Official 2012 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

Your USMLE Scores Increased, Guaranteed!
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
A

amavir281

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
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. :thumbup:
Members don't see this ad.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
I get my score back tomorrow morning i think. The last few days have been the most stressed/nervous I have ever been in my life. Praying it went well despite some bad mistakes i made. Hopefully i guessed a couple or so right for each block as well.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Phloston said:
I was very well-rested going into the exam and was convinced that I wouldn't make careless errors. I still did. Plenty of them. I've tried to suppress my thoughts of a few of them, but it's been fairly impossible not to keep dwelling on what the implications may have been to have otherwise answered them correctly. The NBMEs have extremely steep curves, where a couple of questions make a dramatic difference. When you carry this over to the real exam, it's rather disconcerting. But there's nothing I, or any of us, can do other than to just accept it and move on. Figure that everyone makes one or more errors. If the USMLE is truly a curved system, then we should all be balance one another out.

By careless errors, however, this doesn't mean you accidentally clicked B when you meant to click C. It means days/weeks later, you subconsciously arrive at a correct answer (when falling asleep, waking up, in the shower, etc.), reevaluate your thought process on that particular question and realize there was no reason you should have gotten it wrong other than that you were moving too quickly / were in SNS overdrive. Your mind will subconsciously continue to work through questions, even weeks after the exam.

I believe the best way to circumvent carelessness is to get maximum sleep. That's it.

My housemate had asked me how much I would pay per question (with money I currently have) to have my errors turned into correct responses. I said ~$1000-1500. He said, "well why not $1600?" I replied that I'd rather just go to Fiji (which is true). We all have that threshold.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there's other things one could do, other than just sleeping well.

I mean, you create an elaborate plan to learn 10,000 facts and do 10,000 questions but the plan to limit mistakes is just "sleep well".

It seems like - since you need to study hundreds of extra hours to get those few extra questions correct, it might be worth some focus developing a plan to limit mistakes.

Just a thought though, what do I know.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I mention sleep because not only is that the most important, but it's also the most general factor that's in anyone's control. Sleep more. Think more clearly. It's that simple. Before my exam, I ran an experiment by sitting NBMEs 6+7 extremely jetlagged. I knew that if I could do well on those while I was tired, then I wouldn't need to freak out on the exam day if I didn't get enough sleep the night before. Well, I flaked on those NBMEs, so I did freak out about needing to get sleep the night before. It definitely makes a difference.

I would say the other big thing would be to improve time-efficiency. The more time you have at the end of a block, the more freedom you have to not only go back to marked questions, but also to review unmarked ones.

There were probably 4-5 questions on my exam that I was able to get just because I had enough time to go back and critically think. There were also probably 2 or so errors I made that I caught only because I was able to go back and check them. These are the errors that are "I meant to click B, not C." The careless errors that we discuss in the posts above, however, are different and refer more to deviations of thought process that aren't something you can detect easily during the exam.

The 6th block was the only one I didn't have enough time to go back and review every unmarked question (because I had one tough question that consumed 7-8 minutes).

So in retrospect, apart from sleep, time-efficiency is second most important.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Members don't see this ad :)
Phloston said:
I mention sleep because not only is that the most important, but it's also the most general factor that's in anyone's control. Sleep more. Think more clearly. It's that simple. Before my exam, I ran an experiment by sitting NBMEs 6+7 extremely jetlagged. I knew that if I could do well on those while I was tired, then I wouldn't need to freak out on the exam day if I didn't get enough sleep the night before. Well, I flaked on those NBMEs, so I did freak out about needing to get sleep the night before. It definitely makes a difference.

I would say the other big thing would be to improve time-efficiency. The more time you have at the end of a block, the more freedom you have to not only go back to marked questions, but also to review unmarked ones.

There were probably 4-5 questions on my exam that I was able to get just because I had enough time to go back and critically think. There were also probably 2 or so errors I made that I caught only because I was able to go back and check them. These are the errors that are "I meant to click B, not C." The careless errors that we discuss in the posts above, however, are different and refer more to deviations of thought process that aren't something you can detect easily during the exam.

The 6th block was the only one I didn't have enough time to go back and review every unmarked question (because I had one tough question that consumed 7-8 minutes).

So in retrospect, apart from sleep, time-efficiency is second most important.
Click to expand...


hey when your result coming out?this week? I am also as nervous as you
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Phloston said:
The careless errors that we discuss in the posts above, however, are different and refer more to deviations of thought process that aren't something you can detect easily during the exam.

The 6th block was the only one I didn't have enough time to go back and review every unmarked question (because I had one tough question that consumed 7-8 minutes).

So in retrospect, apart from sleep, time-efficiency is second most important.
Click to expand...

I agree.

I also wonder if there are people who are incredibly good at minimizing those mistakes. And if so, I wonder if they have a thought process or a method to keep them from doing so besides the important factors of time and rest. With all the time put into this test, I think it's worth considering or researching a bit.

I'm sure you got 270+ or whatever, but I think your experience is valuable because it reminds us to focus not only on knowing more but on getting what you know right - or somehow figuring out those "deviations of thought process that aren't easy to detect during the exam".
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
lol this thread has 20 people viewing it...all probably anticipating Phlo's score. I feel like it's New Years Eve...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Jonari said:
lol this thread has 20 people viewing it...all probably anticipating Phlo's score. I feel like it's New Years Eve...
Click to expand...


haha im a longtime lurker and just made an account so i could post in this historic thread.

this feels a lot like "the decision" by lebron james. anyone up for predicting his score to pass some time? price is right/wife's weight rules apply (get as close as you can but don't go over).

i'm gonna go with a smooth 272
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Leonidis I said:
haha im a longtime lurker and just made an account so i could post in this historic thread.

this feels a lot like "the decision" by lebron james. anyone up for predicting his score to pass some time? price is right/wife's weight rules apply (get as close as you can but don't go over).

i'm gonna go with a smooth 272
Click to expand...

hmm..im going to say for sure above 260...i'll stick with 265 - 270.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I am also nervous about Pholston's score...have followed his journey..
Amazing that so many of us want his efforts to be rewarded aptly..
I think he 'll score above 270 for sure..maybe 276-278..

Good luck buddy we are as anxious as you!;)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Members don't see this ad :)
Just a lowly premed here, but I've been following this thread for a while to see people's feedback on the exam and prep materials, and even I'm quite anxious to find out Phloston's score haha
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
For all the many posts, and the countless advice given in this forum by Phloston, we hope he scores above the charts.

Phloston, Boston wants you! C'mon 260s, c'mon 260s.

Good luck Phlo, I hope you're celebrating as I type. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I guess 276 is the final score. Because one of my friend got that score. He almost did nothing incorrect with 276 for step 1 and 279 for step 2. So I think phloston has the same score, too.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Pholston - it's over 9000!
1338226-over9000byjltheking_super.jpg


280!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
In australia it's 6:30/thursday morning, so he's already gotten his scores. he's probably out partying it up.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Yup, Phloston's definitely built up quite a crowd. I've been checking to see if he's posted his score, I'm also cheering for him!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Good Samaritan2 said:
still haven't gotten my score yet (took exam on december 12th). How late do they go in releasing scores during the day?
Click to expand...

Good Samaritan2 said:
still nothing yet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, same. Took the exam Dec. 14 and the score is not out yet!

It's 6:48am Thursday here in Australia. Didn't sleep well last night.

On the ECFMG website, it says "updated as of 08 Jan 2013," which refers to Tuesday, not Wednesday, so maybe it'll come out over the next several hours.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Im new to this forum and barely now this guy but from his posts i expect him to score high
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Phloston said:
Yeah, same. Took the exam Dec. 14 and the score is not out yet!

It's 6:48am Thursday here in Australia. Didn't sleep well last night.

On the ECFMG website, it says "updated as of 08 Jan 2013," which refers to Tuesday, not Wednesday, so maybe it'll come out over the next several hours.
Click to expand...

seeing that Phloston finally posted:

Al-bundy-ed-oneill-animated-gif-2.gif


seeing the content of his post:

computer-close-hulk.gif
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Phloston, once you get your 280 I think you should not go into practice but become the next guru of Step 1. Become like the next Goljan/Pathoma but of all Step 1 prep, not just path. There is a big market for that and I have never seen anyone so passionate about this test as you.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Phloston said:
Yeah, same. Took the exam Dec. 14 and the score is not out yet!

It's 6:48am Thursday here in Australia. Didn't sleep well last night.

On the ECFMG website, it says "updated as of 08 Jan 2013," which refers to Tuesday, not Wednesday, so maybe it'll come out over the next several hours.
Click to expand...

matter of some more time...

Good luck :thumbup:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Best of luck, Phloston. Whatever the outcome, you gave it your best shot, left no stone unturned, and can still give valuable advice to all future step 1 takers!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

slowthai
  • Question
Official 2021 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
9 10 11 12 13
Replies
624
Views
58K
DrStephenStrange
DrStephenStrange
E
  • Question
USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
94 95 96 97 98
Replies
5K
Views
235K
ExplodingUlcers
ExplodingUlcers
A
  • Question
COMLEX Official 2019 Comlex 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
23 24 25 26 27
Replies
1K
Views
214K
Ellomate
E
libertyyne
  • Question
USMLE Official 2019 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
57 58 59 60 61
Replies
3K
Views
277K
STUW18
S
S
  • Question
Communication and Experiment type questions on Step 1
Replies
0
Views
828
shoenberg3
S
Top