Official 2012 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[amavir281]

I saw that there was a similar thread for 2011 that had plenty of useful info so I figured its best to start one for 2012.

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[Phloston]

I don't really remember too many specifics from the test (took it almost 2 weeks ago on Thursday), but I do remember thinking "wow, this *$&% seems way too easy." And that worries me for some reason. There might have been 1 or 2 questions total where I literally had no idea and had to blindly guess. So not too many WTF questions on mine.

AubornO5, it sounds like you've smashed it.

 

[275471]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Can you please give some idea about how many UWorld Qs and how much First Aid you were doing on daily basis in the last 5 to 6 weeks of your preparation or whatever your daily study plan was.

Sure, The first thing I did was finish FA. I took about ten days and was watching the corresponding pathoma chp for that day and then would do Kaplan questions in that area. After the first ten days, I switched into uworld mode. In the morning I would do a block of 46 and review the answers and gave myself two hours to go over the answers. Then, I would watch Kaplan videos for a couple hrs, then another set of questions, then read thru a chapter in FA. I did that for several weeks until I finished uworld with about three weeks left. From there on out, I would make a pass thru FA in five days. I always used videos and questions to break up just reading. During my second pass thru world (which I didn't think was all that helpful), I would spend less than an hour (taking it and reviewing) on one section mostly only reading missed questions and i did those in untimed tutor mode. I think that is about it. My first few weeks consisted of really long days and I tapered of a lot the last three weeks. I used a stop watch (pretty lame) to time how long I was actually studying everyday. Started off at 12, then about 8 for the last few weeks. Good luck

 

[HeltonDO]

Took the test April 9th and results haven't been posted yet. My sister who took USMLE a couple of years ago said that whenever it was close to getting her results she would log in and see if she could register to take the test again and each time it wouldn't allow her to do it. She took this to mean that she had passed, although she of course doesn't know for sure if that's what it meant. Just based on the fact that you could register for the exam around four weeks after haven taken it. Has anyone had this experience with COMLEX? I was expecting the grades back possibly yesterday but like I said they aren't posted BUT I can't register for the test again either - it's grayed out. . . .

 

[JackShephard MD]

My advice isn't blind. I don't need to have already sat the exam to know what's going to work.

You've probably already seen this post, but it's all right here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=597742

I don't doubt your advice or that you're probably eclipse 270 with the prep and focus you put in, yet I still think it's best to do before you teach.

No you don't have to sit the exam to know what works, but you should sit the exam before you become an authority or give advice to others. Or at least say, "what I've heard works well" or something.

 

[auburnO5]

Took the test April 9th and results haven't been posted yet. My sister who took USMLE a couple of years ago said that whenever it was close to getting her results she would log in and see if she could register to take the test again and each time it wouldn't allow her to do it. She took this to mean that she had passed, although she of course doesn't know for sure if that's what it meant. Just based on the fact that you could register for the exam around four weeks after haven taken it. Has anyone had this experience with COMLEX? I was expecting the grades back possibly yesterday but like I said they aren't posted BUT I can't register for the test again either - it's grayed out. . . .

wut

 

[AndyRSC]

No you don't have to sit the exam to know what works, but you should sit the exam before you become an authority or give advice to others. Or at least say, "what I've heard works well" or something.

I have to agree with Jack that too often is speculation offered where a concrete answer is desired, especially when it comes to the exam. There's no need to post "not sure, but I think..." as has been the recent trend. Instead, it would be much more useful to link to a thread where a definitive answer was given.

 

[cameraGEEK]

Anyone expecting results tomorrow? I think I should get mine, I took the exam April 20th.

My exam was more like USMLE World than the NBMEs, at least for the end of the exam. I felt good after the NBMEs but not so great after the real thing.

I just checked the document request form link, and it seems to have changed from having no info, to being able to request documents. I guess that means the score is coming tomorrow. Wish I did not have to wait about 9 hours to know what my score is! Anyone know if there are any tricks like that OASIS trick that no longer works?

 

[sanityonleave]

Just got my scores back this morning from the April 16th test date -- 262/89.

I'm very excited. A little bit about my experience -- I did a school-administered CBSSE about 10 weeks prior to Step 1 and got a 210 prior to starting studying, so I definitely came up quite a bit from that.

Practice test scores:
NBME 12, 5 weeks out -- 228
UWSA 1, 4 weeks out -- 247
NBME 12, 3 weeks out -- 250 (I took the same form again by accident -- but I hadn't done extended feedback the first time so I don't think it dramatically changed my score)
NBME 11, 3 weeks out -- 245
NBME 13, 2 weeks out -- 254
NBME 7, 2 weeks out -- 247
UWSA 2, 1 week out -- 262
NBME 3, 6 days prior -- 259
NBME 6, 2 days prior -- 254

I used FA, RR Path, RR Biochem, Microcards, and Pharmcards to study. I really liked the microcards and I think RR biochem was helpful because our school had a pretty weak biochem prep, but I don't think either one was necessary. Pharmcards were a waste of time, IMHO. I went through RR path while listening to the Goljan audio and I feel like that gave me a great baseline (went from 228 to 250 on the same NBME in the two weeks that I worked on Goljan audio / RR path). Once I finished audio / RR, I basically just did lots and lots and lots and lots (>5000 total answered questions) in UWorld and read / annotated FA. I think that once you have the foundation, practice questions and FA are really all you need. Even from the questions I remember struggling with on test day, I'd say 80% of them were in FA in some form or fashion and only 20% were things that I wouldn't have been able to answer even with FA in front of me. Of those 20%, most of them seemed to be pharm -- I got a bunch of out of left field pharm questions on drugs I'd never heard of.

Anyway, I'm super stoked about my score -- good luck to everyone taking it and waiting to get their reports back! The waiting period sucks, but it's such an awesome feeling to finally get your scores back and have the whole thing be over.

Quick question -- does anyone know what the deal with the two digit scores is? They seem to have changed them this year, so it seems like maybe they're now your percentile?

 

[ijn]

It's not your percentile. It's your 2 digit scaled score. If you want percentiles you have to look elsewhere because the NBME doesn't like directly releasing that information for some reason. Based on the 2009 Charting Outcomes data that some guy data crunched in depth, a 260 or greater is 98.65th+ percentile of all NRMP residency applicants. So it's probably a bit less now, but not much.

 

[Chirurg]

Just got my scores back this morning from the April 16th test date -- 262/89.

I'm very excited. A little bit about my experience -- I did a school-administered CBSSE about 10 weeks prior to Step 1 and got a 210 prior to starting studying, so I definitely came up quite a bit from that.

Practice test scores:
NBME 12, 5 weeks out -- 228
UWSA 1, 4 weeks out -- 247
NBME 12, 3 weeks out -- 250 (I took the same form again by accident -- but I hadn't done extended feedback the first time so I don't think it dramatically changed my score)
NBME 11, 3 weeks out -- 245
NBME 13, 2 weeks out -- 254
NBME 7, 2 weeks out -- 247
UWSA 2, 1 week out -- 262
NBME 3, 6 days prior -- 259
NBME 6, 2 days prior -- 254

I used FA, RR Path, RR Biochem, Microcards, and Pharmcards to study. I really liked the microcards and I think RR biochem was helpful because our school had a pretty weak biochem prep, but I don't think either one was necessary. Pharmcards were a waste of time, IMHO. I went through RR path while listening to the Goljan audio and I feel like that gave me a great baseline (went from 228 to 250 on the same NBME in the two weeks that I worked on Goljan audio / RR path). Once I finished audio / RR, I basically just did lots and lots and lots and lots (>5000 total answered questions) in UWorld and read / annotated FA. I think that once you have the foundation, practice questions and FA are really all you need. Even from the questions I remember struggling with on test day, I'd say 80% of them were in FA in some form or fashion and only 20% were things that I wouldn't have been able to answer even with FA in front of me. Of those 20%, most of them seemed to be pharm -- I got a bunch of out of left field pharm questions on drugs I'd never heard of.

Anyway, I'm super stoked about my score -- good luck to everyone taking it and waiting to get their reports back! The waiting period sucks, but it's such an awesome feeling to finally get your scores back and have the whole thing be over.

Quick question -- does anyone know what the deal with the two digit scores is? They seem to have changed them this year, so it seems like maybe they're now your percentile?

more like percentage correct, but nobody knows...
and congrats to an awesome score and thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[ijn]

more like percentage correct, but nobody knows...
and congrats to an awesome score and thanks for sharing your experience.

I think it's pretty much like CBSE scores. They give you a 2 digit scaled score with the passing score at ~65 and then a corresponding 3 digit predictive STEP 1 score. It's not a % correct or a percentile.

 

[Chirurg]

They give you a 2 digit scaled score with the passing score at 70 and then a corresponding 3 digit predictive STEP 1 score.

maybe that used to be the case...but certainly not now when you see a 272=91.

I think it's pretty much like CBSE scores.It's not a % correct or a percentile.

as I said, nobody knows. all we can do is give an opinion, it's pointless to argue who is right.

 

[ijn]

maybe that used to be the case...but certainly not now when you see a 272=91.



as I said, nobody knows. all we can do is give an opinion, it's pointless to argue who is right.

Well, we do know that a 70 two digit score is passing. If it were a % correct then it'd be common knowledge that you needed to get 226 of 322 questions right to pass. I think we'd agree that isn't common knowledge.

Sure, we don't really know. But it looks like what they did was recently decrease the standard deviation amount of the 2 digit scaled score. That's why you no longer see 245/99. Instead of truncating all scores with a 99, they made the scale more precise by allowing all attainable three digit scores to have a 2 digit score. Based on his numbers, ~260/89 is 2.5 standard deviations above the mean and 5 standard deviations above passing. So the new standard deviation on the two digit score is roughly 4 (89-70, divided by 5). Let's say before the adjustment the 2 digit was set with a standard deviation of 10, then his two digit score would be 120 which would truncate at 99. Someone with a 245 would have had a 2 digit score of roughly 110, which would also truncate at 99. Under the new system a 245 is probably closer to the mid 80s.

 

[Chirurg]

Well, we do know that a 70 two digit score is passing. If it were a % correct then it'd be common knowledge that you needed to get 226 of 322 questions right to pass. I think we'd agree that isn't common knowledge.

They recently decreased the standard deviation amount of the scaled score. That's why you no longer see 245/99. Instead of truncating all scores with a 99, they made the scale more precise by allowing all attainable three digit scores to have a 2 digit score. Based on his numbers, ~260/89 is 2.5 standard deviations. So the new standard deviation on the two digit score is roughly 8. Let's say before the adjustment the 2 digit was set with a standard deviation of 15, then his two digit score would be 107.5 which would truncate at 99.

not convinced, reference?

 

[ijn]

The NBME doesn't publish that kind of stuff so of course there aren't references. I guess the best way to prove it would be to accumulate data on identical three digit and corresponding two digit correlations before and after the adjustment. I think I'll go listen to more Kaplan videos instead.

 

[Jammin357]

Took the exam April 16th and just got my score back today. Got a 258/89.

nbme 7: 240 (5 weeks out)
nbme 11: 250 (2 weeks out)

I followed a modified version of the Taus method. I made sure that I went through First Aid three times before the test. First time was a leisurely pace and I would add annotations. The second pass was with DIT 2011, adding more annotations. The third pass was during my last two weeks. The last two weeks I did 3 blocks of 46 ?'s of uworld in the AM and then did whatever the Taus method said to study during the rest of the day.

I ended up going through uworld twice during this whole fiasco, didnt touch any other question bank. Towards the end of my second pass through uworld I was getting an average of 83% correct per block. Went through the blue margin notes of all of goljan's path during the last couple of days. Going through the uworld questions for biostats the day or two before the exam really saved me in that area.

The exam experience was weird. There would be 3 soft ball questions in a row and then a couple of weird questions that were really hard, repeat ad nauseum. . For me, it didn't seem like there was any middle ground in terms of question difficulty. Pharm was very very straight forward. Biochem was silly how easy it was. Micro wasnt too bad, lippincotts microcards are great. The hardest questions I got involved physiology, I would highly recommend going through brs physiology before this test. I didn't, but I wish I had. For a couple of blocks I thought I was taking an OBGYN board exam. Lots of babies with rashes and reproductive path. Quite a few strange molecular genetics questions but I usually just wrote those off as experimental.

So, I had TONS of reproductive, endocrine, and physiology. I barely had any neuro despite what I had heard from DIT. It seems everybody's test is heavy on a couple subjects, so its best to just know everything well and not risk getting a test that is really heavy on something you are weak in. I came out of the test with NO IDEA how well I did. There were so many strange questions so I couldn't tell if they were going to count or not (might have been experimental).

Pretty happy with my score. I think this is a test where effort correlates well to exam performance.

 

[docjohn101]

Took the exam April 16th and just got my score back today. Got a 258/89.

nbme 7: 240 (5 weeks out)
nbme 11: 250 (2 weeks out)

I followed a modified version of the Taus method. I made sure that I went through First Aid three times before the test. First time was a leisurely pace and I would add annotations. The second pass was with DIT 2011, adding more annotations. The third pass was during my last two weeks. The last two weeks I did 3 blocks of 46 ?'s of uworld in the AM and then did whatever the Taus method said to study during the rest of the day.

I ended up going through uworld twice during this whole fiasco, didnt touch any other question bank. Towards the end of my second pass through uworld I was getting an average of 83% correct per block. Went through the blue margin notes of all of goljan's path during the last couple of days. Going through the uworld questions for biostats the day or two before the exam really saved me in that area.

The exam experience was weird. There would be 3 soft ball questions in a row and then a couple of weird questions that were really hard, repeat ad nauseum. . For me, it didn't seem like there was any middle ground in terms of question difficulty. Pharm was very very straight forward. Biochem was silly how easy it was. Micro wasnt too bad, lippincotts microcards are great. The hardest questions I got involved physiology, I would highly recommend going through brs physiology before this test. I didn't, but I wish I had. For a couple of blocks I thought I was taking an OBGYN board exam. Lots of babies with rashes and reproductive path. Quite a few strange molecular genetics questions but I usually just wrote those off as experimental.

So, I had TONS of reproductive, endocrine, and physiology. I barely had any neuro despite what I had heard from DIT. It seems everybody's test is heavy on a couple subjects, so its best to just know everything well and not risk getting a test that is really heavy on something you are weak in. I came out of the test with NO IDEA how well I did. There were so many strange questions so I couldn't tell if they were going to count or not (might have been experimental).

Pretty happy with my score. I think this is a test where effort correlates well to exam performance.

Did you feel First Aid covered the material well?

 

[Jammin357]

Not everything. If I had looked at only FA, I would not have done as well as I did. You definitely need outside sources to better explain concepts. Hah, I totally forgot to mention that I used pathoma throughout my second year and it was great. He is very helpful in explaining concepts that you are seeing for the first time. Also, i think doing uworld twice really helped me solidify my knowledge.

 

[msbbc833]

..

 

[Jammin357]

Anatomy wasn't bad, FA and uworld covered it for me. upper and lower limb innervation. GI vasculature, and ct scans. Definitely know brain ct scans and gross brainstem anatomy.

 

[alternatego]

Took the exam April 16th and just got my score back today. Got a 258/89.

nbme 7: 240 (5 weeks out)
nbme 11: 250 (2 weeks out)

I followed a modified version of the Taus method. I made sure that I went through First Aid three times before the test. First time was a leisurely pace and I would add annotations. The second pass was with DIT 2011, adding more annotations. The third pass was during my last two weeks. The last two weeks I did 3 blocks of 46 ?'s of uworld in the AM and then did whatever the Taus method said to study during the rest of the day.

I ended up going through uworld twice during this whole fiasco, didnt touch any other question bank. Towards the end of my second pass through uworld I was getting an average of 83% correct per block. Went through the blue margin notes of all of goljan's path during the last couple of days. Going through the uworld questions for biostats the day or two before the exam really saved me in that area.

The exam experience was weird. There would be 3 soft ball questions in a row and then a couple of weird questions that were really hard, repeat ad nauseum. . For me, it didn't seem like there was any middle ground in terms of question difficulty. Pharm was very very straight forward. Biochem was silly how easy it was. Micro wasnt too bad, lippincotts microcards are great. The hardest questions I got involved physiology, I would highly recommend going through brs physiology before this test. I didn't, but I wish I had. For a couple of blocks I thought I was taking an OBGYN board exam. Lots of babies with rashes and reproductive path. Quite a few strange molecular genetics questions but I usually just wrote those off as experimental.

So, I had TONS of reproductive, endocrine, and physiology. I barely had any neuro despite what I had heard from DIT. It seems everybody's test is heavy on a couple subjects, so its best to just know everything well and not risk getting a test that is really heavy on something you are weak in. I came out of the test with NO IDEA how well I did. There were so many strange questions so I couldn't tell if they were going to count or not (might have been experimental).

Pretty happy with my score. I think this is a test where effort correlates well to exam performance.

Do you think DIT helped you with your score? I'm still debating whether or not to buy it, as it is expensive.

 

[Jammin357]

It definitely helped me, I remember several questions that I got right simply because I remember something someone said in DIT. I don't know about the 2012 version, but 2011 was helpful.

 

[lakerfan38]

Did you just take the 2 NBMEs for practice tests?

Took the exam April 16th and just got my score back today. Got a 258/89.

nbme 7: 240 (5 weeks out)
nbme 11: 250 (2 weeks out)

I followed a modified version of the Taus method. I made sure that I went through First Aid three times before the test. First time was a leisurely pace and I would add annotations. The second pass was with DIT 2011, adding more annotations. The third pass was during my last two weeks. The last two weeks I did 3 blocks of 46 ?'s of uworld in the AM and then did whatever the Taus method said to study during the rest of the day.

I ended up going through uworld twice during this whole fiasco, didnt touch any other question bank. Towards the end of my second pass through uworld I was getting an average of 83% correct per block. Went through the blue margin notes of all of goljan's path during the last couple of days. Going through the uworld questions for biostats the day or two before the exam really saved me in that area.

The exam experience was weird. There would be 3 soft ball questions in a row and then a couple of weird questions that were really hard, repeat ad nauseum. . For me, it didn't seem like there was any middle ground in terms of question difficulty. Pharm was very very straight forward. Biochem was silly how easy it was. Micro wasnt too bad, lippincotts microcards are great. The hardest questions I got involved physiology, I would highly recommend going through brs physiology before this test. I didn't, but I wish I had. For a couple of blocks I thought I was taking an OBGYN board exam. Lots of babies with rashes and reproductive path. Quite a few strange molecular genetics questions but I usually just wrote those off as experimental.

So, I had TONS of reproductive, endocrine, and physiology. I barely had any neuro despite what I had heard from DIT. It seems everybody's test is heavy on a couple subjects, so its best to just know everything well and not risk getting a test that is really heavy on something you are weak in. I came out of the test with NO IDEA how well I did. There were so many strange questions so I couldn't tell if they were going to count or not (might have been experimental).

Pretty happy with my score. I think this is a test where effort correlates well to exam performance.

 

[maxxor]

Coming back to report. I got scores back today: 262/89. Looks like NBME 13 is pretty predictive.

Took the Step yesterday. I also saw a ton of crazy anatomy. Weird.

Tore my ACL in the fall. Started studying after reconstruction was done in October, as I literally couldn't do much else.

I read the First Aid Organ Systems and Basic Sciences books. Did Organ Systems with our classes (organ curriculum) and used Basic Sciences to review first year material. Also used Kaplan QBank with each block to consolidate before each block's exams.

Supplemental Sources:
Pathoma - This man is fantastic
Micro Made Ridic Simple
Deja Review Pharm
MedEssentials for the Behavioral Sciences Questions
Kaplan Pharm Cards
Vijay's Underground Biochemistry

QBanks:
Kaplan - Went over it about 2x.
World - Finished and then did incorrects
USMLERx - Did about 30-40% of it in total. I stopped doing it when they started testing on diseases that literally less than 15 people have ever had in the history of medicine.

Practice Tests:
Kaplan Diagnostic (After finishing all first time studying) - 79%
NBME 11 - 242
NBME 12 - 250
NBME 13 - 264
UW Self Asssessment 1 - 266

Hoping for a score that lines up with what those tests predicted.

I'll report back in a month. PM me if you have questions.

 

[Jammin357]

Yeah I just took those 2

 

[Phloston]

Took the exam April 16th and just got my score back today. Got a 258/89.

Nice.

I think this is a test where effort correlates well to exam performance.

Assuaging.

 

[Phloston]

Pretty happy with my score. I think this is a test where effort correlates well to exam performance.

Coming back to report. I got scores back today: 262/89. Looks like NBME 13 is pretty predictive.

What would both of you have done differently looking back on things? Anything?

Solid scores, both of you.

 

[MrBigglesworth]

I take the CBSSE tomorrow and then have dedicated study time. I'm so scared. Time is going too fast

 

[Kaputt]

Got my scores back, 263/90. Pretty stoked!

Studied over 5 weeks, took a test a week in this order:

NBME 6: 235
NBME 7: 252
NBME 11: 252
NBME 12: 261
World SA1: 265
World SA2: 265

World qbank first-pass: 84%

Mostly just used FA and World. I felt pretty comfortable with most of the material from years 1 and 2, and I credit my success to that. I made it a point to not just study what lecturers wanted us to know, and used review books extensively during school. I took 5 weeks to study, used FA as my roadmap and only touched other review books when I needed clarification. Had Goljan's RR next to me every day, but honestly rarely referred to it (used it during school though so I was aware of a good deal of the content in it). Only really went through World once. I reviewed maybe ~300 questions I marked throughout my study period during the week of my exam.

My actual exam was pretty "business as usual" with lots of classic, typical questions and a few oddballs which I didn't take personally. I knew coming out that I did as well as I could on it, so I'm glad my score correlates to my confidence. Those NBMEs sure aren't lying.

I really think that knowing most facts in FA while having a solid foundation from school, plus working through World, will do the trick. There really isn't anything fancy about it. If there is an area where you have relative weakness, dig deeper than what FA has. Otherwise, just practice practice practice with questions.

 

[Convalaria]

impressive, congrats!!!

 

[LaCasta]

Just had to share something:

On our CBSE report we get from our school, they give us the range of our class scores. Someone got a 99 (260+) on the freaking diagnostic.

 

[Aclamity]

Just had to share something:

On our CBSE report we get from our school, they give us the range of our class scores. Someone got a 99 (260+) on the freaking diagnostic.

They're peaking. It's just downhill from there (just to make you feel better )

 

[LaCasta]

Lol

That guy must have a 1 day study plan after finals

 

[ijn]

Just had to share something:

On our CBSE report we get from our school, they give us the range of our class scores. Someone got a 99 (260+) on the freaking diagnostic.

I got a 99 on that thing too and I kind of think it overestimated what I knew because we hadn't had endocrine, repro, or derm yet in our path class. I hope the real STEP 1 is that level of difficultly. We'll see June 13.

 

[msbbc833]

For anyone who has taken the path, pharm, physical diagnosis shelves. Are step 1 questions the same level of difficulty?

 

[missmedschool]

I got a 99 on that thing too and I kind of think it overestimated what I knew because we hadn't had endocrine, repro, or derm yet in our path class. I hope the real STEP 1 is that level of difficultly. We'll see June 13.

Have you taken any NBMEs, if so, what are your scores? If they're high, did you consider moving your test date up?

 

[Jammin357]

What would both of you have done differently looking back on things? Anything?

Solid scores, both of you.

I wish I would have read through BRS physiology. Phys was pretty significant on my test.

 

[Enolate]

So since I'm a long time creeper on these forums I'd like everyone's advice, I have three proposed plans for the last two weeks (my test is May 25th) and I can't decide on one. My practice test 3 weeks out was NBME 12 and I scored a 226 in the noisiest of all cafes playing the worst music of all time, my goal is 240! Hopefully I can make it. I have been doing one 46Q UWorld block a day and will finish UWorld tomorrow (yay!)

So I could:

1. Do all of UWorld again, but this seems totally excessive and would take up probably 8 hours of my day considering I'd have to do about 4 blocks a day. And study first aid.

2. Do all my incorrects in UWorld again, watch some Kaplan physio, biochem and pharm for things that I am horrendous at and also study first aid.

3. Keep doing just 1 46Q block per day and max out on time spent actually learning...

I'm leaning toward #2, but I don't know! HELLP me.

 

[lrkoehle]

So since I'm a long time creeper on these forums I'd like everyone's advice, I have three proposed plans for the last two weeks (my test is May 25th) and I can't decide on one. My practice test 3 weeks out was NBME 12 and I scored a 226 in the noisiest of all cafes playing the worst music of all time, my goal is 240! Hopefully I can make it. I have been doing one 46Q UWorld block a day and will finish UWorld tomorrow (yay!)

So I could:

1. Do all of UWorld again, but this seems totally excessive and would take up probably 8 hours of my day considering I'd have to do about 4 blocks a day. And study first aid.

2. Do all my incorrects in UWorld again, watch some Kaplan physio, biochem and pharm for things that I am horrendous at and also study first aid.

3. Keep doing just 1 46Q block per day and max out on time spent actually learning...

I'm leaning toward #2, but I don't know! HELLP me.

It might be helpful to know how many incorrects you have on UW, or more specifically how many questions per day that would amount to. If it is only a like a block and a half, then I'd go number 2 for sure (pun kind of intended ).

 

[RedSoxSuck]

So since I'm a long time creeper on these forums I'd like everyone's advice, I have three proposed plans for the last two weeks (my test is May 25th) and I can't decide on one. My practice test 3 weeks out was NBME 12 and I scored a 226 in the noisiest of all cafes playing the worst music of all time, my goal is 240! Hopefully I can make it. I have been doing one 46Q UWorld block a day and will finish UWorld tomorrow (yay!)

So I could:

1. Do all of UWorld again, but this seems totally excessive and would take up probably 8 hours of my day considering I'd have to do about 4 blocks a day. And study first aid.

2. Do all my incorrects in UWorld again, watch some Kaplan physio, biochem and pharm for things that I am horrendous at and also study first aid.

3. Keep doing just 1 46Q block per day and max out on time spent actually learning...

I'm leaning toward #2, but I don't know! HELLP me.

I would go with option 3. Do a block of incorrect/marked answers a day and then rest of the time spend on fa. As many passes as you can.

 

[WashMe]

So since I'm a long time creeper on these forums I'd like everyone's advice, I have three proposed plans for the last two weeks (my test is May 25th) and I can't decide on one. My practice test 3 weeks out was NBME 12 and I scored a 226 in the noisiest of all cafes playing the worst music of all time, my goal is 240! Hopefully I can make it. I have been doing one 46Q UWorld block a day and will finish UWorld tomorrow (yay!)

So I could:

1. Do all of UWorld again, but this seems totally excessive and would take up probably 8 hours of my day considering I'd have to do about 4 blocks a day. And study first aid.

2. Do all my incorrects in UWorld again, watch some Kaplan physio, biochem and pharm for things that I am horrendous at and also study first aid.

3. Keep doing just 1 46Q block per day and max out on time spent actually learning...

I'm leaning toward #2, but I don't know! HELLP me.

I vote against #1. Number 2 isn't a bad idea. I'm not sure I understand number 3; which "46q block per day" will you be doing once you finish UW tomorrow, if you aren't doing repeats?

I imagine at this point, you don't need help understanding how to think about problems. You know how to identify salient information in a question stem, and if you miss a problem it's probably due to lack of raw knowledge. Think how much time you would waste reading question stems that don't provide you with high yield information if you repeated all of UW at this point...

It I were you, I'd review all of FA, not trying to memorize every detail, but getting through it all in ~7 days. When you see difficult stuff to memorize, don't get caught up but just take a note of the page number and move on. By the end of that week, you'll have your own personal list of stuff you need to memorize in the week before the test. Your 3rd pass FA, therefore, will ONLY cover certain pages/figures, which you can focus 100% of your time on at the end of your studying. This way, you study what you don't know, as opposed to making yourself feel good by reading what you already know.

Regarding UW, did you annotate your FA well? If so, you don't necessarily need to repeat the missed UW questions. If not, then repeating your incorrects is reasonable. I don't think 2 weeks out is a time to start any new resources, so stick with what you've been using and just pound something out.

Mainly, try to triage your weak points and make sure you don't burn out as you're approaching the finish line. Good luck!

 

[chiefMD]

So since I'm a long time creeper on these forums I'd like everyone's advice, I have three proposed plans for the last two weeks (my test is May 25th) and I can't decide on one. My practice test 3 weeks out was NBME 12 and I scored a 226 in the noisiest of all cafes playing the worst music of all time, my goal is 240! Hopefully I can make it. I have been doing one 46Q UWorld block a day and will finish UWorld tomorrow (yay!)

So I could:

1. Do all of UWorld again, but this seems totally excessive and would take up probably 8 hours of my day considering I'd have to do about 4 blocks a day. And study first aid.

2. Do all my incorrects in UWorld again, watch some Kaplan physio, biochem and pharm for things that I am horrendous at and also study first aid.

3. Keep doing just 1 46Q block per day and max out on time spent actually learning...

I'm leaning toward #2, but I don't know! HELLP me.

if you really wanted a 240 why would you be studying in a cafe??

 

[rocdoc38]

Hey everyone, just finished a first pass through FA with the Kaplan HY videos (thought they were well done and a helpful supplement for the most part in case anyone cares) as well as a first pass through pathoma. Took NBME 7 to see where I was at and scored a 242. I haven't done many Uworld questions yet so I'll be focusing more of my time there over the next several weeks. Additionally, I'll be reviewing FA+pathoma and supplementing with pharm and biochem flashcards just to keep that material fresh in my head. However, my test isn't until June 30, and I'm considering moving my exam date up to the beginning or middle of June to avoid burnout, plateauing, or even losing points on my score. I was wondering if anyone had any good recommendations on how to maintain knowledge over that period of time and also is it possible for me to get above the 250 mark in that time?

 

[Enolate]

if you really wanted a 240 why would you be studying in a cafe??

HA! Because I enjoy interacting with society on some level, even when I am supposed to be in a hole, growing a beard (even though I am a female) and being miserable.

Thanks everyone for all of your sage advice. My Uworld annotations did this thing where they started out really great and then they sort of got transferred to notebooks but I was very good about them. I have about 700 incorrects.

I LOVE the idea of going through first aid twice and the first time marking specific pages to do the second time. Thank you WashMe for that!

I want to reiterate that this board has been amazing and I will definitely contribute and post all my details when I take the test and get my scores back!

I meant to say that I have been using kaplan vids for some stuff all along so it would be doing them again just for solidifying information. I am literally THE WORST at pharm and I think at least 100 of my incorrects in world are due to pharm, so I definitely to triage that.

Anyways! good luck to everyone and when I can help, I will!

 

[LaCasta]

I meant to say that I have been using kaplan vids for some stuff all along so it would be doing them again just for solidifying information. I am literally THE WORST at pharm and I think at least 100 of my incorrects in world are due to pharm, so I definitely to triage that.

Anyways! good luck to everyone and when I can help, I will!

You know what to do then. Spend some more time with Dr. Raymond.

 

[metallica81788]

Finally finished finals. I figure I'll start my dedicated study period on Tuesday (May 15th) and my exam is on June 14th.

I need to make a schedule - planning on doing one practice exam a week. I have a USMLErx simulation exam saved from January and I have to take the CBSSA for school requirements. I was thinking I could use those as two practice tests and take two NBMEs. I was planning on using the RX sim as a starting point. Thoughts (especially on which two NBMEs to take?)

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Hey everyone, just finished a first pass through FA with the Kaplan HY videos (thought they were well done and a helpful supplement for the most part in case anyone cares) as well as a first pass through pathoma. Took NBME 7 to see where I was at and scored a 242. I haven't done many Uworld questions yet so I'll be focusing more of my time there over the next several weeks. Additionally, I'll be reviewing FA+pathoma and supplementing with pharm and biochem flashcards just to keep that material fresh in my head. However, my test isn't until June 30, and I'm considering moving my exam date up to the beginning or middle of June to avoid burnout, plateauing, or even losing points on my score. I was wondering if anyone had any good recommendations on how to maintain knowledge over that period of time and also is it possible for me to get above the 250 mark in that time?

Hey, what did you think of kAplan high yield videos? Better than usmlerx videos?

 

[rocdoc38]

Yea I thought they were really helpful. I know a lot of people hate on them because they're too superficial, and it's true the lectures don't cover every single line of first aid, but they do a nice job of pointing out what you will absolutely see on your exam and how you're most likely to see it tested. I also tried out the first aid express videos for a day before I requested a refund because I really felt like I was just having first aid read to me word for word. The kaplan HY videos focus a lot more on explaining the concepts you'll see outlined in first aid. Anyways, for me I thought they served the purpose I needed them to which was to have a thorough first run through FA laying a nice conceptual frame work for the later passes which will be more memorization of facts heavy. Hope that helps.

 

[mmmcdowe]

if you really wanted a 240 why would you be studying in a cafe??

Some people like white noise. I scored well and did most of my studying in a dimly lit, noisy cafe with delicious pastries and unlimited coffee.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Some people like white noise. I scored well and did most of my studying in a dimly lit, noisy cafe with delicious pastries and unlimited coffee.

By pastries you meant eye candy right? lol