Official 2016 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Transposony]

Let's continue the tradition for a very useful thread which has helped many.
Title says it all.
Good luck !

Must read thread:

Just took Step 1! It was a tornado of integration!!

My USMLE Step1 Thoughts and Experience, by Phloston

Official 2015 Step 1 Planning and Strategy Thread

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[theprince911]

Congrats! I was looking forward to reading about your score update. Good job everyone, posts like these really motivate others and give some hope. Thanks and good luck in the future!

Thank you! This whole process is pretty crazy, hopefully I can pull it off on my CK as well. Can't wait to be over with this and applying for the match

 

[Natalyyyval]

It is still a basic science exam, don't know how anyone could say otherwise. Even some pretty outdated videos I had from Kaplan helped me out a lot (I'm guessing they update them every so often). I used neuroanatomy and behavioral science and recommend those videos. In particular, behavioral science covered some things that were in my exam but weren't in FA or Uworld. However, that's a lot of hours you have to dump into Kaplan and frankly you'll probably not remember much of the extra info from there on the day of your exam. Maybe if you take some really focused notes to review a week before the test or something, but then you run the risk of not reviewing UFAP very well.

Thanks for answering! Right now I do have time, I'm an IMG just graduated a month ago so I'll watch the Kaplan videos first and then I'll go through UFAP

 

[FistLength]

Thought I would share my score so others can benefit

UWorld first time random = 56%
NBME 16 (early May)= 217
NBME 17 (late May) = 213
NBME 15 (Late June) = 215
UWSA 1 (Early July)= 234
NBME 18 (Late July) = 213
Free 120 avg = 75-78%

USMLE (Late July) 228

I knew walking out of that exam that I made a lot of dumb mistakes. I seem to do crappy on self assessments because the same thing happened to my COMLEX, scored 80-100 points higher than my practice score average. What was most shocking was the consistency of my NBME's that filled me with despair because nothing seemed to be working despite spending my entire day studying and doing questions. Turns out it came through on actual test day. My goal was 230, so it was bittersweet scoring well above my NBME average but below my goal. I suppose I will accept a draw.

Honestly, it is said time and time again, but if I could go back, I would do more UWorld. I went through it 1.4x, didn't get to finish the 2nd pass completely. I was so demoralized by NBME 18 I didn't want to study anymore, my last week before the exam was a sham. This was so stupid of me, and it cost me a few easy points on exam day. You really have to power through. I would definitely do UWSA 1 and I would add UWSA 2.

Moral of the story - keep studying, do not let your NBME average scare you into thinking it is not possible to score well. I did use it as a guide to tell me when to take the exam...but I moved my exam to basically the last possible day, for family and rotation reasons I couldn't push it back further.

I never really knew how to study before studying for boards, my adviser was very adamant in telling me not to take the USMLE, and that I would have 0% chance in scoring average. The ball is in our court.

 

[Crazyredfox]

First post. I have viewed this forum a lot in the past in order to get an idea of how nbmes and uworld correlated with the real exam , but never bothered to post . I took the exam two days ago. These are my conclusions
1)the questions are both uworld and nbme type.
2)it is a lot of guesswork. No matter how much you study and from what resources you study from , it is your test taking skills and your ability to think in pressure situations that will define how well you do on the test day.
3)it is not a tiring exam. I didn't need 10 mins of my break . I wanted to end it as soon as possible .
4) it was harder than nbme and uworld . i marked minimum 10 questions every section .
5) time management is important .
6) i have mentioned it involves guesswork. That being said , one must go through every single word and paragraph of first aid and possibly uworld . If you feel something might not turn up in the exam, be assured it will.
7)if you are a slow thinker, do a lot more question banks than your friends. This exam is about quick thinking and those people who know their stuff but take time to get to the answer will find it harder than others.
8) there are a bunch of unfair questions which are meant to be tested on step two, most likely they are trial. But one cannot tell.

My nbme and uworld were all average and I expect an average score for the exam considering I guessed 20 percent

 

[jw3600]

Hi Friends,

Got my score on Wednesday: 255-260. I had probably one of the least traditional study plans (I essentially only used UWorld):

• I did UWorld twice through completely over about a period of a year. I'm not sure what my first pass average was (likely 70%), but second time through nearly a year later was 80%. I went through very slowly both times on tutor mode (by sections the first time, randomly the second time).
• I used Picmonic for memorizing some biochem stuff (40-50 picmonics total). I thought this was an absolutely awesome resource. Highly recommend.
• I spent the last 2-3 days before the exam skimming a few sections in First Aid looking for large gaps in my UWorld knowledge and trying to cram these details. I also looked over the rapid review at the end. Overall I can attribute nailing 2-3 questions on exam day thanks to First Aid, which I likely wouldn't have gotten right otherwise. There were about 3-4 other basic questions on the exam I missed that were straight from FA which I maybe would have gotten if I had reviewed it more thoroughly.

Exam/Post-Exam

• I made a TON of stupid mistakes on the exam itself. Missed at least three basic questions related to the specialty I want to go in to.
• I looked up most questions I was unsure of during the breaks between blocks or afterwards. Two days post-exam I made a list of 18 questions I knew for certain I had missed that were haunting me (I didn't even bother with the ones I wasn't sure on).
• I had never done a practice test (NBME, UWORLD, or otherwise) so I had no idea what to expect and felt awful the three weeks prior to getting my score.
• This forum was very nice for reassuring me that basically everyone makes dumb mistakes, and everyone feels awful afterwards.

I guess the point of this is that honestly UWorld is awesome and should be your bible. First Aid is a nice supplement.

Awesome score. And in hindsight, I am not surprised that you did well focusing on Uworld. I think Uworld's value is inexplicable if you do it thoroughly and properly.

That said. Try not to be that insufferable med student who says they made a "TON of stupid mistakes" when you got a 260. You literally missed like 12 questions. You didn't miss a ton of anything. Perspective man.

 

[AnalisCanalis]

Just got back from taking the test. I must admit that it was tougher than I expected it to be. The questions were definitely harder than those in any of the NBMEs I took. The majority of the questions still felt like gimmes, but there was clearly a larger number of ambiguously worded questions, questions involving novel concepts or just downright difficult ones. After having plowed through multiple qbanks I very rarely struggled to make diagnoses on questions, but some questions on the test left me totally clueless as to what disease they were implying. This of course stressed me out, but in retrospect I don't think I could have prepared myself for any of those questions. Apart from that there were a lot of wierd psychology questions I did not expect. The rest of the material was straight out of FA, making me regret not doing more than a full pass during dedicated. My test was heavy on embryology and I'm pretty sure I would have scored a couple of questions by paying more attention to the embryology sections in FA.

As for timing, it was really not an issue. It felt just like I was doing uworld blocks at home in that regard. I marked anywhere from 10-33% on blocks and had on average 10 min left on each block after reviewing the marked questions. I didn't bother going through the unmarked questions as some people here have suggested. Mostly because I was worried about losing focus on the following blocks. I took a quick bathroom break every second block and left the test center with an hour left on my break time. Had a protein drink before my last block, but other than that I ate nothing during the day. All in all I'd say it went alright. Pretty sure I did not outperform my NBMEs but I hope I broke 260. I'll update with my score in a few weeks provided I'm not too ashamed. Feel free to ask any questions.

USMLERx: 85%
Kaplan Qbank: 82%
UWORLD: 87%
(All timed and random, one pass each)

NBME 11 - 251 (1 year out)
NBME 12 - 243 (Baseline the day before dedicated, 8 weeks out)
UWSA1 - 264 (7 weeks out)
NBME 13 - 262 (6 weeks out)
UWSA2 - 258 (5 weeks out)
NBME 15 - 266 (4 weeks out)
NBME 16 - 260 (3 weeks out)
NBME 17 - 273 (2 weeks out)
NBME 18 - 264 (1 week out)
Free 120 at prometric - 94% (one day out)

STEP 1 - 267

Got my score yersterday after 4 gruesome weeks of waiting. Strangely enough I feel a lot more relieved than happy. I had very high expectations of myself going into this thing, and I put in a lot(!) of work, so it obviously feels good to be able to meet those expectations. To me it was never about just trying to keep doors open with a good score, as a foreign medical student I wanted to open the doors which may already have closed to me. In any case, I guess I'll find out soon enough if I succeeded in that.

I had 8 weeks of dedicated in which I pretty much sticked to UFAP. Did 1 pass of pathoma, 1 pass of UW, and 1.5 passes of FA. I had planned on doing 4 passes through FA, but after the first one I was very bored and decided against it since I was already scoring decently on NMBEs. I somewhat regretted this towards the end of my prep as I found myself forgetting a lot of simple stuff. FA is clearly worth its own weight in gold. I did several passes through pathoma during school year so by the time I read it in dedicated it all felt very redundant. Great resource though, especially the videos.

I used a lot of other stuff along with school, including USMLERx and Kaplan Q bank. Both of them are decent and comparable with UW. I honestly don't really understand the hype with UW. The only big difference is that UW does not have FA page references, which makes it too much of a hassle to annotate. I gave up after a few blocks. I also relied heavily on FC. Ended up banking 78% with my total number of recalls approaching 100K. I don't recommend doing this. Although It helped me retain a lot of knowledge I believe it's very inefficient, and expensive too. Besides, they will take every opportunity to screw their paying customers over in order to further monetize the product. If you want spaced repetition try Anki instead.

To end on a more positive note I'd like to thank everyone that has contributed to this thread and the threads before it for sharing their experiences, tips and ideas. And good luck to all of you that are still studying for this beast! I don't envy you.

 

[StuartLiu]

Just got my score this Wednesday, 256. Here's are my thoughts:
1. I'm an IMG graduated in 2008. UWorld, First Aid, and Pathoma are definitely enough to get this score.
2. Yes the average is decreasing. The average is now 229, while the SD is 20.

I'm grateful for everyone in this forum for helping me through the test, thanks!

 

[Reperfused]

STEP 1 - 267

Got my score yersterday after 4 gruesome weeks of waiting. Strangely enough I feel a lot more relieved than happy. I had very high expectations of myself going into this thing, and I put in a lot(!) of work, so it obviously feels good to be able to meet those expectations. To me it was never about just trying to keep doors open with a good score, as a foreign medical student I wanted to open the doors which may already have closed to me. In any case, I guess I'll find out soon enough if I succeeded in that.

I had 8 weeks of dedicated in which I pretty much sticked to UFAP. Did 1 pass of pathoma, 1 pass of UW, and 1.5 passes of FA. I had planned on doing 4 passes through FA, but after the first one I was very bored and decided against it since I was already scoring decently on NMBEs. I somewhat regretted this towards the end of my prep as I found myself forgetting a lot of simple stuff. FA is clearly worth its own weight in gold. I did several passes through pathoma during school year so by the time I read it in dedicated it all felt very redundant. Great resource though, especially the videos.

I used a lot of other stuff along with school, including USMLERx and Kaplan Q bank. Both of them are decent and comparable with UW. I honestly don't really understand the hype with UW. The only big difference is that UW does not have FA page references, which makes it too much of a hassle to annotate. I gave up after a few blocks. I also relied heavily on FC. Ended up banking 78% with my total number of recalls approaching 100K. I don't recommend doing this. Although It helped me retain a lot of knowledge I believe it's very inefficient, and expensive too. Besides, they will take every opportunity to screw their paying customers over in order to further monetize the product. If you want spaced repetition try Anki instead.

To end on a more positive note I'd like to thank everyone that has contributed to this thread and the threads before it for sharing their experiences, tips and ideas. And good luck to all of you that are still studying for this beast! I don't envy you.

Hey Congratulations on such a brilliant score!
I came across one of your older posts while searching for reviews of Costanzo physiology. Did you end up using it? How helpful was it?

 

[AnalisCanalis]

Hey Congratulations on such a brilliant score!
I came across one of your older posts while searching for reviews of Costanzo physiology. Did you end up using it? How helpful was it?

Thanks! I did end up using it as a primary resource to learn physiology along with our physiology course. Clearly one of the best books out there. However I don't know how useful it would be for step 1 review. BRS Physiology by the same author may better suit your need in that regard.

 

[Reperfused]

Thanks! I did end up using it as a primary resource to learn physiology along with our physiology course. Clearly one of the best books out there. However I don't know how useful it would be for step 1 review. BRS Physiology by the same author may better suit your need in that regard.

Thanks

 

[jnmdz]

Hey Congratulations on such a brilliant score!
I came across one of your older posts while searching for reviews of Costanzo physiology. Did you end up using it? How helpful was it?

Your question wasn't directed to me, but I thought I'd share my experience. I read Costanzo Physiology during MS-1 and 2/3 of BRS Physiology during my dedicated study period. BRS Physiology has too much information that is not testable, and is not high yield enough for me to recommend for dedicated Step 1 preparation. I'd recommend focusing on the physiology found in First Aid and UWorld while preparing for Step 1, instead.

 

[Reperfused]

Your question wasn't directed to me, but I thought I'd share my experience. I read Costanzo Physiology during MS-1 and 2/3 of BRS Physiology during my dedicated study period. BRS Physiology has too much information that is not testable, and is not high yield enough for me to recommend for dedicated Step 1 preparation. I'd recommend focusing on the physiology found in First Aid and UWorld while preparing for Step 1, instead.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it.
My physiology is weak (specially CVS) and you need a good physiology base for a lot of other things to make sense, that's why I was looking for a source outside FA & UWorld.

 

[MelMcT2009]

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it.
My physiology is weak (specially CVS) and you need a good physiology base for a lot of other things to make sense, that's why I was looking for a source outside FA & UWorld.

I love Costanzo a ton, but for cardiac phys, this website is golden http://www.cvphysiology.com/

 

[Reperfused]

I love Costanzo a ton, but for cardiac phys, this website is golden http://www.cvphysiology.com/

Thank you

 

[mymembernames]

What about Kaplan CenterPrep Videos for Physio?

 

[Reperfused]

What about Kaplan CenterPrep Videos for Physio?

Yes I have done kaplan videos and lecture notes. Physio is good in it. I think it helped me build a fine base of knowledge. But I was still looking for something to even further strengthen my physio. I keep hearing about how extraordinary Costanzo physio is. But as everyone above suggested it's not wise to use it for step 1, I'll probably skip it. Will probably consult some BRS physio & the cvphysio website for CVS.

 

[mymembernames]

Yes I have done kaplan videos and lecture notes. Physio is good in it. I think it helped me build a fine base of knowledge. But I was still looking for something to even further strengthen my physio. I keep hearing about how extraordinary Costanzo physio is. But as everyone above suggested it's not wise to use it for step 1, I'll probably skip it. Will probably consult some BRS physio & the cvphysio website for CVS.

Thanks. I watched the videos for physio and thought they were pretty good. Didn't get a chance to read the notes. Would you say it is worth the time to read the notes?

 

[Reperfused]

Thanks. I watched the videos for physio and thought they were pretty good. Didn't get a chance to read the notes. Would you say it is worth the time to read the notes?

It was worth the time for me because when I started doing kaplan I had enough time before exam. The way I used to do is, keep the book open in front of me and watch it's video while annotating in the book, then giving it a quick read at the end of every chapter.

 

[rdk322]

I just wanted to get back to this thread since SDN/Reddit users have helped me quite a bit with Step 1 prep. I wanna write about what I did hoping it'd be helpful and feel free to message me with any questions. I don't remember the specifics of my prep but if anybody is curious I can dig up and figure out what I did. I exceeded my original goal (230) and preparing for this exam was probably the hardest thing I'd done in the first two years of med school. I'm not the smartest person in class or the quickest learner so I wanted to write something to ease other people's test anxiety.

background: US DO above average in M1, M2
Starting NBME score: 220 (about 2.5 mo out) (afterwards: 230 -> 226 -> 242 over the next 2.5 mo)
UWSA1: 251 (~ 1 mo out)
UWSA2: 254 (a few days before test)
real deal: 251

Materials used:

1. QUESTIONS!!!
(Questions were gold for me especially if you aren't a great reader like me. I also tend to forget the questions I get wrong so I ended up doing A LOT of questions near the end). In the order I used them:
- Kaplan QBank (old one during school year to prep for unit tests)
- USMLERx (used to familiarize myself with FA)
- UW 1st pass timed, subject based
- NEW Kaplan QBank (tutor, subject based)
- UW 2nd pass (random, timed)
**I know it is really a ton of questions compared to other people. Maybe I'm stupid but I really needed a ****load of questions to meet my goal.
***My favorite: UW >= New Kaplan QBank (I don't know if Rx helped at all TBH)
****I honestly didn't think doing it timed vs. tutor mode was all that big of a deal as long as you make sure you don't have the timing issue by practising timed mode a few times beforehand.

2. FA (read it 3-4 times)

3. Pathoma (watched it once during school year. watched them all over during board prep)

4. Sketchy Micro (tried Sketchy Pharm for a few drug classes that I just couldn't understand)
**I loved Sketchy Micro! TBH I ran into some questions that couldn't be answered with just Sketchy but I was willing to take the hit. Sketchy Pharm isn't all that necessary. FA is perfect for pharm. I started watching Skethcy Micro around January of 2016 and made a first pass through before the school year ended. I rewatched them during board prep season.

5. DIT (ONLY for biochem and biostats)
**I sucked at biochem and biostats so I watched some vids on these units. I thought biochem diagrams were way better than FA especially if you forgot a ton of biochem like I did. I wouldn't really recommend it for other sections

I experimented with a lot of resources other than the ones listed but I don't think they were too helpful. Questions worked out the best for my learning type. Feel free to try out other resources, but don't waste too much time or get stressed out about them like I did. Again, feel free to PM me I'll try to answer any questions.

Make sure you take care of yourself! Studying in the same spot every day for months really got me down and stressed out classmates didn't really help me feel better either. Try to figure out what makes you calm/happy and stick to those. I reluctantly took 5 whole days off for Fourth of July a few weeks before my test but I was so happy that I did looking back at it. As recommended by my friend, I spent at least an hour each day to watch a TV show with my boyfriend or play with my cat, etc.

 

[docthedoc]

That said. Try not to be that insufferable med student who says they made a "TON of stupid mistakes" when you got a 260. You literally missed like 12 questions. You didn't miss a ton of anything. Perspective man.

Thanks for the kind words and my apologies for being unclear. I realistically missed like ~25-30+ questions, and I don't think I had a particularly hard exam version. I have a good memory, and made a list of 18 "fact" type questions I got wrong after the exam cuz I'm OCD like that, only based on the ones I looked up in between blocks and that I am certain were incorrect. E.g. this drug has X major side effect, Y is the name of the labeled anatomical structure etc.; no ethics questions, questions I didn't understand what it was asking, etc.

I realize out of 280, 30 is not very many at all (~89%), but post exam it FELT like a lot, which really was my point-- there are so many questions that it's Usually OKAY to miss many, many questions... Even questions you know you should have gotten right. I think this is a major contributor to why everyone feels bad after the exam -- it's dozens of incorrect questions that blur together. As everyone in this supportive community has reassured me, you'll do about how you practice.

 

[docthedoc]

So you saying Uworld + FA only can be sufficient?

No question -- IF you really master them well and have solid background fund of knowledge from school. These are awesome resources for the final ~2 months pre-exam and, for me, additional resources would have yielded quickly diminishing returns. About half the questions I missed on my actual exam were in FA and UWorld, some with mnemonics I never learned, or in bolded sections. It would have been most high yield to finish going over my missed questions or looking over addition sections in FA I hadn't bothered with (which was almost all of them). As many have stated though, nothing will replace ~2 years medical school. There was a good bit of random stuff on there too.

 

[a1237]

Would anyone happen to know if STEP 1s tested on 08/16/16 will be released tomorrow?

 

[AnalisCanalis]

Would anyone happen to know if STEP 1s tested on 08/16/16 will be released tomorrow?

Yes, most likely.

 

[dlud]

If you've taken Step 1 and are waiting for your score or you're a few days away from taking it, don't lose hope! After the exam you'll remember all those questions you got wrong. You'll remember new ones each day for a week or two. The score feels like it will never come. It is hard to wait! But here are my barely passing results to ease your anxiety.

Exam Date: 8/10/2016
Results: Received on 8/31/2016 : 195 = PASS

UWSA: Can't remember score
NBME Form 13: 7/27/2016 : 260 = 177
NBME Form 16: 8/5/0216: 360 = 198

Study Materials (7 weeks dedicated studying)
Doctors in Training: in its entirety - 8-9 videos/day
First Aid: in its entirety while progressing through DIT
UWorld: 1.75x through

Stay optimistic! If I did it, you can too!

 

[ortnakas]

I heard a rumor recently that the national average dropped this year... anyone else hear the same?

 

[Brorthopedic]

I heard a rumor recently that the national average dropped this year... anyone else hear the same?

I'm pretty sure it did. I wonder why?

Perhaps they stopped using buzzwords and instead are actually describing the diseases now which is why it's throwing people off?

 

[AZ7]

Well, that was horrible.
And yes, i hope like countless others, i end up with a good score, but yea. still feel like i bombed it.
It was like 7 hard uWorld blocks. It wasn't just the content they covered, but the way they phrased the answers that contributed to the difficulty.
Happy to help if you'll want to ask anything

NBME 13 : 224 ( Waaay back in April before uWorld)
NBME 15: 258 (Pre-dedicated)
NBME 16: 262
UWSA1: 266
NBME 17: 260
NBME 18: 262.
UW : 81%

Real Deal : ------ ?

Real Deal : 251.

It absolutely sucks to get 9 lower than the average of my last 4 NBMEs. But i guess thats life.

Long term studying atleast ensures you don't drop below a certain level , but you can still not meet your expectations. I guess its important to remember you've put in the handwork and it will pay some way or the other...

 

[a1237]

Real Deal : 251.

It absolutely sucks to get 9 lower than the average of my last 4 NBMEs. But i guess thats life.

Long term studying atleast ensures you don't drop below a certain level , but you can still not meet your expectations. I guess its important to remember you've put in the handwork and it will pay some way or the other...

Did you just find out?

 

[PowerDan]

Real Deal : 251.

It absolutely sucks to get 9 lower than the average of my last 4 NBMEs. But i guess thats life.

Long term studying atleast ensures you don't drop below a certain level , but you can still not meet your expectations. I guess its important to remember you've put in the handwork and it will pay some way or the other...

When you get nbme scores as high as that, it only takes a few slip ups here and there on the real deal for your score to drop substantially.

 

[AZ7]

@a1237 Yes.
@PowerDan Makes sense. But doesn't make it feel any better..

 

[Paramyxovirus]

Real Deal : 251.

It absolutely sucks to get 9 lower than the average of my last 4 NBMEs. But i guess thats life.

Long term studying atleast ensures you don't drop below a certain level , but you can still not meet your expectations. I guess its important to remember you've put in the handwork and it will pay some way or the other...

I understand how you feel dropping from your NBME average. But 250+ is considered a stellar score still. There would be many wishing for that score. It's a great score and give yourself credit for that. Congratulations!

 

[W19]

Is there a way to take a break in-between block when taking these online NBME exams? or Do people have to spend 5 yours straight answering these questions?

 

[MelMcT2009]

Is there a way to take a break in-between block when taking these online NBME exams? or Do people have to spend 5 yours straight answering these questions?

You can break after each block

 

[MelMcT2009]

Is there a way to take a break in-between block when taking these online NBME exams? or Do people have to spend 5 yours straight answering these questions?

Question number decreased. Harder to score as high when you can't miss as many. Where is this info coming from though ?

 

[W19]

You can break after each block

How? I took a couple and I had to spend 5 hours straight answering the 200 questions.

 

[Kobebucsfan]

How? I took a couple and I had to spend 5 hours straight answering the 200 questions.

did u not do the tutorial ?

u get 60mins of break time and u can use it however u want. i took a 10 min break after each block

 

[PhillyMed777]

I heard a rumor recently that the national average dropped this year... anyone else hear the same?

yea by 1 point...its now a 229

 

[W19]

did u not do the tutorial ?

u get 60mins of break time and u can use it however u want. i took a 10 min break after each block

I am not talking about the actual exam; I am talking about the online NBME self assessment...

 

[MelMcT2009]

yea by 1 point...its now a 229

It was 229 last year though. Where are you guys seeing this info?

 

[Fahadkhan]

Real Deal : 251.

It absolutely sucks to get 9 lower than the average of my last 4 NBMEs. But i guess thats life.

Long term studying atleast ensures you don't drop below a certain level , but you can still not meet your expectations. I guess its important to remember you've put in the handwork and it will pay some way or the other...

Amazing score man! Congrats!!!!
It might be a stupid question as I already know that post exam feeling doesn't correlate with the score but still wanted to ask, how many questions you remembered after exam that you 'definitely' got wrong? not talking about ethics questions or questions where you were 50 50.
Had my exam 2 weeks ago and I can count 30 questions that I got wrong for sure. And alot more on which I was 50 50, so made an educational guess.
Just for some context my uwsa2 2 weeks before exam was 252. Nbme 17 was 244 and nbme18 247.
Thankss!

 

[AZ7]

@Fahadkhan I didn't remember most of questions so i can't say for sure, but i was sure id get atleast 25+ wrong...Apart from the 50-50s

 

[haFaithve]

Okay. I do not know any other way to ask this. What do people mean when they say "dedicated study time"? I have tried searching the forums but cannot find anything. I concluded that it meant the time where you are only studying for Step I and nothing else. But then someone would say "I am currently studying for step I...two months before dedicated..." and I would just get confused again. So I started thinking that maybe "dedicated" is when you only do question banks?

I know the question is random, but I can't find any explanation.

 

[Perfect Hair Day]

Okay. I do not know any other way to ask this. What do people mean when they say "dedicated study time"? I have tried searching the forums but cannot find anything. I concluded that it meant the time where you are only studying for Step I and nothing else. But then someone would ask "do I have time to use [this resource] during dedicated" and I would just get confused again.

I know the question is random, but I can't find any explanation.

Dedicated = end of 2nd year, summer break before starting 3rd year.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[haFaithve]

Dedicated = end of 2nd year, summer break before starting 3rd year.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Oh okay. Thanks. So what about the people who are taking the test later in September? 3rd year rotations have started and summer is near over. So do they still have a "dedicated" study period?

 

[W19]

You can break after each block

I was told that you can pause the NBME self assessment and the meter will stop running... I did not know that!

 

[AnalisCanalis]

Oh okay. Thanks. So what about the people who are taking the test later in September? 3rd year rotations have started and summer is near over. So do they still have a "dedicated" study period?

Not everyone attends a US school. Some may even have graduated.

 

[MelMcT2009]

I was told that you can pause the NBME self assessment and the meter will stop running... I did not know that!

No clue about pausing, but after each block you have to click something to continue on to the next block. Just don't click it and you get the break

 

[Perfect Hair Day]

Oh okay. Thanks. So what about the people who are taking the test later in September? 3rd year rotations have started and summer is near over. So do they still have a "dedicated" study period?

I'm sure it depends on the school you're attending, but some people do a research/gap year and do it on the front end of that since there's no rush to start clerkships. Other people may take LOA, and some schools have vacation time that you can schedule into your 3rd and 4th year wherever you wish, so that's another thing people who are taking it in september might be doing.

 

[risud87]

What are some ways for me to understand and remember the Respiratory embryology (mainly page 606 in FA 2016)? Is it very high yield, has anyone had concepts tested on their exam from this page?

 

[rdk322]

What are some ways for me to understand and remember the Respiratory embryology (mainly page 606 in FA 2016)? Is it very high yield, has anyone had concepts tested on their exam from this page?

Embryo isn't terribly high yield based on my experience and from what I've read/heard. Probably important embryo would be the ones associated with anatomy (i.e. testes/ovaries drainage to para-aortical lymph nodes because they originated from the abdomen) and maybe pharyngeal arches, clefts, etc. If you have other weak areas that are higher yield and don't have much time left, you may be better off studying those instead. If you have a lot of time, you can always watch some YouTube vids on embryology, etc.