USMLE I got a 260 on Step 1 AMA

[daily_dose]

This is a bit late, but it's just in time for M2s to consider now that second year is started/starting. Upon initially reading my study method, you may think it's complicated. I promise when you think about it, it's actually a very simple method that is MUCH more straightforward than many that I've read on here. Most importantly, it's VERY doable while also taking medical school classes! The number of pages of first aid I read and the number of blocks of UWorld I did per day can be varied to fit your schedule! I had not opened/read First Aid until January 2018.

Took Test: 04/20/2018
Amount of Studying while Still Taking Classes: ~3 months (January to March)
Amount of Dedicated Time Studying: 33 days


Resources Used:
--Kaplan Qbank
--UWorld QBank (Percent Correct 78%)
--First Aid for USMLE Step 1

Test Form Results:
--NBME Form 16 (Estimated Score 248)
--NBME Form 18 (Estimated Score 257)
--NBME Form 19 (Estimated Score 246)

From January to March:
Monday-Friday: Read 10pgs of First Aid
Saturday-Sunday: Kaplan QBank Questions on Finished Sections.
I did ALL of the Biochemistry, Genetics, and Immunology Questions. I did ONLY THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES for Micro, Pharm, and Biostatistics. I didn't do ANY of the Organ System Questions.

During Dedicated:
Sunday to Thursday: 3 Blocks of Timed Random per Day. 1 hour to take each block. 2 hours per block to review and write notes on topics I got wrong or didn't know.
Friday: Review of notes that I have made thus far. Review First Aid Cardiology or NeuroPsych Drugs.
Saturday: NBME Form in the Morning. Review Missed Questions. Take The Rest of the Day Off.

2 Days Prior to Test:
Reviewed Cardio & NeuroPsych Pharm
Reviewed First Aid MSK Physiology Section (Common Injuries, Brachial Plexus, Nerve Pathways, etc.)
1 Day Prior to Test:
Drove to Test Center to make sure I knew exactly where it was.
Reviewed MSK one more time.
Went on long run with dog and ceased caffeine consumption after 12pm to help with sleep.
Prepped food/snacks for exam.

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[Gurby]

How was your MCAT?

I've seen a handful of posters on SDN and on Reddit who had relatively similar practice scores and UW% to you, yet ended up in the 230's. Yet here you are with a 260. Is it luck, test anxiety? Do you have any thoughts on what made the difference for you?

Your 257 on NBME 18 is interesting - isn't it generally supposed to be the hardest one? Why do you suppose you scored higher on it than the other NBME's?

I think it's interesting how your UWorld percentage predicted your score exactly per this website: USMLE SCORE CORRELATION

It sounds like you went really really hard during dedicated (>9 hours on UW alone). Was this to fill knowledge gaps, or were you consciously building stamina?

Thoughts on the value of full-length practice tests? You only did 3 of them, so I assume you felt they were not as useful as doing individual timed+random UW blocks?

 

[daily_dose]

How was your MCAT?

I've seen a handful of posters on SDN and on Reddit who had relatively similar practice scores and UW% to you, yet ended up in the 230's. Yet here you are with a 260. Is it luck, test anxiety? Do you have any thoughts on what made the difference for you?

Your 257 on NBME 18 is interesting - isn't it generally supposed to be the hardest one? Why do you suppose you scored higher on it than the other NBME's?

I think it's interesting how your UWorld percentage predicted your score exactly per this website:

It sounds like you went really really hard during dedicated (>9 hours on UW alone). Was this to fill knowledge gaps, or were you consciously building stamina?

Thoughts on the value of full-length practice tests? You only did 3 of them, so I assume you felt they were not as useful as doing individual timed+random UW blocks?

On What Separates Me: I took the old MCAT and got a 30 (79th Percentile) so I took quite a jump in percentile from MCAT to Step 1. I am not an anxious test taker. I will say that my first block was considerably more difficult than the following blocks so I had to take an extended break and calm my nerves which has never happened to me before. I think luck plays a role to a certain extent with every board exam, but I don't think it makes a bigger difference than +/- 3 points. The main thing I did compared to a lot of my classmates that had lower scores was trim my resources to Qbanks and First Aid. I also hit the Basic Science material way harder than most. You'd be surprised how many questions you can get right if you know the basic science principles of biochemistry, pathology, etc and apply them to the Organ Systems. I did two different Qbank material worth of Basic Sciences by the end of it.

On NBME 18: I've heard NBME 18 was the hardest as well. It's been a while, but IIRC, I did well on it b/c I remembered the topics from my MS1 & MS2 years. It had a lot of stuff on it that I hadn't seen in First Aid or UWorld. Also, there were just a lot of bad questions. While NBME 18 was the most reflective practice test for me, I don't think the material and question style is reflective of the actual test.

On the score predictor: I think your UWorld percentage (assuming you have only gone through it once) is a FAR better predictor than the forms or any other resource out there.

On Dedicated: Both. I never did more than 4 blocks in one day, but in general, if you can do 4 blocks back to back, you can do 7 with an hour break dispersed between. I was also filling knowledge gaps. There are a handful of diseases and microbes that my school never mentioned to us or didn't cover as thoroughly as I would have liked. I wanted to make sure I had at least seen everything once. I don't consider my 9 hours a day of studying and half day off a week to be that hardcore though. I studied from 8am-12pm, 1pm-5pm, 6pm-10pm. This was pretty standard compared to my peers.

On Practice Tests: First Priority should be to finish UWorld. It is by far the best resource during dedicated. The questions on the real deal are becoming more and more like UWorld questions every year, and you get actual explanations for why you got something right or wrong. I did NBMEs solely to build stamina (they force you to do back to back blocks...no breaks!) and to see if I was progressing.

 

[Step2myLou]

On What Separates Me: I took the old MCAT and got a 30 (79th Percentile) so I took quite a jump in percentile from MCAT to Step 1. I am not an anxious test taker. I will say that my first block was considerably more difficult than the following blocks so I had to take an extended break and calm my nerves which has never happened to me before. I think luck plays a role to a certain extent with every board exam, but I don't think it makes a bigger difference than +/- 3 points. The main thing I did compared to a lot of my classmates that had lower scores was trim my resources to Qbanks and First Aid. I also hit the Basic Science material way harder than most. You'd be surprised how many questions you can get right if you know the basic science principles of biochemistry, pathology, etc and apply them to the Organ Systems. I did two different Qbank material worth of Basic Sciences by the end of it.

On NBME 18: I've heard NBME 18 was the hardest as well. It's been a while, but IIRC, I did well on it b/c I remembered the topics from my MS1 & MS2 years. It had a lot of stuff on it that I hadn't seen in First Aid or UWorld. Also, there were just a lot of bad questions. While NBME 18 was the most reflective practice test for me, I don't think the material and question style is reflective of the actual test.

On the score predictor: I think your UWorld percentage (assuming you have only gone through it once) is a FAR better predictor than the forms or any other resource out there.

On Dedicated: Both. I never did more than 4 blocks in one day, but in general, if you can do 4 blocks back to back, you can do 7 with an hour break dispersed between. I was also filling knowledge gaps. There are a handful of diseases and microbes that my school never mentioned to us or didn't cover as thoroughly as I would have liked. I wanted to make sure I had at least seen everything once. I don't consider my 9 hours a day of studying and half day off a week to be that hardcore though. I studied from 8am-12pm, 1pm-5pm, 6pm-10pm. This was pretty standard compared to my peers.

On Practice Tests: First Priority should be to finish UWorld. It is by far the best resource during dedicated. The questions on the real deal are becoming more and more like UWorld questions every year, and you get actual explanations for why you got something right or wrong. I did NBMEs solely to build stamina (they force you to do back to back blocks...no breaks!) and to see if I was progressing.

Thank you for this amazing write up! Is the content entirely covered by UW and FA? Also, what percentage of the exam do you think could only be answer by drawing from class material? Thank you!!

 

[daily_dose]

Thank you for this amazing write up! Is the content entirely covered by UW and FA? Also, what percentage of the exam do you think could only be answer by drawing from class material? Thank you!!

No problem! I'd say like 95-98% is covered either by FA or UWorld. I didn't really pull from my class material that much if at all. I actually ended up pulling more from life experience (e.g. I SCUBA dive and got a question on decompression sickness that I knew from being certified).

 

[knope321]

I know this question has probably been asked to death, but in your opinion would it be more helpful to do Uworld during the year as an MS2 or Kaplan? I'm the kind of person who really needs to look things over multiple times to get it and my retention has been really poor on MS1 stuff.

 

[daily_dose]

I know this question has probably been asked to death, but in your opinion would it be more helpful to do Uworld during the year as an MS2 or Kaplan? I'm the kind of person who really needs to look things over multiple times to get it and my retention has been really poor on MS1 stuff.

My school does NBME finals for each organ module. I did Kaplan to prep for those during the school year so UWorld was still fresh when I started my dedicated studying. You have to weigh the cost-benefits.

If you want a good indicator of how well you're going to do prior to Step 1. Then save UWorld for your dedicated study time. First Pass % is one of the best indicators imo. Second pass % is less indicative. I'm in the minority on this website when I say that I don't think a second pass through a Qbank will help you especially if you have another Qbank you could be doing instead. Studies have shown that more exposure to new questions=higher scores so getting through Kaplan and UWorld would be ideal.

TL;DR Do as much Kaplan during the year as you can (especially Fundamentals material from Kaplan...they really emphasize important information). Once dedicated rolls around, hit UWorld hard and MAKE SURE YOU GET THROUGH ALL OF IT. If you can't finish both, prioritize UWorld!

 

[daily_dose]

I know this question has probably been asked to death, but in your opinion would it be more helpful to do Uworld during the year as an MS2 or Kaplan? I'm the kind of person who really needs to look things over multiple times to get it and my retention has been really poor on MS1 stuff.

Sorry, one more thing. Don't panic if your retention has been poor from MS1. Mine was absolutely abhorrent. I had to start from square one with pretty much all of cardio and pulm! Don't even get me started on the Nephritic/Nephrotic Syndromes...

It comes back WAAAAY quicker the second time. There's a lot less "what the hell is this??" and a lot more "oh yeah, I remember this" than the first time through!