berkeleyboy
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so I took my exam today. First I have to thank all my pals in the journal forum who have helped me thru this. Here's how my day went. Had 7 hours of sleep. ate a solid breakfast and headed out to the test center. I used the entire time and all my breaks. I thought the test was really tough. I thought it was harder than nbme, alot harder. Not straight foward at all. I had a good mixture of all the subjects, nothing was over represented. Except maybe the pathophys that had a lot of cardio and renal pathphys, which I was weak at. I also had a lot of pictures. Not too many CTs or MRIs --> alot of diagrams, drawings, and slides. I had about 10 embryo Qs which I was not prepared for, I just totally guessed. ANyways, first block was tough, I probably had about 10 questions I didn't know completely and 5 problems where I picked between 2 answers choices. I wasn't really feeling too bad at this point. Blocks 2 and 3 were easier, I knew a lot more and probably guessed on only 10Qs and nailed a good 35-40 questions per block. The rest of test destroyed me. I felt like I was guessing on about half the questions. Many I had no clue or never heard of in the kaplan readings. Others I had remembered reading but couldn't exactly remember the details since I read it a while back. Overall I felt kaplan covered about 70% of the material on my test. There were so many Qs I had no clue and had to guess completely randomly.....honestly, if it wasn't for a high nbme1 score I and that "suppossed correlation" I would feel like I failed right now. I had to think a lot on this test...it wasn't just straight memorization and regurg but there was some of that too. I'll go subject wise and write down what I remember. Keep in mind my test was fairly equal in all subjects, only path/pathophys was heavily tested over all the other subjects
PHARM
I had some difficult pharm with graphs where you had to know what the drug did....example....
adding drug X does this, adding drug Y does this, what is drug X and Y?
I had about 4 Qs like that, pretty hard. I didn't have time to figure them out so I just blindly quessed and moved on. The rest were fairly straight foward...
PATH/PATHOPHYS
a lot of cardio, murmurs 4Qs(did my usual, narrow it down to systolic and diastolic murmurs and quessed). pictures of some heart stuff couldn't figure it out, I wish I re-read heart over before I took this thing
there was kid with diarreah and they asked what type of fluids to administer him in the form of how much glucose, bicarb, Na, but the thing is you had to know it with numbers like 800 glucose, 90 Na, 50Bicarb, had no clue so I just guessed randomly.
a few Renin AngioII questions where you pick renin goes up, aldosterone down, no change...you know the whole arrow thing
overall path was pretty hard, guessed on a lot, harder than Qbank I thought
MICRO/immuno
very straight foward, endotoxin for G-ve seemed to be an answer for about 3 questions for me
there was one bug I had never heard of in my life, and it asked what the mech of action of the toxin was....had no clue just quessed.
PHYS
not much straight physio, got incorporated with path.
Behav/biostats
I got about 10 calculations, prevelence, mean, and attribute rate were the easy ones, but there were some hard sensitivity specificity Qs where there was 1-specificity on the X axis and sensitivy on the Y axis and they wanted to know which one made the best diagnostic test....as usual just quessed.
all the behavioral was like what would you say to the pt. in this senario
basically like in kaplan qbank where as usual I narrow it down to 2 and just quess
Anatomy/neuro/embryo/histo
I was really scared for gross, but they were pretty easy.
Neuro was tough, lots of where is the lesion showing pix of the brain, and clinical scenerios of guy with loss of senses here there everywhere,
what blood vessel is damaged? stuff like that....guessed a lot in neuro
seriosly by block 4 I had so many gay questions where I had no clue, I was getting pretty discouraged. By my later blocks I didn't know about half the questions in each block....I'm pretty pissed off right now actually...but I really feel like even another month of studying wouldn't have prepared me for this test. There are just some things that I would have never looked for while studying or kaplan didn't cover in their books that were on the exam. there were alot of things I forgot, that I knew a couple of weeks ago....sucks but thats the way it goes I guess... I should have just taken the exam a couple of weeks ago after my nbme, I think it would have been better.
Biochem/genetics/molecular
not much genetics maybe 2-3 questions.
molecular was hard as shit. tricky biochem, experiments, graphs charts, I had a few pathways maybe 10Qs. There were a bunch of Qs I had no clue on and as usual I just quessed.
As a general consensus, I wish I had looked at more pictures and diagrams, there were a lot of questions I knew the answer I just didn't know what it looked like in a picture, slide, diagram.....missed a lot of these for exam...locate osteoblast on slide? The question wouldn't say this exactly but after figuring out they want you to locate the osteoblast, I had no clue what it looked like. I guess I should of looked at more embryo...had about 10 Qs which were mainly in the form of pics but I just guessed randomly again....
If I could study over, I would still use kaplan, go thru their books 2X and write down all the high yield in FA and keep reading that sucker over and over again while doing like 150Q a day. I think more Qs would have helped me...
I think doing Qbank, Qbook, nms, bss, blackwell, all the diff. types of questions you can get your hands on would be a plus. I should have done more Qs.... towards the end, I was just reading and re-reading a lot.
Anyways, I hope this helps
ooh I remember another one I guessed at....looking it up...and damn missed it
Anyways, my test was hard, very random, I'm just hoping the nbme correlation works out, my scores are good Qbank 76% completed 77% cumulative
NBME1 = 640
But I might be the first one who score way below the nbme correlation....anyways, I'm out...
ask me questions if you want to
Berk
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PGY-1 Ohio State University Plastic Surgery
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| pray4md
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 124
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haha, berk that is some crazy shit dude. yo, i head into bed right now. i got mine tomorrow as you know. bro, dont worry, supposedly they drop mad questions on that exam, and its on a curve, so if it was tricky for you, then it must be tricky for EVERYONE. take pride in your scores in nbme and qbank and let that put you at ease until you get your scores. im sure your real score will show it, even though u guessed on a lot.
dude, i hear EVERYONE has this feeling. i have only heard one person say they came out of that test feeling decent, but thats some bullshit. dude, on nbme 2, i felt like i bombed and i did better. who knows dude, these curves are wack as hell. bro, you did your best and god is with you. like you said, if you taken one more month, what could u have done, probably just more of teh same? and im sure EVERYONE is in that boat. so bro, i have faith in you.
bro, i got my test tomorrow. pray for me hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahaha, holy shit im going down ahahaha. dude, i feel that way too, like i should have taken it last week as i was hitting shit for it to be fresh in my head. now i feel like its about one week old right now. fuck man!!! well, pray for me hard. everyone on this forum pray for me like a motherfoo!!! ok guys, im off to bed....
-p4md
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| JS
Forum Senior
Topics: 16
Posts: 95
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Hi berkeleyboy,
Thankyou for detailed exam experience.It is very helpful.It seems you have done pretty well.I need to ask 3 Qs:
1) Did you use Goljan's Audios ? How many times did you listen those audios?
2) You wrote about guessing lots of qs in real test ..did you have same experience during NBME 1 ? Were you familiar with NBME qs before taking that or all qs were new ( never heard kind of ! ) in NBME too ?
3) Did you find any repeat qs from any source?What do you think is the best source for practicing qs? Any idea about Kaplan's Physiology qbank ?
Thanks in advance.You are very helpful in Forum.
JS
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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I will pray for you dog. And don't worry about tommorrow. Taking the test is fine, if you know the answer, you know it, its just that simple. The one's you don't know and they'll be a ton bro...just guess and move on. Don't be gay like me and dwell on questions you have on clue on.
JS -->
I only listened to 10 goljan audios one time, I found out about them late and for the ones that I did listen to, they didn't help me at all.
I thought all the questions I did were good. I really like bss but qbank is def. the best. If i had to study again I would use nms, bss, appelton &lange and qbank,book.
you know what, when I did nbme1 I knew I was doing well. This is not the same feeling I got from nbme, I thought it was a lot harder and a lot more thinking. I did see some of the same type of Qs from nbme.
Good luck -d
Berk
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PGY-1 Ohio State University Plastic Surgery
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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when I took nbme I knew I was doing well when taking the exam. But the real thing I took today was a completely diff. story. I felt like I was fighting the exam, struggling to get thru questions. Dwelling on questions I had no clue on. even more struggling to get thru the graphs, charts, experiments....overall not a good experience at all
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PGY-1 Ohio State University Plastic Surgery
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hi berk
its over now.dont feel so bad.i heard many people feel like the same what you are going thru now.but you know many ended up in 90's and even more....99's.
you will definetly hit 99....i'm sure about it.your hardwork will pay off and till today everyone's nbme correlation never went wrong....
so now its time to get out of these books and enjoy.so go ahead.
all my wishes are with you for a very great score...
bye
~kiran.
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| wombat
Forum Guru
Topics: 22
Posts: 304
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Hey Berk,
Now you are done. Don't worry about those hard Qs. Kaplan strategy lecture said making you feeling bad during the exam is part of test makers' plan. There are people feeling they will fail after the exam but get 99. I don't think anyone can truly estimate how they did during the exam anyway. So don't let these bad feelings ruin you. I still think it's the basic Qs that determine your final score, rather than those hard perhaps even experimental ones. Cheer up and go out enjoy the life. 
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| Curve
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 9
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Yo Berk dude,
I also did the exam yesterday, i am still runing Qs through my head affraid to know wether i was right or wrong. What u described is exactly what i felt. i had a filling of knowing shit after the exam. a lot of guessing and much less secured Q - not like my prep exams.
I can assure you that the failure feeling is very common. you remember the Q you didnt know more vivdly and they tend to pop up first in your mind, thus amplify your bad feeling.
Cheer up, go party, and: Repress, Repress, Repress !
Curve
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| ganglion
Forum Newbie
Topics: 2
Posts: 8
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Hi, I felt miserable until I read your post, I had similar experience and am still waiting for my score. My test is also much harder than NBME. I finished each of the 4 blocks of NBME with 10-15 minutes left but in my step 1 I just managed to finish each block with the time given. There were a lot questions I wish I could have more time to think over.
My NBME score is not as great as yours, it is such a relief the see people with high NBME scores can also feel bad about the exam. And who says the questions never repeat? I also got the cluster headache question in my test...
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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I was kicking myself in the ass while taking my test for not looking up answers during nbme. I saw like 2-3 questions on resp. sounds. (hyperessonant, no breath sounds, tactile fremitus....had no clue again and just quessed) and this was on nbme! Also the murmurs, I should of paid more attention to, kaplan didn't really put much focus on them but there were murmurs on nbme....damit.
Well I hope you guys are right in that the bad exam experience won't equal a bad score. Its hard to put these two together. When I was in med school, I knew when I destoyed tests. There is just a feeling I get when I'm taking an exam. This exam truly took all my pride and ego left in me after 3 months of prep and threw it out the window.
And curve, I too am thinking about all my unsure questions and am afraid to look them up. I did look up a about 6 now and found 5/6 to be right which makes me feel better. I think I should just stop now while I'm ahead. I can't believe that I got the 2 hard ass line-weaver burk plots on my exam. They were not straight foward at all. They had me try to remember what the drug was (I forget now) but I had to know if it was a competitive or non competitive drug after just given the drug name and pick which curve it corresponds to on the line weaver burk plot. If it wasn't for me reading pharm and looking at the burk weaver plot (the only biochem I looked at the day before), I would have been screwed.
To ganglion--> I too wish I had more time. I didn't have any time to go back and review my marked. but you know what? I dont' really think it makes a difference. I usually end up choosing the wrong answer after changing it anyways. Your prolly better off with your first choice unless of course you did not understand the question stem when you first read the problem. This is my experience from the 5000+ Qs I used to prepare for the exam.
My friends kiran and wombat. Thanks for the congratulations on being done. I woke up at 11:30am today...hahah.... nice
but I woke up thinking about Qs I got wrong. not nice
I hope the coma I'm going to be in from all the alchohol I drink starting tonight will help me forget. Thats right! I'm going staight to the bottle to bury my sorrows....but don't worry, I won't be driving!
I still can't believe that I was fighting the exam so much. Thanks again you two for being there for me. It was a very difficult time in my life and I don't think I could have done it without my new friends in this forum.
All the best wombat for step 2....what are using by the way? kaplan again? I'm thinking about picking up the books and reading them while I'm doing my rotations so I'll be studying all year and when time comes to take it, I can just do Qbank, nbme, read the notes a couple more times and just take the test in like 4-6 weeks. I refuse to repeat what I did for this exam. Its just taken too much out of my life. I can't live life like this. If I had just prepared while I was going thru med school and taken this test maybe with 8 weeks of studying I could of just taken it more lightly and rolled with it. Well too late now, I tried my very best. I've never studied harder for anything in my life before...all we can do is try our best right?
Berk
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| nikidy
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dear berkeleyboy
what does bss stands for?would you please explain again those questions sources ?
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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made by lippincott and williams. pretty good question source about 3800 Qs but secondary to qbank of course.
Its on cd and it works almost like the qbank in style.
bERk
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| Curve
Forum Newbie
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Hey Berki,
I can relate to this feeling of knowing answers by mere touch of luck, just because u accidantly read this stuf on the short term memory time-frame. i had a few Qs like that. like the one with Aniline dyes and Bladder Ca - God knows how did i managed to connect them (and was right about about it !)/
your detailed stream of associations right after the test is imprresive, you have a descriptive talent.
I am affraid you will have times in the future with bigger chalnges than this exam, soon it will be a vague mamory, no more.
Good Luck
Curve
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| berkeleyboy
Forum Elite
Topics: 15
Posts: 361
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but my short term memory is pretty good. I can't say the same for my long term. Even if I did the question i did in qbank I could still miss it on the real thing if I did it over a couple of weeks ago.
Anyways, I've been thinking about answers and questions all day, its crazy but I do remember a lot of questions, man I can't believe I didn't know that much on the exam, I felt like I was blanking out left and right. Whatevers tho, I'm super glad I did nbme now, I was planning on not doing it, until my friend wombat told me to. My nbme score is the only thing making me feel better during this time of waiting. Had I not taken nbme, I would feel like I completely failed the exam and would prolly be studying again right now.
bErk
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| niti
Forum Guru
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Posts: 499
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Finally, I fixed my comp...it was not working since yesterday...oh well..I was missing so many things D now..its a releif that u did very well...but as I can see u r not feeling that way..but,here I am agree with all ... 'after exam feelings' had rarely been satisfactory in previous ex. takers & at the end everybody got high percentile..plus,your NBME score is excellent too..& I beleive in its' correlation as well... according to that u r in >97 range..so just be cool & enjoy life D
With all my best wishes for your score report...
niti
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| krushna
Forum Senior
Topics: 9
Posts: 175
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Hey Berk..cool down now!
Try to forget about exam.Enjoy now.You must have got burnt out at the end of it.
I have read other people saying same thing after exam.
I am sure you will succeed in this test with flying colors.
NBME wont be wrong.
ok..get relaxed now,i will be back to studies.I am geting nervous with the thoughts of exam. 
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| KEROCHI
Forum Guru
Topics: 60
Posts: 971
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WOW after reading all your posts it's making me soo nervous now... My friend took the test this past Monday & her test is full of pathophysio & neuroanatomay too.. Gee I feel like I have not retained anything...
Anyway... just feel free now berkelyboy.. You must feel soo tired.. Just relax but not too much alcohol... You'll do fine.. As everyone said NBME usually has a good correlation w/ the exam sooo be glad the test is over...
Good luck to you & those who have done the test this week & also to us who are still in the agony of preparing...
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| olivetta
Forum Junior
Topics: 3
Posts: 45
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Same thing here
NBME 1 = 630 3 weeks before
NBME 2 = 650 3 days before
Real test: a lot harder, I thought is't a joke, and I'm having a nightmare
I hope a pass, because it will be ridiculous, after all the studying....
I don't know, but I guess there are people that are just lucky, but yesterday was not my lucky day
And I'm not just saying that, I honestly think the test was very, very unfair.
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| Curve
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
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Olivetta !
Luck has nothing to with it. Luck is somthing we invented to explain thing beyond our cognisance.
I believe that running over and over on the prep material is worthwiling. I too have a grave feeling after the exam (i still have it) but i sencerily think that it is the intention of the test writers to confuse u and make u feel like it is the toughest exam u ever took (otherwise it would not be so intimidating). there are questions that it is just immposible to answer them or to understand them. So, remenecing on the exam and wasting good nerurons on greif and sorrow would do good.
Smile, Cheer Up and Find other things to think about.
Curve
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| pray4md
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 124
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dude, if you guys fail with those nbme scores than something is wrong.... i got 440 on nbme 1 and 510 on nbme 2, and i feel like i deserve something good at the very least. god knows what ill REALLY get. so u guys need to chear up man. no way can that test be THAT unjust.... if it is, then like i said, these test makers must be REALLY greedy and slimy people.. prayers for sure guys..
p4md
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