Official 2015 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[KushWeedNuggetsStankyLeg]

M2 here. Starting today, I am just going to be reviewing for Step 1 which I am taking next May, and nothing else. Here is my plan:

Oct 23-Dec 31: Memorize FA2014, Watch all of Pathoma
Jan 1-Jan 31: FA2015, Pathoma (pass 2), Kaplan QBank
Feb 1-Feb 28: FA2015 (pass 2), Pathoma (pass 3), USMLERX
March 1- March 31: FA2015 (pass 3), Pathoma (pass 4): UWorld
April 1- Mid May: FA2015 (pass 4), Pathoma (selective topics), UWorld (pass 2), all practice tests

Goal: High number

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[ghuman612]

You are welcome. In the end, think of it as a big puzzle that you get to put together. I know people will hate me for saying this, but I am really enjoying it quite a bit. I am learning a lot. Yes, it's long hours but it's something that I will use for a while. I might as well put in the work now.

I'm quite sure you'll do great ! Good luck

 

[Road734]

I have 4 weeks left. I'm already quite thorough with FA tbh but still it didn't really show up on my NBME score. That's why I thought of going through UW once more. Do you feel it's necessary to absorb all the information that is given in the explanations or I should be focussing more on the question approach ? I basically feel I didn't go through UW the way I was supposed to. Any suggestions as to how should I make it more fruitful ?
Thank you for the reply.

Just my 2 cents: When i'm doing questions there are those that you know the answer before even reading the choices, so when you are picking answers you are literary looking for your answer and not picking between them... For these look at the other answers and see if you can give the pathophys of why it's wrong, or what the heck it is even ( today I saw Phlegmasia Ala Dolens.... WTF! after reading the translation I thought you could use it in a couple of dirty sentences, but I digress) The theme is getting more bang for your buck per question, this was an easy example. If I know the pathophys I double check with the explanation, if I don't it's getting written down, with a caveat! I don't have time to write paragraphs so it needs to get truncated to single line. This takes mental processing/condensing and it's just another way to help you recall and it's much easier to go over 3 pages of one liners. Again it's just my 2 cents and maybe very obvious and elementary to some but incase you didn't look at it from this point of view, there it is. Best of luck.

 

[super_mom]

I've got 4 weeks till my exam. I've gone through FA twice. How do you decide as to what to write down and what not ? During my first pass, i would write down the educational objective or if the explanation talked about a process or something I didn't know, I would write that too. I never really bothered about writing those tiny details down. Do you feel it's okay that way ? Because I've been thinking maybe I need to know every single piece of information that's in there and that's what I'm trying to do this time. It's frustrating and definitely demanding.

i do what @dartmed said i try to associate the pathology and i noticed the main explanation has a lot of more info that the educational objective. and some of the info there i am just like wow this can be a text question and then i write it down. sometimes i read the educational objective for something i feel i know well and then i jus skim through the explanation to make sure i didn't miss any vital info. so maybe this time after u do a system of FA, do the same system in pathoma that will reinforce what u read earlier from FA and then do that system in uworld. i do my uworld system wise cuz its my first time doing it an i feel like i learn better system wise. but after i am done i will do my incorrects random. look every one do what works for them some people do one system block and one random block just to get used to random questions. but i feel how can i do random when i have not nailed other systems yet. and sometimes in UW when doing a system they throw in things from other systems and i am like really?? but i haven't taken any assessments yet will take one soon but for now my UW average is a 78% with 53% left on UW.

 

[seminoma]

Down to 5 more study days guys. I know this will vary by form, but I'm just looking for some opinions. I'm going to end up being pretty weak in worms/protozoas and vitamin deficiencies. I will probably only have time to work on one or the other, so which one would be better to spend the time on?

 

[RwnSOM]

Down to 5 more study days guys. I know this will vary by form, but I'm just looking for some opinions. I'm going to end up being pretty weak in worms/protozoas and vitamin deficiencies. I will probably only have time to work on one or the other, so which one would be better to spend the time on?

For your micro weaknesses, I would strongly suggest SketchyMicro if you haven't gotten it already. Covers bugs and treatments.

 

[zheng]

Down to 5 more study days guys. I know this will vary by form, but I'm just looking for some opinions. I'm going to end up being pretty weak in worms/protozoas and vitamin deficiencies. I will probably only have time to work on one or the other, so which one would be better to spend the time on?

I had some rando parasites and vitamins was relatively easy but again you should be able to get the parasites by process of elimination.

 

[Radiolucent]

Down to 5 more study days guys. I know this will vary by form, but I'm just looking for some opinions. I'm going to end up being pretty weak in worms/protozoas and vitamin deficiencies. I will probably only have time to work on one or the other, so which one would be better to spend the time on?

Id guess vitamins are most HY then protozoa > worms. I had 1 vitamin question and 1 worm. Reading most posts Id say vitamins are exceedingly HY, but if you think you know them already go for the parasites. Good luck!

 

[coyotelime]

Down to 5 more study days guys. I know this will vary by form, but I'm just looking for some opinions. I'm going to end up being pretty weak in worms/protozoas and vitamin deficiencies. I will probably only have time to work on one or the other, so which one would be better to spend the time on?

Hard to say because each test is so random. You can have a helminth heavy exam or vitamin deficiencies/excess (know the sx of excess, A/B3/C/D at least those are in FA)

I think you have enough time for both in 5 days. SketchyMicro may come in handy, won't take you more than 2-3 hours to watch the videos the first time around and look at the pictures thereafter. If you work better with straight up memorization FA has more than enough. And unfortunately, the weirdly named tx are pretty HY because oftentimes they help you know the bug immediately (pt presents w/ vague ass sx then vignette tells you they were tx w/ sodium stibogluconate or something, so you know it's leishmaniasis)

 

[ghuman612]

Just my 2 cents: When i'm doing questions there are those that you know the answer before even reading the choices, so when you are picking answers you are literary looking for your answer and not picking between them... For these look at the other answers and see if you can give the pathophys of why it's wrong, or what the heck it is even ( today I saw Phlegmasia Ala Dolens.... WTF! after reading the translation I thought you could use it in a couple of dirty sentences, but I digress) The theme is getting more bang for your buck per question, this was an easy example. If I know the pathophys I double check with the explanation, if I don't it's getting written down, with a caveat! I don't have time to write paragraphs so it needs to get truncated to single line. This takes mental processing/condensing and it's just another way to help you recall and it's much easier to go over 3 pages of one liners. Again it's just my 2 cents and maybe very obvious and elementary to some but incase you didn't look at it from this point of view, there it is. Best of luck.

That's exactly what I've been trying to do as well ! Besides adding some extra points from given options if I find them to be one of those 'shining out' points. Will try and condense the info. Would be a more efficient process while revising. Thank you and good luck to you too

 

[ghuman612]

i do what @dartmed said i try to associate the pathology and i noticed the main explanation has a lot of more info that the educational objective. and some of the info there i am just like wow this can be a text question and then i write it down. sometimes i read the educational objective for something i feel i know well and then i jus skim through the explanation to make sure i didn't miss any vital info. so maybe this time after u do a system of FA, do the same system in pathoma that will reinforce what u read earlier from FA and then do that system in uworld. i do my uworld system wise cuz its my first time doing it an i feel like i learn better system wise. but after i am done i will do my incorrects random. look every one do what works for them some people do one system block and one random block just to get used to random questions. but i feel how can i do random when i have not nailed other systems yet. and sometimes in UW when doing a system they throw in things from other systems and i am like really?? but i haven't taken any assessments yet will take one soon but for now my UW average is a 78% with 53% left on UW.

I couldn't agree with you more, the main explanations do explain the pathophysiology questions very well. I always try to take those down because they provide such a good basis for a comprehensive review of the concerned topic. I just realised that I've practically shunned Pathoma out of my schedule off lately. I'll definitely go through the videos once more and add anything extra to FA. I've been doing it system wise too. It just suits me better that way just like you said. 78% is pretty impressive I hope you do really well !

 

[starstarie]

Hey everyone been following this thread for some time now. I have already completed my first pass of UW and got 194 on NBME 13. My first pass of UW was hasty and I don't really think I did it the right way. So I've started with another more thorough pass. But the problem seems to be that it takes me too much time going through every explanation and the wrong choices. There's something usually extra in each option and I try to cover each and every thing. I don't know if I'm doing it right because sometimes it just feels too much to take in. Please help me as to how should I go about with a comprehensive yet productive pass this time.
.
Is it necessary to go through all those titbits of extra knowledge or should I focus on the main explanation pertaining to the question and the closely related options. Please help me as I'm really short on time

It sounds to me like you need to go back to FA and work on getting down the basics before trying to do UW again. I know everyone raves ab UW, but honestly for me, it was ok but not amazing. There is a lot of detail in the explanations that seem to be a little too much sometimes and it's overwhelming. I'd probably analyze 1 section of UW that yoy finished and see why you are getting things wrong. If the majority of it is because of lack of knowledge, I wold focus on learning the content first before trying to apply it in question form.

Edit: oops I didn't realize I was a little late to the party with this haha. But I'd also add that you might benefit from doing either firecracker or find a free anki deck made of first aid. For me, I don't learn it just by reading it. I need to do it in flashcard format or else I THINK I learned something but when it comes down to it, I don't know it as well as I thought. Another suggestion is that part of it might be the nbme format. The questions are straightforward. If you think an answer us correct, it probably is. Don't change you answers unless you are very sure.

 

[chaingangdx]

Took this yesterday : I thought it was a well written test in the sense that each subject area was explored equally. If I had to give a breakdown of how each section went, I'd say 15-18 questions were concepts I had learned in Uworld + Nbmes, another 10 - 12 q's from FA/Pathoma, with the rest of the questions being moderately challenging. Maybe 1 occasional WTF question per section.

Good luck to those still on deck,

 

[Archibald_Graham]

Hey guys, long time lurker first time poster.

I recently took the exam in early may after 4 weeks of dedicated study time. I scored 240 which I was very pleased about, but after consultation with an academic advisor, she made it seem like I would still be hard pressed to get interviews in somewhat competitive specialities. Im thinking more about general surgery and I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or advice about my chances.

In case people were wondering, I used FA2015, pathoma throughout the school year, about half of DIT (where i was feeling less confident), and sketchy micro (incredible source). I didn't take any NBME exams but I went up 40 points from my CBSE which I took about 8 weeks prior to my exam. I also felt my exam was pretty experimental and not as "high yield" as i thought it would have been.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Trisphorin]

Hey guys, I took NBME 17 yesterday and scored 243 and 254 on NBME 16 a week ago. My test is in a few days and I feel the 243 on NBME 17 really brought my confidence down. I was hoping to score in 250 range coming into the dedicated studying period Anything I can do in the last few days to boost up my score a bit?

 

[Cardiochick]

Most if not all have said FA embryo is enough. Beyond that, it depends what you're weak in and how much time you have. BRS phys, Goljan RR Path, BRS Behavioral, Khan's Ethics Cases, MTB Medical Ethics & Kaplan lectures are common suggestions. If you like flashcards, Lippincott Microcards & Lange Pharm Cards are good.

Thank you for the input

 

[pd1112]

Hey guys, long time lurker first time poster.

I recently took the exam in early may after 4 weeks of dedicated study time. I scored 240 which I was very pleased about, but after consultation with an academic advisor, she made it seem like I would still be hard pressed to get interviews in somewhat competitive specialities. Im thinking more about general surgery and I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or advice about my chances.

In case people were wondering, I used FA2015, pathoma throughout the school year, about half of DIT (where i was feeling less confident), and sketchy micro (incredible source). I didn't take any NBME exams but I went up 40 points from my CBSE which I took about 8 weeks prior to my exam. I also felt my exam was pretty experimental and not as "high yield" as i thought it would have been.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

That score should be more than enough to match GS, but refer your question to surgery threads and talk to someone in your home surgery dept. for better information.

 

[pd1112]

Hey guys, I took NBME 17 yesterday and scored 243 and 254 on NBME 16 a week ago. My test is in a few days and I feel the 243 on NBME 17 really brought my confidence down. I was hoping to score in 250 range coming into the dedicated studying period Anything I can do in the last few days to boost up my score a bit?

Stick to reviewing what you originally planned. Fluctuations are common and different NBME forms can play to different strengths and weaknesses. Do your best and try not to worry about it.

 

[pd1112]

Down to 5 more study days guys. I know this will vary by form, but I'm just looking for some opinions. I'm going to end up being pretty weak in worms/protozoas and vitamin deficiencies. I will probably only have time to work on one or the other, so which one would be better to spend the time on?

The Goljan audio section on nutrition is solid; it's maybe 1 hour at most on 1x. I can't remember the exact segment since some of the titles & sections don't match up perfectly, but it's one of the first few.

Edit: just checked, it actually matches up pretty well. It starts about 2 minutes into "Nutrition 1" & ends about 30 minutes into "Nutrition 2, Neoplasia 1." ~80 minutes total on 1x.

 

[epo0817]

Hey guys. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I took my exam a few days ago and I'm looking for a bit of feedback. I didn't think the exam was too terrible at the time, but now that I've been reviewing some answers, I know I got at least 10-15 wrong that I can recall (most of them silly mistakes/wrong guesses on pretty straightforward recall questions). I got next to no sleep the night before, but felt reasonably focused for the entire exam. I know students tend to feel pretty awful afterward, but I still can't shake the feeling that I may have cost myself some valuable "gimme" points. I was averaging 70% in UWORLD and high 230's on my NBMEs, but I'm really just hoping to crack 230 at this point. Anyone out there been in the same position and still scored within their NBME range?

 

[pd1112]

Hey guys. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I took my exam a few days ago and I'm looking for a bit of feedback. I didn't think the exam was too terrible at the time, but now that I've been reviewing some answers, I know I got at least 10-15 wrong that I can recall (most of them silly mistakes/wrong guesses on pretty straightforward recall questions). I got next to no sleep the night before, but felt reasonably focused for the entire exam. I know students tend to feel pretty awful afterward, but I still can't shake the feeling that I may have cost myself some valuable "gimme" points. I was averaging 70% in UWORLD and high 230's on my NBMEs, but I'm really just hoping to crack 230 at this point. Anyone out there been in the same position and still scored within their NBME range?

You answered it yourself! Quite literally, the majority of people feel this way & nearly all score within a few points. Scroll through this year's & last year's experience threads & you'll see.

 

[dartmed]

Things I don't want to hear 2 weeks before my test date: omg, how could you study for almost 7 weeks, you are going to get diminishing returns. You will burnt out. Just take the test.
Thinking to myself: oh shut up! I am nervous as it is, I don't need you to make me feel even less confident. Gah.

 

[sloop]

Hey guys, I took NBME 17 yesterday and scored 243 and 254 on NBME 16 a week ago. My test is in a few days and I feel the 243 on NBME 17 really brought my confidence down. I was hoping to score in 250 range coming into the dedicated studying period Anything I can do in the last few days to boost up my score a bit?

Stick to reviewing what you originally planned. Fluctuations are common and different NBME forms can play to different strengths and weaknesses. Do your best and try not to worry about it.

This is correct, also:

I'm not saying to ignore what NBMEs are saying but I will say that I had a 9 point drop within a week going from NBME 15 to 16. I then took 17 a week later and bumped back up to within 2 points of NBME 15. What I mean to say by this is that sometimes (esp. in the 250s range) an off day can really screw you on an NBME. If you only have a few days I do not recommend doing another NBME but it might help your confidence to know that this is a possibility. If there were topics on 17 that you could tell were tanking your score, spend some time on those. Other than that, just keep on trucking and try your best to think of that test as a blip and be alert on test day.

 

[sloop]

Things I don't want to hear 2 weeks before my test date: omg, how could you study for almost 7 weeks, you are going to get diminishing returns. You will burnt out. Just take the test.
Thinking to myself: oh shut up! I am nervous as it is, I don't need you to make me feel even less confident. Gah.

One thing I've realized since coming to medical school is that there are a lot of people who, despite probably working hard to get here, are some seriously lazy f*ckers at this point in their lives. Disregard them. Most of them are probably insecure about their decisions to take less time and the fact that some classmates took more is making them anxious. This is not to say that there aren't people who legitimately think extra time wouldn't help them, but I don't think these people usually give people flak for taking more time.

You will not get burnt out if you know what to look for and aren't stubborn about giving your body what it needs or asking advice. For me personally, I always took a full day off each week. Other people manage this differently. As long as you recognize that sometimes the best thing for your score is some R+R, you'll be good.

 

[Got Em]

Have a few questions that I'm confused about.

1) It seems like people have been getting 6-8 heart murmur questions per test. Is this pretty normal?
2) Will ALL the heart murmur questions have media associated with it?
3) If not, how many can one expect?

I know it's different for every test, but I'm just trying to see if I need to start "really" listening to murmurs right about...NOW. Appreciate it guys!

 

[Archibald_Graham]

That score should be more than enough to match GS, but refer your question to surgery threads and talk to someone in your home surgery dept. for better information.

Thank you for your direction! I really appreciate the input

 

[theheartguy526]

hey guys, there are 47 pages of this thread and I did not have time to read them all so I apologize if this has already been addressed. I was wondering if you could shed some light on this issue for me. I, like everyone who has taken USMLE, am 1. freaking out 2. second guessing 3. trying to remember if I answered "that question" correctly....but I walked out of my test thinking that it was really easy....some questions almost too easy and complete softballs. This immediately makes me a little nervous because it is not supposed to be easy. Should I be nervous? Also, I have heard that some people do actually get "easier" versions of the test but are required to get many more correct than someone who got a "harder" version....is this true? Thank you so much in advance for your time.

 

[Mountaineer12]

Have a few questions that I'm confused about.

1) It seems like people have been getting 6-8 heart murmur questions per test. Is this pretty normal?
2) Will ALL the heart murmur questions have media associated with it?
3) If not, how many can one expect?

I know it's different for every test, but I'm just trying to see if I need to start "really" listening to murmurs right about...NOW. Appreciate it guys!

I took it Monday with some classmates and we all had two murmurs each. Both of mine you could guess without the media. My friend said one of hers you couldn't guess without listening to it, but that's just one. They weren't that bad!

 

[Shjanzey]

hey guys, there are 47 pages of this thread and I did not have time to read them all so I apologize if this has already been addressed. I was wondering if you could shed some light on this issue for me. I, like everyone who has taken USMLE, am 1. freaking out 2. second guessing 3. trying to remember if I answered "that question" correctly....but I walked out of my test thinking that it was really easy....some questions almost too easy and complete softballs. This immediately makes me a little nervous because it is not supposed to be easy. Should I be nervous? I am in the top five in my class, I have done Uworld twice through, did the DIT program, and my Uworld self-assessments were 245 initially and then a 269 on the second assessment a week before my test. Also, I have heard that some people do actually get "easier" versions of the test but are required to get many more correct than someone who got a "harder" version....is this true? Thank you so much in advance for your time.

omg I only got a 269 on my assessment, and I'm top 5 in the class...I'm freaking out lol

Nice humble brags bro

 

[theheartguy526]

no no no I wasnt trying to brag or anything like that I just wanted to say that I do well but I thought it was really straight forward...I wanted thoughts on...was it straight forward because I was prepared or because I fell into traps and got tricked. I really apologize for that, that was not the message I was trying to convey

 

[zheng]

Have a few questions that I'm confused about.

1) It seems like people have been getting 6-8 heart murmur questions per test. Is this pretty normal?
2) Will ALL the heart murmur questions have media associated with it?
3) If not, how many can one expect?

I know it's different for every test, but I'm just trying to see if I need to start "really" listening to murmurs right about...NOW. Appreciate it guys!

1.) yea I had 2 broski, and they were really easy (for one, I could have gotten it from the clinical presentation alone and for the other I needed the murmur).
2.) Yes + no?
3.) I don't remember it being that difficult don't worry too much!

 

[Shjanzey]

no no no I wasnt trying to brag or anything like that I just wanted to say that I do well but I thought it was really straight forward...I wanted thoughts on...was it straight forward because I was prepared or because I fell into traps and got tricked. I really apologize for that, that was not the message I was trying to convey

You are a bright student who is very prepared. I am sure it is because of your hard work and study ethic. Just relax

 

[theheartguy526]

thank you for your kind words. I appreciate it.

 

[pd1112]

This is correct, also:

I'm not saying to ignore what NBMEs are saying but I will say that I had a 9 point drop within a week going from NBME 15 to 16. I then took 17 a week later and bumped back up to within 2 points of NBME 15. What I mean to say by this is that sometimes (esp. in the 250s range) an off day can really screw you on an NBME. If you only have a few days I do not recommend doing another NBME but it might help your confidence to know that this is a possibility. If there were topics on 17 that you could tell were tanking your score, spend some time on those. Other than that, just keep on trucking and try your best to think of that test as a blip and be alert on test day.

Fosho, I had a pretty significant decrease between the last two I took. 1 block just completely threw me off.

hey guys, there are 47 pages of this thread and I did not have time to read them all so I apologize if this has already been addressed. I was wondering if you could shed some light on this issue for me. I, like everyone who has taken USMLE, am 1. freaking out 2. second guessing 3. trying to remember if I answered "that question" correctly....but I walked out of my test thinking that it was really easy....some questions almost too easy and complete softballs. This immediately makes me a little nervous because it is not supposed to be easy. Should I be nervous? Also, I have heard that some people do actually get "easier" versions of the test but are required to get many more correct than someone who got a "harder" version....is this true? Thank you so much in advance for your time.

Everyone is nervous to an extent; it's an important test. You're the only one that should control anything beyond that. I don't understand the point of asking "should I be nervous" after the fact. You can sweat it out for the next 4 weeks or you can just chill. Your score won't change either way.

 

[theheartguy526]

well said...thank you very much

 

[seminoma]

hey guys, there are 47 pages of this thread and I did not have time to read them all so I apologize if this has already been addressed. I was wondering if you could shed some light on this issue for me. I, like everyone who has taken USMLE, am 1. freaking out 2. second guessing 3. trying to remember if I answered "that question" correctly....but I walked out of my test thinking that it was really easy....some questions almost too easy and complete softballs. This immediately makes me a little nervous because it is not supposed to be easy. Should I be nervous? I am in the top five in my class, I have done Uworld twice through, did the DIT program, and my Uworld self-assessments were 245 initially and then a 269 on the second assessment a week before my test. Also, I have heard that some people do actually get "easier" versions of the test but are required to get many more correct than someone who got a "harder" version....is this true? Thank you so much in advance for your time.

You can't get 269 on UWSAs bro. Pls go troll.

 

[stepone2015]

You can't get 269 on UWSAs bro. Pls go troll.

 

[theheartguy526]

what?

 

[theheartguy526]

You can't get 269 on UWSAs bro. Pls go troll.

Sorry my mistake. The 269 was on NBME 17 with a CBSSA score of 690. My terrible mistake. Thanks for being a prick

 

[Chilladosis]

Sorry my mistake. The 269 was on NBME 17 with a CBSSA score of 690. My terrible mistake. Thanks for being a prick

Dude, you rocked nbme 17. so im sure you did amazing on the actual step. Did you find nbme 17 equal in difficulty to your exam? Try to relax between now and when the scores come out.

 

[dfib slim]

.

 

[IniestaDeMiVida]

I'm looking for some optimism! My NBMEs were 230/234/245/230/232, the last one I took about a week ago. I took the UWSAs this week and got 242 and 252. How much do these normally overestimate?

 

[pd1112]

I'm looking for some optimism! My NBMEs were 230/234/245/230/232, the last one I took about a week ago. I took the UWSAs this week and got 242 and 252. How much do these normally overestimate?

The common theme for most people is that if your NBME average is in the 230s-250s range, the UWSAs over predict by 5-10+ or more, but that's not the case for everyone. For example, it's pretty common for people in the 240s-250s range on NBMEs to score >260 on UWSA2. Based on your scores, the 245 NBME score might be an outlier in that it played to your strengths and/or you were right on most or all of the questions in which you weren't 100% sure & guessed. That's not to say you can't score in the 240s or higher, but based on the majority of anecdotes on these threads, you're probably comfortably in the 230s range.

 

[peutetre]

I just took the exam as well. Did anyone else have the experience of loss of concentration/easy distractability at one point or another over the course of their test? I experienced this at one juncture and am wondering if the conventional wisdom that NBMEs are good predictors takes into account nerves, periodic loss of concentration, etc. into account. Thank you in advance.

 

[sloop]

I'm looking for some optimism! My NBMEs were 230/234/245/230/232, the last one I took about a week ago. I took the UWSAs this week and got 242 and 252. How much do these normally overestimate?

I'd like to give more optimistic news, but here's my judgment:

A lot of people report UWSA overestimating compared to NBMEs. I don't necessarily believe this is the case for everyone because I took UWSA1 and it seemed to be pretty much in line with my NBMEs. That said, I think NBMEs have a more proven track record and would trust them more than the UWSAs.

In your case, however, your UWSA scores do not seem as close to your NBME scores. Assuming the 232 was your most recent NBME, your UWSA scores are 10-20 points higher than your NBME score a week earlier and your NBMEs seemed fairly stable in the 230-235 range (with an outlier) prior to that. To me, it seems like something would have had to change in between your NBMEs and your UWSAs to think that bump is valid. But then again it's not impossible and I don't know your studying as well as you do, so you tell me: do you think your studying during that week could account for 10-2o points?

 

[pd1112]

@IniestaDeMiVida I should clarify my previous post. My thoughts were simply based on the (lack of?) wisdom shared on the experience threads over the years. By all means, take it with a grain of salt & prove the "trend" wrong with a 245+.

 

[callipygian00]

Have a few questions that I'm confused about.

1) It seems like people have been getting 6-8 heart murmur questions per test. Is this pretty normal?
2) Will ALL the heart murmur questions have media associated with it?
3) If not, how many can one expect?

I know it's different for every test, but I'm just trying to see if I need to start "really" listening to murmurs right about...NOW. Appreciate it guys!

I only got 2 media murmurs as well and i purposely tried to answer the question without listening then i listened to confirm my answer. It may be the case that some other people getting more but i wouldn't imagine more than 4 which would still be very doable.

 

[MedicalMBA]

Are you guys seeing a lot of radiology on your exam? My school is pretty weak with that so do any of you have any suggestions on resources I could use to brush up on the more high yield aspects of it? Thanks! I got most of the Uworld examples down and the NBMEs don't seem to focus on that at all so far, so I'm not sure.

 

[zyovka]

Hey guys. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I took my exam a few days ago and I'm looking for a bit of feedback. I didn't think the exam was too terrible at the time, but now that I've been reviewing some answers, I know I got at least 10-15 wrong that I can recall (most of them silly mistakes/wrong guesses on pretty straightforward recall questions). I got next to no sleep the night before, but felt reasonably focused for the entire exam. I know students tend to feel pretty awful afterward, but I still can't shake the feeling that I may have cost myself some valuable "gimme" points. I was averaging 70% in UWORLD and high 230's on my NBMEs, but I'm really just hoping to crack 230 at this point. Anyone out there been in the same position and still scored within their NBME range?

My exam was a week ago and I still have flash backs here and there about the mistakes I had done. I've counted around 20 already. It does make you feel down, because you think what if I underperformed terribly during the test for some random, unaccounted, unknown reason. But then again, when I think about all the tests done prior to the exam, the scores were consistent, thus the real score has to be somewhere there, no matter how bad you may feel about your test.

 

[zyovka]

Are you guys seeing a lot of radiology on your exam? My school is pretty weak with that so do any of you have any suggestions on resources I could use to brush up on the more high yield aspects of it? Thanks! I got most of the Uworld examples down and the NBMEs don't seem to focus on that at all so far, so I'm not sure.

I had one Anatomy MRI type of question and 2 regular X-rays images. My impression is it wasn't anything out of ordinary, so if you're familiar with UW, then you are set well. And I hate everything related to Anatomy and memorization!

 

[theheartguy526]

Dude, you rocked nbme 17. so im sure you did amazing on the actual step. Did you find nbme 17 equal in difficulty to your exam? Try to relax between now and when the scores come out.

To be honest, I felt like the real exam was much more straight forward. On 17 there were many questions that were a little vague so that threw me a little bit. But who knows. I really felt like my exam was more inline with Uworlds questions and weren't really anything like NBME's questions. But, it is all case by case reporting, because I have had friends take their's the next day and say that the exam was more like NBME and that it was hard and vague at points. So I guess it all depends.