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Score informations! pls....

I did UWorld self assessment....I got the Assessment Score 510 and the Approximate 3 Digit Score 221....real exam in less than a week....made a little bit over 60% from questions on those 4 blocks....my question/concern is if I am ready for the real one....I know is hard to tell/predict but maybe somebody can help.... On http://www.clinicalreview.com/welcome/medical-students/usmle-score-calculator.html there is comparations/predictions for Step1 score....one of those score entry is called UWorld 3 digit score....it is the same one as Approximate 3 Digit Score? Thanks to anybody who can help....

May 17, 2010 00:26

Score informations! pls....

[quote=DrD9999]hi its better you take Nbme....and assess yourself b4 you appear for the exam.[/quote] Which one of the NBME is better in order to mimic better the Step1 exam?

May 17, 2010 18:55

Score informations! pls....

[quote=docmalu][quote=anatomie][quote=DrD9999]hi its better you take Nbme....and assess yourself b4 you appear for the exam.[/quote] Which one of the NBME is better in order to mimic better the Step1 exam?[/quote] sorry i didn't get what you mean by that, i mean dont they all asses your step one capability? i am asking which nbme should i take so i know that i am ready for my step one?[/quote] I know there are 6 forms for NBME....my question is which one in going to simulate better the real Step 1 exam? I know this is very hard to say/predict but maybe you know/heard from somebody else....or maybe somebody knows which form is easier/hard....or maybe all of them are the same....I don't have enough time to take all 6 of them....so 1 form, maybe 2...but which one should I choose??

May 17, 2010 23:52

Score question....

Somebody post a comment like 'if you took step 1 in the new 46 questions format you have to wait for the result for at least 2 months'....is this true??? and why is that?

June 21, 2010 22:30

Scores for somebody who took exam after may 15th

For those of us who took the exam after 15th of may and wait for the results....somebody post a comment couple of days ago about waiting for the results for at least two months....I visit the usmle.org site....check this out: Step 1 - Change in number of items/Delay in score reporting Starting on or around May 15, 2010, a transition period will begin in which the number of items in current forms of the Step 1 examination will change from 336 items to 322 items. Although the transition will occur quickly at many test centers, there may be some locations where the changes take slightly longer to complete. The overall transition period will likely last approximately 6 weeks. Posted March 23, 2010 Please note that: Scores on new and old forms will be comparable; the decrease in the number of items per form will be accounted for in scoring the examination results. The length of the examination day will remain unchanged. Most score reporting of Step 1 results occurs within four weeks of testing. However, because of the change in timing described above, as well as routine modifications to the test item pool, there will be a delay in score reporting for most Step 1 examinations administered in late May and June. The target date for reporting Step 1 scores for most examinees testing from May 15 through late June will be Wednesday, July 14, 2010.

June 22, 2010 08:33

Well...got my score yesterday!

I've been following this forum for about 4 months. I think all of us wants a good score(meaning 90's) but not all of us can do it or be capable of doing it....well, one of those guys it's me....here is my story: I am a gratuade who came in 2005 in US only for a summer job to save some money so I could have a down payment for my future apartment in my home country. While working here I found out about this posibility of passing USMLE steps and be able to practice medicine in US. I started to study at the begining of 2009 for about 4-5 months then took step 1(I wanted badly to take step 1 before my wife's due date)....on may 2009 took the exam and about 4 weeks later got the score: 72/174...I failed! I was so dissapointed but with a lot of suport from my wife an family I was going to do it again...in the mean time I became father and my time dedicated to study got shorter and shorter....after another 4-5 months of studying I took the exam(february 2010)...this time I thought I did pretty good....4 weekes later results came: 66/173....I failed again! I was in shock and said that this is not for me because I am not capable of doing it....I even focus on trying to get something else(research, lab or nursing)....one day my wife sends me this link(uworld.com) and says: take a look on it...it may help you; I've been reading what they have to offer plus a bunch of posts from you guys...I had a lots of reserves plus this fear that I will failed again but with my wife's suport I said I will give it a try one more time....I didn't read any more from the books(at this moment I was sick and tired of them) and did only the Uworld Qbank for 2 months....right after those 2 months(I had 2 days break) I took the exam....when I got out I thought I will fail again....Just like many of me I had to wait almost 8 weeks for the results. Target date(july 14th) came and got my score: 79/195; I know is not much, I know is not that pretty but I can say one thing: I pass it, now I'm on the other side of the line. For me it's a big time relief. Now that it's over I have only 1 regret: I didn't get Uworld sooner....there are so many things which I learned by only doing those questions which no other book 'teach' me....I have an advice for those guys who are now getting ready for step 1(especially if you are an international and you have no ideea where to start from): study all Kaplan books(ideal with the video dvd's), after that read First Aid and then go again with the books+get Uworld qbank. In my opinion it will be a 5-6 months process but it will pay you big time later.I wish all of you good luck!

July 15, 2010 22:48

Well...got my score yesterday!

First of all I wanna say thank you for the nice words to Mahla, DrD9999, Cbear10 and to Samz.....it feel so good to see that I'm not the only one who feels that this exam is so though. Mahla I wish all the best to you and hope you will pass step 1. I also wish good luck to Samz and Cbear10 on your exam....listen guys: don't panic, don't freak out.....I know it's so hard to keep yourself calm but trust me it's the best think what you can do....if you are going to freak out you gonna have to lose....don't get fooled about what everybody says....you study so much so you have a chance of passing this exam. To answer Cbear10 question: first two times when I failed I didn't use at all Uworld or NBME....the only questions which I got were from Kaplan books(of course it was not enough); on my 3rd attempt I only did Uworld qbank and on my last day of allowed time I did Uworld self assesment#1....I got 221/510; At that time I post some questions about the equivalent of this score with the real one....somebody reply and gave me a site(http://www.clinicalreview.com/solutions/resources/usmle-score-calculator.html) where my Uworld 3 digit score had an equivalent of 97/232!!! I knew it was unreal....It could not be that good. In my opinion: you still have couple more weeks....look at the graph from your self assesement....where you score bad, review it....and another thing: before exam: take at least 1 day off(ideal will be 2-3 days)-it will clear your mind and I hope you will not miss those simple questions which you know them. Again all the best to you guys and I hope to hear good news from you!

July 17, 2010 11:10

why?

since yesterday no more new topics....hmmmm....wonder why???

November 15, 2010 17:31

need an advice

i've been on this forum for about 1 year now....i'm getting ready at this moment for step 2 ck and doing uworld q bank; i've done about 60% of the questions and i have this concerne which really makes me feel anxious about the real exam: all the tests which i've done from uworld q-book i could NOT finish them in less than 60 minutes(i need about 10 minutes extra time for every block and on each block i tried to have 44 questions like on usmle) and i was wondering if the real exam has the same long and hard type of questions? anybody who had the same problem maybe could tell me how was the real exam comparing to uworld(i mean timing issue); i know this is very hard to say but maybe some of you who took the exam can tell me a little bit about this concerne. thanks to anybody who can help and good luck to everybody....

November 22, 2010 11:04

have a question....

doing uworld qbank, i got the following situations: 1. very classic description of a bladder cystitis and they ask us which is the most aprropriate next step in the management...they said because it was so clear the description, we don't need urinary or blood culture and we shoul go with antibiotics(empirical). 2. very classic description of a pyelonephritis several questions later and ask us the same thing: which is the most aprropriate next step in management....here they said is blood/urine culture because ALWAYS we should do culture before going with antibiotics treatment(empirical). my question is: since cystitis is not so bad, that's why we don't need culture or because it's an error on cystitis management? since on pyelonephritis says that ALWAYS ask for culture before starting antibiotics, this refers only to kidney infection or the rule aply to pretty much every other scenarios in the body? thanks a lot to anybody who can help.

November 23, 2010 22:42

have a question

doing uworld qbank, got the next question: patient with a Conn syndrome and they ask us how renin, aldosterone and bicarbonate levels are in the blood....for renin and aldosterone is logic(renin low and aldosterone up); for bicarbonate, i thought it is low....why? since aldosterone will increase sodium retention but will increase potasium and hydrogen ion secretion, this will give a metabolic alkalosis(my logic was that at this moment the body will try to 'fix' the problem by not reabsorbing so much bicarbonate or at least to have normal values); on the explanation, they said because aldosterone gives a metabolic alkalosis, bicarbonate is high!!! the only problem is, in my opinion, this alkalosis is NOT due to increase level of bicarbonate but is due to increase secretion of hydrogen ion. if anybody can help....thanks.

November 28, 2010 23:12

need some help....

i'm almost done with uworld qbank....exam is in couple of weeks and i want to see where i am....a lot of people said the best think to do is to take an NBME because it will let you know where you are....on their site i saw 4 forms....wondering which one is the best pick in order to simulate better the real exam(it is very hard to say but maybe somebody can help)....thanks a lot.

December 03, 2010 08:54

have a question

i got the following scenario: blood pH: 7.23 bicarbonate: 16 Pco2: 40 mmHG Po2: 88 mmHG; which is the most likely diagnostic? a.metabolic acidosis b.respiratory acidosis c.mixed respiratory and metabolic acidosis d.mixed metabolic acidosis and respiratory alkalosis e.normal my first impresion: acidic pH with low bicarbonate makes metabolic acidosis; normal Pco2 makes NO respiratory compensation....i choose answer a.; on explinations they said is c. why? because co2 should be 32 mmHG(after Winter formula); well...here is my question: if we are taking this explination as granted, then ALL the acid base disturbances should have compensation and my concern is how will look the noncompensated acid base disturbances???? that means we should not choose that answer where says 'compansation'; if anybody can give me a real and strong explanation, i will really apreciate it....thanks!

December 03, 2010 14:27

have a question

[quote=dudu48534954]Hi friend, I have an answer. Respiratory compensation in response to metabolic acidosis can he quantified with Winter's formula: Pc:o2= 1.5X(HCO3) + 8+/-2 Pco2 increase .7mmHg for every 1 mEq/L bicarbonate increase. In this case, Pco2 should be in range of 30 and 34mmHg. 40mmHg is normal Pco2 in individual but in acidosis, it should decrease if there is respiratory compensation. So the answer is mixed respiratory and metabolic acidosis.[/quote] fantastic explanation and thank you for that....very similar to what offer uworld....still i got 1 more question: we ALWAYS have to see which is the respiratory compensation based on Winter formula....how it will look this scenario if we don't have respiratory compansation???? how i am supose to know WHEN we have and IF we have compensation???? you said in your comment that Pco2 should be 30 to 34 IF WE HAVE COMPENSATION!!!! my frustation is not with the explanation which i agree with it....my opinion: both answers are good...why? if you have compensation, Pco2 should be arround 32(jusy like you explain) but we don't have that; so we remain with 2 options: pure metabolic acidosis WITHOUT compensation or mixed metabolic and respiratory acidosis; if we don't have compensation, Pco2 should be normal and in the question is 40 mmHG=> answer a. is a good choice+based on this logic, it's a pure metabolic acidosis without compensation; second option is with combined acidosis and based on this answer c. is a good option also; but which one is 'the best one' and why is that???again...my frustation is coming from the question posible answers not from your explanation/their explanation regarding winter's formula.

December 03, 2010 22:35

have a question

[quote=dudu48534954]hi, Normally metabolic acidosis is compensated unless there is any respiratory problem. Uncompensated means there is some sort of respiratory problem. So uncompensated metabolic acidosis is not in my choice. qingquan[/quote] first of all i wanna thank you again for your response. this is my last post regarding this topic. before i'm done, just for the hack of it, i will let you know that this pacient has been diagnose with a chronic pulmonary disease and in the last 3 days he had a mild productive cough and because of this acute situation he is presenting to the doctor....so, like you said, uncompensated metabolic acidosis might go with a respiratory problem; that's all what i have to say. take care now.

December 04, 2010 10:30

I need help...

[quote=RaZe12237355]Hey, I’m in a really bad position and I don’t know what to do. Hopefully this site can help me out a little. I did my USMLE step 1 exam on sept 14th, 2010. I failed the exam with a 124/38. I know that’s bad. I studied for eight months. I used Kaplan books, videos, and I even took the class. I used FirstAid09 and other books such as guyton & hall physiology, made ridiculously simple microbiology. I did UWorld question bank twice and both times got an average of 50%. I did NMBE’s (4, 5, 6, 7) and more or less averaged 50%. I understand they were not the best of average's. Throughout the whole studying process I was at home. My parents seem to think they know more about this exam than I do; they like to believe they know better study techniques. They have this annoying trait of constantly criticizing me in a negative manner. They have never giving me a positive comment on my studying. I can break anything down to them or anyone else for that matter but when it gets down to these clinical questions I am in disarray. I need help. I want to become a doctor and I don’t want this exam to stop me. Unfortunately I feel weak, with a lack of confidence. I have no will or enthusiasm to study anymore. I haven’t studied sense I took the exam. I believe I am depressed, unable and unwilling to do anything. Life is just a constant battle with my parents where I am always the criminal. They are constantly reminding me of my insufficiencies. They drive me nuts. I need help. Whatever advice you can give that you think could help me out would be pure gold right now. Should I even continue to pursue medicine? Should I give it one more Hurr-Raa before I call it quits and change my studies to business management or something. I don’t want to give up but I really do feel like I am in a sense of despair. FUCK I am depressed![/quote] Hi there! I don't know if this will help you or not but I will tell you a little bit about my situation....just like you I failed twice step 1....reasons are too many and nonimportant....at one point I said this is not for me(I am an international graduate and it was quite challanging for me to study all this classes); just to have an ideea, first and second time when I failed I study home....my parents are not with me(they are in Europe) but I have an 1 year old baby....during the day I had to take care of him because my wife is the only one who's working; in the evening when she came home she took care of the baby and I was studing...because of the baby's situation I decided to study away from home....everytime when I was home something was poping up(baby was crying, neighbour was loud, etc); so i decided to go to the library....for the next 2 months i study for about 6 hours a day only from UWorld qbank(at third attempt i just could not open anymore those books)....i said to my wife that third chance is the last one no matter what....well, finally i pass the exam....it is not a good score(I got only 79/195) but still is something; if this can help you, i'll be happy; in my opinion: go away from home...tell your parents that you are studying better at the library or something like this....second: make sure whatever you are reading you are understanding(i mean don't just turn the page because you thing is not important); third: go one more time through Kaplan books(this is what I was studying) and ONLY when you are done with those get 2-3 months of UWORLD Qbank; at this point you should do only questions; even if you knew the answer of that specific question read very carefully every single explanation because it will help you; forth: make sure you go at least 2-3 times through every single question from the qbook and read all the explanations; after this take one more NBME....in my opinion you should be able to get a decent score. I hope it will help you! Don't give up....keep working! Take care now and I hope to hear good news from you in the future.

December 07, 2010 18:49

Scores!!

[quote=brunocgn]Hi all, Can anybody tell me based on personal experience, what 3 digits scores and percentile is more likely for someone that correctly answers 75% of the questions in the actual step 1 !?! I had something around that in the UWorld self assessment test 1, but got a technical issue in the third block and don't know how to analyze my score with 44 questions omitted!! Thank you all! Bruno[/quote] hi there....from my experience: self assesment from Uworld is not that accurate....no matter what your procent is, it is very hard to predict the real score; the only one which gets a very good aproximation is NBME....so get one of their form and see what's the situation; just to make an ideea: before my step 1, Uworld self assesment gave me a 510/221(i follow different sites and pretty much all of them said this is equivalent of 97/220 in real exam); in real exam i did 79/195 only....it's a hudge difference; in my opinion: get a NBME; it is very close to the real exam.

December 07, 2010 18:58

OBGYN question

i have a question regarding ectopic pregnancy: i know intravaginally ultrasound will make a positive diagnostic of an early pregnancy; can the same ultrasound see a fallopian tube pregnancy? of course beta hcg is more than 1500....and also if we have an ectopic pregnancy with beta hcg of more than 1500 but located in Douglas pouch, can the vaginally ultrasound see this preagnancy? thanks so much guys...

December 08, 2010 13:26

have a question

[quote=asre11557218][quote=hosa96763658][quote=anan54446797]doing uworld qbank, got the next question: patient with a Conn syndrome and they ask us how renin, aldosterone and bicarbonate levels are in the blood....for renin and aldosterone is logic(renin low and aldosterone up); for bicarbonate, i thought it is low....why? since aldosterone will increase sodium retention but will increase potasium and hydrogen ion secretion, this will give a metabolic alkalosis(my logic was that at this moment the body will try to 'fix' the problem by not reabsorbing so much bicarbonate or at least to have normal values); on the explanation, they said because aldosterone gives a metabolic alkalosis, bicarbonate is high!!! the only problem is, in my opinion, this alkalosis is NOT due to increase level of bicarbonate but is due to increase secretion of hydrogen ion. if anybody can help....thanks.[/quote] hi.indeed excret H =reabsorbe bicarb[/quote] in proximal n distal tubular cells,H2CO3 dissociates into bicarbonate n hydronium ion.and for each molecule of bicarbonate reabsorbed into the blood, one hydronium ion is secreated into the urine. in conn syndrome ,excess of aldosterone causes increased reabsorption of sodium which forces pottasium ion n hydronium ion into the urine by using soduim pottasium n sodium hydrogen pump respectively.and like i said earlier for each ion of hydronium secreated into the urine one molecule of bicarbonate is reabsorbed into the blood,thus producing the picture of metabolic alkalosis in conn syndrome. hope dis will help[/quote] thank you very very much....this is the kind of explanation i was expected to get....now i got it....this is the real reason why we have exces bicarbonate in conn even though the syndrome produces alkalosis due to wasting hydrogen ion as the initial step and secondary gains bicarbonate; thanks to you i got the ideea; one more time thank you so much.

December 10, 2010 15:24

got my score

[quote=RoVe64396209]Hi! I'm an old IMG (graduated 2003) and took my step 2 CK for the 2nd time. The first time was way back 2006. I am not an A student as compared to some others who are writing in this forum who got 99 in the their exam. I am writing to share my experied for those who are on the same boat as me. I got my result for step 2 CK, Dec 10, 2010. I got 220/95. This really surprised me as mentioned I am not an A student. The way I studied, I did UWorld qbanks 2x. The first time I'd finished it, my result was 59%. I also read first Aid Step 2 CK 2x and Master the boards step 3 once. Based from my exam, Master the boards for step 3 is really of helped to me. When I recalled some of my questions during my exam, I can glance that many of my questions came from this book. What I like about in this book is they are good in emphasizing the cases that you should be remembering during your exam. Thank you for the people in this forum who advised me to read this book. I should have read it twice. After reading all my review materials, I did the uworld self assessment exam, I scored 206. After that, I only have a week to glance whatever review materials I feel that I need to read for the last time. I hope this helped. BTW, I prepared for 4 mos.[/quote] congratulation! i'be been following quite often this forum and like you said there were not too many posts with the scores under 99.....why? who knows....just like you i'm also an international graduate and i'm planing to take CK at the end of this month....my problem/concerne is with the time....doing first time Uworld i did them on untimed mode....not even 1 test was finished before 1 hour.....i don't know if you had this kind of issues with your qbank but i would like to know from your experience from the exam day how did you do/feel with this situation and comparing with Uworld questions, how the real exam is? i'm interest if the question are longer or not, harder, easier, etc; i'm not expecting from you to give me a bunch of details but i would like to have an ideea....thank so much and one more time congratulation! you did a fantastic job!

December 10, 2010 15:34

HTN and stroke question

i have a question regarding management of a hemorrhagic stroke with HTN....I got a question where the patient had a 190/100 BP with stroke and they said that first we should lower the BP under 180 and then go with surgery....later on i got another question with a similar scenario but they say BP should be lowered only if it's above 220/130....does anybody knows what's the limit where we should first take care of the HTN and then the stroke?

December 19, 2010 11:47

PLZ ANS THIS Q

[quote=caca34226731]HMMM THANKS I WILL....I WAS CONFUSED IN A/B.... PLZ GIVE ANSWER TO THIS Q...AFTER ACCIDENT WHICH AREA SPECIFICALLY DERANGED PITUTARY HORMONE......I KNOW THAT MCA SHOULD BE THE CULPRIT VESSEL FOR HAEMATOMA....IN THAT CASE....NEED SOME EXPLANATION TOO.. A 19-year-old man is brought to the emergency department after hitting his head on the pavement when he fell off his motorcycle. An MRI of his head shows a transection of the pituitary stalk. Which of the following patterns best describes the secretion of pituitary hormones in this patient? ACTH FSH Growth Hormone Prolactin TSH A) ↑ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ B) ↓ ↑ ↓ ↓ ↓ C) ↓ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↓ D) ↓ ↓ ↓ ↑ DECREASE E) ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↑ F) ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓[/quote] this question will test your hormone production/deposit in pituitary gland....to recall: anterior pituitary gland PRODUCES many hormones(ACTH, LH/FSH, TSH, GH) while posterior pituitary gland DEPOSITS hormones which are secreted in the brain(ADH, OXYTOCIN)....another point here is that anterior pituitary gland is under control of hypothalamus through some hormones: CRH for ACTH, TRH for TSH, GnRH for FSH/LH, GHRH for GH....if you have a problem between hypothalamus and pituitary gland, ALL the hormones synthetised in anterior pituitary are lost and all the hypothalamic hormones are sky high due to loss of negative feedback....from this point of wiev you should be able to narrow your answers only to those where you see low ACTH, GH, FSH, LH, TSH; the only exception from this rule is prolactin...prolactin in synthetised in anterior pituitary but instead of being stimulated by hypothalamic hormone just like the other pituitary hormones, is inhibited by dopamine(tuberoinfundibular path); so in this case because dopamine 'can't reach' anterior pituitary, prolactin level will go up....so my opinion is that the correct answer id D(all hormones are decreased except prolactin which is increased)....i hope this young man didn't loose pituitary gland blood suplly during that accident....in this case due to ischemia/infarction of pituitary, all the hormones should be low, including prolactin(choice F)-there is no clue in the scenario about this posibility.

December 20, 2010 23:11

medicine scenario

doing questions, i got the following scenario....i learned that UWorld makes question as hard as can be+as much as possible they will try to confuse you to choose a wrong answer(probably this is why they are so good)....there is nothing wrong/don't have any comments on this particular question but took me about 3 minutes to figure out which is the answer....even if you saw this question in your qbank, it worth take a look a second time; you can post your diagnosis and your logic..... a 72 year old woman complains of difficulty 'finding the right word' when she speaks. her daughter notes that she is complaining about her neighbours of stealing the newspaper when in reality is not true. recently the patient has been having difficulty balancing her checkbooks. physical exam: BP 160/100, heart rate 90/min and the rest of the exam is normal. six years later patient has severe memory deficit and suffers from poor sleep, slowness of movements, shuffling gait and urinary incontinence. she is totally dependent on caregivers for the activities of daily living. which of the following is the most likely diagnosis: a. alzheimer's disease b. lewy's body dementia c. multiinfarct dementia d. vitamin b12 deficiency e. normal pressure hydrocephalus f. huntington disease g. chronic subdural hematoma h. pseudodementia i. hypothyroidism j thiamine deficiency k. drug induce dementia

December 21, 2010 16:32

medicine question

[quote=hijabmirza]i did this Q wrong BUT the BAD part was NO ACCEPTABLE ANSWER IN UWORLD EXPLANATION TO WHY IT CANT BE COARCTATION ????? i have seen in many Uworld Qs the explanation is not good[/quote] hi there....this is the reason why i post this topic....on this particular question uworld does not give good explanations on the wrong answers....few other guys post why renal stenosis is THE BEST ANSWER and not coarctation....it's the only thing which we could do when we are dealing with this type of issues....

December 22, 2010 09:18

first aid qbook question

i saw this 2008 First Aid Q&A for step 2 ck....they have 1000 questions for step 2 ck....i was wondering if anybody knows how good is this book? they have 8 test format at the end of the book....being an 'offline' qbank, it's impossible to give you a score but maybe based on the procentage somebody knows a score aproximation.....what's the procentage of good answers in order to have a passing score or 90's score on real exam? i know this is hard to predict and some of you might say: get an NBME or Uworld SA.....before that i wanna do as many questions as posible and i'm thinking of trying this book(my UWorld account expire and i didn't extented cause i did all the questions at least 2 times; my exam is in less than 3 weeks)....thanks to anybody who can help.....

December 29, 2010 15:23

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