I’ve been anxiously reading every post about this test for the past 3 weeks! I figured it would be best to give back and talk about my experience.
Background: Working with a physician in family medicine clinic. IMG grad. Applying to residency for 2020.
Preparation: Studied x 4 months (while working 30-40 hrs every week) I used Usmle UW and ccscases.com. I completed all of UW questions and cases (scores below). I then went through about 30% of my incorrect. I chose to ease off the questions a little bit and focus more on cases the last 30 days of my prep. Did this with a study buddy. I finished all of ccs cases and took notes. Honestly, they are a little bit too detailed sometime but if I was ever confused about a diagnosis I cross referenced UW case notes and MTB.
Material: MTB Step 3. UW is obviously my “gold standard.” I just needed something to write in so that I can reference my notes from UW questions and cases. Also pretty solid source when explaining concepts. Online Med Ed: I suck at Peds and Biostats. So I used OME for these to give me that background knowledge.
The Numbers (My thoughts)
UW : 54%. Incorrects 60%- 70%
NBME 4: 260 - 3 months out (Super sucks but its my first one . . .whatev)
UWSA 1: 180 (Equivalent) - 2 months out (This should DEF have went up! Lets review weak topics)
UWSA 2: 204 - 1.5 month out (Little encouraging but not a great margin. Should I push it back?)
NBME 5: 300 - 3 weeks out (During the test, So nervous I was literally shaking throughout the exam. Saw my results and was like HOLY CRAP! I’m going to fail if I don’t push it back.)
NBME 5 (Second attempt 2 days later. Didn’t review): 470 (I did some cleansing breaths and went for a run instead of studying the day before. But did I do better because I was familiar with the questions or something?)
NBME 4 ( Second Attempt. Didn’t review): 490 - 2 weeks later (Thats more reassuring. Lets do this)
The Exam:
Day 1: The answer is YES! It is definitely as bad as everyone says. Be prepared for a drug ad AND 2-3 independent biostats questions EVERY block. When I first started studying, I decided that Biostats was not going to be the death of me. I took excellent notes on almost every UW question, knew every formula and watched every OME video. (It def paid off)
Day 2: I did mine 2 days apart. I was feeling kind of drained that day so the questions lagged on. I felt distracted and ran out of time on almost 3 blocks. I started to feel that nervous jitter that I felt for NBME 5 3 weeks out. I thought that would get me and cause me not to pass.
Cases: Overall not bad actually. EXXCCEEPPTTT for that delay that shot my heart rate through the roof! Guys, my time delay was LITERALLY 3-4 seconds PER order. I knew there was a lag but WOW! So, I got kicked out of all of my 20 min cases and only 1-2 of my 10 min cases. I simply ran out of time because of this delay.
Results are in and I scored between 205-210. A little bit higher than UWF2.
Parting Words: YOU CAN DO THIS! Give it its time but you CAN do this! We all know to do UW, thats a given. But if you do nothing else, do biostats and practice your cases WITH a lag (ccscases.com offers this option). Rest your mind, it will work better for you. Lastly, (as a Program Coordinator once told me) All you need to do is Breath and Believe.
Have a great one everybody! Happy Studying!