decide? Hoping we all passed.
 
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Hanuman1234567 said:
Had a lot of BMX on my exam and Radiology dense...do you know if there are 50 trial questions and they are automatically dropped from the score? Also is it true there are multiple versions of the exam on the same date?.. how do they compare students and decide? Hoping we all passed.
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Definitely multiple version of the test. Because for my exam I did not see a single EKG question and another classmates said he had about 2-4 on his.
 
Does anyone know how many questions to get right to be safe? Like maybe over 100 questions or 150? What if someone gets most of the 50 questions they drop right?
 
Reverdin green said:
Does anyone know how many questions to get right to be safe? Like maybe over 100 questions or 150? What if someone gets most of the 50 questions they drop right?
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No one knows. Rumors I heard for Part 1 was ~65% was needed to pass. I have to imagine if you get the questions they drop correct they won't let it hurt your overall score. The whole purpose of the pilot questions is to see how students do on them, so they're definitely going to be graded. And if dropping 50 questions ends up lowering your score, that would be incredibly unfair.

Then again, this is Prometric/NBPME we're talking about haha.
 
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LebronJrsFutureDoc said:
No one knows. Rumors I heard for Part 1 was ~65% was needed to pass. I have to imagine if you get the questions they drop correct they won't let it hurt your overall score. The whole purpose of the pilot questions is to see how students do on them, so they're definitely going to be graded. And if dropping 50 questions ends up lowering your score, that would be incredibly unfair.

Then again, this is Prometric/NBPME we're talking about haha.
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I swear I only got a 55-60% correct on Part 1 when I passed.

I always feel like students overestimated how much they actually got right. I remembered about 190 questions out of 205 from part 1 and so I think it's accurate to say I think it's possible to pass with 55-60% correct, but simultaneously I didn't know which questions were experimental and which weren't, so perhaps 65% is reasonable if you took them out of the equation.

Hanuman1234567 said:
Had a lot of BMX on my exam and Radiology dense...do you know if there are 50 trial questions and they are automatically dropped from the score? Also is it true there are multiple versions of the exam on the same date?.. how do they compare students and decide? Hoping we all passed.
Click to expand...

What's BMX?
 
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Robin-jay said:
I swaer I only got a 55-60% correct on Part 1 when I passed.

I always feel like students overestimated how much they actually got right. I remembered about 190 questions out of 205 from part 1 and so I think it's accurate to say I think it's possible to pass with 55-60% correct, but simultaneously I didn't know which questions were experimental and which weren't, so perhaps 65% is reasonable if you took them out of the equation.



What's BMX?
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Biomechanics probably
 
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Bored Snorlax said:
Good luck! Statistically speaking, more people pass part 2 (>90%) than part 1 on the 1st attempt.
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I don't know if I trust these stats. I swear it felt more like 75% passed part 1 first try, so I had a feeling when the school starts with its statistics, it's misleading. Perhaps they said pass rates were >90% for all 1st, 2nd, and 3rd attempts at part 1. Not just first pass. And they might not consider people in the statistic at all who drop out due to boards.

Long story short, I don't trust school stats anymore for things. They always seem off.

I knew 3 people that failed boards part 2 first attempt, and those were just people in my semi-circle in the year above me. 1 of them passed the second attempt. 1 of them passed the third attempt. I think the last one actually graduated failing boards part 2 after three times and had to wait the following year to try and match.

I think at least 10 people failed part 2 on first attempt in the class above me if I knew personally 3 that failed. It's highly unlikely that those 3 were anywhere close to the only 3.

My point is that you can't ever sleep on boards, and school statistics are likely heavily manipulated to show the highest possible percentage of pass rates without being blatantly dishonest.
 
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Does anyone know what time it comes out on Wednesday?
 
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What actually happens to someone who fails twice? Can the person still take in May and graduate? Or they get pulled out of the match and wait a year to match?
 
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Programmatic Outcomes | CPME

www.cpme.org www.cpme.org

Yes, part 1 has a terrible pass rate (1st time taker). Part 2 is better; programmatic outcome above.

I agree never underestimate any board exams.
Robin-jay said:
I don't know if I trust these stats. I swear it felt more like 75% passed part 1 first try, so I had a feeling when the school starts with its statistics, it's misleading. Perhaps they said pass rates were >90% for all 1st, 2nd, and 3rd attempts at part 1. Not just first pass. And they might not consider people in the statistic at all who drop out due to boards.

Long story short, I don't trust school stats anymore for things. They always seem off.

I knew 3 people that failed boards part 2 first attempt, and those were just people in my semi-circle in the year above me. 1 of them passed the second attempt. 1 of them passed the third attempt. I think the last one actually graduated failing boards part 2 after three times and had to wait the following year to try and match.

I think at least 10 people failed part 2 on first attempt in the class above me if I knew personally 3 that failed. It's highly unlikely that those 3 were anywhere close to the only 3.

My point is that you can't ever sleep on boards, and school statistics are likely heavily manipulated to show the highest possible percentage of pass rates without being blatantly dishonest.
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Reverdin green said:
What actually happens to someone who fails twice? Can the person still take in May and graduate? Or they get pulled out of the match and wait a year to match?
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Depends on the school. Everyone has a 6 year deadline to graduate despite a few exceptions. All of that info can be found in the student handbook which varies from one school to another.
 
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blessed.pod said:
I felt like I went into this exam very prepared (BV, 2005 and 2008 practice exams, Prometric practice exams, Crozer and McGlamry Anesthesia anki cards, also reviewing board-prep lectures that my school provided) and after taking the exam I felt like a$$. I felt more confident after taking Part 1 that I had a fighting chance at passing. I wish I could say the same after Part 2 today. There were so many random questions. It felt like trivia questions. From my exam and what most of my classmates and co-externs said they all felt like their exam was heavy Biomechanics. Maybe the theme for this year’s Part 2 exam was BIOMECHANICS, BIOMECHANICS, BIOMECHANICS!

For some of those random questions nothing in Prism or Crozer would help.

Is it true that if you just give it just “a lil effort” you can still pass part 2? I’ve heard from residents that they know of people that failed…only because they didn’t jack s*** or gave no effort at all in studying…
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Bored Snorlax said:

Programmatic Outcomes | CPME

www.cpme.org www.cpme.org

Yes, part 1 has a terrible pass rate (1st time taker). Part 2 is better; programmatic outcome above.

I agree never underestimate any board exams.




Depends on the school. Everyone has a 6 year deadline to graduate despite a few exceptions. All of that info can be found in the student handbook which varies from one school to another.
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Hi, Please anyone advice on What is the best way to study to pass PART I & II?
let me know other than BV, Hershey, Pocket Podiatrics by Watkins, Pearl of Wisdom for ( PART II), any notes or materials that anyone can share here or email me as an attachment?
 
Rush DPM said:
Hi, Please anyone advice on What is the best way to study to pass PART I & II?
let me know other than BV, Hershey, Pocket Podiatrics by Watkins, Pearl of Wisdom for ( PART II), any notes or materials that anyone can share here or email me as an attachment?
Click to expand...

Class notes, BV questions, Watkins, and any old exams are enough to pass these exams.
 
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NYCPM already emailed students and had 94% pass rate.
 
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drbeebee said:
I passed, by the grace of God.

For what it’s worth, here is what I did. As always, students, take this with a grain of salt.

- My most serious studying this year was in preparation for OR days on externships and for student presentations. Orthobullets, MedScape and Radiopaedia were my BFFs. I focused more on understanding the “cause and effect” of pathology, altered biomechanics, osteotomies and tendon transfers.
- Haphazardly reviewed Crozer during externships. Classifications are easy points on the exam.
- Started BoardVitals about 6 weeks prior to exam, finished all the questions by the week of the exam. I did all of the easy questions first, then medium, then hard. I marked all of the questions I got wrong and reviewed them a few times.
- Skimmed the APMA clinical review book. The radiology section was helpful.

What I would do differently:
- TAKE DECEMBER OFF TO STUDY IF YOU CAN.
- I should have I reviewed the gait cycle and normal biomechanics in a more structured way. Those were the questions that I felt like I was guessing on. (which muscles are firing when and why, especially).
- Should have started reviewing Medicine way earlier. The breadth of material is insane.
- I wish I had started reading the APMA clinical review sooner. Definitely hanging on to that one for Part III.
- Should have started BVs at least a month sooner

My stats, since these apparently make some students feel better:
- 3.3 GPA. No course failures.
- approx. 50th percentile of my class
- APMLE part 1: passed first attempt

Worked as tutor in biochem, biomechanics, radio, pharm, micro and surgery. Being a tutor is an awesome way to stay sharp. You get paid to study.
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Hell yeah. Congratulations!
 
feetornah said:
wow that's awesome. my school doesn't email us unless we email them first asking for our result
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They said it’s preliminary review and it’s subject to change. Not sure why they would be quick to email students outcome when results are subject to change. Makes no sense
 
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