Official 2012 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[amavir281]

I saw that there was a similar thread for 2011 that had plenty of useful info so I figured its best to start one for 2012.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Chirurg]

hey GTV I bet you did much better than expected, I've seen your kind of posts around, its usually people who did a good job at studying that feel like you do - just wait and get your mind off of it until your results come back.

second that.

 

[elektroshok]

I also took it on friday.

There were about 30 anatomy questions, half of which were random and convoluted. I thought most of the stems of all the questions were most similar to world questions, but the answer choices were what made thequestions hard. Also, a ton of molecular and cell bio. prob about 5 per block that were 'wtf' type questions.

Was hoping for 240+ but ill be lucky to have pulled 220 I think.

I used:
World, 86% on random 46s
Usmlerx, split by subjects I was studying
Fa
Brs phys
Goljan rr audio and book
Hy neuro

Got a 223 on the cbse we took at school 6 weeks ago before studying.
Nbme 6, 257
Nbme 7, 245
Nbme 12, 257

Should get my scores on the 21St so ill update then.

But I def think fa alone wouldn't cut it. not really sure how I would have studied different tho.
Lets hope the curve is in my favor!

Sent from my AT100 using Tapatalk

 

[jatt12]

They changed the score a few months ago to make it more spread out rather than 99 being related to anything over 230. Now a 99 is like impossible

Thanks!

 

[jatt12]

a) that was my original question on this thread if you read above, since usually anything over 230 is a 99, so they must have changed the scoring and I still don't really get it, b) if you're assuming i made up the score, why would i choose a 90? I came on the thread to ask about it, and have tried to provide meaningful advice to those who asked other questions about the step 1. Please respect that.

Apparently, they are phasing out the 2 point score to be nonexistent in the near future. Since June 2011 the 2 point score is not reported to residency programs. Hence, it does not matter anyway.

First of all congrats on excellent score, second thanks for clarification

 

[secants]

GTV, did the stuff you didn't see in FA at least come up during your classes? Also for the molecular bio questions, is this more for cell signaling or just all the cellular process?

 

[Hitman1187]

Took mine on Friday and feel as if I was academically raped. I went through FA 4+ times, did all of kaplan qbank (78%), all of uworld qbank (80%), both uworld practice tests (265+ on both), and all the nbme practice tests (245 on 3, 254 on 5, 247 on 6, 250 on 7, 252 on 11, and 261 on 12). The real deal blew them all out of the water in terms of difficulty. On uworld qbank questions for example they might be 2 or 3 steps that require you to think critically but if you know your stuff you can usually figure them out. On my real test though I was bombarded with1-step questions but over topics I was totally unfamiliar with and were NOT covere at all in FA. I felt like every other question was some obscure minutae of anatomy. I also got plenty ridiculous molecular bio questions that totally threw me through a complete loop. The only saving grace was the microbio, of which there was a lot of. Since the exam I have been looking up questions that I remembered causing me anguish and the incorrect counter is already up to 15. And that's just the ones I remembered and could prove for a fact I got wrong. Going into the exam I was expecting mid 250s, but realistically I might be down into the 220s after that massacre. Hello family med! If you take anything from this rant it is this: at least in my experience FA is NOT adequate. At all. Also, all practice exams are deceptively easy. Beware.

Oh God !.. hey could you tell us now from the exam what do you think is a good source to read ??? where do you think the Qs were from ??? what should we do in order to improve ... my exam is at the end of the month and i am not half as near the scores you have ....... please do help buddy ....

 

[richse]

Took mine on Friday and feel as if I was academically raped. I went through FA 4+ times, did all of kaplan qbank (78%), all of uworld qbank (80%), both uworld practice tests (265+ on both), and all the nbme practice tests (245 on 3, 254 on 5, 247 on 6, 250 on 7, 252 on 11, and 261 on 12). The real deal blew them all out of the water in terms of difficulty. On uworld qbank questions for example they might be 2 or 3 steps that require you to think critically but if you know your stuff you can usually figure them out. On my real test though I was bombarded with1-step questions but over topics I was totally unfamiliar with and were NOT covere at all in FA. I felt like every other question was some obscure minutae of anatomy. I also got plenty ridiculous molecular bio questions that totally threw me through a complete loop. The only saving grace was the microbio, of which there was a lot of. Since the exam I have been looking up questions that I remembered causing me anguish and the incorrect counter is already up to 15. And that's just the ones I remembered and could prove for a fact I got wrong. Going into the exam I was expecting mid 250s, but realistically I might be down into the 220s after that massacre. Hello family med! If you take anything from this rant it is this: at least in my experience FA is NOT adequate. At all. Also, all practice exams are deceptively easy. Beware.

Not sure if it will make you feel better, but I felt exactly like this last summer right after taking the exam. My practice scores were a bit lower than yours. I ended up very happy with my score so don't lose hope.

 

[Hitman1187]

Took mine on Friday and feel as if I was academically raped. I went through FA 4+ times, did all of kaplan qbank (78%), all of uworld qbank (80%), both uworld practice tests (265+ on both), and all the nbme practice tests (245 on 3, 254 on 5, 247 on 6, 250 on 7, 252 on 11, and 261 on 12). The real deal blew them all out of the water in terms of difficulty. On uworld qbank questions for example they might be 2 or 3 steps that require you to think critically but if you know your stuff you can usually figure them out. On my real test though I was bombarded with1-step questions but over topics I was totally unfamiliar with and were NOT covere at all in FA. I felt like every other question was some obscure minutae of anatomy. I also got plenty ridiculous molecular bio questions that totally threw me through a complete loop. The only saving grace was the microbio, of which there was a lot of. Since the exam I have been looking up questions that I remembered causing me anguish and the incorrect counter is already up to 15. And that's just the ones I remembered and could prove for a fact I got wrong. Going into the exam I was expecting mid 250s, but realistically I might be down into the 220s after that massacre. Hello family med! If you take anything from this rant it is this: at least in my experience FA is NOT adequate. At all. Also, all practice exams are deceptively easy. Beware.

hey buddy I have read similar posts in other forums , everyones pretty scared , waiting for their results to see the logic behind this ...... I am going to give it on 30 march and was relying on FA and UW ..... and now i am totally blank as what to do about it as everyones going through this ..... Buddy here is where we need your help desperately ... please do tell us what should we read to ans atleast a few of them ?? are the ans in kaplan ??? or any other book ??? if you find your ans in a source please do let us know or even any suggestion of what we should do will be welcomed ....

thanks ..

 

[Hitman1187]

Not sure if it will make you feel better, but I felt exactly like this last summer right after taking the exam. My practice scores were a bit lower than yours. I ended up scoring in the mid 250's so don't lose hope.

hey buddy , could you help me out , i am bit nervous but what should be done ?? what should i read ??? FA ?? UW ?? kalplan ???

please do reply

 

[richse]

hey buddy , could you help me out , i am bit nervous but what should be done ?? what should i read ??? FA ?? UW ?? kalplan ???

please do reply

I did UW, FA, BRS Physio, BRS Path, RR Biochem, CMMRS. The test is about realizing what underlying mechanism each question is testing instead of just trying to memorize FA. I really think doing questions was the most important part of studying because they help you learn the information as well as teach you to read between the lines.

 

[Daedra22]

I'll be taking the USMLE and COMLEX in June. I have 5 weeks of dedicated study time, which I hope will be enough. I've been reading through these "experiences" threads off and on during the year, and they've been very helpful. For resources I'm using FA, pathoma, gunner training, UW, goljan audio, BRS phys, microcards and some miscellaneous sources for some of my weaker topics (namely anatomy, immunology and biostats). Shooting for 230 or better... here's hoping!

 

[GTV]

So basically a lot of the weird anatomy questions were covered back in my anatomy class (along with 10,000 other things I dismissed as irrelevant for step 1). Besides that the majority of crazy questions I had were not found in FA, kaplan, or goljan. I found answers by just doing internet and pub med searches until I was satisfied that I had found the correct answer. Those questions I truly reacted to by thinking "how in the world could I have possibly anticipated this???" As I mentioned before, some of these questions weren't hard because they required higher levels of critical thinking and data synthesis skills, they were hard because they straight up required knowledge about certain topics that I was plain unfamiliar with. What's more, I have no idea how I would have changed my study skills because it seems that the topics of some of these questions entirely elude all the big usmle study guides and qbanks. If I had another year to study it may have helped to study ALL of my class notes again, but that's just ridiculous....

 

[MrBeauregard]

Can you list some examples (without violating rules)?

 

[Hitman1187]

So basically a lot of the weird anatomy questions were covered back in my anatomy class (along with 10,000 other things I dismissed as irrelevant for step 1). Besides that the majority of crazy questions I had were not found in FA, kaplan, or goljan. I found answers by just doing internet and pub med searches until I was satisfied that I had found the correct answer. Those questions I truly reacted to by thinking "how in the world could I have possibly anticipated this???" As I mentioned before, some of these questions weren't hard because they required higher levels of critical thinking and data synthesis skills, they were hard because they straight up required knowledge about certain topics that I was plain unfamiliar with. What's more, I have no idea how I would have changed my study skills because it seems that the topics of some of these questions entirely elude all the big usmle study guides and qbanks. If I had another year to study it may have helped to study ALL of my class notes again, but that's just ridiculous....

hey buddy , thanks alot ...... it would be of great help if you could atleast tell us what concept the tough Qs were on so as to just get an idea of what needs to be read ... Not the Qs but just the concept it was asking .......

thanks alot ....

 

[stepvictory]

nbme 5 205 (6 weeks before poor performance in behavioral)
worked hard in BS

nbme 7 235 (4 weeks to exam)

nbme 11 231(2 weeks to exam)

final score 215 (shocked) took exam on 15th February

the nbme were not predictive ,i worked really hard .i am an IMG .i did uworld 2 times ,kaplan 2 times did pathoma.
but my exam was way tougher than any nbme, lot n lot of weird genetics Qs.

pls tell guys can i get IM residency .it is an honor and a dream to come to US and become a doctor .please anyone

 

[rashy]

What is going on? Are the multiple negative reports one after the other just a coincidence or is the USMLE getting harder ?!

 

[jpudge12]

nbme 5 205 (6 weeks before poor performance in behavioral)
worked hard in BS

nbme 7 235 (4 weeks to exam)

nbme 11 231(2 weeks to exam)

final score 215 (shocked) took exam on 15th February

the nbme were not predictive ,i worked really hard .i am an IMG .i did uworld 2 times ,kaplan 2 times did pathoma.
but my exam was way tougher than any nbme, lot n lot of weird genetics Qs.

pls tell guys can i get IM residency .it is an honor and a dream to come to US and become a doctor .please anyone

Are you a US citizen or will you require a J1 visa when you start residency?

 

[stepvictory]

Are you a US citizen or will you require a J1 visa when you start residency?

I am not a US citizen .i will apply for Visa.i have scheduled my step 2 CS exam on 2nd july.
Thanks

 

[ijn]

What is going on? Are the multiple negative reports one after the other just a coincidence or is the USMLE getting harder ?!

Yeah, SDN is pretty representative of the whole population. Two reports on here has a p value of 0.001!

 

[jpudge12]

I am not a US citizen .i will apply for Visa.i have scheduled my step 2 CS exam on 2nd july.
Thanks

Well dude 215 is not a terrible score. Improve on Step 2 and I don't see why you wouldn't get an IM residency somewhere. However, I haven't even take the step 1 so I limited knowledge about residency stats and that whole jist. I'm sure you can get better advice if you post your situation on the Residency forums here on SDN

 

[rashy]

Yeah, SDN is pretty representative of the whole population. Two reports on here has a p value of 0.001!

Of course it is!!! 2 of my friends just recently took their exam and they both got bombed with anatomy... that's why I was wondering...

 

[GoSpursGo]

FWIW, I felt that anatomy was more highly represented on my exam recently than I was led to believe it would be as well. Of course, it's possible they were experimental questions, or that they were questions that everyone thought were the "hard" questions. So it'll be hard to figure out how that affected my score until I get it. Nevertheless, I would say that anatomy is probably more high yield than it was maybe 5-10 years ago.

 

[Robot Skeleton]

What is going on? Are the multiple negative reports one after the other just a coincidence or is the USMLE getting harder ?!

I don't think so. I took it in Feb as well, and while I found it harder than the NBMEs, it wasn't ridiculous. There was some anatomy (I didn't think it was too much), most of which was the typical upper and lower extremity innervation and vasculature questions. There were maybe 2 or 3 weird ones that I had no idea about, but that's not a big deal out of 300+ questions. Don't freak out too much about the reports here on SDN--some of the people who complain how awful the test was will still end up getting really high scores.

In short, it was slightly tougher than the NBMEs, but my score still hit the top of my NBME range.

 

[stepvictory]

i am an IMG i don't know how is 215 .is it very bad?
can i still get IM residency .i m in pain .please help .thank you all

 

[mmmcdowe]

i am an IMG i don't know how is 215 .is it very bad?
can i still get IM residency .i m in pain .please help .thank you all

It's pretty bad for an IMG given the low success rate overall. Not impossible, but it will definitely make things harder for you than if you scored above the national average.

 

[POtheDO]

So i'll be taking both the COMLEX and USMLE in early June and have been using Boards Boot Camp along with FA. Has anyone else been using BBB and what do you think? I think I like it but I'm a little worried just because I never see anything on here about it.

 

[djack240]

Hey, all! I am about to start reviewing Organ systems and am looking for advice on how best to integrate FA, RR Path, and Brs phys. So far, I have found that FA has been fairly okay for the introductory high yield topics (immuno, micro, etc.), but know that I will need to utilize other sources from here on out.

I'm not sure if I should be starting each day trying to understand FA in detail and then utilizing other sources if any confusion occurs OR if I should simply skim FA to get a general outline for the day and read other sources intensely.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

 

[lrkoehle]

i am an IMG i don't know how is 215 .is it very bad?
can i still get IM residency .i m in pain .please help .thank you all

This will give you a good idea what your chances are.

Non-embedded link: https://www.aamc.org/students/download/62400/data/chartingoutcomes.pdf

 

[iluvchocolate]

here's my step 1 story. hope it gives you some hope ~~~

background: school makes us do clinical rotations before we take step 1. goal was around 230ish since I want to go into internal medicine, eventually into allergy. gave myself 8 weeks to study. usually a terrible at tests. did below average in almost all of my med school tests and shelf exams.

study method: DIT 2010 videos + FA 2010 (2 passes) + Kaplan Qbank + UWorld Qbank

6 weeks before exam: Kaplan Diagnostic #1 55%
4 weeks before exam: UWSA 1 209
3 weeks before exam: NBME 12 208, Free 150 75%
2 weeks before exam: NBME 11 234, UWSA 2 235 (woah! i think by about here i just about finished my 1st pass of FA)
1 week before exam: NBME 6 212, NBME 7 216 (panic mode)

One and only pass for UWorld = 58%, Kaplan = 61%

Spent the last 4 days cramming FA and doing FA question book.

test: terrible. ran out of time in 3/7 sections. came out crying. had nightmares almost daily for the past 3 weeks. saw really crazy stuff I've never seen before. tons of anatomy and lots and lots of derm. pretty certain i failed. spent hours crying in front of my friends, my parents, the school dean.

final score: 238/85

 

[Bernoull]

here's my step 1 story. hope it gives you some hope ~~~

background: school makes us do clinical rotations before we take step 1. goal was around 230ish since I want to go into internal medicine, eventually into allergy. gave myself 8 weeks to study. usually a terrible at tests. did below average in almost all of my med school tests and shelf exams.

study method: DIT 2010 videos + FA 2010 (2 passes) + Kaplan Qbank + UWorld Qbank

6 weeks before exam: Kaplan Diagnostic #1 55%
4 weeks before exam: UWSA 1 209
3 weeks before exam: NBME 12 208, Free 150 75%
2 weeks before exam: NBME 11 234, UWSA 2 235 (woah! i think by about here i just about finished my 1st pass of FA)
1 week before exam: NBME 6 212, NBME 7 216 (panic mode)

One and only pass for UWorld = 58%, Kaplan = 61%

Spent the last 4 days cramming FA and doing FA question book.

test: terrible. ran out of time in 3/7 sections. came out crying. had nightmares almost daily for the past 3 weeks. saw really crazy stuff I've never seen before. tons of anatomy and lots and lots of derm. pretty certain i failed. spent hours crying in front of my friends, my parents, the school dean.

final score: 238/85

Congrats on the impressive score!! Sounds like quite a few ppl come out of the exam thinking they did way worse than their actual performance!

 

[dukejen04]

here's my step 1 story. hope it gives you some hope ~~~

Spent the last 4 days cramming FA and doing FA question book.

test: terrible. ran out of time in 3/7 sections. came out crying. had nightmares almost daily for the past 3 weeks. saw really crazy stuff I've never seen before. tons of anatomy and lots and lots of derm. pretty certain i failed. spent hours crying in front of my friends, my parents, the school dean.

final score: 238/85

BRILLIANT!! Congrats! Possibly one of the greatest things I've read on SDN lately, LOL. Love the dramatic crying in front of the Dean bit I will try to keep this story in mind so I don't freak out too much. Thanks for sharing!

 

[naseeha]

I got my result yesterday and it is 236/84, I took the exam on February 23rd. I am very happy with this score. Here are my stats:

NBME 5 on 29/12/11: 207
NBME 6 on 16/01/12: 219
NBME 7 on 30/01/12: 221
Practice 150 at prometric site on 09/02/12: 83%
NBME 11 and 12 on 15/02/12: 228 and 224 respectively

Kaplan Qbank: 65% total and I completed the whole qbank. I did it timed, tutor, subject wise.

UW: 65% total and I completed 80% of it. I did the majority of it timed, tutor, random.

My exam was heavy with path, physio, pharm and micro. I had about 5-6 biochem questions, about 10 anatomy questions, 5-6 stats questions, and a couple embryo questions. Everybody’s exam is different but I shared this for those wondering.

I started off with Kaplan lecture notes, videos and the qbank. After I completed all of that I took my first nbme and scored 207, clearly I didn’t remember everything. After nbme 5 I did DIT and started UW and did nbme 6. That increase gave me hope and let me know I was on the right track. After nbme 6 I went through FA again, along with UW questions and then took nbme 7. I only increased two points but I was satisfied since I heard its the hardest one. After nbme 7 I went through FA again and did 11 and 12 back to back. I’m glad I did that since it helped me with my endurance on exam day. After 11 and 12 I went though FA one last time in a week and that I think is what helped me increase my score on exam day.

My exam’s difficulty I feel was similar to a mixture of all the nbmes. To be honest, I think it was actually a little easier than the nbmes. As I was going through my exam I was surprised at how easy it was and how straight forward it was. I was really worried going in since I read other people’s experience saying how their exam was totally different from UW, Kaplan and even the nbmes and they had a lot of questions they had never seen before. Right now I can only recall 1 question that I had no idea what they were talking about and it involved a complicated graph. I think some people over exaggerate about their post exam experience and it isn’t good for anybody. If they really felt like that they would score in the 210 range and not in the 250s.

If you guys have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

 

[Munchen]

Hi naseeha, thank you for posting your experience. You sure made a nice improvement on the big day. Hope we can do the same . Congratulations, mate.

 

[naseeha]

Hi naseeha, thank you for posting your experience. You sure made a nice improvement on the big day. Hope we can do the same . Congratulations, mate.

No problem. You guys can definitely do the same.

 

[djquickfingers]

congratulations on a great score...did you just read thru First Aid again before the exam? how helpful was it?

 

[naseeha]

congratulations on a great score...did you just read thru First Aid again before the exam? how helpful was it?

Thanks. That's exactly what I did one week before the exam and it increased my score by 8 points from my highest nbme. So it was very helpful.

 

[seira]

I got my result yesterday and it is 236/84, I took the exam on February 23rd. I am very happy with this score. Here are my stats:

NBME 5 on 29/12/11: 207
NBME 6 on 16/01/12: 219
NBME 7 on 30/01/12: 221
Practice 150 at prometric site on 09/02/12: 83%
NBME 11 and 12 on 15/02/12: 228 and 224 respectively

Kaplan Qbank: 65% total and I completed the whole qbank. I did it timed, tutor, subject wise.

UW: 65% total and I completed 80% of it. I did the majority of it timed, tutor, random.

My exam was heavy with path, physio, pharm and micro. I had about 5-6 biochem questions, about 10 anatomy questions, 5-6 stats questions, and a couple embryo questions. Everybody’s exam is different but I shared this for those wondering.

I started off with Kaplan lecture notes, videos and the qbank. After I completed all of that I took my first nbme and scored 207, clearly I didn’t remember everything. After nbme 5 I did DIT and started UW and did nbme 6. That increase gave me hope and let me know I was on the right track. After nbme 6 I went through FA again, along with UW questions and then took nbme 7. I only increased two points but I was satisfied since I heard its the hardest one. After nbme 7 I went through FA again and did 11 and 12 back to back. I’m glad I did that since it helped me with my endurance on exam day. After 11 and 12 I went though FA one last time in a week and that I think is what helped me increase my score on exam day.

My exam’s difficulty I feel was similar to a mixture of all the nbmes. To be honest, I think it was actually a little easier than the nbmes. As I was going through my exam I was surprised at how easy it was and how straight forward it was. I was really worried going in since I read other people’s experience saying how their exam was totally different from UW, Kaplan and even the nbmes and they had a lot of questions they had never seen before. Right now I can only recall 1 question that I had no idea what they were talking about and it involved a complicated graph. I think some people over exaggerate about their post exam experience and it isn’t good for anybody. If they really felt like that they would score in the 210 range and not in the 250s.

If you guys have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Hey, congratulations on your excellent score, and I had one question since we seem to be doing similar things to prepare. I am also using kaplan videos heavily in my step 1 study and I was wondering if you found those useful? Did you end up watching all of the videos or just certain topics? Thanks for any input!

 

[sylvanthus]

Hey, congratulations on your excellent score, and I had one question since we seem to be doing similar things to prepare. I am also using kaplan videos heavily in my step 1 study and I was wondering if you found those useful? Did you end up watching all of the videos or just certain topics? Thanks for any input!

Kaplan videos were awesome. You can prob skip pathology as the guy kind of sucked and goljan is likely all you need.

 

[Bernoull]

Hey, congratulations on your excellent score, and I had one question since we seem to be doing similar things to prepare. I am also using kaplan videos heavily in my step 1 study and I was wondering if you found those useful? Did you end up watching all of the videos or just certain topics? Thanks for any input!

Kaplan videos were awesome. You can prob skip pathology as the guy kind of sucked and goljan is likely all you need.

Congrats on the awesome score!

When u guys watch the kaplan videos, do u annotate into FA?

 

[sylvanthus]

Congrats on the awesome score!

When u guys watch the kaplan videos, do u annotate into FA?

I annotated nothing into FA. But, I don't necessarily recommend that approach.

 

[Bernoull]

I annotated nothing into FA. But, I don't necessarily recommend that approach.

Do you watch the vids for overall understanding or do you take notes elsewhere? I guess I'm wondering how do you (and others that have watched the kaplan videos) remember details several months down the pike?

 

[sylvanthus]

Aye, I watched the videos for background but didn't take any notes at all. Then afterwards went through FA and UW by system. My test wasn't months after finishing, though. My school only gave us like 4 weeks or less to prepare. So, I finished kaplan about 2 weeks before my test and then hit up FA and UW for the remainder of the time. So, I didn't have to remember details for too long.

 

[seira]

I am also not taking any notes and just passively absorbing right now. The only subject I finished watching the entire videos are behavioral science, and while it helped my understanding of the subject , i definitely don't remember all the details. I sped through 20 hours of behavioral science in 2 days (2x speed, total 10 hours), so i really question how much I remember. I'm thinking for few subjects that I am really weak at (like pharm and micro), I might start a notebook where I just scribble few things, and if it's important, I will annotate it into FA later. I honestly don't know how i can take detail notes with these videos and still be able to stay sane and finish on time.

 

[naseeha]

I would add notes into the kaplan books as I watched the videos. After completing a subject I would do the corresponding questions in their Qbank. I would annotate stuff from their qbank into FA but not into their books. I only read their books again if I needed to clear some concepts up.

 

[medhopefuls2016]

this reminds me of the good old MCAT days hahaha

 

[Schmee]

took it today, what a beast.

prep included Doctors in Training (waste of time)
First Aid 3x
Uworld once through, then going over my marked and missed questions. Ended at about 84% overall.

NBME 11: 254
UWSA 1 and 2: >265 for both

Have finished most of my clinical rotations except for ob/gyn.

Today's test:

1. Test is wildly variable from person to person so there is honestly no point in listening to what any one individual says about their particular test.

2. The most important thing, more important than memorizing the minutiae of first aid, is actually UNDERSTANDING the concepts that you are learning and knowing how to apply them. They will always find new and confusing ways to test your knowledge so the best thing you can do is make sure you understand the big concepts on a pretty deep level.

3. The easy questions on the exam are VERY easy - much more so than Uworld. The hard questions on this exam are quite hard. I had two questions on the entire exam where I was unable to narrow it down to 2 reasonable answers. They were honestly concepts I had never seen before in my basic science education, first aid, or Uworld.

4. You do not need any resources besides First Aid and UWorld. The questions that I missed were not for lack of knowledge but were due to an ability to understand how they wanted me to think about the question. They are very good at figuring out whether or not you truly understand a concept on a deep level.

5. I found the test to be pretty comparable to the NBME 11 exam and UWSA 1. UWSA 2 is much easier than this exam was.

6. I found that there is usually one to two sections of the exam that are absolutely harder than the rest, those who took it with me agreed. Be mentally prepared for this and don't let it scare you.

7. I honestly have no idea how I did, could be anywhere from 240s-260s, really depends on how I did on the 50/50 questions. This exam is a difficult, humbling, and oftentimes terrifying experience. The most important thing you can do is take this test with a clear mind and be well rested.

8. Will report back with my score in 3-4 weeks. Starting to feel the burden being lifted off but was definitely in a bit of shock after the exam, it is nearly impossible to leave that test feeling good. Even afterwards, when you are done, it won't feel 100% great but I'm just gonna try to completely block it out of my mind until the score comes around. Good luck to those who are studying!

Hey guys,

Reporting back, got my score back last week and was completely shocked with a 265/90. 100% did not expect this score, and was expecting mid 250s at best. Took me a bit to come back, please ask any questions you feel necessary, willing to help.

 

[Leon22]

how much prep time used?

 

[Schmee]

how much prep time used?

6 weeks but really about 5 and a half of actual work.

 

[Bernoull]

6 weeks but really about 5 and a half of actual work.

Congrats on the great score!!

Did u nail all of ur basic sciences? Is that why u didn't use any other sources (RR path, BRS physio etc)?

 

[secants]

Did you review any basic science during your rotations or was it just Qbanks? Did doing your rotations help out with the more esoteric questions or you still feel it's about understanding and extrapolating concepts?