July 14th USMLE Step 1 Major Release Thread

[greg1184]

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Following last year's thread (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=645746), I decided to make this thread. Talk about your anxiety, concerns, etc about 7/14, the biggest day for many of us. Best of luck everyone.

Oh yeah: 1 day 7 hours 25 mins 47 seconds until ~9am 7/14 😉

 

[kissmyasthma99]

Hey guys,

Don't remember the exact dates, but:

Free 150 (before onset of studying) = 220
NBME 6 (2 weeks in) = 222
NMBE 7 (1 week before exam) = 244
UWorld (timed, random) = 70% (only about 75% of qbank completed)

Real Deal Holyfield = 244/99 (exactly the same as my NMBE 7)

I am pleased with this score. My goal was 240. I know I could have gotten higher if it weren't for some stupid mistakes and confusion at the testing center before my test. Oh well, I am very pleased to have surpassed my goal and proud of my score. I gave this thing 100%.

My study methods:
I did not begin studying until I finished school, and I took about 5 weeks from the end of school until my test. I used DIT the first 3 weeks. I got a couple questions right from here, but overall I feel that it slowed me down, and I would not use it again if I had it to do all over again. I also used UWorld, but I only completed 75% of it. I listened to some of the Goljan Audios, but I did not have time to listen to them all. I referenced some things in RR Path and BRS Phys, but by no means did I get close to reading all of either of them. I went through FA 3x: once with the DIT videos, once on my own, and once the last week before the test. Looking back, I would have replaced my DIT time with RR Path, BRS Phys, more Goljan audios, and finishing UWorld. However, DIT did emphasize high yield concepts that held true for my exam so it was valuable in that regard. It did get me my goal, so I guess it did its job. I also felt like the form I got was extremely easy, and I was worried about my score, because I wasn't sure how I was going to set myself apart. The test isn't wasn't as bad as I thought.

Congrats to everyone that did well. Good luck to those with the beast still pending.

 

[kissmyasthma99]

side note: I had 3 questions verbatim from NBME 7 (2 of which I actually missed on the first go-round). Another reason to do the NBMEs!

 

[naus]

this.. i mean what kind of satisfaction can you possibly get by lying.. in the end of the day no one here will think more of you because you posted a great score.

There are many people who draw satisfaction on an exaggerated Internet persona.

Take a gander at stock tip forums. Everyone claims they bought or covered at the low and sold at the high for 10000 shares. Half of them actually made the wrong end of the trade for a tenth as much shares, but still went online to brag about their brilliance. Others are exaggerating for effect, and of course some are actually telling the truth.

It's a funny thing.

Of course, maybe I'm just way too cynical. I used to work in finance.

 

[NotMeNow]

Maybe I am more cynical. But I believe some of the people are exaggerating a little.

It's statistically very unlikely that of the 100 or so people who score 260+, that 85 of them post here.

13000 got their scores today (supposedly this is what I heard - source unknown however), 260 is 1.62 SD above the mean, thus 5% score 260+

13000*.05 = 650.

High scores are more common than you think.

In addition sdn'ers are more neurotic...

While I think there may be some inflation, I think it is less than you expect.

 

[knuckles]

13000 got their scores today (supposedly this is what I heard - source unknown however), 260 is 1.62 SD above the mean, thus 5% score 260+

13000*.05 = 650.

High scores are more common than you think.

In addition sdn'ers are more neurotic...

While I think there may be some inflation, I think it is less than you expect.

you mean 2 SD? (where did you get 1.62?)

 

[DrTacoElf]

you mean 2 SD? (where did you get 1.62?)

Standard Deviation. He is using a Z-score to calculate the number of test takers who should get a given score based on the statistical distribution of data. 🙂

 

[DivCurlZero]

I was a huge part of the pre-step 1 forums..totally ecstatic that I was sitting with other SDN'ers with my nbme scores..range 238-253. Five days out, NBME 7 = 251. I went through uworld and rx, FA 3X, goljan path 3X and felt pretty confident that I'd pull my ~245 and be competitive for a shot at rad, derm, whatever.

231/99.

Are you kidding me!?

I ran to this forum to see if anyone else experienced crazy drops like I did, but everyone here annihilated. Lol congrats to all. And I don't mean to be a debbie downer because some people would be happy with my score. But I think life is all about expectations right? Hard work is also supposed to pay off.

Ugh man, I am so sorry to hear that you had a drop from your expected scores. Keep your head up. I've talked to many in my school's upper class as well as deans, etc. and the general agreement is that the importance of Step 1 is blown out of proportion by 2nd year medical students. Don't get me wrong, a high score helps, but it will seldom be THE factor that got you into a program.

 

[WellWornLad]

259/99

No practice tests, always felt they were a waste of time and money, and I was running out of both as it was. UWorld was about 74% on random timed blocks, but only got through about 60% of it. Studied for 30 days exactly.

If I had to do it over, I'd
1) Spend more time with UWorld and finish the damn thing. It's good sauce, although it's painful on the ego while you're doing it.
2) Spend much more time on anatomy. It was my lowest performing area by far. I spent maybe 2.5 days on anatomy total - the same amount of time I spent on neuroscience. Neuroscience questions were never more difficult than "point out the 6th cranial nerve," but the anatomy questions were mind-bending - worse than anything on UWorld. It doesn't help that there's no good, concise anatomy source for step 1.
3) Start earlier and take more breaks. I only took 2 days off out of 31, and burn-out became a problem at the end.

 

[ThePursuit]

252. Not bad considering some stories of bad luck on here. Felt like it was maybe a little on the low side, but lets not get greedy.

UWorld Dx exam 1 (first day of studying): 236
UWorld Dx exam 2 (2 wks before test): 250
UWorld Avg: 74%, made it about 1/2 way back through missed Q's
NBME: bought one but never did it

FA x 2
DIT
BRS path (front to back for path shelf which was 4 days before I started step 1 studying)
RR biochem (nice for clinical application)
BRS phys (took like 1.5 days to annotate into FA)

Schedule: got to school by 8-9am and studied stuff I didn't know until about 10pm. I liked to take my 3 hr breaks during the afternoon when I was unmotivated and it was nice outside. As you can tell, I'm competitive by nature, but a little more of a free spirit than some of the folks on here.

Hindsight: I would have maybe not done DIT. I think it's great for ppl trying to score <245. There was a good job of highlighting high yield areas, but alot of yack on stuff I knew but felt compelled to listen to because words were coming out of his mouth and I paid for them. On the other hand, I think it really kept me accountable for studying and I would have never learned those freaking neuroleptics, SSRIs,SNRIs,TCAs, and MAOIs if it wasn't for DIT (so that was probably +3 on the test)

 

[xanthomondo]

I'm loving the people who crawl out of the woodworks with <25 posts or so who come back just to post their Step 1 scores 🙄

Just curious, do you guys run around telling your scores to your classmates?

I know I know, you're posting your scores on SDN to benefit future test takers. How altruistic of you 👍

 

[username456789]

I'm loving the people who crawl out of the woodworks with <25 posts or so who come back just to post their Step 1 scores 🙄

Just curious, do you guys run around telling your scores to your classmates?

I know I know, you're posting your scores on SDN to benefit future test takers. How altruistic of you 👍

They're excited and able to express that excitement anonymously. I don't see the harm here at all. Maybe a few of them are running around telling their classmates, but I'd be willing to bet most of them are just looking for an outlet for their happiness right now. I know I haven't told a single soul about my score, except the hundreds of people who anonymously browse this site with me.

 

[plauto]

How attractive are you?

haha, pretty good looking, why?

Ouch. Just be glad you have no assets yet (presumably).

Congrats on the solid score!

Thanks. No kids luckily. Some assets though, among which a house....

 

[xanthomondo]

They're excited and able to express that excitement anonymously. I don't see the harm here at all. Maybe a few of them are running around telling their classmates, but I'd be willing to bet most of them are just looking for an outlet for their happiness right now. I know I haven't told a single soul about my score, except the hundreds of people who anonymously browse this site with me.

Yeah, but what does it accomplish? Just to stroke your own ego?

Meanwhile you're making people out there completely paranoid and feel like crap about themselves.

 

[PokerDoc]

Yeah, but what does it accomplish? Just to stroke your own ego?

Meanwhile you're making people out there completely paranoid and feel like crap about themselves.

no one is forced to read anything here.. im gonna have to disagree with you here, sorry.

 

[Tenacity]

no one is forced to read anything here.. im gonna have to disagree with you here, sorry.

Agreed. Don't come on a Step I forum if you don't want to read score reports. IRL, now that's a different story.

 

[Dalegend]

I'm loving the people who crawl out of the woodworks with <25 posts or so who come back just to post their Step 1 scores 🙄

Just curious, do you guys run around telling your scores to your classmates?

I know I know, you're posting your scores on SDN to benefit future test takers. How altruistic of you 👍

the problem is, you're assuming people with low post counts don't also actively read sdn. high post counts are meaningless... it just means people took the time to express an opinion in an online forum, like i'm doing right now. does it really bother you to see other people achieve success and share their success story after all the hard work they put in?

 

[bawer234]

I'm loving the people who crawl out of the woodworks with <25 posts or so who come back just to post their Step 1 scores 🙄

Just curious, do you guys run around telling your scores to your classmates?

I know I know, you're posting your scores on SDN to benefit future test takers. How altruistic of you 👍

I see where you're coming from and feel the same way to a degree but I gotta say that if you rocked step 1 it can be hard to express your feelings to your classmates w/o looking like a d-bag. Its easier to just post about it on SDN. There's actually another thread on this forum about the subject:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=747769

 

[xanthomondo]

no one is forced to read anything here.. im gonna have to disagree with you here, sorry.

Agreed. Don't come on a Step I forum if you don't want to read score reports. IRL, now that's a different story.

the problem is, you're assuming people with low post counts don't also actively read sdn. high post counts are meaningless... it just means people took the time to express an opinion in an online forum, like i'm doing right now. does it really bother you to see other people achieve success and share their success story after all the hard work they put in?

I see where you're coming from and feel the same way to a degree but I gotta say that if you rocked step 1 it can be hard to express your feelings to your classmates w/o looking like a d-bag. Its easier to just post about it on SDN. There's actually another thread on this forum about the subject:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=747769

These don't really address my point. Obviously there's nothing stopping anyone from posting scores on the forum. Also, obviously if you may be sensitive about your score or if you're intimidated by high scores you may want to stay away from a thread where people boast about their success. (I guess here I should enter my disclaimer that I am 100% happy with my score and feel fine when I read the scores on here)

My question is what does posting your high score accomplish? You mention that running around telling people in your field what you got is a d-bag move, but how is that different from doing it on SDN? You have a real persona in your med school class, just as you have a e-persona on SDN. It's essentially the same thing, so why is it not a d-bag move to post your scores on here? There's more tactful ways to post your success story rather than "omg I feel so stupid i only got a 259" or even posting your score at all.

Just a thought.

 

[step2]

Hello, got my usmle step1 score, it's 211 (88 the 2 digits score), is it a good score?, and if i will make it till the end i'd like to apply to ob/gyn...

 

[NotMeNow]

These don't really address my point.....

I see where you are coming from, but I want to point out 2 things:

1) I learned a lot from this forum months before my preparation by looking at various study plans, nbme progression and final score. I would try to find someone who had a similar initial score and there study plan/final score to predict how I would do and get pointers from someone in a similar place. So yes, this HELPED a ton.

2) If you do well, or poorly, there is something satisfying about telling someone. Get it off your chest - but at least at my institution it is a BIG no-no to tell anyone your score. I've had people ask me how I did, I saw "I reached my goal" if they follow up with what was it, I say "I have a policy of not telling people my exam score" and honestly I don't want to know other peoples scores. Why? I am going to be working with these people for the next 2 years - If everyone knows I got a xxx, will they treat me different. If I got a 400, will people expect me to know everything. That being said I would consider posting my score here (I won't have to deal with you on a daily basis for 2 more years - at least knowingly), as opposed to telling anyone at my institution.

 

[NotMeNow]

Standard Deviation. He is using a Z-score to calculate the number of test takers who should get a given score based on the statistical distribution of data. 🙂

Yup and I am going by the 221 with a 24 SD given on the score report.

 

[premeddick]

What is a good score; practically and philosophically? 226 Practically, 240 Philosophically?

 

[2012mdc]

What is a good score; practically and philosophically? 226 Practically, 240 Philosophically?

I think it all depends on what specialty you want to go into. A good score for psych might not be a good score for derm

 

[ThePursuit]

I'm loving the people who crawl out of the woodworks with <25 posts or so who come back just to post their Step 1 scores 🙄

Just curious, do you guys run around telling your scores to your classmates?

I know I know, you're posting your scores on SDN to benefit future test takers. How altruistic of you 👍

Well for me, I've been reading on here for a long time. I usually never contributed to posts because I didn't want to give advice that sucked. I thought my score was decent, so now I felt it was reasonable to post my score along with what I did to get it.

I also agree, with some of the other responses. I won't be running around sharing my score (or starting convo's about it trying to bait someone into asking me). BUT, it was great reading on here to get ideas about what other people did and then see how it related to their test performance. I wanted to help out and pay back from what I benefited from.

And yeah, a good score feels great so I wanted to post that too. I definitely would have felt like a jackass throwing posts around left and right with advice only to find out I scored poorly. Because of that I didn't post very much previously.

 

[SBK]

I don't get the animosity here. The majority of ppl on SDN are lurkers looking for advice. Personally, I am happy ppl with >250 are coming out and at least saying what they did. No offense, but as an incoming 2nd year it helps to read with the successful people did in their study preperation.

It's the same as when I was applying to med school and even taking the MCAT. Of course you want to know what the >40 people did and try and mimic their study habits and suggestions as much as possible

 

[MilkmanAl]

you want to know what the >40 people did and try and mimic their study habits and suggestions as much as possible

That's a little hard to do if they've never told you what their study habits are. 😉

 

[usmletoo]

ok people if you are done please.....go out , have fun , make love ...and stop this nonse! think about the ones that still have 2 wks to go!!
Keep posting NBME vs real score..pleasee
thanks

 

[doctormang]

Does anyone know when the next batch of scores will be released. I took the test on June 27 and did not hear back yet. Has anyone taken the test on this date and has already heard back? Thanks!

 

[DivCurlZero]

.

 

[soccerpunk60]

Does anyone know when the next batch of scores will be released. I took the test on June 27 and did not hear back yet. Has anyone taken the test on this date and has already heard back? Thanks!

So I took it the 28th..looks like were gettin scores tomorrow (hopefully). Also looks like the link for scheduling permit is now gone when I login which I assume is a good sign. Isthat the same with you?

 

[mq123]

So I took it the 28th..looks like were gettin scores tomorrow (hopefully). Also looks like the link for scheduling permit is now gone when I login which I assume is a good sign. Isthat the same with you?

My exam was on the 29th, so I'm hoping tomorrow's the big day!! I checked today and my link for printing the scheduling permit is gone too, but I don't know what that means....

Good luck to everyone still waiting!

 

[Vaca]

My exam was on the 29th, so I'm hoping tomorrow's the big day!! I checked today and my link for printing the scheduling permit is gone too, but I don't know what that means....

Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Did everyone who got their scores last week have their scores disappear the night before? I took my test on July 1 (Thurs) and my permit is gone now too........

 

[london27]

any of you past test takers (congrats by the way!) have that happen to you? or does it mean nothing?

 

[Vaca]

My exam was on the 29th, so I'm hoping tomorrow's the big day!! I checked today and my link for printing the scheduling permit is gone too, but I don't know what that means....

Good luck to everyone still waiting!

What about your "Request Documents" link? Has it changed since last week?

 

[mq123]

What about your "Request Documents" link? Has it changed since last week?

I just replied to your same question in the other thread.... I didn't realize I posted this here, but then again, the July 21 release thread didn't exist before....

 

[Vaca]

I just replied to your same question in the other thread.... I didn't realize I posted this here, but then again, the July 21 release thread didn't exist before....

I was just sifting through last week's posts to see what other changes people found on their NBME page and noticed that you posted then as well. I posted on both threads just in case you only checked one of them. I'm super nervous now to get my score tomorrow. Good luck everyone!