Official 2008 Usmle Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[lion]

Greetings my brothers and sisters ,

I am new member here and will be taking my boards in another few months .
I thought I would start a thread devoted to a compilation of 2008 usmle experiences . I don't have anything to report as yet since my test is in a few month but anyone who has taken the test in 2008 please share with us your experience and feedback so we can keep the SDN tradition alive !

Good Luck

"Never , never , never , never Give up ! "

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[registered user]

So I ended up drinking Maker's and ginger ale.

I had just under 5 weeks of dedicated board prep time. I looked at FA biochem and micro a little during the week before board prep started. I've always felt that repetition was the key for me so I made a plan based on that.

I started Sun 2-24 with FA biochem and micro. Mon 2-25 was a school mandated CBSE exam (got 185) in the morning and Lange pharm cards in the afternoon. 2-26 & 27 I read the high yield bits of RR Biochem to flesh out FA Biochem and also read HY Cell & Molecular Bio. 28th and 29th I did FA micro, one day on bacteria and one day on everything else. I also did the immuno section of FA. I had recently read CMMRS, so it was doable. Sat. 3-1 I did the basic path and basic pharm sections of FA and most of the "basic path" of Goljan path. Sun 3-2 I did NBME 1 (215).
From Mon 3-3 until Fri 3-14 I did the organ systems in FA. For each I would read the corresponding bits of BRS phys and Goljan path to clarify and/or flesh out FA. 1.5 days GI, .5 for musculo/skin, 2 for cards, 2 for renal, 1.5 for respiratory, 1.5 for endo/repro, 2 for neuro/psych, 1 for heme/onc.
NBME 4 on Sat. 3-15 (220).
From 3-16 until 3-23 I tried to memorize all of the organ system sections of FA. I took some time on four of those days to go over autonomic pharm, anatomy/embyo, behavioral science and basic path. NBME 5 on 3-24 (232), then Goljan path slides in the afternoon.
The last few days, 3-26 thru 3-28, were similar to Taus' plan: 1 day immuno/micro, 1 day biochem/cell molecular bio, 1day all of RR path margin notes/all of FA pharm/biostats. I also did the 150 free USMLE questions and got 82% correct, which according to the Medfriends score estimator worked out to a 243. The day before the test I looked at the pictures in FA and memorized formulas for a few hours; I stopped at 1pm.

Overall I probably studied 9-12 hours a day and listened to Goljan while falling asleep. I'm not sure I would have done any better if I had had more study time. By the last week I was so ready to get it over with.

I don't remember much about the actual test. I already posted about one ridiculous question and the only other one I remember made me laugh.

Books:
FA
Goljan path
BRS phys
Roadmap pharm
USMLEWorld
Robbins Review Path (highly recommend doing with coursework)
RR Biochem
CMMRS
HY Neuro
HY Cell/Molecular Bio 1999
I read all of the highlighted ones and bits of the others.

NBMEs: I found the answer keys and used those after each section to check answers/study. (I Googled my a$$ off to find them, and don't have them anymore. They were too big to email anyway.)

I found that the MedFriends's score estimator was right on with the MCAT and 150 Free USMLE questions estimated scores and under for the NBME score.

MCAT 34, NBME 1 215, NBME 4 220, NBME 5 232, 150 free questions 82% correct (243), UWorld ave. 65% (finished 90% of it), Step 1 241.

Good luck to everyone!!!

 

[78222]

So I ended up drinking Maker's and ginger ale.

I had just under 5 weeks of dedicated board prep time. I looked at FA biochem and micro a little during the week before board prep started. I've always felt that repetition was the key for me so I made a plan based on that.

I started Sun 2-24 with FA biochem and micro. Mon 2-25 was a school mandated CBSE exam (got 185) in the morning and Lange pharm cards in the afternoon. 2-26 & 27 I read the high yield bits of RR Biochem to flesh out FA Biochem and also read HY Cell & Molecular Bio. 28th and 29th I did FA micro, one day on bacteria and one day on everything else. I also did the immuno section of FA. I had recently read CMMRS, so it was doable. Sat. 3-1 I did the basic path and basic pharm sections of FA and most of the "basic path" of Goljan path. Sun 3-2 I did NBME 1 (215).
From Mon 3-3 until Fri 3-14 I did the organ systems in FA. For each I would read the corresponding bits of BRS phys and Goljan path to clarify and/or flesh out FA. 1.5 days GI, .5 for musculo/skin, 2 for cards, 2 for renal, 1.5 for respiratory, 1.5 for endo/repro, 2 for neuro/psych, 1 for heme/onc.
NBME 4 on Sat. 3-15 (220).
From 3-16 until 3-23 I tried to memorize all of the organ system sections of FA. NBME 5 on 3-24 (232), then Goljan path slides in the afternoon.
The last few days, 3-26 thru 3-28, were similar to Taus' plan: 1 day immuno/micro, 1 day biochem/cell molecular bio, 1day all of RR path margin notes/all of FA pharm/biostats. The day before the test I looked at the pictures in FA and memorized formulas for a few hours; I stopped at 1pm.

Overall I probably studied 9-12 hours a day and listened to Goljan while falling asleep.

I don't remember much about the actual test. I already posted about one ridiculous question and the only other one I remember made me laugh.

Books:
FA
Goljan path
BRS phys
Roadmap pharm
USMLEWorld
RR Biochem
CMMRS
HY Neuro
HY Cell/Molecular Bio 1999
I read all of the highlighted ones and bits of the others.

NBMEs: I found the answer keys and used those after each section to check answers/study.

I found that the MedFriends's score estimator was right on with the MCAT and 150 Free USMLE questions estimated scores and under for the NBME score.

MCAT 34, NBME 1 215, NBME 4 220, NBME 5 232, UWorld ave. 65% (finished 90% of it) Step 1 241.

Congrats on the score, I hope I can get a similar one. It took 3+ weeks to get your score?

 

[registered user]

Congrats on the score, I hope I can get a similar one. It took 3+ weeks to get your score?

exam date 3-29
score report 4-16

less than 3 weeks
Good luck!!!

 

[Yachtclub]

WARNING: Just got Step I scores back, am happy, have been drinking Dewar's and Soda. Please excuse any typos.

I neglected posting on SDN for the last 2 mos (while reading it everyday, of course) so that I could post my experiences. Here they are:

1.) Time: Had 5 weeks to study. For the first 2.5, was very worried about whether that was enough. By week 4, I was ready

2.) Day: I was VERY disciplined on this. Wake up 7AM, Study 8-12, Lunch 12-1, UW Questions 1-3 (important to do questions to fight food coma), Study 3-5, Dinner/Break 5-7, Study 7-11, Sleep Midnight. 7 days a week. 1 break day in 5 weeks. 12 hrs studying/day

3.) Books I Did Cover-to-Cover:
-FA 2007 (good for cramming, NOT enough for stand alone)
-BRS Physio
-BRS Path
-Rapid Review Biochem
4.) Books I used to supplement:
-Levinson Immuno Section
-Deja Review Path and Step I (when I needed to change pace)
-Goljan Rapid Review Path
5.) UWorld Qbank: Average 67% (Completed 100%)
6.) NBME's
-Form 2, (3wks out)- 226
-Form 1, (2wks out)- 232
-Form 3, (10d out)- 238
-Form 4, (5d out)- 232
7.) MCAT- 32
8.) Test Day: Slept about 2hrs night before, immediately went to Las Vegas afterward. I suggest both. I felt that the pharm was MUCH easier than UWorld and that FA Pharm was enough. Surprisingly, I felt the physio was the hardest part. Virtually no embryo, LOTS of anatomy.

I did research in ENT, and love the field, so I was hoping for a 235+

Score: 244/99

 

[dilated]

I felt that the pharm was MUCH easier than UWorld and that FA Pharm was enough.

This is very true. I wish someone would have made it clear to me that when people say "FA pharm is enough" it doesn't mean "they're going to test you on the kind of things in the FA pharm section so learn it really well". It means they're going to test very easy specific pharm (look, a dude with gingivitis! how do antipsychotics work!) and the challenging questions will be conceptual and probably involve crazy charts. There aren't going to be UW style "which of the following 6 drugs can cause mild GI distress" detail questions.

 

[Abducens]

where exactly are your results posted? is it on the nbme.org or usmle.org site? is it still about 3 weeks for results? if so, one week down, two to go!

 

[m250]

WARNING: Just got Step I scores back, am happy, have been drinking Dewar's and Soda. Please excuse any typos.

I neglected posting on SDN for the last 2 mos (while reading it everyday, of course) so that I could post my experiences. Here they are:

1.) Time: Had 5 weeks to study. For the first 2.5, was very worried about whether that was enough. By week 4, I was ready

2.) Day: I was VERY disciplined on this. Wake up 7AM, Study 8-12, Lunch 12-1, UW Questions 1-3 (important to do questions to fight food coma), Study 3-5, Dinner/Break 5-7, Study 7-11, Sleep Midnight. 7 days a week. 1 break day in 5 weeks. 12 hrs studying/day

3.) Books I Did Cover-to-Cover:
-FA 2007 (good for cramming, NOT enough for stand alone)
-BRS Physio
-BRS Path
-Rapid Review Biochem
4.) Books I used to supplement:
-Levinson Immuno Section
-Deja Review Path and Step I (when I needed to change pace)
-Goljan Rapid Review Path
5.) UWorld Qbank: Average 67% (Completed 100%)
6.) NBME's
-Form 2, (3wks out)- 226
-Form 1, (2wks out)- 232
-Form 3, (10d out)- 238
-Form 4, (5d out)- 232
7.) MCAT- 32
8.) Test Day: Slept about 2hrs night before, immediately went to Las Vegas afterward. I suggest both. I felt that the pharm was MUCH easier than UWorld and that FA Pharm was enough. Surprisingly, I felt the physio was the hardest part. Virtually no embryo, LOTS of anatomy.

I did research in ENT, and love the field, so I was hoping for a 235+

Score: 244/99

Congrats on the score YC! One quick question - what date did you take your exam? I am expecting my results sometime in the next week and am curious as to how many days it took to get your results. Thanks.

 

[Blesbok]

wtf, I had like 8 or 9 embryo questions...

I'll update more when I am less tired or more drunk

Details on the embryo questions. Were they like what does aortic arch 4 form or where they like what are the layers of a blastocyst?

 

[Yachtclub]

Congrats on the score YC! One quick question - what date did you take your exam? I am expecting my results sometime in the next week and am curious as to how many days it took to get your results. Thanks.

I took it 4/3/08, got it today (4/23). So 20 days

 

[SOUNDMAN]

Also what were people getting towards the end of UW as they got closer to the test. Cumulative average doesn't really take into account your improvement or how you were averaging say over the last 4-8 blocks of 50 questions. I'm sure others including myself would like to know this...and if they don't then I guess it's just me who wants to know

 

[djali]

Also what were people getting towards the end of UW as they got closer to the test. Cumulative average doesn't really take into account your improvement or how you were averaging say over the last 4-8 blocks of 50 questions. I'm sure others including myself would like to know this...and if they don't then I guess it's just me who wants to know

No, I had been wondering this too - I was scoring ~48-55% in the beginning, but by the end (i.e, last 2-3 wks before the test) I was scoring ~65-68%

 

[SOUNDMAN]

Great score and thanks for the update on that, I think that is very helpful

 

[ChemSeven]

Here's my step 1 experience...

Studied about 6 weeks (3 weeks part-time - 4 hrs/day, and 3 weeks hardcore studying - 12 hrs/day).

I mainly used:
Goljan Path
First Aid
BRS Phys
High Yield Neuroanatomy

Secondary books included (ones where I just used as references)
High Yield Biochem
High Yield Cell & Molecular
High Yield Gross Anatomy

Question bank
I completed UW once, began Kaplan Qbank and realized it pretty much sucked (compared to UW) so I stopped that and just reviewed more UW questions. 6 weeks before the test I was breaking 58 - 68%, closer to the test I was hitting 74 - 82% consistently on 50 random, unused questions.

UW - 69% correct after completion
NBME form 1 (4 weeks before test) - 590, which is 238
NBME form 3 (1 week before test) - 730, which is 259

Just received my score and got 256/99.

In summary, NBME is pretty dam accurate for predicting your score and UW was by the far the most valuable study material for step 1 for me.

 

[SOUNDMAN]

wow great job and congrats!

 

[AK_MD2BE]

Chem 7...well done on the score. I must say that I admire the fact that after rocking a 238 on the NBME, you still studied 12 hours/day for three weeks...impressive level of motivation...well done.

 

[studyinghard]

I took step 1 on april 3rd.

i had 5 weeks to study, which i felt was pretty good. I took a practice nbme before studying and got a 179.

2 and a half weeks later I took nbme 4 and scored a 209, w/ 2.5 weeks still to go.

4 days before my exam I took nbme 5 and scored a 260.

Took step: Score was 248/99

My scores were very low at the beginning. I studied primarily first aid and goljan pathology. I supplemented w/ some HY series books, but inevitably (sp?) I went with first aid. I must also say my short term memory is better than my long term, so i think that helped out as well.

I studied roughly 15 hours a day for 5 weeks.

 

[Gator08]

Hello friends,

I first off want to thank all that have posted before. You kept me sane during my board studying. This is my first post ever on this website.

I would consider myself a slightly above average student. I certainly was not in the top of my class. However, during second year I discovered a studying technique that allowed me to start honoring or almost honoring on most of our tests. During first year, I almost killed myself trying to memorize and understand everything from a lecture on the first pass, and then I usually had like one day to review right before the exam. I realized during second year that if I go hard and fast, and review a lecture multiple times on multiple days, but without necessarily trying to memorize everything, that my retention was actually significantly higher. So I based my board schedule off of this realization, i.e. multiple passes, moving fast, and hitting a subject from all angles.

I had 6 weeks. to study. My school forces us to take the CBSE (I think?) before we begin studying so that they know who is at risk for failing the exam. After this preliminary exam, I spent the first week going through my micro cards, my pharm cards, and the first half of first aid. I realized very quickly that I didn't know jack about micro, (as in, I couldn't have told you that staph and strep were gram positive), and my MicroCards were a godsend. After these two days, I never had an official micro or pharm study period. Instead, I began using these cards every single day. By the time I took Step 1, I had made it through my micro cards and my pharm cards 4 times.

I then started to read the organ system of FA. My original plan was to read FA along with Goljan Path and BRS Phys, but I found FA so frustrating that I almost threw it out the window. I hated, and still hate, FA. But I do agree that it is a necessary evil. I'll get to that in a minute.

So I spent the second week going through Goljan Path and BRS Phys. I then quickly skimmed HY Neuroanatomy (like in 7 hours). Once I finished this, I took NBME 3.

I then started on phase 2 of my studying. I did nothing but questions for about 10 days. I used USMLEWorld, and for the most part loved this resource (the software shut down on my twice during the middle of a test, thus losing my information and counting the rest 0. This was frustrating, but the material in the questions was great). I took notes on all of the material within the questions with which I was not familiar. Ultimately, I ended up finishing about 75% of UWorld.

At this point, I was about 2 weeks out from test date. I spent the next 4 days going over FA cover to cover. This time I didn't hate it so much. It began to make sense. I think their mneumonics suck, but oh well. Once I finished FA, I took NBME 4. This was about 10 days out.

The last ten days, I went through a little more Neuro, all of Goljan Path, and then one last pass through FA over the span of the last 4 days.

Test day: Blew me away. I thought it was harder than any NBME. Of the ones that I missed, I would say 20% were stupid mistakes, another 10% were things I might have gotten right if I had studied for another 2 weeks, and the rest I wouldn't have gotten right if I had studied for another 2 years.

So here are the results:

CBSE (6 weeks out): 190
NBME 3 (4 weeks out): 216
UWorld, 75% complete: 64%
NBME 4 (10 days out): 242
Step 1: 247.

In the end, I do believe that if you work really hard you can significantly improve your score on this exam. I worked 12 - 14 hours a day, every single day, for 6 weeks. I do believe that seeing a subject several times throughout my studying experience was valuable to me.

Random stuff: I split the spine of my FA and then 3-hole punched it and put it in a binder. I was then able to take notes in on blank paper and add them in to FA, which I thought was very helpful. One of the best things that I did during the 2nd year was using BRS Phys and Goljan Path along with class work.

Resources: Goljan Path (abandoned the audio after the 1st week b/c it was too time consuming), BRS Phys, FA, MicroCards, PharmCards, and HY Neuroanatomy.

I hope this helps someone. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them on here. If I remember anything I forgot, I will post it. Best of luck to everyone.

 

[Lamborghini1315]

Hello friends,

I first off want to thank all that have posted before. You kept me sane during my board studying. This is my first post ever on this website.

I would consider myself a slightly above average student. I certainly was not in the top of my class. However, during second year I discovered a studying technique that allowed me to start honoring or almost honoring on most of our tests. During first year, I almost killed myself trying to memorize and understand everything from a lecture on the first pass, and then I usually had like one day to review right before the exam. I realized during second year that if I go hard and fast, and review a lecture multiple times on multiple days, but without necessarily trying to memorize everything, that my retention was actually significantly higher. So I based my board schedule off of this realization, i.e. multiple passes, moving fast, and hitting a subject from all angles.

I had 6 weeks. to study. My school forces us to take the CBSE (I think?) before we begin studying so that they know who is at risk for failing the exam. After this preliminary exam, I spent the first week going through my micro cards, my pharm cards, and the first half of first aid. I realized very quickly that I didn't know jack about micro, (as in, I couldn't have told you that staph and strep were gram positive), and my MicroCards were a godsend. After these two days, I never had an official micro or pharm study period. Instead, I began using these cards every single day. By the time I took Step 1, I had made it through my micro cards and my pharm cards 4 times.

I then started to read the organ system of FA. My original plan was to read FA along with Goljan Path and BRS Phys, but I found FA so frustrating that I almost threw it out the window. I hated, and still hate, FA. But I do agree that it is a necessary evil. I'll get to that in a minute.

So I spent the second week going through Goljan Path and BRS Phys. I then quickly skimmed BRS Neuroanatomy (like in 7 hours). Once I finished this, I took NBME 3.

I then started on phase 2 of my studying. I did nothing but questions for about 10 days. I used USMLEWorld, and for the most part loved this resource (the software shut down on my twice during the middle of a test, thus losing my information and counting the rest 0. This was frustrating, but the material in the questions was great). I took notes on all of the material within the questions with which I was not familiar. Ultimately, I ended up finishing about 75% of UWorld.

At this point, I was about 2 weeks out from test date. I spent the next 4 days going over FA cover to cover. This time I didn't hate it so much. It began to make sense. I think their mneumonics suck, but oh well. Once I finished FA, I took NBME 4. This was about 10 days out.

The last ten days, I went through a little more Neuro, all of Goljan Path, and then one last pass through FA over the span of the last 4 days.

Test day: Blew me away. I thought it was harder than any NBME. Of the ones that I missed, I would say 20% were stupid mistakes, another 10% were things I might have gotten right if I had studied for another 2 weeks, and the rest I wouldn't have gotten right if I had studied for another 2 years.

So here are the results:

CBSE (6 weeks out): 190
NBME 3 (4 weeks out): 216
UWorld, 75% complete: 64%
NBME 4 (10 days out): 242
Step 1: 247.

In the end, I do believe that if you work really hard you can significantly improve your score on this exam. I worked 12 - 14 hours a day, every single day, for 6 weeks. I do believe that seeing a subject several times throughout my studying experience was valuable to me.

Random stuff: I split the spine of my FA and then 3-hole punched it and put it in a binder. I was then able to take notes in on blank paper and add them in to FA, which I thought was very helpful. One of the best things that I did during the 2nd year was using BRS Phys and Goljan Path along with class work.

Resources: Goljan Path (abandoned the audio after the 1st week b/c it was too time consuming), BRS Phys, FA, MicroCards, PharmCards, and HY Neuroanatomy.

I hope this helps someone. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them on here. If I remember anything I forgot, I will post it. Best of luck to everyone.

I am already using BRS phys, goljan path, first aid 2007 along with classes but sometimes its frustrating because clinicians present material a little differently in school and that throws me off on tests..however i have to tell you i feel way more confident when i do off school work it really adds to my knowledge base and things generally stick when i review them. Anyways my question is did you use a review book for biochem? From the resources you used it doesn't seem like you did? Also how helpful was HY neuroanatomy..i have usmle roadmap neuroscience and i find it extremely helpful, you think i should check out HY? By the way congrats on your excellent score!!

 

[Gator08]

Nope, I didn't use any biochem resource other than FA. I planned on it, and then ran short of time. I had a biochem background from undergrad, and I consistently performed decent on the biochem section of my practice exams, so I decided to triage and read Goljan path one more time instead of RR biochem.

HY Neuro was pretty good. I wish that I done more than skimmed it, but I got lucky on my exam--the Neuro that I had was very straight-forward. But that was just my test; you never know what's going to be on yours. I would probably stick with the book you have; I've heard that's a great series. I definitely do not think that FA is enough in that section.

Also, I forgot to mention that I read HY Immunology the during my last week of class work and found it to be a great refresher. After that, I just stuck with FA Immunology.

Hope that helps.

I am already using BRS phys, goljan path, first aid 2007 along with classes but sometimes its frustrating because clinicians present material a little differently in school and that throws me off on tests..however i have to tell you i feel way more confident when i do off school work it really adds to my knowledge base and things generally stick when i review them. Anyways my question is did you use a review book for biochem? From the resources you used it doesn't seem like you did? Also how helpful was HY neuroanatomy..i have usmle roadmap neuroscience and i find it extremely helpful, you think i should check out HY? By the way congrats on your excellent score!!

 

[Lamborghini1315]

Nope, I didn't use any biochem resource other than FA. I planned on it, and then ran short of time. I had a biochem background from undergrad, and I consistently performed decent on the biochem section of my practice exams, so I decided to triage and read Goljan path one more time instead of RR biochem.

HY Neuro was pretty good. I wish that I done more than skimmed it, but I got lucky on my exam--the Neuro that I had was very straight-forward. But that was just my test; you never know what's going to be on yours. I would probably stick with the book you have; I've heard that's a great series. I definitely do not think that FA is enough in that section.

Also, I forgot to mention that I read HY Immunology the during my last week of class work and found it to be a great refresher. After that, I just stuck with FA Immunology.

Hope that helps.

Got it, i have lange's review of micro and immuno but i don't think i will use that book. It's too dense for my liking..however i def have to brush up on immunology. Appox. how many weeks did you invest for board prep? Assuming 12hr/day study time...and would you suggest doing NBME's right away without much studying and then probably do a couple more 2 weeks before the boards?

 

[Lamborghini1315]

Never mind, i read your earlier post..it answers my questions.

 

[epson101]

I used Qbank 3 months out from my exam and stopped using it 1 month out. I was scoring CONSISTENTLY at ~44%. I don’t think I ever broke over 53%. Cumulative avg about 45%. My initial goal score before even studying was >240. However, looking at SDNers’ score correlation btwn their practice questions/tests scores at the same point in time as where I was before test date and their actual test score, I knew I would have no way in reaching my goal. With all the rants of Qbank being nothing like the real test, I ditched it and used UW for my last month of studying. I started off UW with ~58-60%. It seems like most people do worse on QBank compared to UW, but it was the opposite for me. I took a break from doing practice questions for 2 week after quitting QBank before starting up UW, so I can’t vouch if I actually improved in test score or if for some reason, I just do better with UW style-type questions. However, I plateaued with UW extremely early. I CONSISTENTLY scored around low 60s for the whole month. A week out from my test, I started scoring more in the high 60’s, with my highest score being 74%, only hitting that once though. My cumulative avg was 62%.

NBME form 4 (4 weeks out from the test) – 226
Form 3 (3 wks out) – 214
Form 5 (2 wks out) – 221

Given all my practice scores, I decided to lower my goal to >230, but I knew that might even be a reach.

Actual test score: 253/99!!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d get anywhere close to that. SDN can be a bit intimidating with everyone’s QBank/UW/NBME practice scores being really high and achieving the same high real test score. I know I sure got discouraged and stressed many times after reading SDN since my practice scores were sucking and thought I was doomed to not do well. So DON’T LOSE HOPE!!! It IS possible!

 

[Petechiae]

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d get anywhere close to that. SDN can be a bit intimidating with everyone’s QBank/UW/NBME practice scores being really high and achieving the same high real test score. I know I sure got discouraged and stressed many times after reading SDN since my practice scores were sucking and thought I was doomed to not do well. So DON’T LOSE HOPE!!! It IS possible!

That is fantastic! I just was talking to a friend of mine about how intimidated I am by how well everyone on SDN seems to do on the NBMEs (since I'm nowhere near those scores).

Thanks for giving me some hope!!

 

[SOUNDMAN]

wow great job, you peaked perfectly for the test...well done!!!!

 

[beponychick]

I used Qbank 3 months out from my exam and stopped using it 1 month out. I was scoring CONSISTENTLY at ~44%. I don’t think I ever broke over 53%. Cumulative avg about 45%. My initial goal score before even studying was >240. However, looking at SDNers’ score correlation btwn their practice questions/tests scores at the same point in time as where I was before test date and their actual test score, I knew I would have no way in reaching my goal. With all the rants of Qbank being nothing like the real test, I ditched it and used UW for my last month of studying. I started off UW with ~58-60%. It seems like most people do worse on QBank compared to UW, but it was the opposite for me. I took a break from doing practice questions for 2 week after quitting QBank before starting up UW, so I can’t vouch if I actually improved in test score or if for some reason, I just do better with UW style-type questions. However, I plateaued with UW extremely early. I CONSISTENTLY scored around low 60s for the whole month. A week out from my test, I started scoring more in the high 60’s, with my highest score being 74%, only hitting that once though. My cumulative avg was 62%.

NBME form 4 (4 weeks out from the test) – 226
Form 3 (3 wks out) – 214
Form 5 (2 wks out) – 221

Given all my practice scores, I decided to lower my goal to >230, but I knew that might even be a reach.

Actual test score: 253/99!!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d get anywhere close to that. SDN can be a bit intimidating with everyone’s QBank/UW/NBME practice scores being really high and achieving the same high real test score. I know I sure got discouraged and stressed many times after reading SDN since my practice scores were sucking and thought I was doomed to not do well. So DON’T LOSE HOPE!!! It IS possible!

Hey! Congratulations! That is amazing! Just curious, what did you think of your exam when you took it? Did you walk away feeling that it was really hard? Was it what you expected?

Thanks!

 

[ASDIC]

thats awesome!!!.....if you can post your studying methods and text experience it would be great. congrats on the score.

Posts from last year indicated that 70%+ was pretty much a guarantee for a 230+. for some reason....the latest posts in this thread have correlated a UW avg of 65%+ with 240+ scores. Either the UW got tougher than last year or the test got much easier.

 

[m250]

So I just got my scores back last night and was pleasantly surprised with my performance. Our second year classes ended on March 7th and our school only gave us a maximum of 4 weeks of dedicated Step 1 study time since our 3rd year began on April 14th. I used almost the entire 4 weeks and took my exam on Wednesday, April 9th.

1) Study Schedule: I began using review books during the spring semester of first year along with my classes. The review books I would recommend to use with classes are RR path, BRS physio, and FA. I also began listening to Goljan audio whenever I would walk to school, workout, or occasionally while driving. I didn’t do any studying over the summer and began looking over the review books again once second year started. During second year I spent about half my time studying for boards and the other half for classes (a few hours of each most days). I purchased Qbank and did a random block of 50 questions about 4-5 days/week starting around Jan 1st. Once classes officially ended on March 7th, I made a detailed daily study schedule and did 8 hours of book studying and 4 hours of USMLEworld questions (2 blocks of 50q’s – thoroughly reviewing every answer at the end of each block) every day for the first 3 weeks. The last week before my exam I kicked it up a notch and studied about 14-15 hours per day.

2) Books & Question Banks:
a) FA – overall, a great foundation on which to add information from other books. FA contains all the “must know” stuff, but by no means is enough for most people to use as a sole source and get a top tier score. During my 4 weeks, I read FA cover-to-cover at least 3 times.
b) RR path – the best book you can use for Step 1, read it as many times as you can. I read through it twice during my 4 weeks, but covered most of it another 3 times throughout the first two years.
c) BRS physio – all the physio you need, don’t waste your time with other physio sources. Read through it twice in the 4 weeks, and 2 more times during first two years.
d) HY Neuro – good source for neuro, but some chapters are a waste of time and I actually preferred FA + USMLEworld for most of my neuro.
e) USMLEworld – by far the best question source. Similar in detail, material covered, and format to the actual thing.
f) Qbank – although I agree with most that UW is much better than Qbank, I used Qbank during second year to get used to answering questions and become familiar with some commonly tested topics. I did, however, get frustrated with the number of questions that were way beyond the level of detail you need to know. If you are crunched for time, don’t bother using Qbank – stick with UW.
g) RR Micro and Immuno – bought this book, skimmed over it briefly, then decided it was way more detail than I wanted to learn.
h) RR Biochem – I used this with my biochem class, but didn’t use it during my 4 weeks again due to my plan of focusing mainly on FA, RR path, and BRS physio.
i) BRS Pharm cards – great pharm source. Very concise, flashcard format. I would go over 50 cards/night and went through the entire stack 3 times in 4 weeks.
j) Lange Pharm cards – much more detail than BRS, but very good if you are weak in pharm like I was. It would take me an entire day to get through the stack of ~175 notecards, but after going through this stack once my pharm score jumped from NBME #1 to NBME #2. If you have the time, they are well worth it.
k) HY anatomy – only read the limb chapters, and really helped me with the brachial plexus. Don’t bother with the rest of the book, but those few chapters are well worth it.
l) HY Cell and Molecular Bio (99’) – great book, especially if you are weak in this area. I had many molecular bio courses during undergrad, but this was still a great review that you can read front to back in only an afternoon.

3) Scores:
-MCAT: 29
-Qbank (about 75% completed): 59%
-UW (100% complete): 72% overall; started in low 60’s and was scoring in the high 70’s to mid-80’s in the last week.
-CBSE (required by our med school – took first week in Jan): 185
-NBME 1 (2 months out, while still in classes): 214
-NBME 2 (4 weeks out, at beginning of designated Step 1 time): 232
-NBME 5 (2 weeks out): 250
-NBME 4 (1 week out): 244

4) Most Important points:
-Repetition was the key for me. Don’t spread yourself too thin with too many books, focus on only a few books during the last 3-4 weeks. It is good to use review books along with your classes to annotate into FA and differentiate what is important for boards vs. the extraneous details you will only need to know for a given exam in your class. Again, I would highly recommend focusing on FA, RR path, BRS physio, Lange and/or BRS pharm cards, and UW once you begin dedicated Step 1 studying.
-Utilize the NBME’s to track your progress and highlight your weaknesses. I would recommend one each week in the last few weeks. You will make the largest improvements in your score by really working on the areas in which you score the lowest on the practice NBME’s.
-You’ve heard this before, but MECHANISMS, MECHANISMS, MECHANISMS. There were a large number of questions on my exam that presented information that I hadn’t seen before, but if you knew the mechanisms of similar diseases/conditions you could figure out the answer based on similar mechanisms.

5) My Exam:
-Neuro was much more difficult than I anticipated. I had questions that asked about very detailed structures or pathways. Also, know your brainstem cross-sections. I thought I bombed this topic but actually ended up getting an asterisk in it???
-There were a ton of “What would you say/do in this situation?” questions. Most were common sense, but I also felt UW does a good job preparing you for these types of questions.
-NBME 4 is most representative of the actual exam from the ones that I took.
-Overall, I feel like I had a random assortment of questions. Besides what I mentioned above, I feel like all topics were pretty much equally represented. A few blocks were much easier than UW, while a few blocks were extremely difficult.
-I walked out of the exam thinking I would have been lucky to get a 230. I thought it was more difficult than any of the NBME's or UW. It did have a number of one or two sentence questions that were very basic, but I also felt like I ended up narrowing the answers down to 2 or 3 before making an "educated" guess on more questions than expected.

6) My Score: 254/99!!!!

 

[bbpiano1]

Congrats on the great scores! Quick question about cross-sectional neuroanatomy:

Has anyone seen cross-sections of the brainstem....or are cross-sections of the whole brain what we need to worry about?

 

[PenguinHead]

Congrats on the great scores! Quick question about cross-sectional neuroanatomy:

Has anyone seen cross-sections of the brainstem....or are cross-sections of the whole brain what we need to worry about?

5) My Exam:
-Neuro was much more difficult than I anticipated. I had questions that asked about very detailed structures or pathways. Also, know your brainstem cross-sections. I thought I bombed this topic but actually ended up getting an asterisk in it???

Seems like it can show up.

 

[epson101]

Main sources: FA, Goljan. I read through all of FA 4 times with annotations from Qbank/UW. I tried to "memorize" all of FA...but I don't think you can ever memorize all of FA even though people say that. I went through Goljan 2.5 times. I listened to his lectures while walking/driving, but I'm not an audio learner anyways so I don't think I got that much out of it. Studied for 3 months, with the last month hardcore for 12-15h/day.

BIOCHEM: used only FA. I thought it was enough. I bought RR Biochem, skimmed through some chapters at the very beginning but never opened it again. I felt that it did cover mostly what's in FA, it's just in readable paragraph format.

PHARM: I hardcore memorized pharm towards the end of the studying period. I used only FA with annotations from Qbank/UW. Looked at the pictures in the first couple chapters in Lippincott's for pharmacokinetics stuff. Even though some say FA isn't enough, I thought it was since I got a starred performance in it

NEURO: FA, HY focusing mostly on the brainstem and spinal cord lesions.

PHYSIO: BRS. Also used Kaplan Physio for the renal, resp, and cardio chapters. In hindsight, I wished I used Kaplan physio for the main physio book instead. I liked it better than BRS. BRS was too much of an easy read for the boards.

MICRO: FA, microcards.

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES: BRS, one chapter in Kaplan for the ethical situation type of questions. I really sucked at those, but I felt Kaplan did a really good job at breaking down the rules.

ANATOMY: FA mostly. Looked through High-Yield for the pictures and CT sections.

MUSCULOSKELETAL: FA with annotations from Qbank/UW, high-yield anatomy-only chapter I actually read was musculoskeletal. Looked at the Kaplan anatomy book just for the musculoskeletal chapters.

Molecular/Cell Bio: High-yield 1999 edition

Qbank for the first 2 months (I did learn some stuff there but too detailed to be helpful), UW for the last month, 100q each day

OTHER THOUGHTS:
-I didn't realize how much the exam is about understanding the WHY for the concepts until towards the end of my studying. I wished I realized that earlier in my studying. For my last run-through review, I also used USMLE step 1 Secrets book. It does a good job at explaining the WHY's. It's not comprehensive but it's decent to read through for your weak areas.
-I stopped doing practice questions 5 days before my test. My last several days, I reviewed all of Goljan slides (which I thought was not useful at all), attempted reading his 100pg high yield notes but couldn't get through all of it, which weren't helpful to me at that point anyways since it presented many new concepts that I just didn't have time for. If you plan on using his 100pg notes, I would suggest using that throughout your studying time, versus last minute review which I tried to do. I felt like my last few days were wasted on studying nonhelpful materials.
-Good idea to do the practice test at the testing center.
-My UW breakdown categories completely didn't correlate for my actual score. Many areas that I was the weakest in, I ended up getting starred performance in.

THE ACTUAL EXAM: It felt exactly like UW. Some people mentioned that on their tests, the passages are really long, but I didn't find that case for my test. It was like UW length...maybe a couple questions that were really long. I walked out feeling how I feel after every time I finish a UW test before I see my score, like I probably scored the same percentage I was getting in UW type of feeling. There were easy, hard, and the blindly guessed questions. I worried too much about path/histo slides/CT sections, but I didn't have that many pictures on mine. You can refer back to my previous post for my practice/actual scores. Good luck!!!

 

[78222]

I used Qbank 3 months out from my exam and stopped using it 1 month out. I was scoring CONSISTENTLY at ~44%. I don’t think I ever broke over 53%. Cumulative avg about 45%. My initial goal score before even studying was >240. However, looking at SDNers’ score correlation btwn their practice questions/tests scores at the same point in time as where I was before test date and their actual test score, I knew I would have no way in reaching my goal. With all the rants of Qbank being nothing like the real test, I ditched it and used UW for my last month of studying. I started off UW with ~58-60%. It seems like most people do worse on QBank compared to UW, but it was the opposite for me. I took a break from doing practice questions for 2 week after quitting QBank before starting up UW, so I can’t vouch if I actually improved in test score or if for some reason, I just do better with UW style-type questions. However, I plateaued with UW extremely early. I CONSISTENTLY scored around low 60s for the whole month. A week out from my test, I started scoring more in the high 60’s, with my highest score being 74%, only hitting that once though. My cumulative avg was 62%.

NBME form 4 (4 weeks out from the test) – 226
Form 3 (3 wks out) – 214
Form 5 (2 wks out) – 221

Given all my practice scores, I decided to lower my goal to >230, but I knew that might even be a reach.

Actual test score: 253/99!!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d get anywhere close to that. SDN can be a bit intimidating with everyone’s QBank/UW/NBME practice scores being really high and achieving the same high real test score. I know I sure got discouraged and stressed many times after reading SDN since my practice scores were sucking and thought I was doomed to not do well. So DON’T LOSE HOPE!!! It IS possible!

Thats great to hear. Congrats

 

[BSEMD]

M250 - What date did you receive your test results? I took my test exactly one week later, and the anticipation is getting to me!

 

[Cashew]

good luck to everyone finding out this week

 

[m250]

I took my exam on Wednesday 4/9 and received my score exactly 20 days later on Tuesday 4/29. I think this has been mentioned before, but it appears as though the scores are released every Tuesday night at midnight EST (I live in Colorado and got my score back at 10pm Mountain Time). Also, it can be shorter than 20 days if you took your exam on a Thursday or Friday. A couple of my friends took their exams on 4/10 and 4/11 and got their scores the same night I did, hence the apparent mass release on Tuesday nights. Hope this helps, and good luck.

 

[BSEMD]

ok, great - thanks for the response!

 

[Labslave]

Took the beast. On the whole, there's too much hype surrounding this exam, guys and gals. The process did, however, convert me into a religious man. There was lots of praying on the day of.

Prep: FA, Goljan RR Path + Audio, Road Map Anatomy, MMMRS (all of it - twice), tidbits of tons of other resources here and there that weren't very helpful and wasted a lot of money and time (HY Embryo, HY Immuno, etc.).

THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR WORKING HARD THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF MED SCHOOL!!!! Most of the "tough" questions I got on my exam could be answered not by what was in FA, but rather by drawing on what I had learned from classes. If I had to go back and do it all over again, I would have focused more on hammering in RR Path along with coursework.

Schedule: 6 weeks. 12 hrs./day. Took half or whole days off when I got sick of studying (occurred about once a week).

Q bank: World.

 

[Cashew]

^erectile dysfunction, are you serious? I have spent little to no time on those sorts of things.

Back to studying then!! Thanks for the info!!

By the way, if anyone gets one of the tests with the audio/video whatever it is we are supposedly starting in the next week or two, will you please give us an idea of what to expect? Thanks!!

 

[pink puffer]

I've been sifting through the previous posts, looking for advice for Step, and I must say, you all have been very helpful! With an added boost of motivation.

Congrats to everyone already done!

 

[polyposis]

I don't have anything incredibly useful to add that hasn't been said already, but on the testing day it may be a good idea to bring some tylenol or generic equivalent--around the 5th block I developed a pounding headache from concentrating on the computer screen. Also please, please for the sake of those around you, don't douse yourself in cologne or perfume because it's really irritating to other test takers.

 

[BSEMD]

As it happened with M250, my score came back yesterday at midnight today (11 pm yesterday, CST). Lots of web traffic, it actually took 40 minutes of trying to get the web page to load.

Here's what I did:

First Aid 2007 - didn't use it during classes, only during the month before the exam. First thing I did was to update the book's errata. Read most of it, some parts multiple times.

BRS Pathology - read it on sections that I had consistent difficulty with during USMLEWorld practice exams (renal, cardio, general path)

Goljan's RR of Path - same as above

Hi-yield Neuroanatomy - just felt like the right thing to do, and it was a quick read.

USMLEWorld - a w e s o m e ! Just speculation, but I think I could have just worked on finishing this question bank twice over and it may have been enough. As it was, I completed it; wrote out explanations for questions I missed as I reviewed the individual randomized exams, then reviewed just my notes for about 1/2 a day, then took tests consisting of only missed questions in the 5 days before the real deal. Learned a lot this way.

USMLE Steps 123 (ElSevier's product) - bought it, shouldn't have. Questions were too easy.

Bought some flash cards for micro & pharm, barely used them (I think I bought them so I wouldn't feel like resources were scarce). They were the Lange flash cards - I can't comment on the usefulness (that's up to you to decide), but the content was solid - I just didn't want to do them.

All total, 33 days, between 4 and 10 hours per day (just did what I could, trusting that I'd learned it in class).

Won't reveal my score here, but trust me when I say that it's good enough to consider what I wrote above as a legitimate method of review.

Good luck to all the test takers

 

[SOUNDMAN]

Won't reveal my score here, but trust me when I say that it's good enough to consider what I wrote above as a legitimate method of review.

Good luck to all the test takers

Would you care to share your UW scores and averages towards the end and whether you took any NBME's and if your score coorelated to those exams. I think people like to know these things to make sure their preparation is on track.

 

[BSEMD]

Would you care to share your UW scores and averages towards the end and whether you took any NBME's and if your score coorelated to those exams. I think people like to know these things to make sure their preparation is on track.

Oh yeah, my bad. I didn't take any NBME exams (I was going on vacation after the exam, so I wanted to save the beer money - no joke, I'm that cheap), and I was getting around 74% on USMLE world towards the end (around 50% in the beginning), before I recycled any questions. Once I'd studied my review notes, I was hitting ~90% on previously missed question quizzes.

I've got friends who took NBME's, mainly to gauge their progress throughout their review. Some of them got a needed reality check, most of them saw good progress throughout their studies ( across multiple NBME exams ), but some of them suffered the adverse consequence of being more fearful than relaxed on their real test day. I'd keep in mind that just because NBME #6 says you're likely to score 220-225, and NBME # 3 says you may score a 230, there's no reason that your highest test score won't be on the real exam...don't let it psych you out.

 

[lankysudanese]

Won't reveal my score here, but trust me when I say that it's good enough to consider what I wrote above as a legitimate method of review.

you have to at least give a ball-park for ur score. otherwise, people shooting for certain scores wouldn't know what to make of ur advice. how would you feel about getting advice from someone who scored in 230s, if u were aiming for 250s? either way, it's ur personal choice. it just seems like u r truly trying to give constructive advice, but this needs corroboration with a score.

btw, congrats on passing and on ur score (whatever it is).

 

[Cashew]

you have to at least give a ball-park for ur score. otherwise, people shooting for certain scores wouldn't know what to make of ur advice. how would you feel about getting advice from someone who scored in 230s, if u were aiming for 250s? either way, it's ur personal choice. it just seems like u r truly trying to give constructive advice, but this needs corroboration with a score.

btw, congrats on passing and on ur score (whatever it is).

I have to agree with this. You may be ecstatic to have passed, whereas other people may be shooting for something really high & wouldn't be happy with that score.

 

[eulbedoc]

The wait is over. 252. I'm happy with the score since I felt horrible after taking the test.

My method was a little different from most other methods posted, so I'll share it here.

During my last semester, I recorded myself reading FA 2007 and re-recorded it on high speed. That enabled me to listen to FA while I was working out during the school year. I think that helped. The high-speed recording allowed me to cover FA numerous times.....
_______________________________________________

How did you re-record at high speed? I know Windows Media Player has the option of playing a file at up to 2x without any change in pitch, but I'm not sure how to produce a sped-up recording that I can transfer to my mp3 player.

 

[soon2Bmd2005]

finally this process is over!
I studied for 6 weeks using the usual books
Path: Goljan
Physio: BRS Phys
First Aid
Goljan Audio
Biochem: Kaplan
I took NBME 1 about 12 weeks out just to see where i was: 230
then didn't do anything for the next 6 weeks
then started with UWorld at 6 weeks and just kept doing questions and got through it twice...first time around i was around 60%, but then 2nd time around about 90%
Robbins path question book was really good (i did the entire book really close to the exam and was at around 80-85%)
read through high yield cell and molecular and it didn't help me much but then again i've been doing molecular biology research for the past two years (on and off)
study anatomy (i liked roadmap and high yield and used netter's for clarifications, also used kaplan anatomy videos), this is very important.
BRS behavioral was really good for just questions...don't bother actually trying to read through the book..high yield behavioral and high yield bio stats were much better
high yield neuroanatomy was really good (used roadmap neuroanatomy for clarifications on basal ganglia/cerebellum pathways)
NBME 4 (6 weeks out) 245
NBME 2 (5 weeks out) 258
NBME 3 (about 3-4 weeks out..can't remember exactly) 258
actual: 255
test date: 4/15
results: 5/7
i'm happy, i just can't help thinking i could have taken it 4 weeks earlier than i did and still done the same...oh well.
if you have any detailed questions, feel free to PM

 

[MDbt]

finally this process is over!
I studied for 6 weeks using the usual books
Path: Goljan
Physio: BRS Phys
First Aid
Goljan Audio
Biochem: Kaplan
I took NBME 1 about 12 weeks out just to see where i was: 230
then didn't do anything for the next 6 weeks
then started with UWorld at 6 weeks and just kept doing questions and got through it twice...first time around i was around 60%, but then 2nd time around about 90%
Robbins path question book was really good (i did the entire book really close to the exam and was at around 80-85%)
read through high yield cell and molecular and it didn't help me much but then again i've been doing molecular biology research for the past two years (on and off)
study anatomy (i liked roadmap and high yield and used netter's for clarifications, also used kaplan anatomy videos), this is very important.
BRS behavioral was really good for just questions...don't bother actually trying to read through the book..high yield behavioral and high yield bio stats were much better
high yield neuroanatomy was really good (used roadmap neuroanatomy for clarifications on basal ganglia/cerebellum pathways)
NBME 4 (6 weeks out) 245
NBME 2 (5 weeks out) 258
NBME 3 (about 3-4 weeks out..can't remember exactly) 258
actual: 255
test date: 4/15
results: 5/7
i'm happy, i just can't help thinking i could have taken it 4 weeks earlier than i did and still done the same...oh well.
if you have any detailed questions, feel free to PM

Congrats on your score!!! That's amazing!!! Questions: Why did you decide to complete the NBMEs in the order that you did? What did you use for micro and pharm? Thanks in advance.

 

[soon2Bmd2005]

I just randomly chose to do NBME 1 1st, then 4, 2, and then 3 were suggestions i gathered from SDN...i think the consensus is NBME 3 and 2 are most similar to the real thing.

pharm: BRS pharm cards and first aid
micro: MMRS and haparvat (i'm sure that's not the correct spelling) pharm cards...really great resource, and first aid

 

[SuperMonkey]

The wait is over. 252. I'm happy with the score since I felt horrible after taking the test.

My method was a little different from most other methods posted, so I'll share it here.

During my last semester, I recorded myself reading FA 2007 and re-recorded it on high speed. That enabled me to listen to FA while I was working out during the school year. I think that helped. The high-speed recording allowed me to cover FA numerous times.....
_______________________________________________

How did you re-record at high speed? I know Windows Media Player has the option of playing a file at up to 2x without any change in pitch, but I'm not sure how to produce a sped-up recording that I can transfer to my mp3 player.

I have an mp3 recorder that has a line in. That made it easy. I don't like the quality of Windows Media player on high speed. I highly recommend the program 2XAV from enounce.com. The quality of the high speed is superior.

 

[eulbedoc]

I have an mp3 recorder that has a line in. That made it easy. I don't like the quality of Windows Media player on high speed. I highly recommend the program 2XAV from enounce.com. The quality of the high speed is superior.

__________________________________________
I'm fine with the quality of Windows Media Player. I took a look at the enounce.com site, but this appears to be just an add on to Windows Media Player. I'm more interested in converting an audio file to say 1.7x speed and then transferring it to my mp3 player so that I can listen to it on the go.

Thanks anyways.