Official 2009 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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VFib911

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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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Closer to the test date, do you think it would be better to do incorrect questions from uworld a second time, or new questions from usmlerx for the first time? Thanks.

Ideally both... if you've knocked out UW in a relatively short period, its more likely that you are remember answers from before rather than actually knowing the material. If you've been doing UW over a period of months, I'd go over the incorrect questions the last week or so before your exam.

For me Rx was a mixed bag: some days it would encourage me b/c i'd do really well, other days i'd have tons of questions over stuff I'd never seen/heard of before. Many of the questions are more "trivia-like," but that doesn't mean they wont pop up on your test...

So i guess priority wise - UW incorrect > new Rx, but try to do some of both to learn some new bits and pieces
 
Hi cluster..
maybe u will find this converter useful..[SIZE=-1]forums.studentdoctor.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=12040&d=1233987810[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] [/SIZE]

I was just wondering, does that converter work for all forms,
NBME 1-6?
Because I find it hard to believe that the same exact percentage correct
will correlate with the same score for all 6 exams?
Thanks.
 
I was just wondering, does that converter work for all forms,
NBME 1-6?
Because I find it hard to believe that the same exact percentage correct
will correlate with the same score for all 6 exams?
Thanks.
Why? I did the NBME 2 first using this graph and then real online and it correlated well. I got a somewhat better score online probably owing to the person who did the solution doing errors.
 
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Congrats all around for those that have gotten their scores back. If you guys remember anything at all about your exams maybe you can help me answer this question-

Doing NBMEs 1 and 3 there were certain questions that came essentially from Goljan's audio. I got the feeling that since these tests have been floating around for a bit that he might have used them to guide his lectures. Is this true or did you find these sort of verbatim Goljan facts/questions on your exams too?
 
Can you please rephrase that?

He means that he had a copy of NBME form 2, which he found online as a bootleg copy and looked at the answers from whoever made the copy, then he retook it the same exam on the NBME website and got a higher score than he did initially, likely due to the fact that he had already looked at the answers.
 
Hey all. So I just took the test yesterday and I'm wondering when I'll get the result back (especially since I tested on a weekend). Anyone who's recently heard back have any idea?

Thx!
 
Hey all. So I just took the test yesterday and I'm wondering when I'll get the result back (especially since I tested on a weekend). Anyone who's recently heard back have any idea?

Thx!
From last years experience, monday through friday is three weeks from the wednesday in the middle of that week. The weekend is three weeks from the middle of the week following.
 
Just took my test Thursday. I have no idea how it went. Some block were harder than world in my opinion, mainly because of time for me. Questions were much longer than I expected and lot more images, but maybe it was just my test. There was some random anatomy that even if I studied it wouldn't have helped. And I think physiology was hardest. No embryology. My NBME/Uworld were pretty good, close to 260 near the last 2 weeks, but honestly have no clue what happened on the real thing.

So does anyone know where they post scores in 3 weeks? I searched the site and can't find it. Or do you receive it in the mail in 3 weeks?
 
Just took my test Thursday. I have no idea how it went. Some block were harder than world in my opinion, mainly because of time for me. Questions were much longer than I expected and lot more images, but maybe it was just my test. There was some random anatomy that even if I studied it wouldn't have helped. And I think physiology was hardest. No embryology. My NBME/Uworld were pretty good, close to 260 near the last 2 weeks, but honestly have no clue what happened on the real thing.

So does anyone know where they post scores in 3 weeks? I searched the site and can't find it. Or do you receive it in the mail in 3 weeks?
The post them in the same place that you signed up for the test. There will be a new option to view score report for that test.
 
Hey, I am pretty new to this website. I was basically just looking for some feedback. I just took the Kaplan QBANK simulated full length exam and got a 72% on it. judging from your own experience, would you say that could get me a 220? Thanks!
 
Hey all -
Taking it tomorrow. I can't concentrate much more than 8h/day so I extended my overall review period to trade off for shorter days. Time listed below = total time ACTUALLY studying; breaks and distractions not included. Preparation was as follows:

~6 weeks out: 3-4 hours/day
- Started going through basic science Kaplan review books (first 2 of set)
- Skipped Kaplan chapters of Micro and Path and reviewed Clin Micro Ridic Simple instead.
- Started listening to Goljan general path lectures, printed out Goljan notes
- While doing all of above, began annotating my copy of FA which was un-bound, hole-punched, and stuck in a binder so I could add/subtract at will.
- Did subject-specific questions (100-200) on Qbank each evening.

~4 weeks out: 6 hours/day
- Organ systems Kaplan review books (2nd 2 of set)
- Listened to Goljan special path lectures
- Annotated FA
- System-specific questions (100-200) on Qbank each evening

~1 week out: 8 hours/day
- Reviewed key things I knew I didn't have "down" yet; i.e. endocrine pathology, immunodeficiencies, chemotherapy agents, antiarrhythmics, etc.
- Random Qbank practice sets
- Started random UWorld practice sets

~3 days out: 8 hours/day
- Made lists of crammable stuff: specific pharm mechanisms, translocations, proto-onc and oncogene chromosome locations, chromosome-assoc diseases, stains for specific things (i.e. S100), HLA associations, anti-self antibody associations.
- Reviewed equations (renal and pharmacological).
- Finished Qbank and UWorld (64% and 68% averages respectively)
- Reviewed random "incorrects" on UWorld

Today
- More incorrects
- Reread "crammable" lists and FA quick-review
- Reread FA with emphasis on stuff I know I still don't have down solidly
- Hang out in the sun
- Free 150 (87%): http://www.usmle.org/orientation/2009/Menu.html

Will edit this within next week with my "experience". Taking it at the Raleigh prometric center.
 
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This was a helpful thread, so I´ll go ahead and add my experience.
I took the test a few weeks ago and got my score back last week. I ended up with over 265. I´d say the best thing I did to prepare for this test was study hard for 2 years, do as well as possible in class, and especially, annotate FA along the way. During the 4 week study period, I used my annotated FA almost exclusively. I went through it until I could almost recite all the information under a heading back to myself. I only used other material when I noticed that I was weak in a subject, and FA didn´t have adequate information. For example, my FA had no brain stem stuff, so I did a quick read through of a couple of chapters of HY neuroanatomy. Anyway, I went through FA again and again until I was sick of it, then I went through it again. It worked for me, but I know it´s not for everybody. For those who like numbers, this is what I remember:
NBME 6- 260 (one week prior to exam)
UW- 73%
free 150- 93% (i think)
good luck!
 
Cluster C, I had similar stats to you, except I took NBME 3. I'm still waiting for 2 weeks. How did you feel as you took and left the test? I honestly have no clue how I did, but I had a ok-good feeling walking out, but still thought it was hard. Some blocks perhaps a little harder than world.
 
Cluster C, I had similar stats to you, except I took NBME 3. I'm still waiting for 2 weeks. How did you feel as you took and left the test? I honestly have no clue how I did, but I had a ok-good feeling walking out, but still thought it was hard. Some blocks perhaps a little harder than world.

I actually felt that it was a lot harder than the practice test...Maybe even harder than UW. Anyway, I definitely didn´t think I broke 260 when I walked out. I was pretty shocked to get my score. So, you probably did great too. :)
 
What percentage of test-takers score above 250? Are there stats from the NBME/USMLE on this?
 
What percentage of test-takers score above 250? Are there stats from the NBME/USMLE on this?

It's about 1.5 SD above the mean, so it should be roughly the top 7%. This is assuming the distribution is symmetrical, and some say it isn't, so that could be a bit higher.
 
This was a helpful thread, so I´ll go ahead and add my experience.
I took the test a few weeks ago and got my score back last week. I ended up with over 265. I´d say the best thing I did to prepare for this test was study hard for 2 years, do as well as possible in class, and especially, annotate FA along the way. During the 4 week study period, I used my annotated FA almost exclusively. I went through it until I could almost recite all the information under a heading back to myself. I only used other material when I noticed that I was weak in a subject, and FA didn´t have adequate information. For example, my FA had no brain stem stuff, so I did a quick read through of a couple of chapters of HY neuroanatomy. Anyway, I went through FA again and again until I was sick of it, then I went through it again. It worked for me, but I know it´s not for everybody. For those who like numbers, this is what I remember:
NBME 6- 260 (one week prior to exam)
UW- 73%
free 150- 93% (i think)
good luck!


Hey ClusterC (or anyone else that followed this strategy) - do you think it really helped to have memorized FA? I feel like I could spend the next 30 days just trying to memorize everything in FA. I have already done a few thousand practice questions and it seems that most of the stuff I miss is right in FA. I mean it "feels" productive to be reading RR, BRS, etc... and it increases my overall understanding of the material but I think I might regret not having memorized all those tables and diagrams in FA.
 
Hey ClusterC (or anyone else that followed this strategy) - do you think it really helped to have memorized FA? I feel like I could spend the next 30 days just trying to memorize everything in FA. I have already done a few thousand practice questions and it seems that most of the stuff I miss is right in FA. I mean it "feels" productive to be reading RR, BRS, etc... and it increases my overall understanding of the material but I think I might regret not having memorized all those tables and diagrams in FA.

Id like to know as well
 
Hey ClusterC (or anyone else that followed this strategy) - do you think it really helped to have memorized FA? I feel like I could spend the next 30 days just trying to memorize everything in FA. I have already done a few thousand practice questions and it seems that most of the stuff I miss is right in FA. I mean it "feels" productive to be reading RR, BRS, etc... and it increases my overall understanding of the material but I think I might regret not having memorized all those tables and diagrams in FA.

best question i've seen..

i have 6 weeks left, a pretty solid background knowledge, and have completed 1 pass through FA. i'm hitting 60-70% on usmleworld and rarely see something i can't recognize. i'm wondering if i should just focus on FA and throw everything i have on it or distribute my time over a mix of FA, RR path, and kaplan pharm/micro.
 
Just got the score back today! What a relief and a bit of a surprise!

254/99

Old Kaplan Simulated Step 1: 61% (3 weeks out)
UW SA1: 236 (2.5 weeks out)
NBME Practice 150: >85% (6 days out)
UW SA2: 252 (6 days out)
UW Qbank: 65% (complete)

Resources:
UW
FA
BRS Path
BRS Phys
HY Neuro
HY Biochem
Step up
Perspiration*
Dedication*
Inspiration*

Thanks to all who've posted here, it really helped guide my efforts. I made my own calendar using a Taus method approach and worked extremely hard for about 3 weeks after finals before taking the exam. I didn't study on Sundays and attended a 6-hour Church General Conference the Saturday before the exam. I also attended a couple MLS games and a handful of Springville High Varsity Soccer matches with family to break up the routine. I'm thrilled with the result.
 
256 :luck:
been a lurker here for a while! got my score this wednesday, took the exam 4/1. got an email from nbme wednesday morning, score was up at 11am.

I studied ~2 months.
Had a lot of books and had to cut most of them out because it was way too much. I think everyone has these grand ideas of what they will accomplish while studying for boards, most of it just doesn't pan out.

Used FA, RR path, BRS phys, UW, HY neuro, HY behavioral

I felt pretty good about the test when I left which kind of scared me because I thought everyone was supposed to feel awful, but I knew I did the best I could so it didn't really matter I guess.

UW: 70%

Good luck to everyone, feel free to pm me if you have questions.

Did you find HY neuro and behavioral worthwhile? I am using the same resources as you.
 
Did you find HY neuro and behavioral worthwhile? I am using the same resources as you.

I'm wondering, when ppl list the non-FA and non-RR sources, do they mean used them to clarify topics in FA/annotate or READ the book? As for HY Neuro, I hear it's great for images and for annotating topics in FA but the book from cover-to-cover is overkill?
 
I'm wondering, when ppl list the non-FA and non-RR sources, do they mean used them to clarify topics in FA/annotate or READ the book? As for HY Neuro, I hear it's great for images and for annotating topics in FA but the book from cover-to-cover is overkill?

I have the same question but in addition, do you re-read the extra books more than once?

For example I know the more you read FA and RR Path the better, do how many times do you read the HY books and such?
 
Some advice to folks: the NMBE exams are probably good practice, but I would put in my $0.02 that the actual Step I questions are much more like UWorld than NMBE.

My schedule got very badly messed up as I got injured pretty badly a few weeks before the Step I. I wasn't able to focus on UWorld and focused more on First Aid just trying to get the info in in time (I was time constrained, as Tuesday was the last possible day for me to take the test).

Two days before the actual exam, I did ho-hum on NMBE #3 (205) and felt I did great as I hit submit. I took the actual Step I two days later and felt like I got really hammered walking out of there. The problem is that the test questions were much more secondary and tertiary and the readings much longer than what I saw on NMBE #3.

Just tossing that out there. I'm hoping against hope that my NMBE #3 practice is representative of my actual performance and not go with my gut that I was guessing far too much to get a passing score. But we'll see.

So be sure to get used to the timing of UWorld, NOT base it on the NMBE (at least not if #3 is representative). Good luck to all who are waiting and who've taken it...
 
I personally loved the BRS series for Phys and Path. I studied from both of these during my coursework and had really annotated my BRS Path to the point that it was my key resource for studying for my comprehensive Path final.

I read cover-to-cover HY Neuro, HY Biochem, BRS Phys, BRS Path in the 3 weeks leading up to the exam. FA just didn't have some of the detail I thought was essential for doing really well on the exam. I know tons of people who swear by FA like it's the main source you should be using and memorizing, but to be honest I got more out of it as a place to organize my notes on explanations to UW questions that I answered wrong than as a primary resource from which I studied.

The best preparation is studying and learning the material during your coursework. We have comprehensive Path and Pharm finals at my school, but other than that, I really didn't spend much time prepping for Step 1 until after our finals were finished. You can't really review what you've never learned.
 
I personally loved the BRS series for Phys and Path. I studied from both of these during my coursework and had really annotated my BRS Path to the point that it was my key resource for studying for my comprehensive Path final.

I read cover-to-cover HY Neuro, HY Biochem, BRS Phys, BRS Path in the 3 weeks leading up to the exam. FA just didn't have some of the detail I thought was essential for doing really well on the exam. I know tons of people who swear by FA like it's the main source you should be using and memorizing, but to be honest I got more out of it as a place to organize my notes on explanations to UW questions that I answered wrong than as a primary resource from which I studied.

The best preparation is studying and learning the material during your coursework. We have comprehensive Path and Pharm finals at my school, but other than that, I really didn't spend much time prepping for Step 1 until after our finals were finished. You can't really review what you've never learned.

I believe you took the Step 1 recently? If so, how useful/worthwhile did u find HY neuro?
 
HY neuro was solid. I had quite a bit of neuro questions that made you know pathology/process but then know what area of brain. HY goes a little too in-depth in a lot of areas, but if you use it while looking at FA it'll definitely help.
 
Methinks Cliff Hux is really concerned about HY Neuro, its the same question over and over. Yes, it's useful if you need a good review on Neuro. If that's one of your strengths, forget it and move on!
 
Methinks Cliff Hux is really concerned about HY Neuro, its the same question over and over. Yes, it's useful if you need a good review on Neuro. If that's one of your strengths, forget it and move on!

LOL, it's not that.

I don't want to buy too many books and waste time/money reading them. Just trying to get as many opinions as possible especially from people who took the exam recently.

Don't want to spread myself too thin, you know?

Hope it's ok.
 
HY neuro is definitely a strong outside source. Having said that, FA has a long section dedicated to neuro. That + UW q's is definitely more than enough. But sometimes people learn better by learning more in-depth stuff and then focusing on the high yield facts in FA. Either way, you'll be fine.
 
I skimmed through HY neuro giving myself about 4-5 hours after I had read the FA neuro section 3 times. Mainly focused on the images and anatomy and typical neuro physical exam techniques that I never quite understood during class. For example the cold water test in ear. Just read and learn what you don't know. If you know it, don't waste time on it. From my experience, if you did decent in neuro in class and learn FA/world, you should get most of the neuro questions. I can only remember one that stumped me. Hope this helps you out.
 
Will edit this within next week with my "experience". Taking it at the Raleigh prometric center.

Okay, took it Wednesday. See past post for study method.

Overall mood: cautiously optimistic? :oops:

Experience
Woke up at ~6:30, reviewed some high-yield stuff that I felt would be useful to refresh, ate a good breakfast of scrambled eggs and orange juice, then headed out the door. Got to the exam site ~8:30, exam "started" at 9:00 although they processed me and got me in early.

Raleigh prometric was great. Small place, very professional, extremely quiet in the rooms. I have no complaints.

As far as timing goes, I ended up having a ton of time left over. I didn't take a lunch and I'm not so good at sitting around on my behind when there's a test to be taken so I really only took 5-10 minutes between blocks to go grab some coke or a quick bite. I ended up leaving prior to 2:00, despite having gone through every question twice. In retrospect I could have taken more time but I don't think it would have helped me any. Really, the 45+15 minutes of breaktime should be plenty.

Exam
Okay so overall I would second, third, fourth the motion that UWorld is the most representative of the questions on the actual exam. However, I would also say that UWorld is harder than what I experienced on the exam, for the following reason:

Whereas UWorld says "65 year old male with a history of T2DM and CHF presents with blah blah blah and blah blah blah..... what is the mechanism of action of the first-line drug for this condition" without giving you the diagnosis, I found that sometimes the exam would start with the presentation and the symptoms but then actually give you the diagnosis. Therefore your 3-4 step question gets cut down to 2-3 steps, or even in some cases, one.

I had some straightforward "what is the treatment for this condition" questions and some really nice "here's a picture, tell me the diagnosis" questions, which I wasn't expecting. That was a nice surprise, esp a dead give-away question involving a a liver biopsy.

That isn't to say that the entire test was like that, though. There were some WAY out of left field. These are the ones that just leave you going "uh.... what?" because you've never heard of it before. One example for me was a young female with precocious puberty and fragile bones, with the answer choices being 5 eponymous syndromes that I'd never seen before. :confused:

I got the answer right (I looked it up during my next break) but only on a guess. I hadn't seen it in FA or on UWorld or Qbank anywhere, nor had I heard about it in our basic science classes.

Another example, one question regarding a genetic disease did not just ask for the diagnosis, or the name of the protein involved, it asked what the function of the involved protein was - I checked afterward and FA did not mention it anywhere. Finally, there was another one regarding an atypical "drug" of abuse used in certain subpopulations which wasn't ANYWHERE except maybe Maxim. :laugh:

That said, I would definitely say that if you're aiming for the stars on this exam then First Aid is NOT sufficient for that derm score. There were at least 3-5 questions in each block that I know for sure were not in First Aid. The thing is, no matter how much you study and no matter how large a variety of prep materials you use, there will ALWAYS be things on the test you didn't study, and wouldn't have even thought to have study. I guess it's just designed that way.

Anyway, as far as overall breakdown of my particular exam, I lucked out and got very little neuroanatomy but an overabundance of respiratory pathology. Pharm wasn't hugely predominant but most of what was on there was either straightforward (here's a very obvious diagnosis, what's the Rx?) or way out in left field. A lot of my pharm was neuro/psyche related, or regular old antibiotics. I had *nothing* about chromosomal translocations, but I did have one dz-related "what chromosome is it on" question. Nothing where the question rested on whether or not you knew which anti-self antibody corresponded to the illness. Classic HBV antigen status questions did show up. Also fungi.

Generally I think my particular exam was a pretty good cross section of "stuff you really should know" from all fields with a little flavor of "stuff that only crazy people will get" for stratification purposes. I was expecting something much less representative of things I consider "useful, need-to-know information" and more of a grab-bag of random factoids and hard physiology. It ended up not being that way at all.

That's it for now, will update with a score when I get one. As far as I know (from other posts) it's running ~3 weeks?

*nervous* waiting is the worst part.... anyone else playing the waiting game with me?
 
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Sounds like u did well. I thought my test was harder than world on some blocks. Had a lot of anatomy and tons of images. I'm waiting with ya. I should get my score in less than 2 weeks.....nail biting till then
 
Okay, took it Wednesday. See past post for study method.

Overall mood: cautiously optimistic? :oops:

That isn't to say that the entire test was like that, though. There were some WAY out of left field. These are the ones that just leave you going "uh.... what?" because you've never heard of it before. One example for me was a young female with precocious puberty and fragile bones, with the answer choices being 5 eponymous syndromes that I'd never seen before. :confused:

I got the answer right (I looked it up during my next break) but only on a guess. I hadn't seen it in FA or on UWorld or Qbank anywhere, nor had I heard about it in our basic science classes.

Are you referring to McCune-Albright syndrome? It's on pg 359 in FA 2009.
 
He means that he had a copy of NBME form 2, which he found online as a bootleg copy and looked at the answers from whoever made the copy, then he retook it the same exam on the NBME website and got a higher score than he did initially, likely due to the fact that he had already looked at the answers.
Correct, except I entered the answers I entered the first time. I attribute the higher score to errors in the solution found in the bootleg copy. I do not think the solution made by "Dr Escha" is 100% correct. But I think the graph is very correct.
 
An extreme of either will bore you/frustrate. Mix it up. I would study till 5 and then do a block of ?s. Then review those questions thoroughly. At some point u will be doing a lot of questions but I think you should wait if u just started. There is stuff on test that you'll miss if you rely only on practice questions in my opinion. However, if you feel questions are your calling to success, go run with it, as long as your learning something new each day.
 
These are the ones that just leave you going "uh.... what?" because you've never heard of it before.

*nervous* waiting is the worst part.... anyone else playing the waiting game with me?

I took the test April 25th and agree with the nervous waiting. I actually ran out of time (after clicking a random answer for the last question - unfortunately the murmur video) in the first section and then only had about 3-5 minutes to spare at the end of each section. After changing a right answer to a wrong one in the first section, I decided not to review unmarked answers.

I had three questions that took me by total surprise. In one, I could figure out which genetic disease they were talking about but couldn't for the life of me figure out the actual answer and another just had me going "wtf - that may have been mentioned for two seconds in an embryo lecture 1st year but was definitely not in High Yield!" Overall though, respiratory seemed to be all over my test and I also had a lot of female reproductive tract path. Pharm was fairly straight forward and only consisted of mechanisms, drug names, and side effects. I had two questions on the same GI drug in different sections, one talking about what the drug was used for and asking for the side effect and the other naming the side effect and asking for the drug.

:xf::luck:
 
I had two questions on the same GI drug in different sections, one talking about what the drug was used for and asking for the side effect and the other naming the side effect and asking for the drug.

Oh yeah, that's another thing. I didn't have much in the way of "side effect" questions at all, which was quite a surprise. I figured this would be hit pretty hard since both USMLE and Qbank focus on that a lot, but I was (thankfully) not stuck with too many of them.
 
Some advice to folks: the NMBE exams are probably good practice, but I would put in my $0.02 that the actual Step I questions are much more like UWorld than NMBE.

My schedule got very badly messed up as I got injured pretty badly a few weeks before the Step I. I wasn't able to focus on UWorld and focused more on First Aid just trying to get the info in in time (I was time constrained, as Tuesday was the last possible day for me to take the test).

Two days before the actual exam, I did ho-hum on NMBE #3 (205) and felt I did great as I hit submit. I took the actual Step I two days later and felt like I got really hammered walking out of there. The problem is that the test questions were much more secondary and tertiary and the readings much longer than what I saw on NMBE #3.

Just tossing that out there. I'm hoping against hope that my NMBE #3 practice is representative of my actual performance and not go with my gut that I was guessing far too much to get a passing score. But we'll see.

So be sure to get used to the timing of UWorld, NOT base it on the NMBE (at least not if #3 is representative). Good luck to all who are waiting and who've taken it...
my step 1 experience didn't differ from you that much it seems. I also took an NBME practice 2 days prior to, although i took exam 5. scored 430/207, same as you, but after walking out of the exam i didn't feel as good as i did after the NBME. I checked afterwards and i did make silly mistakes, but also there were questions like the biostats, bias q's, & neuro pics that i know i wiffed on as well.
my question, finally i know, is that after passing the NBME, which is supposed to be the gauge for passing step1. how well, or do you know how accurate it will be?
man i just want to pass and move on, not interested in any specialties, just pass. obviously i'm a bit anxious, nervous whatever. appreciate any info you know regarding this or experiences you know of.
and good luck to any and all on step 1
 
So I took the test a little over a week ago. Really don't have much to add cause the whole thing is a big blur. I have never had time issues on any other exam before but I only finished each block with no more than 5 mins left and most blocks with like 2/3 mins remaining. I really like to review answers so this left me with not enough time to do that.

Although I don't remember many specifics about the test, I did feel like you could use FA for almost all of it. Seriously, I only *think* maybe 5-10 questions at the most couldn't be answered from FA. A few that I didn't think were in FA I actually went back and found later.

I read all of Rapid Review within the last 2 weeks before the exam and I felt like this was a mistake. At least for me anyway cause I am pretty good at Path. I felt like the Path questions on the step were very classic and straight forward.

So if I could do it over again I would spend way more time with FA and do more World. I only did like 800 questions of world.

To let you know where I am at:

NBME 1 before the end of the school year: 209

CBSSE (offered by school at end of year): 210

NBME 5 (after taking a break from the end of the year/ before really studying, about 2 months after CBSSE): 209 (crazy right... I thought I would never get above this)

NBME 6 (a month after 5, after really starting to do questions and FA/goljan): 229

World Assessment 1 (week after NBME 6): 234

did all of USMLERx: 65% .... calculated score of 224 +/- 20
did around 800 World questions .... 51 percentile


I would be crazy happy to get 230 or above. Satisfied with 220 or above. I really don't trust the World Assessment. On Step 1, I felt like there were around 15 per block that I wasn't sure of. Maybe 3-5 per block where I couldn't narrow the answers down at all.

I'm very worried about stupid mistakes because I felt so rushed and wasn't able to review my marked questions. I never even had time issues on World so running so short on time really threw me off balance. Had a nightmare last night that I failed the thing.

One day I feel like I might have done well but then the next I think I went in there and really dropped the ball.


Final Score: 232/97
 
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Just got my score yesterday

265!!! I'm really happy with the result since my initial goal when I started studying was 235ish. I'm an atheist and I thanked God when I got this score.

NBME 4: 258 (about two months out)
UWSA1: 260 (~6 weeks out)
UWSA2: 265 (one week out)
(I think this is the correct timeline...)

A word on estimating your performance: I was certain I had answered about 90% of the questions correctly. I think I made good guesses on most of the rest and was stumped on a few.

I did USMLE World twice...some of the questions more than twice. I allowed about 2.5 weeks to pass between my initial go around and my second run through. I a lot of Kaplan Q Bank before I started world and I did some of USMLERx (don't use this unless you're bored and have money to burn). I worked through NBME 5, 6, and 3 untimed. I looked at the path slides and graphs from 1 and 2 because I heard they reused these. Do as many Q's as possible and re-do all questions to make sure you really understand how the question was presented, why the wrong answer's are wrong, and what kind of related concepts could be tested.

I studied everything I came across. Don't blow anything off (including behavioral science).
 
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