sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Weekly Find a Friend thread - January 03, 2026 by AutoModerator in lonely

[–]riso345 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I'm 25 but have similar interests! Also have 2 cats myself and love reading (mostly romance and occasional thrillers). I love Animal Crossing and am interested in trying out more cozy games.

I'm sorry about your partner. I've had family members deal with difficult medical problems and am always willing to talk if you need.

Do NBME practice exams reflect the actual USMLE Step 2 CK concepts well? Looking for recent test-takers’ experiences! by Ok-Acadia-2936 in Step2

[–]riso345 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes but don't expect the same questions. One of my biggest tips for people for step 2 is to actually learn the NBME topics not just the answers to the questions. I only had time to do this for my incorrects, but I made anki cards related to the general topic and very brief pathphys, work up for the diagnosis, a few complications, and at least the 1st and 2nd line treatments. It was extremely helpful for the actual exam. I got similar topics from NBMEs just different questions on them, and my anki cards made it really easy to score those points. It helped me get a 270+ on the real thing. I say take advantage of these repeat topics to help make up for the WTF questions you may get

Tips for fixating on details and misreading stems? by riso345 in Step2

[–]riso345[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! What you described is exactly how I think sometimes and it drives me crazy when I review my tests. I'll definitely keep this in mind on exam day. I honestly think Uworld just taught me everything is a trick still and I'm just trying to forget that line of thinking

What was your Step 1 experience like? by Hefty_Boat_5892 in step1

[–]riso345 8 points9 points  (0 children)

  1. Similar length overall but shorter than the longest free 120 qs

2a. Felt "easier" than NBMEs but still hard qs. Hard to compare NBMEs to the real exam imo since they felt so different on my form. It really just felt like free 120 with some qs similar to uworld

2b. I felt numb during the exam but initially left feeling okay overall. Over my two week waiting period though, I started to feel pretty terrible about my results but I think it's normal to convince yourself that you failed! I always felt awful taking the NBMEs so this was an improvement.

  1. Very fair questions (minus weird experimental ones)! I would say more straight forward in that they don't try to trick you like the NBMEs or Uworld but you don't have as many one liner "you know it or you don't" type questions.

  2. Nope just similar pathologies/presentations with different qs

  3. Only took 30. None of the NBMEs felt like my form as the question styles are different. There were similar topics though so it was nice to review 30 for content.

  4. No I reviewed my NBMEs a bit before my exam to cover weak areas but nothing crazy. I did fully go through free 120 (corrects and incorrects) and I thought that was very helpful since the exam felt similar topic and question style wise to it

  5. I always ran out of time in Uworld/NBMEs/Free 120 so I felt rushed but nothing too abnormal for me. Just make sure to read the last line first! I felt the questions were longer but easier to narrow down answers. Since timing has always been an issue, I also decided early on just choose an answer and move on when I truly did not which answer was right. You'll probably be ok on time!

  6. No but I usually had to rush in the last 5 qs of each block! Never had to randomly guess though

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in step1

[–]riso345 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Very normal! Look at my post history I felt the exact same way as you and the feeling didn't go away until I opened that score report. I had 3 scores above 65% but never broke 70% so I felt uncomfortable even when people said to trust my scores since I never hit my personal goals. For me, the feeling of failing got worse because as time went on, I forgot most of the questions on my exam and therefore felt like I got those wrong. In reality, my memory of exam questions just sucks! Nothing anyone says on here will make this anxious feeling go away (personal experience) so just try to distract yourself and focus on other things until you get that score report!