How hard?

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how hard Is it to do well on usmle? I literally studied my ass off and still didn't do so well on my mcat (30) although I did really well on all my pe req classes. Would I have similar problem with uslme?

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Since no one has bit on this I will let you know my situation. I got a 28 on my MCAT and luckily got into a med school. Took 5.5 weeks to study for step 1 and studied really hard and got rid of distractions put my all into it and got a 248. Your MCAT has little to do with your Step 1 score, use it as motivation to study harder and more efficiently.

Originally Posted by grizzman4

Since no one has bit on this I will let you know my situation. I got a 28 on my MCAT and luckily got into a med school. Took 5.5 weeks to study for step 1 and studied really hard and got rid of distractions put my all into it and got a 248. Your MCAT has little to do with your Step 1 score, use it as motivation to study harder and more efficiently.

Interesting because all the research in Academia on improving /predicting step scores shows that one thing matters: your MCAT.

Now, you can find the material more interesting, REALLY learn to study, REALLY bunker down (what you thought was studying and bunkering down wasnt) and do better, of course. But I do find that there is a cieling, an upper limit to someone's potential. I think this is particularly true of a standardized testing system.

The point I'm making is that some one who gets a 270 did work hard. But they, much like an NBA athelete, have something in them that makes the 270 possible. You can't play hoops at 5'10" That is simple, easy to understand. But in my personal belief (which has been weakly reproduced in schools studying USMLE scores), there is the "height equivelent" for standardized testing. These tests are good. They have their limitations. But what they do is assess who can take a MCQ test and who cant. So, if you have the "height equivelent" you will perform better. If you aren't "tall enough" you can't reach the top.

Study. Work hard. MCAT of 30 is good. You've got 230-240 potential. You will have to work HARD for it. And I mean HARDER than you have ever worked. But achieve it.

I offer this advice to people in general because, some people will think "if I study longer, or harder, or more, I will do better." You won't. You will cap out. And more importantly, you will miss your prime.

This is almost impossible to predict, but if you can get it right, you win. As you begin to really study, train those MCQs, you will see your perfomance peak. That's when you want to take the test. If you study too long, your performance decreases, and more questions just makes you worse.

What grizzman has said is that MCAT is not your limitation (though is a decent marker of your success, especially if you really tried for your MCAT), but more importantly...choose a strategy that makes sense and that will not burn you out before the test

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Here's a n=1 to make you feel good:

My MCAT: 24
My USMLE Step 1: 255
My COMLEX Level 1: 717

If you want it bad enough and work hard enough, you can achieve it. Eff any "correlations".

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2517912/ the correlation coefficient between MCAT and USMLE was 0.61 so yea I didn't mean to say that your MCAT didn't predict at all, but it isn't all that strong. I prepared pretty well for the MCAT, but it was nothing like I did for the USMLE. I knew exactly how much the test meant. I got away from distractions by blocking all the sites other then what I needed and got away from school to a place where I could study, and study hard for 10 hours a day. If you felt you did poorly on the MCAT (although 30 is not all that poor) you need to reevaluate what wasn't good about your study plan. I also felt like I matured a lot and knew my study habits a lot better after 2 years of med school.

Bottom line just don't feel like your MCAT hinders you from doing well on the USMLE otherwise it will.

But I seriously felt thay mcat tested how you think and not what you know. I detested all those gotcha questions.

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Originally Posted by zoner

But I seriously felt thay mcat tested how you think and not what you know. I detested all those gotcha questions.

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This is true. I personally found step 1 easier than the MCAT. Step 1 is a knowledge-based test, where the more you know, the better you do. MCAT isn't the same. Sure there's a knowledge component to it, but all the material tested on the MCAT is pretty simple. However, MCAT is largely a reading comprehension test, and that's what makes it hard. I've found that your MCAT score probably correlates well with your SAT verbal score, but step 1 doesn't really correlate with anything (except probably your scores on MS1/2 exams)

Source: nothing official, just the 9 scores I know from my class. Surprisingly, there actually seems to be an inversely proportional relationship between MCAT and step 1, but I'm not bold enough to make that conclusion . All I can really say is that there really isn't much correlation

Thats good to hear because I think I memorized everything in my berkeley review book

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I think standardized tests are dumb. The first time i took my MCAT I got a 9 on PS, I took it 2 weeks later and got a 14 (I even remembered the question I got wrong, which had NOTHING to do with physics--I just had trouble understanding what the question was asking me). Did I know more physics between those 2 weeks, probably not, I just did more problems and was more familiar with the MCAT style of questions.

The MCAT could be a test about music and im sure type A pre-med students who gets A's throughout undergrad would study their ass off and learn how to score higher on the test so they can get into med school. Then you would find a new study about how scoring well on a musical exam is correlated to doing well on the USMLE.

People in my class who scored below 30 on their MCAT got above 240 on their USMLE. In my opinion, the USMLE is a different test with different material. And unfortunately like any standardized test, you score can change drastically by what day you take the exam and how you are feeling on that particular day.

[Edit] I truly believe anyone has the potential to do extremely well on the USMLE (240+). I don't feel like there is a cap for how well an individual can perform just because they did poorly on the MCAT or anything else.There is a limited amount of info you need to know (yes I know there is a lot) but once you know it cold you should do well.

Originally Posted by MrBeauregard

Here's a n=1 to make you feel good:

My MCAT: 24
My USMLE Step 1: 255
My COMLEX Level 1: 717

If you want it bad enough and work hard enough, you can achieve it. Eff any "correlations".

Nice USMLE score! You'll have your pick of some great residencies for sure. Here's to hoping I can replicate your success on Step 1 in May!