Official 2010 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[FMD212]

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Good luck all. I have my exam end of March and hope to be the 1st one to post here for 2010.

 

[NWS]

I took Step 1 on Thurs. April 1st. Scores should be back soon 😱
Study Resources I used:
FirstAid – obviously a must-have amazing resource. I annotated into FA from my other books and UWorld. I read through FA twice – once as I was annotating and then again during the final week leading up to my exam. I wish I had spent less time with other resources and more time with FA.
Micro Made Ridiculously Simple – I don't think this book was high yield for step 1. It does have some good mnemonics and I wish I had used it during my first year micro course work. The book is too long to be worthwhile during your dedicated step 1 study time, and FA covers most of what you need to know. That being said, this book did get me one question right on the exam that I might have otherwise missed because I remembered the picture of "Francis the rabbit" for Francisella tularensis.
Crash Course Immunology – I read this book but don't recommend it.
Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews Biochem – I didn't like this book at all and gave up on it very quickly. I used only FA for biochem.
Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews Pharmacology – This is another book I barely even attempted because I hated it so much.
Pharm Cards – While studying each pharm segment of FA I read through the corresponding Pharm Cards. This helped clear up some questions I had when FA wasn't detailed enough. I did not ever go back through the cards or use them as flashcards. Basically I used them as a review book, and def liked these better than I liked Lippincott's pharm.
BRS physiology – This book is easy to read and probably worthwhile.
Goljan Rapid Review Path (most recent edition) – I know everyone loves this book, but I absolutely do not recommend it. It is the most tedious read ever and in a horribly organized outline format. I forced myself to read the entire book (I averaged reading 10 pages per hour on this), but certainly would have given it up if I wasn't so in love with Goljan audio. If you are going to waste your time with this book I at least recommend listening to the corresponding Goljan audio as you are going through it. I don't understand how such an amazing lecturer could produce such a horribly written book.
Goljan audio – AMAZING! Goljan is a wonderful lecturer and makes concepts so easy to understand. He can explain something in 5 minutes that would have taken me hours to figure out on my own. These lectures are not just path, but he also incorporates physiology and lots of other stuff. These audio files are great to listen to while exercising, driving, showering, or when you are just tired of looking at books.
High Yield Neuroanatomy – not worthwhile. Stick to FA. The only thing that was useful in here was the chapter with cross-sectional brain images, because FA is somewhat lacking in brain images.
Kaplan Behavioral Science – I had bootleg copies of the Kaplan books but this was the only thing I looked at because I lost the copy of High Yield Behavioral Science I bought. It was fine but I don't recommend using any supplementary source for behavioral science because there is nothing that is not covered by FA and UWorld.
High Yield Embryology – I did not end up reading this because it didn't look like there was much in it that wasn't covered by FA.
UWorld – great question bank. I made it through a little over half of the questions. This is something else I wish I had spent more time with rather than my extraneous resources.
The advice I kept hearing from all the upperclassmen was focus on FA, use as few resources as possible. Of course I didn't listen and thought it was necessary to buy a book for every subject (including books I haven't listed here because I never even had time to open them.)
My advice to future test takers would be to use only FA, Goljan audio, and UWorld. And maybe BRS physiology if you have to throw something else in there. Otherwise only consult other resources if there is something you really don't understand in FA. Likely there will not be that many things in FA you need help on so you can just look them up on the internet as opposed to buying 20 different review books.

Completely agree. Goljan RR is a tedious book to read. I took the Kaplan retreat in Chicago and felt Dr. Barone was a better lecturer than Goljan overall - he hit on a lot of HY stuff that was on my Step 1 test. The best resource by far was UW (I read through every question twice along w/the explanations) + annotated FA. The Kaplan physiology books were also quite helpful (though obviously derived from UW itself) as was the Kaplan Biochem book. The rest of the Kaplan retreat books were not very useful. I did use Kaplan's Med Essentials for the Neurology portion and it was very useful, a lot of the Step 1 questions for Neuro I encountered were straight forward and similar to what Med Essentials teaches.

I took my exam a while back and already passed. I never did any of the NBME exams or even UW assessments so I may be unique here. I think a lot of the "gunners" here overdo it and probably show off a bit to be honest. Stick to 2-3 sources max and you'll be fine.

 

[Elixir86]

Well, I didn’t sleep at all the night before the test (I was up doing NBME6 from 1am to 5am).

😱 <-- My expression when I read the above statement.

 

[tin]

dude..........I'm glad people share their experiences on this forum..........as that is its stated purpose..........but I find it weird that instead of encouraging those to share the resources they used to study for the exam...even if they used about a gazillion of them.......there are those who feel intimidated by certain individuals they label as "gunners"......that truthfully share their experiences..........

share the resources you thought that reeked......or were awesome.........but dont attack other students (by indicating they are 'showing off') just because you feel a bit intimidated. It takes a long time to write these posts.....and I appreciate those who write their experiences so that others can figure out their own paths, as well as those who provide a few words of encouragement.....

Its an EXPERIENCE.........share it ......whatever it is.........i'm sure a lot of students will benefit.........

 

[prionsRbad]

dude..........what i find really weird here on this forum is that instead of encouraging those to share the resources they used to study for the exam....there are those who feel intimidated by certain individuals labelled as "gunners"......that truthfully share their experiences..........

share the resources you thought that reeked......or were awesome.........but dont attack other students (by indicating they are 'showing off') just because you feel a bit intimidated. It takes a long time to write these posts.....and I appreciate those who write their experiences so that others can figure out their own paths.....

Its an EXPERIENCE.........share it ......whatever it is.........i'm sure a lot of students benefit.........

Nobody is personally attacking you or even mentioning your post, so why are you so defensive? I only remember positive responses to your exam day post. I personally found it helpful.

You can't argue that some people on SDN probably exaggerate their study schedules and actual scores, I mean, come on. I think that's all the previous poster was pointing out. If someone were to post that they only used FA, UW and RR (and this has happened in the past) they would most likely get flamed with comments like "wow, good luck with that . . . "would like to see how well you do with only using those resources in 6 weeks" . . . blah, blah), so it goes both ways, IMHO.

 

[match2011]

Alright I'm back from my several day hangover in beautiful Florida and posting my day's experiences.

6am: Get up, get to starbucks and cram some last minute things like adverse reactions to pharm drugs, look over the micro charts again, nothing too intense

7:30am: Armed with 2 cups of starbucks coffee (one to leave in my car for the afternoon) and a bottle of Ethos Starbucks water for rehydration and 2 starbucks fruit and nut bars and a starbucks sandwich, I head to the center (1 block away from the starbucks)

7:40am: arrive and sign in and they promptly got me to a testing computer because you can start early if you show up early. (originally scheduled at 8am)

I only used 40 minutes of my 1hr for break. I didn't feel like I needed a break every block especially if I was in the zone. I generally took 5 minute breaks every 2 blocks and roughly 10-15 minutes for lunch. During the breaks I made sure to pee even if I didn't need to just to make sure I don't get the urge later and drank water to rehydrate from the coffee.

3pm: Finish, got up, left

Overall Impression:

The test was difficult but majority of it was whether you knew it or not. >90% of the test was 1-2 step reasoning and the stems give a lot of information away. I finished each block with roughly 20 minutes left to go back and go through the section again quickly to make sure I didn't misread a question or misunderstand what they were shooting for.

Breakdown of the test: Largely largely largely largely PATHOLOGY with a lot of PHYSIOLOGY

If I had to assign percentages I would have to say

50% Pathology (Neuro = GI > MSK = Cardiac)
20% Physiology
10% Micro and Pharm
20% Everything else (Anatomy > Behavioral > Genetics = Biochem)

Pathology questions: Straightforward asking for diseases with good patient presentations (60 year old dude experiencing xxxxxx symptoms with occasional xxxxxxx.Wife reports that he's been xxxxxxxx. On presentation patient appears xxxxxxxx. What's the most likely diagnosis). GI, Neuro, MSK, Cardio seemed like the biggies on this section. Had quite a few questions on GI presentation/cancers/diseases and presentations, neuro cancers/dementia/visual field deficits, and MSK pathology like lesions here would cause what nerve deficit/muscular dystrophies/etc. Cardio questions were more to do with heart sounds. I got 3 auscultation questions each consisted of me being able to move the stethescope around on the chest of the patient and listen for murmurs, gallops, etc.

Physiology questions: Also straight forward (Which of the following is a stimulus fr the release of xxxxxx enzyme...then they'd give you a chart with arrows saying that the concentration of the enzyme goes up or down due to different stimuli. (ex: Which of the following is a stimulus for insulin release? chicken wings (up) sugar (up) Glucagon (up) or chicken wings (down) sugar (up) glucagon (up).

Pharm questions were much more focused on side effects and what you can use with xxx drug and what you can't use with xxx drug. Only the cancer drugs did they focus on mechanism of action (example: Person has testicular cancer, went on a cisplatin. What's the MOA?) I would say Neuro drugs and Antibiotics showed up more than any other classes of drugs.

Micro: Once again, whether or not you knew what bug caused the disease. The choices weren't confusing. It started with a presentation and asked you for the most likely organism. There were a few stains that you had to identify if the organisms were intracell/extracell, g+/g-. Some micro questions tied into treatments such as prophylaxis and side effects of antibiotics etc and MOA. If I have to break down the different micro subtopics, I would have to say
Bacteria > Parasites > Viruses (drugs for viruses seemed to come up pretty often and their MOA.)

Anatomy was like....dude's got pain here, what muscle attaches here. Or person was using crutches and now has a nerve deficit HERE (arrow points to brachial plexus nerve) and it asks you what deficit he has. Quite a few radiographs and CT's that went along with the presentation. Got a few brainstem gross photos which asked me where certain CN exit and if so and so has a deficit this and that, where's the most likely lesion and the answers point to different areas of the brain stem.

Genetics: Some pedigrees, you have to draw some punnette squares, and you do need to solve P2 + 2pq + q2 = 1 equation. You have to know your AD, AR, XR, etc etc.

Behavioral Sciences: There were at least 1-2 ethics questions per block and they were random. Most of it had to do with the patient physician interview and what you say to such and such response or what do you suggest to the patient to get him and her to do this and that. Nothing you can really do here. Not a lot of calculations in terms of biostats that need to be done and only one or two questions that asked you about bias and different type of studies.

Biochem: One or two hardcore biochem questions that had to do with what product transforms into what and where (example: Leucine and Lysine are purely ketogenic AA) Some cofactor questions and some lysosomal storage diseases etc etc. I would say I got no more than half a dozen biochem questions.

Overall: The test was more straightforward than expected. I would say that it's more like 70:30 NBME:UW in terms of depth of questions and involvement. Each of the NBME's that I took (6 and 7 and free 150) felt similar in terms of difficulty so I can't make a recommendation as to which one is better than another to take.

What you should take away from my experience:

1. Read BRS Phys and Read Goljan Path and listen to his audio. They are by far the three most valuable resources to prepare for this test. They are better resources than FA in my opinion for studying for this test at least initially. Use FA as an outline and nothing more. Read FA word for word and every time you come across a pathology or a "relationship" they want you to associate two diseases with, look it up in Goljan and understand what it has to say about that. Memorizing FA for path as is is NOT enough. Everything else for FA is great (Micro, Behavioral, Psych) but not the path. You need more.

2. UW is your best friend. Quite a few of my questions mimicked UW and there were some that were STRAIGHT from it. I wish I had the chance to do UW twice fully without just glancing at some of the questions I missed. Very similar concepts were tested in a lot of my questions.

3. Outside resources were not necessary. Everything can be found in FA and Goljan with the exception of some radiographs and brainstem slices (I would go to HY Neuro) for those. But in terms of HY Mol Bio, HY Neuro, HY Behavioral, HY Immuno...they are all great if you have a lot of time but not necessary and frankly low yield. CMMRS is good only for the table and even that is a bit of an overshoot for the depth of micro questions. If you memorize what Micro bug is gram blah and oxidase blah etc etc you're golden. Also make sure you check out the BONUS MICRO TABLES on the firstaid blog website

http://firstaidteam.com/cases/

I found them to be excellent for review the last day before the exam.

4. Some question you just can't prepare for because you know 10,000 facts out of the possible 100,000 facts and only 336 of them will be tested. You're not going to know which one is going to be thrown at you. I had a friend that spent two days on learning Biochem and he was given maybe 1 or 2 biochem questions and had a lot of neuro brainstems that he ignored. Go for the high yield topics and leave the low yield for what it is...low yield. You're most likely not going to get every answer correct and there's a much better chance that spending those 2 days studying Path will be better rewarded than studying Biochem. If you know NOTHING about biochem, that's a different story.

Ok I think that's about all I had to say. I'll post how I studied after I get my exam scores but the above is my impressions and what I thought as I was taking the exam. I hope it helps everyone on this website. I know all you guys have been a major source of my support during these months while I'm studying for this beast and also during the MCATs. 😍😍 Let me know if there's any other info you guys need to rock this thing. I'm here to help!!

4 weeks left to wait. Wish me luck

Vicinihil:

You really did soooooooooooooooo great on your test.

I am now going through the FA by doing UsmleRx. I want to include RR ,BRS physio and Goljan Audio for each chapter, but not sure which order is better to do it: Reading first or doing questions first? Can you give me a suggestion?

Thanks

 

[tin]

Nobody is personally attacking you or even mentioning your post, so why are you so defensive? I only remember positive responses to your exam day post. I personally found it helpful.

You can't argue that some people on SDN probably exaggerate their study schedules and actual scores, I mean, come on. I think that's all the previous poster was pointing out. If someone were to post that they only used FA, UW and RR (and this has happened in the past) they would most likely get flamed with comments like "wow, good luck with that . . . "would like to see how well you do with only using those resources in 6 weeks" . . . blah, blah), so it goes both ways, IMHO.

Yea......99% of the people on this thread are great and really encourage others.....which is why I like this thread and chose to post. I remember between 1st and 2nd year I would surf lotsa sites to read others' experiences while compiling my own sources to study with. The links that I used to do practice questions were all attained from SDN at one point or another. These posts guided me, and thats why I wanted to give back any way I can. 😉

It technically does not affect me one way or the other......😎

I never indicated anyone was personally saying much to me. However, it would be appreciated if people can post w/o having to limit the number of study resources they post b/c someone may feel he/she is showing off.

Regarding my study schedule........its word for word the exact schedule I followed. The thing some students dont realize.........is that the information in these sources are reviews of info one would have somewhere in the recesses of their mind (tho u wouldnt know it).......they really are not 'learning tools' at this point in the game......as a result......it becomes doable to go thru these sources.

 

[vicinihil]

Oh def reading the material first. And also do it in this order because there's nothing better than questions at the end to tie together material you may have glanced over or not realized. That EUREKA is what you're looking for.

1. BRS Physiology for the path chapter you want to cover...do questions in BRS phys
2. Read Goljan Path for the chapter carefully and look at charts/graphs/pictures
3. Listen to Goljan Audio while following along in the text
4. Read FA for the chapter carefully
5. Do questions and more questions.

It's a lot to do for a day so divide it up into 2 days if you have the time but some chapters are doable in a day.

 

[match2011]

Thanks

I still have 2 months to go

Oh def reading the material first. And also do it in this order because there's nothing better than questions at the end to tie together material you may have glanced over or not realized. That EUREKA is what you're looking for.

1. BRS Physiology for the path chapter you want to cover...do questions in BRS phys
2. Read Goljan Path for the chapter carefully and look at charts/graphs/pictures
3. Listen to Goljan Audio while following along in the text
4. Read FA for the chapter carefully
5. Do questions and more questions.

It's a lot to do for a day so divide it up into 2 days if you have the time but some chapters are doable in a day.

 

[Lests55]

Well I think tomorrow is the day to get scores back. I'm nervous. Felt like I didn't do anywhere near my practice scores. 🙁

What time seems to be the consensus? Mid-morning?

 

[vicinihil]

Good luck. I think/hope you'll be pleasantly surprised =)

 

[PhillyCheese]

How much neuroanatomy is on the boards? I bombed neuro.

 

[MilkmanAl]

There's very little anatomy in general, so I'd be pretty surprised if you had more than one or two neuroanatomy questions.

 

[vicinihil]

I got 2 brain stems and maybe a picture of a brain. I would expect no more than 1 question per block.

 

[majik1213]

dude..........I'm glad people share their experiences on this forum..........as that is its stated purpose..........but I find it weird that instead of encouraging those to share the resources they used to study for the exam...even if they used about a gazillion of them.......there are those who feel intimidated by certain individuals they label as "gunners"......that truthfully share their experiences..........

share the resources you thought that reeked......or were awesome.........but dont attack other students (by indicating they are 'showing off') just because you feel a bit intimidated. It takes a long time to write these posts.....and I appreciate those who write their experiences so that others can figure out their own paths, as well as those who provide a few words of encouragement.....

Its an EXPERIENCE.........share it ......whatever it is.........i'm sure a lot of students will benefit.........

tin i just want you to know the vast majority of us who do not post very much appreciate the advice you and all the other test takers give, including test taking strategies, surprises and unexpected topics, and resources used. Thanks a bunch! Don't let the nay sayers get to ya! 😍

 

[Eudjinn]

I'm enjoying reading the success stories here. I have 6 weeks for USMLE and my COMLEX is 1 week after (OMM review in the middle). Having a rigorous study schedule has been impossible since classes are still in full swing, but I have been doing Goljan audio/RR and FA whenever I have some time. I initially started out with a plethora of resources, but as the time approaches, I keep cutting more and more resources (putting them on the back burner as a reference to look something up - HY Neuro for brain pics) and I'm basically down to FA + Goljan audio + RR Path + UWorld (+green book for COMLEX later).

I'm happy to see that most seem to agree with the "less is more" strategy. I think I give myself a better shot at doing well by concentrating on these very high yield sources as opposed to spreading myself out too thin.

My question is: is it bad to do all of UWorld on untimed tutor? It's basically a learning tool more so than a diagnostic tool anyway. I plan on doing timed also, but I just really like tutor mode untimed.

 

[Articuate]

I think tin have a point. This is experience forum and I kind of think twice posting all my resources when i read some comments. Encouragement will do more good than harm.
I was personally told that FA, Uworld and Goljan audio were enough for the test by a lot of people and forums. And after the exam i felt they were enough. But we all know that very few people studied solely these three resources. For someone like me, I like to cover everything and so i picked up Taus method which have many other textbook sources in the plan, half way through, i got DIT even though i was already doing great in practice exams . what am trying to say is that some people might not feel secure until they go through all resources even if it is just skimming it once. Also people are different, some people learn centripetal way ( love to cover everything and then narrow down) while some the centrifugal way( like to just get basics down and then figure out the application in exams), so definitely some people will read lot of books while some will only do questions. I think we should not have to think twice before posting experiences including all the resources.

Good luck to people getting their result tomorrow.

 

[tin]

I'm enjoying reading the success stories here. I have 6 weeks for USMLE and my COMLEX is 1 week after (OMM review in the middle). Having a rigorous study schedule has been impossible since classes are still in full swing, but I have been doing Goljan audio/RR and FA whenever I have some time. I initially started out with a plethora of resources, but as the time approaches, I keep cutting more and more resources (putting them on the back burner as a reference to look something up - HY Neuro for brain pics) and I'm basically down to FA + Goljan audio + RR Path + UWorld (+green book for COMLEX later).

I'm happy to see that most seem to agree with the "less is more" strategy. I think I give myself a better shot at doing well by concentrating on these very high yield sources as opposed to spreading myself out too thin.

My question is: is it bad to do all of UWorld on untimed tutor? It's basically a learning tool more so than a diagnostic tool anyway. I plan on doing timed also, but I just really like tutor mode untimed.

You know.........thats the same question i had while prepping. I ended up deciding to time every Uworld question I did. Their is a benefit in that........b/c your mind ends up processing info much faster and becomes accustomed to the limited time.

My recommendation is ........regardless of whther u are in the first day or last week of your studying.....time yourself.........its only gonna help u

 

[tin]

OH AND GOOD LUCK TO ALL THOSE WAITING FOR SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!




I'm sure y'all did well.

 

[deleted103644]

Figured I should add my 2 cents.

Read the usual books once through, took the free 150 at Prometric (251 according to medfriends), NBME 5 & 6 (239 and 247, although it's been a little while, can't remember which is which).

Finished all of USMLEworld, 71% timed + random.

Score on the real thing rounds up to 250.

 

[badasshairday]

Just too the NBME CBSE, is it pretty much considered a practice Step 1 exam? Or is it suppose to be easier/harder?

 

[NCgirl85]

My question is: is it bad to do all of UWorld on untimed tutor? It's basically a learning tool more so than a diagnostic tool anyway. I plan on doing timed also, but I just really like tutor mode untimed.

I pretty much only used untimed tutor mode. I don't think that is a bad thing if you are using it as a learning tool. NBMEs and UW self assessments can be used to practice timing. I started UWorld using timed mode but then I had to annotate all the questions into FA at the end..... I liked it much better doing tutor and then annotating whatever I needed into FA as I went along.

 

[vicinihil]

Just too the NBME CBSE, is it pretty much considered a practice Step 1 exam? Or is it suppose to be easier/harder?

I think it's similar to difficulty. The real one may have an increased count of difficult questions (more similar to UW).

That's why I think most people think the real test is roughly NBME + UW

 

[tin]

I think it's similar to difficulty. The real one may have an increased count of difficult questions (more similar to UW).

That's why I think most people think the real test is roughly NBME + UW

It is roughly NBME + UW..................a number of questions came word for word from NBMEs that I had done as well as Uworld.

Pre-test questions were also good...........when u start running out of questions to do. There is one pre-test book that has random blocks of 50 questions that u can time yourself on.

 

[Cooolguy]

for me it was about 40% nbme, 50% uworld, 10% harder than uworld

 

[jackets5]

for me it was about 40% nbme, 50% uworld, 10% harder than uworld

The question is what type of Uworld questions. I mean are they the UWorld Questions that 70+% of people get right or the ones that are more in the 40-50% range.

 

[NWS]

The question is what type of Uworld questions. I mean are they the UWorld Questions that 70+% of people get right or the ones that are more in the 40-50% range.

A mix of both.

 

[Arshavin]

I am an IMG ,got my score today ,242/99 ,ecstatic!!

I would like to thank the forum ,i learned a lot from the regular posters here.Studied for 5 months ,on and off .learned about the Taus method about 2 month in the study, din `t annotate all in to first aid ,but one thing that i learned from Taus was to study first aid with the book you are using, in my case Kaplan`s step 1 books. Watched Kaplan DVD of behavioral science ,didn`t watch the rest ,as they were too lengthy and of course i am lazy..

on exam day ,felt a lot of them questions were new ,some from Qbanks like Kaplan and UW ,but u could count them on fingers,regretted not studying enough pictures ,some of the slides didn `t make sense at all .But Kaplan books covered enough ,i mean there were lot of questions that was asked from the text itself .Questions were in many case clinical scenario,and topics like poisoning were killer .
What would i have done differently ?? I felt the initial study period where i was studying and conceptualizing was from where i could answer the questions ,i think what i would have done differently would be to read the text and think about the possible questions from the text ,just running over was suicidal ,they will manage to confuse in the exam!!!and last but not the least NBME ,u will be surprised to see some of the questions word for word from there !!
thanks a lot everyone !!

 

[NCgirl85]

Score report was available at exactly 11 am (eastern time).

219/93. Meh, I feel very lukewarm about this score. At least I passed.

Good luck to everyone else who finds out today!

 

[tideleonheart]

Score report was available at exactly 11 am (eastern time).

219/93. Meh, I feel very lukewarm about this score. At least I passed.

Good luck to everyone else who finds out today!

Thanks for posting! I would love to hear from more people who got normal scores instead of superstar scores...

 

[DRJJ1]

Thanks for posting! I would love to hear from more people who got normal scores instead of superstar scores...

your hope is that,,you won t,,,lol,,,prob inflated scores is all you ll hear and don t day im a naysayer because unless you post your actual name and score believe nobody I caught 2 people myself with fake score reporting by accident,,,doesn t matter to me but something to think about

 

[kryptik]

Score report was available at exactly 11 am (eastern time).

219/93. Meh, I feel very lukewarm about this score. At least I passed.

Good luck to everyone else who finds out today!

Thanks for honest reporting. I am sure you will definitely improve on Step II. Was your score similar to you nbme if you took any?

 

[wrestlo]

Going into studying I decided to set my goal score at 240. I figured if I fell into the 220s or 230s I would be happy. I was taught to shoot high so you can fall low. I took Step 1 April 2 and got my score back April 21.
I did not take a practice NMBE because I did not want to pay the $45. I figured I already pay enough money, forget the $45. I used the practice test through USMLE world after reviewing several forums. Many people scored within 5-10 points of their UW practice test. I bought both UW Sim exams, completed the first one and only finished half of the second one.

UW Sim Exam 1: 240/600 (no joke)
Actual Score: 240/99 😀 (really no joke, I ran into the hall and screamed at school. Called my parents and sent text messages to my friends!!!)

My experience: I am a very slow reader and knew this going into studying during the month of March; however, I still tried to read several books. I read Rapid Review Biochemistry, but looking back I really wish I did not do that. It put me behind schedule by a half to whole day. I wish I would have used it as a reference if I did not understand a topic in biochemistry. I also did all the biochemistry questions in UW in the evening. I started with maybe 15 questions timed and started working myself up.

After getting behind I simply used the microbiology section in FA and started during microbiology questions with this as well. I wanted to read Micro Made Ridic, but FA was enough. Going into my second week I tried reading High Yield Neurology, but gave up on that as well. I got through 50 pages in about half a day and with my study schedule I only dedicated 2 days to neurology. From that point on I decided to only use FA and tried to complete 2 to 3 sets of 48 mixed questions timed in each day in UW. I took notes on all the questions I missed. If I had a question I used wikipedia, old notes, or a book. If I had time at the end of the day I would listen to goljan's audio.

The week of my exam I had completed 93% of UW and my average was a 65%. I also wanted to read over my UW notes, but I was so burned out from studying for 5 weeks straight. I did not complete all of goljan's audio; I listened to the topics I struggled with. Looking at my score report I got the "asterisk" in the subjects I listened to . . . so maybe that is saying something.

As you can see . . . hours of reading were not effective for me 😴. I needed to mix up reading with questions. I do not like renal at all, so the day before the exam I listened to goljan's renal lectures and destroyed renal on my exam. I also wanted to get through the BRS pharm cards more than once and that did not happen. I just completed the pharmacology questions in UW.

I guess the take-away message is do not be afraid to change your studying if it is not working and do QUESTIONS!!! I think about 2.5 weeks into my studying I finally figured out what worked for me. Sorry, for the typos and grammar . . . I am in a hurry LOL 🙄.

 

[vicinihil]

Going into studying I decided to set my goal score at 240. I figured if I fell into the 220s or 230s I would be happy. I was taught to shoot high so you can fall low. I took Step 1 April 2 and got my score back April 21.
I did not take a practice NMBE because I did not want to pay the $45. I figured I already pay enough money, forget the $45. I used the practice test through USMLE world after reviewing several forums. Many people scored within 5-10 points of their UW practice test. I bought both UW Sim exams, completed the first one and only finished half of the second one.

UW Sim Exam 1: 240/600 (no joke)
Actual Score: 240/99 😀 (really no joke, I ran into the hall and screamed at school. Called my parents and sent text messages to my friends!!!)

My experience: I am a very slow reader and knew this going into studying during the month of March; however, I still tried to read several books. I read Rapid Review Biochemistry, but looking back I really wish I did not do that. It put me behind schedule by a half to whole day. I wish I would have used it as a reference if I did not understand a topic in biochemistry. I also did all the biochemistry questions in UW in the evening. I started with maybe 15 questions timed and started working myself up.

After getting behind I simply used the microbiology section in FA and started during microbiology questions with this as well. I wanted to read Micro Made Ridic, but FA was enough. Going into my second week I tried reading High Yield Neurology, but gave up on that as well. I got through 50 pages in about half a day and with my study schedule I only dedicated 2 days to neurology. From that point on I decided to only use FA and tried to complete 2 to 3 sets of 48 mixed questions timed in each day in UW. I took notes on all the questions I missed. If I had a question I used wikipedia, old notes, or a book. If I had time at the end of the day I would listen to goljan's audio.

The week of my exam I had completed 93% of UW and my average was a 65%. I also wanted to read over my UW notes, but I was so burned out from studying for 5 weeks straight. I did not complete all of goljan's audio; I listened to the topics I struggled with. Looking at my score report I got the "asterisk" in the subjects I listened to . . . so maybe that is saying something.

As you can see . . . hours of reading were not effective for me 😴. I needed to mix up reading with questions. I do not like renal at all, so the day before the exam I listened to goljan's renal lectures and destroyed renal on my exam. I also wanted to get through the BRS pharm cards more than once and that did not happen. I just completed the pharmacology questions in UW.

I guess the take-away message is do not be afraid to change your studying if it is not working and do QUESTIONS!!! I think about 2.5 weeks into my studying I finally figured out what worked for me. Sorry, for the typos and grammar . . . I am in a hurry LOL 🙄.

Congratulations! You have infinite reasons to celebrate. Kudos! 👍👍

 

[M.Furfur]

Score report was available at exactly 11 am (eastern time).

219/93. Meh, I feel very lukewarm about this score. At least I passed.

Good luck to everyone else who finds out today!

It's a decent score. Don't feel bad about it!

 

[metalrex]

Going into studying I decided to set my goal score at 240. I figured if I fell into the 220s or 230s I would be happy. I was taught to shoot high so you can fall low. I took Step 1 April 2 and got my score back April 21.
I did not take a practice NMBE because I did not want to pay the $45. I figured I already pay enough money, forget the $45. I used the practice test through USMLE world after reviewing several forums. Many people scored within 5-10 points of their UW practice test. I bought both UW Sim exams, completed the first one and only finished half of the second one.

UW Sim Exam 1: 240/600 (no joke)
Actual Score: 240/99 😀 (really no joke, I ran into the hall and screamed at school. Called my parents and sent text messages to my friends!!!)

My experience: I am a very slow reader and knew this going into studying during the month of March; however, I still tried to read several books. I read Rapid Review Biochemistry, but looking back I really wish I did not do that. It put me behind schedule by a half to whole day. I wish I would have used it as a reference if I did not understand a topic in biochemistry. I also did all the biochemistry questions in UW in the evening. I started with maybe 15 questions timed and started working myself up.

After getting behind I simply used the microbiology section in FA and started during microbiology questions with this as well. I wanted to read Micro Made Ridic, but FA was enough. Going into my second week I tried reading High Yield Neurology, but gave up on that as well. I got through 50 pages in about half a day and with my study schedule I only dedicated 2 days to neurology. From that point on I decided to only use FA and tried to complete 2 to 3 sets of 48 mixed questions timed in each day in UW. I took notes on all the questions I missed. If I had a question I used wikipedia, old notes, or a book. If I had time at the end of the day I would listen to goljan's audio.

The week of my exam I had completed 93% of UW and my average was a 65%. I also wanted to read over my UW notes, but I was so burned out from studying for 5 weeks straight. I did not complete all of goljan's audio; I listened to the topics I struggled with. Looking at my score report I got the "asterisk" in the subjects I listened to . . . so maybe that is saying something.

As you can see . . . hours of reading were not effective for me 😴. I needed to mix up reading with questions. I do not like renal at all, so the day before the exam I listened to goljan's renal lectures and destroyed renal on my exam. I also wanted to get through the BRS pharm cards more than once and that did not happen. I just completed the pharmacology questions in UW.

I guess the take-away message is do not be afraid to change your studying if it is not working and do QUESTIONS!!! I think about 2.5 weeks into my studying I finally figured out what worked for me. Sorry, for the typos and grammar . . . I am in a hurry LOL 🙄.

A W E S O M E !

Your post just made my day cuz im facin somethin very similar n almost losing my mind , its encouraging to see yr score, im trailing in d 50's on UW n that's scarin d hell outta me

 

[MDpride]

Going into studying I decided to set my goal score at 240. I figured if I fell into the 220s or 230s I would be happy. I was taught to shoot high so you can fall low. I took Step 1 April 2 and got my score back April 21.
I did not take a practice NMBE because I did not want to pay the $45. I figured I already pay enough money, forget the $45. I used the practice test through USMLE world after reviewing several forums. Many people scored within 5-10 points of their UW practice test. I bought both UW Sim exams, completed the first one and only finished half of the second one.

UW Sim Exam 1: 240/600 (no joke)
Actual Score: 240/99 😀 (really no joke, I ran into the hall and screamed at school. Called my parents and sent text messages to my friends!!!)

My experience: I am a very slow reader and knew this going into studying during the month of March; however, I still tried to read several books. I read Rapid Review Biochemistry, but looking back I really wish I did not do that. It put me behind schedule by a half to whole day. I wish I would have used it as a reference if I did not understand a topic in biochemistry. I also did all the biochemistry questions in UW in the evening. I started with maybe 15 questions timed and started working myself up.

After getting behind I simply used the microbiology section in FA and started during microbiology questions with this as well. I wanted to read Micro Made Ridic, but FA was enough. Going into my second week I tried reading High Yield Neurology, but gave up on that as well. I got through 50 pages in about half a day and with my study schedule I only dedicated 2 days to neurology. From that point on I decided to only use FA and tried to complete 2 to 3 sets of 48 mixed questions timed in each day in UW. I took notes on all the questions I missed. If I had a question I used wikipedia, old notes, or a book. If I had time at the end of the day I would listen to goljan's audio.

The week of my exam I had completed 93% of UW and my average was a 65%. I also wanted to read over my UW notes, but I was so burned out from studying for 5 weeks straight. I did not complete all of goljan's audio; I listened to the topics I struggled with. Looking at my score report I got the "asterisk" in the subjects I listened to . . . so maybe that is saying something.

As you can see . . . hours of reading were not effective for me 😴. I needed to mix up reading with questions. I do not like renal at all, so the day before the exam I listened to goljan's renal lectures and destroyed renal on my exam. I also wanted to get through the BRS pharm cards more than once and that did not happen. I just completed the pharmacology questions in UW.

I guess the take-away message is do not be afraid to change your studying if it is not working and do QUESTIONS!!! I think about 2.5 weeks into my studying I finally figured out what worked for me. Sorry, for the typos and grammar . . . I am in a hurry LOL 🙄.

I have 4 weeks.. I am dedicating FIRST TWO weeks for STUDY. Then, 100 UW Qs everyday in TIMED MODE like in TAUS 2 WEEK PLAN.
I was thinking about reading CMMRS. So Its OK to NOT READ CMMRS?
I am thinking about going over MICRO CARDS along w/ FA MICRO.
Also, using BRENNERS PHARM CARD along w/ FA PHARM.

What do u think? is it over kill? just UWORLD,FA,RR and BRS?

 

[bbm113]

I have 4 weeks.. I am dedicating FIRST TWO weeks for STUDY. Then, 100 UW Qs everyday in TIMED MODE like in TAUS 2 WEEK PLAN.
I was thinking about reading CMMRS. So Its OK to NOT READ CMMRS?
I am thinking about going over MICRO CARDS along w/ FA MICRO.
Also, using BRENNERS PHARM CARD along w/ FA PHARM.

What do u think? is it over kill? just UWORLD,FA,RR and BRS?

What are you aiming for? If your looking for a 240 I think its over kill with only 4 weeks. For pharm and micro stick with first aid, but make sure you know everyword and chart. There was nothing on my test for either of these sections that couldn't have been answered with first aid.

I would aslo start doing questions now. Try to do a few after each section you do to reinforce what you learned.

 

[tin]

Score report was available at exactly 11 am (eastern time).

219/93. Meh, I feel very lukewarm about this score. At least I passed.

Good luck to everyone else who finds out today!

i appreciate the post ncgirl....you got above a 90.....thats what matters 🙂

 

[tin]

Going into studying I decided to set my goal score at 240. I figured if I fell into the 220s or 230s I would be happy. I was taught to shoot high so you can fall low. I took Step 1 April 2 and got my score back April 21.
I did not take a practice NMBE because I did not want to pay the $45. I figured I already pay enough money, forget the $45. I used the practice test through USMLE world after reviewing several forums. Many people scored within 5-10 points of their UW practice test. I bought both UW Sim exams, completed the first one and only finished half of the second one.

UW Sim Exam 1: 240/600 (no joke)
Actual Score: 240/99 😀 (really no joke, I ran into the hall and screamed at school. Called my parents and sent text messages to my friends!!!)

My experience: I am a very slow reader and knew this going into studying during the month of March; however, I still tried to read several books. I read Rapid Review Biochemistry, but looking back I really wish I did not do that. It put me behind schedule by a half to whole day. I wish I would have used it as a reference if I did not understand a topic in biochemistry. I also did all the biochemistry questions in UW in the evening. I started with maybe 15 questions timed and started working myself up.

After getting behind I simply used the microbiology section in FA and started during microbiology questions with this as well. I wanted to read Micro Made Ridic, but FA was enough. Going into my second week I tried reading High Yield Neurology, but gave up on that as well. I got through 50 pages in about half a day and with my study schedule I only dedicated 2 days to neurology. From that point on I decided to only use FA and tried to complete 2 to 3 sets of 48 mixed questions timed in each day in UW. I took notes on all the questions I missed. If I had a question I used wikipedia, old notes, or a book. If I had time at the end of the day I would listen to goljan's audio.

The week of my exam I had completed 93% of UW and my average was a 65%. I also wanted to read over my UW notes, but I was so burned out from studying for 5 weeks straight. I did not complete all of goljan's audio; I listened to the topics I struggled with. Looking at my score report I got the "asterisk" in the subjects I listened to . . . so maybe that is saying something.

As you can see . . . hours of reading were not effective for me 😴. I needed to mix up reading with questions. I do not like renal at all, so the day before the exam I listened to goljan's renal lectures and destroyed renal on my exam. I also wanted to get through the BRS pharm cards more than once and that did not happen. I just completed the pharmacology questions in UW.

I guess the take-away message is do not be afraid to change your studying if it is not working and do QUESTIONS!!! I think about 2.5 weeks into my studying I finally figured out what worked for me. Sorry, for the typos and grammar . . . I am in a hurry LOL 🙄.

congrats buddy.....enjoy ur time now

 

[tin]

A W E S O M E !

Your post just made my day cuz im facin somethin very similar n almost losing my mind , its encouraging to see yr score, im trailing in d 50's on UW n that's scarin d hell outta me

good luck to you. im sure u'll do fine. I guess the major point is to address the weaknesses as wrestlo did.

 

[natureboy]

Alright I'm back from my several day hangover in beautiful Florida and posting my day's experiences.

6am: Get up, get to starbucks and cram some last minute things like adverse reactions to pharm drugs, look over the micro charts again, nothing too intense

7:30am: Armed with 2 cups of starbucks coffee (one to leave in my car for the afternoon) and a bottle of Ethos Starbucks water for rehydration and 2 starbucks fruit and nut bars and a starbucks sandwich, I head to the center (1 block away from the starbucks)

7:40am: arrive and sign in and they promptly got me to a testing computer because you can start early if you show up early. (originally scheduled at 8am)

I only used 40 minutes of my 1hr for break. I didn't feel like I needed a break every block especially if I was in the zone. I generally took 5 minute breaks every 2 blocks and roughly 10-15 minutes for lunch. During the breaks I made sure to pee even if I didn't need to just to make sure I don't get the urge later and drank water to rehydrate from the coffee.

3pm: Finish, got up, left

Overall Impression:

The test was difficult but majority of it was whether you knew it or not. >90% of the test was 1-2 step reasoning and the stems give a lot of information away. I finished each block with roughly 20 minutes left to go back and go through the section again quickly to make sure I didn't misread a question or misunderstand what they were shooting for.

Breakdown of the test: Largely largely largely largely PATHOLOGY with a lot of PHYSIOLOGY

If I had to assign percentages I would have to say

50% Pathology (Neuro = GI > MSK = Cardiac)
20% Physiology
10% Micro and Pharm
20% Everything else (Anatomy > Behavioral > Genetics = Biochem)

Pathology questions: Straightforward asking for diseases with good patient presentations (60 year old dude experiencing xxxxxx symptoms with occasional xxxxxxx.Wife reports that he's been xxxxxxxx. On presentation patient appears xxxxxxxx. What's the most likely diagnosis). GI, Neuro, MSK, Cardio seemed like the biggies on this section. Had quite a few questions on GI presentation/cancers/diseases and presentations, neuro cancers/dementia/visual field deficits, and MSK pathology like lesions here would cause what nerve deficit/muscular dystrophies/etc. Cardio questions were more to do with heart sounds. I got 3 auscultation questions each consisted of me being able to move the stethescope around on the chest of the patient and listen for murmurs, gallops, etc.

Physiology questions: Also straight forward (Which of the following is a stimulus fr the release of xxxxxx enzyme...then they'd give you a chart with arrows saying that the concentration of the enzyme goes up or down due to different stimuli. (ex: Which of the following is a stimulus for insulin release? chicken wings (up) sugar (up) Glucagon (up) or chicken wings (down) sugar (up) glucagon (up).

Pharm questions were much more focused on side effects and what you can use with xxx drug and what you can't use with xxx drug. Only the cancer drugs did they focus on mechanism of action (example: Person has testicular cancer, went on a cisplatin. What's the MOA?) I would say Neuro drugs and Antibiotics showed up more than any other classes of drugs.

Micro: Once again, whether or not you knew what bug caused the disease. The choices weren't confusing. It started with a presentation and asked you for the most likely organism. There were a few stains that you had to identify if the organisms were intracell/extracell, g+/g-. Some micro questions tied into treatments such as prophylaxis and side effects of antibiotics etc and MOA. If I have to break down the different micro subtopics, I would have to say
Bacteria > Parasites > Viruses (drugs for viruses seemed to come up pretty often and their MOA.)

Anatomy was like....dude's got pain here, what muscle attaches here. Or person was using crutches and now has a nerve deficit HERE (arrow points to brachial plexus nerve) and it asks you what deficit he has. Quite a few radiographs and CT's that went along with the presentation. Got a few brainstem gross photos which asked me where certain CN exit and if so and so has a deficit this and that, where's the most likely lesion and the answers point to different areas of the brain stem.

Genetics: Some pedigrees, you have to draw some punnette squares, and you do need to solve P2 + 2pq + q2 = 1 equation. You have to know your AD, AR, XR, etc etc.

Behavioral Sciences: There were at least 1-2 ethics questions per block and they were random. Most of it had to do with the patient physician interview and what you say to such and such response or what do you suggest to the patient to get him and her to do this and that. Nothing you can really do here. Not a lot of calculations in terms of biostats that need to be done and only one or two questions that asked you about bias and different type of studies.

Biochem: One or two hardcore biochem questions that had to do with what product transforms into what and where (example: Leucine and Lysine are purely ketogenic AA) Some cofactor questions and some lysosomal storage diseases etc etc. I would say I got no more than half a dozen biochem questions.

Overall: The test was more straightforward than expected. I would say that it's more like 70:30 NBME:UW in terms of depth of questions and involvement. Each of the NBME's that I took (6 and 7 and free 150) felt similar in terms of difficulty so I can't make a recommendation as to which one is better than another to take.

What you should take away from my experience:

1. Read BRS Phys and Read Goljan Path and listen to his audio. They are by far the three most valuable resources to prepare for this test. They are better resources than FA in my opinion for studying for this test at least initially. Use FA as an outline and nothing more. Read FA word for word and every time you come across a pathology or a "relationship" they want you to associate two diseases with, look it up in Goljan and understand what it has to say about that. Memorizing FA for path as is is NOT enough. Everything else for FA is great (Micro, Behavioral, Psych) but not the path. You need more.

2. UW is your best friend. Quite a few of my questions mimicked UW and there were some that were STRAIGHT from it. I wish I had the chance to do UW twice fully without just glancing at some of the questions I missed. Very similar concepts were tested in a lot of my questions.

3. Outside resources were not necessary. Everything can be found in FA and Goljan with the exception of some radiographs and brainstem slices (I would go to HY Neuro) for those. But in terms of HY Mol Bio, HY Neuro, HY Behavioral, HY Immuno...they are all great if you have a lot of time but not necessary and frankly low yield. CMMRS is good only for the table and even that is a bit of an overshoot for the depth of micro questions. If you memorize what Micro bug is gram blah and oxidase blah etc etc you're golden. Also make sure you check out the BONUS MICRO TABLES on the firstaid blog website

http://firstaidteam.com/cases/

I found them to be excellent for review the last day before the exam.

4. Some question you just can't prepare for because you know 10,000 facts out of the possible 100,000 facts and only 336 of them will be tested. You're not going to know which one is going to be thrown at you. I had a friend that spent two days on learning Biochem and he was given maybe 1 or 2 biochem questions and had a lot of neuro brainstems that he ignored. Go for the high yield topics and leave the low yield for what it is...low yield. You're most likely not going to get every answer correct and there's a much better chance that spending those 2 days studying Path will be better rewarded than studying Biochem. If you know NOTHING about biochem, that's a different story.

Ok I think that's about all I had to say. I'll post how I studied after I get my exam scores but the above is my impressions and what I thought as I was taking the exam. I hope it helps everyone on this website. I know all you guys have been a major source of my support during these months while I'm studying for this beast and also during the MCATs. 😍😍 Let me know if there's any other info you guys need to rock this thing. I'm here to help!!

4 weeks left to wait. Wish me luck

What was the representation of neuroanatomy on your exam? Do you think FA was enough, or perhaps HY is necessary?

 

[NCgirl85]

Thanks for honest reporting. I am sure you will definitely improve on Step II. Was your score similar to you nbme if you took any?

CBSE (administered by school) - 2/22 (first day of study period, ~5 and a half weeks before exam) – 53=158
UWSA1 – 3/12 (~3 weeks before exam) – 195
NBME 4 – 3/25 (1 week before exam) – 490=220
Free 150 – 3/30 (2 days before exam) – 86%=241 (according to WikiTestPrep)
NBME 6 – night before exam – 560=236

 

[NCgirl85]

your hope is that,,you won t,,,lol,,,prob inflated scores is all you ll hear and don t day im a naysayer because unless you post your actual name and score believe nobody I caught 2 people myself with fake score reporting by accident,,,doesn t matter to me but something to think about

I don't understand why people feel the need to lie about their scores on an online forum. Or even in real life for that matter, but especially online..... 😕

Now if I could lie to someone about my score and get away with it, it would definitely be to residency directors!

 

[FutureDoc4]

CBSE (administered by school) - 2/22 (first day of study period, ~5 and a half weeks before exam) – 53=158
UWSA1 – 3/12 (~3 weeks before exam) – 195
NBME 4 – 3/25 (1 week before exam) – 490=220
Free 150 – 3/30 (2 days before exam) – 86%=241 (according to WikiTestPrep)
NBME 6 – night before exam – 560=236

NCgirl85, we definitely appreciate you contributing to this thread. I know your score isnt exactly what you wanted, but, if you look from your baseline you jumped 50 points (thats a pretty HUGE jump and you should be proud of that)

 

[vicinihil]

What was the representation of neuroanatomy on your exam? Do you think FA was enough, or perhaps HY is necessary?

FA was enough for >95% of the questions. The only thing from HY that would've helped were the brain sections. I had a friend that got some MR angiograms of cerebral vessels and certainly if you read HY it'll cover everything you need to know with the exception of Neuropath (tumors, diseases, etc). FA does a decent job condensing Neuroanatomy into the first large chunk of its neuro chapter.

I think I got somewhat lucky with a lighter version of neuro on my exam . However, majority of the people I talk to do not use HY Neuro. It's definitely a good resource but not necessary. Stick to the basics and if you need more, reach out but don't do so initially.

 

[MilkmanAl]

For neuroanatomy, I'd strongly consider using Haines's atlas. It's obviously going to be super low yield overall, but it has all the pictures you could ever want and quite good explanations of the key points, in my opinion. If you need a refresher of what an aneurysm or MCA stroke looks like, that's the place to find it.

 

[Psychotropic]

I just took the test today. From my experience, it was pretty much like doing 7 timed USMLE World random 48q blocks. The test was much more difficult than the NBME exam. I'll post a more detailed response regarding my study plan later. But for now here are the important details:

My Score Progression:

NBME 4 (4 weeks out): 234/550
NBME 6 (2 weeks out): 247/610
NBME 7 (1 week out): 247/610

USMLE World 90% complete, all timed random 48 q blocks: 77% correct.

Study plan was most Taus. Essentials included FA + UW + Goljan RR + Goljan Audio. Dedicated studying time was 5.5 weeks. I started my prep back in January (roughly 10 hours/week).

Regarding my experience today, I was confident, on average, with about 35/48 questions in each of my blocks. The ones that I marked ( on average 10-15), I eliminated answer choices down to 2 for about 8-10 of them. There were several during each block that were like those random USMLE World questions that come out of nowhere where you are left clueless. I just guessed.

Lots of path, lots of pathophys, some micro, not a lot of biochem. Few random anatomy questions. It varies for everyone, so don't base your studying on N=1 experience.

I will be disappointed with a score less than 230. I will be content with a score of 230 to 240. I will be thrilled with a score of 240-250. And I will have no idea what I'll do with myself if I break 250.

Whatever. I'm going to go get some sun. Best of luck.

 

[vicinihil]

I just took the test today. From my experience, it was pretty much like doing 7 timed USMLE random 48q blocks. The test was much more difficult than the NBME exam. I'll post a more detailed response regarding my study plan later. But for now here are the important details:

My Score Progression:

NBME 4 (4 weeks out): 234/550
NBME 6 (2 weeks out): 247/610
NBME 7 (1 week out): 247/610

USMLE World 90% complete, all timed random 48 q blocks: 77% correct.

Study plan was most Taus. Essentials included FA + UW + Goljan RR + Goljan Audio. Dedicated studying time was 5.5 weeks. I started my prep back in January (roughly 10 hours/week).

Regarding my experience today, I was confident, on average, with about 35/48 questions in each of my blocks. The ones that I marked ( on average 10-15), I eliminated answer choices down to 2 for about 8-10 of them. There were several during each block that were like those random USMLE World questions that come out of nowhere where you are left clueless. I just guessed.

Lots of path, lots of pathophys, some micro, not a lot of biochem. Few random anatomy questions. It varies for everyone, so don't base your studying on N=1 experience.

I will be disappointed with a score less than 230. I will be content with a score of 230 to 240. I will be thrilled with a score of 240-250. And I will have no idea what I'll do with myself if I break 250.

Whatever. I'm going to go get some sun. Best of luck.

I think our experiences were very similar and we walked in with very similar numbers (247 on NBME 6 and 77% on UW). Though I may not have been confident on as many as you haha. I'm hoping that you and I both come out with something similar to our practice exam scores!!!

 

[Czeckers]

Im 40 percent through Uworld (random blocks) and it seems to me that pharm is skewed toward Phsych drugs, Side Effects, and and Autonomics.

Is this skew representative of the actual test?

 

[Psychotropic]

Im 40 percent through Uworld (random blocks) and it seems to me that pharm is skewed toward Phsych drugs, Side Effects, and and Autonomics.

Is this skew representative of the actual test?

Not on mine. But it could be on yours. You never know. It varies.