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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[wAyRadikull]

Just FYI, Ghrelin is mentioned under GI Hormones in FA 2010, p311.

 

[RapidReview]

also, ghrelin is in big robbins in a couple figures - pgs 440 and 441 (8th edition )

 

[escalante88]

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

Well done! What did you do to increase your initial UWSA score of 210 to almost 250 the second time around? The reason I ask is that I scored basically the same on my first assessment, a 211, and have a month and a half to go before sitting for the Step 1. Any advice on how to increase my performance on the assessments? I've finished 50% of the UWorld questions, and am considering Doctors in Training. Thanks for any advice or info you can provide!

Best,

escalante88

 

[Macguy86]

I finished reading through this entire thread..took a while.
can anyone tell me, did most people here stick within the time limit of 6 weeks?

seems like people with 245+ started studying for the exam well before the study period of 6 weeks. I ask because I have not done much prestudying and am considering extending my exam date.

 

[kryptik]

students start a little "side" studying from beginning of the year and get into full gear during dedicated step study, check out the taos method if u havent already

 

[kryptik]

Ghrelin isn't in BRS Physio or First Aid 2009 or Goljan. Neuropeptide Y either for that matter (at least they have leptin, but that entire pathway is lacking). For a quick reference, wikipedia is surprisingly good... could be even better if we improved it, eh?

List of human hormones

thank you

 

[ACGator09]

students start a little "side" studying from beginning of the year and get into full gear during dedicated step study, check out the taos method if u havent already

sorry for being ignorant, but what is taos method?

 

[kryptik]

sorry for being ignorant, but what is taos method?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6192274&postcount=12

 

[ACGator09]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6192274&postcount=12

wow what a great resource... thanks!

 

[proud]

Well done! What did you do to increase your initial UWSA score of 210 to almost 250 the second time around? The reason I ask is that I scored basically the same on my first assessment, a 211, and have a month and a half to go before sitting for the Step 1. Any advice on how to increase my performance on the assessments? I've finished 50% of the UWorld questions, and am considering Doctors in Training. Thanks for any advice or info you can provide!

Best,

escalante88

i am out side US, and my exam is going to be n Aug, i reall wonder for the score that most of the students in this forum are getting, i would like to ask, is it that easy to get 99, and are those dean list students, and how many student are expected to get 99 in USMLE step1 every year in US?????

 

[proud]

i am out side US, and my exam is going to be n Aug, i reall wonder for the score that most of the students in this forum are getting, i would like to ask, is it that easy to get 99, and are those dean list students, and how many student are expected to get 99 in USMLE step1 every year in US?????

???????????????????

 

[PBandJ]

I finished reading through this entire thread..took a while.
can anyone tell me, did most people here stick within the time limit of 6 weeks?

seems like people with 245+ started studying for the exam well before the study period of 6 weeks. I ask because I have not done much prestudying and am considering extending my exam date.

i scored right around that mark and i stuck to the 6 weeks of studying. it's doable, especially if you spent your time during the year focusing on learning path really well. at my school, we had to take a path shelf exam, so i spent a lot of time pre-boards study preparing for that, which meant that i was able to spend most of my 6 weeks of board study time reviewing everything else.

 

[Macguy86]

i do not understand why people take a preboard exam!! especially if they have not taken any shelf exams! most people that are of 'normal intelligence' will most likely be on the borderline of failing!

 

[McGillGrad]

i do not understand why people take a preboard exam!! especially if they have not taken any shelf exams! most people that are of 'normal intelligence' will most likely be on the borderline of failing!

To find their strengths and weaknesses and to gauge where they are beforehand. In short, to light a fire under their arse.

 

[Macguy86]

hah...i started to take a kaplan diagnostic. i ended it after the 1st block...it was pointless guessing. narrowing it down to 3 and picking one. i had 42% right out of 50 questions.i dont need anything else to tell me i suck at life.

 

[tideleonheart]

hah...i started to take a kaplan diagnostic. i ended it after the 1st block...it was pointless guessing. narrowing it down to 3 and picking one. i had 42% right out of 50 questions.i dont need anything else to tell me i suck at life.

I'm right there with ya!

 

[McGillGrad]

hah...i started to take a kaplan diagnostic. i ended it after the 1st block...it was pointless guessing. narrowing it down to 3 and picking one. i had 42% right out of 50 questions.i dont need anything else to tell me i suck at life.

The Kaplan diagnostic is notoriously useless and irrelevant. I was referring to a NBME.

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

The Kaplan diagnostic is notoriously useless and irrelevant. I was referring to a NBME.

If it's anything like the MCAT kaplan diagnostic, I bet. They rig that thing so that it's very unlikely you'd ever use their guarantee, that says you get your money back if you don't improve. Of course you'll improve if the diagnostic is disproportionately harder than the real test.

 

[whitecote]

you guys, is there a particular sequence that you should follow when taking the nbmes? how true is it that, the free 150 are the closest estimate to your score on the actual exam?

 

[GreenLedbetter]

is it true that step 1 physiology questions are HEAVILY weighted toward cario, renal, and pulmonary?

 

[OCallag]

is it true that step 1 physiology questions are HEAVILY weighted toward cario, renal, and pulmonary?

My experience was that this was the case. The remainder were kind of random ("What happens to the vocal folds immediately following irritation from and expulsion of the irritant?" )

 

[waterbuffalo1]

Anyone know how long it takes for the score to be released? I heard it's available 3 Wednesdays after your test date. If you took the test on, say, a Tuesday, does the Wednesday the day after count as the first Wed? Or the first Wed is the Wed the week after?

 

[mdapplicant9]

I just recieved my score this morning and I thought I would give back a little from a forum that has helped me alot.

First off, my first 2 years of med school(D.O) were awful. I had family and personal reasons that kept me from studying and doing well (I have to be near the bottom of my class but never checked). I also did not like my school but that shouldn't really matter and it didn't. I failed the Comlex twice for the same reasons as above. Then I was gived 5 weeks to pass or else I was gone(this is really embarrasing and I thought about not posting). I still haven't recieved my comlex scores back and I took the test a week earlier than the usmle, I don't know why they are so slow. So I guess I could still be trouble but I think I did ok given I thought the USMLE was more difficult.

How I got my act together. I basically tried to fit 2 years of med school into 5 weeks by getting rid of most of my distractions and getting serious for the first time. I read the 2008 and 2009 exam experiences on SDN to get and idea of how to study and decided to study for the usmle to prepare for the comlex. I figured I might as well take the usmle after I took the comlex.

I read Goljian 1.5 times and listened to his audio. I also read BRS physio 1 time then reviewed it in 6 hrs a couple days before the test. I did the same thing for HY molecular and cell. I did not read FA a single time. The only thing I did with FA was read the drugs of each section and the pharm section about 5 times including once the night before the test.
The biggest thing that helped me do average despite my poor record is probably no big surprise to anyone, UW. I did it once then got through 1500 of the Q's twice. First time through 55%, second time 75%(which means nothing).

I also took NBME 5 2 weeks before: 460 = 209
NBME 6 1 week before: 460 = 209

My test day. I took the test 3 weeks ago to the day and felt awful after the test. I could find mistakes I made on very easy Q's, oh well. I was foolish enough to think the test would be just like UW but the Q's took me much longer to answer (almost the full time on each section). Looking back on it in retrospect, UW doesn't cover all the information on the test but in trains you how to think for the test.

Don't make the same mistake I did and forget to study Behavioral and ethical type situation Q's. I had quite a few (20+). On my score report it was my weakest section by far, I was below the borderline for that subject. I am confident I could have raised my score atleast 10 pts. if I would have taken a day and read whatever book is recommended on SDN. I was surprised at how easy the pharm Q's were. Studying anatomy would be worthless (for test purposes) to me; they ask random crap that would be difficult to study for. Goljian for path was more than adequate. Micro was pretty straight forward.

I can't forget the new audio Q I had at the end of the first block. The sound was absolutely awful but the stem and placement of the stethoscope gave the answer away. Don't ask me how the Q's were dispersed because I think they stick to what they are supposed to do. There were quite a few WTF Q's but it does no good to waste your time on them.

If I could do it over again I would have tried to get through Goljian and UW the full 2 times and then added in another Q bank. Im sure reading FA a couple of times wouldn't have hurt me either but I ran out of time.

Thanks to all those who posted their experiences and shared their advice. I know I don't have a SDN type score but I hope this post helps someone.

Any advice on how to increase your score with 1 week to go?