Anyone do well on or pass Step/COMLEX who had a 498/24 MCAT?

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Deecee2DO

Deecee2DO

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Having been accepted to medical (DO) school (RowanSOM/formerly UMDNJ-SOM) this past cycle with a lower MCAT score, I am concerned about boards. Anyone know of anyone or maybe have personal experience with this who has gotten a 24-25 or 498 MCAT and passed or even done pretty well on COMLEX/Step? I will probably end up going primary care IM or FM, but not exactly sure yet. My GPA and clinical experience (previous healthcare provider-I am a non-trad in my late 20s) in my opinion is really what helped me get accepted. I am very fortunate to have been accepted but medical school and medical boards will be a humbling experience I am certain. Any input from DO students who have taken boards already (either COMLEX or Step or both) would be fantastic. Thanks guys!
 
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As a current student of said school, how well you perform the first two years will be a better indicator of how well you do on boards. I've seen people on with your MCAT do well, and I've seen people with your MCAT do horribly. What has set those two groups of people apart is how much effort they put into the studying the material efficiently and effectively, if that means studying for 16-18 hours a day then that's what you have to do. If you haven't even started yet you main focus should be doing well in pre-clinicals, because if you can't pass them you'll never even get to the boards. Take it one step at a time, don't jump ahead to an unknown when your primary task for the rest of the year is to figure out a method to study properly. Don't look to a place like this for validation or motivation, because you won't find it. You're more likely to stress yourself out then put yourself at ease. But one universal piece of advice is Don't cram, and read a little bit everyday.

I took COMLEX/USMLE and about to graduate from Rowan so if you have anymore questions PM me.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Having been accepted to medical (DO) school (RowanSOM/formerly UMDNJ-SOM) this past cycle with a lower MCAT score, I am concerned about boards. Anyone know of anyone or maybe have personal experience with this who has gotten a 24-25 or 498 MCAT and passed or even done pretty well on COMLEX/Step? I will probably end up going primary care IM or FM, but not exactly sure yet. My GPA and clinical experience (previous healthcare provider-I am a non-trad in my late 20s) in my opinion is really what helped me get accepted. I am very fortunate to have been accepted but medical school and medical boards will be a humbling experience I am certain. Any input from DO students who have taken boards already (either COMLEX or Step or both) would be fantastic. Thanks guys!
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I don’t wanna offer any advices because you are super early in your medical career. However, to offer an anecdotal evidence, my best friend in med school scored a 25 in his MCAT. He got off the waitlisted like 3 days before we started. 4 years went by. He scored above 600s on both of his Comlex, now a newly accepted Radiology resident starting this July.
There’s a plethora of evidence suggesting a correlation between MCAT and steps. But for your mental health sake, work hard and pave your own path.
Good luck
 
AlbinoHawk DO said:
Anecdotal here. A girl I know had a 24 then got about a 220 on her USMLE. She's in anesthesia now.
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Thank you for input @AlbinoHawk DO. So I guess general consensus is use your resources, study smart/effectively (you can run in place all day and get nowhere), and study your ass off and it can be done? lol. It is odd because I was scoring 503s (consistent 128 B/S) on all my AAMC practice tests right before test day and then come test day I tanked with this poor MCAT score. Maybe it was nerves, maybe I had an off day, or maybe I just didn't have the comprehensive understanding that I thought I had. Anyways, the past is the past and I can't blame anyone but myself for what happened, but I hope hard work in medical school will pay off.
 
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24 MCAT. Scored a 223 on USMLE and upper 580s COMLEX.

It's all about how hard you work in medical school.
 
Deecee2DO said:
Having been accepted to medical (DO) school (RowanSOM/formerly UMDNJ-SOM) this past cycle with a lower MCAT score, I am concerned about boards. Anyone know of anyone or maybe have personal experience with this who has gotten a 24-25 or 498 MCAT and passed or even done pretty well on COMLEX/Step? I will probably end up going primary care IM or FM, but not exactly sure yet. My GPA and clinical experience (previous healthcare provider-I am a non-trad in my late 20s) in my opinion is really what helped me get accepted. I am very fortunate to have been accepted but medical school and medical boards will be a humbling experience I am certain. Any input from DO students who have taken boards already (either COMLEX or Step or both) would be fantastic. Thanks guys!
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There will always be outliers.

IF you have test taking anxiety, that can be fixed.

IF you are ESL or a 1st generation American, then that's a little harder.

IF you did well in the sections of MCAT that are other than VR/CARS, then I wouldn't worry too much. Those are diabolical beasts.

Your pre-clinical GPAs (and NBME shelf exams, if any) will be far better predictors of your Board scores than will MCAT.
 
Honestly I'm going to inject some reason into here. If you got a low score because you couldn't really break it, then chances are you're not going to suddenly become a great performer in med school. However if you did get a low score consider it a sign that you have a road ahead of you requiring a lot of hard work. Work hard you'll succeed.
 
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Goro said:
There will always be outliers.

IF you have test taking anxiety, that can be fixed.

IF you are ESL or a 1st generation American, then that's a little harder.

IF you did well in the sections of MCAT that are other than VR/CARS, then I wouldn't worry too much. Those are diabolical beasts.

Your pre-clinical GPAs (and NBME shelf exams, if any) will be far better predictors of your Board scores than will MCAT.
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Thanks so much for input @Goro . so heres the thing i had 122 CARs (idk what happened here) lol, 126 B/S, 126 psych/soc, 124 C/P. My reading speed clearly stinks my CARS was abhorrent. I also probably have test taking anxiety i think because i scored 5 points lower on the actual test day than all my practice AAMCs 2 weeks before my exam which I tried to simulate test day conditions as accurately as possible (but as we know that can be almost impossible because subconsciously I knew that the practice exam was not the REAL thing despite my efforts to tell myself this). Any tips on how to overcome this? this is going to be crucial for med school and boards and i want to take care of it. Weird thing is i do very well on tests in school (my GPA reflects this) but standardized tests cause me test anxiety and it clearly negatively impacts my performance.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Thanks so much for input @Goro . so heres the thing i had 122 CARs (idk what happened here) lol, 126 B/S, 126 psych/soc, 124 C/P. My reading speed clearly stinks my CARS was abhorrent. I also probably have test taking anxiety i think because i scored 5 points lower on the actual test day than all my practice AAMCs 2 weeks before my exam which I tried to simulate test day conditions as accurately as possible (but as we know that can be almost impossible because subconsciously I knew that the practice exam was not the REAL thing despite my efforts to tell myself this). Any tips on how to overcome this? this is going to be crucial for med school and boards and i want to take care of it. Weird thing is i do very well on tests in school (my GPA reflects this) but standardized tests cause me test anxiety and it clearly negatively impacts my performance.
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Your school will have a counseling center; go see them, or the learning/education center.
 
MCAT has only moderate correlation with Step 1 score, according to some studies. The issue comes down to whether the MCAT score was your best possible score, or if you just didn't put much effort in it.
 
Rekt said:
<20 first attempt.
24-26 second attempt.

~700 comlex
>235 step.

Source: me
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Lol holy crap dude. Well done. Any personal reflections/advice for this type of success bouncing back from a lower MCAT? Why did you think you got a lower MCAT and such a high COMLEX and solid Step? Hated the MCAT material like I did? Only thing I actually enjoyed about it was studying physio and bchem 2/pathways bchem and there was barely any on it go figure (most MCAT content grossly irrelevant to medical school from what I have heard by both physicians/residents and med students).
 
I got a 24 MCAT 8,9,7 I got a 551 COMLEX 1 and 223 USMLE1. You can get a good board score if you study hard, find out what resources work for you.
I used pathoma, sketchy, FA, and loved USMLE rx and uworld. Im using online med and UWORLD for step 2. I recommend you take USMLE 1 and 2 inaddition to comlex
 
Work with a resident who didn’t graduate from high school, but got his GED. Took the MCAT and got <20 but finished at Rowan the top of his class scoring in the 80th~90th percentile on both COMLEX and USMLE. Just switched programs from IM to Anesthesiology.

Like everyone else is saying, don’t sell yourself short and take it one step at a time.
 
Took MCAT 3 or 4 times and never got anything higher than a 25.

COMLEX 1 >600
USMLE >230

MCAT doesn't really predict how well you'll do in med school or boards. I have a friend who got an MCAT score over 30, but USMLE step 1 was barely a 210.
 
Not to be harsh, but seems like op is only looking for some comforting before medical school after lousy MCAT. MCAT and USMLE are both tests that have a similar equation: Success = IQ x Works put in. If you have 150 IQ, you might need 200 hours to reach success. If you have 120 IQ, just need 400 hours to success. The results are the same for both people, and PD will not care how many hours you put in. As long as the score is 250, it is a good score. The answer is obvious, put more hours if you are average IQ people, and you will get your success. Do not turn it into a vicious cycle like below:
High school: Anyone does well on MCAT who had low SAT?
College: Anyone does well on or pass Step/COMLEX who had a 498/24 MCAT?
Med. school: Anyone matches well on a borderline Step/ COMLEX?
Residency: Anyone matches well to GI from a community IM program with no pubs and connections?
 
bengx said:
Not to be harsh, but seems like op is only looking for some comforting before medical school after lousy MCAT. MCAT and USMLE are both tests that have a similar equation: Success = IQ x Works put in. If you have 150 IQ, you might need 200 hours to reach success. If you have 120 IQ, just need 400 hours to success. The results are the same for both people, and PD will not care how many hours you put in. As long as the score is 250, it is a good score. The answer is obvious, put more hours if you are average IQ people, and you will get your success. Do not turn it into a vicious cycle like below:
High school: Anyone does well on MCAT who had low SAT?
College: Anyone does well on or pass Step/COMLEX who had a 498/24 MCAT?
Med. school: Anyone matches well on a borderline Step/ COMLEX?
Residency: Anyone matches well to GI from a community IM program with no pubs and connections?
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I don't think mcat and usmle weigh IQ similarly though, but I'm just a second year. Also, I don't see anything wrong with seeking comfort/reassurance from your colleagues. That's one reason why sdn even exists.
 
Deecee2DO said:
Having been accepted to medical (DO) school (RowanSOM/formerly UMDNJ-SOM) this past cycle with a lower MCAT score, I am concerned about boards. Anyone know of anyone or maybe have personal experience with this who has gotten a 24-25 or 498 MCAT and passed or even done pretty well on COMLEX/Step? I will probably end up going primary care IM or FM, but not exactly sure yet. My GPA and clinical experience (previous healthcare provider-I am a non-trad in my late 20s) in my opinion is really what helped me get accepted. I am very fortunate to have been accepted but medical school and medical boards will be a humbling experience I am certain. Any input from DO students who have taken boards already (either COMLEX or Step or both) would be fantastic. Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

bengx said:
Not to be harsh, but seems like op is only looking for some comforting before medical school after lousy MCAT. MCAT and USMLE are both tests that have a similar equation: Success = IQ x Works put in. If you have 150 IQ, you might need 200 hours to reach success. If you have 120 IQ, just need 400 hours to success. The results are the same for both people, and PD will not care how many hours you put in. As long as the score is 250, it is a good score. The answer is obvious, put more hours if you are average IQ people, and you will get your success. Do not turn it into a vicious cycle like below:
High school: Anyone does well on MCAT who had low SAT?
College: Anyone does well on or pass Step/COMLEX who had a 498/24 MCAT?
Med. school: Anyone matches well on a borderline Step/ COMLEX?
Residency: Anyone matches well to GI from a community IM program with no pubs and connections?
Click to expand...

Seems like you have trouble with reading comprehension. How did you fair with your CARS on the MCAT, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm struggling to understand how your post is insightful in any way. Clearly standardized test are a measure of how well you can work your way through some tough material and obviously those who put in more time and are a little better prepared will fair better than those that do not put in the time. I don't think he's fishing for compliments or looking for someone to tell him that he'll be able to squeeze by doing the bare-minimum with less than average scores. He's simply looking for some insight from those that have been in a similar situation with similar aspirations/goals.
 
TattedMed said:
Seems like you have trouble with reading comprehension. How did you fair with your CARS on the MCAT, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm struggling to understand how your post is insightful in any way. Clearly standardized test are a measure of how well you can work your way through some tough material and obviously those who put in more time and are a little better prepared will fair better than those that do not put in the time. I don't think he's fishing for compliments or looking for someone to tell him that he'll be able to squeeze by doing the bare-minimum with less than average scores. He's simply looking for some insight from those that have been in a similar situation with similar aspirations/goals.
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@TattedMed thank you
bengx said:
Not to be harsh, but seems like op is only looking for some comforting before medical school after lousy MCAT. MCAT and USMLE are both tests that have a similar equation: Success = IQ x Works put in. If you have 150 IQ, you might need 200 hours to reach success. If you have 120 IQ, just need 400 hours to success. The results are the same for both people, and PD will not care how many hours you put in. As long as the score is 250, it is a good score. The answer is obvious, put more hours if you are average IQ people, and you will get your success. Do not turn it into a vicious cycle like below:
High school: Anyone does well on MCAT who had low SAT?
College: Anyone does well on or pass Step/COMLEX who had a 498/24 MCAT?
Med. school: Anyone matches well on a borderline Step/ COMLEX?
Residency: Anyone matches well to GI from a community IM program with no pubs and connections?
Click to expand...
I am simply looking for insight from others that have gone through this process, not looking for a pat on the back. Medical school can be daunting process to begin and was just looking for some guidance on how others with similar MCAT scores went about the process of studying for boards and how they approached it all, because I want to be pro-active about this and not underestimate anything. I want to do everything that I can to do the best I can as a medical student. Just wanted some opinions from those that have been there before me. I think you may be trying to be too calculative with numbers here by incorporating IQ.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Having been accepted to medical (DO) school (RowanSOM/formerly UMDNJ-SOM) this past cycle with a lower MCAT score, I am concerned about boards. Anyone know of anyone or maybe have personal experience with this who has gotten a 24-25 or 498 MCAT and passed or even done pretty well on COMLEX/Step? I will probably end up going primary care IM or FM, but not exactly sure yet. My GPA and clinical experience (previous healthcare provider-I am a non-trad in my late 20s) in my opinion is really what helped me get accepted. I am very fortunate to have been accepted but medical school and medical boards will be a humbling experience I am certain. Any input from DO students who have taken boards already (either COMLEX or Step or both) would be fantastic. Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Don't fuss about the MCAT, it's behind you now. How well you know physics (or organic chemistry...or reading irrelevant-useless-overly complicated literature) has nothing to do with how you fare in first 2 years of med school. Study hard during first 2 years, and prepare well for your dedicated time and you will do good on boards.
 
Deecee2DO said:
@TattedMed thank you

I am simply looking for insight from others that have gone through this process, not looking for a pat on the back. Medical school can be daunting process to begin and was just looking for some guidance on how others with similar MCAT scores went about the process of studying for boards and how they approached it all, because I want to be pro-active about this and not underestimate anything. I want to do everything that I can to do the best I can as a medical student. Just wanted some opinions from those that have been there before me. I think you may be trying to be too calculative with numbers here by incorporating IQ.
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Ok, so I'll be frowned upon probably by many (hopefully not), but I'll bite lol:
1. Med.school has 2 parts: clinical and pre-clinical (first 2 years)
2. For pre-clinical - you are more than capable to be in top 1/3 of your class (with your gpa/mcat)
3. Med.school is for average Joe. 2/3 of my class (including me) is mediocre intelligence wise - I wouldn't call myself smart (probably not even close). The moral of my story is that med.school is meant for average people, it's not mentally challenging (there are professions that are way more challenging - I have IT degree and I can tell you that was a LOT harder, unlike med.school where MEMORY is #1 key factor, in IT (software programming) you need to think - otherwise you won't be able to write good software. Memory can be trained and you absolutely can do very well in clinical years and boards - if you put enough study time
4. For clinical years (rotations and residency further down the road) - it's more tricky lol - you need to have people skills, patients need to love you (or at least not dislike you lol). I love clinical experience, but some students have harder time getting it just right with patients. This is where people start realizing that it's not only about scores and grades. Forgive me, but I would even say that there is no correlation between good board scores (or pre-clinical grades) to how good of a doctor you are going to be, how much patients will love you and want you (instead of some other doc).

What I'm saying is that in pre-clinical years (MS1 and MS2) you can do just fine.
If you want to be proactive - start First Aid early in your 1st year - start it as you go through your subjects from 1st semester. A LOT of people will say it's too early - but it's IMHO not. You'll be ahead of most students in your class and get better step 1 scores. MANY students will lie to you that they haven't started FA - I'm telling you right now - it's a common lie. People tend to hide amount of work they put into studying. Even your school may say to you guys that it's too early to start preparing for step 1, but it's never too early. That's my best advise - if someone told me this when I started - I would have been in a much better position right now
 
073116 said:
Ok, so I'll be frowned upon probably by many (hopefully not), but I'll bite lol:
3. Med.school is for average Joe. 2/3 of my class (including me) is mediocre intelligence wise - I wouldn't call myself smart (probably not even close). The moral of my story is that med.school is meant for average people, it's not mentally challenging (there are professions that are way more challenging - I have IT degree and I can tell you that was a LOT harder, unlike med.school where MEMORY is #1 key factor, in IT (software programming) you need to think - otherwise you won't be able to write good software. Memory can be trained and you absolutely can do very well in clinical years and boards - if you put enough study time.
[...]
If you want to be proactive - start First Aid early in your 1st year - start it as you go through your subjects from 1st semester. A LOT of people will say it's too early - but it's IMHO not. You'll be ahead of most students in your class and get better step 1 scores. MANY students will lie to you that they haven't started FA - I'm telling you right now - it's a common lie. People tend to hide amount of work they put into studying. Even your school may say to you guys that it's too early to start preparing for step 1, but it's never too early. That's my best advise - if someone told me this when I started - I would have been in a much better position right now
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I beg to differ on those 2 points.
1) if you don't THINK, you simply can't memorize all those random facts of medicine - good luck trying to rote memorize First Aid step 1, and that's only a summary for STEP 1 material. Medical school is hard as in it requires you to think WHILE memorizing tons of facts, from my limited experience with IT, so long as you know the core concept, you can pretty much deduce what's going on.
2) please don't start FA in 1st year...it's an utter waste of time, this is like trying to study for med school in the summer before med school. During 1st year focus on your class, period, you can try dabble into FA but you'll realize the speed at which you forget those stuff is amazing. If you want to start board prep early, start lightly perusing FA during the Summer before 2nd year, focusing on the stuff covered in 1st year. Even then I'd say enjoy the Summer but oh well, knock yourself out...
 
Jinxapotato said:
I beg to differ on those 2 points.
1) if you don't THINK, you simply can't memorize all those random facts of medicine - good luck trying to rote memorize First Aid step 1, and that's only a summary for STEP 1 material. Medical school is hard as in it requires you to think WHILE memorizing tons of facts, from my limited experience with IT, so long as you know the core concept, you can pretty much deduce what's going on.
2) please don't start FA in 1st year...it's an utter waste of time, this is like trying to study for med school in the summer before med school. During 1st year focus on your class, period, you can try dabble into FA but you'll realize the speed at which you forget those stuff is amazing. If you want to start board prep early, start lightly perusing FA during the Summer before 2nd year, focusing on the stuff covered in 1st year. Even then I'd say enjoy the Summer but oh well, knock yourself out...
Click to expand...
073116 said:
Ok, so I'll be frowned upon probably by many (hopefully not), but I'll bite lol:
1. Med.school has 2 parts: clinical and pre-clinical (first 2 years)
2. For pre-clinical - you are more than capable to be in top 1/3 of your class (with your gpa/mcat)
3. Med.school is for average Joe. 2/3 of my class (including me) is mediocre intelligence wise - I wouldn't call myself smart (probably not even close). The moral of my story is that med.school is meant for average people, it's not mentally challenging (there are professions that are way more challenging - I have IT degree and I can tell you that was a LOT harder, unlike med.school where MEMORY is #1 key factor, in IT (software programming) you need to think - otherwise you won't be able to write good software. Memory can be trained and you absolutely can do very well in clinical years and boards - if you put enough study time
4. For clinical years (rotations and residency further down the road) - it's more tricky lol - you need to have people skills, patients need to love you (or at least not dislike you lol). I love clinical experience, but some students have harder time getting it just right with patients. This is where people start realizing that it's not only about scores and grades. Forgive me, but I would even say that there is no correlation between good board scores (or pre-clinical grades) to how good of a doctor you are going to be, how much patients will love you and want you (instead of some other doc).

What I'm saying is that in pre-clinical years (MS1 and MS2) you can do just fine.
If you want to be proactive - start First Aid early in your 1st year - start it as you go through your subjects from 1st semester. A LOT of people will say it's too early - but it's IMHO not. You'll be ahead of most students in your class and get better step 1 scores. MANY students will lie to you that they haven't started FA - I'm telling you right now - it's a common lie. People tend to hide amount of work they put into studying. Even your school may say to you guys that it's too early to start preparing for step 1, but it's never too early. That's my best advise - if someone told me this when I started - I would have been in a much better position right now
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Thank you both for your helpful insight. I really appreciate it. It is nice to see med students/residents like yourselves that have gone through it all give back to the little guys haha. Thanks again!
 
Jinxapotato said:
I beg to differ on those 2 points.
1) if you don't THINK, you simply can't memorize all those random facts of medicine - good luck trying to rote memorize First Aid step 1, and that's only a summary for STEP 1 material. Medical school is hard as in it requires you to think WHILE memorizing tons of facts, from my limited experience with IT, so long as you know the core concept, you can pretty much deduce what's going on.
2) please don't start FA in 1st year...it's an utter waste of time, this is like trying to study for med school in the summer before med school. During 1st year focus on your class, period, you can try dabble into FA but you'll realize the speed at which you forget those stuff is amazing. If you want to start board prep early, start lightly perusing FA during the Summer before 2nd year, focusing on the stuff covered in 1st year. Even then I'd say enjoy the Summer but oh well, knock yourself out...
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Well, it's too late for me as I'm a MSII lol
I agree on part 1 you said thinking is still required, but I strongly believe that an average Joe can do it (I'm an average Joe so can't argue with that lol)
As for part 2 - you said don't start FA in 1st year - well that's exactly advises I've heard and followed and ... it was worst advise for me. Everyone is different, but if I at least read FA once or twice during 1st year - I would be in a LOT better position right now. FWIW I have a COMSAE D exam next Thursday and 2 passes over FA would have benefited me very much. It's too ate now - as I have 3 exams before next Thursday and I won't be able to pass FA even once.
OP if you are a slow learner like me - please start FA earlier, do not repeat mistakes I've made. Most advises people give are aimed toward fast learners, not everyone is like that
 
@073116 Med school is not for the average Joe... The average Joe has an IQ ~100. You are kidding yourself if you think almost anyone can become a physician.
 
073116 said:
Well, it's too late for me as I'm a MSII lol
I agree on part 1 you said thinking is still required, but I strongly believe that an average Joe can do it (I'm an average Joe so can't argue with that lol)
As for part 2 - you said don't start FA in 1st year - well that's exactly advises I've heard and followed and ... it was worst advise for me. Everyone is different, but if I at least read FA once or twice during 1st year - I would be in a LOT better position right now. FWIW I have a COMSAE D exam next Thursday and 2 passes over FA would have benefited me very much. It's too ate now - as I have 3 exams before next Thursday and I won't be able to pass FA even once.
OP if you are a slow learner like me - please start FA earlier, do not repeat mistakes I've made. Most advises people give are aimed toward fast learners, not everyone is like that
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I see....Don't worry about the COMSAE D, I went into it without doing a full pass of FA, and got a 510. Worst case scenario, even if you do fail it, you still get another chance right? Think of it as a freebie practice exam.
 
NecFasc92 said:
100% disagree. It is all memorization. Even uworld, the quintessential "critical thinking" aspect of the preclinical years is 90-95% memorization and doyouhavethisrandomfact memorized. Just because someone rewords something doesn't make it critical thinking. The only actual part of uworld, and med school in general, that is critical thinking is the bioethics stuff. Everything else is pure rote memorization.

The lack of thinking has been a major let down in med school to date.
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Yep, people like to think that medicine is critical thinking but for MS1 and MS2 it simply is memorization of details. Even for the 3rd order questions that “test your thinking” it’s simply having memorized the facts that take you from step 1, then to step 2, then to the final answer.

My school gives me access to Step 1 q banks and I use them to test my knowledge of a system before the system final. Every single question can be directly linked to a card in my Zanki deck. Every single one. Even if it’s a multi step question it’s simply 2 or 3 cards together. That’s it. Even when I hit a question and go, “WTF I’ve never seen that before.” Lo and behold when I do my card later that day there it is on my screen, having been there the whole time I just hadn’t seen it in a few weeks and had forgotten.
 
AnatomyGrey12 said:
Yep, people like to think that medicine is critical thinking but for MS1 and MS2 it simply is memorization of details. Even for the 3rd order questions that “test your thinking” it’s simply having memorized the facts that take you from step 1, then to step 2, then to the final answer.

My school gives me access to Step 1 q banks and I use them to test my knowledge of a system before the system final. Every single question can be directly linked to a card in my Zanki deck. Every single one. Even if it’s a multi step question it’s simply 2 or 3 cards together. That’s it. Even when I hit a question and go, “WTF I’ve never seen that before.” Lo and behold when I do my card later that day there it is on my screen, having been there the whole time I just hadn’t seen it in a few weeks and had forgotten.
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Why is there then such an emphasis on MCAT and Step 1 correlation? It would seem that undergraduate performances are more indicative of memorization. I would say success on the MCAT is dependent mostly on how the students strategically tackle the exam rather than memorization of the content. Also, if Step 1 is mostly memorization I'm going to revisit the topics as much as I can in order to better store the content.
 
073116 said:
Well, it's too late for me as I'm a MSII lol
I agree on part 1 you said thinking is still required, but I strongly believe that an average Joe can do it (I'm an average Joe so can't argue with that lol)
As for part 2 - you said don't start FA in 1st year - well that's exactly advises I've heard and followed and ... it was worst advise for me. Everyone is different, but if I at least read FA once or twice during 1st year - I would be in a LOT better position right now. FWIW I have a COMSAE D exam next Thursday and 2 passes over FA would have benefited me very much. It's too ate now - as I have 3 exams before next Thursday and I won't be able to pass FA even once.
OP if you are a slow learner like me - please start FA earlier, do not repeat mistakes I've made. Most advises people give are aimed toward fast learners, not everyone is like that
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Im gonna start FA first year after reading this thread. im a slow reader. Having been a previous healthcare professional (and i mean this humbly and by no means saying i know a lot because i dont compared to you guys considering i am still not even in first year yet) but I believe i probably have a superficial enough foundation to read first aid and not see it as a foreign language for at least some of the material since i think that was your reservation about starting too early due to the fact a first year wouldnt understand anything. I am gonna start FA and board prep as soon as i start this fall. Thanks again for the guidance i can use all the help i can get I really wanna do the best I possibly can and do well on Step and COMLEX especially Step since I want to be able to match at my top choice confidently by the time 4th yr rolls around (obviously other factors come into play here like aways and reccs and research but thats another story haha).
 
osteodoc7 said:
Why is there then such an emphasis on MCAT and Step 1 correlation? It would seem that undergraduate performances are more indicative of memorization. I would say success on the MCAT is dependent mostly on how the students strategically tackle the exam rather than memorization of the content. Also, if Step 1 is mostly memorization I'm going to revisit the topics as much as I can in order to better store the content.
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I am with you on this one. The MCAT is DEFINITELY not JUST memorizing content. Strictly memorizing content would probably get you a 24 on the old test. the new test (MCAT) has so much more critical thinking its insane. I would go as far as to say its mostly a critical thinking test. If Step is strictly memorization then that would mean MCAT and Step in fact probably have little correlation. In my opinion the material for Step is just so much more interesting than MCAT (physics, orgo, chem and extremely convoluted philosophy passages in CARS are all MISERABLE to study my gosh). That in itself may make Step a different type of exam that also shows less of a correlation. The material on the two tests just appear vastly different. However i could be wrong since i havent studied for or taken Step yet. I can tell you though that the new MCAT compared to the old is so much different its crazy.
 
You're going to read FA during M1 because it's in your head now, and that's cool. Just don't get down on yourself if you find that it confuses you more than it helps you. My opinion is that first aid in 1st year is too early and can potentially do more harm than good if you subject too much time to FA instead of in class material. The book is not written in paragraphs and does not include the underlying physiology in most instances. It's more of a bullet-point format of HY points to jog your memory. It's tailored to an M2 who already mastered the physiology and is broken up by systems that you don't really get into M1.

I will say I agree that students seem to underplay the amount of time they study. And I think board studying summer of M1 can be helpful, others will say that's a waste of time. I just think you at least need to cover physiology before you start looking at material that applies it.
 
OP- it can be done. I score in the high 20s on my MCAT, went to DO school (almost done), and did pretty well on STEP 1 (>90th percentile). I think studying with First Aid from day 1 is your best bet, for longer term retention. I used Firecracker + FA as my study tool, with daily questions (>200/day), but I memorized all the material. Its a different exam from the MCAT. There no way to tell how well you'll perform until you take a practice test. You'll in a bettor position if you start early, as opposed to being out of time. My two cents.
 
Rhodes said:
OP- it can be done. I score in the high 20s on my MCAT, went to DO school (almost done), and did pretty well on STEP 1 (>90th percentile). I think studying with First Aid from day 1 is your best bet, for longer term retention. I used Firecracker + FA as my study tool, with daily questions (>200/day), but I memorized all the material. Its a different exam from the MCAT. There no way to tell how well you'll perform until you take a practice test. You'll in a bettor position if you start early, as opposed to being out of time. My two cents.
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Thanks @Rhodes !
 
Rhodes said:
OP- it can be done. I score in the high 20s on my MCAT, went to DO school (almost done), and did pretty well on STEP 1 (>90th percentile). I think studying with First Aid from day 1 is your best bet, for longer term retention. I used Firecracker + FA as my study tool, with daily questions (>200/day), but I memorized all the material. Its a different exam from the MCAT. There no way to tell how well you'll perform until you take a practice test. You'll in a bettor position if you start early, as opposed to being out of time. My two cents.
Click to expand...

Did you sacrifice class rank by doing that kind of Step 1 prep?
 
osteodoc7 said:
Why is there then such an emphasis on MCAT and Step 1 correlation? It would seem that undergraduate performances are more indicative of memorization. I would say success on the MCAT is dependent mostly on how the students strategically tackle the exam rather than memorization of the content. Also, if Step 1 is mostly memorization I'm going to revisit the topics as much as I can in order to better store the content.
Click to expand...
I think I read somewhere that the mcat biology score in particular was most closely correlated with step 1 score. And it's been a while since my mcat days but I'm pretty sure the biology section was the most memorization heavy section of all subjects tested. Step 1 studying really does feel like its all memorization and pattern recognition. Actually, all of med school so far has felt like that.
 
MrTaco92 said:
I think I read somewhere that the mcat biology score in particular was most closely correlated with step 1 score. And it's been a while since my mcat days but I'm pretty sure the biology section was the most memorization heavy section of all subjects tested. Step 1 studying really does feel like its all memorization and pattern recognition. Actually, all of med school so far has felt like that.
Click to expand...

I have heard this from a lot of people and have been told by adcoms that a lot of places use the bio scores as a benchmark for success in medical school.
 
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