Low Step 1 score

[Gollum1985]

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Well I received my Step 1 score and I'm pretty disappointed. I received a 211. I definitely prepared for the exam well. I ended up doing over 7600 board questions, scored a 232 on UWORLD self assessment 1 and a 228 on UWORLD self assessment 2. I did all the recommended anki decks, used pixorize, used Physeo, etc so I basically did everything that I could do. I was wondering how this score will limit me if I'm interested in Emergency medicine?

 

[hungrydoc710]

What about your NBME 18?

211 won't really cut it for EM. Of course there's always a chance. Better crush your aways 4th year.
I'd def be ready to match FM or community IM, unless you smash your COMLEX.

You've made me quite nervous for my exam in 2 weeks!

 

[JSReed]

What about your NBME 18?

211 won't really cut it for EM. Of course there's always a chance. Better crush your aways 4th year.
I'd def be ready to match FM or community IM, unless you smash your COMLEX.

You've made me quite nervous for my exam in 2 weeks!

Idk if I'd be that cynical? Per charting outcomes, DO seniors between 210 and 240 are all looking at about a 85% match rate (note: approx same for 210-220 as it is for 230-240). Plus EM is notorious for favouring step 2 and sloes over anything else. OP should def hav a back up and be ready for that route but like...definitely not deep enough to rule it out.

Plus, worst case just take a research year and match in 2023 so you can get it as P/F

 

[Azmkv]

Idk if I'd be that cynical? Per charting outcomes, DO seniors between 210 and 240 are all looking at about a 85% match rate (note: approx same for 210-220 as it is for 230-240). Plus EM is notorious for favouring step 2 and sloes over anything else. OP should def hav a back up and be ready for that route but like...definitely not deep enough to rule it out.

Plus, worst case just take a research year and match in 2023 so you can get it as P/F

How do you know 2023 will be P/F? Is this finalized?

 

[Dr.Bruh]

Honestly if you score a 550+ on COMLEX you can match EM. Theres still a ton (like 60) former AOA EM programs that made the merger and most dont care about step. Apply broadly to all of these and do your auditions there (a lot of these programs only interview people who audition). But I'd still appy a backup specialty

 

[hungrydoc710]

Idk if I'd be that cynical? Per charting outcomes, DO seniors between 210 and 240 are all looking at about a 85% match rate (note: approx same for 210-220 as it is for 230-240). Plus EM is notorious for favouring step 2 and sloes over anything else. OP should def hav a back up and be ready for that route but like...definitely not deep enough to rule it out.

Plus, worst case just take a research year and match in 2023 so you can get it as P/F

Good point about Step 2 for EM.

Also pretty sure 2023 is scored, whereas 2024 class is P/F.
I don't think they'd retro-actively change it to P/F, if you got a scored exam, in any case.

 

[deleted898021]

Honestly if you score a 550+ on COMLEX you can match EM. Theres still a ton (like 60) former AOA EM programs that made the merger and most dont care about step. Apply broadly to all of these and do your auditions there (a lot of these programs only interview people who audition). But I'd still appy a backup specialty

Plus SLOE’s and step 2 matter a lot for EM, so OP still has a good chance, applying for a backup won’t hurt either though.

 

[hungrydoc710]

If you've scored those numbers on ur UWSA's, maybe you had a bad day and underperformed greatly. In that case, you shouldn't have an issue getting a 550 on COMLEX, regardless of how much OMM you know or don't know.

Surely you have taken COMLEX by now? How did you feel on it?

 

[Gollum1985]

If you've scored those numbers on ur UWSA's, maybe you had a bad day and underperformed greatly. In that case, you shouldn't have an issue getting a 550 on COMLEX, regardless of how much OMM you know or don't know.

Surely you have taken COMLEX by now? How did you feel on it?

I already took the COMLEX and didn’t think it was that bad. I left about 8 days in between exams to study OTM, biostatistic, ethics, etc. I managed to do about 800 Combank board questions in those 8 days. I’m very strong in Micro and pharm. Plus I did all of the OTM anki cards and watched Online Med-Ed for OTM (A Godsend). At the same time I thought at worst I would get a 220 on Step and look what happened....

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

What about your NBME 18?

211 won't really cut it for EM. Of course there's always a chance. Better crush your aways 4th year.
I'd def be ready to match FM or community IM, unless you smash your COMLEX.

You've made me quite nervous for my exam in 2 weeks!

64/75 people with 211-220 matched EM in 2018. 17/23 matched in the 201-210 bin.

It's not ideal, but a 211 in no way precludes anyone from EM. EM has always been more of a SLOE and Step 2 focused specialty

 

[Isoval]

If it makes you feel better, I had a 243 UWSA 1 and 241 UWSA 2 and ended up with a 224.

 

[Osteosaur]

I'm really sorry. Its terrible to work so hard and have your score under-predicted.

At this point there is nothing you can do to fix that score. You can try your best at auditions, do well on step 2, and hope your COMLEX is strong and a former AOA residency picks you up.

If it helps, at all, you're still going to be a doctor somewhere. Making it to M3 and passing USMLE is still something to be proud of.

Good point about Step 2 for EM.

Also pretty sure 2023 is scored, whereas 2024 class is P/F.
I don't think they'd retro-actively change it to P/F, if you got a scored exam, in any case.

There are rumors, I think in the medical student forums, that 2023 will be P/F now...