Just took the MCCQE 1 Today:
4 hours for 210 MCQ questions
mandetory 45 mind break
38 cases for 3.5 hours
PS: before posting this I talked to two other friends who took the exam this past few months, all of us basically used the same thing!
Background: Recent Grad from Ross, Currently a Junior Faculty Teaching at my Medical School, Did Rotations in Canada, Have Letters from Canada and did 2 Yrs in Mo US
Took Step 1, 2 CS, CK , STudying for STep 3 this fall
Studied 1 month-
Used CanadaQBank, Some old CK Uworld Notes and MCC Practice Tests
For Ethics, just read and by read i mean quickly looked at those tiny chapters on Toronto notes and some COM document PDF someone posted on this page!
These should cover all you should know! Honesty, even if you read 100 books, ETHICS is at times subjective, and at times I felt like the answer keys on MCC ignored or mixed up Ethics with Law. BUT we have to choose what they want!
The questions resembled MCC in format and the topics were wide and far! Canada Qbank def covers some random topics, but i would say that 70-80% of the material on that test was covered in Q bank explantions. Everything I taught was important based on practice tests i covered via other texts! ALOT of people are pushing for Toronto Notes- that is 1016 pages and Quite honesty i neither had the time or patience. Additionally, it is WAY TOO MUCH detail! I went back on my FA Step 1 and looked at Pharm because drug interactions and side effects are easy to forget. ANy topic that was forgotten but mentioned on MCC practice tests like PSYCH i would maybe read a page on that from my CK notes or FA Step 2 CK. Again, i just did questions (all of Canadaq Bank that is 3500 MCQ and 290 CDM) and 2 CDM, 2 MCQ and the Full length test MCC $500 practice tests! UNLIKE USMLE MCC is retarded! They tell you % questions you got right but they DO NOT for any of their tests tell you what ur score is out of 400! SO you never even know if you are passing range! They did however, give some short explanations for their answers on the full length one and for ethic questions a link to article or the random holes that inspired their ethic questions! SO i guess that was…somewhat useful?
for the FULL lenth test: Pretend like it is the actual test: so sit down and do all 210 MCQ tests for 4 hours…I tried to have 26 mins left to go back and check answers!
take a 45 mind break
CDM you get 3.5 hours, so finish it in that time slot! I finished my real exam for this section 1.5 hours early and spent half an hour going back, seeing if i remembered something ELSE, checking if i made mistakes, counted options to make sure that I did not choose more options then i was allowed! Left an hour before the test was done! My brain was fried by that point and i was drained!
CDM- DO NOT PANICK- it is the same topics and materials that you would see for MCQ except the format they ask or you answer is different! They might give you 10 options, you can choose none, or they say pick the best 2 or 3! Never go over that number! If u think something is a clinical diagnosis say NOne for tests! If you pick something that is a NO NO or invasive they can take marks off! If you pick more than the number allowed you get 0! As for the write ins, read the instructions carefully, are they looking for diagnosis? Be detailed, investigations or labs? Canada wants to know if you can with the least amount money and invasive tests, get the diagnosis out! I have to say…This one is rough! You better remember how to spell or name all these conditions. There were definetly moments where I knew what I would do in the case but I had no idea what the person who created the case expected me to do! It is ROUGH, because you don’t even know if sentences are allowed or which specific words are on their answer keys! Just say a little prayer…and choose!
My word of advice, this test is ONLY 50% studying and memorizing stuff, IT IS random and they cover such a wide range of stuff! There is NO way you will even know EVERYTHINg they ask, sometimes you can’t even tell what they are asking! SO do not get yourself all confused by READING 10 books, and 100 question banks and using all these courses! Just pick one thing and master it! SPend two months or 8 weeks studying and take it! Most studies show that most people get burned out or their scores plateu or go down after that! The rest is luck, whether things come into mind in that moment, your instincts, and test taking skills! Do not spend your time memorizing details, this test is concept based! Good Luck