I'm probably 4th quartile, can I still do well on Step I?

[The Angriest Bird]

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So far I'm probably on the border between 3rd and 4th quartile. No, I'm not proud of it. I'd say I've learned the stuffs pretty well. It's just ... the exams. I will not give more excuses, but you have to trust me on this one.

My interest is general surgery, and I know Step I + 3rd year are very important. People say your 1st and 2nd year grades correlate with Step I score. That's bad news to me. People also say MCAT verbal is correlated with Step I. Mine is 8 (Bio = 12, phy = 13).

I've actually integrated Step I studying into my 2nd year. I've read the following books so far and made annotations so it's easier for me to look at them again:

HY Behavior
HY Anatomy
HY Embryology
HY Neuroscience
HY Molecular Biology
BRS Physiology
RR Biochemistry

I will have 7 full weeks to study for Step I. And I'm willing to study 12 hours a day. I have done a lot of research on how to study for Step I, including printed sources and studentdoctor.net. I'm not a slacker to begin with. I just want to know that "exceptions do exist," that some people who happen to do poorly in first two years get decent scores on Step I.

I appreciate your answer.

 

[Green Chimneys]

It sounds like you have done a lot of Step I prep during your second year, which is not exactly studying for your class exams. It could explain in part why you have not performed as well as you'd hoped in class, but could bode very well for the boards. That fact combined with your relatively long hiatus to study should give you every reason to believe you can perform well on the USMLE.

 

[yeasterbunny]

It sounds like you have done a lot of Step I prep during your second year, which is not exactly studying for your class exams. It could explain in part why you have not performed as well as you'd hoped in class, but could bode very well for the boards. That fact combined with your relatively long hiatus to study should give you every reason to believe you can perform well on the USMLE.

Funny, I was going to go the other way and speculate that based on all you have posted, it sounds like your grasp of knowledge is ok but you suck at taking tests. Feel free to disagree if I'm wrong. Either way, the absolute most important part of Step I prep IMHO is practice tests e.g. Qbank.

And then I would concede that the second most important thing is to stop worrying about it so much in March, focus on rocking path and pharm, and you are already halfway there.

 

[lankysudanese]

it sounds like your grasp of knowledge is ok but you suck at taking tests. Feel free to disagree if I'm wrong.

he did well on the MCAT (33), and second year grades usually have nothing to do with test-taking abilities and more on how much minutia u can memorize. actually, the fact that he focused more on step 1 prep than class prep means that he has a better understanding of "the big picture" of conditions, which comes in handy in step 1.

to the OP: i got an 8 on verbal too, but was strong on bio and phys. did well on the step. so don't pay attention to those rumors.