My first question was on Maple-syrup urine disease and what amino acid
would be elevated in the serum, so needless to say, I was pleasantly
surprised. About 75% of the exam was expected topics and questions:
multiple myeloma, hemophilia A, alzheimers, etc. I was surprised by how
many questions were almost word-for-word from UWorld. I had 3 murmurs
that had an audio and 2 that described the murmur. The stems for the
audio questions didn't have much in the stem, but the audio changed so
obviously when you moved to different auscultation areas, it wasn't
hard to figure out which valve was the problem. I had a ton of
radiographic anatomy, at least 3 sagittal brain MRIs, a bunch of CXR
and abdomen CTs. All of the micro had the "buzzwords" in the stem, like
"hot tub folliculitis" for pseudomonas. Pharm was pretty basic, a few
mechanisms of drug resistance. I was pleasantly surprised to find a
calculator tool, since I'm not a fan of math, so that made calculations
easy, though I only had about 3 questions that required calculation.
98% of the exam is in First Aid, so look over it again in the few days
before the test. Most of the exam was straightforward and expected,
that being said, I did have questions on McCune-Albright syndrome and
Wallenberg's syndrome, so expect to see a few zebras. I had a lot on
receptors and signaling pathways.
I spent 6 weeks preparing. I had First Aid unbound, hole-punched and
put into 2 binders. I added my notes from Robbins Path and other good
class notes I had made into the appropriate sections. I watched a few
Kaplan lectures, but not many, I'm a book person. Listened to Goljan
and read RR Path and biochem (both by him). I used HY Embryo and
Neuroanatomy, Katzung Pharm. BRS cell bio and histo and the Imaging
Atlas of Human Anatomy. I did all of UWorld qbank and made notes on it.
I did an NBME every week my scores were: 530/229, 550/234, 580/240,
590/242, 620/249, 660/258. I also did the 2 UWSA last week and got a
262 and 264.
All in all it was a fair exam, I think I prepared for it very well
given what I was asked. I did the first 2 blocks then took a break
after every block thereafter. It was definitely a good strategy, you
get more tired than you think and it helps to walk around for a bit to
get the blood moving.