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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[cardiosurgeon26]

If it's okay, I have a question for all of you. If you can go back to the summer before your second year, would you have studied anything for step 1 (listened to Golijan audio, read books, first aid, etc) or just focused on research/having fun?

 

[seminoma]

If it's okay, I have a question for all of you. If you can go back to the summer before your second year, would you have studied anything for step 1 (listened to Golijan audio, read books, first aid, etc) or just focused on research/having fun?

The latter.

 

[pd1112]

@cardiosurgeon26 relax and refresh yourself for M2. The only thing I'd maybe do would be search around for what resources to use throughout the year, so you can have a plan and be ready to start early in M2, because it tends to get forgotten about once classes restart.

 

[sloop]

If it's okay, I have a question for all of you. If you can go back to the summer before your second year, would you have studied anything for step 1 (listened to Golijan audio, read books, first aid, etc) or just focused on research/having fun?

Hell no don't try to study for boards the summer before MS2! I know you don't know any better at this point so it's not your fault that you had this idea but, for the record, it is a terrible one.

Studying now would be almost totally pointless and a complete waste of time. Relax and do some research if that's what you want to do. Come into MS2 refreshed and try to honor everything you can (or just do as well as possible if your school is P/F). Unless your school is a complete ****-show, getting good grades is the absolute best way to prepare for boards. Period. Just do what you need to make sure you're rejuvenated and ready to do that come the start of classes.

 

[cs24]

right but that's not what I said.

there's a point where someone is being illogical and irrational to the point where it's like social dysfunction.

like the people who are crying after an exam and get a 95. that's truly a mental problem IMO

I agree that it can be overdone, and a lot of times when that person is like "OMG I'm so nervous that I did poorly my NBME avg was 265 etc etc should I start restudying tomorrow??" the best advice is to tell them to chill. I guess I'm saying people could be a lot nicer with their presentation of that advice (not even necessarily you, many others had more annoying comments), taking into the account that the other individual, despite their excellent prep, is probably still really freaking anxious.

As far as your second point, if they knew they got a 95 at the time, they wouldn't be crying in their car. I don't see why you shouldn't have empathy for someone freaking out after the hardest and probably most important exam in their life. It's cool that you're chill enough or just don't show enough emotion that you would never go out and cry in your car, but that doesn't mean the people who do have a personality problems..

 

[cs24]

and say "there's no F'N way that'll be tested", which is a statement I used to often say before I started doing the NBMEs.

hahaha I can so relate to this. During my school classes I was all about efficient studying and knowing only what I needed for each test. Uworld and NBMEs opened my eyes to exactly how much I needed to know for step and how they can test exquisite minutiae. On a positive note, it also helped me realize how a lot of what I used to consider minutiae is actually very relevant.

 

[PL198]

hahaha I can so relate to this. During my school classes I was all about efficient studying and knowing only what I needed for each test. Uworld and NBMEs opened my eyes to exactly how much I needed to know for step and how they can test exquisite minutiae. On a positive note, it also helped me realize how a lot of what I used to consider minutiae is actually very relevant.

I think this is the most beneficial aspect of the NBME practice exams. Seeing the information tested in a way you most likely didn't anticipate.

 

[cs24]

@seminoma what are you planning for the day before? I was all about taking almost or all of the day completely off, but I talked to a friend that took it this week. He said he casually flipped through FA the day before and ended up getting a few questions (presumably) right because of random facts that he thought he otherwise would've forgotten. Obviously it's all up to chance, but I'm leaning towards doing that now.

Dude just take it completely off. You know your stuff by that point. I am so glad I had the whole last day off, my anxiety levels went way down and I had a great night's sleep, both of which probably helped me way more on test day than an extra 2-3 factoids. Just make sure you actually have fun things planned to do that day to take your mind off the test, or you might just sit around your apartment stressing.

 

[cs24]

Yeah we might be on the same day. I'm legit starting to get scared. I know it's not really something to complain about, but I haven't had many opportunities to practice "guessing" on questions and I feel like that might be an issue on the real thing.

For the vast majority of UW and NBME questions I've either known it pretty well or had absolutely no clue.

Sounds like good opportunities for guessing to me?

 

[cs24]

I think this is the most beneficial aspect of the NBME practice exams. Seeing the information tested in a way you most likely didn't anticipate.

I actually though Uworld was better for that than the NBMEs, but maybe that's because I finished all of Uworld before any NBMEs. The NBMEs were really good for gauging progress/knowledge base and getting used to the question style IMO.

 

[dartmed]

Anyone else having nightmares about this test yet? Last night, I woke up because I had a nightmare that I got a 188 on my exam and that the Dean called me into his/her office to congratulate me. Their words: we didn't think you could even pull this off! Ugh.

Also, any suggestions on how to improve UWorld scores? I am sitting at a 66% Lately, my test scores have been from 70-75%. And the occasional 65%. I am missing a lot of Pharm, so I am working on it.

 

[IniestaDeMiVida]

Dude just take it completely off. You know your stuff by that point. I am so glad I had the whole last day off, my anxiety levels went way down and I had a great night's sleep, both of which probably helped me way more on test day than an extra 2-3 factoids. Just make sure you actually have fun things planned to do that day to take your mind off the test, or you might just sit around your apartment stressing.

I'm so glad you said that! Because my test is tomorrow morning and that is precisely what I did. Too late now!

 

[cs24]

Anyone else having nightmares about this test yet? Last night, I woke up because I had a nightmare that I got a 188 on my exam and that the Dean called me into his/her office to congratulate me. Their words: we didn't think you could even pull this off! Ugh.

Also, any suggestions on how to improve UWorld scores? I am sitting at a 66% Lately, my test scores have been from 70-75%. And the occasional 65%. I am missing a lot of Pharm, so I am working on it.

Is this still in your first pass? Just keep hitting your weaknesses (like you are). And don't worry too much about the Uworld averages (IMO). It is a learning tool for a reason, not an assessment. As long as you are learning from everything you miss you are using the bank appropriately. I know they have that silly Uworld score converter floating around, but based on previous anecdotal data on here, the NBMEs are what really matters prediction wise. My Uworld averages predict a much lower test score than my NBMEs, and I'm hoping that will convert to the real deal.

 

[dartmed]

@cs24 it is still my first pass. I wanted to get through it twice, but I don't think I will have time for it. I have two weeks left. I am forgetting a lot of drugs/Micro. So I was hoping to focus on Micro the next two days, drugs, and then review some Neuro and Cardio. That will leave me a week to go through all of FA again for the fourth/fifth time.

 

[Syfte3]

Just took the test a few days ago. I've noticed that some people say that the more time passes, the better they feel about how they did. For me, it's the complete opposite. I came out of the test feeling okay. I knew it was going to be harder than uworld and it was a difficult test so it wasn't a surprise. There were some good blocks and some hard ones. But the more days that pass, the worse I feel about it. Every Time I think about a question or even think about the test at all, I get extremely anxious. And I keep thinking about everything I could have done differently or If I should have pushed it back. I thought everything would be so much better after finally having taken it, like this huge burden would be lifted but i feel awful and it just gets worse every day. Did anyone else feel this way after their exam?

 

[Focused1]

Just took the test a few days ago. I've noticed that some people say that the more time passes, the better they feel about how they did. For me, it's the complete opposite. I came out of the test feeling okay. I knew it was going to be harder than uworld and it was a difficult test so it wasn't a surprise. There were some good blocks and some hard ones. But the more days that pass, the worse I feel about it. Every Time I think about a question or even think about the test at all, I get extremely anxious. And I keep thinking about everything I could have done differently or If I should have pushed it back. I thought everything would be so much better after finally having taken it, like this huge burden would be lifted but i feel awful and it just gets worse every day. Did anyone else feel this way after their exam?

U r gonna do well..trust ur NBME scores

 

[rising hope]

Hello, if its not much of a problem , id like to ask you guys for some advice. My test is exactly a month away.
So far i have given two assessment tests .
. UWSA 1 = 264[ 3 weeks ago]
nbme 15 = 251 [1 week ago]
Now my goal is 260 , however i realise im some way off that target.
Currently doing U world : 30 percent through . Averaging at 85 %
Im done with kaplan q bank -79%
Seem to be getting quite a few behavioral & physiology questions wrong.
So my question here is , is u world and first aid goimg to be enough for me to be hopeful of hitting 260 from here on in?

also i may only have enough money to purchase two 2 MORE nbme is..so which two should i pick?

Thank you in advance for your reply

 

[seminoma]

Just finished prometric. It felt like UWSA blocks (harder than NBMEs, easier than UW). Lots of guessing and at least 5 questions not from UFAP. Also my calculator froze during the third block and I couldn't use it anymore... The proctors said they would have to restart the computer and my time would keep running. Anyone have this problem on the real deal?

Any input on whether I should finish my pass of FA or take another NBME? I only have time to do one or the other. I have FA biochem, micro, path, and pharm to do.

@kirbymiester
@mcloaf

Edit: There are questions on the prometric practice test that are not in that PDF of questions available on the NBME site. I just tried to look up some questions and many of the ones I wanted to see the answer to are not in that PDF.

Anyone else having nightmares about this test yet? Last night, I woke up because I had a nightmare that I got a 188 on my exam and that the Dean called me into his/her office to congratulate me. Their words: we didn't think you could even pull this off! Ugh.

Also, any suggestions on how to improve UWorld scores? I am sitting at a 66% Lately, my test scores have been from 70-75%. And the occasional 65%. I am missing a lot of Pharm, so I am working on it.

Everytime I snoozed my alarm this morning I had a dream where I was trying to recall information from random pages of FA. Only problem is all the information was completely made up and incorrect. Everytime the alarm went off I freaked out because I thought I was filling my head with wrong info lol.

 

[epo0817]

Just took the test a few days ago. I've noticed that some people say that the more time passes, the better they feel about how they did. For me, it's the complete opposite. I came out of the test feeling okay. I knew it was going to be harder than uworld and it was a difficult test so it wasn't a surprise. There were some good blocks and some hard ones. But the more days that pass, the worse I feel about it. Every Time I think about a question or even think about the test at all, I get extremely anxious. And I keep thinking about everything I could have done differently or If I should have pushed it back. I thought everything would be so much better after finally having taken it, like this huge burden would be lifted but i feel awful and it just gets worse every day. Did anyone else feel this way after their exam?

Same boat here. The past few days have been rough (I should have never looked up any questions). I'm going to try and forget about it as much as I can, though. I have a few weeks off before I start rotations, so I can either a) spend that time fretting over something that's finished and beyond my control, or b) enjoy myself as much as I can before it's back to work. The latter sounds so much better to me.

 

[pd1112]

Hello, if its not much of a problem , id like to ask you guys for some advice. My test is exactly a month away.
So far i have given two assessment tests .
. UWSA 1 = 264[ 3 weeks ago]
nbme 15 = 251 [1 week ago]
Now my goal is 260 , however i realise im some way off that target.
Currently doing U world : 30 percent through . Averaging at 85 %
Im done with kaplan q bank -79%
Seem to be getting quite a few behavioral & physiology questions wrong.
So my question here is , is u world and first aid goimg to be enough for me to be hopeful of hitting 260 from here on in?

also i may only have enough money to purchase two 2 MORE nbme is..so which two should i pick?

Thank you in advance for your reply

Just do the two newest NBMEs. Don't overthink it. Do one at 2-3 weeks out and one at 1 week out.
You're definitely in 260 range with a month to go. Keep hammering those 2 resources, especially your weak areas. Try to have UW done before the last week if you can, then stick to FA & your annotations/notes from UW for the last week. If you were closer to having UW done it might be worthwhile to add another resource like RR Path to help push you to 260, but I don't think it's necessary if you're already in the 250 range and have that much UW left. There's plenty to learn from it.

 

[CholoBolo]

Just finished prometric. 136/138 but it felt like UWSA blocks (harder than NBMEs, easier than UW). Lots of guessing and at least 5 questions not from UFAP. Also my calculator froze during the third block and I couldn't use it anymore... The proctors said they would have to restart the computer and my time would keep running. Anyone have this problem on the real deal?

Any input on whether I should finish my pass of FA or take another NBME? I only have time to do one or the other. I have FA biochem, micro, path, and pharm to do.

@kirbymiester
@mcloaf

Edit: There are questions on the prometric practice test that are not in that PDF of questions available on the NBME site. I just tried to look up some questions and many of the ones I wanted to see the answer to are not in that PDF.



Everytime I snoozed my alarm this morning I had a dream where I was trying to recall information from random pages of FA. Only problem is all the information was completely made up and incorrect. Everytime the alarm went off I freaked out because I thought I was filling my head with wrong info lol.

I just took it a few days ago, it did feel harder than nbmes dunno if it was just the different enviroment. Marked about 10-15 a block and somehow got 99% I was like wtf. I don't recall using a calculator for any question though. Also the earmuffs or whatever they're called are tight as hell, couldn't use them for more than 5 mins.

 

[rising hope]

Just do the two newest NBMEs. Don't overthink it. Do one at 2-3 weeks out and one at 1 week out.
You're definitely in 260 range with a month to go. Keep hammering those 2 resources, especially your weak areas. Try to have UW done before the last week if you can, then stick to FA & your annotations/notes from UW for the last week. If you were closer to having UW done it might be worthwhile to add another resource like RR Path to help push you to 260, but I don't think it's necessary if you're already in the 250 range and have that much UW left. There's plenty to learn from it.

Thank you so much , i will focus or FA andU world Notes for now
Hopefully it gets me there.
thanks a ton

 

[MedicalMBA]

How is it that the prometric center questions are different from the PDF questions given by the USMLE website?

From the the website: "All test items are drawn from the practice materials that are available for free download on the USMLE website. NO NEW SAMPLE TEST MATERIALS ARE PRESENTED AT PRACTICE SESSIONS."

Are these different prometric questions available somewhere online? Maybe they are offering an older version of a PDF from before?

 

[dfib slim]

How is it that the prometric center questions are different from the PDF questions given by the USMLE website?

From the the website: "All test items are drawn from the practice materials that are available for free download on the USMLE website. NO NEW SAMPLE TEST MATERIALS ARE PRESENTED AT PRACTICE SESSIONS."

Are these different prometric questions available somewhere online? Maybe they are offering an older version of a PDF from before?

I think if you scheduled the practice run before the new format went into effect they gave you the 2012 version which is 138 questions. The new one is 132.
Here are the past free materials.
http://www.usmle-forums.com/usmle-step-1-forum/21445-free-practice-material-scoring-free-150-a.html

 

[pd1112]

The PDF is new. The practice tests at the center may be old depending on if they downloaded the new version. Regardless, the PDF and test program demo have always been slightly different:

"You should download and run the Step 1 tutorial and practice test items that are provided on the USMLE website well before your test date. The sample materials available at the USMLE Web site include additional items and item formats that do not appear in this booklet, such as items with associated audio or video findings and sequential item sets. You should become familiar with all item formats that will be used in the actual examination. "

The quote you sent just clarifies that whether you do the practice test at Prometric or download the software on your own computer at home, the questions are the same.

 

[MedicalMBA]

So if I want to hit as many unique questions as possible I should do:
1. the recent free 150 pdf
2. the older 2012 free 150 pdf
3. the FRED online exam also given at the same site?

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding. Thanks!

 

[sloop]

So I only have one day (today) of full studying left before my exam. I've only gotten through a block or so of my uworld incorrects from my second pass. Would you guys recommend that if I do questions today I should do the uworld incorrects or the free questions listed above?

 

[cage92]

Just took the test a few days ago. I've noticed that some people say that the more time passes, the better they feel about how they did. For me, it's the complete opposite. I came out of the test feeling okay. I knew it was going to be harder than uworld and it was a difficult test so it wasn't a surprise. There were some good blocks and some hard ones. But the more days that pass, the worse I feel about it. Every Time I think about a question or even think about the test at all, I get extremely anxious. And I keep thinking about everything I could have done differently or If I should have pushed it back. I thought everything would be so much better after finally having taken it, like this huge burden would be lifted but i feel awful and it just gets worse every day. Did anyone else feel this way after their exam?

hey what about ekg?what are the studd that are important? axis deviation?av block?

 

[seminoma]

I just took it a few days ago, it did feel harder than nbmes dunno if it was just the different enviroment. Marked about 10-15 a block and somehow got 99% I was like wtf. I don't recall using a calculator for any question though. Also the earmuffs or whatever they're called are tight as hell, couldn't use them for more than 5 mins.

I'm really bad at math. Had to use the calculator for anion gap.

 

[dfib slim]

I'm really bad at math. Had to use the calculator for anion gap.

On big exams I'm using the calculator like 2+2=4 just to make sure.

 

[pd1112]

So if I want to hit as many unique questions as possible I should do:
1. the recent free 150 pdf
2. the older 2012 free 150 pdf
3. the FRED online exam also given at the same site?

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding. Thanks!

Yeah just realize there will be many repeats. I printed off both the old & new pdfs and most of the questions are the same.

 

[Syfte3]

hey what about ekg?what are the studd that are important? axis deviation?av block?

I didn't have any actual ekgs. Just a description of one and the results, it was obvious what it was. I think my test was very balanced, definitely not cardio heavy.

 

[seminoma]

What's the highest yield out of this list?

1. cross-section of midbrain, pons, and medulla (3 images in total)
2. lysosomal storage diseases
3. glycogen storage diseases
4. HIV drugs (that one page in FA)

 

[Syfte3]

What's the highest yield out of this list?

1. cross-section of midbrain, pons, and medulla (3 images in total)
2. lysosomal storage diseases
3. glycogen storage diseases
4. HIV drugs (that one page in FA)

I don't know about the cross section specifically but brain anatomy in general is pretty high yield. And in my experience lysosomal diseases turned out to be more high yield than the glycogen ones, but that may be test dependent.

 

[QualityProcess]

notable things from my test today:
-I got two questions right EXCLUSIVELY thanks to Phloston. A question about E Coli in a congenital disease and another about embyro genetics. Thank you.
-10+ straight up anatomy questions. was asked for the attachment point of a lower extremity muscle. (lol. yeah I don't know that.) Was given a 3D reconstruction of a CT scan and asked to identify which artery was at risk, given a certain very common GI pathology. Was asked to ID which muscle was impaired, given a specific gait abnormality (osteopathic med came in handy)
-5-10 GI physiology questions, my test loved hormones.
-2 "which antibiotic to treat this?" questions.
-One question was directly from NBME17 (I think). It was a drawing asking to me to ID which cell was responsible for a certain function.
-I had what felt like 15+ research-style physiology questions, like "compound X has these effects at these varying concentrations, then compound Y was introduced, compound Y acts most like which of these compounds?" and then a list of drugs. Not sure if they were actually hard or just my weak point.

first 4.5 blocks were a lot like Uworld. the second 2.5 blocks were really hard. I think I was just tired. Comlex in 4 days...

 

[Fenixak]

Would like some honest advice ladies and gents.

So I have the exam in ~1 Week (8days) Im on my 3rd/4th week of dedicated. Did first pass throughout 2nd year, 50% through 2nd pass with 75% (timed/random)

Week 1- NBME 17- 217
Week 2- USWA1- 234
Week 3a- USWA2 - 230
Week 3b- NBME 16 - 226
Next week, take NBME ? (should I take one? If so, which?)

So its nice that I will probably pass...but my dilemma is that I am aiming for a competitive specialty and was wanting at least a 240.

I have a wife and family so this has been especially hard on them, and I really do not want to push back the test.

So please feel free to let me know your honest assessment and or opinion of where to go from here. Generally, I have really been underscoring in MSK/Anatomy. Besides MSK, I don't really have any holes in organ systems, It seems like I miss a lot of physio.

At this point, I don't know whether to keep my head glued to first aid for 8 days, do pure UWORLD, or a combo of the two. Possibly pathoma again?

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[seminoma]

notable things from my test today:
-I got two questions right EXCLUSIVELY thanks to Phloston. A question about E Coli in a congenital disease and another about embyro genetics.

Damnit that question was supposed to be mine! Congrats on being done!

 

[starstarie]

Hey all,

Just got done my exam today!! Just to add another experience:

I kinda felt like it was all a bit of a blur. I'd say 90%+ of it was in FA, but a lot of it was integrating facts and concepts. There were a few questions that were just straight, but in general it was not the case. For example, for a question I had about antibiotics, you could have memorized every bug that each antibiotic covered, but you might not have gotten the question correct because you couldn't conclude which bug was causing the pathology just from the vignette. You had to take a concept of how the antibiotic worked and apply it to the situation. I would say most of the questions were like this. Then, there were a few (3?/block) where I thought to myself, are you sure you are asking me if sensitivity changes with prevalence, or was this accidentally stuck in here?

I thought the questions were about on par with the NBMEs. I didn't think they were particularly longer either. My timing was very similar to the NBMEs also. I didn't have any crazy UW biochem madness.

It's hard to say how I think it went. I felt a lot less certain today than when I have taking the NBMEs at home. I know part of that is because once you look at your score and it turned out really well it's really easy to look back and think it wasn't all that hard. I personally believe that this phenomenon hits a lot of those people who end up talking about how absolutely insanely hard it was. It pretty much felt like just taking another NMBE at home.

So overall, another pretty similar experience to a lot of the others who have shared on here.

I think a big part of it was just general concepts that you pick up from just going through school. I definitely would reiterate the advice saying that the best Step1 prep is just doing well in your classes. You never know which random facts will show up again.

My study schedule:

1. I studied with FA as supplemental to my classes from MS1, using anki. I
2. Starting Jan this year I started Rx bank. Planned to finish by March, actually finished by May (oops)
3. Also starting in Jan I met with a group weekly and went over 1 FA topic and corresponding questions.
4. For dedicated time (5.5 weeks)- Plan was to do 3 blocks of UW and review them and corresponding topics for first 3 weeks, then do 1 week of FA review, then 1 week of odds and ends + NBMEs. I somewhat stuck to this plan but I realized halfway through that I was taking WAY too long reading the UW answers and getting too little out of it (just not my learning style I guess). After than I stopped reading corrects and just did incorrects.

I highly recommend concentrating UW earlier and then doing only NBMEs closer to the end. I think that ws really helpful for my getting used to the difference in style of the questions.

My scores steadily increased (scores are ballpark...)

UW average: 71% cumulative
School NBME (5.5 wks out- right after finals)- 205 (?)
UW Assessment #1 (4 weeks out)- 256
NBME 12 (2.5 weeks out)- 237
NBME 15- 239
NBME 16 - 241
NBME 13- 241
NBME 17- 249
Free 138- 89%

So well see what happens!! Good luck to everyone who still has theirs coming up! Feel free to ask me questions.

 

[seminoma]

Hey all,

Just got done my exam today!! Just to add another experience:

I kinda felt like it was all a bit of a blur. I'd say 90%+ of it was in FA, but a lot of it was integrating facts and concepts. There were a few questions that were just straight, but in general it was not the case. For example, for a question I had about antibiotics, you could have memorized every bug that each antibiotic covered, but you might not have gotten the question correct because you couldn't conclude which bug was causing the pathology just from the vignette. You had to take a concept of how the antibiotic worked and apply it to the situation. I would say most of the questions were like this. Then, there were a few (3?/block) where I thought to myself, are you sure you are asking me if sensitivity changes with prevalence, or was this accidentally stuck in here?

I thought the questions were about on par with the NBMEs. I didn't think they were particularly longer either. My timing was very similar to the NBMEs also. I didn't have any crazy UW biochem madness.

It's hard to say how I think it went. I felt a lot less certain today than when I have taking the NBMEs at home. I know part of that is because once you look at your score and it turned out really well it's really easy to look back and think it wasn't all that hard. I personally believe that this phenomenon hits a lot of those people who end up talking about how absolutely insanely hard it was. It pretty much felt like just taking another NMBE at home.

So overall, another pretty similar experience to a lot of the others who have shared on here.

I think a big part of it was just general concepts that you pick up from just going through school. I definitely would reiterate the advice saying that the best Step1 prep is just doing well in your classes. You never know which random facts will show up again.

My study schedule:

1. I studied with FA as supplemental to my classes from MS1, using anki. I
2. Starting Jan this year I started Rx bank. Planned to finish by March, actually finished by May (oops)
3. Also starting in Jan I met with a group weekly and went over 1 FA topic and corresponding questions.
4. For dedicated time (5.5 weeks)- Plan was to do 3 blocks of UW and review them and corresponding topics for first 3 weeks, then do 1 week of FA review, then 1 week of odds and ends + NBMEs. I somewhat stuck to this plan but I realized halfway through that I was taking WAY too long reading the UW answers and getting too little out of it (just not my learning style I guess). After than I stopped reading corrects and just did incorrects.

I highly recommend concentrating UW earlier and then doing only NBMEs closer to the end. I think that ws really helpful for my getting used to the difference in style of the questions.

My scores steadily increased (scores are ballpark...)

UW average: 71% cumulative
School NBME (5.5 wks out- right after finals)- 205 (?)
UW Assessment #1 (4 weeks out)- 256
NBME 12 (2.5 weeks out)- 237
NBME 15- 239
NBME 16 - 241
NBME 13- 241
NBME 17- 249
Free 138- 89%

So well see what happens!! Good luck to everyone who still has theirs coming up! Feel free to ask me questions.

Congrats on being done! How did you feel after you did the Free 138? How did that compare to the real deal?

 

[sloop]

So I just took the free 132 (not all back to back though, took a break between block 1 and blocks 2 and 3 to go study, and obviously not at prometric). Got a 94%, whatever that means. I'm just going to pretend it's good news since my test is soon.

The questions overall seemed very easy, but there were definitely some questions I was arguing with myself on. I also felt like I was short on time on most of the blocks (only had like 5 minutes left to review). Did anybody else feel this way? I think part of it may have been not being used to taking stuff on pen and paper.

 

[starstarie]

Congrats on being done! How did you feel after you did the Free 138? How did that compare to the real deal?

I thought they were very similar to the actual questions on my test! In fact, I had one that was exact. So glad I did them cuz it was a pretty random thing that I would not have known otherwise!!

 

[cs24]

@cs24 it is still my first pass. I wanted to get through it twice, but I don't think I will have time for it. I have two weeks left. I am forgetting a lot of drugs/Micro. So I was hoping to focus on Micro the next two days, drugs, and then review some Neuro and Cardio. That will leave me a week to go through all of FA again for the fourth/fifth time.

sounds good but make sure you are taking enough time to really up those weaknesses. Make sure you are actually learning things from all your prep (rather than just making a 5th pass through all of first aid to say that you did it, it might be more valuable to spend a little more time on those weaknesses. IMO, better to make 2 solid passes through something than 5 rushed ones where you cover a bunch of info you already know. Of course, YMMV).

 

[cs24]

Also the earmuffs or whatever they're called are tight as hell, couldn't use them for more than 5 mins.

You might already know this, but they do let you bring soft ear plugs if you are looking for noise control and can't use the earmuffs. The earmuffs are also adjustable, but I agree that even with adjustment they are still painful.

 

[cs24]

Yeah just realize there will be many repeats. I printed off both the old & new pdfs and most of the questions are the same.

If you (or anyone else) is looking for explanations of the free 132, I found this website very helpful
http://www.benwhite.com/medicine/explanations-for-the-2014-2015-official-step-1-practice-questions/

It also tells you which questions are repeats.

 

[cs24]

What's the highest yield out of this list?

1. cross-section of midbrain, pons, and medulla (3 images in total)
2. lysosomal storage diseases
3. glycogen storage diseases
4. HIV drugs (that one page in FA)

Varies too much by test for this to be of any real worth, but I'll throw this out regardless. For me:

1. zero questions
2. 4-5 questions, but 80% of them were on the same disease
3. 0-2 questions
4. maybe 1 question

 

[QualityProcess]

Damnit that question was supposed to be mine! Congrats on being done!

not done yet! comlex wednesday. have to study the next 3 days with the mindset that it's an incredibly difficult and significantly more important test because I've been burned out and useless these last two days. But I did my best. Burnout is just a reflection of your limitations as a student... I had an average mcat (for accepted students) and I'll probably have an average step 1. can't just snap your fingers and make yourself a better student. Unless you start dedicated with a fat handful of amphetamines and no fear of side effects.

 

[cs24]

So I just took the free 132 (not all back to back though, took a break between block 1 and blocks 2 and 3 to go study, and obviously not at prometric). Got a 94%, whatever that means. I'm just going to pretend it's good news since my test is soon.

The questions overall seemed very easy, but there were definitely some questions I was arguing with myself on. I also felt like I was short on time on most of the blocks (only had like 5 minutes left to review). Did anybody else feel this way? I think part of it may have been not being used to taking stuff on pen and paper.

I had less time left on this as well, which I attribute to the pen and paper phenomenom. Did not see a corresponding issue with timing on the real thing relative to my NBMEs , so I wouldn't stress about it.

 

[dfib slim]

not done yet! comlex wednesday. have to study the next 3 days with the mindset that it's an incredibly difficult and significantly more important test because I've been burned out and useless these last two days. But I did my best. Burnout is just a reflection of your limitations as a student... I had an average mcat (for accepted students) and I'll probably have an average step 1. can't just snap your fingers and make yourself a better student. Unless you start dedicated with a fat handful of amphetamines and no fear of side effects.

Don't sell yourself short. I had a 28 MCAT and was hitting high 250s/low 260s on the NBMEs.

 

[seminoma]

Varies too much by test for this to be of any real worth, but I'll throw this out regardless. For me:

1. zero questions
2. 4-5 questions, but 80% of them were on the same disease
3. 0-2 questions
4. maybe 1 question

Oh what a nightmare that would be.. unless it's an easy one like Tay Sachs

 

[Snowdon48]

Took the beast yesterday.

On my exam, most of the stems felt pretty normal length. I was expecting them to all be really long and to be very short on time but I ended up finishing each block with about 10 minutes left. Some stems were very long but they were 90% fluff so it really didn't take long to read them. I had many stems that were only a couple sentences. I highly recommend reading the last sentence and answer choices before reading the stem because it really helped me cut down my time.

My exam was very heavy on endocrine. It felt like every other question was in arrow chart form. Most of them were pretty straightforward but some would have 1 variable that was hard to figure out.

Anatomy played a large role but it was mostly MSK and a little bit of GI anatomy. I had one question on urethral injury but that was the only pelvic anatomy question. Most of the anatomy presented me with a radiograph and asked a very straightforward question about where the tumor was, what nerve/vessel would be injured, etc.

I had 2 heart sound questions that could have been easily answered without even listening. For these, I recommend making your best guess off the stem, then listen to which area of the chest the murmur is loudest to confirm your suspicion. I had no EKGs.

The ethics questions were very obvious on my exam. Each one had 4 answers that were clearly insensitive or stupid and one very reasonable answer. FA and UW covered ethics well. I did have a couple of safety science questions that I took educated guesses on. I don't think there is any way to really prepare for these, just use common sense. Biostats was featured pretty heavily but there were only a couple calculations. FA was plenty for this.

Biochem was much easier than UW but still challenging. There were a few normal enzyme pathway questions but most were focused on diseases. I had 1 glycogen storage disease question and 0 lysosomal storage diseases.

The micro was pretty tough on mine. I knew FA and Sketchy Micro backwards and forwards but still had trouble. They threw a lot of things on there that seemed like they could be multiple answers.

Overall I thought it was a tough exam. Probably similar to the difficulty of UW except for the biochem. It felt like half of the questions I could narrow down to two answer choices and then had to just take my best shot at it. Each block had a couple WTF questions that I just marked and came back to at the end. I found that I was marking about 15 questions per block. Test endurance wasn't an issue. The adrenalin rush carried me through it before any fatigue could set in. My NBME average was low-mid 240s so hopefully it stays consistent with that. I thought that UFAP covered most of the material. The hardest part is applying all of the material in those resources.

Hope this was a little helpful. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck to everyone taking it soon!