FragileX
Forum Junior
Topics: 6
Posts: 13
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Hey guys, I'm sort of new here (as you can tell by my post count), but I figured posting my Exam Experience would help anyone who wants to read it.
I took the exam 8:30am-4:30pm and I used just about the whole time. It's 5:30pm now and I am tired but I wanted to post this so it comes off exactly like I currently feel. Everyone always says the exam is "doable" and I guess that's kind of how I feel too... except... I dunno, there were a lot of surprises. Things I hadn't heard of it and even if I studied for 15 years, probably still wouldn't have been able to answer correctly with confidence. I just tried my best to reason it out and hoped that some of those were experimental questions or questions they would throw out. I've heard they throw out about 5 questions per block, it would be great if they threw out 5 questions I got wrong each time. 
Unlike other test-takers, I would say my exam was pretty well-rounded if I try to give an unbiased opinion. Examples: "I'm thinking there was more Neuro, but that's probably just because I'm weak in Neuro compared to everything else". "I would also say there was a lot of Histo, but I know that isn't true, it's just the Histo that was on the test was difficult and thus I remember it more." Bottom line, my test was pretty spread out in all the subjects.
I usually don't mark many questions when I do exams, but I found myself marking "too many" on this one. I just never felt too confident in my answer(s). I guess you can reference retroviridae's post for what I mean.
http://www.prep4usmle.com/community/topic9349.htm...
[It's almost exactly how I felt on the test and feel now.]
For the most part, I tried to go with my gut instinct. Later on, I marked fewer questions because I just knew I wasn't going to change my answer anyways.
I think the most important thing in this test is not to get discouraged. Block 3-6, I was almost shooting in the dark on the 1st question. Pick an answer that you think makes sense and move on. Don't let it stress you out or get you down.
Block breakdown: I feel I did pretty ok on the first two blocks, then blocks 3-6 were not so nice to me, and then block 7 seemed more manageable. Of course that's just my feelings and I have no idea what that actually means in terms of my score. Perhaps I had most of my experimental questions in blocks 3-6? (I hope so)
Time: was it a factor? It wasn't for me, but I can see how it might be. I was blessed with the ability to read quickly (my mom made me read A LOT of books when I was kid) so I usually finish practice blocks of 50 with 20-30 minutes left. However, on the real exam, I found myself with 5-10 minutes after each block. Make sure you keep an eye on the clock, check at question 10, 20 and 40 (like Kaplan says).
Difficulty: "what everyone wants to know" It was slightly more difficult than the NBME assessment tests, but the question style is very different from say Qbank or anywhere else. Also, the USMLE CD is not as difficult in comparison to the real exam. The real test focuses more on concepts rather than "did you memorize this fact?".
The NBME assessment is very similar to the real test... what makes the real test HARDER is all these "where did this question come from?" kind of questions, which I hope are experimental. My thinking is the NBME assessment are the "tried and true" questions, all 200 of them, which is why they can give you a 500 mean and 100 SD. The real test doesn't have clear cut stuff like that because of the experimental questions and other questions which may be dropped. Like I said before, those questions are enough to throw you off your game, and I guess that's why Kaplan makes a big deal of "Choose an answer and move on."
I think Qbank is great for understanding the format of the questions as well as testing information, but the style is different enough such that you should not rely solely on it. I find the Qbank questions and Kaplan questions in general to be too picky in comparison to the real test. But like I said before, the real test is conceptually much more difficult. By the end of the day, your brain is pretty much mush.
Problems: There was at least one or two questions each block which made me want to tear out my hair. It was like, I know what they were getting at, but I couldn't remember the relation. It really made me mad, almost like I could SEE it on a page of First Aid, but couldn't make out the words because they were blurry. *sigh*
Other Oddities: Interestingly I got the same question in two different blocks, the only difference was one picture labeled the structures and the other picture did not, but the question was the same. I wonder what that was about eh?
Advice: My very very humble advice is to please STUDY EVERYTHING. The points will be made (or lost) in the subject you are weak in. Your weak subject is the HIGHEST of the HIGH YIELD.
Thanks to: Everyone on this board, especially retroviridae and nuprin for their encouraging posts about their exam experiences and their excellent scores. Also, lvspro for making that excellent "Correlation" post between various question banks and actual scores, it helped me to figure out "where I stand."
Final Words: I studied really hard for four months. I was hoping to have a score somewhere in the realm of retroviridae, nuprin or lvspro, but right now, post-exam, I don't feel too confident in my performance on my test. All I can do now is hope for a good score. [-o<
For more background on what I studied, go here:
at 3 weeks: http://www.prep4usmle.com/community/topic14134.ht...
at 2 weeks: http://www.prep4usmle.com/community/topic14432.ht...
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask and I'll try my best to respond. Good luck to all other test takers!
-FragileX
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| adeelmd
Forum Elite
Topics: 40
Posts: 402
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thanks for your post... I am going to take this exam on tuesday... I just did nbme2 and got the same score your did (590), and like you I thought it was A LOT harder than nbme 1... I went into it hopeing to crack 600 but by the time i was done I would have been greatful for a passing score! I didn't know the exam was available on saturday, anyways I like you fair assessment... It's kind of annoying, when someone says their exam is all anat, and then you start emphasizing that in your studies, and then someone says something else.. and it all gets very hectic. I am sure you will get a killer score, it's actually good to know that the real test might actually feel harder than the nbme, but don't doubt those correlations... and especially if you "Triangulate" it with qbank; then it's very unlikely that you will even get in the low nineties, let alone in the eighties. The one thing i never got around to really studying was first aid, which hopefully might end up being a good thing because I spend all my review time trying to find out stuff i don't know, or don't remember... cause i don't really have one neat little review book.
did you get a lot of nbme questions that were just rephrased or asked?? their are too many similarites between the two tests, and I wonder if that carried over; and same with the usmle sample cd.... (i found those questions to be a little more factual than I thought they'd be)... anyway YOU DID IT; SO RELAX....
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where i lay my head is home.
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| FragileX
Forum Junior
Topics: 6
Posts: 13
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You sound exactly like me... when I got 540 on the first one, I set my sights on a 600 on the second one. After finishing the last question on the NBME-2 I was just hoping to stay above 500, I thought it was so much more difficult than the NBME-1.
It's difficult for me to triangulate with my qbank scores (which were poor) because I started doing qbank before I started studying which kind of affected my overall percentage, and then I went back and did the ones I got wrong, which also changed my percentage, so yea.
I can't remember getting any paraphrased or similar questions to the NBME, but after doing so many questions they kind of all just mix around in my head and I don't know what came from what anymore. The same goes for the USMLE CD too... I would say the questions are as straight forward (direct) as the USMLE CD, but more conceptual. The NBME Assessments are probably still the best in terms of recreation of the "style of question".
After relaxing after my test today I can think of at least 5 questions I got wrong because I changed the answers or was thinking too hard to make an answer choice into the right answer. *sigh* hopefully things will still work out for me.
-FragileX
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| drdubai
Forum Newbie
Topics: 6
Posts: 19
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first of all ,thank god i found this site!! im an IMG n have sent my
application for apr-jun step 1 test period,imdoin pharma lecture
notes,almost done,then wil do anatomy n behav sciences,thats my first
ever read thru!! im doin FA along with the lecture notes n makin my
additions into the lecture books as i go along.i think u r extremely
considerate for tellin us ur exam experience so soon after cos thats
exactly wat i need to do or i forget it within hours!! also ill do QBANKS
online in mar along with FA only,but how many times do i do lecture
notes b4 the exam? also, any tips on wat to do in the exam,lik ppl wrote
lab values on the extra paper given n saved time that way...also do u
think i have enuff time n wat sort of study schedule should i follow, as
u can c,im new to all this n completely on my own as all my friends from
med school r really far away, last question is by when shld u have given
step2 n CS to make the 2006 MATCH?
thanx again for ur post about ur exam experience.
drdubai
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| MLF
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 386
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Congrats on being done fragileX, i am sure you did fine, personally, there really is no way how you did after an exam like this, but have faith, and you will rock it. Good luck!
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"Support bacteria, its the only culture some people got."
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| adeelmd
Forum Elite
Topics: 40
Posts: 402
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I thought i would go over the usmle cd, but I really don't see the point anymore... those questions were pretty easy, and in my opinion, if they haven't been changed in so many years.... then what's the point ...... i dunno.... i'm done wit studying.. =)
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where i lay my head is home.
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| FragileX
Forum Junior
Topics: 6
Posts: 13
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dr. dubai: To address your question of "how many times" to read through the notes, that is a completely person-dependent question. I took the Kaplan course, so I read the notes prior to viewing the lectures. Then later I read through them again (at a much quicker speed). Others read it more than 3 times. I think the real answer is, read until you feel "comfortable" with the material in the kaplan books. You can't know everything, but TRY. As for exam tips, whenever I had a question I marked, I wrote something down as to why I chose an answer (to deter myself from changing it later). I think if I had stuck to my original answers more, I would have done better. As for "enough time", it appears you're on a 3 month schedule which seems just fine, my advice is to set a reasonable date and try very hard to keep that date. Working toward a visualized goal allows for better focus I think. I really don't know the answer to your match question. You should probably ask that question in the Step 2 forum, they would know better.
MLF: thanks for your kind words, I'll try to have faith and hope for the best.
adeelmd: some people have remembered seeing anywhere from 0-6 questions from the USMLE CD repeated. I, however, did not have any repeated. Remember, my take on the test is just one of the many exam experiences people have, and each person's test is different.
-FragileX
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