Borderline score - push back or keep date?

[gman33]

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Unlike many on this board, I wasn't really hoping to get a really high Step 1 score. While that would be great, my main goal was to just get something in the 220+ range.

I'm currently a week out and my last 2 NBME practice tests were 205 and 209. Not sure what I want to go into, but EM is up there on my list currently.

I have the option to push things back for an extra 4 weeks.
I feel like I could make progress given more time, but who knows.
I also tend to forget things the further out it's been since I've reviewed them.

It seems like some of the areas that kill me are biochem and cell bio. I could review this a good bit more with extra time, but I don't want to forget about all the other stuff that I've just crammed into my head.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[metalrex]

If I were in your shoes I would take another 2 weeks atleast to remedy weak areas.While it's true that retention wanes with time, this can be kinda minimized with constant work on questions like on UW, Urx ..you could also give another run through with FA!

I pretty much suck at molebio and biochem too and just reading up HY molebio is helping me fetch 3-4 points per block.

Go with your gut instinct, if you think you CAN improve, do push it, but choose your date wisely-don't push it way down.Don't let your confidence bog you down.

Good luck!

 

[vicinihil]

I would take some time and postpone to figure out what you're doing wrong and where to improve. You only get to take it once (unless you fail which I'm sure is NOT what you want), and you want to make sure you give it your all this one time around. Walking in unsure about yourself is only going to further hurt you. Take some time, work through your problem areas, take a few more practice tests, and go from there.

 

[IMGUSMLEStep1]

Definitely postpone.

 

[Perrotfish]

I pushed back. It'll be 6 weeks before I know if it's a good decision, of course.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I think I'd give yourself more time. Even if you only improve 5-10 points, you're leapfrogging a ton of people due to scoring in the fat part of the Gaussian. It's worthwhile, even though it means sacrificing some interview time.

 

[gman33]

Thanks for the feedback.
I'm leaning towards a push back.
I'll probably give myself a couple of days to make the final call.

I agree that pushing from a 210 to a 220 probably makes a big diff.
But what the hell do I know.

 

[vicinihil]

Oh that jump def will. Good luck.

 

[gman33]

I decided to push back.
Getting this over would have been great, but getting a lower than desired score would have sucked.

A few more weeks should get me closer to my original goals.

 

[metalrex]

Good luck!

Just make sure you keep solving lotta questions everyday to retain stuff.

On another note, you said your weak areas are cell bio ,biochem, what is your plan to navigate these?

Cuz they happen to be my weak areas as well.

Thanks!

 

[IMGUSMLEStep1]

Good Luck! I hope you get the score you want.

 

[gman33]

Good luck!

Just make sure you keep solving lotta questions everyday to retain stuff.

On another note, you said your weak areas are cell bio ,biochem, what is your plan to navigate these?

Cuz they happen to be my weak areas as well.

Thanks!

Biochem will just be spending some more time with the different pathways. I used RR Biochem and thought it was good overall.

Cell Bio is a different story. I have High Yield cell bio and think it's a good book. To really learn this stuff is a major time commitment that I'm not sure I'll be able to make without sacrificing some other areas. I'm going to focus on some other stuff for the next week or so. After I get those areas up to par, I'd like to spend a day or two with that book. We'll see what happens...

 

[defcon8]

Biochem will just be spending some more time with the different pathways. I used RR Biochem and thought it was good overall.

Cell Bio is a different story. I have High Yield cell bio and think it's a good book. To really learn this stuff is a major time commitment that I'm not sure I'll be able to make without sacrificing some other areas. I'm going to focus on some other stuff for the next week or so. After I get those areas up to par, I'd like to spend a day or two with that book. We'll see what happens...

It is important to work on your weak areas, but please don't lose sight of the fact that Path, Phys and Pharm will still make up the VAST majority of your exam. You may end up getting an exam with less than 5 biochem questions like some people claimed to have gotten. Just something to keep in mind.

In my opinion, repeated review of the 3 P's will reflect in the BIGGEST jump in your score. First Aid level knowledge of the other topics should suffice unless you are aiming for a mid-high 99.

 

[Nellyakgo]

Is every question on the exam worth the same points? Or does question value rise with the fewer number of people getting its answer right? Asking this in respect to the molbio discussion going on which seems to be a common "difficult' subject.

Re. exam day - say I took the exam and decided I didnt do as well as I would have liked. Can I do something - like blanking out everything I already did - or something else- effectively to make it look like I sort of didn't take the test - which would give an outcome of something other than "fail"? So an "invalid" type of result?