Official 2013 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

X. Oops misread

calvnandhobbs68 said:

lol most people looking at this thread must be feeling so bummed right now...not too many scores below 250 in the last couple pages

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I'm pretty sure every 255+ score given out in that month and a half is accounted for in the last 5 pages of this thread.

calvnandhobbs68 said:

lol most people looking at this thread must be feeling so bummed right now...not too many scores below 250 in the last couple pages

Click to expand...

Reporting bias, dawg. Internet validation is a seductive mistress.

Wow I'm guessing SDN's average USMLE score is leagues higher than the national average. There are some high scores being reported here.

Prep Material:
USMLE First Aid 2012 - read it 4x
Pathoma - watched all videos 1x, read the book (with my annotations) 3x
UWorld Qbank - went through all questions 1x

Practice Tests:
UWorld Practice Exam 1 - 2 months before exam = 212
UWorld Practice Exam 2 - 2 weeks before exam = 230
NBME15 - 7 days before exam = 224
UWorld Qbank Average = 64% - 1st 1/2 focused on specific subjects for my 1st round through first aid, then 2nd 1/2 was all random timed

Actual USMLE (6/10/2013) = 238

To put it bluntly, I felt like utter crap after taking the exam. I left the exam center thinking that I barely passed. I finished each block with about 3-5 minutes left, and, even after doing UWorld, the question stems/answers were longer than I anticipated. It was ALOT harder than I was expecting. I'm amazed at how well my UWorld average score correlated with my Step 1 score.

I started studying in mid-January alongside school. Didn't get a chance to focus all of my energy for Step 1 until mid-May. My studying strategy was to keep it as simple as possible - minimizing the amount of study material and focusing on one Q bank. I also felt like DIT or some other expensive program wouldn't be beneficial. Looking back, I definitely would have done more questions and practice exams. Also, I think annotating first aid alongside school as early as possible - even starting 1st year - would have helped alot. I didn't start doing that until late January. However, I am pretty satisfied with my score.

Phloston said:

Can you post the link? I'd actually be curious to see what the score report looks like.

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here

http://www.usmle-forums.com/usmle-s...y-10th-2013-step-1-exam-results-thread-2.html

Spring 2013 during classes - USMLERx, 2183/3000 Qs used, random, timed. 68% average
May-June 2013 (4-week dedicated study period) - USMLEWorld, all Qs used, random, timed, 79% average

3 weeks out - NBME 15 - 245
2 weeks out - Prometric On-site/Free 150 - 88%
2 weeks out - NBME 13 - 247
1 week out - NBME 12 - 257

Actual USMLE - 261.

Surprised as I definitely thought the real thing was much tougher than UW and NBMEs made it out to be. Question stems were consistently much longer, many more WTF-type questions covering obscure content, at times seeming way too experimental for my own liking (a la NBME 15 on crack). Fewer freebies/give-aways than I expected based on NBMEs. During the exam, I finished questions with 10-15 mins with left, flagged 12-15 questions per block on 1st pass, and whittled down to 6-7 flagged per block on review. Exam definitely became more an exercise of time management and mental endurance more than anything towards the end. 2-2-2-1 approach with about 25 minutes of break time left over in the end. Used up every single minute in every single block. Didn't use Kaplan, DIT, Firecracker, Pathoma, Goljan, or FA (other than last 10 pages of rapid-fire buzz word associations the night before - didn't really help other than provide peace of mind and calm the nerves). Attended almost all MS1 and MS2 classes, and focused on school work rather than boards material until dedicated study began. Hope that helps, and best of luck!

Pathoma x1, uworld x 1.5, FA x 2, half of kaplan qbank (but i really don't recommend it, way too much minutia), DIT just the lectures and not the questions

Pathoma and DIT really helped push my score up

NBME 12 (2 months out): 247
NBME 11 (1 month out): 261
NBME 7 (3 weeks out): 254:
NBME 13 (1 week out): 264
UWSA2 (couple days out) 264

Real deal: 266

Definitely walked out of that test feeling worse than taking any practice test so far, so don't feel hopeless if you don't walk out feeling confident.

I really recommend taking the day before the test completely off. Do nothing but be a couch potato all day and spend only less than an hour reading last minute stuff. That was a well needed rest for my brain that really helped my stamina during the exam.

Good luck to you all

~GA-PCOM class of 2015

Everyone here hitting 260. You will give new test takers heart attack. I am signing off from this forum permanently IMHO.

Pons Asinorum said:

I'm pretty sure every 255+ score given out in that month and a half is accounted for in the last 5 pages of this thread.

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CaptainSSO said:

Reporting bias, dawg. Internet validation is a seductive mistress.

Click to expand...

Exactly, everyone reading the thread needs to keep that in mind. The reason why the SDN average is like 250 while the real world average is 227. This thread is good for looking at study strategies...not for comparing yourself against other scorers. Use the average/SD and charting outcomes for that.

Low 200's and damn proud 🙂 In the end, it's just a score and does not define you as a person or the type of care provider you become in terms of ability to relate to patients.

alisepeep said:

Low 200's and damn proud 🙂 In the end, it's just a score and does not define you as a person or the type of care provider you become in terms of ability to relate to patients.

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One of the better statements I have seen in this thread, well said sir.

calvnandhobbs68 said:

Exactly, everyone reading the thread needs to keep that in mind. The reason why the SDN average is like 250 while the real world average is 227. This thread is good for looking at study strategies...not for comparing yourself against other scorers. Use the average/SD and charting outcomes for that.

Click to expand...

People get less than 250? I thought it was just the DOs dragging down the average, everyone at my school had 250+ and some are doing transitional years 🙁

Real deal: 236 For those not 260+ and a more normal/average score:

UWORLD: 67-68%
UWSA2: 244
NBME 15: 231

Goal was 240 but didn't quite have the discipline or put in the work to achieve it, know I was capable. Still satisfied with my score and relieved to finally have it, have a shot at least at ortho surg or radiology. Had no interest in doing plastics, derm, rad/onc to begin with.

Used FA and UWORLD. Did well in M1 and M2 year classes. Seriously I know everyone is sick of hearing this but do yourself a favor and do well and learn the material the 1st two years, got several questions I only knew because of that, weren't in FA/UWORLD. Also makes reviewing easier.

Walked out of the test feeling pretty horrible. I am a slow test taker because I have to double check and read everything. Ran out of time to even click an answer for 1 or 2 questions on several blocks so I felt like I was just giving away questions, didn't even have a shot at them. Remembered about 6 questions or so that I know I got wrong. Usually can remember a bunch of questions, not for this test though, it was such a blur I hardly remembered any questions to look up to see if I got them right. Estimated that between not clicking answers, calculations and ones I knew I got wrong that I missed around 25 questions, that doesn't include the hard ones and 50/50 ones. Felt it was harder than both UWORLD and the NBMEs. Significantly longer question stems than the qbanks or practice tests. Seemed that a large majority of my questions had very long stems, with complete vitals (even when all were normal) and frequently had a decently long list of lab values. If you are running low on time on UWORLD blocks or practice tests, start speeding up your pacing and spend less time on questions because I can guarantee you will run out of time on the real thing. Do yourself a favor if you have a little extra memory space and memorize typical normal lab values, it will save you time having to look it up and find it during the test (i.e. Ca, Na, Vit. D, K). Not every value but ones that frequently pop up in questions and pathologies.

tldr: Do well M1 and M2 year, set a high goal but attainable one, if you are short for time on practice tests you have got to start speeding up. Any other questions, ask here or can PM me.

Just wanted to thank everyone for sharing their scores and experiences... And especially a big thank you to the "low" scores (i.e. anyone less than 250 per SDN standards) because I'm sure a lot of people appreciate your feedback 🙂

I just got my scores back and am ecstatic!! I don't want to give an exact score for purposes of online anonymity but it was a few points above average. This is well above what my basic science grades predicted and well above my school's average. At med school we're surrounded by amazingly smart, talented, and driven individuals and feel I hit my peak potential doing ~average compared to y'all. I wanted to do a writeup as hopefully I can help people in a similar academic situation. I'm a DO student who struggled all throughout my first year, being in the bottom ¼ of my class, and did 50th percentile in my classes, at best, during second year while giving 110%. I write this to hopefully help other struggling students with a plan and advice.

Basics: 29 days of dedicated studying for the USMLE. Our school gives us 39 days between classes ending and rotations starting, but I elected to take my COMLEX 4 days after USMLE, our school took away a day for some mandatory on campus stuff, I spent two days (four half days actually) doing OMM review, and I wanted a few days to decompress before rotations, leaving me with 29 days of studying. Know how much time you have and adjust your schedule accordingly. I felt 5-6 weeks would be best and that I peaked for COMLEX but not USMLE. I'll do a COMLEX writeup on the other thread when I get my scores back the 22nd.

Core resources: Pathoma, First Aid, DIT, Lippincott Micro Cards, UWorld, Comquest (COMLEX Qbank, more on this later). I recommend one path resource (Goljan or Sattar are equivalent imo), one review book (FA seems to be gold standard), and UWorld. More is not neccesarily better. Master these core ones before adding others.

I decided to wing it on biochem and embryology apart from the DIT videos, and am happy with this decision. If I was aiming for 240+, I wouldn't be.

My schedule for dedicated study time:
Days 1-6: First pass of FA + 3-4 Qbank blocks a day
Days 7-22: DIT+ 3-4 Qbank blocks a day
Days 23-29 Second pass of FA + 3 QBank blocks a day


Core strategy: Wake up b/w 8-9 AM everyday. Do 1 block of questions and review. Then start the day's work (see above paragraph). Lunch for one hour. Then more work. Then a block of questions. Then more work. Quit at 7 PM. Break till 9. Do 30 mins of micro cards while doing some cardio at the gym. 10pm-Midnight do Uworld. Sleep. Repeat.
Sundays were my NBME/UWSA/OMM days. The morning and early afternoon would be a self assessment and I'd review answers. When that was done, I'd go through OMM stuff. I'd budget one day off a week, but would keep it flexible, or split it into two half days off when I felt burned out.

Resources:

Pathoma: I did it with classes. I tried to get through it again over spring break but only got through half, which I somewhat regret. If I could do things over again, I'd try to find time to do it again between that first pass of FA and the start of DIT. I also found time to watch or read the Pathoma video/section for my two weakest areas in UWorld (heme/onc and MSK), when I was doing my final pass of FA, which actually ended up being my two strongest areas on the score report. I cannot stress how awesome this resource is.

DIT: I did the videos twice. Once during classes, very lackadaisically, without filling out the workbook, to help explain the big picture stuff, and once with complete attention during my dedicated study time. I feel this helped a tad with USMLE. I can think of a handful of questions on USMLE I would have had no idea how to approach without it and over a dozen I specifically got right b/c of it and which I wouldn't have gotten if those DIT days were simply spent on FA. They really tie together FA. If you have a good background with the basic science, I could see how this wouldn't help much if at all, but if you're like me and feel your knowledge is very disjointed and/or deficient, this can help bring it all together. But take it seriously.

First Aid: Followed along with classes

Lippincott's micro cards: I went over these for 30 mins a night throughout my dedicated study period. I feel awesome about micro and shine on rotations, and these are much better than FA. Problem was, they are dense, require lots of time, and my USMLE had very little micro. FA is sufficient. I don't recommend these for USMLE due to the amount of effort needed to understand them.

QBanks: Uworld: Decide early whether to use this as a learning tool or as an assessment. I chose the former so I started doing 20q/day once second semester started up, which allowed me to complete it by the end of classes. Then I spent my dedicated study period doing 2-4 46q blocks a day. In the end I had gone through ~6,000 UWorld questions: most of the bank x2, then the incorrects x1. I did timed tutor mode. Timing has never been an issue for me on any test since the teacher made us run a mile in less than 10 minutes during elementary school gym class. If timing is an issue, I recommend doing timed mode and training yourself to go faster. Regardless, make sure you're able to sit down for a good 3-4 hours either via NBME or multiple blocks as test day fatique can get to you. My final percentage was a 63%. First pass without having done review, I'd hit in the 50-60%s. Second pass was 70s-80s. Incorrects were 50-60s. Cumulative was 63%.

COMQUEST: This may sound weird but I liked it and recommend it if you have time. Their were decent explanations and the questions were more first order, but it had a good ethics section and I feel it is a good learning tool for USMLE, especially pharm. I went through once + 300 or so of my incorrects by the time USMLE rolled around.


Assessments:
UWSA 1 and NBME 4 4 weeks out :216/190
NBME6 3 weeks out: 200
UWSA2 and COMSAE D (Comlex version of an NBME) 2 weeks out: 215/500 (note: COMLEX is scored out of 800 with a 500 average and ~80-100 std dev)
NBME5 12 days out: 225
DIT 100 question assessment 5 days out :79% which I think translates to a 238
Real Deal: Few pts above 227

If I could do it again: I really wish I had an extra week for USMLE so I could fit in some more Pathoma. Otherwise, no regrets.

Other tips: Tone down the studying the days before test day. That said, mark the highest yield pages in FA and review them on test day. I did a quick skim of the high yield pages of FA just before my test and got quite a few questions right as my brain was primed and I remembered the specifics of something inside.

Ursa said:

Took the beast today. I think it's pointless to discuss the content distribution of an individual's exam since we all have different tests, but I will say that I felt like mine was very evenly distributed among all subjects. Naturally, the exam was hard. I had two blocks that seemed pretty tough...the other five seemed fair. Either this was due to a coincidental distribution of hard questions, or it may have been that I wasn't as sharp during those blocks. I'll report back with a write up when I get my score back. As a sneak peak to my write up...I used FA, UWORLD, DIT, and Pathoma (<--during the school year). Uworld cumulative was 62%....low 70's for the last of it. NBMEs were 228 (t-3weeks), 254 (t-2weeks), and 240 (t-1week). Weird drop off on the nbmes from #11 to #12, but I thought 12 was noticeably harder than 11 (consensus?). Anywho, 5 weeks of dedicated study time, no studying before that except Pathoma during the year. Hoping for a 240+ but would still be very happy if its in the mid 230s.

Click to expand...

Real deal: 244

Nbmes listed above. Average was a 240. Average for the last two was a 247. My school gave us a path shelf which predicted me at a 175. Don't know how that works. But I knew it wasn't for a grade and it was several months before my dedicated study time.

Studied for 5 weeks. Only thing I did before that was Pathoma. Other than that, I used uworld, FA, and DIT.

Pathoma before dedicated study time. Took me 19 days. Sattar is a beast. I didn't think it was detailed enough to use again, but it's an incredible resource to learn or relearn the basics.

Finished DIT in first 15 days (on 1.7 speed). I liked it, and it forced me to get thru FA for the first time. In retrospect, I wouldn't consider this first run through as a very thorough one, but I'm lazy so I don't know how else I would have started out other than having something force me to study. I didn't pay for it, so I figured what the hell, give it a try.

For the next 15 days I read FA and knew it in and out. This was definitely the most beneficial portion of my studying. I took notes of things I didn't know, and in the end I had 55 pages of dense, detail-filled notes.

4 days left. I studied my 55 pages of notes for 3 days. For the morning of the day before, I woke up and looked at pictures only. Didn't read anything except for the picture caption that tells what it is. I skimmed pathoma pics and Goljan pics (although I never read a single word of Goljan text). Stopped looking at pics at noon and took the rest of the day off. If I could do it again, I would have taken a full day off the day before.

I did 2 blocks of uworld a day. There were a few days that I skipped it completely mostly out of frustration. I completed it only once and finished with 61% cumulative.

I studied from 8am-midnight with about 2 hour total break time per day and 2 half days off. I went balls to the wall, no distractions, no web browsing, no video games, no leaving the house, no eating out, etc. I realize this seems excessive, but I was worried that my procrastination of not starting to study before 5 weeks out was going to bite me in the butt.

Don't know what I want to go in to, but I was aiming for a 240+ to keep most options open.

Some people start studying 6 months out. Nothing wrong with that. I just couldn't juggle school studying and step studying.

Best possible advice: do well your first two years and lay a good foundation. You'll thank yourself later.

Hello everyone,
First I want to congratulate everyone on their accomplishments. Secondly I want to state how irritating it is for me to read some of these comments on this forum. Don't get me wrong, there are many helpful users on this forum that gave me very helpful advice during my prep, but some of these comments are absolutely ridiculous. I'll give you a couple of examples, "Hi got my result today 254, very depressed", or "Hello all got 262, is this good?", like seriously are you people ******ed or what? Some of these statements are so outrageous that I have to question whether they are real. On another note, apparently 90 percent of the examinees that scored 2 standard deviations above the average all come on this forum as well, lol. Sorry guys but had to get this off my chest, been holding all these feeling inside for 6 months.
Took my exam on May 22nd, so it was a veryyy longg wait for me indeed.
NBME 11-450
NBME 12-440
NBME 13-500
NBME 15-480
Real deal: 229
My highest NBME score (NBME 13-500/221) under predicted me by 8 points, taken 3 weeks before exam. NBME 15 taken 2 days before exam, under predicted me by 12 points. UWorld average 1st time through 100 percent completed-60%.
My advice: As one user said on here before me, use forums like this one only for study guides or plans, and even then take it as a grain of salt.

Good morning guys. So i got my score back. I promised to do a write up of my study strategy since this forum has been helpful to me. Hope this helps someone.

FIRST YEAR of med school: no step 1 study. just went to class and had fun

SECOND YEAR: I didn't attended class. For each Organ system I used Kaplan videos and Lecture notes for Anatomy and Pharm. and then Pathoma for Pathology. Sometimes I annotated from Gunner training into my Pathoma book as my school tends to test a lot of details. However I didnt use Gunner training religiously. I had only 56 % banked by the end of 2nd year.
I used Uworld on and off during the school year to study for our NBME exams. By the end of the school year I had done about 40 % of my q bank
I used KLN and videos also for behavioral science. It was amazing

DEDICATED (7 weeks)
I used U world. I was able to get through only 1 set a day. I answered questions in timed mode then reviewed both wrong and right answers. I made sure i read every single explanation for every answer choice. I read the corresponding topic in FA and annotated. If there was a concept or topic I hadnt seen before or didnt understand, I looked it up and read about it. My reference resources were Baby Robbins, BRS physio, BRS pharm and google.

I did DIT for the first 3 weeks ( about 5 - 10 videos a day) but it was slowing me down and i wasnt really getting much from it so i ditched it and focused on U world. when I stopped DIT i was able to get through 2 sets of U world a day. After i finished U world, I selectively used DIT for micro, behavioral science, and cardio. those actually helped me out.

Exam Day: I wasnt able to sleep a night before. My actual exam felt like I was doing U world sets back to back. Some questions were verbatim from U world, others were similar concepts. I had a lot of WTF questions as well. till today i still cant find the answers to the questions anywhere. I had a lot of experimental type questions as well and interpretation of lab data. The vignettes were long and quite exhausting. It got to a point where i stopped reading them. I read the last line, looked at answer choices and then schemed for specific detail that might help me answer the question.

My data
U world avg : 66 %
NBME 6 : 217
NBME 12 : 235
NBME 13 : 230
NBME 15 : 245
UWSA 1: 245
UWSA 2: 264
real deal : 252

things I would have done differently
1) I would have done a run though of Pathoma during dedicated period as a refresher. There were 7 questions i got wrong that happened to be highlighted in pathoma.

2) I would have done more U world questions during the school year so that by dedicated period I would be on my second pass. I was only able to get through 30 % of U world for the second time and those helped me a lot on my exam. My exam was 60% U world.

3) tried to fit in all my studying within 5 weeks. the extra 2 weeks didnt do much for me except made me tired and i began to forget basic stuff

4) I would have taken classes more seriously and attended more lectures. I could have gotten 10 questions right.

Goodluck to everyone that is still studying. Let me know if you have any questions I will be happy to help

Now my heart is beating little better😉

258

Pathoma and a question bank during M2 (religiously keep up with pathoma, it is a must!)
FA, Pathoma (reading only, too late to watch the videos) and UWorld during dedicated time
NBMEs as needed

calvnandhobbs68 said:

Exactly, everyone reading the thread needs to keep that in mind. The reason why the SDN average is like 250 while the real world average is 227. This thread is good for looking at study strategies...not for comparing yourself against other scorers. Use the average/SD and charting outcomes for that.

Click to expand...

Exactly my point of view. I set what I would be happy with before the exam based on the beating average for the competitive surgical speciality I was interested in, not beating average of the super gunners who frequent this thread.

Getting a score in the 240s and 250s shouldn't be disappointing to almost anyone (derm and maybe plastics hopefuls aside). Look at charting the outcomes. If you scored a 240, according to charting the outcomes, you have a 90 percent chance of matching almost any specialty and that's without factoring in other things you have some control over, like research, LORs, and your performance on away rotations.

Hell, getting in the 220s and 230s still gives you a great chance at matching in most specialities, given you apply smartly. You will become a doctor. You will be respected and trusted by your patients, no matter where you go to residency. You can determine what kind of doctor you become, life isn't over if you didn't score in the 240s or above.

And to frame this, I scored a 242. I am ecstatic with my score. In ten years I might not even remember my score and won't care about it, just like I don't care about my MCAT score now. Relax people.

looks like we got more than our fair share of Bobby Fischers in this thread.
Congrats to all you prime studs who have looked the best in the eyes and vanquished it in style.

skyblue2000 said:

Just wanted to thank everyone for sharing their scores and experiences... And especially a big thank you to the "low" scores (i.e. anyone less than 250 per SDN standards) because I'm sure a lot of people appreciate your feedback 🙂

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I would call them "normal' score..............and it is so refreshing to hear from normal people.😛

Most users ever online was 5,905, 06-07-2013 at 06:12 PM.

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tiedyeddog said:

Exactly my point of view. I set what I would be happy with before the exam based on the beating average for the competitive surgical speciality I was interested in, not beating average of the super gunners who frequent this thread.

Getting a score in the 240s and 250s shouldn't be disappointing to almost anyone (derm and maybe plastics hopefuls aside). Look at charting the outcomes. If you scored a 240, according to charting the outcomes, you have a 90 percent chance of matching almost any specialty and that's without factoring in other things you have some control over, like research, LORs, and your performance on away rotations.

Hell, getting in the 220s and 230s still gives you a great chance at matching in most specialities, given you apply smartly. You will become a doctor. You will be respected and trusted by your patients, no matter where you go to residency. You can determine what kind of doctor you become, life isn't over if you didn't score in the 240s or above.

And to frame this, I scored a 242. I am ecstatic with my score. In ten years I might not even remember my score and won't care about it, just like I don't care about my MCAT score now. Relax people.

Click to expand...

This. For AMG's who failed step 1 (step 1<180), the successful match rate was >50% for EM, a middling competitive specialty. Let that soak in, future Step 1 takers. It's important, don't blow it off, but don't just mindlessly subscribe to the Phloston (god bless him) 12k+ question plan. Maybe you need to, but you probably don't. IMG's, obviously that changes some dynamics, but again dedicating 12 months to full-time studying might not be the best use of your time.

Pons Asinorum said:

This. For AMG's who failed step 1 (step 1<180), the successful match rate was >50% for EM, a middling competitive specialty. Let that soak in, future Step 1 takers. It's important, don't blow it off, but don't just mindlessly subscribe to the Phloston (god bless him) 12k+ question plan. Maybe you need to, but you probably don't. IMG's, obviously that changes some dynamics, but again dedicating 12 months to full-time studying might not be the best use of your time.

Click to expand...

Where is the like button?

Got my score yesterday. I felt pretty middle of the road when I walked out of my test. I knew there were misses, but I also didn't feel like I failed the thing.

Prep:
FA x2 (didn't use during the school year)
UWorld x1 + a couple hundred repeats - 62% cumulative (didn't use during the school year)

Practice Tests:
NBME 13 paid for by school in March before finishing 2nd year and no dedicated study: 206
UWSA1 after two weeks of dedicated study: 252
UWSA2 one week after UWSA1: 256
Free 150 a few days after UWSA2: 84% (~247)
NBME 7 (can't remember exactly when, but sometime in the middle): 235
NBME 12 (week after NBME 7): 231

Real Deal: 242

I was surprised by the very high UWSA scores so early, not to mention I didn't think I would ever see those numbers in the first place. I was even more surprised by the relatively much lower NBME scores. Talk about an emotional roller coaster. I went into my Step 1 thinking it was likely I would land somewhere in the middle. Luckily, that's exactly what happened and I'm very excited about my score.

Chiomsy said:

Good morning guys. So i got my score back. I promised to do a write up of my study strategy since this forum has been helpful to me. Hope this helps someone.

FIRST YEAR of med school: no step 1 study. just went to class and had fun

SECOND YEAR: I didn't attended class. For each Organ system I used Kaplan videos and Lecture notes for Anatomy and Pharm. and then Pathoma for Pathology. Sometimes I annotated from Gunner training into my Pathoma book as my school tends to test a lot of details. However I didnt use Gunner training religiously. I had only 56 % banked by the end of 2nd year.
I used Uworld on and off during the school year to study for our NBME exams. By the end of the school year I had done about 40 % of my q bank
I used KLN and videos also for behavioral science. It was amazing

DEDICATED (7 weeks)
I used U world. I was able to get through only 1 set a day. I answered questions in timed mode then reviewed both wrong and right answers. I made sure i read every single explanation for every answer choice. I read the corresponding topic in FA and annotated. If there was a concept or topic I hadnt seen before or didnt understand, I looked it up and read about it. My reference resources were Baby Robbins, BRS physio, BRS pharm and google.

I did DIT for the first 3 weeks ( about 5 - 10 videos a day) but it was slowing me down and i wasnt really getting much from it so i ditched it and focused on U world. when I stopped DIT i was able to get through 2 sets of U world a day. After i finished U world, I selectively used DIT for micro, behavioral science, and cardio. those actually helped me out.

Exam Day: I wasnt able to sleep a night before. My actual exam felt like I was doing U world sets back to back. Some questions were verbatim from U world, others were similar concepts. I had a lot of WTF questions as well. till today i still cant find the answers to the questions anywhere. I had a lot of experimental type questions as well and interpretation of lab data. The vignettes were long and quite exhausting. It got to a point where i stopped reading them. I read the last line, looked at answer choices and then schemed for specific detail that might help me answer the question.

My data
U world avg : 66 %
NBME 6 : 217
NBME 12 : 235
NBME 13 : 230
NBME 15 : 245
UWSA 1: 245
UWSA 2: 264
real deal : 252

things I would have done differently
1) I would have done a run though of Pathoma during dedicated period as a refresher. There were 7 questions i got wrong that happened to be highlighted in pathoma.

2) I would have done more U world questions during the school year so that by dedicated period I would be on my second pass. I was only able to get through 30 % of U world for the second time and those helped me a lot on my exam. My exam was 60% U world.

3) tried to fit in all my studying within 5 weeks. the extra 2 weeks didnt do much for me except made me tired and i began to forget basic stuff

4) I would have taken classes more seriously and attended more lectures. I could have gotten 10 questions right.

Goodluck to everyone that is still studying. Let me know if you have any questions I will be happy to help

Click to expand...

How beneficial do you think gunnertraining was for achieving your score?

g8orlife said:

Hey guys, just took my test 2 days ago and after drinking & watching movies for 48 straight hours, I figure I'd write my experience while watching this Spurs-Heat game.

As others mentioned, there were plenty of gimmies, but for every 2-3 gimmies there was a question that required pathway understanding & manipulation. My test was heavy on micro, molecular bio, neuro, and cardio. Difficulty was between NBMEs & UW. Gimmies were Rx level & hard Q's were UW level.

After looking up a lot of questions, I got a lot of "difficult" ones (not in FA) right but I made many errors on "easy" questions. I've looked up & counted 11 questions that I've gotten wrong and I also blindly guessed on ~1-2 questions per block. So, that's not a good start for my goal :/ My goal was 250+ but after taking the test, I am hoping for a 240.

NBME 6 = 235 (6 weeks out)
NBME 7 = 235 (5 weeks out)
NBME 13 = 247 (1 week out)
NBME 15 = 247 (1 week out) &#8230; I took 13+15 back-to-back.

Rx: 90% complete @ 72%.
Kaplan: 79% complete @ 65%.
UW 1st pass: 100% complete @ 67%.
UW 2nd pass: 99% complete @ 78%.

Everyone's test is different, but here's my breakdown in case someone's interested:

BEHAV/BIOSTATS: A lot of calculations. Straightforward after practice. ~3-4 tricky Dr-Pt Qs.
BIOCHEM/MOLECULAR: Besides nutrition, not much biochem. A lot of molecular & signaling transduction pathways.
EMBRYO: only 2-3. Disappointing b/c I was ready for more.
MICRO: The bulk of my test after path. Lots of antibiotics/antivirals and light microscopy identification. Almost all from FA.
IMMUNO: My best area, but was probably the trickiest. Mainly hypersensitivity & signaling mechanisms.
PATH: Bulk of my test. I was surprised by how much general principles path.
PHARM: Lots of side effects, DOC, and MOA. Almost all in FA. I had to look up 1 DOC that was not in FA.
CVS: I had 4 heart sounds (twice as much as other people in my test center).
ENDO: not much.
GI: A lot. I didn't prep much for GI outside UW but straightforward.
HEME/ONC: Not as much as GI, but also straightforward.
MSK/Anatomy: Path straightforward. Lots of anatomy. Half from FA. Half from 1st year.
NEURO: Lots of Neuro anatomy. As USCTrojan mentioned, lots of neuroimaging.
RENAL: Lots of path from FA.
REPRO: Not much besides a some phys/pathophys arrow Qs.
RESP: Not much besides a few pathophys diagrams.

Can't wait until July 10th. Glad to be done.

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Ha! Transposony, based on recent posts it looks like I ended up being one of the "normal" people on SDN. Aimed for 250+ and just barely missed it. As stated on my attached post, I had a test full of stuff from FA, and I missed far too many "easy" questions; thus, I understand why I didn't see a huge jump from my practice (like others on SDN).

Real deal = 248 (6/11/2013)

How I studied: (in case it helps someone out there)

During Summer before MS2:
- My #1 strategy was to have no glaring weaknesses by the time I sat for the exam in one year. So, I went thru Kaplan videos for some basic sciences (Biochemistry, Immunology, Genetics, Histology/Cell Bio) and read some CMMRS. This was very helpful for me because Immunology and Biochem ended up being my 2nd & 3rd best Discipline on my real exam.

Start of MS2:
- I used USMLERx and USMLEWorld in systems (not random) to prepare for my school-given NBME & in-house exams. I also listened to Goljan & watched Pathoma along with classes. I referenced BIG Robbins whenever I needed more clarity/explanations. Also, used Robbins Q&A for more questions. (If I could do it again, I'd have added Webpath too)

Spring of MS2, I added a few other things:
- I devoted each weekend (except exam weekends) to review a subject from MS1 or 1st semester MS2. I spent 1-2 hours daily watching Kaplan videos & Pathoma for that subject during the weekdays, & then went thru all the Kaplan Qbank questions for that subject on the weekend. (A study group was perfect to keep this consistent)
- Did NBMEs 1-5 slowly every day @~12 questions/day daily while trying to understand the concepts in every question. Offline score range ~200-221.
- Did 5 Kaplan Qbank Microbiology questions daily. Then repeated over and over until I got them all correct. (This is b/c Micro was still a weakness. I found this very helpful)

Dedicated studying: (6 weeks)
Resources: Used UW after reset, Pathoma, Goljan audio, some Kaplan videos (Pharm, Embryo, Immuno, Behavioral Science, Physiology), & ~50% DIT to get thru other areas of FA (I'm a super-slow reader so I needed DIT to force-feed it to me)
Weeks 1-2: Did UW in basic sciences. Spent 1-4 days on each subject.
Weeks 3-6: Did UW in Systems. Spent 1-4 days on each system.
Week 6: Added Kaplan Qbank anatomy questions & USMLERx Biochem questions. (If I could do it again, I'd have gone thru all FA+Pathoma this last week, to not miss those easy gimmie Q's. smh)
Day before: Did the Rapid Review section in the back of FA. And looked up anything I was unsure about.

NBME 6 = 235 (6 weeks out)
NBME 7 = 235 (5 weeks out)
NBME 13 = 247 (1 week out)
NBME 15 = 247 (1 week out) &#8230; I took 13+15 back-to-back.
Real deal = 248

tl;dr: Started early by focusing on weaknesses. Studied with my classes using Pathoma+Goljan(audio) & UW+Rx in systems-format. Used Kaplan for weaknesses.

Good luck to future testers! Anything's possible with hard work. If I can do it with an MCAT of 26, anyone can 😀

tiedyeddog said:

Exactly my point of view. I set what I would be happy with before the exam based on the beating average for the competitive surgical speciality I was interested in, not beating average of the super gunners who frequent this thread.

Getting a score in the 240s and 250s shouldn't be disappointing to almost anyone (derm and maybe plastics hopefuls aside). Look at charting the outcomes. If you scored a 240, according to charting the outcomes, you have a 90 percent chance of matching almost any specialty and that's without factoring in other things you have some control over, like research, LORs, and your performance on away rotations.

Hell, getting in the 220s and 230s still gives you a great chance at matching in most specialities, given you apply smartly. You will become a doctor. You will be respected and trusted by your patients, no matter where you go to residency. You can determine what kind of doctor you become, life isn't over if you didn't score in the 240s or above.

And to frame this, I scored a 242. I am ecstatic with my score. In ten years I might not even remember my score and won't care about it, just like I don't care about my MCAT score now. Relax people.

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You have a great score and some valid points, but there is a lot I don't agree with. First and foremost, calling people gunners. A lot of the members help others out in pointing out the right resources, strategies, and providing emotional support. Pretty much the opposite of a Gunner. Sure, there are gunners in the guise of trolls, but they're easy to spot and more easily dismissed.

IMGs kinda need those scores to help with the uphill struggle we have to face. I'm not whinging over this, merely stating a reality. I know you only referred to AMGs, but note that a ton of members with exceptional scores are IMGs.

If I get a great score, you can bet your britches I'm going to remember it 10 years from now, just as I remember my MCATs and SATs. I may not wear a T-shirt advertising them, but they got to where I am. There's nothing wrong in taking pride in something you've earned. Scoring a couple of SDs away may not be a complicated task, but it sure as hell ain't easy.

So, yeah it's hard, and yeah, you've only got one life. You should do what's important to you and what makes you happy.

Wordead said:

People get less than 250? I thought it was just the DOs dragging down the average, everyone at my school had 250+ and some are doing transitional years 🙁

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Everyone at your school did not get 250+. That's just the people you know.
The highest med school Step 1 average last year was 241. (I think only 2-3 schools had either 240/241). I don't have the list, but it can be found in the relevant US News Weekly article & on the Pre-Allo thread.

loveoforganic2 said:

yeah, this poster has kind of unrealistic feelings about scores

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Im expexting a 50 point drop from my nbme averages of 268, if i passed at all

hardee17 said:

Im expexting a 50 point drop from my nbme averages of 268, if i passed at all

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I felt like this too, but the curve ended up bein generous

This seems to happen to most people who felt like this as well, so I am sure you will be fine

hardee17 said:

Im expexting a 50 point drop from my nbme averages of 268, if i passed at all

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🙄

Brain Bucket said:

You have a great score and some valid points, but there is a lot I don't agree with. First and foremost, calling people gunners. A lot of the members help others out in pointing out the right resources, strategies, and providing emotional support. Pretty much the opposite of a Gunner. Sure, there are gunners in the guise of trolls, but they're easy to spot and more easily dismissed.

IMGs kinda need those scores to help with the uphill struggle we have to face. I'm not whinging over this, merely stating a reality. I know you only referred to AMGs, but note that a ton of members with exceptional scores are IMGs.

If I get a great score, you can bet your britches I'm going to remember it 10 years from now, just as I remember my MCATs and SATs. I may not wear a T-shirt advertising them, but they got to where I am. There's nothing wrong in taking pride in something you've earned. Scoring a couple of SDs away may not be a complicated task, but it sure as hell ain't easy.

So, yeah it's hard, and yeah, you've only got one life. You should do what's important to you and what makes you happy.

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As you said, I was only targeting what I said to AMGs. IMGs are a totally different ball game.

You can be proud of your score, sure. I am not saying you shouldn't be, I am proud of my measly 242. But your step score is not going to influence you life the way some people here think it will. You don't need to kill yourself if you don't get a 260.

Hello all,
Took the USMLE 6/15/13: got a 247
NBME 7: 6/12/13: 240
NBME 6: 5/15/13: 220
Uworld Timed random (100% completed): average 60%
Kaplan Timed random (75% completed): average 70%

Study Materials:

Goljan Rapid Review and Audio
First Aid 2013
Uworld qbank
Kaplan qbank
Picmonic ( maybe the most helpful resource of all)
Brenner Pharmacology Flash Cards
Lange Pharmacology Flash Cards
déjàvu Pharmacology
(I was weakest in pharmacology)

Study Plan:
Started in January.
January-May:
1. Quit going to class
2. 30 questions of Uworld a day timed random everyday after 6:00 p.m. to simulate exam fatigue.
3. Reviewed all Uworld questions the following morning and corresponding passages in First Aid and Goljan Rapid Review and did related picmonic.
4. After reviewing for boards all morning I would study for class from the notes and Goljan. When studying for class i would use Goljan Rapid Review as my primary resource.
5. Go on an evening run and listen to Goljan.
May 15th-June15th dedicated study time:
By this time I completed all of UWorld, First Aid, and Goljan lectures and Goljan Rapid Review. I tried to do the Uworld qbank again but I was getting 85% on 45 questions sets, because I never forgot the questions. My school had purchased us Kaplan so I decided to give it a try. I found Kaplan plugged a lot of small holes that uworld left and was very helpful.
1. 90-135 Kaplan questions a day.
2. 1 section of First Aid a day with corresponding picmonics
3. Referenced Goljan Rapid Review if any topic remained confusing.
4. Continued listening to Goljan on evening runs.

I wrote this on an iPad forgive my grammar. If you have any questions feel free to message me.

Kirksville College of Osteopahtic Medicine: 2015

whatdidigetinto said:

How beneficial do you think gunnertraining was for achieving your score?

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i dont think it really made a difference. it helped me more with classes. The most helpful resource for me was Uworld. good luck

If you look at the SDN score reporting, it appears that people who did quite well do post and the people who did below the average do not post. (only saw one exception to this). I recommend anyone taking the test in the future to use this thread with a grain of salt. The only thing reliable is what people used to study. The scores on SDN do not take into account the big picture. Also, anyone can post a score whether it is true or not.

GoWiththeFlo said:

If you look at the SDN score reporting, it appears that people who did quite well do post and the people who did below the average do not post. (only saw one exception to this). I recommend anyone taking the test in the future to use this thread with a grain of salt. The only thing reliable is what people used to study. The scores on SDN do not take into account the big picture. Also, anyone can post a score whether it is true or not.

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My goal before discovering this thread was a 240, but after reading the posts it became a 260. Ended up falling short with a 250, but still am very happy.

Was grateful for people pushing me to do better. Without all the gunners here and their 260+ scores, I may not have even reaches my original goal of 240, much less exceed it.

If people have feelings of inadequacy just from the existence of some of the exceptional people here, they need to grow out of this "precious snowflake" mentality

Anyone have any idea when the next batch of scores are coming out? Am I looking at a month for a late June test date?

tripwm said:

Anyone have any idea when the next batch of scores are coming out? Am I looking at a month for a late June test date?

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7/17 I believe

Posting this as a confidence booster for people who didn't do great in 2nd year classes. Also for people who only want to use one or two resources.

School administered exam (possibly CBSE?) - 205
2 wks in, NBME 13- 226
4.5 wks in, NBME 12 - 254
6 wks in, Real Exam - 250

Read FA + annotated with google - took me about 14 days.
Then Read FA 3 more times. Would do two or three blocks whenever I was too tired to read.
Completed 50% of UWorld - 78% average.

Before the study period I was worried that FA was not enough coming off of an average classroom performance. Many people who had done well told me it absolutely was, so I trusted them. Guess it worked out 👍.

res1cue said:

Without all the gunners here and their 260+ scores

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Working your tail off &#8800; Gunnerism

Goober11 said:

Working your tail off &#8800; Gunnerism

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Agree. I understand the sentiment of others providing that term to denote someone who is dedicated to school and no social life or friends, however, I also understand that the term and connotation must have been created from envious classmates. What if YOU got a 260+? Would you want others to hate you for knowing your material? And let's admit it, whether you are an US student or an IMG, we are all paying heavy tuition fees. What is so wrong about making sure that money is not spent for nothing.

It is a different story though, if they get that score and belittle others for their lower scores. Although, I most of the time see the high scorers trying to explain and help others with their plan of actions for conquering this test...

Wasn't able to post yesterday, but I'm pretty stoked. Scored higher than any of my NBMEs

My prep included the usual UW/FA, with a few scattered resources that provided me only little extra knowledge. Pathoma came handy to answer only ONE additional question, and Goljan didn't help me directly answer any additional questions. I studied casually for a month or so, and then the full-time studying for about 8-10 weeks.


NBMEs
NBME1 offline before full-on studying: did not do well (~75%?)
7: 235
11: 254
12: 254
13: 254
15: 250

UWSA: 265

Real deal: 263

I would have been extremely happy with anything above a 250. I knew missed the last question on block 7 (horrible way to end your test!) and had mixed emotions for the last few weeks just thinking about the ones I know I missed.

Not sure what else I can add to all the great advice people have mentioned.
Only additional advice I can give is to take days off (I also took the day off before my test), get a beer. Go to nice dinners. Watch TV...

I would really like to rant about diminishing returns etc..., but I know most people on SDN wouldn't appreciate it lol


Also, a shout out to goober for killin' it! Congrats!

Goober11 said:

Real Deal: 261 👍

Thank you again SDN. Scoring well on standardized tests isn't usually my thing but thanks to all your input it was possible THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

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gah excuse any errors, typing on my phone

AppleMD said:

Agree. I understand the sentiment of others providing that term to denote someone who is dedicated to school and no social life or friends, however, I also understand that the term and connotation must have been created from envious classmates. What if YOU got a 260+? Would you want others to hate you for knowing your material? And let's admit it, whether you are an US student or an IMG, we are all paying heavy tuition fees. What is so wrong about making sure that money is not spent for nothing.

It is a different story though, if they get that score and belittle others for their lower scores. Although, I most of the time see the high scorers trying to explain and help others with their plan of actions for conquering this test...

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I agree with what you are saying

If you read my original post i was using the word gunner in a positive way

Kudos to you all, and Cheers for sharing!

.

241 and I'm happy

alisepeep said:

Low 200's and damn proud 🙂 In the end, it's just a score and does not define you as a person or the type of care provider you become in terms of ability to relate to patients.

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There should be more positive folk like you, alisepeep, on these forums. 👍