Wrote Step I, my thoughts on my prep and the actual exam

[Psoralin]

It's been one week since I wrote Step I. After you put so much work into something it feels like a waste not to share any of my experience so I'm therapeutically putting it down in this post haha

My Prep for Step I:

I'm an IMG so getting a good mark on this test was really important. I started studying in June by basically memorizing my First Aid while doing practice questions. When I needed to supplement anything I turned to the Kaplan vids and notes.

I went through three q-banks fully. I personally thought Kaplan was the worst by far. URx was what I started with and it was a good way to review First Aid but the questions were not as good as those from UWorld which I did third and closest to my test date.

In the days leading up to my test I reviewed all the UWorld Educational Objectives which was a great way for a fast high yield review.

By far the biggest help were the practice NBME's with feedback because it really helps you determine if your prep is paying off. Two weeks out from the test date I was getting 630/252 so it really helped my confidence.

The Test:

I was very surprised at how direct many questions on the exam were. You're almost lead to believe that each question will require two-step thinking but many were very straight forward. Some of these questions were disguised in big long clinical vignettes which is really annoying in my personal opinion. I don't feel I really get more out of it, and it's just a waste of time but whatever, I digress.

I was ready for the formulas which I think can save you a LOT of time. Memorize them short term if you have to and write them down before you start your test. I would say the most "difficult" questions were pathophys with the arrows because there can always be one value you're not entirely sure on etc. But again, most were very straight forward.

Otherwise your standard mix.

I am extremely nervous to find out my score and really hope all the hard work pays off. Good luck to anybody reading this about to take your test. I think being confident you know the material helps you relax and write a better test. If you're not ready, and you're not getting the mark you want on the practice NBME's do yourself a favour and postpone it.

Now I'm off to kill some more brain cells on my vacation!

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[Psoralin]

I forgot to mention that I reviewed my Goljan RR Pathology book - I absolutely love this book

 

[lakerfan38]

How do you use question banks to go over first aid. Do you read the sections and then do questions? I did that with Micro and Immuno, but as I'm moving into Pharm and systems, the questions by topics option offered in the q banks encompass topics covered throughout First Aid.

 

[thepoopologist]

So in your opinion how did the actual exam questions compare to

1. USMLERx
2. UWorld


Next question, how much of what you saw on the actual exam was in FA itself?

 

[je355804]

Goljan is fricking awesome. If you can read that book and listen to the goljan audio, that's a huge boost. My school was HORRID at teaching the Aa gradient for instance. After I read RR I was a master of it...

My pathophys has improved 10-fold after reading RR.

 

[jfgavina]

congrats in your future score

 

[sineapse]

So in your opinion how did the actual exam questions compare to

1. USMLERx
2. UWorld


Next question, how much of what you saw on the actual exam was in FA itself?

Sat the exam Sept. 7th so fairly recently.

>95% of it was in FA + USMLE World imo

 

[Torquer]

which nbmes did you do?

 

[Psoralin]

I did all of the NBME's that had expanded feedback plus one that didn't and the comprehensive my school made me take so in total I did six.

I would say that between 90-95% of the test information could be found in First Aid and UWorld for sure.

I felt the test itself was actually MUCH easier for the most part than UWorld questions. I think this is because UWorld is designed to be challenging throughout whereas the USMLE is designed to have questions from every difficulty level so if you have studied really hard you will find a number of them to be very easy.

I don't feel the q-banks really recreate test questions that well, they are more of a learning tool and practice to help you get used to sitting for hours at a time answering questions in an efficient way. The best representation of what the USMLE is actually like is by far the practice CBS NBME's.

For anybody doing question banks right now I highly suggest doing them timed vs. tutor so that you can get a feel for how long on average you take per question and also work out any strategies you might have for test day.

For example, I personally immediately skipped a question the second I saw up and down arrows or more than 5 lab values. I quickly answered all the more direct questions and then would go back confident that I had ample time to figure out the Pathophys which most of the time was not hard to do. This allowed me to be calm while trying to figure out the answers and not make stupid mistakes rushing to save time.

Everybody has their own style but it's important to figure that out well in advance.

 

[Psoralin]

And I used the q-banks to help me learn my First Aid by having it open when reviewing my q-bank answers and adding any supplemental notes into the book. This turned my First Aid into the only text I really needed over the summer with the odd read here or there from First Aid notes, BRS Phys or my Goljan. Other than that I say it's First Aid all the way and you're crazy not to spend hours memorizing the info in that book

I also developed a system where if something came up in a question from a q-bank I would highlight it in my First Aid - by the time I was done >90% of my book was highlighted.

 

[JimmyChitwood]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I also was wondering what some have asked above.

I will definitely use UWorld come dedicated study time in the spring, but for now, which Qbank would you use to just go over questions as you review material? I've heard kaplan is ok and people say usmleRx isn't bad, but if anyone has any definitive answers they would be much appreciated. I know Kaplan's Qbank is good for 1 year, so that is definitely a plus. The price isn't terrible, either.

 

[jfgavina]

I hate kaplan, terrible. Not only because I got bad %s there but because questions are terribly written comparing to UW.

 

[sineapse]

which nbmes did you do?

Didn't do any.

 

[jfgavina]

Lol