Help...advice for step 1/questions...

[TJDoc7]

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Hello...had a question regarding studying/questions for step 1. To condense, am a carrib. student currently in the kaplan program, signed up to take step 1 april/5/10...Prior to class I scored 70% on nbme free 150 and kaplan diagnostic (if anyone has taken the class) was 57% (which advisor said was good place to be?) Pretty much I took a few months off prior to kaplan and did 1st aid/UWorld untimed about twice (just using it to learn). Am currently in the kaplan course as I said, and just started qbank. Now, I am only about 15% done (doign questiond at night after class), but my cumulative average is 54% (says average for questions I did was 60%)...which is extremely low from what/where I was expecting to be. In a way...I find them harder than some of the UWorld questions (very picky details in qbank).

Now i've heard from people that UWorld is more realistic for the step, but my question is:

1) I'm scoring 54% cumulative w/approximately 15 percent of the questions completed and exam is 4/5/10 (little bit over 2mo. away)...does this seem like enough time to prepare once kaplan course finished (i'm told to be confident to do well need a qbank of 60+). How much of a "boost" would be realistic in that time frame?

2) Do people generally see their scores go up in qbank or the question banks w/two month prep time? Especially w/classes? If so, what types of increases did you see (don't need real numbers...just looking to see if I can still go up around 5-10 points in my average).

Really would appreciate any advice on the subject, thanks.

 

[TJDoc7]

Forgot to add...all the qbank questions on the 54% I've done are random, timed, unused. Thanks.

 

[kryptik]

what was your uworld average? why dont you take a timed nbme form to actually know where you stand as students seem to think thats the best predictor. So take one every two weeks to see if you are where you want to be. btw i am yet to take the step.

 

[TJDoc7]

originally when I went through untimed, was around low 50's? The nbme I am trying to stay away from because only about 2 months until exam...don't want to get over/underworked over a single test performance (nbme)...trying to get more of a guage from an average bank as opposed to the nbme. Not trying to advocate that thiis is better...just maybe what is better for my own mentality.

 

[kryptik]

i was thinking more of taking at least two nbmes maybe 6 and 7. As much as you dont want to over or underwork yourself, you should go in with an accurate assessment of your performance. Maybe some experienced members can shed some light on this.