This is awesome the way you explain the test creation and what the NBEM is looking for. I know I was made for this healthHealthcare. Finally, a discipline that rewards learning and applying what you understand.
Yeah, I agree completely. Having read the document now multiple times, it gives me a bit more hope and faith that these tests aren’t just there to reward memorizing random facts but are actually trying to help us understand and apply concepts better. They’re not perfect, and there are some really random details, but I think they’re a lot better than many of the other exams out there.
Great video Dr. Palmerston. It’s helpful to get into the mind of the test writers as I prepare for Step 2. In my experience there, are are many question types from NBME what do not follow the “cover the options” rule. For example biostats questions will ask “which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the study” and cardio/pulm physiology questions ask “which of the following would you expect to see.” In both question types you must read each answer choice until you find the one that is most correct. I find these more time consuming and undesirable. What are your thoughts on this?
Great question. I think the NBME’s point with the “cover the options” rule is not that the question by itself can be used to know the answer. Rather, it’s the question stem AND the question together. As you know, the USMLEs are famous for having two step reasoning questions, with the second step being usually something generic like “what’s the best next step in management?“ With the “cover the options“ rule it’s really about understanding both steps (e.g. the diagnosis/pathophysiologic process AND the histologic findings), so that you can cover the responses and know the answer before you look at the answer choices. So for the bio statistics question, we need to be reading the stem carefully, and trying to figure out what conclusions can reasonably be drawn based on the findings. And for the cardio/pulmonary question, we need to be reading it to figure out what pathophysiologic process or concept they’re getting at, so that we understand what findings we would see. Does that make sense?
Dr Alec, thank you for the video. Could you give some insights for the step1 revision within a month ? I have completed one time. Could you suggest me to improve the score from 154 in self assessment ?
Great question! Definitely not easy, I think probably my best advice would be to focus on making sure that you can learn at least one topic well and make your score go up. For example try to get 80% on 10 consecutive questions on a single subtopic like coronary heart disease. Often the challenge is that people try to do too many questions before they know how to learn from and interpret them, so they end up compounding the mistakes that they were making early on. I’m preparing a case study of a student who failed their exam, then in under two months increase their score to the 97th percentile (262) on his NBME before he passed. Sign up on Yousmle.com for our newsletter so you can get first access to the case study when we release it - I’ll be sharing his study schedule, materials used, how many questions, and overall plan and share his NBME score reports and schedule as well.
We should still be able to cover the responses for biostatistics questions, at least in the cases I can think of. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were exceptions though. Can you share an example of a biostats question where that isn’t true?
@@alec.palmerton_md Thanks for your response! I have one that says: Based on the drug ad, which of the following conclusions is most appropriate when considering the care of the patient?
@@alec.palmerton_md gotcha. I just got one that was about a study and then the question is: based on these findings, which of the following statement is most accurate?
This one as well, you’ll have a much better chance of answering the question if you can interpret the study as you read about it, and come to your own conclusions, which you can then corroborate using the answer choices
1) test of application 2) common diseases/serious/clinically relevant tested more critical concepts 3) weed memorisers 4) single best answer closed response 5) cover the options and should be able to guess what the answer is going to be 6) no one is trying to fool you Patient in vignettes should tell the truth 7) HPI format 8) might change the question if shared widely
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Thanks for your kind words and support!
This is awesome the way you explain the test creation and what the NBEM is looking for. I know I was made for this healthHealthcare. Finally, a discipline that rewards learning and applying what you understand.
Yeah, I agree completely. Having read the document now multiple times, it gives me a bit more hope and faith that these tests aren’t just there to reward memorizing random facts but are actually trying to help us understand and apply concepts better. They’re not perfect, and there are some really random details, but I think they’re a lot better than many of the other exams out there.
Great video Dr. Palmerston. It’s helpful to get into the mind of the test writers as I prepare for Step 2. In my experience there, are are many question types from NBME what do not follow the “cover the options” rule. For example biostats questions will ask “which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the study” and cardio/pulm physiology questions ask “which of the following would you expect to see.” In both question types you must read each answer choice until you find the one that is most correct. I find these more time consuming and undesirable. What are your thoughts on this?
Great question. I think the NBME’s point with the “cover the options” rule is not that the question by itself can be used to know the answer. Rather, it’s the question stem AND the question together.
As you know, the USMLEs are famous for having two step reasoning questions, with the second step being usually something generic like “what’s the best next step in management?“ With the “cover the options“ rule it’s really about understanding both steps (e.g. the diagnosis/pathophysiologic process AND the histologic findings), so that you can cover the responses and know the answer before you look at the answer choices.
So for the bio statistics question, we need to be reading the stem carefully, and trying to figure out what conclusions can reasonably be drawn based on the findings. And for the cardio/pulmonary question, we need to be reading it to figure out what pathophysiologic process or concept they’re getting at, so that we understand what findings we would see. Does that make sense?
Dr Alec, thank you for the video. Could you give some insights for the step1 revision within a month ? I have completed one time. Could you suggest me to improve the score from 154 in self assessment ?
Great question! Definitely not easy, I think probably my best advice would be to focus on making sure that you can learn at least one topic well and make your score go up. For example try to get 80% on 10 consecutive questions on a single subtopic like coronary heart disease. Often the challenge is that people try to do too many questions before they know how to learn from and interpret them, so they end up compounding the mistakes that they were making early on. I’m preparing a case study of a student who failed their exam, then in under two months increase their score to the 97th percentile (262) on his NBME before he passed. Sign up on Yousmle.com for our newsletter so you can get first access to the case study when we release it - I’ll be sharing his study schedule, materials used, how many questions, and overall plan and share his NBME score reports and schedule as well.
@@alec.palmerton_md Thank you Dr Alec for the great tip. I will sign up
Critical issue 5 is not true for bio stats questions right?
We should still be able to cover the responses for biostatistics questions, at least in the cases I can think of. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were exceptions though. Can you share an example of a biostats question where that isn’t true?
@@alec.palmerton_md Thanks for your response! I have one that says:
Based on the drug ad, which of the following conclusions is most appropriate when considering the care of the patient?
@@alec.palmerton_md gotcha. I just got one that was about a study and then the question is: based on these findings, which of the following statement is most accurate?
Even for that, it helps (and I think they expect) to have an answer in mind before you look at the answer choices
This one as well, you’ll have a much better chance of answering the question if you can interpret the study as you read about it, and come to your own conclusions, which you can then corroborate using the answer choices
1) test of application
2) common diseases/serious/clinically relevant tested more critical concepts
3) weed memorisers
4) single best answer closed response
5) cover the options and should be able to guess what the answer is going to be
6) no one is trying to fool you
Patient in vignettes should tell the truth
7) HPI format
8) might change the question if shared widely
Yes! Definitely keep focusing on trying to think like a test writer 💪💡
Is there a way to hire you for a consult to talk to you?
Sure! We offer free consultations with the team here: Yousmle.com/consultation