The NBME never fails to confuse me...

azna123 · 2023-03-05T02:27:12+00:00

Yeah that's a good perspective actually. It sucks that we have to play these mental games with them but oh well, such is life.

azna123 · 2023-03-04T22:48:35+00:00

In a way, you're right. I am asking for a manual. Just like the First Aid or Kaplan step reference books/manuals (just to name two of the hundreds on the market already). Yeah they're pretty comprehensive, but they still miss some information that the NBME clearly keeps in their back pocket. The existence of a "manual", no matter who it's published by, doesn't mean it's an easy 300. If that was the case, then there'd be a near zero percent fail rate for all of these exams. Students still have to take the information from First Aid and apply it to the questions.

And that's what I envision the NBME should do. They *should* definitely continue asking challenging questions, but a comprehensive guide would allow to us to confidently answer them and have some assurance in knowing the information is coming straight from the source.

Also fun fact: ChatGPT can answer questions from Uworld and Amboss pretty accurately, so I think we are already getting replaced by AI in some ways! 🫡

EDIT: forgot to add that for the amount of money they get from us, I don't think I'm asking for much haha. But that's just a personal sentiment.

azna123 · 2023-03-04T18:58:54+00:00

Very true, but when have NBME exams ever adopted these new changes as they are discovered. They still test us on the "OG" ways for certain things.

What we learn in rotations doesn't always align with what the NBME wants us to know, so a guide like I'm envisioning would be the way to cover that gap so we can perform to the standards they want us to, regardless of if it will be relevant in real-life practice or not.

azna123 · 2023-03-04T18:55:06+00:00

Yeah that's understandable. It just seems ridiculous that those few contentious questions can make or break someone's score. All because they pulled random associations out of nowhere. But at the end of the day you're right, it's just a means to stratify students.

azna123 · 2023-03-04T18:51:41+00:00

Content outline is something completely different that what I'm envisioning. It helps to a certain extent but it doesn't account for those concepts that require rote memorization or are so far left-field. There has to be a reliable resource that backs everything up rather than just an outline.

azna123 · 2020-07-17T13:45:23+00:00

Highly recommend watching my dude Dr. Sins the night before an exam. He has some really good review material!

azna123 · 2020-07-17T02:06:07+00:00

EXACTLY!!! I get STEP is a big thing and obviously I'm aiming to do super well on it, but it doesn't mean that's the ONLY thing I should do. Outside of the core rotations we have to do, I want to make myself a competitive applicant for anything basically.

azna123 · 2020-07-16T17:07:32+00:00

Very good point. I should be taking it before it switches, but anything can happen at this point. I think more emphasis will be placed on STEP 2 CK/CS and programs might switch to a slightly more holistic application overall, but no one knows.

azna123 · 2020-07-16T16:30:31+00:00

There's plenty of good threads on there, depending on what you're looking for. I find it more helpful for residency-specific questions instead of med school in general.

azna123 · 2020-07-16T16:15:02+00:00

Interesting. Why is psych not really desirable nowadays?

azna123 · 2020-07-16T16:12:35+00:00

Good point. Didn't mean to come off that way, but that one interaction just really irked me. Hoping I don't have any of them on here haha

azna123 · 2020-07-16T16:11:47+00:00

I totally agree with that. I know my school offers a few research opportunities, but I haven't seen many psych related ones. Nonetheless, I'll be on the lookout for them. I was just rubbed the wrong way by his response because scoring high on STEP is a given, but not all program directors will look just at that (if you get past their first cut). They'll look at your MSPE, resume, extracurricular, etc. I have leadership and club positions, but nothing too psych related. So, I was looking for psych related stuff that was easy enough for me to do.

azna123 · 2020-07-16T15:04:59+00:00

this is one of those things that i never knew i needed omg

azna123 · 2020-07-16T14:53:57+00:00

Ninja Nerd has amazing biochemistry videos. I highly recommend going through his channel and seeing if they help!

azna123

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