How much improvement in 5.5 weeks?

[quepatho]

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OK, I am clearly insane posting this on SDN. I know approximately 6 weeks of dedicated studying time seems to be *about* what most US grads are allowed for studying for Step 1.*

I guess I'm just getting to the end of the school year and I have a million billion mandatory things to do for the next week (or week and a half or so) so I can pretty forget studying very seriously for Step 1 until about May 1st. Which sort of makes me anxious and unable to focus. Obviously I'm not really scoring where I want to be scoring yet. My test is in early-mid June.

Anyway, I feel like it would be very motivational for me to hear from people who managed to improve their baseline scores a lot over 5-6 weeks (since that's all I really have left). Please please share your stories. Or if you weren't able to improve your score a lot over 6 weeks and you were feeling extra kind, could you say what you thought would have been better?

I guess I'm just feeling jittery about the whole thing right now. 🙁

*Seriously, someone correct me if I'm wrong here (???)

 

[medstudent87]

I''m in the same boat. I've been looking at FA and doing questions for a few months, but I honestly feel like I haven't done ANYTHING. I'm also busy as hell till school is over (finals, etc.) so I'll only have 5.5 weeks to do hardcore studying as well. Are we screwed or is this par for the course?

 

[raynor123456]

6 weeks is a pretty long time and I'm sure you'll be fine so long as you work hard. Remember, something like 95% of US medical graduates pass Step 1 on their first attempt.

I think it may help to have a little perspective using my own personal experience: I was EXTREMELY far behind this year due to personal / health issues that interfered greatly with my studying. I was on the verge of failing all year long, actually failing several tests. I didn't study for step 1 AT ALL prior to about 2-3 weeks ago. However, in a few weeks of studying out of first aid, annotating it in detail, and using other resources as a "reference" for when I didn't understand a concept presented in FA, I've been able to climb to a passing level. I took a Uworld assessment and got a 200. Not great, but I'm happy since its a passing score when I expected to be begging my dean for an extension. I've been told I can expect a decent amount of improvement in my remaining 3 weeks by people who have already taken the exam.

One caveaut: Despite my performance this year, I'm typically a fast learner relative to my med school classmates.

Since I'm in a particularly tight bind, I've come to necessarily rely on using less rather than more resources. I honestly think this is wise as an overall strategy. Do lots of questions and do not overwhelm yourself with a trillion different resources.

 

[Music MD]

I'm doing it in 5 weeks.. I take it in 12 days.. I got around ~200 on a school sponsored nbme up to a 234 on uworld 1 yesterday. You can def make big progress but I do wish I could add a week in all honesty.. just for my sanity. It'd be nice to get another pass of FA and maybe take a couple days off before the exam and relax my mind a bit. Feels hurried but I certainly think its possible to do well with limited time.

 

[ar2388]

i wish i had 5.5 weeks.. due to personal and family reasons, i have 4 weeks .. starting today.. and yesterday was my last med school exam.. yay.............🙁

 

[quepatho]

OK, maybe it won't be so bad, then 😀 Glad to know I'm not alone.