Beware, posting questions from exams is illegal. See the following website for more information. You are only hurting your own self and being unfair to other testtakers. http://www.usmle.org/news/news2003cib.htm

BiteMe

You beat me to the punch!

Please be aware that various organizations, including the usmle.org, consider the posting of remembered USMLE questions an act of "irregular behavior". Students who make these questions available to the public can have their test grades revoked.

Please do not advertise your questions as "remembered questions." If necessary, please reword the questions to something that would continue to be helpful, but that would not give an "unfair advantage" to other test takers.

__________________

Some people before taking usmle exam: please guys please post some recalls and try to help!!!

Same people after they are done with usmle exam: hey guys please DO NOT post recalls from the exam, it is dangerous and your grades will be revoked!!!!!!!!!


Does this make SENCE??? Does this sound LOGICAL???
I don't think so. goodluck everyone

No, I personally am not a cheater and did not want questions before or after. The test tests your aptitude and knowledge base in medicine. So, are you going to cheat and ask your patients to tell you what is wrong with them when they come in? Some people.... Never cease to amaze me. Keep cheating, I'm sure everyone will find out when you are sued left and right for malpractice because you didn't take the time to learn.

I disagree that it's "cheating". Going over previously tested concepts is part of studying for the exam. What's the difference if you call it "shelf exams" or not? The only difference I see is that the shelf exams are a bit older. But lots of U.S. med schools use the NBME shelf exams (a.k.a. NBME retired questions) as part of their preparation for the USMLE. But these shelf exams (old USMLE questions) are only given to certain schools with an unfair advantage. Why can only some people have access to these old questions? Why shouldn't everyone (i.e. all IMGs) have the same access? If you consider that cheating, do you also think that all those schools who have NBME shelves are also cheating?

I agree that if someone was trying to memorize the answers or something that would be cheating, but I don't see that at all. Instead, the concepts are being discussed and solved which is NOT cheating...it's studying. The concepts might be tested again and again, but the chances of seeing the same exact question are extremely minimal. So the people trying to memorize the answers would be in for a big surprise, while the ones that prepared legitimately by solving the questions would do very well.

First Aid, the gold standard review book for the USMLE, has sections for each subject on previously tested material. They refer to them as "high yield". This is perfectly legal and ethical. So what's the difference if you read it from First Aid or from a forum? As long as the concepts are being discussed and not the exact wording reproduced than I think it's fine. Otherwise people like First Aid would be in big trouble. Or are you also suggesting that we not use First Aid?

What about all of the professors who say "know this well because it's an often tested concept on the USMLE"? Are they cheating? Are the students cheating by listening?

You're welcome to give your opinions, but don't try to judge others without all of the facts. The people who the USMLE refer to as practicing "inappropriate behavior" are NOT the ones around here who try to learn and discuss high yield topics together. As the USMLE people and they will tell you that the people they're talking about aren't the same people you're talking about. I'd go as far as to say that most of the people participating in solving questions around here know more about medicine than many of the people like you who choose to cast unjustified judgements again them. The funny thing is that you're studying the same material, but the difference is that these individuals share the for free and put in extra work to look up answers, while people like you pay for it and have the answers dictated to you by the authors. But at the end, we're all just trying to help each other learn the material and pass the exams and practice medicine.

Best of luck to all!

i agrre with you 100%, we are just discussing old subjects, questions change all the time. thank you so much for taking the time to post such detailed explanation, this is the correct way to look at it, this is a place to discuss. for the others, if you are mad at yourself take it some place else.
best of luck

I fall into the category of those who have done the exam who advise against recalls. I do not however agree with those who describe it as cheating.

I agree totally with the last 2 contributors. Medical students and doctors around the world have long used past questions as AIDS to study. I doubt there is anybody in this forum that has never in their life used past question papers at some stage in their life to aid study. AID is what it is, cheating it is not because regardless of how many past Qs you see if you have not read or do not know concepts you will fail. Cheating is if you had prior access to your exam questions before hand. It is NOT true that those who use recall Qs are any less able than those. ALL of us have done this.

Posting questions is not cheating either. Neither are people who post questions cheating...they do NOT know who will benefit from them and are doing it for no reason other than to HELP ease the way for others who have gone through what they are going through. That is COMMENDABLE as they are very unselfish and, unlike most who pass the exam, willing to help people they don't even know. I have myself in the past (for previous exams) written down questions to help others and see nothing wrong with it.

The problem with USMLE (and the reason I think it is unwise to post questions) is that you sign a contract on paper undertaking not to do so. To do so means you are violating a contract you undertook. That is something I would personally be unhappy with. More importantly you risk losing your career for 'nothing'. It is true that by and large it will be of no consequence but USMLE will occasionally trace one or two people and make scapegoats of them so unless one is 100% certain that they can never be caught, it is a risk that I believe is not worth taking. Remember you did sign an undertaking in your wrting so if caught there will be no defence. Believe me it is not worth it. I just did CSA and they said we were not even allowed to talk to each other during breaks about the exam. Did any of us dare mention anything about the cases we got in the building? No! It simply isn't worth it. If some people chose to take the risk that is ok for them but that is their choice. They still are not cheating.

My views on recall questions did not however change before or after the exam. I never looked at recall Qs on this forum because I feel it is a most inefficient way to study looking at one Q at a time. Also I feel there is bias towards recalling difficult questions thus presenting a false image of exam. Recalls would I suppose be useful for people studying over several months but I studied for step 1 in 6 weeks and worked in a hospital full time so did not have time to look at a Question at a time. That is my opinion but I have no doubt that some people do find it useful. Again they are not cheating, it is just a different approach to study.

Not mad and I scored 246/99 on Step 1 without cheating. Your opinion is your opinion and no matter how you sugar coat it, it is cheating and unethical.

By the way, discussing questions that have been published in texts is not cheating, but saying "this question was on my exam and these are the answer choices" is plain old cheating. I call a spade a spade. I am not talking about people who have discussions on topics -- that is not cheating. First AID having topics is not cheating. Saying this was a test question is... Plain and simple.