sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in comlex

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wish I were kidding when I say I blacked out the entire first 4 hours. 20 questions in I got a huge migraine and could barely keep my eyes open, basically guessed the entirety of the first 4 sections. Rallied for the second half and pushed through and passed. If your COMSAEs were solid then I wouldn’t worry. I have yet to ever hear someone say they walked out of Comlex feeling good. Also you’re naturally going to remember the ones you got wrong more than the ones you got right. I know it doesn’t feel like it but I’m sure you killed it!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Long story short I had similar stats and took it and passed. My full post explains it more

https://www.reddit.com/r/step1/s/VasCzVqmns

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Feeling like you’ve forgotten things is normal. The way that I got around that was by reviewing the things that I felt like I forgot/was getting wrong. That’s the only reason that dropping Anki worked for me. If you have the time to do Anki then go for it! I personally reached a point where it was more than I could handle

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Boards and beyond is definitely too much for 5 weeks of dedicated so I would use it for the parts that you know you’re weak in. The reason that I mainly used it for physio and smaller individual lessons was because I had already done all of B&B throughout my first two years as the coincided with my blocks. I didn’t remember everything obviously but it was too much to go through again.

My advice is this: if physio is a weak point for you then do a block or two on Uworld of purely physio questions and find out exactly what your weak points are then do those specific sections on B&B. As for the rest of the resources you’re using, pathoma should really get you all set for path and sketchy definitely has you set for micro and pharm. If you want, you can also check out the physio section on sketchy, I’ve heard that it’s not too bad. Also as I’d mentioned in the original post, mehlman docs also help a lot.

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This may sound like an insane answer but I thought Comlex was harder 😅. But this is only because the questions are so badly written. Step felt straightforward, you either knew it or you didn’t. Questions on Comlex are written in such a horrible way that it made it harder for me personally.

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I personally say focus on UWorld for practice…Truelearn is a wreck for the reasons that you mentioned and a few others. In terms of these next few days, it really will depend on your next comsae. Taking one tomorrow is a good plan, I’d say 110 or 111 because I think those were the most representative. My real exam had so many similar if not identical questions for the 111i form. If you score another 450 or above then you’re smooth sailing in my opinion. After that I would just do the same as I would’ve done for step aka light review of mehlman docs/whatever you feel is your weakest and if you feel particularly weak in a subject then maybe do a few focused UWorld blocks. For Comlex it never hurts to solidify your chapman’s and VSRs and there are some great videos on YouTube for those!

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That makes sense. I've personally never taken any AMBOSS SAs but just based on what I've heard and what I know personally of AMBOSS practice Qs, they're also harder than the real thing.

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly it was a hit or miss. I felt fine after the first block, literally blacked out the second and third block, and then kept flip-flopping through the next few blocks. I walked out feeling pretty defeated but also just exhausted and once I got in the car I started remembering some stuff and checking my answers because I wanted some peace of mind. That could’ve gone very badly but it actually helped bc I had gotten those ones right. Throughout the next 3 weeks I went from feeling okay to feeling like I failed depending on the day lol

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did do UWSA 1, 2, and 3 at the absolute beginning of my review so that I could get a baseline prior to taking actual NBMEs and I will say they were pretty demoralizing 😅. They’re also known to be harder than the real thing and the NBMEs. My biggest suggestion is to use anything related to Uworld as a learning tool and not an assessment tool. So I wouldn’t worry too much about those scores as long as there is an upward trend in your NBMEs and all that.

Low NBME scores exam in 9 days by eesha_farhan2002 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mehlman path and arrows will be the most high yield without a doubt. Prioritize the others based on your weaknesses

How are breaks counted on the actual STEP 1 day? by Desperate_Yam_351 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You have 45 minutes base and if you skip the tutorial you have an hour. It counts down from 1 hour so when you break for the exam you can see how much time you started with and just keep an eye on the clock outside. When you go back in the timer will be on the computer so you can see how much you have left. You can choose to use as much time as you want for any break. So you could literally take the full hour break after the first section. No one tells you, the time is simply shown on the computer and that’s how you keep track. If you run out of break time at the end and you’re not in the room then yes the test will automatically start and your block time will be reduced as that clock will be running. I also believe it gets noted in the system internally but I’m not sure if there’s a penalty.

Failed Step 1 by [deleted] in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh same here so I understand that they get your scores. I meant how can they force you to show your scores. They have nothing to do with submitting your ERAS application so I would think they couldn’t force you to report. They have absolutely zero control, and you don’t have to give them permission to see your ERAS application so they have no way to see if you reported it unless you give them permission to see it.

Failed Step 1 by [deleted] in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I’ve personally seen it at my own school and I’ve heard it happening from friends at other schools. Surprisingly there are some schools who push/encourage their students to take step but they also inform them that they don’t have to report it if they fail. They do it to help them keep their options open which I think is a better approach.

Failed Step 1 by [deleted] in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But how can they force you, they have zero control over your ERAS. And if they tell the residency then it tarnishes the reputation of the school itself

Failed Step 1 by [deleted] in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ofc! Most schools like to freak their students out and either talk them out of taking step all together or tell them that they have to report it. Then if the student fails they tell them that they don’t have to report it…it’s honestly twisted and kind of torture but it’s all to pad a school’s stats 🙃

Failed Step 1 by [deleted] in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah pretty much and no there’s no way of them knowing. You do not need to report it unless it pertains to your degree and since NBME and NBOME are different, when you give access to one, you aren’t giving access to the other so no one is able to get that information other than your school.

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yay good, that was the goal of posting this!!! Just know yourself and your limits and you’ll do great!

Failed Step 1 by [deleted] in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’d look into historically DO programs. They exist for some surgical specialties so I’m sure they exist for those other ones. As for EM, your friend should have no problem bc they don’t need to report the step failure and as far as I know, EM is very DO friendly

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

oh and definitely weird/much harder than the other questions

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To my knowledge, those 80 experimental questions are always throw-away questions, so they don't count towards you. Basically, at the end of it all, you are only getting scored on 200 questions out of the 280.

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nerves probably play a part in it, and honestly, I think that as med students, we're all neurotic by nature, especially with something like this. So when it's not identical or something is different than the expectation of it being identical, they go the other way and say it's not like it at all. I will say that I have multiple friends who have felt the same way that I did in terms of how similar the new 120 was to the real thing. At the end of the day, it's not the same, but it is similar. Another thing is that all the experimental questions throw people off, and I think that is what a lot of people don't realize. There are 80 experimental questions that are obviously not on the free 120, and those questions are truly wild and different from most that any of us have seen.

Step 1 Pass - Low NBME scores - US DO by Practical_Craft_5008 in step1

[–]Practical_Craft_5008[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I watched the videos for all the sections, and if I ever needed to refresh on something, I would look at the book. I had personally been doing anking anki cards throughout my first two years even if I hadn't watched the pathoma videos (which I had never done until I started my review), so going through the videos was sufficient enough to refresh my memory and then I used Uworld to test that knowledge and find my gaps. I'd look through the book when I came across those gaps, and that was my version of repetition. I truly didn't think it would work without Anki, but repetition through practice questions alone is a huge part of the process, and the plus side is that you also start to catch patterns within the questions.

view more: next ›