08-01-2011, 07:17 AM
Hey guys! I'm back from the monster exam! My experience was very much similar to others who have taken the exam recently.
Basically, I felt the exam was very similar to UWorld, 70% were definitely doable and the rest 30% were pretty confusing. A mixture of easy, moderate and hard questions. There were more short questions than long, so timewise it's not a problem especially if you are a fast reader. I was able to finish most blocks about 8-10 minutes early and had enough time to go thru the marked ones ( I had marked 10Q on average in each block).
Some specific points re: the exam:
Most questions were from med,followed by obs and gynae, peds, psychiatry , surgery, and least from biostats ( I was surprised!) I think I got just about 3-4 Q from Biostats, no calculations to do, just interpretation.
Pls go thru some uncommon drug names as well, they use that to confuse you. e.g. in one Q they had used irbsartan, instead of a more commmon ARB!!!
There were about 4 ecgs, 4 murmurs and about 8-10 pictures ( a few were hard to interpret).
Overall, I think that if we had to do each block well rested, we could get 80% right, but I was tired and I know I made mistakes becoz of feeling run down. My adrenaline and redbull kept me going ( yup, redbull really helped in the latter half of the day!). I took breaks after each block and I think that helped me too!. Did'nt realise how tired I was till I came back home and slept for 14 hrs!!!!
I came out with mixed feelings, which are very rapidly culminating into negative feelings!!! The questions keep floating around in my mind and I feel I got them all wrong!!!
Before I go, I just want to thank all the nice people on this forum who really helped me and you guys were really like my virtual family!!! Very special thanks to aviator, examusmle, grad1980, malena, hialfrens, pbnsatya, hopeahead,and last but not the least to amirh899 and mmutahir, who clarified so many concepts. Thanks guys, you ALL ROCK!!!
P.S. I'm thanking early coz if I get a low score you might never hear from me again:-(
Basically, I felt the exam was very similar to UWorld, 70% were definitely doable and the rest 30% were pretty confusing. A mixture of easy, moderate and hard questions. There were more short questions than long, so timewise it's not a problem especially if you are a fast reader. I was able to finish most blocks about 8-10 minutes early and had enough time to go thru the marked ones ( I had marked 10Q on average in each block).
Some specific points re: the exam:
Most questions were from med,followed by obs and gynae, peds, psychiatry , surgery, and least from biostats ( I was surprised!) I think I got just about 3-4 Q from Biostats, no calculations to do, just interpretation.
Pls go thru some uncommon drug names as well, they use that to confuse you. e.g. in one Q they had used irbsartan, instead of a more commmon ARB!!!
There were about 4 ecgs, 4 murmurs and about 8-10 pictures ( a few were hard to interpret).
Overall, I think that if we had to do each block well rested, we could get 80% right, but I was tired and I know I made mistakes becoz of feeling run down. My adrenaline and redbull kept me going ( yup, redbull really helped in the latter half of the day!). I took breaks after each block and I think that helped me too!. Did'nt realise how tired I was till I came back home and slept for 14 hrs!!!!
I came out with mixed feelings, which are very rapidly culminating into negative feelings!!! The questions keep floating around in my mind and I feel I got them all wrong!!!
Before I go, I just want to thank all the nice people on this forum who really helped me and you guys were really like my virtual family!!! Very special thanks to aviator, examusmle, grad1980, malena, hialfrens, pbnsatya, hopeahead,and last but not the least to amirh899 and mmutahir, who clarified so many concepts. Thanks guys, you ALL ROCK!!!
P.S. I'm thanking early coz if I get a low score you might never hear from me again:-(