Official 2009 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[VFib911]

Two days premature, but I thought I would get it started anyway as I just took the exam this morning!!!!!

Overall impressions:
- Path, path, path - been said before and I'll say it again "know it Goljan style"
- Don't forget the biostats. I prob had 10-13 questions here.
- UW is gold... both for content and material presentation. Get comfortable with the interface and it will help you test day as it is very similar.
- FA was very helpful, but I used it for review rather than primary study source.

Today:
- In at 8:30, out at 2:30.Finished each block with 10-15 minutes left.
- Three breaks, one quick trip to the BR, one 10 minute Red bull/ powerbar refresher, and one 20 minute monster/ MetRx "lunch" and walk.
- I didn't find a large difference in content difficulty between the different module. The second-to-last was my most difficult and I was have ing a little difficulty concentrating, but I think my brain was pre-toast.

I'm feeling pretty relieved at the moment as it was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. In NO WAY was it easy, but certainly doable. I had planned on taking this in July after the COMLEX, but I convinced myself I was not ready for it. Retrospectively, I feel I still would have done well after my COMLEX prep, but the last 6 months has filled in a lot of gaps.

Pre-COMLEX:
- Goljan mp3's 1st and 2nd years commuting to-from school. I did a ton of commuting. Highly valuable.
- Kaplan Biochem DVD(felt it was my weakest) and Micro DVD(lots of content).
- MedEssentials and FA for system-based content review. Big Robbins for reference only.
- CMMRS, know the virus charts, staph and strep algorithms, systemic mycoses, immunocompromised opportunistics.
- Costanza text for physio. Tried to review BRS physio (also Costanza), but I am strong in physio and I felt I was wasting my time.
- Lippincott pharm. Cover-to-cover, but overkill. Easy read though if you know your pharm.
- Kaplan and FA for biostats.
- Flash cards from eBay, both electronic and paper. Great way to review - at least for me - but be aware there are occasional errors. Prob went through 5-7000, really.
- BRS flash cards - Micro, Pharm, Biochem.
- (Savarese for any DO's - know the green book and you are golden.)

COMLEX - 06/08.

Post- COMLEX

UWorld - Thank god I did this. Wish I had done this before the COMLEX. Did tutor mode, took notes, looked each unknown up. I ended up with about 40 pages of topics with key notes written next to each topic. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
HY Histo, Cell Bio, Immuno. By this time it was mostly review, but they all helped tie things together and are quick reads.

One week before test:

Goljan cover-to-cover. Goes quick when it is review.
HY Neuroanat - overkill for my exam. Still good topics if you have the time.
FA cover-to-cover.
Reviewed UW notes/ answers.

UW - 100% completed, overall 68%. Last 450 questions mid 70's. Tutor, random, unused.


That's it. I have been meaning to post this for a while after my COMLEX grade posting, but never got around to doing it... been too damn busy reading. I'll update when result is in.

BTW - anyone know if it takes longer to receive your grade this time of year since fewer people are taking the exam?

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[Deferoxamine]

Making a random appearance here. Large amount of time since the Step 1 score release... hearing the trends overall, the hearsay from others, the highs, the lows... I'm posting this for future exam-takers.

General consensus is as follows:

-- Unlike what you see here on SDN, many people seem to actually score considerably lower (10+ points) on their real Step 1 than they do on their best NBME. At least that's what it seems like... I guess I should feel fortunate that I only dropped 1 point on exam day.

-- UWorld is king.

-- Several people here have commented that there's almost a direct correlation between the (perceived) amount of time a student spends studying during second-year and how they do on Step 1, particularly how much they read during classes. I think there are some outliers here and there (i.e. some people cracking under the pressure, while others can totally pull a great performance out of their ass with just a good month of cramming), but overall I'd say that this notion is fairly accurate.

-- Overall, many people do very well on this exam. A 240+ means hard work and figuring out some of the particulars of this test. A 250+ means you did that PLUS some other X-factor. A 260+ means that you are just a baller - I'm thinking the people that pull this off are really working their butts off (in all the right ways) away from the arena, away from the spotlight. The 260+ crowd does not demand attention from their classmates. They're humble, efficient, and just get their crap done without ever whining about it. They're sure of themselves, respectful of others, and know how to buckle down during crunch time, and lick their wounds at all the right times.

 

[Guyton Killah]

Making a random appearance here. Large amount of time since the Step 1 score release... hearing the trends overall, the hearsay from others, the highs, the lows... I'm posting this for future exam-takers.

General consensus is as follows:

-- Unlike what you see here on SDN, many people seem to actually score considerably lower (10+ points) on their real Step 1 than they do on their best NBME. At least that's what it seems like... I guess I should feel fortunate that I only dropped 1 point on exam day.

-- UWorld is king.

-- Several people here have commented that there's almost a direct correlation between the (perceived) amount of time a student spends studying during second-year and how they do on Step 1, particularly how much they read during classes. I think there are some outliers here and there (i.e. some people cracking under the pressure, while others can totally pull a great performance out of their ass with just a good month of cramming), but overall I'd say that this notion is fairly accurate.

-- Overall, many people do very well on this exam. A 240+ means hard work and figuring out some of the particulars of this test. A 250+ means you did that PLUS some other X-factor. A 260+ means that you are just a baller - I'm thinking the people that pull this off are really working their butts off (in all the right ways) away from the arena, away from the spotlight. The 260+ crowd does not demand attention from their classmates. They're humble, efficient, and just get their crap done without ever whining about it. They're sure of themselves, respectful of others, and know how to buckle down during crunch time, and lick their wounds at all the right times.

Exactly

 

[lukazo]

@Lukazo

Thanks a lot. I'll work hard on CK, I'm also applying for the match with the CS and a step 1 score only.

I wonder if I'll get any calls at all lol.

Best of luck on your step 1, I'm sure you'll be able to score more than 95 if you want to and work for it.

well I hope so.... I'll try my best. Thanks for kind wishes. but yet, I'm still collecting some info about best and proper review books.

well... very best of success and development in your career!

btw guys, as I know most questions come from pathology, right? So, studying path well is more important than studying anatomy or histology. what are the high/low yield subjects for step 1? are this subject officially arranged this way, or is it based upon student experience?

 

[Gute]

Making a random appearance here. Large amount of time since the Step 1 score release... hearing the trends overall, the hearsay from others, the highs, the lows... I'm posting this for future exam-takers.

General consensus is as follows:

-- Unlike what you see here on SDN, many people seem to actually score considerably lower (10+ points) on their real Step 1 than they do on their best NBME. At least that's what it seems like... I guess I should feel fortunate that I only dropped 1 point on exam day.

-- UWorld is king.

-- Several people here have commented that there's almost a direct correlation between the (perceived) amount of time a student spends studying during second-year and how they do on Step 1, particularly how much they read during classes. I think there are some outliers here and there (i.e. some people cracking under the pressure, while others can totally pull a great performance out of their ass with just a good month of cramming), but overall I'd say that this notion is fairly accurate.

-- Overall, many people do very well on this exam. A 240+ means hard work and figuring out some of the particulars of this test. A 250+ means you did that PLUS some other X-factor. A 260+ means that you are just a baller - I'm thinking the people that pull this off are really working their butts off (in all the right ways) away from the arena, away from the spotlight. The 260+ crowd does not demand attention from their classmates. They're humble, efficient, and just get their crap done without ever whining about it. They're sure of themselves, respectful of others, and know how to buckle down during crunch time, and lick their wounds at all the right times.

Well put Def, these are words of wisdom that I had gleaned from reading these thread, and you put them into a pretty succinct summary

So true, the more you read/listen/study, the more you know. There is a basal intelligence requirement to do well on this test, but most of this stuff can be memorized if you put enough time into it. This means studying throughout the first 2 years of school to maximize the retention of material and minimize the amount of material that must be learned in the weeks coming up to boards.

I have caused controversy for saying this on another thread, but you'd have to be an idiot, after reading these experiences, not to use usmle world. You could still score well without it, but there's no reason to blaze a new trail when it comes to this test when there's a resource that works for most high scorers. JUST USE USMLE WORLD.

 

[VeggieGal]

Just got my score. 256/99! So happy right now.

I prepared by reading and annotating FA (2008 version) during 2nd year. I read board books during 2nd year and listened to Goljan daily when I went to the gym. I probably listened to him >3 times. I also listened to all the Kaplan videos and read the corresponding lecture notes at the same time. I really put alot of work into this exam during 2nd year.

I used the following books during the school year + the kaplan 2008 edition of lecture notes (except for neuroscience section) + Kaplan Audio:

RR Anatomy & Embryology
HY Neuro (very light use), mainly just for pictures--did not really like this book.
Roadmap Neuroscience: read the entire book; excellent review
BRS Physio
BRS Cases & Problems (love this book!)
BRS Pathology
RR Pathology
RR Biochemistry
BRS Cell Bio & Histo (first 4 chapters)
RR Cell Bio & Histo (read entire book)
I made pharm flashcards from first aid, which was perfectly adequate for the exam
HY Behavioral Science
1999 HY Cell & Molecular Biology
Levinson's Immuno section

During my 7 weeks of board prep, I concentrated on first aid & USMLE World. I did not read any outside books during this time except for Kaplan Biochem, BRS Path & BRS Physio I also did Kaplan QBank, but in retrospect UWorld is all you need. I really wouldn't bother with Kaplan. USMLERx is good for learning FA, but I did not have time to use much of this bank.

I thought the exam was MUCH easier the UWorld, equivalent to NBMEs. When I was done I looked up ~7-8 stupid mistakes, which I was so mad about making! Resist the urge to look up things after the test is over!

Here were my stats:
UWorld SA1: 259 (4 weeks out)
NBME 5: 234 (3 weeks out)
NBME 6: 249 (2 weeks out)
UWorld SA2: 265 (10 days out)
UWorld Average: 77% Timed, Random(I started this bank from Day 1 of my studies, by the end I was averaging 80-90% on each block)-->I marked ~500 questions and redid them prior to the exam. I also redid all the questions in my weak areas (biochem, anatomy, physiology)
Kaplan Average: 80% Subject based, tutor mode

My advice is to work hard during 2nd year, make sure that you have read all of your board material prior to your dedicated study time. First aid was money. I would say 97% of my exam came from First Aid & UWorld. The other questions that did not were obviously so far fetched that they had to be experimental. Don't give up! I was discouraged when I got a 234 on NBME 5, but be persistent! Everyone has a bad UWorld block every now and then. Don't compare yourself to your classmates! Take everyone's advice with a grain of salt. Don't over do it and stress too much. If you are sick of studying, stop, take a break, take a day off, regroup and hit it hard the next day. I went to the gym almost everyday. Whenever, I would get stressed, I would go for a run (and sometimes ended up running twice/day). I didn't listen to Goljan during my board prep b/c I was so sick of hearing his voice, but if you can stand it, then I would recommend listening to him up until the day of the exam.

I studied ~8 hrs/day, 7 days per week for 7 weeks. I probably took off 3-4 days during this entire period. I also delayed my test quite a few times b/c I didn't feel prepared and honestly, I know everyone says do not delay, but in the end, I think any extra time helps. At least for me, I took the test when I felt like I couldn't study anymore. I didn't want to have any regrets, and I think the extra time was essential for me to memorize those last few details. I spent the last 2 weeks of study time really memorizing FA, and I believe that was key. I read FA + annotations over and over again during my dedicated study time, probably >6 times.

This test is very doable with hard work & persistence. The day before the exam I did no studying, which helped me to be less stressed and nervous the day of. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

 

[HOKIEdoc0684]

I'm an osteopathic student, and have not yet received my COMLEX scores, but I got USMLE today with a 250/99.

My Uworld average was 68% with 100% complete and no cheating! I didn't take any of the NBME's, but I did take a COMSAE (COMLEX version of the NBME exams) and got a 623 (average = 500).

I wasn't too into the whole NBME testing because they stressed me out, and you can't review what you missed... Not too helpful for me. I found my time to be better served studying or doing Uworld.

I used the usual review books 1st and 2nd year, then took the Falcon Live program because they came to my school (VCOM). Goljian tought the last week, which was a real pleasure. I would reccommend the course to others because, although expensive, it gives you a lot of structure and there were many things in the course that were on my exam that I didn't see anywhere else.

Goodluck to everyone still waiting for their scores!

 

[Lanced]

251 today (took it 8/28 after an ammonia spill on 101 made me an hour late). pretty effing nervous opening that page up!

I forget exactly but something like this:
6 weeks out NBME 4 - 208
4 weeks out NBME 3 - 208 (made me cry)
3 weeks out NBME 5 - 238 (dance)
2 weeks out US World 1 - 240 (wasn't sure what to think since i heard they are inflated)
10 days out free 150 q's - 243-7 (from wiki)
USMLE World 92% complete, 54% cum, 65% over last 500, 11 pts above the mean on the last 500 (sad to say tracked it on an excel graph)
Kaplan 75%, getting 50s I think -- only used it pretty early on, didn't like it too much

Books:
FA (contains 85-90% of everything in my opinion, but you might not notice every detail until you've read it 3-4x)
Goljan RR (read some chapters 3-4x including school, some probably zero, overall read through most of it at least once)
Goljan audio (listened once during school, another 2x during boards)
CMMRS (1x during school, another 1/2 during boards -- not sure if I consider this HY enough, I'd consider just FA b/c the format is really good supplemented by USMLE World answers and/or Microcards)
Immuno -- that section referenced by FA, found it online
Costanzo Phys (annotated from it loosely, used it as a reference later on, I prefer the big one but same difference)
HY Neuro (really liked this book during school, still do, just used it as reference for a few areas like pathways, etc.)

Schedule:
My school does a very poor job at prepping us and to be fair I probably didn't study as hard as I should have on some subjects (though others I did know well), so I needed more than 4 weeks cramming or I'd have been in big trouble. I started very casually about 3 months out, doing maybe 5-10 hours/week, then about 10 weeks out ramped up to 30-40 hours, probably closer to 60-70 towards the end (8-12 hours/day 7 days a week).

A bunch of people told me "there's no point in starting too early, you just burn out and forget". At least for me that was horse****. Know your honest strengths and weaknesses and don't be afraid to study hard for 8, 10 even 14 weeks. It sucks, but "burn out" is just in your head...

Thoughts:
- Q's are super useful for several reasons: 1) test your knowledge of stuff you thought you knew, but don't know too well 2) focus you on HY stuff 3) keep your interest after you're sick of reading FA
- Create a schedule and stick to it. You can change it, but just not often. PLAN some break/down time, or you'll feel like you should be studying constantly and that's not fun.
- Do an intelligent review of your weaknesses every week or two. I made a running list of stuff I knew I consistently didn't know and hammered it until I did (i.e. autonomics and their names, micro details, biochem etc)
- Do NBMEs, they seemed like good predictors
- Don't worry too much about USMLE World kicking your ass, apparently its ok (one other guy had similar trends as me).
- I didn't love Kaplan Qbank, though some did. I hear USMLE Rx is decent for extra Q's. Also Robbins Review, Utah Path online, and FA Q&A. I didn't use any of these but slightly regret dropping money on Kaplan given the other Q's out there.
-USMLE World is hands down the best, save it for the last 2-4 weeks depending on your schedule (4 for me). Definitely do other q's before just to get used to the format/test your knowledge.
- FA is pretty solid for most things, I really liked the lay out for pharm in each section and micro. Not so much for Neuro, some others.
- If you haven't memorized 95% of FA, you are missing HY stuff.
- I think spending time on Goljan selectively is very useful, esp if you've read it once or twice in school.
- Actual boards had some surprises (i.e. 3D cerebral arteriogram), but 90% was "expected".
- I still finished each section feeling unsure about 10+ Q's, and was onl so-so on time (usually had 5 mins to review).

Stress:
Slept like **** the night and few nights before, but its not the end of the world. Started taking a PPI 2 weeks out b/c I was drinking a lot of coffee/feeling stressed.

Test day:
There was literally an ammonia spill on the freeway, cops said I would not be allowed in the area of the test center all day. Calling NBME was useless -- they have "no protocol to deal with this type of situation". It was stressful to say the least but I got in there and hour late and was allowed to start b/c of the situation.

Took 5 min breaks after every break to pee, to some jumping jacks, sometimes cram food in my face. Little tough to keep concentration up late in the day. Took 50mg caffeine after most blocks so ended up having ~2 cups of coffee over the day (pretty much what I've always done in school/work).

Umm that's all I can really think of right now. Pretty thrilled to have exceeded my goals and not have to think about this ever again! Good luck everyone, I truly think more than any other standardized test, Step 1 is all about work/hours put in.

Don't underestimate pure brute force.

Feel free to email me w/ any Q's.

 

[bigtymer]

hey great post a few questions because i feel like im in the same situation as you were:
nbme 1 and 4 - 420 6 weeks out,
nbme 2 - 410 and nbme 3 - 460 4 weeks out

i saw that at about 3 weeks out getting that big jump in nbme 5 so im wondering is nbme 5 easier or better scored and what did you do to jump from that 208 - 238? thanks

 

[cleverwebb]

Scores just in: 250/99

I tried to do some NBME's like a couple of days before the exam, but I ran out of time, so I have no idea what I would've ended up scoring on the NBME--anyway, they struck me as kinda silly compared to UW, which, btw, is absolutely the CLOSEST thing to the real thing there is. Topics, style, difficulty*, even the program's interface.

UW: 65% complete, 86th percentile, 78% correct.

I wanted to do the whole thing and listen to all of Goljan's stuff, but I'm not what you would call "organized," so I ended up only listening to half of Goljan's. There's time during my third year, though, which is of the good.

(+, clearly, FA...and any reliable online source to fill in the blanks + some class notes here there, only cuz i'd spent the past year obsessively adding info from the interweb +/- harrisons/robbins).

UWorld is, by far, the BEST tool there is out there.

good luck!

*I'd call UW and the real thing identical were it not for the fact that on the real thing, they ask you things like "what does a chaperone protein do" and whatnot...which is MUCH too basic for something like UW.

(again with the luck-wishing)

 

[ENThopeful]

uworld is great, but dont forget to do the exams they have. I saw a few questions on the real thing. And to clarify, U world helps you think and get the wheels turning. The real deal is more like you know it or not. Thats why you have people saying things like there were Qs that were way easy and Qs that were real hard and little in between -> you know it or you don't.

 

[DRJJ1]

uworld is great, but dont forget to do the exams they have. I saw a few questions on the real thing. And to clarify, u world helps you think and get the wheels turning. The real deal is more like you know it or not. Thats why you have people saying things like there were qs that were way easy and qs that were real hard and little in between -> you know it or you don't.

anyone would like to sell their left over subscription to uworld? Email me

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

-- Overall, many people do very well on this exam. A 240+ means hard work and figuring out some of the particulars of this test. A 250+ means you did that PLUS some other X-factor. A 260+ means that you are just a baller - I'm thinking the people that pull this off are really working their butts off (in all the right ways) away from the arena, away from the spotlight. The 260+ crowd does not demand attention from their classmates. They're humble, efficient, and just get their crap done without ever whining about it. They're sure of themselves, respectful of others, and know how to buckle down during crunch time, and lick their wounds at all the right times.

Wish I could agree. Several of the biggest j*ck*sses in my class and the class below me are in the "260+ crowd" and have never hesitated to let people know that before, during, or after boards prep. I agree that to pull of a 260+ means smarts, dedication, and efficiency - but it unfortunately does not correlate well with a good attitude, lack of whining, or respect for others.

 

[majik1213]

Got my score on the 11th Feb: 245/99 ***ecstatic***

Other scores:
NBME 6 (prior to studying) - 194
UWSA 1 - 210
NBME 3 (2 weeks prior) - 226
UW SA 2 (5 days prior) - 249

194 ha you passed without studying

 

[silas09]

251 today (took it 8/28 after an ammonia spill on 101 made me an hour late). pretty effing nervous opening that page up!

I forget exactly but something like this:
6 weeks out NBME 4 - 208
4 weeks out NBME 3 - 208 (made me cry)
3 weeks out NBME 5 - 238 (dance)
2 weeks out US World 1 - 240 (wasn't sure what to think since i heard they are inflated)
10 days out free 150 q's - 243-7 (from wiki)
USMLE World 92% complete, 54% cum, 65% over last 500, 11 pts above the mean on the last 500 (sad to say tracked it on an excel graph)
Kaplan 75%, getting 50s I think -- only used it pretty early on, didn't like it too much

Books:
FA (contains 85-90% of everything in my opinion, but you might not notice every detail until you've read it 3-4x)
Goljan RR (read some chapters 3-4x including school, some probably zero, overall read through most of it at least once)
Goljan audio (listened once during school, another 2x during boards)
CMMRS (1x during school, another 1/2 during boards -- not sure if I consider this HY enough, I'd consider just FA b/c the format is really good supplemented by USMLE World answers and/or Microcards)
Immuno -- that section referenced by FA, found it online
Costanzo Phys (annotated from it loosely, used it as a reference later on, I prefer the big one but same difference)
HY Neuro (really liked this book during school, still do, just used it as reference for a few areas like pathways, etc.)

Schedule:
My school does a very poor job at prepping us and to be fair I probably didn't study as hard as I should have on some subjects (though others I did know well), so I needed more than 4 weeks cramming or I'd have been in big trouble. I started very casually about 3 months out, doing maybe 5-10 hours/week, then about 10 weeks out ramped up to 30-40 hours, probably closer to 60-70 towards the end (8-12 hours/day 7 days a week).

A bunch of people told me "there's no point in starting too early, you just burn out and forget". At least for me that was horse****. Know your honest strengths and weaknesses and don't be afraid to study hard for 8, 10 even 14 weeks. It sucks, but "burn out" is just in your head...

Thoughts:
- Q's are super useful for several reasons: 1) test your knowledge of stuff you thought you knew, but don't know too well 2) focus you on HY stuff 3) keep your interest after you're sick of reading FA
- Create a schedule and stick to it. You can change it, but just not often. PLAN some break/down time, or you'll feel like you should be studying constantly and that's not fun.
- Do an intelligent review of your weaknesses every week or two. I made a running list of stuff I knew I consistently didn't know and hammered it until I did (i.e. autonomics and their names, micro details, biochem etc)
- Do NBMEs, they seemed like good predictors
- Don't worry too much about USMLE World kicking your ass, apparently its ok (one other guy had similar trends as me).
- I didn't love Kaplan Qbank, though some did. I hear USMLE Rx is decent for extra Q's. Also Robbins Review, Utah Path online, and FA Q&A. I didn't use any of these but slightly regret dropping money on Kaplan given the other Q's out there.
-USMLE World is hands down the best, save it for the last 2-4 weeks depending on your schedule (4 for me). Definitely do other q's before just to get used to the format/test your knowledge.
- FA is pretty solid for most things, I really liked the lay out for pharm in each section and micro. Not so much for Neuro, some others.
- If you haven't memorized 95% of FA, you are missing HY stuff.
- I think spending time on Goljan selectively is very useful, esp if you've read it once or twice in school.
- Actual boards had some surprises (i.e. 3D cerebral arteriogram), but 90% was "expected".
- I still finished each section feeling unsure about 10+ Q's, and was onl so-so on time (usually had 5 mins to review).

Stress:
Slept like **** the night and few nights before, but its not the end of the world. Started taking a PPI 2 weeks out b/c I was drinking a lot of coffee/feeling stressed.

Test day:
There was literally an ammonia spill on the freeway, cops said I would not be allowed in the area of the test center all day. Calling NBME was useless -- they have "no protocol to deal with this type of situation". It was stressful to say the least but I got in there and hour late and was allowed to start b/c of the situation.

Took 5 min breaks after every break to pee, to some jumping jacks, sometimes cram food in my face. Little tough to keep concentration up late in the day. Took 50mg caffeine after most blocks so ended up having ~2 cups of coffee over the day (pretty much what I've always done in school/work).

Umm that's all I can really think of right now. Pretty thrilled to have exceeded my goals and not have to think about this ever again! Good luck everyone, I truly think more than any other standardized test, Step 1 is all about work/hours put in.

Don't underestimate pure brute force.

Feel free to email me w/ any Q's.

Dear Brother,
thanks for your kind invitation.
Brother, I need to know when I should subscribe for USMLEWORLD ? that is Should I start to practise Questions from it without having completed the review of all the Subjects ?
Like for example, I am to take Step 1 in about 2 months time and I have completed pathology Review now , So should I start to practise Pathology Questions from USwrld or should I start to do so only after completing review of all the subjects.
I need your kind advice in this regard.
Thanking you Dear for your assistance .

 

[44466]

Hi guys...I figured I would post some advice that hopefully can be of help. Hopefully someone can gain something from it. I took my exam on June 9 this year, and got my score a while back, but I figured this could still be helpful.

First off, let me preface this by saying that you should take what I say with a grain of salt. Find what works for you and use that if it suits you better. The only thing I would definitely say is that there is no replacement for doing well in coursework. The reason I say this is b/c I strongly believe you should always prioritize class work over Step studying – even in the last month or so of second year. This ends up paying huge dividends for Step 1 preparation. You need to learn the material in class first before you can use a review book or study for Step 1.

Random tips/suggestions:
Don't be like me and worry about only having the 6 weeks of studying. I'd say the optimal amount of time for me was around 5 to 6 weeks.

Don't spread yourself thin with too many sources. I felt that First Aid 2009 and USMLE World (question bank) are the winning combination. It's not how many you use – more how well you use the resources.

Doctors In Training course is not necessary in my opinion. People like to talk about it like it's absolutely necessary, but don't feel bad if you don't do it. I didn't use the course and ended up doing fine. I'm not going to slam the course or anything, but I just felt like I would rather come up with my own study plan. I go to a one of the Texas medical schools, and so a lot of people I know did this course. They liked it a lot fwiw.

What i used to see what other people were doing to prepare…some of the people on SDN site are friggin nuts with regards to their prep schedule and books, so don't be scared like I was when I would read some of the stuff on this thread...haha.

If you are looking for a free question bank when you have downtime in between lectures…try this out…but don't use it as a primary resource by any means:
http://wikitestprep.org/


Best Resources:
First Aid – went through it about 4 times total. Don't feel pressured to annotate into it if you don't have time during the year. Started kind of using after Winter break for Renal block, but then stopped. Went through most of it once over Spring Break and then 3-4 times over the study period. I would suggest starting off with Biochem and Micro/Immuno sections earlier since they have mostly rote memorization.

USMLE World – I got 3 months free from the school. I went through ~90% of the question bank. I started this about 5 weeks from the exam date and thought it was awesome. I would never have bought Kaplan and finished the last 10% of this and then gone through the ones I got wrong again if I had the time. I read every question explanation and annotated into First Aid as I saw fit. You will see questions from here that are almost the exact same on your Step. Use it as a learning tool and don't freak out about your percentages. I would do random, timed blocks of 48 per hour and then review every single question explanation – did this after dinner to finish off my night. Took me about 3-4 hours per block of 48. This is something that is best done in the last 6 weeks before Step, because it integrates things together. USMLE World Scores: avg 74%, started in low 60%, got to 80-85% per block before exam.

BRS Physiology – not something I would necessarily use during the last 6 weeks, but something I would definitely use during 1st year physiology and maybe rapidly read before each corresponding pathology block to refresh the physiology relatively quickly.

NBME Exams – I only did NBME 5. Probably the most accurate way to assess your progress. If your school doesn't give you a CBSE exam (see below), you should do one of these to see where you are at.

CBSE – this is basically an NBME exam that the school administers it after Spring Break to assess how well you know the material. It will give you an estimated score and show you the section performance break down. The reason I say this is an awesome b/c it gives you an idea of where you are beginning.

Other Resources:

Kaplan Q-bank – I would only buy this if you want to burn through a question bank before doing USMLE World. You're better off making two passes through USMLE World than going through this - I stopped using after about 500 questions. USMLE World "gets" how the Step asks questions/why they ask questions. Kaplan, while informative in many aspects, simply asks questions in a poor manner and the material isn't as high yield. Again, it is best to use this probably through the year, if you really wanted to do that sort of thing – if that is the case, perhaps you should consider USMLERx.

Goljan Rapid Review/Goljan Audio – some people swear by it, but I think that it drastically over-hyped. Use it if you want, but I think it ends up being overkill at times. If I could do it over again, I might just listen to the audio throughout the year. I attempted to use it, but found it to be too much to do with class stuff. During Step preparation I read like only 5 or 6 chapters and thought I ended up wasting time doing that....I will probably get blasted for even saying that!

Clinical Micro Made Ridiculously Simple & Microcards – best if used only during the school year…don't recommend using these during last 6 weeks…just know Micro section of First Aid dead cold!

Study Schedule (my advice to yall in retrospect):
1st year – strictly focus on class, read BRS Physiology
Summer – don't study much, at most just review physiology, biochem, anatomy/embryo stuff in FA
2nd year – focus on classes, start studying by spending at most 1-2 hours a week before Spring Break, use CBSE to assess where you are at.
Spring Break – make a pass through First Aid if you can, go at your own pace to understand the material, look stuff up if you need to. This is a low pressure time during which you can spend time and understand the material.
Spring Break until end of 2nd year – focus on classes, maintain minimal Step 1 studying if you can, plan your 6 weeks of study time.
6 weeks of Step Studying – plan it out, set aside time to take a break at least half a day every week.

Last things...have some faith in yourself and realize the BEST thing you can do is to do well in your first two years. It really takes the stress off of preparing if you can start off strong.

Day before the exam - don't go too hardcore, I studied till 9:00 PM which was a huge mistake - the best thing I did that to prepare for the Step was watching a little bit of TV before I attempted to go to sleep. Go to bed on time...I couldn't sleep much cause I was nervous which was really unnecessary in retrospect.

Day of exam - don't stress and if you do it will be gone by the time you finish your first block; don't worry about stuff you haven't seen before, it's gonna happen inevitably, just answer and move on. Pack more food than you need and plan your break times out.

Best of luck! Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions - I'd be more than happy to answer them if I check this thing.

Exam date: June 9th
USMLE Score: 261/99

 

[512TA]

congrats!!

 

[satcool]

Amazing scores! Congrats everyone

 

[Noeljan]

study time: took 10 weeks but really only was productive for about 5 weeks (advice to future takers: you may burn out after the 5 week point, adding more time simply adds stress and anxiety)
sources: USMLEWorld!!!!! best source out there. Important: I almost never ever timed myself. I did do some timed, but usually went very slowly in tutor mode reading explanations. It helped me learn a lot. Don't agree with people who claim you need to do everything mixed and timed. If you don't know the material untimed forcing yourself to "get through" everything timed wont do anything for you IMO
Qbank: used slowly during 2nd semester second year., Tried to do about 12-20 questions per day. Once summer came around I ditched Q bank and mostly used world
LANGE FLASHCARDS!!! another of my favorites for path. Started using 2nd year along with classes
Goljan: listened to him a few times through on 2 speed. Started 2nd year
BRS path: another great source. I did NOT use RR Path (it was too one liner with no story, however I have friends who loved it)
Bootleg goljan pics while listening to lectures (sometimes)
BRS physio (didnt use as much as I would have liked)
Kaplan videos: on 2 speed: biochem (good but slightly deficient on mechanisms); some of the pharm videos; some of the path videos
First Aid: most sections read numerous times (although some I never read like parasites) and I NEVER annotated anything. However if watching videos I would write stuff because it helps me remember things
Lastly: do well in second year. Try to learn as much as you can. I didn't believe it. I heard all the naysayers about how first two years dont matter. Well it helped me in that desperate situation. I got ZERO sleep the night before after taking an ambien I must have drew upon something during that test (probably having a decent foundation from year two and doing all of Uworld)
score: greater than 255
also, I did a bunch of NBME's. The questions are easier than world, but the curve is less generous. Just remember people take them multiple times. I also used a modified TAUS program. I never had a set schedule, but tried to read the suggested topics from each book that went together from BRS path and FA for the first two weeks when I felt like doing that topic. I think it helped.

advice: dont get too nervous about anyone else's routine, though it helps to have a friend to vent to that knows what you are going though. Also, I NEVER had a schedule which really really stressed me out, when you realize all these people have picture perfect schedules. Inside you know what is right for you so trust it. I scored higher on the real deal than any of my practice tests (I think I had like a 255 on the free 150) even though it is mad easier you can do even better. Don't let anyone bring down your confidence! Most people I know got the same or better than their practices.

 

[Noeljan]

one more thing
I bought DIT. I only ended up watching 4 lectures or so. I thought it was good but wayyy to slow. If there was a speeder up option I would have probably used it a lot more.

 

[milandpatel7]

I am IMG from India

Exam Date 12th oct 09
Prep start 1 st may 09
NBME 1 4 month out 219/ 500
NBME 2 3 month out 233/ 575
NBME 3 2.5 month out 240/ 600
NBME 5 2 months out 249/ 650
Done UWORLD random 77%, 100% complete for 1 month
During halfway through uworld did USMLE practice test got 90%
NBME 4 1 month out after finishing uworld 261/ 750
NBME 6 15 days out 259/ 730

Test Day : Exam was delayed for 1 hour due to software problem
I felt confused after finishing exam , I don't know how much answers I ve given correct. Exam was relatively easy as compared to uworld but still there were many question that I ve never heard of.
I m little tensed dont know what to expect as a score.
Please help me guys

 

[owleyes]

If you take your exam on the Friday, do the scores come back three Wednesdays later? Could anyone who took it on a Friday help me out? thanks!

 

[HazomboL]

Hi guys! It's inspiring to read all your stories.

I am sitting for the exam in 40 days.

I benefited a lot from Step II's counterpart of this thread.. I was wondering why you guys stopped posting your stories? I think it's the most useful thing one can read prior to his exams.. you can compare your current performance to the performance of people who scored like your targeted score..


Please resume sending your stories!

Really appreciate it!

 

[countthestars]

I was wondering why you guys stopped posting your stories?

Because most American students take their exams around June/July and have already gotten their scores back. Gotta wait till the next slew of 2nd years to take the exam and recount their stories (which will be June-Sept of next year). You'll be hearing from me in July or so when I am done taking the test.

 

[desout777]

..

 

[milandpatel7]

got my score 99/252

I am IMG from India

Exam Date 12th oct 09
Prep start 1 st may 09
NBME 1 4 month out 219/ 500
NBME 2 3 month out 233/ 575
NBME 3 2.5 month out 240/ 600
NBME 5 2 months out 249/ 650
Done UWORLD random 77%, 100% complete for 1 month
During halfway through uworld did USMLE practice test got 90%
NBME 4 1 month out after finishing uworld 261/ 750
NBME 6 15 days out 259/ 730

Test Day : Exam was delayed for 1 hour due to software problem
I felt confused after finishing exam , I don't know how much answers I ve given correct. Exam was relatively easy as compared to uworld but still there were many question that I ve never heard of.
I m little tensed dont know what to expect as a score.
Please help me guys

 

[allymunro]

Hi,
I'm a final year UK medical student and got my result back yesterday. Completely astonished and feel I must have got very lucky with questions that played to my strengths!

Stats
NBME 5 = 231 (april)
UWSA1 = 232 (9/20)
NBME 4 = 244 (9/30)
UWSA2 = 258 (10/06)
NBME 6= 255 (10/13)
Free 150= 249(10/13)
UWORLD average = 73% completed on 10/13 and then went through all the incorrect questions until I got them right. All done the first time on timed, random, unseen 48Q blocks.

Actual = 271/99 (10/16)

Materials
Pre-USMLE studying (in march-june while working alongside some light clinical responsibilities for my schools exams in June which covered pathology, micro, immuno, genetics even though this was after 2 clinical years)
-Robbins Basic Pathology
-Robins Review of Pathology (did all questions at least once)
-Underwoods Basic and Systematic Pathology
-BRS Pathology
-Crash course Pathology
-Lectures notes from our lecture courses
-Webpath - did all questions 2-3 times
-Essential Haematology
-Mim's Medical Microbiology (only used a bit - we had good school notes)
-Immunology made easy (only used a bit - wasn't a big part of our exams)
-Clinical chemistry (great for acid-base, electrolytes etc which was what I needed for my school exams - but literally no mention of lysosomal storage disaeases for example)
USMLE dedicated 4 week study time
-First Aid 2009!!
-USMLE world!!!
-Slight use of BRS Physiology (1 day)
-Slight use of Lippincotts Biochem (half a day)
-Slight use of HY Heart and Lung (half a day on each)

Study Techniques (sorry if this is too British specific for most US students)

- Between March and June (and a bit from december onwards), I read the above books and made pages and pages of notes. I then studied from these notes alongside the books coming up to the exams. By the time the exams came I felt comfortable with practically every page of Robbin's Basic Pathology. I wonder if our school exams which included an essay paper worth a third of our mark really helped make me learn the material well. We were asked 7 essay questions (20mins for each) on ANY topic on path, micro, immuno or genetics. This meant that a good UNDERSTANDING (rather than just being able to respond to mcqs) was essential. Oh, and I took NBME 5 just to see where I was with Step 1 knowledge about three quarters of the way through my studying.

-I then did not study at all (I had other things going on) until mid-august and then just 45mins per day until mid-september.

-Mid-september to mid-october.
I had more or less nothing else I needed to do during this time other than study and worked normally from 8am-9.30pm with multiple breaks through the day. I worked in a college library and so at least every 1.5hrs would go and have a cup of tea.
I worked my way through all of USMLE world on timed, random, unseen and then took my time going through all the explanations and annotating them in to First Aid. I also read through First Aid reading no more than a chapter per day (some chapters only twice, others more).
I found that I didn't look back at the approx 2/5 that I'd covered in the spring and that UWorld was enough jog my memory. The 2/5 I'd covered during pre-clinical (years 1 and 2 of my 6 year course) I used First Aid and UWorld, and then dipped a bit into the above books. I suppose we learnt it quite well the first time but when I started studying, pre-clinical seemed a long time ago. I found relearning all of this much much easier than the first time as I think the clinical experience I've had since made lots of it seem to make more sense. The 1/5 that I felt I'd never learnt (ie lysosomal storage diseases, lots of the insanely detailed micro, quite a bit of the other biochem, some of the behavioural sciences) I again used UWorld and First Aid to learn.
I did the above tests as I went along. Each time I improved I was surprised but reassured as I didn't feel that I was making much progress.

-Last 5 days
I carried on studying until about 30mins before the test (I find it relaxing to have things in front of me that are so familiar and this has always how I've been before big exams).
I made sure to get at least 8 hours sleep per night that week. To be honest I was soooo fed up with the whole thing by the last night that I slept pretty well as I was happy it would be over the next day.

I'll write about my exam experience later today!

 

[512TA]

Hi,
I'm a final year UK medical student and got my result back yesterday. Completely astonished and feel I must have got very lucky with questions that played to my strengths!

Stats
NBME 5 = 231 (april)
UWSA1 = 232 (9/20)
NBME 4 = 244 (9/30)
UWSA2 = 258 (10/06)
NBME 6= 255 (10/13)
Free 150= 249(10/13)
UWORLD average = 73% completed on 10/13 and then went through all the incorrect questions until I got them right. All done the first time on timed, random, unseen 48Q blocks.

Actual = 271/99 (10/16)

Materials
Pre-USMLE studying (in march-june while working alongside some light clinical responsibilities for my schools exams in June which covered pathology, micro, immuno, genetics even though this was after 2 clinical years)
-Robbins Basic Pathology
-Robins Review of Pathology (did all questions at least once)
-Underwoods Basic and Systematic Pathology
-BRS Pathology
-Crash course Pathology
-Lectures notes from our lecture courses
-Webpath - did all questions 2-3 times
-Essential Haematology
-Mim's Medical Microbiology (only used a bit - we had good school notes)
-Immunology made easy (only used a bit - wasn't a big part of our exams)
-Clinical chemistry (great for acid-base, electrolytes etc which was what I needed for my school exams - but literally no mention of lysosomal storage disaeases for example)
USMLE dedicated 4 week study time
-First Aid 2009!!
-USMLE world!!!
-Slight use of BRS Physiology (1 day)
-Slight use of Lippincotts Biochem (half a day)
-Slight use of HY Heart and Lung (half a day on each)

Study Techniques (sorry if this is too British specific for most US students)

- Between March and June (and a bit from december onwards), I read the above books and made pages and pages of notes. I then studied from these notes alongside the books coming up to the exams. By the time the exams came I felt comfortable with practically every page of Robbin's Basic Pathology. I wonder if our school exams which included an essay paper worth a third of our mark really helped make me learn the material well. We were asked 7 essay questions (20mins for each) on ANY topic on path, micro, immuno or genetics. This meant that a good UNDERSTANDING (rather than just being able to respond to mcqs) was essential. Oh, and I took NBME 5 just to see where I was with Step 1 knowledge about three quarters of the way through my studying.

-I then did not study at all (I had other things going on) until mid-august and then just 45mins per day until mid-september.

-Mid-september to mid-october.
I had more or less nothing else I needed to do during this time other than study and worked normally from 8am-9.30pm with multiple breaks through the day. I worked in a college library and so at least every 1.5hrs would go and have a cup of tea.
I worked my way through all of USMLE world on timed, random, unseen and then took my time going through all the explanations and annotating them in to First Aid. I also read through First Aid reading no more than a chapter per day (some chapters only twice, others more).
I found that I didn't look back at the approx 2/5 that I'd covered in the spring and that UWorld was enough jog my memory. The 2/5 I'd covered during pre-clinical (years 1 and 2 of my 6 year course) I used First Aid and UWorld, and then dipped a bit into the above books. I suppose we learnt it quite well the first time but when I started studying, pre-clinical seemed a long time ago. I found relearning all of this much much easier than the first time as I think the clinical experience I've had since made lots of it seem to make more sense. The 1/5 that I felt I'd never learnt (ie lysosomal storage diseases, lots of the insanely detailed micro, quite a bit of the other biochem, some of the behavioural sciences) I again used UWorld and First Aid to learn.
I did the above tests as I went along. Each time I improved I was surprised but reassured as I didn't feel that I was making much progress.

-Last 5 days
I carried on studying until about 30mins before the test (I find it relaxing to have things in front of me that are so familiar and this has always how I've been before big exams).
I made sure to get at least 8 hours sleep per night that week. To be honest I was soooo fed up with the whole thing by the last night that I slept pretty well as I was happy it would be over the next day.

I'll write about my exam experience later today!

 

[Captopril]

Hi,
I'm a final year UK medical student and got my result back yesterday. Completely astonished and feel I must have got very lucky with questions that played to my strengths!

Stats
NBME 5 = 231 (april)
UWSA1 = 232 (9/20)
NBME 4 = 244 (9/30)
UWSA2 = 258 (10/06)
NBME 6= 255 (10/13)
Free 150= 249(10/13)
UWORLD average = 73% completed on 10/13 and then went through all the incorrect questions until I got them right. All done the first time on timed, random, unseen 48Q blocks.

Actual = 271/99 (10/16)

Materials
Pre-USMLE studying (in march-june while working alongside some light clinical responsibilities for my schools exams in June which covered pathology, micro, immuno, genetics even though this was after 2 clinical years)
-Robbins Basic Pathology
-Robins Review of Pathology (did all questions at least once)
-Underwoods Basic and Systematic Pathology
-BRS Pathology
-Crash course Pathology
-Lectures notes from our lecture courses
-Webpath - did all questions 2-3 times
-Essential Haematology
-Mim's Medical Microbiology (only used a bit - we had good school notes)
-Immunology made easy (only used a bit - wasn't a big part of our exams)
-Clinical chemistry (great for acid-base, electrolytes etc which was what I needed for my school exams - but literally no mention of lysosomal storage disaeases for example)
USMLE dedicated 4 week study time
-First Aid 2009!!
-USMLE world!!!
-Slight use of BRS Physiology (1 day)
-Slight use of Lippincotts Biochem (half a day)
-Slight use of HY Heart and Lung (half a day on each)

Study Techniques (sorry if this is too British specific for most US students)

- Between March and June (and a bit from december onwards), I read the above books and made pages and pages of notes. I then studied from these notes alongside the books coming up to the exams. By the time the exams came I felt comfortable with practically every page of Robbin's Basic Pathology. I wonder if our school exams which included an essay paper worth a third of our mark really helped make me learn the material well. We were asked 7 essay questions (20mins for each) on ANY topic on path, micro, immuno or genetics. This meant that a good UNDERSTANDING (rather than just being able to respond to mcqs) was essential. Oh, and I took NBME 5 just to see where I was with Step 1 knowledge about three quarters of the way through my studying.

-I then did not study at all (I had other things going on) until mid-august and then just 45mins per day until mid-september.

-Mid-september to mid-october.
I had more or less nothing else I needed to do during this time other than study and worked normally from 8am-9.30pm with multiple breaks through the day. I worked in a college library and so at least every 1.5hrs would go and have a cup of tea.
I worked my way through all of USMLE world on timed, random, unseen and then took my time going through all the explanations and annotating them in to First Aid. I also read through First Aid reading no more than a chapter per day (some chapters only twice, others more).
I found that I didn't look back at the approx 2/5 that I'd covered in the spring and that UWorld was enough jog my memory. The 2/5 I'd covered during pre-clinical (years 1 and 2 of my 6 year course) I used First Aid and UWorld, and then dipped a bit into the above books. I suppose we learnt it quite well the first time but when I started studying, pre-clinical seemed a long time ago. I found relearning all of this much much easier than the first time as I think the clinical experience I've had since made lots of it seem to make more sense. The 1/5 that I felt I'd never learnt (ie lysosomal storage diseases, lots of the insanely detailed micro, quite a bit of the other biochem, some of the behavioural sciences) I again used UWorld and First Aid to learn.
I did the above tests as I went along. Each time I improved I was surprised but reassured as I didn't feel that I was making much progress.

-Last 5 days
I carried on studying until about 30mins before the test (I find it relaxing to have things in front of me that are so familiar and this has always how I've been before big exams).
I made sure to get at least 8 hours sleep per night that week. To be honest I was soooo fed up with the whole thing by the last night that I slept pretty well as I was happy it would be over the next day.

I'll write about my exam experience later today!

271?!?! Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[adit15]

Im thinking of getting the Kaplan Lecture notes series, which costs an exorbitant amount of money... but that's med school i guess. I was wondering what people thought about it? I was planning on reading it through and using it as a basis w/ FA. I heard that the lecture notes are based of class videos. Will it matter if those books are used to study w/o the videos? Any help appreciated it!

 

[McGillGrad]

271?!?! Pics or it didn't happen.

He's in his final year of med school. It's 5 years in the UK, so I hope he scored well on step 1.

 

[RenshawCell]

NBME 1: 195 (before end of finals)
NBME 4: 201 (8 weeks out before starting)
NBME 2: 203 (5 weeks out after 6 days of studying)
NBME 3: 214 (4 weeks out after 2 weeks of studying)
NBME 5: 209 & UW Simulated 1: 224 (3 weeks out after 3 weeks studying)
NBME 6: 223 (2 weeks to go)
UW Simulated 2: 232 (1 week to go)
Free 150: 79% -- estimated 237 (day before)

Took the step and waiting for the results now.

The exam interface was exactly like USMLEworld and that was a huge comforting factor. I was prepared for the long duration because I did 150-200 UW questions (tutor/blocks of 48) every day for 2 weeks. I finished around 6000-7000 practice questions during my review process.

The exam was similar in difficulty to UW for 50% and then dropped in difficulty to NBME 1 and the Free 150 for the majority of the rest.

My exam had a great deal of Pharm, Neuro, Behavioural and Anatomy. I marked about 10-15 questions per block and mostly had enough time to review most of them. I have never had issues with time, and I was finishing with less than 5 minutes, on average, per block.

The most useful tools were Goljan Audio, UW, RR and the Taus method for refreshing the first two year's material. There were 1-2 word-for-word from the free 150 and UW nailed 10-15 questions and was a great help with many other questions.

Do not neglect FA-level Anatomy or BRS-level Behavioral because those made up a good chunk of the non-3-P questions, Pharm/Path/Physio. There was basic biochem, cell bio and a good amount of Endocrine. Micro was okay and Immuno made up a good deal, too.

Time Frame:
8-9 weeks

Schedule:
Taus Method, Goljan Audio for last two weeks

Stats:
All of USMLErx: 65%
All of UW two times: 66% first time during basic sciences, 79% second time in the last two weeks

 

[genius19]

I have never posted on this forum before, but wanted to contribute because I felt it has been very helpful to me in the past year. Just a little background: I got to a US med school, and began immediately after college.

For my prep I enrolled in Kaplan's intense prep and went to classes for biochem, immuno/micro, pharm and path. The classes took about 3 weeks and then I had 3 weeks to study on my own. Looking back, I think the Kaplan classes were excellent (especially biochem and path - Barone is amazing and got me some points on the test).

While I was taking the classes (which were some looong days) I would come home and try to review as much of the material as I could, then do Kaplan Q bank questions for at least an hour based on that subject. I didn't really find questions to be very helpful at that time. It was good just to start becoming familiar with questions in general, but I can't say I learned a lot that way at first. I began USMLE world after Kaplan classes were over and loved it. Here are my numbers:
USMLE world 100% complete, finished with a 70% cumulative (started out in the mid 60's, was in the mid 70's the last 15 blocks or so).
NBME 1 about 3 weeks into studying: 236
free 150 at the Prometric site: 249.
NBME 5:223
NBME 4 one week before the real test: 236 again. I was kind of bummed my scores on the NBMEs were not going up, but I did my best not to let it bother me and kept moving. My goal is to score above 240.

Path: I used Rapid review throughout the year, and listened to Goljan's audio too. However, I thought Dr. Barone did a wonderful job with path during Kaplan's classes. I was able to rapidly recall all of that info on my exam which was helpful. He doesn't get through everything though, so I used rapid review to cover the rest of the material.
Micro: We had Dr. Ruebush for micro during kaplan. I really liked her mnemonics, especially for which viruses are dsDNA, ssRNA, etc. I transferred most of my notes to CMMRS and used the charts to study.
Biochem: Kaplan brought in Dr. Turco for this - I thought he did a fantastic job. The kaplan biochem book is really great. I tried to also use the First aid section, but in retrospect I think just sticking to Kaplan would have been a time saver.
Immuno: Again, Dr. Ruebush. I thought this subject (which only took a day) was taught extremely well. I also really liked Kaplan's book for this, and that was all I used.
Physio: I didn't attend these Kaplan lectures, mostly because the book was gigantic and by that time i was tired of sitting in class. I just read my beloved BRS physio, and that was fine. I think UWorld's physio questions were the most representative of the real exam - take time to make sure you know how those arrow questions play out.
Behavioral/Biostats: I started out using HY behavioral sciences, which was great for the behavioral material. For some reason, I was struggling with the biostats questions, so I listened to a few of the Kaplan lectures online. Very helpful for me to hear some of those concepts out loud.
Pharm: I thought Kaplan's pharm was great (Dr. Davis). That was all I used again.
Neuro: I tend to have trouble with this subject, but forced myself to spend a lot of time re-learning material from neuroanatomy during my 2nd year neuro module. This was so helpful to me during boards studying, because it was fresh in my mind. I liked Kaplan's neuroanatomy section (within the gross anatomy book) and mostly used that, along with some HY neuro pages here and there.
First Aid: Looking back, i wish I had just tossed first aid. Yea, it was helpful to have a "list" of topics that you had to know, but I htink I became too obsessed with getting all of my notes into there.

Test day: I got there very early. I was sooo happy I had taken a practice test there first. It really helped me to be familiar with the site/bathrooms and surroundings. I started the tutorial, skipped to the page that tests the headphones and just did that, then skipped to first block of questions.

Overall Impression: I don't really know what to think. My first block was so hard, I thought I was going to throw up. I could feel my heart beating through my chest, and I tagged at least 20 questions to come back to. I don't even remember what was on it thought, so oh well. I took a break immediately after, went to the bathroom and gave myself a little pep talk. I came back and the next block was better. I did: block, break, block, break, 2 blocks, break for lunch, 2 blocks, break, then last block (also killer). I was very pushed for time, like most everyone else who has written here. I had 3 heart sounds questions, all hard, probably got all wrong. I had no idea what I was even listening to, and i had actually prepared and listend to the UCLA site.

Path: I think this was the majority of the test (can you tell how I'm trying to block out the experience). Some of the questions were very basic and I was kind of shocked that they were asking it that way. Others were bizarre, and I was positive that what they were asking was NO WHERE in rapid review or anywhere in my 2nd year path course. I had a lot of cardio questions, a topic I am usually good at, and I thought some of them were very difficult.
Physio: A lot of straight up physio... some were just like USMLEworld - arrows arrows.
Gross Anatomy: I had a good amount of gross anatomy. Some uterus questions, some on topics that I knew cold like rotator cuff, but the way the showed the picture and labels had me stumped.
Immuno: Probably 10-15 total. I recall one about myeloid/lymphoid precursors, another that showed up THREE times, and of course i got wrong 3 times... nice.
Biochem: I had a few that I recall - tetrahydrobiopterin... one about insulin/adipose.
Pharm: Probably less than 10. I was shocked. I had really studied this and the questions I did have were pretty basic.
Micro: Ughh. I did not expect micro to kill me. but it was. They asked about toxins/antibodies that I didn't even know existed. And I still don't kow what they are because I did look that up, and it was nowhere to be found.
Behavioral: I had a good number of behavioral questions, some of them were repeated. Not that many sensitivity/specificity. One PPV.
Neuro: I had about 10 neuro questions probably. I actually found myself calming down with those since I had spent so much time going through it. For all those studying the brainstem cross sections and disorders - i had one on my test! hooray.


I feel very uneasy about my performance. I was really stretched for time, and think I could have done better if I had time to figure out the questions. But the time crunch made it seem like I had to rapidly recall every answer, otherwise I had to move on. It was jarring. I will post my score when I get it. For now, deep breaths and a few days off.

Step 1 score: 241/99 (SO happy)

can you say about how many questions u were unsure of / marked during the exam ?

 

[genius19]

It seems everybody on this forum is of the opinion that
FA+ RR path + UW = 250 + score in step 1 . Is there any need to study volumnious books like Robbins or Rubin Path and Ganong physio

 

[bambi]

He's in his final year of med school. It's 5 years in the UK, so I hope he scored well on step 1.

Yeah so hasn't touched basic sciences for 3 years which makes it a lot harder!

 

[McGillGrad]

Yeah so hasn't touched basic sciences for 3 years which makes it a lot harder!

Basic sciences surround you every day on the wards. If that isn't clear whilst you do your rotations, then you should re-evaluate your academic focus.

 

[nogolfinsnow]

It seems everybody on this forum is of the opinion that
FA+ RR path + UW = 250 + score in step 1 . Is there any need to study volumnious books like Robbins or Rubin Path and Ganong physio

Voluminous books are for the school year to give you a strong foundation. Board review books are for board review. There is no reason to read Robbins in the 4 weeks leading up to Step 1. If you like Robbins, it's great for 2nd year pathology.

 

[bambi]

Basic sciences surround you every day on the wards. If that isn't clear whilst you do your rotations, then you should re-evaluate your academic focus.

It's not the same and you know it. Why can't you just say "well done"?

 

[werd]

271 is the highest i've heard of on step 1. i know at least 2 ppl that have >270 on step 2, but not for step 1. props.

 

[RenshawCell]

USMLE Step 1: 240/99

I cannot stress doing practice questions enough, especially UW.

NBME 1: 195 (before end of finals)
NBME 4: 201 (8 weeks out before starting)
NBME 2: 203 (5 weeks out after 6 days of studying)
NBME 3: 214 (4 weeks out after 2 weeks of studying)
NBME 5: 209 & UW Simulated 1: 224 (3 weeks out after 3 weeks studying)
NBME 6: 223 (2 weeks to go)
UW Simulated 2: 232 (1 week to go)
Free 150: 79% -- estimated 237 (day before)

Took the step and waiting for the results now.

The exam interface was exactly like USMLEworld and that was a huge comforting factor. I was prepared for the long duration because I did 150-200 UW questions (tutor/blocks of 48) every day for 2 weeks. I finished around 6000-7000 practice questions during my review process.

The exam was similar in difficulty to UW for 50% and then dropped in difficulty to NBME 1 and the Free 150 for the majority of the rest.

My exam had a great deal of Pharm, Neuro, Behavioural and Anatomy. I marked about 10-15 questions per block and mostly had enough time to review most of them. I have never had issues with time, and I was finishing with less than 5 minutes, on average, per block.

The most useful tools were Goljan Audio, UW, RR and the Taus method for refreshing the first two year's material. There were 1-2 word-for-word from the free 150 and UW nailed 10-15 questions and was a great help with many other questions.

Do not neglect FA-level Anatomy or BRS-level Behavioral because those made up a good chunk of the non-3-P questions, Pharm/Path/Physio. There was basic biochem, cell bio and a good amount of Endocrine. Micro was okay and Immuno made up a good deal, too.

Time Frame:
8-9 weeks

Schedule:
Taus Method, Goljan Audio for last two weeks

Stats:
All of USMLErx: 65%
All of UW two times: 66% first time during basic sciences, 79% second time in the last two weeks

 

[psu07]

Hey guys,

So i took the darn exam yesterday and it was tougher than I thought. The question stems were long and rather than have the stems give u more clues to what the answer might be, they would throw in things to choose a totally different answer. I came out of that exam feeling like crap and just hoping for a pass? is that normal? do other people feel that way? now im really anxious about my score.

anyways here are my stats:

uworld: 75% timed unused
nbme 1: 229
nbme 5: 249
uswa 2: 258
nbme 2: 253

i know these are good practice scores, but after that exam i feel skeptical. is it normal to feel this way?

 

[salimdmc]

Dear all.
I took my exam today, but will keep my finger crossed until my score arrive about my performance.
All I will say is Goljan, FA and off course UW must have have some persons in NMBE who guide them exactly what will appear in exam. Goljan high yield notes ( i did not used the rapid review which have no high yeild sections and no usmle senarios ) and USMLE WORLD are just flushing the actual questions of USMLE step 1 before the actual exam!!! believe me!!! Goljan is teaching as if he is the real questioner of exam and WU is like stealing most of the real question from USMLE. even some exact graphs and figures in USMLE world appeared in my real exam. I could not believe it!
bye and keep in touch.

 

[DRJJ1]

dear all.
I took my exam today, but will keep my finger crossed until my score arrive about my performance.
All i will say is goljan, fa and off course uw must have have some persons in nmbe who guide them exactly what will appear in exam. Goljan high yield notes ( i did not used the rapid review which have no high yeild sections and no usmle senarios ) and usmle world are just flushing the actual questions of usmle step 1 before the actual exam!!! Believe me!!! Goljan is teaching as if he is the real questioner of exam and wu is like stealing most of the real question from usmle. Even some exact graphs and figures in usmle world appeared in my real exam. I could not believe it!
Bye and keep in touch.

i would edit

 

[Captopril]

Dear all.
I took my exam today, but will keep my finger crossed until my score arrive about my performance.
All I will say is Goljan, FA and off course UW must have have some persons in NMBE who guide them exactly what will appear in exam. Goljan high yield notes ( i did not used the rapid review which have no high yeild sections and no usmle senarios ) and USMLE WORLD are just flushing the actual questions of USMLE step 1 before the actual exam!!! believe me!!! Goljan is teaching as if he is the real questioner of exam and WU is like stealing most of the real question from USMLE. even some exact graphs and figures in USMLE world appeared in my real exam. I could not believe it!
bye and keep in touch.

my fav part is "keep in touch" cuz it makes this whole thing seem like one massive USMLE Step 1 yearbook.

 

[blz]

271 is the highest i've heard of on step 1. i know at least 2 ppl that have >270 on step 2, but not for step 1. props.

One of my good friends got a 272. I taught him all he knows.

 

[psu07]

is it normal to feel like butt after walking out? anybody wanna tell us what their experience's was walking out once they were done. i took it a couple of days ago, and did not feel too good walking out.

 

[Captopril]

is it normal to feel like butt after walking out? anybody wanna tell us what their experience's was walking out once they were done. i took it a couple of days ago, and did not feel too good walking out.

I've read that this is extremely normal...there was a thread on here somewhere titled "Thinking you failed then getting a 240+" that goes into the details of this phenomenon.

 

[psu07]

thanks for the reply captopril.

 

[indogirl]

Just more data to add to this thread:

Study time: 5 weeks, 12 mostly productive hours/day, 1 day off per week
Completed ~70% of USMLE World questions

UWorld question bank average: ~70-75% by the end of studying
UWorld practice exam score: 258

I took Step I in 2/2009 -- my Step I score: 253 / 99

 

[Torquer]

I cant wait to make a post here regarding my score.

Till then i just want to thank everyone who's been contributing and keeping this thread going its a big booster to go through study tactics, schedules and scores.

and congratulations to all who've gotten the awesome scores they deserve!

 

[ArtfulDodger]

Just took "that which shall not be named" yesterday. Longtime forum lurker here who wanted to post on my experience. Big thanks to all previous posters on this thread--it really helped me put together a plan of attack when I first started thinking about how to slay this beast. Stats:

NBME 2: 261. Taken 3 months out, after completing my first run through of a modified Taus method.
NBME 4: 266. 2 months out.
UWord Self Assessment: 265. About 1 month out. Not sure.
Free 150: 96%. Two weeks out.
UWorld average: 79%. I completed 100% of the questions, taking every single one random, timed, and without duplicating any. Started off around 60-65% in the beginning, and by the end I was pissed if I got below 80-85% on a random block.
Kaplan Qbank: Suuuuuuucks. Don't bother.

I started studying on the first day of class in January. In brief, I just used a modified Taus plan, with modified meaning I used more sources than his plan recommends--I added additional resources for pharm, anatomy, and biostatistics. My only other significant alteration was to use more resources in their entirety for each run through, rather than trying to annotate everything into First Aid. Where Taus suggests using only Goljan and HY Molec in full, I kept using each of my resources in full, with the exceptions being HY Neuroanatomy, CMMRS, RR Biochem and Lange Micro's Immunology section. I annotoated CMMRS b/c I thought it was just too long to get through more than once, and the others b/c I was confident I could get everything I needed by annotating. Doing it this way meant that each run through took significantly more time than it would have otherwise, hence my starting back in January. I did my first run through at a very leisurely pace (didn't finish till just before spring break), taking Taus' advice and just going for an understanding of everything and not trying to memorize yet. I took NBME 2 after this run through and got 261, which would lay the seeds for my destruction yesterday. I comment more on this when I get to test day. Here's my full list of resources, along with some unsolicited advice/comments on each:

RR Path: Fooking solid gold. If you talk yourself into believing BRS Path or FA are enough, you are just giving points away, plain and simple. Nothing else to say. For my first run through, I listened to the Goljan audio and followed along in RR Path--they really match up quite nicely. Thereafter I just read the book and didn't bother with the audio.

FA: This is heresy, but I HATE First Aid with all my bitter heart. Just an empty skeleton with a few random, spewed facts and soundbites with no context, which also happen to be riddled with errors. I recommend using First Aid thusly: When doing a review of an organ system, start with that system's chapter in HY Anatomy, then read BRS Phys, then read the RR Path, then finish up w/ the relevent section in Deja Review Pharm. Then, and only then, do you read FA as your final review to solidify everything you've just read. FA is too bare bones, too topical, and too devoid of mechanisms to use a primary resource for ANYTHING except embryo and histology in my humble opinion. I expect to be flamed w/o mercy for this, but I stand by that statement.

RR Biochem: Painful to get through, but necessary. If you can get through it once and annotate into FA (which is totally insufficient), you will be golden. It made the biochem questions on my test seem like softballs.

CMMRS and Microcards: CMMRS is great, but it's length presents a problem. I read it once in its entirety during my first run through, then used FA and Microcards in my second and third passes. I know every test is different, but on my form, going through Microcards in the last days leading up to the test was the single most beneficial part of my studying. You need to know each pathogen in extreme detail, even the extraordinarily annoying lab algorithms (ie whether its SS RNA, or DS DNa, or novobiocin sensitive, etc) and I felt Microcards were the least painful (but still agonizing) way to learn this.

BRS Phys: Second only to RR Path in value. If Goljan is the father, then Costanzo is the son and UWorld is the holy ghost.

Deja Review Pharm: This is a quick read, and it's Q and A format makes for interesting reading and gives a much needed change of pace. It seems to cover every drug that's in FA, plus a few more. And it gives a lot more detail on each drug's mechanism and some good clinical pearls. It was hard for me to find a resource that I really liked for pharm, and Deja Review was my favorite.

HY Cell Bio and Molecular Genetics, 1999 edition: Is this overkill? I don't think so. It's a quick read, and there were definitely enough questions about receptors, DNA, and RNA on my test to make it worth my time. It certainly helps improve your Uworld average, if that means anything.

HY Behavioral Science: This was very high yield on my test. My recall is certainly not perfect, but I seemed to have 3-5 biostats, ethics "quote questions" and/or psych questions on each block.

The resources above where the core of my studies. If you want to go big, I mean SDN big on this test, I think these resources are the ESSENTIAL ones. Now I know plenty of people have gotten fantastic scores with a lot less, but I personally would not take that gamble. My memory for random facts that I heard months ago in lecture just isn't good enough.

I also used these resources, but they are secondary in importance to those above, in case you're trying to decide how to lighten your load w/o hurting your chances too much:

HY Anatomy, HY Neuroanatomy, HY Biostatistics, Neuro made ridiculously simple, Lange's Micro (for the Immuno section, just as Taus suggests). I didn't use anything for histology or embryo, and it turned out that there wasn't much of either on my test.

Test Day:

Others have already posted on the process of checking in at Prometric and all that other stuff, so I'll just stick with the test itself. My first thoughts upon leaving were: Whoa, Lord Jeebus please save me, and WTF just happened? I've gathered from reading all the posts on this forum that, obviously, there can be an enormous variation in both content and perceived difficulty of the test. The consensus seems to be that the test is slighly harder than NBME exams, but not quite as hard as UWorld. I must have gotten an outlier, b/c mine was noticeably more difficult than UWorld. I left feeling like someone had shoved a bottle down my throat and kicked it till it broke. I had drugs that did not even sound familiar, so I am 99% certain they weren't in FA, Deja review, or covered in my pharm course. I had pathophys questions (the type with the arrows going up or down) that asked you to predict changes in 5 different variables, and that seemed purposely designed to take it just a step beyond what's in Goljan or Uworld and throw in another variable that just made it impossible to narrow down the choices. I had questions that were either experimental items purposely meant to make you have a nervous breakdown, or weren't proofread at all--for example, I had a question that asked what zone of a particular organ would be affected by the described disease process, and none of the answer choices was a zone of that organ (I am not making this up. I sat and stared at that question for 5 mins, and I thought that I had perhaps momentarily lost my mind). I got the same question about Psuedomonas 3 times. And then, sprinkled into all this madness, were several questions that were so easy I couldn't believe they were being asked. The overall impression I got from this test is that it's just bizarre. I mean seriously, this is the most important exam we're ever going to take, and they ask me the same question 3 times, and give me experimental items so poorly written they literally cannot be answered? Give me a break. I wash my hands of this test.

The breakdown of my exam was as follows: Very heavy on hematology and reproductive. Seemed like every other question was a pregnant woman. Heavy on musculoskeletal. Heavy on bacteria as well. Actually, very, very heavy on bacteria. This is why I felt that microcards were the most high yield thing I did in the last few days leading up to the exam. I also had a generous portion of behavioral (some of the "what would you do next" questions are absolutely insane) and some infuriating anatomy questions that only a surgeon would or ever should know (questions about fascia, recesses, and other ridiculous ****e).

I went into this test having broken 260 on every practice exam I took, and I left feeling like someone had broken my neck. I was taken to the brick oven, and pizza was made with my face. I was unsure to very unsure of about 40% of my answers. I think perhaps I went in overconfident--I know after my last practice exam my effort dropped considerably. There was also an element of burnout going on--I have been studying for this garbage since January. It's hard to say precisely what made the test so difficult--was it testing minute detail, like Kaplan, or was it multiple jump questions like Uworld? Neither, really. It's more like they know what you haven't covered, and just ask you those questions.

The sad thing is, I feel like my study plan was as solid as they come. I certainly did well on practice exams, if that counts for anything. My hope is that I truly did get a difficult exam form, and that once my score has been corrected or normalized or whatever mathematical witchcraft the NBME does has been applied, that I'll come out OK. I'll post my score when I get it back, and hopefully it doesn't invalidate all my study advice. Good luck to everyone who's yet to get their turn in the woodshed. I had an experience I can't wait to forget, but I would like to add in closing that this seems to be an outlier. The majority of people I know felt that the test was fair and well written. Don't take my experience as typical.

I've been getting questions about step 1 prep from second year students, so I thought I'd revisit my old post and finally put my score up:

263.

Guess I overreacted a little bit on test day.

The Taus method is solid. Use it.