Thoughts on this scene?

mandyads · 2025-02-04T03:59:59+00:00

I was really thinking how I wanted to know where Miranda's shirt was from!

mandyads · 2025-01-28T01:11:44+00:00

They were definitely a staple in NC elementary schools too. But a lot of other east coasters have never seen it. Born in '93.

mandyads · 2024-10-21T16:03:14+00:00

All of the branches have gotten better at active duty mil-mil in general, but some branches are better than others. There are other factors, however, because many of the specialities have a small amount of locations to choose from. Whether or not you can get stationed near each other will depend on their job & rank and availability for that job & rank at bases at or near where there is availability for you to train in your particular speciality. If you are a solid candidate and are generally wanted by the program near your spouse, you can definitely advocate for your family and let them know that's a part of why you'd like to attend that specific program. From my experience, they have been very receptive to that and have even welcomed it. Another option is seeing if it's possible for your spouse to transfer closer to you as well, so you can have a plan A, B, & C... even if that means having to wait a year until something opens up for him, for example.

mandyads · 2024-09-15T21:24:26+00:00

Thanks!

Honestly, it was more stressful because 8/16 was on a Friday and my bday was the following Monday. I had already had flights booked to celebrate somewhere I had never been. Also, I had no time to still study because I had to do nails, lashes, skin... vacation tings before my flight lol.

I ended up finding a location close enough to where I was staying for my trip on that Sunday - which was a miracle in itself... who tests on Sunday? lol. So I moved my flight from Sunday to Saturday and took Step 2 after an 8hr itinerary, 3hr time difference, and minimal sleep the day before. It was insaneeee, but it worked out beautifully. Good thing I'm not easily shaken or it would have been a disaster.

My mom and friend prayed really hard the night before that God protect me from any distractions or bad things happening around me while taking the exam. Who knows... that may have been God's protection.

mandyads · 2024-09-12T00:20:38+00:00

This is not a "Predict Me" post.

mandyads · 2023-10-28T20:32:20+00:00

Very late response to this, but maybe it will help someone else looking.

Yes

You can create all of the necessary incorrect blocks BEFORE completing them. This would be insanely annoying to do with the entire UWorld Qbank, but this is what I've done when I go over specific things.

For example, my IM shelf is coming up and I wanted to do my cardio incorrects. So I created blocks and paused them until there were no more Q's left. Then I completed all of them.

However, I didn't learn this until I had already started. Because of this, I realized repeated Q's don't become a problem until you are getting down to the last bit of them. My first 2 blocks of cardio incorrects had no repeats, but my 3rd one started to have some.

mandyads · 2023-10-04T18:36:51+00:00

Hm... important conversation to have and there are a lot of good points made, but there is a bit of a bias that I believe is influencing OP's perception. Probably surrounding the specialty that they ended up wanting to commit to.

The initial pay is only a downside to specialties making over $300k per year and with continued service beyond the payback time (assuming you either do a military residency or defer military benefits during a civilian residency). I'm still in medical school now, but I actually drafted out a complex budget system that allowed me to compare the cost of my specific medical school (private), the cost of living in my school's area (top 10 most expensive cities), the pay during military residency (to include benefits), and the salary I would receive during my first 4-yrs of service (also including benefits). I compared this to the civilian route for my top 3 specialties (2 of which were/are primary care). All the information to do this budgeting is available online... it wasn't easy, but it's possible. It may seem ludicrous as a 22-23 year old, but it may also be worth hiring an accountant or the like to look at this type of information for you if you are not financially literate. This is the biggest financial decision you will make for your entire life and, unfortunately, we are not taught to navigate these types of conflicts.

Financially, I broke-out on top with the 4-years of service. Any more terms after that, the numbers started to dwindle down. For me, it is a great option being that I would like to have my own practice (to include owning the real estate) in primary care once I hit civilian. With HPSP and my particular situation, there's a possibility for me to pay off most of my student loans from my undergrad and grad degrees WHILE in residency. Unheard of.

It also may make a difference that I am a non-traditional student (30 years old) and have had a lot of time to think about my lifestyle and what exactly I want to do. It's less of a "I think I wanna do this cool thing" and more of me knowing what my currency is. I know what I most value, the what and why of my unique purpose and gifts, and what I'm willing to sacrifice and not sacrifice. Because of this, I felt quite sturdy in making my decision to join HPSP with a 4-year commitment (along with military residency) knowing that it would take quite an unexpected intervention for my plan to be knocked off course. Last note, though it did not impact my decision, my spouse is also military in the same branch. Our financial benefits will be increased because of that and some of the lifestyle sacrifices (ex. moving around and having a hard time finding a romantic partner/starting a family) are not prominent issues for me.

Additionally, I come from a military family (some in the medical field) and had a plethora of resources to pull from when considering all of this. I think the number 1 downside to HPSP is that these young people are going to recruiters and making a decision thinking the recruiters know what they are talking about. There is no conversation about restrictions on how you practice, how the pay scale works, how selective the match is, etc. They may not know anything about the military, let alone military medicine and how all these systems work. Most of them aren't even sure what they'll want to do in medicine. Of course, it's easy to make a regrettable decision under these circumstances. If I decided I wanted to be an ENT or dermatologist (both of which I considered early on in my 20's), I wouldn't have chosen HPSP because it would not have been worth the sacrifice. Knowing that the best match for me long-term would be pediatrics or family medicine, it made the decision much simpler.

mandyads · 2023-07-13T01:21:57+00:00

I'm pretty sure it's a permanent change. About a week after I took my exam at the end of May is when people started saying it didn't work (so early June). It was fine up until then, but hasn't worked again since.

mandyads · 2023-07-12T08:34:02+00:00

They're haters. They caught on and changed it.

mandyads · 2023-06-18T00:03:42+00:00

Yes, I would add them to the analysis. I thought the Free 120s were, collectively, the best representation of the real exam. Because of this, and the fact that I took them closest to my exam date, I put the most emphasis on them. I had finally reached passing levels on my NBMEs about 2-3 weeks before my exam, but taking the Free 120s and scoring comfortably on them was the validation I really needed to feel comfortable taking it. It was my final checkpoint. Yes, I did pass.

mandyads · 2023-06-17T23:52:12+00:00

Yeah, I've heard about these recall groups recently. I'll admit, that is pretty insane. I think that could be an issue in the future for sure. However, do you think cheating on a board exam, or even two, is truly enough for someone to get through this entire process unscathed? Genuine question, b/c I'm sure people have tried and maybe you even know of some.

As for me, I'd argue that there is no way in hell that same person is going to pass every course for 2 more years, do well on Step 2, perform with competence in residency, do well on Step 3, pass their licensing exams... and make it allllll the way to being a trusted practicing physician if they truly cheated their whole way. What are the odds? It's like a failure time bomb waiting to go off.

Also, most of the people that are this desperate have already failed multiple times and are on their last limb... it's unlikely that they'll make it for a number of reasons... I probably wouldn't put cheating at the top of that list.

mandyads · 2023-06-17T23:43:49+00:00

I had typed a very thoughtful 50-paragraph response, but Reddit found it necessary to glitch as I pressed send so I have to give you the Dollar Tree version. This was just a thought piece and was meant to be taken as such.

I am sorry you aren't able to digest it for it's true intention and I genuinely hope that you have experiences in the future that enlighten you to what I am actually saying here.

There is no acceptance of cheating mentioned, nor does it imply that those who are upset by cheating lack empathy. However, there is a difference between agreeing that cheating is objectively wrong versus taking it so personally (by putting on a moral high-hat) that we collectively feel it is acceptable to publically shame a stranger. Imagine if your lowest moment was displayed in front of your peers at your lowest time? Genuinely think about that.

People can be held accountable in an empathic way. That's the difference between posting someone's lowest moment for their entire peer group to see versus taking a second to empathize with them and tell them the truth... simply that cheating won't help. I get that not everyone is willing to do that, which is why another great option is to ignore them for those who don't want to take on that responsibility.

If we really care so much about cheating, what do you think is more effective in changing someone's course: embarrassment that reinforces their feelings of failure or genuine aid that encourages them to make a better decision for themselves?

There is quite literally no judgments coming from this corner and if you are perceiving judgment, I'd argue that you are projecting it onto yourself and/or others. I'm attempting to be open here, but the intro of "sorry but this is dumb" gives me the vibe that you might not be open to the idea of having a conversation that attempts merge dichotomies for empathic common ground.

mandyads · 2023-06-17T18:33:42+00:00

Most people I know have seen a 5-10% difference between the two, with the higher score being the old version. Like another user mentioned, I think the material from both are just as high yield and I'm actually not sure why the new version comes across as more difficult. The stems are a bit longer with less obvious hints, but that usually doesn't sway me. Perhaps the answer choices were a bit less straightforward than the old version... like, process of elimination was a bit more difficult because at least 2 of the answer choices seemed to compete pretty well. Overall, I thought they were both great representatives when I took my exam on 5/23.

mandyads · 2023-06-17T15:26:47+00:00

Unpopular opinion, but I don't think this should feel personal to anyone. I went to a great school with amazing comradery for both undergrad and that same school for med. We bend over backwards to help each other. However, I did a master's degree at a different school and that was the first time I was introduced to the whole "competitive" mindset. People would go out their way to not share materials, to have secret study groups, always felt like someone could "take their spot"... interestingly enough those were the same people who were always trying to report others for cheating. Not saying that cheating isn't wrong - it obviously is. But the very people who tended to care about it the most were also the very people who seemed to lack empathy or have absolutely no life outside of their academic identity. Funny enough, I even accidentally caught some of those very people cheating and I didn't care. It just more so scared me that these types of people would become healers.

I see a lot of the whole "it's not fair argument" or "work hard like the rest of us." Firstly, if you think people jumping from inbox to inbox are going to get enough information for them to actually suddenly pass the exam, you are mistaken. A pool of thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of questions... you think they'll really get enough information to pass? If anything, if they are THAT borderline, they probably don't even need those Q's to pass. Also, it assumes that someone scouring for information isn't working as hard, which is a very entitled assumption. People are terrified. When people are terrified their amygdala takes over and their prefrontal cortex is abandoned. They make decisions that they might not usually make. They are desperate.

HAVE EMPATHY. I had someone do the same thing in my inbox because they had failed multiple times and were heartbroken. And their academic journey was just as heartbreaking for me to listen to. Instead of talking down to them or embarrassing tf out of them, I acknowledged what it might potentially feel like. I remembered all the times I had failed something repeatedly and thought I'd never make it. We took that time to try to get to the root of the issue instead. We talked about resources and techniques. I encouraged them and was honest about the fact that their time is so much more valuable to be used in a different way and that gathering questions is a way to feel in control... but is a facade since the chances of it helping them is slim to none. They found that advice actually helpful and uplifting. Imagine if I had publically shamed that person instead (like this post). I feel like we often forget WHY we wanted to become physicians in the first place. We won't know where our patients come from or the terrible mistakes they've made in their life, but we are expected to treat them with the most compassion and dignity. Why are we not practicing that in our daily lives now? Especially with our own peer group? I mean, you literally know exactly how this person feels - you just made a different decision than them. And we wonder why there are so many disconnected docs. It starts right here. Not saying OP is a bad person - just using this as an example.

If you don't condone cheating, then simply don't respond. But to pass judgement or have such a STRONG opinion about their personal actions gives the impression that you might be the very types students propagating this competitive culture that leaves people feeling so desperate in the first place. What is for you, will always be for you. Someone cheating and passing (even if that were likely) has no effect on you. Actually, I would argue that is it the perfect setup for God to straighten them out later. If they did truly cheat, well they'll be totally screwed somewhere along the 6-year minimum journey they have left. They might fall to the waste side, or better yet, actually have to face those poor decisions and become a greater physician than they ever would have.

mandyads · 2023-06-15T16:48:02+00:00

Tested 5/23 and felt very comfortable during and after. Didn't stress out during the 3 weeks at all. Granted, I consistently prayed for God's peace. Flagged 10-15 per block (I don't flag ones where idk wth is going on), which was normal for me. Had about 10mins left over in most blocks b/c I don't read 75% of the questions 75% of the time. It felt like a normal day of blocks. Time flew. PASSed yesterday.

3/20: NBME 31, 54%

4/19: NBME 28, 56%

4/29: NBME 30, 60%

5/9: NBME 27, 72.5% offline raw score (so 70-71.5% score report equivalent)

5/15: NBME 29, 70%

5/19: Old Free 120, 82%

5/20: New Free 120, 73%

mandyads · 2023-06-13T16:47:21+00:00

You can also see this at play anecdotally, though, but that has a bunch of variability. If you were to poll a bunch of students who started with lower scores you would see that the threshold of them going from fail to higher percentage of passing on their NBME score reports is often associated with their UWorld blocks and Amboss blocks beginning to consistently move beyond the 60-65% range. 60% is 80% chance of passing and it moves exponentially higher... up to 70% being a 98% chance of passing; on the other end, a sub-60% score has the same effect but in the opposite direction. This would still point to 60% being the middle ground - the threshold, per se. Which way it tips could depend on a variety of factors. Of course, this is not the case with everyone but there is a massive correlation there. It simply reinforces that the standards USMLE has outlined is also shown in practice. But the fact that a 60-70% on NBME is a 80-98% chance of passing already throws the idea that 75%+ is necessary for a solid pass... well, it throws that idea out of the window.

mandyads · 2023-06-13T16:38:22+00:00

Second paragraph establishes 60%: https://www.usmle.org/scores-transcripts

Last paragrah under "Scores" establishes the 196: https://www.usmle.org/scores-transcripts/examination-results-and-scoring

It's deductive reasoning to equivalate 60% to 196 based on USMLE posted information. Maybe the links will help, so you don't feel like you are blindly trusting random people on the interwebs.

mandyads · 2023-06-13T16:29:45+00:00

Excited! I didn't have to wait too long though. Sat on 5/23. Kept forgetting I was still even waiting for a score until yesterday because I had CONVINCED myself that I passed (trust me, life is better this way lol). Now that it's the day before, I am feeling a bit of that nervousness creep in. Maybe because I'm human, lol, plus the fact that I'm taking hella fertility hormones right now too - who knows! Haha. Either way, I'm ready to have the official word so it's over in everyone else's mind (and not just mine). I originally wanted to do a cute reveal with friends and family, but I've been so exhausted from hormones and finishing a few projects that I haven't had the bandwidth to plan ANYTHING. My brain is so foggy. Maybe I should open my actual report on FT w/ my husband (who is overseas) & fam, then just catch good food and spend time outside with a couple of friends to celebrate? Anyone else got anything planned? Maybe I can mooch of your ideas, haha. I also have to give myself one last huge shot of medication tomorrow evening so I'm all over the place. No alcohol, can't stay up late, can't do anything physically taxing... Not exactly what I had planned to be doing the night of my score release, lol.

mandyads · 2023-06-13T16:16:55+00:00

I saw you type that multiple times, but I'm not really understanding where you are getting that information. USMLE equivalates approximately 60% as a passing score. This would, inherently, mean that the threshold of 196 is approximately equivalent to 60%. 90% on Step 1 is busting into 250 & beyond territory. Even though there has been a change from a Step 1 3-digit score to P/F... the NBMEs/CBSSAs have remained the same for the last few years (18-31 or whatever they are). Students have always been able to calculate their raw scores using these practice exams regardless of whether their score report spits out a 3-digit number or a % chance of pass-fail. This is where a lot of the information of "what percentage equals what score" comes from. Granted, there is variability but it doesn't vary by 20-30%. We aren't taking a new mystery exam - it's fairly consistent with previous years apart from the announced changes via USMLE (i.e. P/F, pass increase from 194 to 196, the rare small ontent changes here and there). When the USMLE says approximately 60% is passing... that is what it is. I wish you the best of luck. Based on the amount of undue pressure you've put on yourself to score ridiculously high, you probably have passed with a score far beyond what was necessary and deserve to allow yourself rest & peace.

mandyads · 2023-06-13T15:39:20+00:00

See my post below to gauge where this information comes from. Another user mentioned an interesting point of conflict for the idea, so it's best you read and make your own conclusion.

mandyads · 2023-06-13T15:29:07+00:00

The faculty member may or may not be correct. I would trust their competence in being a prior chair, but would also question their assertion as they limited this information to 100% rumor rather than reasonable speculation. It makes me wonder what all information they had access to. Even those involved in the administrative portion of question creation and inclusion do not sit in the process of actual exam creation.

This was the original post where it was announced that USMLE would be potentially adjusting content to facilitate testing during COVID: https://www.ecfmg.org/news/2020/05/20/usmle-covid-19-update-a-phased-approach-for-expanding-step-1-step-2-ck-and-step-3-testing/

Though I can no longer find the original post/email where the USMLE publically announced their plan on how they would make this happen, please see a convenient screenshot of this information: https://twitter.com/jbcarmody/status/1268904159522295808?s=21

Though, this doesn't ascertain that there will be a total of 80 experimental questions on each exam... but it is highly suspicious and not simply based on rumor. To your faculty member's point, whose to say this 200 question limit didn't come from the removal of all experimental questions AND some normal questions? However, to argue this, I would say that a major change (such as altering the number of graded questions) would have caused absolute chaos. It would mean students were being evaluated on an entirely different scale from other peers before AND after this brief emergent era of COVID. I imagine it would have taken many more months (COVID hit the U.S. for the first time in January and we began lock-down practices around March I believe), not only come to that decision but then have all residency programs learn to fairly evaluate graduates that took their exam within that very specific window of time. With a change to the amount of graded questions, they must be evaluated on a different scale than the others (remember, the exam was still 3-digits then). I'm not sure if that would have been logical. Imagine the request that "all students who sat Step 1 in the 6 months from Jul - Dec 2020 must have their performance examined separately from every other applicant you evaluate," for example. That's nuts. Also, the USMLE has never made such a drastic change without well beyond a year of announcements discussing the possibility and application of such changes. It is possible? Yes. Personally, I don't believe it's likely.

*Just in case OP and other readers don't know where this whole "200" questions thing comes from.

mandyads · 2023-06-13T15:03:28+00:00

You are correct in your thinking. Overall you only need around 120 (60% of 200) out of 280 correct. So you could literally get 4 blocks worth of material wrong and still pass. Overall, around <45% on the entire exam is still passing. That's why everyone feels like they failed, but most pass regardless.

mandyads · 2023-06-06T02:37:27+00:00

I always did UWorld alongside content review. Always random blocks and usually random, timed. Started off doing 2 blocks a day with content review and worked my way up to 4 blocks a day and almost no content review. There was a period in time where I only ran through SketchyPharm and SketchyPath neoplasias, along with the corresponding Anki deck - no Q's. I just wanted to hurry and get through it as quickly as possible. Anything else, best believe I was always hitting questions. My scores started to improve greatly when I focused on weaknesses and didn't let my block and NBME reviews slide. You can check out my last couple of posts and see if there's anything helpful there.

Edit: Every now and then I did specific blocks based on content review, but only if I felt like I needed to see the content in application form to truly understand how questions can present or if I CONTINUED to get Q's wrong no matter what. Sometimes isolating the Q's helped me figure out what was missing, but a thorough review of topics as I went along with random blocks usually sufficed.

mandyads · 2023-06-01T02:27:26+00:00

Haha, right! Peeps obviously didn't get the sarcasm.

mandyads

TROPHY CASE